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Happy Hypocrite A Fairy Tale For Tired Men - Max Beerbohm · Short Stories by Hans Christian Andersen

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of The Happy Hypocrite, A fairy Tale for
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  Speaker 1: Tired Men. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by David Wales. The
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  Speaker 1: Happy Hypocrite, A fairy Tale for Tired Men by Max Bierbaum.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter one none. It is said, of all who reveled
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  Speaker 1: with the Regent, was half so wicked as Lord George Hell.
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  Speaker 1: I will not trouble my little readers with a long
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  Speaker 1: recital of his great naughtiness, but it were well, they
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  Speaker 1: should know that he was greedy, destructive, and disobedient. I
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  Speaker 1: am afraid there is no doubt that he often sat
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  Speaker 1: up at Carlton House until long after bedtime playing games,
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  Speaker 1: and that he generally ate and drank far more than
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  Speaker 1: was good for him. His fondness for fine claes was
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  Speaker 1: such that he used to dress on week days quite
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  Speaker 1: as gorgeously as good people dress on Sundays. He was
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  Speaker 1: thirty five years old and a great grief to his parents.
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  Speaker 1: And the worst of it was that he set such
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  Speaker 1: a bad example to others. Never never did he try
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  Speaker 1: to conceal his wrongdoing, so that in time everyone knew
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  Speaker 1: how horrid he was. In fact, I think he was
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  Speaker 1: proud of being horrid. Captain Tarleton, in his account of
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  Speaker 1: a contemporary bus, suggested that his lordship's great candor was
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  Speaker 1: a virtue and should incline us to forgive some of
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  Speaker 1: his abominable faults. But painful as it is to me
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  Speaker 1: to dissent from any opinion expressed by one who is
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  Speaker 1: now dead, I hold that candor is good only when
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  Speaker 1: it reveals good actions or good sentiments, and that when
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  Speaker 1: it reveals evil, itself is evil. Even also, Lord joe
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  Speaker 1: Orge held did at last atone for all his faults
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  Speaker 1: in a way that was never revealed to the world
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  Speaker 1: during his lifetime. The reason of his strange and sudden
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  Speaker 1: disappearance from that social sphere in which he had so
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  Speaker 1: long moved and never moved again, I will unfold. My
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  Speaker 1: little readers, will, then, I think, acknowledge that any angry
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  Speaker 1: judgment they may have passed upon him must be reconsidered,
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  Speaker 1: and maybe withdrawn. I will leave his lordship in their hands.
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  Speaker 1: But my plea for him will not be based upon
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  Speaker 1: that candor of his which some of his friends so
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  Speaker 1: much admired. There were, yes, some so weak and so
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  Speaker 1: wayward as to think it a fine thing to have
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  Speaker 1: an historic title, and no scruples. Here comes George Hell.
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  Speaker 1: They would say, how wicked my lord is looking no
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  Speaker 1: bless oblige, you see, And so an aristocrat should be
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  Speaker 1: very careful of his good name. Anonymous naughtiness does little harm.
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  Speaker 1: It is pleasant to record that many persons were inobnoxious
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  Speaker 1: to the magic of his title, and disapproved of him
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  Speaker 1: so strongly that whenever he entered a room where they
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  Speaker 1: happened to be, they would make straight for the door
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  Speaker 1: and watch him very severely through the keyhole. Every morning,
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  Speaker 1: when he strolled up Piccadilly, they crossed over to the
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  Speaker 1: other side in a compact body, leaving him to the
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  Speaker 1: companionship of his bad companions on that which is still
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  Speaker 1: called the shady side. Lord George Greek Chetilius was quite
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  Speaker 1: indifferent to this demonstration. Indeed, he seemed wholly hardened, and
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  Speaker 1: when ladies gathered up their skirts as they passed him,
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  Speaker 1: he would lightly appraise their ankles. I am glad I
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  Speaker 1: never saw his lordship. They say he was rather like Caligula,
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  Speaker 1: with a dash of Sir John Falstaff, and that sometimes
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  Speaker 1: on wintry mornings in Saint James Street, young children would
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  Speaker 1: hush their prattle and cling in disconsolate terror to their
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  Speaker 1: nurse's skirts as they saw him come, that vast and
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  Speaker 1: fearful gentleman, with the east wind ruffling the rotund surface
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  Speaker 1: of his beaver, ruffling the fur about his neck and wrists,
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  Speaker 1: and striking the purple complexion of his cheeks to a
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  Speaker 1: still deeper purple king bogie, they called him in the
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  Speaker 1: nurseries in the hours when they too were naughty, Their
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  Speaker 1: nurses would predict his advent down the chimney or from
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  Speaker 1: the linen press, and then they always behaved, so that
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  Speaker 1: you see, even the unrighteous are a power for good
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  Speaker 1: in the hands of nurses. It is true that his
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  Speaker 1: lordship was a non smoker, a negative virtue, certainly, and
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  Speaker 1: do even that I fear to the fashion of the day.
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  Speaker 1: But there the list of his good qualities comes to
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  Speaker 1: an abrupt conclusion. He loved with an insatiable love the
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  Speaker 1: town and the pleasures of the town, whilst the ennobling
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  Speaker 1: influences of our English lakes were quite unknown to him.
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  Speaker 1: He used to boast that he had not seen a
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  Speaker 1: buttercup for twenty years, and once he called the country
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  Speaker 1: a fool's paradise. London was the only place marked on
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  Speaker 1: the map of his mind. London gave him all he
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  Speaker 1: wished for. Is it not extraordinary to think that he
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  Speaker 1: had never spent a happy day, nor a day of
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  Speaker 1: any kind? In followed chase, that desirable mansion in Hurts,
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  Speaker 1: which he had won from Sir Falard, followed by a
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  Speaker 1: chuck of the dice at Boodles on his seventeenth birthday.
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  Speaker 1: Always cynical and unkind, he had refused to give the
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  Speaker 1: broken baronet his revenge. Always unkind and insolent, he had
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  Speaker 1: offered to ensue all him in the lodge, an offer
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  Speaker 1: which was, after a little hesitation, accepted on my soul.
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  Speaker 1: The man's place is a sinecure. Lord George would say,
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  Speaker 1: he never has to open the gate to me. So
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  Speaker 1: rust has covered the great iron gates of Follard Chase,
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  Speaker 1: and moss had covered its paths. The deer browsed upon
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  Speaker 1: its terraces. There were only wild flowers anywhere. Deep down
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  Speaker 1: among the weeds and water lilies of the little stone
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  Speaker 1: rimmed pond. He had looked down upon lay the marble
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  Speaker 1: fawn as he had fallen. Of all the sins of
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  Speaker 1: his lordship's life, surely not one was more wanton than
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  Speaker 1: his neglect of follared chase, some whispered, Nor did he
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  Speaker 1: ever trouble to deny that he had won it by
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  Speaker 1: foul means, by loaded dice. Indeed, no card player in
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  Speaker 1: Saint James's cheated more persistently than he. As he was
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  Speaker 1: rich and had no wife and family to support, and
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  Speaker 1: as his luck was always capital I can offer no
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  Speaker 1: excuse for his conduct at Carlton House, in the presence
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  Speaker 1: of many bishops and cabinet ministers. He once donned the
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  Speaker 1: Regent most arrogantly for five thousand guineas, out of which
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  Speaker 1: he had cheated him some months before, and went so
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  Speaker 1: far as to declare that he would not leave the
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  Speaker 1: house till he got it. Whereupon his Royal Highness, with
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  Speaker 1: that unfailing tact for which he was ever famous, invited
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  Speaker 1: him to stay there as a guest, which in fact
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  Speaker 1: Lord George did for several months After this, we can
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  Speaker 1: hardly be surprised when we read that he seldom sat
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  Speaker 1: down to the fashionable game of limbo with less than four,
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  Speaker 1: and sometimes with as many as seven aces up his sleeve.
