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 Wrox’s ASP.NET 2.0
Visual Web Developer™ 2005
Express Edition Starter Kit

David Sussman and Alex Homer

 Wrox’s ASP.NET 2.0
Visual Web Developer™ 2005
Express Edition Starter Kit

David Sussman and Alex Homer

Wrox’s ASP.NET 2.0 Visual Web Developer™ 2005
Express Edition Starter Kit
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-8807-5
ISBN-10: 0-7645-8807-9
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1MA/SR/RS/QV/IN
Library of Congress Control Number is available from the publisher.
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dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United
States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Visual Web Developer is a
trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are
the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor
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 Credits
Senior Acquisitions Editor Vice President & Executive Group Publisher
Jim Minatel Richard Swadley

Development Editor Vice President and Publisher

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TECHBOOKS Production Services

About the Authors

David Sussman is a hacker in the traditional sense of the word. That’s someone who likes playing with
code and working out how things work, which is why he spends much of his life working with beta
software. Luckily, this coincides with writing about new technologies, giving him an output for his
poor English and grammar. He lives in a small village in the Oxfordshire countryside. Like many
programmers everywhere, he has an expensive hi-fi, a big TV, and no life. You can contact Dave through
his own company, ipona Limited: davids@ipona.co.uk.

Alex Homer is a computer geek and Web developer with a passion for ASP.NET. Although he has to
spend some time doing real work (a bit of consultancy and training, and the occasional conference
session), most of his days are absorbed in playing with the latest Microsoft Web technology and then
writing about it. Living in the picturesque wilderness of the Derbyshire Dales in England, he is well
away from the demands of the real world—with only an Internet connection to maintain some distant
representation of normality. But, hey, what else could you want from life? You can contact Alex through
his own software company, Stonebroom Limited: alex@stonebroom.com.
 Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi

Chapter 1: Getting Started 1

About the Example Application 2
Installing Visual Web Developer 3
Step by Step — Using the Setup Wizard 3
Step by Step — Installing the PPQ Example Files 7
Viewing the PPQ Example Database 10
Step by Step — Viewing the PPQ Database 10
Reading and Displaying Data with ASP.NET 20
Summary 30

Chapter 2: Designing a Web Site 31

Designing a Web Site 31
Making Web Sites Accessible 32
Multilingual Web Sites and Globalization 32
Designing the Appearance of the Site 33
Templates and Master Pages 34
Navigation and Menus 35
Text Styles and Style Sheets 35
Designing the Underlying Workings of the Site 36
Data Access 36
Building a Master Page and Content Page 37
Creating the Page Structure as a Master Page 37
Choosing the Correct Element and Control Type 48
Adding the Navigation Links 48
Building Your First Content Page 55
Converting an Existing Page to a Content Page 60
Checking for Accessibility 63
Summary 65
Contents
Chapter 3: Building the PPQ Database 67
Designing the PPQ Database 68
Storing the Menu Items Data 68
Applying the Rules of Normalization 69
Applying the Remaining Normalization Rules 70
Storing the Orders Data 72
The OrderItems Table 73
The Final Database Design 74
Creating and Modifying Databases in VWD 76
The Table Designer Window 78
The Query Window 80
Creating a New Database 81
Creating the PPQ OrderItems Table 82
Defining Relationships between Tables 88
Defining Relationships in the Table Designer 88
Defining Relationships with a Database Diagram 90
Extracting and Displaying the Menu Items 94
Extracting Data with a Custom SQL Statement 94
Creating a Stored Procedure 101
Using a View Instead of a Table or Stored Procedure 104
Summary 105

Chapter 4: Accessing and Displaying Data 107

Data Source and Data Display Controls 108
The Object-Oriented and Event-Driven Architecture 109
About the GridView Control 110
Using Different Column Types in a GridView 111
Using Data Display Control Templates 117
The DetailsView and FormView Controls 123
Using a DetailsView and FormView Control 123
Summary 127

Chapter 5: Displaying Nested and XML Data 129

Building Nested Data Displays 130
Creating Nested Data Displays Declaratively 131
Writing Code to Access and Display Nested Data 143
The DataReader and DataSet Objects 144
Using a DataReader with a Data Source Control 144
Generating a Single DataSet with Relationships 145
How the Code in the ShowMenu.aspx Page Works 153

vi
 Contents
User Controls and Binding to XML Data 157
Building the Delivery Costs Page 158
Building the Text Links User Control 162
Converting the XML with an XSLT Style Sheet 163
Creating the User Control 164
Converting Parts of a Page into a User Control 170
Summary 170

Chapter 6: Managing and Editing Data 173

Data Source Controls 173
Adding New Rows 186
Summary 193

Chapter 7: Placing an Order 195

The Order Process 196
Understanding Classes 197
Creating the Shopping Cart 198
The Shopping Cart Classes 198
The Shopping Cart Data Layer 212
The ObjectDataSource Control 212
The Data Layer Classes 213
Creating the Order Page 219
The Shopping Cart Page 225
Summary 234

Chapter 8: The Checkout Process 235

Paying for the Order 235
Collecting the Delivery Address 239
Collecting the Payment Details 245
Confirming the Order 248
Completing the Order 253
Understanding Exception Handling 260
Understanding Transactions 262
Summary 263

Chapter 9: Security and Deployment 265

Configuring Security 265
Modifying the Menu 273

vii
Contents
Publishing a Site 276
Summary 278

Index 281

viii
 Acknowledgments

Producing a book like this is a huge development effort that involves a lot of people—many of whom
work behind the scenes and never get the public recognition they deserve. In an attempt to recognize
this, we would like to thank everyone at the publishers, John Wiley & Sons, who worked so hard to turn
our manuscripts into a book.

