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 vote on the Brexit deal was due to take place in London on 11th
December 2018, but was postponed by the UK government. At the time
of writing, it is understood that the vote will now take place by 21st
January 2019. The European Parliament, with elections due 23rd–26th
May 2019, will need to give its consent (voting by a simple majority of
the votes cast) to the Withdrawal Agreement as well.
• On 12th December 2018, Theresa May faced a vote of no confidence
from her party, the Conservative party, over the Brexit deal agreed with
the EU. She comfortably survived the vote (200 to 117) and her party
leadership cannot be contested for another year.
• In its conclusions of 13th December 2018, the European Council
confirmed that the Withdrawal Agreement was not open for
renegotiation, and stressed that the Irish backstop was intended as an
“insurance policy to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland”, but
that if it were to nevertheless be triggered, “it would apply
temporarily”.

As this book goes to press, the UK is still scheduled to leave the European
Union on 29th March 2019. Should the Withdrawal Agreement be ratified
according to the Article 50 procedure, there will be a transition period
(until 31st December 2020) during which the UK will remain subject to EU
rules and regulations but unable to take part in any decision-making
process. During this period, the UK will be able to negotiate its own trade
agreements. The British government and the EU are committed to avoid a
“no deal” scenario, that is, a situation whereby the UK would leave the EU
without a Withdrawal Agreement. However, given the uncertainty over
ratification in the UK, both the EU and the UK have stepped up their
preparation for a potential British “crashing out” of the EU. Article 50
allows for the extension of the negotiation period. The EU has expressed
willingness to support this option in order to avert a political crisis.
Readers can find further coverage of Brexit in Chapter 27 of this volume.
Continuing coverage of political developments, relating to both Brexit
and the wider EU, can be found at:
http://ukandeu.ac.uk
https://ideasoneurope.eu/
https://www.politico.eu/section/brexit/
https://euobserver.com/
https://www.euronews.com/
https://www.france24.com/en/
http://www.dw.com
Contents
Detailed contents
List of figures
List of boxes
List of tables
List of contributors
List of abbreviations
How to use this book
How to use the online resources
1 Introduction
Michelle Cini and Nieves Pérez-Solórzano Borragán

PART 1 The Historical Context

2 The European Union: Establishment and
Development
David Phinnemore

3 From the Constitutional Treaty to the Treaty of

Lisbon and Beyond
Clive Church and David Phinnemore

PART 2 Theories and Conceptual Approaches

4 Neo-functionalism
Carsten Strøby Jensen
 5 Intergovernmentalism
Michelle Cini

6 Theorizing the European Union after Integration

Theory
Ben Rosamond

7 Governance in the European Union

Thomas Christiansen

8 Europeanization
Tanja A. Börzel and Diana Panke

9 Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union

Stijn Smismans

PART 3 Institutions and Actors

10 The European Commission
Morten Egeberg

11 The European Council and the Council of the

European Union
Jeffrey Lewis

12 The European Parliament

Charlotte Burns

13 The Court of Justice of the European Union

Ilias Kapsis

14 Interest Groups and the European Union

Rainer Eising

15 Citizens and Public Opinion in the European Union

Simona Guerra and Hans-Jörg Trenz

PART 4 Policies and Policy-making

 16 Policy-making in the European Union
Edward Best

17 Trade and Development Policies

Michael Smith

18 Enlargement
Ana E. Juncos and Nieves Pérez-Solórzano Borragán

19 The European Union’s Foreign, Security, and Defence

Policies
Anna Maria Friis and Ana E. Juncos

20 The Single Market

Michelle Egan

21 The European Union’s Social Dimension

Gerda Falkner

22 The Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice

Emek M. Uçarer

23 Economic and Monetary Union

Amy Verdun

24 The Common Agricultural Policy

Ève Fouilleux and Matthieu Ansaloni

25 Environmental Policy
David Benson, Viviane Gravey, and Andrew Jordan

PART 5 Issues and Debates

26 The Euro Crisis and European Integration
Dermot Hodson and Uwe Puetter

27 Brexit
Michelle Cini and Nieves Pérez-Solórzano Borragán

28 The Future of the EU

Brigid Laffan
Glossary
References
Index
Detailed contents
List of figures
List of boxes
List of tables
List of contributors
List of abbreviations
How to use this book
How to use the online resources
1 Introduction
Michelle Cini and Nieves Pérez-Solórzano Borragán

Introduction: Europe in crisis?