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  Speaker 1: We can only wonder that he was tolerated at all.
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  Speaker 1: At Garbles, that nightly resort of titled rips and roisterers.
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  Speaker 1: He usually spent the early hours of his evenings round
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  Speaker 1: the illuminated garden. With a La Gambogi the Dancer on
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  Speaker 1: his arm and a bacchic retinue at his heels. He
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  Speaker 1: would amble leisurely, clad in Georgian costume, which was not then,
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  Speaker 1: of course, fancy dress, as it is now now and again,
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  Speaker 1: in the midst of his noisy talk, he would crack
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  Speaker 1: a joke of the period, or break into a sentimental ballad,
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  Speaker 1: dance a little, or pick a quarrel. When he tired
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  Speaker 1: of such fooling, he would proceed to his box in
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  Speaker 1: the tiny alfresco theater and patronize the jugglers, fugilist play actors,
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  Speaker 1: and whatever eccentric persons happened to be performing there. The
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  Speaker 1: stars were splendid and the moon as beautiful as a
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  Speaker 1: great camellia. One night in May As his lordship laid
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  Speaker 1: his arms upon the cushioned ledge of his box and
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  Speaker 1: watched the antics of the merry Dwarf, a little curly
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  Speaker 1: headed creature whose debut it was certainly garbul, had found
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  Speaker 1: a novelty. Lord George led the applause, and the dwarf
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  Speaker 1: finished his frisking with a pretty song about lovers. Nor
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  Speaker 1: was this all feats of archery were to follow. In
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  Speaker 1: a moment, the dwarf reappeared with a small gilded bow
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  Speaker 1: in his hand, and a quiverful of arrows slung at
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  Speaker 1: his shoulder. Hither and thither he shot these vibrant arrows
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  Speaker 1: very precisely, several into the bark of the acacias that
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  Speaker 1: grew about the overt stage, several into the fluted columns
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  Speaker 1: of the boxes, two or three to the stars. The
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  Speaker 1: audience was delighted. Bravo, bravo, Sagito, murmured Lord George in
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  Speaker 1: the language of La Gambogi, who was at his side. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: the waxen figure of a man was carried on by
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  Speaker 1: an assistantt it and propped against the trunk of a tree.
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  Speaker 1: A scarf was tied across the eyes of the merry Dwarf,
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  Speaker 1: who stood in a remote corner of the stage. Bravo, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: for the shaft had pierced the waxen figure through the heart,
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  Speaker 1: or just where the heart would have been if the
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  Speaker 1: figure had been human and not waxen. Lord George called
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  Speaker 1: for port and Champagne, and beckoned the bowing homuncula to
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  Speaker 1: his box, that he might compliment him on his skill
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  Speaker 1: and pledge him in a bumper of the grape on
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  Speaker 1: my soul. You have a genius for the beau, his
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  Speaker 1: lordship cried, with florid condescension. Come and sit by me,
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  Speaker 1: but first let me present you to my divine companion,
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  Speaker 1: the Signora Gamboji virgo at Sagittarius egad. You may have
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  Speaker 1: met on the zodiac. Indeed I met the Signora many
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  Speaker 1: years ago, the dwarf replied with a low bow, but
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  Speaker 1: not on the zoe udiac, and the Senora perhaps forgets me.
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  Speaker 1: At this speech, the Siora flushed angrily, for she was
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  Speaker 1: indeed no longer young, and the dwarf had a childish face.
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  Speaker 1: She thought he mocked her. Her eyes flashed. Lord George's
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  Speaker 1: twinkled rather maliciously. Great is the experience of youth, he laughed. Pray,
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  Speaker 1: are you stricken with more than twenty summers? With more
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  Speaker 1: than I can count, said the dwarf, to the health
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  Speaker 1: of your lordship, and he drained his long glass of wine.
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  Speaker 1: Lord George replenished it and asked by what means or
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  Speaker 1: miracle he had acquired his mastery of the bow by
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  Speaker 1: long practice. The little thing rejoined a long practice on
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  Speaker 1: human creatures, and he nodded his curls mysteriously. On my heart,
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  Speaker 1: you are a dangerous boxmate. Your lordship were certainly a
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  Speaker 1: good target. Little Liking this joke at his bulk, which
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  Speaker 1: really rivaled the regents, Lord George turned brusquely in his
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  Speaker 1: chair and fixed his eyes upon the stage. This time
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  Speaker 1: it was the gambogi who laughed. A new operetta, the
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  Speaker 1: fair Captive of sambercand was being enacted, and the frequenters
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  Speaker 1: of Garbles were all curious to behold the debutante Jennymir,
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  Speaker 1: who was said to be both pretty and talented. These
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  Speaker 1: predictions were surely fulfilled when the captive peeped from the
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  Speaker 1: window of her wooden turret. She looked so pale under
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  Speaker 1: her blue turban. Her eyes were dark with fear, Her
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  Speaker 1: parted lips did not seem capable of speech. Is it
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  Speaker 1: that she is frightened of us, the audience wondered, or
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  Speaker 1: of the flashing scimitar of AFAChE as the cruel father
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  Speaker 1: who holds her captive. So they gave her loud applause,
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  Speaker 1: and when at length she jumped down to be caught
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  Speaker 1: in the arms of her gallant lover, Nisrah, and a
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  Speaker 1: throwing aside her eastern draperies, did a simple dance in
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  Speaker 1: the convention of Columbine. Their delight was quite unbounded. She
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  Speaker 1: was very young and did not dance very well, it
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  Speaker 1: is true, but they forgave her that. And when she
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  Speaker 1: turned in the dance and saw her father with his scimitar,
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  Speaker 1: their hearts beat swiftly for her. Nor were all eyes
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  Speaker 1: tearless when she pleaded with him for her life. Strangely absorbed,
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  Speaker 1: quite callous, of his two companions, Lord George gazed over
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  Speaker 1: the footlights. He seemed as one who was in a trance.
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  Speaker 1: Of a sudden something shot sharp into his heart. In pain,
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  Speaker 1: he sprang to his feet, and as he turned he
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  Speaker 1: seemed to see a winged and laughing child, in whose
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  Speaker 1: hand was a beau fly swiftly away into the darkness.
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  Speaker 1: At his side was the dwarf's chair. It was empty.
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  Speaker 1: Only La Gamboji was with him, and her dark face
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  Speaker 1: was like the face of a fury. Presently, he sank
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  Speaker 1: back into his chair, holding one hand to his heart
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  Speaker 1: that still throbbed from the strange transphyxian He breathed very
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  Speaker 1: painfully and seemed scarce, conscious of his surroundings. But La
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  Speaker 1: Gambogi knew he would pay no more homage to her now,
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  Speaker 1: for that the love of Jennymir had come into his heart.