However, none of this would have been possible without the help of the ASP.NET team at Microsoft. In
particular, Scott Guthrie—who’s unique vision for ASP.NET as a development environment, and willing-
ness to share his visions and provide support for the community as a whole—made our task so much
easier. Thanks guys, and keep on building great Web programming tools!
 Introduction

This book shows you just how powerful, and yet easy to use, the new Web development environment
from Microsoft really is. Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition, along with the relational database SQL
Server 2005 Express Edition, allows you to build great Web sites using drag-and-drop techniques, wizards,
and a huge range of developer-friendly tools and controls. The book demonstrates this by leading you
through the creation of a fully featured and highly interactive e-commerce Web application, like those
you are used to seeing on the Internet today.

Visual Web Developer is an environment based on the latest release of the Microsoft .NET Framework,
version 2.0, which includes the Web programming and runtime features that make up ASP.NET 2.0.
ASP.NET has evolved over the previous several years from the original Microsoft Active Server pages
(ASP) scripting platform that pioneered many of the current techniques in Web programming.

However, ASP.NET leaves the scripting world behind. It offers a development environment that
generates compiled code, includes a full range of tools that enable implementation of even the most
complex feature quickly and easily, and provides plenty of resource-based help and code creation
assistance. On top of all this, the execution efficiency of the .NET platform means that your Web sites
and applications run more quickly and reliably than ever before.

This is not a reference book. You will not find listings of the objects, classes, properties, and methods
of each feature in ASP.NET. Instead, this book is task-focused to provide you with the experience of
working in Visual Web Developer, quickly getting to grips with the environment and ASP.NET,
and learning how to achieve the kinds of requirements you will meet every day as you build your
applications. For example, after a brief section on installing Visual Web Developer and an introduction
to the development environment, Chapter 1 gets you building pages that display and allow you to edit
the data in a database.

As you progress through the book, you will learn about the following:

❑ Designing the structure of your Web site

❑ Implementing the database
❑ Displaying and editing data
❑ Building a shopping cart
❑ Publishing your finished site

All of the tools and examples you need are on the CD-ROM provided with this book, and you can run
the finished example on your own machine—or even on our Web site at www.daveandal.net/
books/8079.

So, what are you waiting for? Power up your machine, install Visual Web Developer, and get started
building your next great Web site!
Introduction

Conventions
To help you get the most from the text and keep track of what’s happening, we’ve used a number of
conventions throughout the book.

Try It Out
The Try It Out is an exercise you should work through, following the text in the book.

1. They usually consist of a set of steps.

2. Each step has a number.
3. Follow the steps through with your copy of the database.

How It Works
After each Try It Out, the code you’ve typed will be explained in detail.

Boxes like this one hold important, not-to-be forgotten information that is directly
relevant to the surrounding text.

Tips, hints, tricks, and asides to the current discussion are offset and placed in italics like this.

As for styles in the text:

❑ We highlight important words when we introduce them.

❑ We show keyboard strokes like this: Ctrl-A.
❑ We show filenames, URLs, and code within the text like this: persistence.properties.
❑ We present code in two different ways:

In code examples we highlight new and important code with a gray background.

The gray highlighting is not used for code that’s less important in the present
context, or has been shown before.

Source Code
As you work through the examples in this book, you may choose either to type in all the code manually
or to use the source code files that accompany the book. All of the source code used in this book is
available for download at www.wrox.com. Once at the site, simply locate the book’s title (either by using
the Search box or by using one of the title lists), and click the Download Code link on the book’s detail
page to obtain all the source code for the book.

Once you download the code, just decompress it with your favorite compression tool. Alternately, you
can go to the main Wrox code download page at www.wrox.com/dynamic/books/download.aspx to
see the code available for this book and all other Wrox books.

xii
 Introduction

Errata
We make every effort to ensure that there are no errors in the text or in the code. However, no one is
perfect, and mistakes do occur. If you find an error in one of our books, like a spelling mistake or faulty
piece of code, we would be very grateful for your feedback. By sending in errata you may save another
reader hours of frustration, and at the same time you will be helping us provide even higher-quality
information.

To find the errata page for this book, go to www.wrox.com, and locate the title using the Search box or one
of the title lists. Then, on the book’s details page, click the Book Errata link. On this page, you can view all
errata that has been submitted for this book and posted by Wrox editors. A complete book list including
links to each book’s errata is also available at www.wrox.com/misc-pages/booklist.shtml.