Why a European Union?
What is the European Union?
Who can join?
Who pays?
What does the European Union do?
The European Union and its citizens
The organization of the book

PART 1 The Historical Context

2 The European Union: Establishment and
Development
David Phinnemore

Introduction
Integration and cooperation in Europe: ambitions, tensions, and divisions
 The Communities and a Europe of ‘the Six’
Establishing the European Union
Reviewing the Union: the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference and the
Treaty of Amsterdam
Preparing for enlargement and the twenty-first century: the 2000
Intergovernmental Conference, the Treaty of Nice, and the ‘Future of
Europe’ debate
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

3 From the Constitutional Treaty to the Treaty of

Lisbon and Beyond
Clive Church and David Phinnemore

Introduction
From the ‘Future of Europe’ debate to the Constitutional Treaty
The 2003–04 Intergovernmental Conference and the Constitutional Treaty
The ‘no’ votes: crisis
‘Negotiating’ the Treaty of Lisbon
The main elements of the Treaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon: an appraisal
Ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon
The significance of the Treaty of Lisbon
Implementing the Treaty of Lisbon
Beyond the Treaty of Lisbon: crises, Brexit, and the future of the EU
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

PART 2 Theories and Conceptual Approaches

4 Neo-functionalism
Carsten Strøby Jensen

Introduction
What is neo-functionalism?
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 A brief history of neo-functionalism
Supranationalism and spillover
Critiques of neo-functionalism
The revival of neo-functionalism
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

5 Intergovernmentalism
Michelle Cini

Introduction
What is intergovernmentalism?
Classical intergovernmentalism and its critics
Variants of intergovernmentalism
Liberal intergovernmentalism and its critics
New intergovernmentalism
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

6 Theorizing the European Union after Integration

Theory
Ben Rosamond

Introduction
The limits of the classical debate and five ways forward
Political science, the ‘new institutionalism’, and the European Union
Social constructivist approaches to the European Union
International relations and international political economy revisited
Critical theories and the European Union
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

7 Governance in the European Union

 Thomas Christiansen

Introduction
Conceptualizing governance in the European Union
Multilevel governance
‘New governance’ and the European regulatory state
Normative debates about governance
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

8 Europeanization
Tanja A. Börzel and Diana Panke

Introduction
Why does Europeanization matter?
Explaining top-down Europeanization
Explaining bottom-up Europeanization
Towards a sequential perspective on Europeanization?
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

9 Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union

Stijn Smismans

Introduction
From ‘permissive consensus’ to ‘democratic deficit’
Maastricht and the debate during the 1990s
EU democracy and the governance debate
The Constitutional Treaty and the Treaty of Lisbon
Crises, populism, and EU legitimacy
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks
PART 3 Institutions and Actors
10 The European Commission
Morten Egeberg

Introduction
The functions of the Commission
Commission influence
The President and the Commissioners
Commissioners’ cabinets
The Commission administration
Committees, networks, and EU agencies
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

11 The European Council and the Council of the

European Union
Jeffrey Lewis

Introduction
The Council system’s evolving hierarchy and enigmatic traits
The layers of the Council system
The ministers’ Council(s)
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy
How does the Council system work?
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

12 The European Parliament

Charlotte Burns

Introduction
The evolving European Parliament
The powers and influence of the European Parliament
The internal politics of the European Parliament
 Elections, the people, and the European Parliament
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

13 The Court of Justice of the European Union

Ilias Kapsis

Introduction
The history of the European courts
Composition, structure, and procedure
Jurisdiction
‘Judicial activism’ and the reaction of the member states
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

14 Interest Groups and the European Union

Rainer Eising

Introduction
The EU institutions and interest groups
The increasing regulation of lobbying in the EU
The variety of European interest groups
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

15 Citizens and Public Opinion in the European Union

Simona Guerra and Hans-Jörg Trenz

Introduction
General perceptions of the European Union
Explaining public attitudes towards European integration
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
 Weblinks

Part 4 Policies and Policy-making

16 Policy-making in the European Union
Edward Best

Introduction
EU competences and modes of governance
The policy cycle and EU law
Legislative procedures
Policy coordination and economic governance
Policy-making in external relations
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

17 Trade and Development Policies

Michael Smith

Introduction
Institutions and policy-making: the Common Commercial Policy
Institutions and policy-making: development assistance policy
The European Union’s policy objectives in trade and development
The European Union as a power through trade and development
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

18 Enlargement
Ana E. Juncos and Nieves Pérez-Solórzano Borragán

Introduction
The history of enlargement
Enlargement: the process and actors
Explaining enlargement
The future of enlargement
 Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

19 The European Union’s Foreign, Security, and Defence

Policies
Anna Maria Friis and Ana E. Juncos

Introduction
The emergence of the EU as a foreign and security actor
CFSP institutions and actors
Explaining the EU as an international actor
CSDP operations and missions: policy in action
The future of EU foreign and security policy: challenges and opportunities
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

20 The Single Market

Michelle Egan

Introduction
Market integration in historical perspective
Setting the scene for the Single Market
The politics of neo-liberalism and ‘1992’
Correcting the market: the politics of regulated capitalism
The (modest) revival of the Single Market
Globalization and its relationship to the Single Market
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

21 The European Union’s Social Dimension

Gerda Falkner

Introduction
The early years of EU social policy
 Treaty reform: minor turns major
From Maastricht to the Lisbon Treaty
The development and scope of EU policy
EU funds: fighting social and regional disparities
The open method of coordination
Social partnership at European level
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

22 The Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice

Emek M. Uçarer

Introduction
Preludes to cooperation
The Schengen experiment
Maastricht and the ‘third pillar’
Absorbing the third pillar: from Amsterdam to Lisbon
Policy output: baby steps to bold agendas
EU migration and asylum policy before the migration crisis
The migration crisis and the EU response
Towards a Security Union?
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