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  Speaker 1: When the operetta was over, his love, sick lordship snatched
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  Speaker 1: up his cloak and went away without one word to
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  Speaker 1: the lady at his side. Rudely he brushed aside Count
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  Speaker 1: Karolov and mister fitz Clarence, with whom he had arranged
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  Speaker 1: to play hazard of his comrades, his cynicism, his reckless scorn,
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  Speaker 1: of all the material of his existence. He was oblivious.
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  Speaker 1: Now he had no time for penitence or diffident delay.
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  Speaker 1: He only knew that he must kneel at the feet
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  Speaker 1: of Jenny Mere and ask her to be his wife.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Meir, said, Garble is in her room, resuming her
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  Speaker 1: ordinary attire. If your lordship deign to wait the conclusion
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  Speaker 1: of her humble toilette, it shall be my privilege to
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  Speaker 1: present her to your lordship. Even now. Indeed I hear
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  Speaker 1: her footfall on the stair. Lord George uncovered his head
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  Speaker 1: and with one hand nervously smoothed his rebellious wig. Miss Mer,
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  Speaker 1: come hither, said garble. This is my Lord George hell
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  Speaker 1: that you have pleased, whom by your poor efforts this
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  Speaker 1: night will ever be in the prime gratification of your
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  Speaker 1: passage through the roseete realms of art. Little miss Mehir,
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  Speaker 1: who had never seen a lord except in fancy or
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  Speaker 1: in dreams, curtseyed shyly and hung her head with a
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  Speaker 1: loud crash. Lord George fell on his knees. The manager
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  Speaker 1: was greatly surprised, the girl greatly embarrassed. Yet neither of
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  Speaker 1: them laughed. For sincerity dignified his posture and sent eloquence
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  Speaker 1: from its lips. Miss Mer, he cried, give ear, I
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  Speaker 1: pray you to my poor words, Nor spurn me in,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Prisian, from the pedestal of your beauty, genius, and virtue,
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  Speaker 1: all too conscious alas of my presumption in the same
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  Speaker 1: I yet obey myself before you as a suitor, for
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  Speaker 1: your adorable hand. I grope under the shadow of your
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  Speaker 1: raven locks. I am dazzled in the light of those
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  Speaker 1: translucent orbs your eyes, in the intolerable whirlwind of your fame.
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  Speaker 1: I faint and am afraid, Sir, the girl began simply say,
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  Speaker 1: my lord, said Garble, solemnly, my lord, I thank you
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  Speaker 1: for your words. They are beautiful, But indeed, indeed I
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  Speaker 1: can never be your bride. Lord George hid his face
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  Speaker 1: in his hands. Child said, mister Garble, let not the
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  Speaker 1: sun rise ere. You have retracted those wicked words, my wealth,
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  Speaker 1: my rank, my irremiable love for you. I throw them
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  Speaker 1: at your feet. Lord George cried piteously. I would wait
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  Speaker 1: an hour, a week, a luster, even a decade. Did
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  Speaker 1: you but bid me hope? I can never be your wife,
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  Speaker 1: she said slowly. I can never be the wife of
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  Speaker 1: any man whose face is not saintly your face, my lord, mirrors.
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  Speaker 1: It may be true love for me, but it is
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  Speaker 1: even as a mirror long tarnished by the reflection of
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  Speaker 1: this world's vanity. It is even as a tarnished mirror.
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  Speaker 1: Do not kneel to me, for I am poor and humble.
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  Speaker 1: I was not made for such impetuous wooing kneel if
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  Speaker 1: you please to some greater gayer lady. As for my love,
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  Speaker 1: it is my own, Nor can it be ever torn
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  Speaker 1: from me, but given as true love must needs be
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  Speaker 1: given freely. Ah, rise from your knees that man, whose
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  Speaker 1: faces wonderful as are the faces of the saints, to him,
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  Speaker 1: I will give my true love. Miss Mehr, though visibly affected,
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  Speaker 1: had spoken this speech with a gesture and elocution so
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  Speaker 1: superb that mister Garble could not help applauding deeply, though
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  Speaker 1: he regretted her attitude towards his honored patron. As for
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  Speaker 1: Lord George, he was immobile as a stricken oak. With
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  Speaker 1: a sweet look of pity. Miss Mehr went her way,
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  Speaker 1: and mister Garble, with some solicitude, helped his lordship to
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  Speaker 1: rise from his knees out into the night. Without a word.
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  Speaker 1: His Lordship went above him. The stars were still splendid.
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  Speaker 1: They seemed to mock the festoons of little lamps, dim
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  Speaker 1: now and guttering in the garden of Garbles. What should
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  Speaker 1: he do? No thoughts came, only his heart burnt hotly.
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  Speaker 1: He stood on the brim of Garble's lake, shallow and artificial,
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  Speaker 1: as his past life had been. Two swans slept on
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  Speaker 1: its surface, the moon shone strangely upon their white, twisted necks.
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  Speaker 1: Should he drown himself, there was no one in the
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  Speaker 1: garden to prevent him, and in the morning they would
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  Speaker 1: find him floating there, one of the noblest of Love's victims.
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  Speaker 1: The garden would be closed. In the evening there would
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  Speaker 1: be no performance in the little theater. It might be
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  Speaker 1: that Jenny Mer would mourn him. Life is a prison
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  Speaker 1: without bars, he murmured as he walked away. All night long,
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  Speaker 1: he strode, knowing not whither through the mysterious streets and
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  Speaker 1: squares of London. The watchmen, to whom his figure was familiar,
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  Speaker 1: gripped their staves at his approach, for they had old
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  Speaker 1: reason to fear his wild and riotous habits. He did
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  Speaker 1: not heed them. Through that dim conflict between darkness and day,
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  Speaker 1: which is ever waged silently over our sleep, lord, George
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  Speaker 1: strode on in the deep absorption of his love and
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  Speaker 1: of his despair. At dawn he found himself on the
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  Speaker 1: outskirts of a little wood in Kensington. A rabbit rushed
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  Speaker 1: past him. Through the dew. Birds were fluttering in the branches.
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  Speaker 1: The leaves were tremulous with the presage of day, and
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  Speaker 1: the air was full of the sweet scent of hyacinths.