If you don’t spot “your” error on the Book Errata page, go to www.wrox.com/contact/techsupport
.shtml and complete the form there to send us the error you have found. We’ll check the information
and, if appropriate, post a message to the book’s errata page and fix the problem in subsequent editions
of the book.

p2p.wrox.com
For author and peer discussion, join the P2P forums at p2p.wrox.com. The forums are a Web-based
system for you to post messages relating to Wrox books and related technologies and interact with other
readers and technology users. The forums offer a subscription feature to e-mail you topics of interest of
your choosing when new posts are made to the forums. Wrox authors, editors, other industry experts,
and your fellow readers are present on these forums.

At http://p2p.wrox.com you will find a number of different forums that will help you not only as
you read this book but also as you develop your own applications. To join the forums, just follow these
steps:

1. Go to p2p.wrox.com and click the Register link.

2. Read the terms of use and click Agree.
3. Complete the required information to join as well as any optional information you wish to
provide and click Submit.
4. You will receive an e-mail with information describing how to verify your account and
complete the joining process.

You can read messages in the forums without joining P2P but in order to post your own messages, you
must join.

Once you join, you can post new messages and respond to messages other users post. You can read
messages at any time on the Web. If you would like to have new messages from a particular forum
e-mailed to you, click the Subscribe to this Forum icon by the forum name in the forum listing.

For more information about how to use the Wrox P2P, be sure to read the P2P FAQs for answers to
questions about how the forum software works as well as many common questions specific to P2P and
Wrox books. To read the FAQs, click the FAQ link on any P2P page.

xiii
 1
Getting Star ted

Developing sites and applications for the Web finally comes of age with the release of Microsoft
Visual Web Developer (VWD 2005 Express Edition) and version 2.0 of the .NET Framework. VWD
is one of the “Express” products that Microsoft provides as an expansion of the Visual Studio
product line. These are lightweight, easy-to-use, and easy-to-learn tools aimed at hobbyists,
students, and novice developers.

VWD is a lightweight tool for building dynamic Web sites and Web services. While there have
been other tools and technologies around for a long time, the great new features in VWD and
.NET 2.0 make it even easier to build, test, deploy, manage, and extend your Web sites and Web
applications. This chapter starts the process of demonstrating the capabilities of VWD, and
showing you how easy it is to build attractive, high-performance Web sites with ASP.NET 2.0.

In this chapter, you will:

❑ See the completed example application

❑ Install and set up Visual Web Developer 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Express Editions
❑ Install the example application files for this book
❑ View the example database and execute a test query
❑ Generate a simple page that uses the example database

The last two items in this list perform two tasks. They confirm that the database is properly
installed and accessible, thus avoiding any problems that may arise later on. They also let you see
just how powerful (and yet easy to use) VWD and ASP.NET 2.0 actually are. You will be amazed at
how quickly and easily you can create a page that includes many features that previously would
have required a great deal of code and development work.
Chapter 1

About the Example Application

In this book, you will be building a Web site that displays and sells products — a common scenario
for many Web developers today. It is not a complicated site in comparison to many “out there” but is
extensive enough to demonstrate most of the features of ASP.NET 2.0 and VWD, as well as showing you
the prime techniques and approaches that are used as the foundations for almost all Web sites built
using version 2.0 of .NET. The product you will see in the demonstration site is not complicated either.
The site is a fictional online pizza parlor that sells and delivers pizzas and drinks to customers.

Figure 1-1 shows the page in the example application that lists the items available from “Pizza Pretty
Quick,” or as you will see it described throughout the book, “PPQ.” The page header and the menu you
see at the left are part of a master page. This makes is easy to achieve a consistent look and feel for the
whole site, and saves a lot of work both when creating new pages and when updating the site design.
Data for the list of available items comes from a database table stored in a local copy of SQL Server 2005
Express Edition running on the same machine as VWD.

Figure 1-1: The completed site, showing the list of items you can order

The installation routine for VWD allows you to install SQL Server Express as part of the main program
installation. Alternatively, if required, you can access data stored in SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server
2005 on another machine. The set of examples you can download for this book contains the SQL Server
database.

2
 Getting Started

Installing Visual Web Developer

Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition is available along with SQL Server 2005 Express Edition on
the CD-ROM included with this book. Both are also available for download (along with other “Express”
products) from Microsoft at http://msdn.microsoft.com/express. You can install it on Windows 98,
Windows 2000 Professional or Server, Windows XP with Service Pack 2, or Windows Server 2003. In this
book, you will see it running on both Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Installation is easy, as you
will see in the following step-by-step guide, and there is no other configuration required after installation.