23 Economic and Monetary Union

Amy Verdun

Introduction
What is economic and monetary policy?
From The Hague to Maastricht (1969–91)
From treaty to reality (1992–2002)
Explaining economic and monetary union
Criticisms of economic and monetary union
The global financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis
Conclusion
 Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

24 The Common Agricultural Policy

Ève Fouilleux and Matthieu Ansaloni

Introduction
The early days of the Common Agricultural Policy and the issue of CAP
reform
After 1992: the long reform process
Past and present debates on the CAP and EU agriculture
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

25 Environmental Policy
David Benson, Viviane Gravey, and Andrew Jordan

Introduction
The development of environmental policy: different perspectives
Linking different perspectives: the underlying dynamics of environmental
policy
Future challenges
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

PART 5 Issues and Debates

26 The Euro Crisis and European Integration
Dermot Hodson and Uwe Puetter

Introduction
From global financial crisis to euro crisis
EU institutions and the euro crisis
The crisis and the EU’s problems of legitimacy
 Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

27 Brexit
Michelle Cini and Nieves Pérez-Solórzano Borragán

Introduction
The UK in Europe after 1945
The Brexit Referendum
The Brexit negotiations under Article 50
Explaining Brexit and future scenarios for an EU–UK relationship
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks

28 The Future of the EU

Brigid Laffan

Introduction
Four scenarios on the future of the EU
Intervening factors shaping the future of the EU
Conclusion
Questions
Guide to further reading
Weblinks
Glossary
References
Index
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collection of eBooks and enjoy
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List of figures
Chapter 1
1.1 Map of Europe

Chapter 2
2.1 The pillar structure from Maastricht to Amsterdam
2.2 The pillar structure from Amsterdam to Lisbon

Chapter 10
10.1 European Commission: Organization Structure (simplified)

Chapter 12
12.1 Turnout in European Parliament elections 1979–2014

Chapter 14
14.1 Number of registrations in the Transparency Register, 2011–
18

Chapter 16
16.1 The policy cycle
16.2 The European Semester

Chapter 18
18.1 Key stages in the negotiation process

Chapter 22
22.1 Asylum applications per member state, in thousands,
January–June 2015
22.2 Detections of undocumented border crossings in the EU
(2015)

Chapter 24
24.1 Distribution of the budget between the two pillars of the CAP

Chapter 25
25.1 Environmental infringements per member state in 2017

Chapter 27
27.1 The Sequencing of the UK–EU Negotiations
27.2 The Future Relationship between the UK and the EU