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  Speaker 1: How cool the country was. It seemed to cool the
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  Speaker 1: feverish maladies of his soul and consecrate his love. In
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  Speaker 1: the fair light of the dawn, he began to shape
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  Speaker 1: the means of winning Jennymere that he had conceived in
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  Speaker 1: the desperate hours of the night. Soon, an old woodman
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  Speaker 1: passed by, and with rough courtesy, showed him the path
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  Speaker 1: that would lead him quickest to the town. He was
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  Speaker 1: loath to leave the wood with Jenny. He thought he
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  Speaker 1: would live always in the country, and he picked a
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  Speaker 1: posy of wild flowers for her. His entree into the
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  Speaker 1: still silent town strengthened his Arcadian resolves. He who had
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  Speaker 1: seen the town so often in its hours of sleep,
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  Speaker 1: had never noticed how sinister its whole aspect was. In
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: its narrow streets, the white houses rose on either side
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: of him like cliffs of chalk. He hurried swiftly along
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the unswept pavement. How had he loved this city of
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: evil secrets? At last he came to Saint James's Square,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: to the hateful door of his own house. Shadows lay
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: like memories in every corner of the dim hall. Through
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the window of his room, a sunbeam slanted across his
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: smooth white bed and fell ghastly on the ashen grate.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: End of chapter one, chapter two of The Happy Hypocrite
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: by Max Werbaum. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Chapter two. It was a bright morning in old Pond Street,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and fat little mister Eneis, the fashionable mask maker, was
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: sunning himself at the door of his shop. His window
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: was lined, as usual, with all kinds of masks, beautiful
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: masks with pink cheeks, and absurd masks with protuberant gins
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: curious tryptocurretra Greek pro sopa, copied from old tragic models.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Masks of paper for children, or fine silk for ladies,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: and of leather for working men, bearded or beardless, gilded
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: or waxen. Most of them, indeed, were waxen, big or
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: little masks. And in the middle of this vain galaxy
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: hung the presentment of a cyclop's face, carved cunningly of gold,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: with a great sapphire in its brow. The sun gleamed
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: brightly on the window, and on the bald head and
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: varnished shoes of fat little mister Eneas. It was too
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: early for any customers to come, and mister Eneas seemed
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: to be greatly enjoying his leisure in the fresh air.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: He smiled complacently as he stood there, and while he might,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: for he was a great artist, and was patronized by
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: several crowned heads, and not a few of the nobility.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Only the evening before, mister Brummel had come into his
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: shop and ordered a light summer mask, wishing to evade
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: for a time the jealous vigilance of Lady Otterton. It
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: pleased mister inn Nieus to think that his art made
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: him the recipient of so many high secrets. He smiled
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: as he thought of the titled Spinthrifts, who, at this
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: moment padeu behind his masterpieces, passed unscathed among their creditors.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: He was the secular confessor of his day, always able
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: to give absolution a unique position. The street was as
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: quiet as a village street. At an open window over
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: the way, a handsome lady, wrapped in a muslin pinoit
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: sat sipping her cup of chocolate. It was La Signora
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Gambogi and mister Aeneas made her many elaborate bows this morning. However,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: her thoughts seemed far away, and she did not notice
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the little man's polite efforts. Nettled at her negligence, Mister
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Aeneas was on the point of retiring into his shop
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: when he saw Lord George hell hasti up the street
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: with a posy of wild flowers in his hand. His
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: lordship is up betimes, he said to himself, an early
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: visit to La Signora. I suppose not so. However, his
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: lordship came straight towards the mask shop. Once he glanced
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: up at Senora's window and looked deeply annoyed. When he
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: saw her sitting there. He came quickly into the shop.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: I want the mask of a saint, he said, Mask
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: of a saint, my lord, certainly, said mister Eneas, briskly,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: with or without halo. His grace, the Bishop of Saint
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Aldred's always wears his with a halo. Your lordship does
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: not wish for a halo. Certainly, if your lordship will
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: allow me to take his measurement, I must have the
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: mask two days, Lord George said, have you none ready? Made, ah,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: I see required for immediate wear, murmured mister Eneas dubiously.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: You see, your lordship takes a rather large size, and
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: he looked at the floor. Julius, he cried suddenly to
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: his assistant, who was putting the finishing touches to a
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: mask of Barbarossa which the young King of Zurremburg was
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: to wear at his coronation the following week. Julius, do
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: you remember the saint's mask we made for mister Rigsby
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. Yes, sir, said the boy.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: It's stored upstairs, I thought, so, replied mister Eneas. Mister
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Ridsky only had it on higher step upstairs, Julius, and
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: bring it down. I fancy it is just what your
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: lordship would wish, spiritual yet handsome. Is it a mask
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: that it's even as a mirror of true love? Lord
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: George asked gravely. It was made precisely as such, the
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: mask maker answered. In fact, it was made for mister
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Ribsby to wear at his silver wedding, and was very
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: highly praised by the relatives of missus Ribsby. Will your
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: lordship step into my little room, so mister Eneus led
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the way to his parlor behind the shop. He was
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: elated by the distinguished acquisition to his Clientelles, for hitherto
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Lord George had never patronized his business. He bustled round
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: his parlor and insisted that his lordship should take a
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: chair and a pinch from his snuff box. While the
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: saint's mask was being found, Lord George's eye traveled along
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: the rows of framed letters from great personages which lined
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: the walls. He did not see them, though, for he
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: was calculating the chances that La Gambogi had not observed
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: him as he entered the mask shop. He had come
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: down so early that he thought she would still be abed.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: That minister old proverb la jalouse celeva de bonneur rose
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: in his memory. His eye fell unconsciously on a large
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: round mask made of dull silver, with the features of
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: a human face traced over its surface in faint filigree.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Your lordship wonders, what mask that is? Chirped mister Eneas,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: tapping the thing with one of his little finger nails.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: What is that mask, Lord George murmured absently. I ought
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: not to divulge, my lord, said the mask maker. But
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: I know your lordship would respect a professional secret, a
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: secret of which I am pardonable proud. This, he said,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: is a mask for the sun god Apollo, whom heaven
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: bless you. Astound me, said Lord George, of no less
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: a person, I do assure you. When Jupiter his father
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: made him lord of the day, Apollo craved that he
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: might sometimes see the doings of mankind in the hours
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: of night time. Jupiter granted so reasonable a request, And
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: when next Apollo had passed over the sky and hidden
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: in the sea, and darkness had fallen on all the world,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: he raised his head above the waters, that he might
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: watch the doings of mankind in the hours of night time.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: But mister Eneas added, with a smile, his bright countenance
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: made light all the darkness. Men rose from their couches
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: or from their revels, wondering that day was so soon come,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: and went to their work, And Apollo sank weeping into
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: the sea. Surely, he cried, it is a bitter thing
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: that I alone, of all the gods, may not watch
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: the world in the hours of night time. For in
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: those hours, as I am told, men are, even as
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: gods are, they spill the wine, and are wreathed with roses.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Their daughters dance in the light of torches. They laughed
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: to the sound of flutes on their long couches. They
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: lie down at last, and sleep comes to kiss their eyelids.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: None of these things may I see. Wherefore the brightness
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: of my beauty is even a curse to me, and
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: I would put it from me. And as he wept,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Vulcan said to him, I am not the least cunning
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: of the gods, nor the least pitiful. Do not weep,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: for I will give you that which shall end your sorrow.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Nor need you put from you the brightness of your beauty.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: And Vulcan made a mask of dull silver and fastened
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: it across his brother's face. And that night, thus masked,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: the sun God rose from the sea and watched the
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: doings of mankind in the night time. Nor any longer
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: were men abashed by his bright beauty, for it was
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: hidden by the mask of silver. Those whom he had
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: so often seen haggard over their daily tasks he saw
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: feasting now and wreathed with red roses. He heard them
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: laugh to the sound of flutes, as their daughters danced
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: in the red light of torches, and when at length
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: they lay down upon their soft couches and sleep kissed
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: their eyelids. He sank back into the sea and hid
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: his mask under a little rock in the bed of
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: the sea. Nor have men ever known that Apollo watches
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: them often in the night time, but fancied it to
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: be some pale goddess. I myself have always thought it
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: was Diana, said Lord George. Hell an error, my lord,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: said mister Eneas, with a smile. Ex chay signum, and
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: he tapped the mask of dull silver. Strange, said his lordship,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: and pray, how comes it that Apollo has ordered of