Step by Step — Using the Setup Wizard

Follow these steps to use the Setup Wizard:

1. If you are installing from the book’s CD-ROM and the installer doesn’t automatically begin
when you insert the CD, double click on setup.exe to start the Setup Wizard. If you downloaded
the software, double-click on the downloaded program file to start the Setup Wizard. In the
Setup Wizard, step through the screens that concern providing feedback and accepting the
license agreement. You may also have to install other updates, such as XP Service Pack 2 or the
latest Windows Installer, during this process, and these may require a reboot during the
installation.
2. Continue to click Next until you reach the Installation Options page that shows the list of prod-
ucts for installation (Figure 1-2). Make sure that SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is included,
and it is also a good idea to install the MSDN Express Library as well. You will see references to
help topics in these pages in various places within this book.

Figure 1-2: Installation Options page

If you would like to read more about the installation and any issues it may have, then you can click the
Readme link on the installation options screen (Figure 1-2).
3
Chapter 1
3. Click Next. In the Destination Folder page (see Figure 1-3), confirm the path where VWD will be
installed. It is recommended that you leave it set to the default. This page shows a summary of
the products for installation, and the disk space requirements.

Figure 1-3: Destination Folder page

4. Click Install to start the installation. After it completes, you will find entries in the Programs
section of your Start menu for Visual Web Developer and SQL Server. The SQL Server section
includes a tool that you can use to set the configuration options for SQL Server if you want to
change the services or protocols it uses. This may be necessary if you want to be able to access
SQL Server from another machine, but no changes are required when accessing it from the local
machine (as you will see in this book).
5. Start up VWD to confirm that it has been successfully installed. You will see the Start Page and
some empty docked windows, as shown in Figure 1-4.

4
 Getting Started

Figure 1-4: Start Page

6. VWD is extremely configurable, so you can change many features to suit your preferences.
Click Options on the Tools menu to open the Options dialog (see Figure 1-5). Here you see a
simplified view of the options you can set. These include general options, the fonts and colors
used in the various windows within the IDE, the formatting options for the text and code you
type, and the target browser or HyperText Markup Language (HTML) standard that you want
to be used for validating your page content.

5
Chapter 1

Figure 1-5: Options dialog box

7. You can also exert a lot more control over a wider range of settings by ticking the “Show all
settings” checkbox at the bottom left of the Options dialog (see Figure 1-6). This displays a tree
with literally hundreds of settings available in more than 75 pages of options. Some of these of
these are not applicable to the kinds of files you will create in VWD, or when writing code using
Visual Basic 2005. However, the General pages in sections such as Environment, Help, Projects
and Solutions, Text Editor, and HTML Designer are worth a visit as you get used to using the
tool (and you now know where to look for these settings!).

Figure 1-6: Selecting the “Show all settings” checkbox

6
 Getting Started
After installing the Visual Web Developer tool, you should install the example files for the Pizza Pretty
Quick application described in the book. To download the examples (or to see the application running
online), go to www.daveandal.net/books/8079. You can also download the examples from the Wrox
Books Web site at http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0764588079.html.

The examples download file contains two versions of the PPQ application. One is a skeleton site contain-
ing the database, the images, and other resources used in the application, but without the ASP.NET pages
that you will create by working through the chapters in this book. The other is a completed version of the
application that you can run to see what it looks like, how it works, and modify or experiment with as you
wish — without having to build the pages yourself first.

The next section describes the process for installing the samples, setting up the file permissions that are
required, and testing the application to make sure that it is working properly on your machine.

Step by Step — Installing the PPQ Example Files

Follow these steps for installing the PPQ example files:

1. Download the example files from one of the locations detailed earlier. The download file is a
ZIP file, and you must extract the files from it into a folder on your machine, making sure that
you retain the folder structure within the examples ZIP file. Extract the examples into a new
folder named C:/Websites/PPQ/, or into a folder of the same name on another drive. You will
see the two subfolders named skeleton and complete within the PPQ folder (see Figure 1-7).

Figure 1-7: Subfolders inside the PPQ folder

7
Chapter 1
2. If you are running Windows XP and you have Internet Information Services (IIS) installed,
you must now grant the accounts named ASPNET and NETWORK SERVICE (under which
ASP.NET executes, depending on whether you installed SP2) the required permissions to access
the database provided with the example files. (This and the remaining steps are not required
in Windows Server 2003, or if you do not have IIS installed.) In Windows Explorer, right-click
on the subfolder named App_Data within the skeleton folder and select Properties. In the
App_Data Properties dialog, select the Security tab and click the Add button to open the “Select
Users or Groups” dialog, as shown in Figure 1-8. Click the Locations button, and select the
name of your machine (not the domain it is part of) and click OK; then enter the account name
ASPNET in the text box and click the Check Names button. The full account name, including
the machine name, is underlined to indicate that is was located.

Figure 1-8: Select Users or Groups dialog

3. Click OK to return to the Select Users or Groups dialog, ensure the new entry ASPNET is selected
in the upper list, and select the Write option in the lower list box (see Figure 1-9); then click OK.