Chapter 28
28.1 Four scenarios on the future of Europe
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with a fortune at stake, he hastily changed his tactics. He began now
to pooh-pooh the receipt, and declared that even if his unfortunate
memory had played him a trick as to where the picture had been
actually bought, it did not affect the contention that it had been
purchased with his money.
Sir Arthur Babraham, in his search for the truth, could not help
contrasting the bearing of the claimants. Avarice was engraved
deeply upon the yellow parchment countenance of S. Gedge
Antiques, whereas so open was the face of William that it went
against the grain to accuse its owner of baseness. In spite, of this,
however, Sir Arthur could not help asking himself how it had come
about that a young man so poor, who was yet clever enough to pick
up such a treasure for a few shillings had parted with it so lightly.
Upon the answer to that question he felt much would depend.
“I suppose when you gave this picture away you did not realize
its great value?”
“As a matter of fact, sir, I hardly thought about it at all in that way.
I only saw that it was a very lovely thing, and Miss June saw that it
was a very lovely thing. She admired it so much that she begged me
to let her buy it.”
“Did you take her money?”
“No, sir. She accepted it as a gift. I asked her not to let us think of
it as money.”
“Could you afford to do that?” Involuntarily the questioner looked
at the young man’s threadbare coat and shabby trousers, and at
once decided that he, of all people, certainly could not.
William’s answer, accompanied by a baffling smile, gave pause to
the man of the world. “I hope, sir, I shall always afford the luxury of
not setting a price on beauty.”
The dark saying brought a frown to the face of Mr. Worldly
Wiseman, who said in his slow voice: “But surely you would not give
away a Van Roon to the first person who asks for it?”
“Why not, sir—if you happen to—to——”
 “If you happen to what?”
“To like the person.”
Although the young man blushed when he made this confession,
such an ingenuousness did his cause no harm. Sir Arthur Babraham,
all the same, was puzzled more than a little by such an attitude of
mind. This indifference to money was almost uncanny; and yet as he
compared the face of the assistant with that of the master, the
difference was tragic. One suffused with the light that never was on
sea or land, the other dark as the image of Baal whose shadow was
cast half across the shop.
 LIV
Doubt was melting in the mind of Sir Arthur Babraham. He was
coming now to a perception of the truth. To one who lived in the
world, who saw men and things at an obtuse angle, the story as told
by this young man verged upon the incredible and yet he felt sure it
was true. The fellow was an Original, an unkind critic might even say
that he was a trifle “cracked,” but if this visionary who adored beauty
for its own sake could enact such a piece of deceit it would be
unwise ever to trust one’s judgment again in regard to one’s fellow
creatures. And the reverse of the medal was shewn just as plainly in
the face of the old dealer.
Man of affairs as Sir Arthur was, however, he knew better than to
take a hasty decision upon what, after all, might prove to be wrong
premises. It was his clear duty to see justice done in a strange
matter, but he would leave to others the task of enforcing it. Thus
when the old man renewed his demand to be allowed to go at once
to Park Lane and get the picture, he was met by a refusal which if
very polite was also final.
“Mr. Gedge, my daughter holds this picture in trust for your niece,
who I am informed by the Hospital, has been most cruelly used by
somebody. She accepts—we both accept—the story told by your
niece as to how in the first instance she came to possess this most
valuable thing, which by the way this young man has been able to
confirm. If you persist in trying to establish your claim I am afraid you
must apply to the law.”
This speech, delivered with judicial weight, was a bomb-shell.
With a gasp the old man realized that the game was up; yet as soon
as the first shock had passed he could hardly mask his fury. By his
own folly the chance of a lifetime had been thrown away.
As he was now to find, he was bereft of more than the Van Roon.
He had lost the trust and affection of William. In the first agony of
defeat, S. Gedge Antiques was far from realizing what the fact would
mean, but it was brought home to him poignantly two days later.
William’s first act, when Sir Arthur had left the shop, was to go to
the Hospital. Here he was received by a member of its staff who told
him that the patient was too ill to see anyone, and that even if she
recovered, her mind might be permanently affected. The doctor who
discussed the case with the young man allowed himself this
frankness, because he was very anxious for light to be thrown on it.
The girl had been cruelly knocked about, there were heavy bruises
on her body and marks on her throat which suggested that she had
had to fight for her life; and this was borne out by the delirium
through which she was passing. In the main it seemed to be inspired
by terror of a man whom she spoke of continually as Uncle Si.
The visitor was questioned closely as to the identity of the
mysterious Uncle Si. He was pressed to say all that he knew about
him, for the Hospital had to consider whether this was not a matter
for the police.
William was shocked and rather terrified by the turn things had
taken. The scales had been torn from his eyes with a force that left
him bewildered. He had trusted his master in the way he trusted all
the world, and now disillusion had come in a series of flashes which
left him half blind, he felt life could never be the same. His own world
of the higher reality was after all no more than the paradise of a fool.
Perversely he had shut his eyes to the wickedness of men and their
weak folly and in consequence he now found himself poised on the
lip of a chasm.
Two days after the terrible discovery which had changed his
attitude to life, he told his master that he was going to leave him. It
was a heavy blow. Not for a moment had such a thing entered the
old man’s calculations. He had got into the habit of regarding this
good simple fellow as having so little mind of his own that for all
practical purposes he was now a part of himself.
So inconceivable was it to S. Gedge Antiques that one wedded to
him by years of faithful service could take such a step, that it was
hard to believe the young man meant what he said. He must be
joking. But the wish was the anxious parent of the thought, for even if
the old man’s sight was failing, he was yet able to see the disdain in
the eyes of William.
“I can’t part with you, boy,” he said bleakly.