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: you this new mask? He has always worn twelve new
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: masks every year, inasmuch as no mask can endure for
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: many nights the near brightness of his face, before which
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: even a man ask of the best and purest silver
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: soon tarnishes and wears away. Centuries ago, Vulcan tired of
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: making so very many masks, and so Apollo sent Mercury
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: down to Athens to the shop of Foron, a Phoenician
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: mask maker of great skill. Foron made Apollo's masks for
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: many years, and every month Mercury came to his shop
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: for a new one. When Fororon died, another artist was chosen,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: and when he died another, and so on through all
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: the ages of the world. Conceive, my lord, my pride
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: and pleasure. When Mercury flew into my shop one night
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: last year and made me Apollo's warrant holder. It is
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: the highest privilege that any mask maker can desire. And
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: when I die, said mister Eneas, with some emotion, Mercury
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: will confer my post upon another. And do they pay
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: you for your labor? Lord Joe George asked mister Eneas,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: drew himself up to his full height, such as it
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: was in Olympus. My Lord, he said, they have no
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: currency for any mask maker. So high a privilege is
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: its own reward. Yet the sun God is generous. He
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: shines more brightly into my shop than into any other.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Nor does he suffer his rays to melt any waxen
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: mask made by me until it's wearer. Do dof it
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: and it be done with. At this moment, Julius came
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: in with the ripsby mask. I must ask your Lordship's
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: pardon for having kept you so long, pleaded mister Eneas.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: But I have a large store of old masks, and
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: they are imperfectly cataloged. It certainly was a beautiful mask,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: with its smooth pink cheeks and devotional brows. It was
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: made of the finest wax. Lord George took it gingerly
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: in his hands and tried it on his face. It fitted. Ah, mervey,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: here is the expression, exactly as your lordship would wish,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: asked mister Eneas. Lord George laid it on the table
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: and studied it intently. I wish it were more as
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: a perfect mirror of true love, he said at length.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: It is too calm, too contemplative. Easily remedied, said mister Eneas.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Selecting a fine pencil, he deftly drew the eyebrows closer
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: to each other. With a brush steeped in some scarlet pigment.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: He put a fuller curve upon the lips, and behold,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: it was the mask of a saint who loves dearly.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Lord George's heart throbbed with pleasure. And for how long
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: does your lordship wish to wear it? Asked mister Eneas.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: I must wear it until I die, replied Lord George.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Kindly be seated, Then I pray rejoined the little man.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: For I must apply the mask with great care. Julius,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: you will assist me so. While Julius heated the inner
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: side of the waxen mask over a little lamp, mister
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Eneas stood over Lord George, gently smearing his features with
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: some sweet scented palmade. Then he took the mask and
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: powdered its inner side, quite soft and warm, now with
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: a fluffy puff. Keep quite still for one instant, he said,
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: and clapped the mask firmly on his lordship's upturned face.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: So soon as he was sure of its perfect adhesion,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: he took from his assistant's hand a silver file and
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: a little wooden spatula, with which he proceeded to pare
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: down the edge of the mask where it joined the
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: neck and ears. At length, all traces of the join
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: were obliterated. It remained only to arrange the curls of
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: the lordly wig over the waxen brow. The disguise was done.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: When Lord George looked through the eyelets of his mask
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: into the mirror that was placed in his hand, he
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: saw a face that was saintly itself, a mirror of
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: true love. How wonderful it was, he felt his past
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: was a dream. He felt he was a new man. Indeed,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: his voice went strangely through the mask's parted lips as
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: he thanked. Mister eneis proud to have served your lordship,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: said that little worthy, pocketing his fee of fifty guineas,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: while he bowed his customer out. When he reached the street,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Lord George nearly uttered a curse through those sainted lips
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: of his, for there right in his way stood La
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: Gambogi with a small pink parasol. She laid her hand
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: upon his sleeve and called him softly by his name.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: He passed her by without a word. Again, she confronted him.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: I cannot let go so handsome a lover, she laughed,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: Even though he spurned me, do not spurn me, Jo George,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: give me your posy of wild flowers. Why you never
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: looked so lovingly at me in all your life, madam,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: said Lord George sternly, I have not the honor to
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: know you, and he passed on. The lady gazed after
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: her lost lover with the blackest hatred in her eyes. Presently,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: she beckoned across the road to a certain spy, and
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: the spy followed him end of chapter two Chapter three
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: of The Happy Hypocrite by Max Bierbaum. This LibriVox recording
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Chapter three, Lord George, greatly agitated,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: had turned into Piccadilly. It was horrible to have met
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: this garish embodiment of his past on the very threshold
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: of his fair future. The mask makers, elevating talk about
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: the god odds, followed by the initiative ceremony of his
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: saintly mask, had driven all discordant memories from his love
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: thoughts of Jennymere and then to be met by La Gombogi.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: It might be that after his stern words, she would
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: not seek to cross his path again. Surely she would
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: not seek to mar his sacred love. Yet he knew
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: her dark Italian nature, her passion of revenge. What was
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: the line in Virgil Spretaquais? Something who knew, but that somehow,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: sooner or later, she might come between him and his love.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: He was about to pass Lord Barrymore's mansion. Count Karolov
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: and mister FitzClarence were lounging in one of the lower windows.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: Would they know him behind his mask? Thank God? They
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: did not. They merely laughed as he went by, and
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: mister fitz Clarence cried in a mocking voice, sing us
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: a him, mister, whatever your saint's name is, the mask
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: then at least was perfect. Jennymir would not know him.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: He need fear no one but La Gambogie. But would
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: not she betray his secret? He sighed? That night he
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: was going to visit Garbles and to declare his love
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: to the little actress. He never doubted that she would
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: love him for his saintly face. Had she not said
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: that man whose face is wonderful as are the faces
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: of the saints, to him, I will give my true love.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: She could not say. Now that his face was as
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: a tarnished mirror of love. She would smile on him.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: She would be his bride. But would La Gambogi be
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: at Garbles? The operetta would not be over before ten
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: that night. The clock in hyde Park Gate told him
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: it was not yet ten ten of the morning, twelve
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: whole hours to wait before he could fall at Jenny's feet.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: I cannot spend that time in this place of memories,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: he thought. So he hailed a yellow cabriolet and bade
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: the jarvet drive him out to the village of Kensington.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: When they came to the little wood where he had
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: been but a few hours ago, Lord George dismissed the jarravi.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: The sun that had risen as he stood there, thinking
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: of Jenny, shone down on his altered face, But though
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: it shone very fiercely, it did not melt his waxen features.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: The old woodman, who had shown him his way, passed
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: by under a load of fagots, and did not know him.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: He wandered among the trees. It was a lovely wood.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: Presently he came to the bank of that tiny stream,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: the Kenn, which still flowed there in those days. On
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: the moss of its bank, he lay down and let
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: its waters ripple over his hand. Some bright pebble glistened
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: under the surface, and as he peered down at it,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: he saw in the stream the reflection of his mask.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: A great shame filled him that he should so cheat
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the girl he loved. Behind that fair mask, there would
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: still be the evil face that had repelled her. Could
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: he be so base as to decoy her into love
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: of that most ingenious deception? He was filled with a
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: great pity for her, with a hatred of himself, and Yet,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: he argued, was the mask indeed a mean trick? Surely
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: it was a secret symbol of his true repentance and
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: of his true love. His face was evil because his
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: life had been evil. He had seen a gracious girl,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: and of a sudden his very soul had changed. His
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: face alone was the same as it had been. It
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: was not just that his face should be evil. Still,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: there was the faint sound of someone sighing. Lord George
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: looked up, and there on the further bank stood Jennie Mere,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: watching him. As their eyes met, she blushed and hung
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: her head. She looked like nothing but a tall child
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: as she stood there, with her straight limp frock of
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: lilac cotton and her sunburnt straw bonnet. He dared not speak.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: He could only gaze at her. Suddenly there perched astride
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: the bough of a tree. At her side, that winged
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: and laughing child in whose hand was a bow. Before
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: Lord George could warn her, an arrow had flashed down
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: and vanished in her heart, and Cupid had flown away.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: No cry of pain did she utter, but stretched out
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: her arms to her lover with a glad smile. He
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: leapt quite lightly over the little stream, and knelt at