8
 Getting Started

Figure 1-9: Selecting the Write option

If you cannot see a Security tab in the App_Data Properties dialog, you have Simple File Sharing
enabled. Select Folder Options from the Tools menu, and select the View tab. At the bottom of the list,
uncheck the option named Use Simple File Sharing. This option does not appear in Windows Server
2003 because this operating system does not support simple file sharing.
However, the Use Simple File Sharing option does not appear in Windows XP Home Edition either,
because this operating system uses only simple file sharing. In this case, you must restart your machine
and hold down the F8 key as it starts, and then select Safe Mode. Log in as Administrator after Windows
starts up in safe mode, and navigate to the C:\WebSites\PPQ folder in Windows Explorer. When you
right-click on the App_Data folder and select Properties, you will see that the Security tab has now
appeared.

4. Now, repeat the process from step 2 to give Write permission to the NETWORK SERVICE
account for the App_Data folder within the skeleton folder of the examples.

If you have not yet installed Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, you will not have an account named
NETWORK SERVICE, and so you can skip step 3.

5. Repeat the process again from step 2 to give Write permission to the ASPNET and NETWORK
SERVICE accounts for the App_Data folder within the completed folder of the examples.
The application, including the database, is now installed and ready to use.

9
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
"I don't know," replied the boarding-house keeper. "She has not fully
explained her motives to us yet. Wait until to-morrow, then we will
understand everything. I cannot believe that she has not acted for
the best. Her wisdom is not ours, Susan."
"Ha!" laughed Susan, contemptuously, "I understand you. You
amuse me. You remind me of what happened a few years back
when the prime minister, that then infallible idol of England,
committed that terrible mistake in his foreign policy. Do you
remember how all the thinking men of his own party, though they
perceived his errors, tried to stifle their convictions and reason? You
remember with what timid vague speeches, men who ought to have
known better, defended that suicidal policy in the House. They
thought that venerated man, whose gigantic intellect so towered
above their own, could not be at fault. They said to themselves that
he must be right in everything. He doubtlessly saw what they could
not. Who were they to question his wisdom? Well, Eliza, that's
exactly the way you always think and talk about your infallible idol,
our Chief. You believe she must be right somehow, though you can't
see how, though she seems to be acting as wrongly as possible. But
you will soon find it out, Sister Eliza, very soon. Catherine King will
never again hold up her head, and dictate to the Sisterhood as she
could two days ago. Her power of compelling them to believe in her,
will all go. You will see it, I tell you—you will see it."
Susan spoke excitedly. Sister Eliza's sinking heart told her that the
words were true, but she was unwilling to confess this. "Take care,
Susan," she said, wishing to turn the conversation. "The street is
rather too crowded for discussion of these matters. We shall be
overheard, if you don't take care."
"Trust me," was the reply, "I'm keeping my eyes open; besides, I
shall say nothing that can possibly be understood by passers-by. But
tell me, Sister Eliza, don't you agree with what I said?"
"No! I cannot yet see wherein lies the very great danger of sparing
this wretched girl."
"Not see it! but this is absurd, you do see it. You know what she
now is, religious, love-sick, and a lunatic to boot. How can you
expect such a one to keep a secret like ours? Sister Eliza! you must
understand as well as I do, the meaning of what has happened. You
see that the Chief has sacrificed the Cause to her private feelings.
You know how she will hate and despise herself when she awakes
from her folly, and then she will be as weak as Samson after the loss
of his locks; for she will have lost what is her strength, her secret of
success—belief in herself. And without Catherine King what do you
think will happen to the Cause?"
"I am afraid, without her, it will be lost."
"Of course it will. But we must do our best. Even the Inner Circle
must not know how it is that the judgment on Mary Grimm has not
been executed. We must see Catherine to-morrow. We must concoct
between us some plausible lie for the Sisters. We might make them
believe that the girl is dead, anything rather than let them guess the
fatal weakness of the Chief."
"That does seem the only thing to do," said Sister Eliza, thoughtfully.
"I will try and think the whole matter over to-night."
"There is one other way out of the difficulty."
"And what is that?"
"Cannot we execute this judgment still, without consulting Catherine
King? But, no, no!" she continued, in tones of suppressed rage, "that
is too dangerous now; she told us that she has actually warned the
girl against us. Why, the Chief herself is a traitor!"
"Sister Susan, I should advise you to take care what you say,"
quietly observed the boarding-house keeper.
"Ah! yes, I know," said Susan, contemptuously. "You are a strong
friend of hers, you will stick to her through anything. You believe in
all she does."
"Well, here we are in Oxford Street," interrupted the other, "I think I
shall get into this omnibus. I will call on you early to-morrow
morning, and we will talk over everything before we see Catherine
King."
"I feel very upset," said Susan to herself after they had separated.
"All seems to be going wrong just now; but it won't do to worry—
worry brings grey hairs. I must amuse myself—I must have
dissipation to-night to keep the blues away. Let me see, it's only six
o'clock now; a stroll in the Burlington, and a few glasses of sherry,
will be a good beginning." So she got into a hansom and drove to
Piccadilly, touching up her complexion on the way, with the
apparatus she carried in her little hand-bag.
She sauntered up and down the Arcade several times, looking into
the shop windows, and feeling quite happy again when she
perceived that she attracted a satisfactory share of the attention of
the men.
"How do you do, Miss Riley?" said a quiet voice by her side.
She started, and turning round saw Dr. Duncan.
"Why, doctor!" she exclaimed, rather confused. "You are the last
person I should have expected to meet here."
"Well, it is not very often I am to be seen in the Burlington," he
replied; "but as it happened to lie on my way, I am strolling through
it."
"And I," she said, with a laugh, "have been calling on my
bootmaker."
"I have not seen you since you left the hospital, Miss Riley."
She saw that he glanced with some surmise at her fashionable and
expensive attire, so different from the simple dress of the hospital
nurse he had always been accustomed to see her in. It might prove
inconvenient to her, at some future time, were this man to entertain
any suspicions as to her mode of living, so she said, with a pretty
attempt at a bashful smile, "You must not call me Miss Riley now, Dr.
Duncan. I have changed my name."
"Let me congratulate you? May I ask by what name I am to call you
for the future?"
"Well I have changed my name and yet not changed it—I am Mrs.
Riley—I have married a cousin. But, doctor! I am so glad to have
met you, I am anxious to know how poor Mary Grimm is now. Have
you heard from your sister lately?"
"I am very glad to have good news to tell you, Mrs. Riley. I saw Miss
Grimm yesterday. Her health is certainly improving very rapidly. I am