That, indeed, was the open truth. To part with this absolutely
honest and dependable fellow who had grown used to his ways, for
whom no day’s work was too long, for whom no task was too
exacting, who was always obliging and cheerful, whose keen young
sight and almost uncanny “nose” for a good thing had become quite
indispensable to one who was no longer the man he had been; for S.
Gedge Antiques to lose this paragon was simply not to be thought of.
“Boy don’t talk foolishly. I’ll raise your wages five shillings a week
from the first of the New Year.”
The old man could not see the look of slow horror that crept into
the eyes of William; yet in spite of his other infirmity, he did not fail to
catch the note of grim pain in the stifled, “I’ll have to leave you, sir. I
can’t stay here.”
Obtuse the old man was, yet he now perceived the finality of
these broken words. As he realized all they meant to him, the sharp
pain was like the stab of a knife. William was not merely
indispensable. His master loved him. And he had killed the thing he
loved.
“Boy, I can’t let you go.” Human weakness fell upon the old man
like a shadow; this second blow was even more terrible than the loss
of the Van Roon which was still a nightmare in his thoughts. “I’m old.
I’m getting deaf and my eyes are going.” He who had had no spark
of pity for others did not scruple to ask it for himself.
William was a rock. Primitive as he was, now that he could
respect his master no more, he must cease to serve him. The
revelation of that master’s baseness had stricken him to the heart;
for the time being it had taken the savour out of life itself.
One hope, one frail hope remained to S. Gedge Antiques, even
when he knew at last that his assistant was “through” with him. In
times so difficult the young man might not be able to get another job;
yet he had only to mention it to discover it was not a staff on which
he would be able to lean.
William, it seemed, had got another job already.
“At how much a week?” Habit was so strong, there was no
concealing the sneer in the tone of surprised inquiry.
Three pounds a week was to be William’s salary. The old man
could only gasp. It brought home to him, as perhaps nothing else
could have done, the real worth of the treasure he was about to lose.
It was four times the rate at which he had thought well to reward
these priceless services.
“Who is being fool enough to give you that money?” he sneered,
the ruling passion still strong in him.
“Mr. Hutton, sir, at the top of the street,” was the mournful answer.
S. Gedge Antiques dug a savage tooth in his lower lip. Joseph
Hutton was a young and “pushful” rival whom on instinct he hated.
“Fellow’s a fool to go spoiling the market,” he snarled.
Alas, the old man knew but too well that as far as William was
concerned, it was not at all a question of spoiling the market. That
aspect of the matter would never arise in his mind.
 LV
Every day for a fortnight William went to the Hospital, only to be
denied a sight of the patient. June was fighting for life. And even
when the crisis was passed and it began to appear that the fight
would be successful, she had to face an issue just as critical and yet
more terrible, for the fear remained that she would lose her reason.
In this time of darkness William was most unhappy. But as far as
he was concerned, events moved quickly. He said good-bye to his
master, removed his belongings from Number Forty-six, New Cross
Street, and entered the employ of a neighbouring dealer, a man of
far more liberal mind than S. Gedge Antiques; one who, moreover,
well understood the value of such a servant.
For William, it was a terrible wrench. He was like a plant whose
roots have been torn from the soil. With the ardour of a simple
character he had loved his master, trusting and believing in him to an
extent only possible to those endowed with rare felicity of nature. In
spite of himself he was now forced to accept the hard and bitter truth
that the old man upon whom he had lavished affection was not only
a miser, but something worse. When the passion which ruled his life
was fully roused he was tempted to anything.
Life, felt William, could never be the same again. There was still
the beauty of the visible universe, the pageantry of the seasons to
adore; the harmony and colour of the world’s design might still
entrance the senses of an artist, but not again must he surrender his
being entire to the joy of abounding in these wonders. It was the duty
of every man who dwelt upon the earth, however humbly, to learn
something of the hearts of others. One could only live apart, it
seemed, at one’s peril.
While in the lower depths and beginning to despair of seeing
June again, he called as usual at the Hospital one afternoon, to be
greeted by the long-hoped-for news that the patient had taken a turn
for the better. Moreover she had begged to be allowed to see him;
and this permission was now given.
Carrying the daily bunch of flowers, by means of which June had
already recognized his care for her, he was led along the ward to the
bed in which she lay. The change in her appearance startled him.
Little remained of the whimsical yet high-spirited and practical girl
who had mocked his inefficiency in regard to the world and its ways.
To see those great eyes with the horror still in them and that meagre
face, dead white amid the snow of its pillows, was to feel a tragic
tightening of the heart.
Tears ran down June’s cheeks at the sight of the flowers. “I don’t
deserve your goodness,” she said. “You can’t guess how wicked I
am.”
As she extended to him her thin arms he found it hard to rein
back his own tears. What suffering he had unwittingly brought upon
this poor thing. But it was impossible to keep track of her mind which
even now was in the thrall of an awful nightmare. God knew in what
darkness it was still plunged.
Shuddering convulsively at the memories his voice and his
presence brought to her, the words that came to her lips tore his
heart. “Am I struck? Am I like the Hoodoo? Am I like Uncle Si?”
To him, just then, this wildness was hardly more than a symptom
of a mind deranged. His great distress did not allow him to pursue its
implication, nor could he understand the nadir of the soul from which
it sprang. Yet many times in the days to follow he was haunted by
those words. They came to him in his waking hours and often in lieu
of sleep at night.
Returning from this short and unhappy interview to his new home
at Number 116, New Cross Street, he found a surprise in store. A
visitor had called to see him and, at the moment of his arrival, was
on the point of going away.
His late master, looking very grey and frail, had come to beg him
to return. He declared that he was now too old to carry on alone.