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: her feet. It seemed more fitting that he should kneel
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: before the gracious thing he was unworthy of. But she,
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: knowing only that his face was as the face of
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: a great saint, bent over him and touched him with
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: her hand. Surely, she said, you are that good man
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: for whom I have waited. Therefore, do not kneel to me,
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: but rise and suffer me to kiss your hand, for
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: my love of you is lowly, and my heart is
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: all yours. But he answered, looking up into her fond eyes, nay,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: you are a queen, and I must needs kneel in
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: your presence. But she shook her head wistfully, and she
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: knelt down, also, in her tremulous ecstasy, before him. And
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: as they knelt, the one to the other, the tears
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: came into her eyes, and he kissed her. Though the
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: lips that he pressed to her lips were only waxen,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: he thrilled with happiness in that mimic kiss. He held
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: her close to him in his arms, and they were
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: silent in the sacredness of their love. From his breast,
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: he took the poesy of wild flowers that he had gathered.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: They are for you, he whispered, I gathered them for
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: you hours ago in the wood. See they are not withered.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: But she was perplexed by his words, and said to him, blushing,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: how was it for me that you gathered them though
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: you had never seen me? I gathered them for you,
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: he answered, knowing I should soon see you. How was
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: it that you, who had never seen me yet waited
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: for me? I waited, knowing I should see you at last.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: And she kissed the posy and put it at her breast,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: and they rose from their knees and went into the wood,
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: walking hand in hand. As they went, he asked the
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: names of the flowers that grew under their feet. They
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: are primroses, she would say, did you not know? And
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: these are ladies feet, And these forget me not? And
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: that white flower climbing up the trunks of the trees
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: and trailing down so prettily from the branches is called Astenek's.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: These little yellow things are buttercups. Did you not know?
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: And she laughed, I know the names of none of
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: the flowers, he said. She looked up into his face
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: and said, timidly, is it worldly and wrong of me
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: to have loved the flowers. Ought I to have thought
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: more of those higher things that are unseen. His heart
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: smote him. He could not answer her simplicity. Surely the
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: flowers are good, and did you not gather this poesy
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: for me, she pleaded. But if you do not love them,
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: I must not, and I will try to forget their names,
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: for I must try to be like you in all things.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Love the flowers always, he said, and teach me to
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: love them. So she told him all about the flowers,
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: how some grew very slowly and others bloomed in a night,
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: how clever the convolvulus was at climbing, and how shy
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: violets were, and why honey cups had folded petals. She
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: told him of the birds, two that sang in the wood,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: how she knew them all by their voices. That is
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: a chaffinch singing. Listen, she said, and she tried to
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: imitate its note that her lover might remember. All the birds,
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: according to her, were good, except the cuckoo, And whenever
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: she heard him sing, she would stop her ears lest
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: she should forgive him for robbing the nests. Every day,
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: she said, I have come to the wood because I
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: was lonely, and it seemed to pity me. But now
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: I have you, and it is glad. She clung closer
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: to his arm, and he kissed her. She pushed back
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: her straw bonnet so that it dangled from her neck
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: by its ribbons, and laid her little head against his shoulder.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: For a while, he forgot his treachery to her, thinking
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: only of his love and her love. Suddenly, she said
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: to him, will you try not to be angry with
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: me if I tell you something? It is something that
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: will seem dreadful to you, You povleta, he answered, You
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: cannot have anything very dreadful to tell. I am very poor,
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: she said, and every night I dance in a theater.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: It is the only thing I can do to earn
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: my bread. Do you despise me because I dance? She
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: looked up shyly at him and saw that his face
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: was full of love for her and not angry. Do
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: you like dancing, he asked, I hate it? She answered quickly.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: I hate it indeed Yet to night Alas I must
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: dance again in the theater. You need never dance again,
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: said her lover. I am rich, and I will pay
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: them to release you. You shall dance only for me, sweetheart.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: It cannot be much more than noon. Let us go
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: into the town while there is time, and you shall
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: be made my bride, and I your bridegroom this very day.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: Why should you and I be lonely by? Do not know?
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: She said? So they walked back through the wood, taking
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: a narrow path, which Jenny said would lead them quickest
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: to the village. And as they went they came to
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: a tiny cottage with a garden that was full of flowers.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: The old woodman was leaning over its paling, and he
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: nodded to them as they passed. I often used to envy,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: the woodman, said Jenny, living in that dear little cottage.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: Let us live there, then, said Lord George, and he
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: went back and asked the old man if he were
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: not unhappy living there alone? Tis a poor life here
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: for me, the old man answered. No folk come to
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: the wood except little children now and again to play,
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: or lovers like you. But they seldom notice me, And
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: in winter I am alone with Jack Frost. Old men
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: love merrier company than that. Oh, I shall die in
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: the snow with my faggots on my back. A poor
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: life here I will give you gold for your cottage
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: and whatever is in it, and then you can go
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: and live happily in the town, Lord George said, and
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: he took from his coat a note for two hundred
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: guineas and held it across the palings. Lovers are poor,
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: foolish dairy docks, the old man muttered. But I thank
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: you kindly, sir. This little thumb will keep me cozy
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: as long as I last come into the cottage as
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: soon as can be. It's a lonely place, and does
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: my heart good to depart from it. We are going
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: to be married this afternoon in the town, said Lord George.
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: We will come straight back to our home. May you
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: be happy, replied the woodman. You'll find me gone when
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: you come. And the lovers thanked him and went their way.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: Are you very rich, Jenny asked, ought you to have
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: bought the cottage for that great price. Would you love
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: me as much if I were quite poor? Little Jenny,
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: he asked her, after a pause. I did not know
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: you were rich when I saw you across the stream,
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: she said. And in his heart, Lord George made a
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: good resolve he would put away from him all his
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: worldly possessions, all the money that he had won at
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: the clubs, fairly or fouly, all that hideous accretion of
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: gold guineas he would distribute among the comrades he had impoverished.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: As he walked with the sweet and trustful girl at
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: his side, the vague record of his infamy assailed him,
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: and a look of pain shot behind his smooth mask.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: He would atone he would shun, no sacrifice that might
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: cleanse his soul. All his fortune he would put from him,
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: followed Chase. He would give back to Sir Follard. He
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: would sell his house in Saint James Square. He would
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: keep some little part of his patrimony enough for him
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: in the wood with Jenny, but no more. I shall
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: be quite poor, Jenny, he said, And they talked of
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: the things that lovers loved to, talk of how happy
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: they would be together and how economical. As they were
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: passing Herbert's pastry shop, which, as my little readers know,
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: still stands in Kensington, Jenny looked up rather wistfully into
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: her lover's ascetic face. Should you think me greedy? She
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: asked him? If I wanted a bun? They have beautiful
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: buns here. Buns. The simple word started latent memories of
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: his childhood. Jenny was only a child, after all. Buns
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: he had forgotten what they were like. And as they
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: looked at the pile of variegated cakes in the window,
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: he said to her, which are buns, Jenny, I should
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: like to have one too. I am almost afraid of you,
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: she said, you must despise me. So are you so
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: good that you deny yourself all the vanity and pleasure
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: that most people love. It is wonderful not to know
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: what buns are. The round, brown, shiny cakes with little
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: raisins in them are buns. So he bought two beautiful buns,
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: and they sat together in the shop eating them. Jenny
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: bit hers rather diffidently, but was reassured when he said
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: that they must have buns very often in the cottage. Yes,
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: he the famous toper and gourmet of Saint James's, relished
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: this homely fare as it passed through the insensible lips
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: of his mask to the palate. He seemed to rise
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: from the consumption of his bun a better man. But
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: there was no time to lose now. It was already
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: past two o'clock, so he got a chaise from the
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: inn opposite the pastry shop, and they were swiftly driven
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: to Doctors Commons. There he purchased a special license. When
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: the clerk asked him to write his name upon it,
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: he hesitated. What name should he assume under a mask?
