Transcriber's Notes:

1. Page scan source:

http://books.google.com/books?id=sYwnAAAAMAAJ

(New York Public Library)


2. Table of Contents added by Transcriber.

IN THE TIDEWAY

IN THE TIDEWAY

BY

FLORA ANNIE STEEL

Author of "On the Face of the Waters," "Miss Stuart's
Legacy," "Red Rowans," etc., etc.

New York

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1897

All rights reserved

Copyright, 1897,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith
Norwood Mass. U.S.A.

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

IN THE TIDEWAY

PROLOGUE

A Statue of charity with helpless childhood gathered to the ample bosom, and helpless age sheltered by the ample veil behind it, a crimson curtain concealing an angle in the stairway. In front a crowd streaming slackly, yet steadily, up the steps; a crowd which broke into little eddies of greeting, little backwaters of gossip, whilst the waves from the rear, taking advantage of the pause, rippled higher and higher. A crowd complaining indifferently of the crush, the heat, the impossibility of being in two places at once--not with reference to the hay-sweet meadows and copses where the nightingales were singing to the moon that summer's night, but in regard to some other hot staircase, where society was due some time ere the sun rose.

To the man who, in a comfortable niche behind the statue, sate removed from the pressure of the current, the scene was framed by Charity's mantle. Perhaps it needed the setting; a crowd generally does whether it be in the old Kent Road or Grosvenor Square.

"The Big Bear! I beg your pardon, Mr. Lockhart. Why aren't you in Rome, and is there room for me on that peaceful seat?"

"There is always room for Golden Locks beside the Big Bear--and now, Lady Maud, why should I be in Rome at this season of the year?"

"Because, being an artist, you should not mind malaria. Besides, what is malaria to this insufferable heat and crush? Doesn't it strike you that our hostess thinks getting into society, and getting society into her rooms, are synonymous terms? Did you ever see such a--"

"Charity, Lady Maud, Charity!" interrupted her companion, pointing to the protecting arm stretched between them and the crowd. "Let it cover the multitude--"

"Of sins? Thank you. I suppose I am wicked. But you--why are you here in the swim? When you profess to despise us--to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil--"

"Because I came to see one who should have nothing to do with that Trinity of Evil either. I came to see you, Lady Maud. I couldn't pass through Babylon without giving you my congratulations. So you are going to be married--"

He paused, looking her in the face curiously.

"Well! Why don't you say 'at last'? It is what every lady thinks, I'm sure. People have been coming perilously near calling me 'poor Lady Maud' these last two seasons, and now--yes! I am to marry Mr. Wilson--you know him, I think."

"Yes, I do know that fortunate man, and, pardon me, Lady Maud, but you and I have been confidential, haven't we? ever since in a tourbillon of white frills and blue sashes you chose to prefer my walnuts to other folks' sweeties at dessert. Now about Eustace. What is to become of him?"

The pretty face winced just a little.

"Haven't you heard? Eustace is to be married also; indeed, we think of choosing the same day."

"Out of bravado?"

"Nothing of the kind. Eustace and I have put away--childish things. We have decided to be sensible, and he is marrying Louisa Capper, the American heiress. I like Louisa."

"I trust that feeling is shared by Eustace."

"How hopelessly old-fashioned you are, Big Bear! I don't believe you will ever learn to shave yourself in tufts, and become a civilized poodle. Of course he likes her. She is really a very nice girl, and then she only has a father. Don't you think the American 'par-par' is less objectionable as a rule than the 'mar-mar'? To be serious,--which I should not trouble to be with ninety-nine people out of a hundred,--Eustace and I have seen the error of our ways, and we intend--in fact, I personally expect to be very happy. As I said, Louisa is very--"

"Where do you spend the honeymoon?" he interrupted, not being in the least interested in Louisa's part in the business.

"Again hopelessly old-fashioned! There is but one place, nowadays, in which to spend a honeymoon,--Paris. It is so full of distractions. Then Mr. Wilson has taken a grouse moor near the North Pole; Eustace is to come there in his new yacht, and we are to have a real good time; as Louisa--"

"Near the North Pole? Didn't know grouse grew there."

"Well, it is not very far from it. I forget the name,--but see! there is Eustace behind old Lady Brecknock's feathers. He will remember."

A very handsome dark man