Sight and hearing were growing worse. He had another quarrel with
the char and had been obliged to send her permanently away,
although the truth of the matter was that an oppressed female had
risen at last against his tyranny and had found a better place.
S. Gedge Antiques was now a figure for pity, but William, fresh
from the lacerating presence of the niece whom he had so cruelly
thrown out of doors, had none to give.
The whine and snuffle of their last meeting, at whose
remembrance rose the gorge of an honest man, were no more.
Instead of the crocodile tricks were now the slow tears of a soul in
agony. The truth was, this childless and friendless old man, who in
the grip of the passion that had eaten away his life, had never been
able to spare a thought for his kind, simply could not do without the
one human being he had learned to love.
Their relations, as the old miser had discovered, were much
closer than those of servant and master. William stood for youth, for
the seeing mind, for cheerful, selfless giving, for life itself. The tones
of his voice, his kindly readiness, his tolerance for an old man’s
megrims; even the sound of this good fellow moving furniture in the
next room and the sense of him about the place had grown to mean
so much that, now they were withdrawn, all other things grew null.
The old man felt now that he could not go on, and at any other
moment, the force of his appeal might have touched the gentle
nature to whom it was made. But the stars in their courses fought
against S. Gedge Antiques. He was a figure to move the heart, as he
stood in the shop of a rival dealer, the slow tears staining his thin
cheeks, but William had the shadow of that other figure upon him.
The wreck of youth, of reason itself, seemed infinitely more tragic
than the falling of the temple upon the priest of Baal whose
wickedness had brought the thing to pass.
William denied his master. And yet hearing him out to the bitter
end, he was unable to withhold a little pity. All feeling for the old man
was dead; the bedside from which he had just come had finally
destroyed the last spark of his affection, yet being the creature he
was, he could not sit in judgment.
 “I’ll pay you twice what you are getting now if you’ll return to me,”
said the old man. “As I say, I can’t go on.” He peered into that face of
ever-deepening distress. “What do you say, boy?” He took the hand
of the young man in his own, as a father might take that of a beloved
son. “I’ll give you anything—if you’ll come back. I haven’t long to live.
Return to-night and I’ll leave you the business. Now what do you
say?”
Had it been human to forgive at such a moment, S. Gedge
Antiques would have been forgiven. But William could only stand
dumb and unresponsive before the master he had loved.
“I’m a warm man.” The voice of the old dealer who had made
money his god, sank to a whisper becoming a theme so sacred. “My
investments have turned out well. There’s no saying what I am worth
—but this I’ll tell you in strict confidence—I own property.” The
hushed tone was barely audible. “In fact I own nearly half my own
side of this street. Now what do you say? Promise to come back to
me to-night and I’ll go right now and see my lawyer.”
The young man stood the image of unhappiness.
“Only speak the word and you shall inherit every stick and stone.”
It was a moment to rend the heart of both, but the word was not
spoken. For the second time that afternoon William was hard set to
rein back his tears; but he had not the power to yield to this appeal.
Overborne by the knowledge that the hand of Fate was upon him,
S. Gedge Antiques, leaning heavily on his knotted stick, moved
feebly towards the dark street.
 LVI
William continued his daily visits to the Hospital, but he was not
allowed to see June. Life itself was no longer in immediate
danger, but she had had a relapse and the doctors were still afraid
that the mental injury would be permanent. Time alone could prove if
such was the case or no, but the mood induced by the interview with
William, and the strange words she had used to him, which seemed
to belong to some fixed and secret obsession, were not a good sign.
Following his visit there had been a rise of temperature. And this
meant further weakening of a terror-haunted mind. Even if the need
for anxiety was less acute, full recovery at best would be slow and
more than ever doubtful.
June was still menaced by the shadow when an event occurred
which intensified William’s distress. One morning, about a week after
he had rejected his master’s last appeal, an inspector of police came
to see him. Neighbours of S. Gedge Antiques had called attention to
the fact that the shop had remained closed for several days, and as
it was known that the old man had lately been living alone, the
circumstance had given rise to a certain amount of suspicion.
William’s name had been mentioned as lately in his employ and he
was asked to throw what light he could on the mystery.
“The neighbours think we ought to enter the shop and see if
anything has happened,” said the police inspector.
William thought so too. Remembering the last meeting with his
master, which had left a scar he would carry to the grave, a kind of
prophetic foreknowledge came to him now of a new development to
this tragedy.
It was not convenient just then to leave the shop as he happened
to be in sole charge of it, therefore he was unable to accompany the
inspector down the street. But half an hour later, on the return of his
new employer, curiosity forced him to put on his hat and go forth to
see if the thing he feared had come to pass.
The police, already, had made an entry of Number Forty-six.
Moreover a knot of people was assembled about the familiar door,
which was half open. Its shutters were still up, but two constables
were guarding the precincts. William caught the words “Murder—
Suicide—Robbery” as he came up with the throng.
In a state of painful excitement, he made his way to the door.
S. Gedge Antiques, it seemed, had been found lying dead on the
shop floor. The young man wished to pass in, but the police had
instructions to allow no one to enter. A doctor summoned by
telephone, had not yet come.
William was still discussing the matter, when the inspector whose
acquaintance he had made already, hearing voices at the door,
came from the shop interior to see if it was the doctor who had at last
arrived. He recognized William at once and invited him in.
Outside was a murky November day, but with the windows still
shuttered, it was necessary for three rather ineffectual gas-jets to be
lit in the shop. The light they gave was weird and fitful, but it sufficed
to enable the young man to see what had occurred.
As yet the body had not been touched. In accordance with