looking forward to her complete recovery, at an early date."
"Ah! you saw her yesterday; did she say whether her aunt had been
there lately?"
"I don't think Mrs. King has been down there for about a week."
"Indeed! She told me she was going to Farnham yesterday."
"She was certainly not there before I left, and that was late in the
afternoon."
"And shall you see Mary again soon, doctor?"
Mary's letter was in his pocket; he had received it that morning, and
had been beside himself with delight ever since. His exultation rang
in his voice as he replied:
"I am going to see her to-morrow morning."
Susan perceived the expression in his eyes, and his joy irritated her
excessively. "Well, good-night, Dr. Duncan," she said, in a harder
tone. "Thank you for your good news. When you see Mary, to-
morrow, give her my love, and please tell her that I inquired about
her. Say that I have not forgotten her and won't. Don't forget will
you, doctor?"
"I don't like that cunning face of yours, Mrs. Riley," he said to
himself when she had gone. "I distrust you. It is foolish of me, but I
cannot help it. I cannot help imagining you dislike my poor little bird
down there—and yet you seemed very anxious about her when she
was ill. There is thorough malice in your voice and eye, but we don't
fear you."
His love for Mary had inspired him with a subtle instinct, that told
him when danger to her was near; and he felt a strong antipathy for
the pretty woman with the wicked languishing eyes.
 CHAPTER XXV.
THE FIRST WARNING.
On the following morning Dr. Duncan took the train to Farnham, and
full of delightful anticipation walked over to his sister's cottage.
It was the most lovely spring day imaginable. The young vegetation
glowed beneath the bright sky, and a warm fresh breeze stirred it to
happy music. It was, indeed, the very morning to go a-wooing. All
nature was in harmony with the man's feelings, and he felt all its
joyous sympathy as he walked with buoyant step along the fair
English lanes, and the open moorland tracks, with fancies exultant
and blithe as a lark's morning song.
At last he reached a little iron gate that opened on to the grounds of
the cottage. He passed through it, and followed the path that clove
the shrubbery, whose waving blossoms of lilac and laburnum
seemed to whisper a glad welcome to him. Then, his heart beating
fast, he walked on, till turning round a corner of the bushes, the
lawn opened out before him, with the creeper-covered cottage
beyond it.
And then he saw a sight that made him stand quite still suddenly,
and hold his breath with keen emotion.
One who loved him had been watching for him, and had seen him
from her window coming down the road, then she had gone out to
meet him.
He saw the young girl walking towards him across the fresh daisy-
sprinkled grass which still sparkled with dew at her feet. Her hands
were slightly extended as if eager to greet him. She wore a morning
dress of white muslin. There was no hat on her head, and the
sunshine gleamed in her tresses. A faint blush lit her cheek, and on
her lips played that smile of pleasure which, when a lover finds his
presence brings it to his mistress, makes him know the most
exceeding happiness this world can give.
He did not move, but stood still, wishing to prolong each stage of his
delight, gazing with adoration at the lovely figure as it approached.
So ethereal a being did she appear in that white robe, with her face
pale save for the faint glow of joy that flushed either cheek; so fair,
so fragile a creature, that she seemed to her lover as of some sweet
noble order of spirits, too high, too pure, for the coarse affections of
this earth; and tears came to his eyes with the tenderness he felt in
his worship of this delicate girl.
She came up to him, and placed her hands in his. He held her at his
arms' length for a few moments, saying nothing, feasting his eyes
with her beauty; then he drew her close to him and kissed her
passionately.
She tried to free herself from his grasp with a little low laugh that
only encouraged him to hold her the closer, and they felt their hearts
beat against each other.
When he released her there was a deep colour on her face, and she
looked up at him with a pretty expression, a half smile, half-pout
upon her mouth, as if she did not quite know whether to laugh or
cry, be pleased or angry.
He led her to the bench under the beech-tree, and when they were
seated spoke to her, her hands still held in his.
"My darling! so you have sent for me. Oh, my love! I can see that it
is good news you have to tell me this day."
She made no reply, but he felt her hand tighten its grasp of his.
"Mary! dare I hope at last, that you will allow me to be your friend,
your husband? Have all the difficulties you spoke of been removed?"
"Harry! the shadow has gone from my life. What I feared would be
done will not be done. You were right in what you said. To reveal my
secret now would do no harm nor good to anyone. The mischief of
the secret has gone for ever."
"Thank God!" cried her lover excitedly; "and now, Mary, there is
nothing between us. Keep the secret; do not betray your friends. I
do not care to know it. I understand you, this precious scheme,
whatever it was, has come to nothing, has been abandoned. My
darling! What do I care what it was? I know well it is nothing that
should bring blame to your innocent soul. Poor child! that you should
have become the tool of these wicked designing wretches! But now
it is all over. You trust me, Mary, don't you?"
Another pressure of the hand was a sufficient answer to him.
"Then, Mary, the whole of my life will be devoted to your happiness.
Ah! I never imagined that I could ever love a woman as I do you!
Oh, Mary, Mary! I do not deserve to have been made so happy by
you. And you really will have me as a husband? This is not a dream
is it?"
"If you wish it," she whispered; "I will do all you wish."
"All I wish, that is how you always speak; but what do you wish?"
She raised her eyes till they met his, and whatever doubts he might
have held about her feelings towards him, were dispelled by that
soft, yet passionate look.
"Mary, Mary, my love!"
"Harry! my love! my husband! You ask me for my love. Ah! indeed,
you know you have it. Oh, Harry, do you think that all women feel
this, do they love their husbands as dearly as I love you? It seems
all so strange, so wonderful."
He drew her head towards him and kissed the tears from her tender
eyes; suddenly she started.
"Harry!"
"Yes! my dear little girl."
"I must pray."
He looked at her with some surprise. There was a great earnestness
in her eyes as she clung to his hand and exclaimed, "Oh, Harry! you
know how wicked I have been. You know how for many years I did
not even believe in God. I was an atheist!" She shuddered as she
uttered the word in accents of loathing. "And yet, see! he has sent
me this wonderful happiness, this sweet, sweet love. How good this
God must be! He is kind even to me, to me! Do you think he will
hear me, will he be pleased if I pray to him, Harry, if I thank him for
all that he has done?"
Her wistful look, the simple pathos of her speech touched the man's
heart and his eyes dimmed, as he cried out passionately in reply,
"Oh, my darling! my dear, dear, little sweetheart! You wicked,
indeed! If God does find pleasure in any prayer, he must surely do so
in such true, pure prayer as yours. You are right, Mary, you are right.
We ought, indeed, to thank God together for having filled our hearts
with this delicious love. I even more than you; for unlike you I have
had everything in my favour, and yet I have lived an irreligious
wicked selfish life. You have taught me a lesson, oh, my sweet little
wife!"