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: He had wooed this girl under an unreal name. He
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: must make her his bride. He loathed himself for a trickster.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: He had vilely stolen from her the love she would
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: not give him. Even now? Should he not confess himself
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: the man whose face had frightened her, and go his way?
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: And yet, surely it was not just that he whose
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: soul was transfigured should bear his old name. Surely George
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: Hell was dead, and his name had died with him.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: So he dipped a pen in the ink and wrote
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: George Heaven for want of a better name, and Jenny
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: wrote Jenny Mere beneath it. An hour later they were
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: married according to the simple rites of a dear little
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: registry office in Covent Garden, And in the cool evening
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: they went home. End of chapter three, chapter four of
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: The Happy Hypocrite by Max Bierbaum. This LibriVox recording is
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Chapter four in the cottage that
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: had been the Woodmun's. They had a wonderful honeymoon. No
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: king and queen in any palace of gold were happier
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: than they For them, their tiny cottage was a palace,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: and the flowers that filled the gardens were their courtiers.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: Long and careless and full of kisses were the days
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: of their reign. Sometimes, indeed, strange dreams troubled Lord George's sleep.
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: Once he dreamed that he stood knocking and knocking at
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: the great door of a castle. It was a bitter night,
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: the frost enveloped him. No one came. Presently, he heard
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: a step in the hall beyond, and a pair of
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: frightened eyes peered at him through the grill. Jenny was
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: scanning his face. She would not open to him. With
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: tears and wild words, he besought her, but she would
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: not open to him. Then very stealthily round the castle
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: and found a small casement in the wall. It was open.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: He climbed swiftly, quietly through it. In the darkness of
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: the room, some one ran to him and kissed him gladly.
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: It was Jenny. With a cry of joy and shame,
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: he awoke. By his side lay Jenny sleeping like a
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: little child. After all, what was a dream to him?
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: It could not mar the reality of his daily happiness.
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: He cherished his true penitence for the evil he had
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: done in the past. The past that was indeed the
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: only unreal thing that lingered in his life. Every day,
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: its substance dwindled, grew fainter. Yet, as he lived his
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: rustic honeymoon, had he not utterly put it from him?
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: Had he not a few hours after his marriage written
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: to his lawyer declaring solemnly that he, Lord George Hell,
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: had forsworn the world, that he was where no man
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: would fire him, that he desired all his worldly goods
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: to be distributed thus and thus among these and those
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: of his companions. By this testament, he had verily atoned
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: for the wrong he had done, had made himself dead. Indeed,
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: to the world. No address had he written upon this document,
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: Though its injunctions were final and binding, It would betray
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: no clue of his hiding place. For the rest no
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: one would care to seek him out. He who had
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: done no good to human creature, would pass unmourned, out
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: of memory. The clubs, doubtless would laugh and puzzle over
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: his strange recantations. Envious of whommeever he had enriched, They
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: would say twas a good riddance of a rogue, and
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: soon forget him. But she, whose prime patron he had been,
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: who had loved him in her vile fashion la gambogie,
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: would she forget him easily? Like the rest? As the
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: sweet days went by, her specter also grew fainter and
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: less formidable. She knew his mask, indeed, but how should
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: she find him? In the cottage near Kensington deweia dceto l'atibrarum,
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: he was safe, hidden with his bride, as for the
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: Italian as she might search and search, or had forgotten
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: him in the arms of another lover. Yes, few and
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: faint became the blemishes of his honeymoon. At first, he
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: had felt that his waxen mask, though it had been
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: the means of his happiness, was rather a barrier betwixt
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: him and his bride. Though it was sweet to kiss
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: her through it, to look at her through it with
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: loving eyes, yet there were times when it incommoded him
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: with its mockery. Could he put it from him? Yet, that,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: of course could not be. He must wear it all
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: his life, And so as days went by he grew
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: reconciled to his mask. No longer did he feel it
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: jarring on his face. It seemed to become a very
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: part of him, And for all its rigid material, it
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: did forsooth express the one emotion that filled him, true love.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: The face for whose sake Jenny gave him her heart
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: could not but be dear to this George. Heaven also
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: every day chastened him with its joy. They lived a
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: very simple life, he and Jenny. They rose betimes like
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: the birds, for whose goodness they both had so sincere
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: a love. Bread and honey and little strawberries were their
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: morning fair, and in the evening they had seed cake
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: and dewberry wine. Jenny herself made the wine, and her
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: husband drank it in strict moderation, never more than two glasses.
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: He thought it tasted far better than the regions sherry brandy,
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: or the toquay at Brooks. Of these treasured topes he
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: had indeed nearly forgotten the taste. The wine made from
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: wild berries by his little bride was august enough for
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: his palate. Sometimes, after they had dined, thus he would
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: play the flute to her upon the moonlit lawn, or
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: tell her of the great daisy chain he was going
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: to make for her on the morrow, or sit quietly
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: by her side, listening to the nightingale till bedtime. So
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: admirably simple were their days. End of chapter four chapter
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: five of The Happy Hypocrite by Max Bierbaum. This LibriVox
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Chapter five. One morning,
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: as he was helping Jenny to water the flowers, he
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: said to her, suddenly, sweetheart, we had forgotten. What was
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: there we should forget? Asked Jenny, looking up from her task,
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: Tis them in saversary of our wedding? Her husband answered gravely,
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: we must not let it pass without some celebration. No, indeed,
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: she said, we must not. What shall we do? Between them?
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: They decided upon an unusual feast, They would go into
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: the village and buy a bag of beautiful buns and
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: eat them in the afternoon. So soon then as all
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: the flowers were watered, they set forth to Herbert's shop,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: bought the buns, and returned home in very high spirits,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: George bearing a paper bag that held no less than
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: twelve of the wholesome delicacies. Under the plane tree on
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: the lawn, Jenny sat her down, and George stretched himself
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: at her feet. They were loath to enjoy their feast
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: too soon. They dallied in childish anticipation on a little
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: rustic table. Jenny built up the buns one above another,
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: till they looked like a tall pagoda. When very gingerly
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: she had crowned the structure with the twelfth bun, her
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: husband looked on with admiration. She clapped her hands and
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: danced about it. She laughed so loudly, for though she
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: was only sixteen years old, she had a great sense
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: of humor that the table shook and alas the pagoda
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: tottered and fell to the lawn swift As a kitten,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: Jenny chased the buns as they rolled hither and thither
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: over the grass, catching them deftly with her hand. Then
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: she came back, flushed and merry under her tumbled hair.
