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XVIII.

Nelly had renounced her lover in a moment of high-strung feeling, but in the quiet hours after exaltation was past there came reflections which filled her with sorrow. She did not regret her resolution, nay, she felt assured that if the crisis was again presented her conduct would not be altered. Her tears were not for what she had done, but for what she had lost; for the vision of dear companionship sacrificed, and for her lost illusions concerning husband and children in the future. Now she had to put aside all thought of the strong arm on which to lean; it was hers to face a lonely life, with no outlook save solitary old age, and with death at the end of the vista. She was woman enough, too, to be unable to repress the continually recurring thought, "those other women!" and then to hate herself for smallness and want of sisterly feeling for those who would only do their part for duty's sake. And could she not for duty's sake have been one of them?

"Oh my darling," she cried wildly to herself, "I could not, I could not; I can give you up, but I cannot share."

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Slowly passed the days till the time came when the King had to select his brides from the hundred girls chosen by the Council. Almost the whole population left in the city streamed around the royal residence, for it was a moment of intense interest to all; even those who had no chance of being among the competitors were full of excitement. Nelly did not go out, and she had no friend whose kindly feelings might prompt her to appear and condole with the unhappy girl, so she sat in the shadow of her verandah, praying for deliverance from envy, and calling down blessings on the head of her lost lover, wherever he might be, and whatever he might do. As, late in the afternoon, she sat behind the sun-blinds, she heard in the street the warm greetings of two friends, girls of the operative class, who had approached from opposite directions. They spoke in a curious blending of the cockney dialect with colonial slang, hardening the vowels in the abominable way one now hears amongst uncultured people at every corner.

"Well Jennie," said one voice, "How are you? You were one of the lucky ones, weren't you, and got in to the big show?"

"You bet, Maggie," replied the other voice, "but I wasn't lucky; it was just hard shoving, and I was there from ten in the morning till three in the afternoon sticking to the blooming palings like a hoyster. When the door was opened I fought all I knew to get a place, and a good place I got, but I had to use my elbows and no mistake, I saw all the show anyway, and that's what jolly few did."

"Tell us what 'I was like, Jennie."

"Oh I don't know where to begin. It was all lovely, you know. When we went in there was a lot of empty seats reserved in front for the toffs. After a bit they came in—the Councillors—forty-six of 'em."

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"There's fifty Lady Councillors, Jennie."

"Yes, I know, but four of 'em was among the hundred the King had to choose from. Then this hundred come in, and they looked just beautiful; all in white dresses, and with their hair done. Oh Maggie! I haven't had a long gown on for three years, three years—think of that! I do think it's hard that we should have to go about in these beastly trousis. Well, they all come in and filled the front seats, looking beautiful, as I said. Oh Maggie, them frocks!"

"Go on, yer fool!" said Maggie.

"Well," Jennie resumed, "then the music struck up, and everybody stood up, and the King come in. My word! he did look splendid; a great big good-looking feller, he is; and he had on a velvet coat and a long cloak, lined with white silk, right down to the ground. He was trying to look chippy, but he seemed to me to be laughing the wrong side of his mouth. The President, she come in with him, and went up with him to the raised place, and the King sat down in a big arm chair which had a curtain, like a bloomin' bed-stead, over the top. There was twenty empty chairs up on the raised place, some on one side and some on the other. One girl was a sort of aid-de-conk, and she stood up by the King and began to sing out the others' names. When she sung out a name the girl it belonged to come and walked in front of the King and bowed."

"I wouldn't ha' liked that," said Maggie. "How did they take it?"

"Well," answered Jennie, "I couldn't see their faces just when they bowed, cos they had their backs turned, but most of 'em when they went up was as white as death. Some of 'em walked with their eyes down and never raised 'em as I saw, and some'd toss their heads page 126and walk stiff, and some of 'em wriggled and twisted but most was very white and quiet. I twigged a look between the King and the aid-de-conk after about half the girls had gone by, and then I felt sure that they'd got the twenty already. But they all went up and bowed, and then come a sort of pause. Everybody was nervous, and I felt as creepy as anythink. The King was screwing himself up to make a speech—you could see that; but he was awfully twitchy and shaky."

"Why, Jennie, you seem to think he didn't like it. Most of the men I used to know in the old times would have jumped at such a chance. You had to keep 'em off with a broomstick."

"Well, he didn't like it, I know. Margaret Wilson, who's member for our district, says he wanted not to have to choose at all; said it was too much like throwing the handkerchief at kiss-in-the-ring, and that he wanted to take the first twenty on the list whose names went A, B, C, D, and so on, but the Council would not hear of it. They said it wasn't right for him to pass a slight on the girls by not choosing them himself. Well, then he got up and made a little speech, tellin' 'em how highly he thought of 'em for obeying orders and doing what the people considered was their duty; and that he hoped that all who were not chosen would give their support to their queens."

"Was that all, Jennie?"

"No, not quite. He says, 'Let me lead you to your places,' and he steps down from the raised place. The girls whose names had been picked out got out of their chairs, and met him in a little mob. He held out his hand to the nearest one, and that was Victoria Stanley. She was looking splendid, but her face was burning with two red spots. What do you think the page 127cheeky thing did? She throws back her head and says quite haughty, 'Your Majesty knows that I do not seek this honour.' Lor! you might have heard a pin drop. Some of the girls looked ashamed, and some looked as mad as if they could hit her, but the King looks at her very grave, and, says he, 'Neither your wish nor mine has weight here; it's for the people's good, as you said yourself. Let's try to make the best of it,' or something like that—that's what it meant anyway. So they followed him to the chairs and sat down, and the King said, 'My people, these are your leaders, and their name is Hope.' I don't know what he meant by that, but we all cheered like anythink. And, after he had thanked 'em for accepting the responsibility, we all went away."

"Well, Jennie, I s'pose it's a big responsibility, but I wish I had it."

"Yes, and you would have wished it more, Maggie, if you had seen the King to-day, such a fine chap as he is, in that lovely cloak."

"I don't care about the cloak," said Maggie, "but I do wish I had been one of the girls as was chose; but lor! we had no show, we're only ord'nary girls."

"Well," answered Jennie, "if we are only ordinary girls, I s'pose we want loving, just as much as other people. It ain't much fun cuddlin' yer piller, is it? Responsibility! why any woman'd take the responsibility of getting married to a real nice chap like 'im; especially if she could wear lace petticoats, and a wedding dress, and a veil, and all that, while the others had to stand round in cloth trowsis. Shall you go and see the weddin', Mag.?

"My word, yes. When is it to be?

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"Oh in about ten days; it will be a grand shine I got ter go 'ome, and wash some aprons and things ready for that beastly butchering job I'm sorted out for. So long, Maggie."