Can Heaven itself disclose greater delights than did this glorious May
day for these two! Ah! those golden hours; how the one, who later
on will be left alone in the cold world will recall the magic rapture of
them! Ah, precious hours, glimpses of Paradise, of which so few
come to brighten the long dark days of most of us.
After a time the lovers went indoors, and the doctor told his sister
everything. Poor little Mrs. White, how fussy and excited she was all
that day! I verily believe she was happy as were they themselves on
seeing that matters had been settled definitely at last between these
two people whom she loved so dearly.
At lunch exceedingly high spirits prevailed, high spirits that were not
far removed from tears at times, from so profound depths they
sprung. The little children caught the contagion from their elders and
became very unruly in their merriment; and yet they were not
reproved by their mother, who seemed to have lost her head in the
excess of her gladness, and laughed so much at their pranks that
their quick perceptions grasped the situation in a way; they saw that
some very joyful thing had happened, and that discipline was to be
ignored for the day; they discovered that mother, uncle, and "Auntie
Mary," would tolerate anything, and they profited by the occasion.
"Uncle Harry, have you brought me some chokkies?" asked the little
boy, and was not even rebuked for his rudeness.
Uncle had forgotten all about chocolates this time, but replied,
"Bobby, I'll send you pocketsful of chokkies to-morrow."
"And a boat, Uncle Harry?"
"Yes, and a nice boat, and a new rocking-horse."
The children clapped their hands and shouted with delight; they
thought their elders had surely gone mad, and that the Infant
Millenium had come.
"And a new dolly for me?" cried the eldest girl.
"Yes! and a doll's house too, with lots of furniture," immediately
responded the evidently insane uncle.
But, at last, the nurse, a worthy female, who alone in the
establishment had not altogether lost her head, thought fit to come
down and intervene, and she marched the reluctant youngsters off.
Mrs. White had to attend to her household cares, so the lovers were
again left alone. They had somewhat settled down to their new
relations by this time, so they sat side by side and talked over the
vague bright future before them. They arranged where they would
live and so on, and formed all manner of plans, as is the way of
young people in their situation.
"Why, I feel quite like an old married woman already," said Mary at
last, with a smile.
"You see we know each other pretty well by this time—we are not
strangers to each other," he replied.
"No, Harry! but I can hardly realize all this yet. Poor Mrs. King! what
will become of her?" she exclaimed suddenly, as the recent events
flashed across her mind.
"Oh! she will be all right, I suppose," replied the doctor, who could
hardly be expected to take much interest in Catherine's welfare.
"She was very good to me," said Mary, thoughtfully. "We loved each
other very much."
"How came you to live with her, Mary? I beg your pardon; that may
be part of your secret."
"Oh no! It is not. I can tell you all about that. In fact, I had made up
my mind to tell you some time to-day. You ought to know something
about me before you make me your wife, dear."
"I know quite enough about you, my darling, to know that I shall
always love you very much, and that you deserve the love of a
better man than me," he replied, kissing her.
"Ah! but you will be ashamed of me when I tell you this. Harry, I
have deceived you. Mrs. King is not really my aunt."
"So much the better, my pet. I am very glad to hear it."
"I must tell you who I am, Harry. It has been on my mind for a long
time to do so. Now listen, and don't interrupt me till I have finished."
Dr. Duncan had never before inquired into her history, and now, for
the first time, she told him who her parents were, of her life at
Brixton, how she had run away from home, how she had been kindly
treated by the unfortunate barrister, and how, at last, she had met
Catherine King and had been adopted by her.
When she had completed her narration, she sobbed and covered her
face with her hands. "Ah, Harry!" she cried, "now you know what a
wicked girl I have been. You will not put trust in me any more. Do
you hate me now, Harry?"
"Hate you!" he exclaimed, taking her hands from her face and
kissing it. "You silly little thing! you say that to tease me." He paused
a little, looking into her eyes as he held her head, and then
continued in a voice that shook with strong passion, "You know I
trust you—trust you as I would—as I would—yes!—even as I would
trust the good God himself, who created that pure soul of yours, my
queen! Ah! Mary, Mary, you do not half understand how dear you
are to me now!"
"Yes I do, Harry; I have only to think of what you are to me, to
understand it," she said, smiling through her tears.
"It is delicious to hear those words from your lips, Mary!"
"And you are not ashamed of me then, dear, after what I have told
you?"
"Ashamed of you? No! prouder of you than ever. It is a strange
history this of yours, Mary. Very few could have come out of such an
ordeal unscathed, as you have done."
"I wish I could tell you all the rest too, dear; I do so wish you knew
my secret. But I have sworn not to reveal it."
"There is now no object for revealing it, pet, except to gratify my
idle curiosity; and I would not have you do that. But I have an
important question to ask you."
"What is it?"
He put his arm round her and drew her close to him. "When are we
to be married?"
"Oh! I have not thought of that yet."
"Well, it is rather sudden; but, Mary, it will do you so much good to
go abroad for awhile. Now, if we are married soon, we can go away
together for a long holiday. I can get someone to do my work for me
in my absence."
So it was settled that the marriage should take place in the course of
a few weeks; and when the sun set that evening, and the lights
were lit in the cottage, there were no happier people in all merry
England than the doctor, his sweetheart, and his sister.