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: With her armful of buns, she began to put them
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: in the paper bag. Dear husband, she said, looking down
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: to him, why do not you too smile at my folly?
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: Your grave face rebukes me. Smile or I shall think
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: I vex you. Please smile a little. But the mask
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: could not smile. Of course, it was made for a
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: mirror of true love, and it was grave and immobile.
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: I am very much amused, dear, he said, at the
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: fall of the buns. But my lips will not curve
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: to a smile. Love of you has bound them in spell.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: But I can laugh. Though I love you, I do
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: not understand. And she wondered. He took her hand in
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: his and stroked it gently, wishing it were possible to smile.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: Some day, perhaps she would tire of this monotonous gravity,
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: this rigid sweetness. It was not strange that she should
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: long for a little facial expression. They sat silently. Jenny,
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: what is it, he whispered suddenly, For Jenny, with wide
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: open eyes, was gazing over his head across the lawn.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: Why do you look frightened? There is a strange woman
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: smiling at me across the palings. She said, I do
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: not know her. Her husband's heart sank. Somehow, he dared
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: not turn his head to the intruder. She is nodding
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: to me, said Jenny. I think she is foreign, for
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: she has an evil face. Do not notice her, he whispered,
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: Does she look evil? Very evil, and very dark? She
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: has a pink parasol. Her teeth are like ivory. Do
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: not notice her think it is the mensiversary of our wedding. Dear,
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: I wish she would not smile at me. Her eyes
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: are like bright blots of ink. Let us eat our
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: beautiful buns. Oh, she is coming in. George heard the
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: latch of the gate jar. Forbid her to come in,
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: whispered Jenny. I am afraid. He heard the jar of
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: heels on the gravel path. Yet he dared not turn.
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: Only he clasped Jenny's hand more tightly as he waited
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: for the voice. It was Lo Gombogi's pray, pray, pardon me.
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: I could not mistake the back of so old a
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: friend with the courage of despair. George turned and faced
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: the woman. Even she smiled, though his face has changed marvelously, madam,
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: he said, rising to his full height and stepping between
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: her and his bride. Begone, I command you from this garden.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: I do not see what good is to be served
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: by the renewal of our acquaintance. Acquaintance, murmured La Gambogie
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: with an arch of her beadle brows. Surely we were friends. Rather,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: Nor is my esteem for you so dead? That I
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: would crave estrangement, Madam rejoined Lord George with a tremor
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: in his voice. You see me happy, living very peacefully
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: with my bride, to whom I beseech you, old friend,
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: present me. I would not, he said, hotly, desecrate her
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: sweet name by speaking it with so infamous a name
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: as yours. Your cooler hurts me, old friend, said Lo Gambogie,
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: sinking composedly upon the garden seat and smoothing the silk
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: of her skirts. Jenny said, George, then do you retire
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: pending this lady's departure to the cottage. But Jenny clung
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: to his arm. I were less frightened at your side,
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: she whispered. Do not send me away suffer her pretty presents,
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: said loa Gambogi. Indeed, I am come this long way
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: from the heart of the town that I may see
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: her no less than you, George. My wish is only
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: to befriend her. Why should she not set you a
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: mannerly example giving me welcome. Come and sit by me,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: little bride, for I have things to tell you. Though
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: you reject my friendship, give me at least the slight
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: courtesy of audience. I will not detain you over long,
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: will be gone very soon? Are you expecting guests? George onen,
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: dear rey, un mask jam pretra, She eyed the couple critically.
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: Your wife's mask, she said, is even better than yours.
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: What does she mean? Whispered Jenny. Oh send her away, serpent,
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: was all George could say. Crawl from our eden. Ere
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: you poison with your venom its fairest denizen, La GAMBOGYI
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: rose even my pride, she cried passionately. No certain bounds
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: I have been forbearing. But even in my zeal for friendship,
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: I will not be called serpent. I will indeed be
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: gone from this rude place. Yet ere I go, there
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: is a boon I will deign to beg show me, Oh,
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: show me, but once more the dear face I have
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: so often caressed, the lips that were dear to me.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: George started back. What does she mean? Whispered Jenny, in
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: memory of our old friendship, continued, Lo Gambogi, grant me
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: this piteous favor. Show me your own face, but for
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: one instant, and I vow that I will never again
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: remind you that I live. Intercede for me, little bride,
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: bid him unmask for me you have more authority over
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: him than I dof his mask with your own uxorious fingers.
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: What does she mean? Was the refrain of poor Jenny if,
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: said George, gazing sternly at his traitress, you do not
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: go now of your own will. I must drive you, man,
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: though I am violently from the garden, dof your mask,
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: and I'm gone. George made a step of menace towards
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: her false faint. She shrieked, Then I will unmask you
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: like a panther. She sprang upon him and clawed at
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: his waxen cheeks. Jenny fell back, mute with terror. Vainly
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: did George try to free himself from his assailant, who
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: writhed round and round him, clawing, clawing at what Jenny
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: fancied to be his face. With a wild cry, Jenny
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: fell upon the furious creature and tried with all her
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: childish strength to release her dear one. The combative swayed
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: to and fro a revulsive trinity. There was a loud pop,
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: as though some great cork had been withdrawn, and La
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: Gamboji recoiled. She had torn away the mask. It lay
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: before her upon the lawn, upturned to the sky, George
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: stood motionless. La Gambogie stared up into his face, and
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: her dark flush died swiftly away. For there staring back
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: at her was the man she had unmasked. But lo
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: his face was even as his mask had been line
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: for line, feature for feature, It was the same twas
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: a saint's face. Madam, he said, in the calm voice
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: of despair, your teek may well blanch when you regard
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: the ruin you have brought upon me. Nevertheless, do I
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: pardon you. The Gods have avenged through you the imposture
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: I have wrought upon one who was dear to me.
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: For that unpardonable sin, I am punished. As for my
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: poor bride, whose love I stole by the means of
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: that waxen semblance of her, I cannot ask pardon. Oh Jenny, Jenny,
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: do not look at me. Turn your eyes from the
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: foul reality that I dissembled. He shuddered and hid his
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: face in his hands. Do not look at me. I
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: will go from the garden, nor will I ever curse
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: you with the odious spectacle of my face. Forget me,
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: forget me. But as he turned to go, Jenny laid
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: her hands upon his wrists, and besought him that he
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: would look at her. For indeed, she said, I am
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: bewildered by your strange words. Why did you woo me
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: under a mask? And why do you imagine I could
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: love you less? Dearly seeing your own face, he looked
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: into her eyes. On their violet surface, he saw the
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: tiny reflection of his own face. He was filled with
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: joy and wonder. Surely, said Jenny, your face is even
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: dearer to me, even fairer than the semblance that hid
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: it and deceived me. I am not angry twas well
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: that you veiled from me the full glory of your face.
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: For indeed I was not worthy to behold it too soon,
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: But I am your wife. Now let me look always
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: at your own face. Let the time of my probation
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: be over. Kiss me with your own lips. So he
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: took her in his arms, as though she had been
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: a little child, and kissed her with his own lips.
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: She put her arms round his neck, and he was
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: happier than he had ever been. They were alone in
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: the garden. Now, nor lay the mask any longer upon
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: the lawn, for the sun had melted it. End of
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: Chapter five, end of The Happy Hypocrite by Max Bierbon