custom in such cases, it had to lie just as it was until viewed by a
doctor, for if moved by unskilful hands, some possible clue as to the
cause of death might be obliterated.
The old man was lying supine, before the Hoodoo. One glance at
that face, so drawn, so thwarted, and yet so pitiful in its ghastliness,
was enough to convince William that death had come directly from
the hand of God. With a shiver he recalled the words of a strange
and terrible clairvoyance, of late so often in his ears. “Am I struck?
Am I like Uncle Si? Am I like the Hoodoo?”
As the old man lay now, in all the starkness of his soul, with only
the essence shewing in that tragic face, William was overcome by
his likeness to the image. It was as if, at the last, his very nature had
gone out to some false god who had perverted him. That splay-
footed monster, so large of maw, an emblem of bestial greed, was
too plainly a symbol of the mammon of unrighteousness to which the
master had devoted his life.
Consumed by pity, William turned away from a sight which he
was no longer able to bear.
 LVII
Spring came, and June who had had to fight for life and then for
reason, won slowly to a final sense of victory. This came to her on
a delicious April day, when the earth waking from its long sleep, was
renewed with the joy of procreation. Her own nature, which had
passed through so many months of darkness, was quickened to
response in this magic hour.
The force of the emotion owed much, no doubt, to the spirit of
environment. Life had begun again for June under conditions
different from any she had known. Powerful friends had been gained
for her by a singularly romantic story. Of certain things that had
happened she could not bring herself to tell; but when as much of
the truth came out as could be derived from facts precariously
pieced together, she became a real heroine in the sight of Sir Arthur
Babraham and his daughter.
But for her courage and keen wit a great work of art might have
passed out of the country without anyone being the wiser. These
staunch friends were determined that justice should be done in the
matter, and kindly folk that they were, did not spare themselves in
the long and difficult task of restoring her to health.
The middle of April saw her installed in the gardener’s cottage at
Homefield in the care of a motherly and genial housewife. Here she
almost dared to be happy. The phantoms of the long night were
being dispersed at last in an atmosphere of sunny and cordial well-
being.
Miss Babraham, who walked across the park from the house
every morning to see her, had become a sort of fairy godmother
whose mission was to see that she did not worry about anything.
She must give her days and nights to the duty of getting well. And
she was going to be rich.
 Riches, alas, for June, had the fairy godmother but known, were
the fly in the ointment. They could only arise from one source, and
around it must always hover the black storm clouds. She had no real
right to the money which was coming to her, and although she had
no means apart from it, she felt that she must never accept a single
penny. It was morbidly unpractical perhaps, but there the feeling
was.
When June had been at Homefield about a week, Miss
Babraham found her one morning in the sunny embrasure of the
pleasant little sitting room improving her mind by a happy return to
her favourite “Mill on the Floss.” In passing out of its mental eclipse,
the angle of June’s vision had shifted a little; her approach to new
phases of experience was rather more sympathetic than it had been.
Before “that” had happened, she had been inclined, as became a
self-respecting member of the Democracy which is apt to deride
what it does not comprehend, to be a little contemptuous of “Miss
Blue Blood,” a creature born to more than a fair share of life’s good
things. But now that she knew more about this happy-natured girl,
she felt a tolerance of which, at first, she was just a little ashamed.
Envy was giving place to something else. Her graces and her air of
fine breeding, which June’s own caste was inclined to resent, were
not the obvious fruits of expensive clothes; in fact, they owed far less
than June had supposed to the length of the purse behind them.
The kindness, the charm, the sympathy were more than skin
deep. In the first place, no doubt their possessor had been born
under a lucky star; much of her quality was rooted inevitably in the
fact that she was her father’s daughter yet the invalid could not
gainsay that “Miss Blue Blood” had manners of the heart. Now that
June saw her in her own setting among her own people this golden
truth shone clear. And in the many talks June had with her good
hostess, Mrs. Chrystal, the wife of Sir Arthur’s head gardener, one
radiant fact rose bright and free: there was none like Miss
Babraham. Her peer was not to be found on the wide earth.
No doubt there were spots on this sun as there are spots on
other suns, but June agreed that as far as Miss Babraham was
concerned these blemishes were hidden from mortal eye. And each
day gave cogency to such a view. This morning, for example, the
distinguished visitor was brimming with kindliness. She talked simply
and sincerely, without patronage or frills upon the subjects in which
June was now interested. She had read all George Eliot and gave as
the sum of her experience that the “Mill on the Floss” was the story
she liked best, although her father preferred “Adam Bede” or “Silas
Marner.”
“Before my illness,” said June, “I was getting to think that all
novels were silly and a waste of time. But I see now that you can
learn a lot about life from a good one.”
She was in a very serious mood. Like most people who have not
the gift of “taking things in their stride” new orientations were a heavy
business. At school, as a little girl, she had shed many tears over her
arithmetic. The process of mind improvement was not to be
undertaken lightly. She could never be a Miss Babraham, but her
ambition, in the words of her favourite song, was to be as like her as
she was able to be.
Like true poets, however, Miss Babrahams were born. Such
graces came from an inner harmony of nature. All the best fairies
must have flocked to her christening. One minor gift she had which
June allowed herself to covet, since it might fall within the scope of
common mortals; it was the way in which her maid arranged her hair.
June’s own famous mane, which indirectly had brought such
suffering upon her, had mercifully been spared; it had not even been
“bobbed,” and with careful tendence might again achieve its old
magnificence. As shyly she confessed this ambition, which sprang
less from vanity than simple pride in her one “asset,” Miss Babraham
assured her that nothing could be nicer than her own way of doing it.
From hair and the art of treating it they passed to other intimate
topics; frocks and the hang of them; the knack of putting things on, in
which Miss Babraham’s gift of style filled June with envy since that,
alas, she would never be able to copy; and above all, her friend’s
wonderful faculty of looking her best on all occasions.
As the good fairy, after a stay of a full hour, rose to go, she said,
“If to-morrow morning is as fine as this morning, do you think you
could come over to us? You know the way. It’s an easy walk of less
than half a mile.”
June was sure she could.
“Please do, if you won’t find it trying. Come about eleven. And I
hope,” said the good fairy, casting back her charming smile as she
was about to pass out of the sitting-room door, “there may be a
pleasant little surprise for you.”
During the last few weeks June had known in abundance the
agreeably unexpected. And though at intervals during the rest of the
fair spring day, her mind toyed with this new “surprise,” she was not
able to guess what it was going to be.
 LVIII
Eleven o’clock the next morning saw June, dressed very carefully
indeed, before the portals of the House. She had come well.
Excitement had made her feel quite strong again; moreover she had
been promised a reward for the effort she was making. Apart from
that besides, it was the biggest feat of her social life, so far, to press
the bell of such a noble door.
The servant who answered it was not too proud to shew by his air
of prompt courtesy that her coming was anticipated. She was led
across a glorious hall—all black oak, family portraits, heads of deer
and suits of armour, with an open gallery running round the top, like
a scene on the movies—up a wide staircase, laid with a carpet thick
and subtle to the tread, along a corridor into a room of great length
whose glass roof gave a wonderful light. Many pictures hung upon
its walls. June was thrilled at the moment she found herself in it, for
this she felt sure, was the famous Long Gallery.
The thrill was not confined, however, to the room. When she
entered, June thought it was empty, but a look round disclosed at the
far end a tall young man in a familiar attitude of rapt absorption. Only
one person since the world began could have been so lost to the
present in sheer force of contemplating a mere relic of the past.
It was a rare bit of contrivance, all the same, on the part of Miss
Babraham. Here, before June, was the Sawney, raised to his highest
power. The fairy godmother had made a pass with her magic wand
and William the amazing stood before her in the flesh.
He was too far from the door and too rapt in adoration of the
masterpiece at which he was gazing, to have heard June come in.
And so, before he saw her, she had time to grow nervous and this
was a pity. For so effectively had the mine been sprung that she had
need just now of all her courage.
 A good deal of water had recently flowed under the bridge. It was
as if a hundred years had passed since she had dared to label him a
Sawney. He had grown up and she had grown down. So far away
was the time of their equality, if such a time had ever really been,
that she was just a shade in awe of him now.
Many hours had he spent by her bed. It was perhaps due to him
that she had emerged at last from the chasm which so long and so
grimly threatened to engulf her. His royal yet gentle nature had a true
power of healing. The look in his eyes, the music of his voice, the
poetry of his thoughts, the charm of his mere presence, had borne
him to a plane far above that of common people like herself. If Miss
Babraham was a fairy godmother, this young man was surely the
true prince.
Beyond anyone she had ever known he had a perception of
those large and deep things of sky and earth, which alone, as it
seemed to her now, made life worth while. He was the prophet of the
beautiful in deed as in word. During the long night through which she
had passed, the sense of her inferiority had been not the least of her
sorrows.
That sense returned upon her now as she stood timidly by the
door through which she had come, watching the beams of an April
sun, almost as shy as herself, weave an aureole for him. Here was
the god of her dreams; she who lately had known no god and who
long ago had taught herself to despise all forms of dreaming.
At last he turned and saw her.
“You!” He sprang towards her with an eager cry.
Brilliant stage management. But by fate’s perversity, the players,
somehow, were not quite equal to their parts. June’s shy timidity
communicated itself at once to this sensitive plant. There was not a
ghost of a reason why he should not have taken her in his arms, for
he had come to love her tenderly. The act had been devised for him,
the deed expected, but this young man was less wise in some things
than in others. Deep as he could look into hidden mysteries, there
was certainly one mystery whose heart he could not read.
 June’s odd confusion summoned a mistaken chivalry. Broken in
spirit, poor soul, by what she had been through, she could no longer
defend herself; he must be, therefore, very gentle. It would have
been easier to tackle the Miss June of New Cross Street, the rather
imperious and sharp-tongued niece of his late employer, than this
quivering storm-beaten flower.
With all his genius it was to be feared he would always be a
Sawney.
“How are you getting on Miss June?” he said lamely. “You look
very thin, but you’ve got quite a colour.”
Something of the gawklike New Cross Street manner, which
compared ill with Miss Babraham’s tact and finesse was in this
greeting. Phœbus Apollo took a sudden nose-dive. He came, in fact,
within an ace of a crash.
June’s cheeks grew flame-colour. An idiot less divine would have
given her a kiss and have had done with it, but in some ways he was
a shocking dunce.
“I expect you are surprised to see me here, aren’t you?”
She could but stammer that she was very much surprised.
“Sir Arthur has asked me to re-hang some of these.” A rather
proud wave of the hand towards those august walls shewed that he
was human. “And he has commissioned me”—She heard again that
dying fall which always touched her ear with ecstasy—“to go over
this Jan Vermeer most carefully with warm water and cotton wool.”
June knitted her brow in order to accompany his finger in its
mystical course.
“A Jan what?” she said, achieving a frown. Had it been possible
at this early stage of convalescence to achieve a note of reproof, that
authentic touch would not have been lacking.
William’s the blame for a lost opportunity. But life is full of gaffes
on the part of those who ought to know better. The ability of William
was beyond dispute. Miss Babraham had acclaimed it, whereby she
was no more than the mouthpiece of her father, that famous