But even on that, the first evening of unalloyed happiness for the
lovers, the stern Fate that seemed to hunt relentlessly the
unfortunate girl put forth her grim finger in warning. While the three
were sitting down in the cosy drawing-room after dinner, the
postman's knock was heard at the door and the maid brought Mary
a letter.
"A letter for me!" she exclaimed as she took it, and her face paled,
and a shiver ran through her body as she turned it over in her hands
uneasily without opening it. No one ever wrote to her, and she felt a
foreboding of some great ill. Instinctively she moved her chair a little
nearer to her lover, who was sitting by her, as if to lean upon him for
protection against the unknown danger. He understood that pleading
gesture, and placed his arm firmly round her.
Then she opened the letter, she turned to the signature at the end
of it and saw that it was from Susan Riley. She dropped it again on
her lap.
"Harry," she said, "I feel that I am going to read something terrible.
All through this bright day I have felt that such perfect happiness
could not last long, that some misfortune must soon follow."
"Read the letter, dear, and don't be so superstitious," said Mrs.
White.
She took it up again and read steadily through it. It ran thus—
"Dear Mary,—So you have left us. I thought you would. I fear
the Society has gone to the dogs, so I will have to look out
for some other field for my energies. Did the doctor give you
my message? I asked him to tell you that I would never
forget my little sister nurse. You don't trouble much about
me, but see how considerate I am for you. Three weeks ago I
saw the enclosed extract in a suburban paper. I did not send
it to you then, fearing that it might give you a shock in your
feeble state of health—little as you loved your father. But now
I hear from Dr. Duncan that you are very much better, so I
forward it to you. The doctor tells me that he will be with you
this evening, so you will have someone by to help you bear
up under your affliction. Accept my condolence for your loss,
also my congratulation on your coming happiness—for I have
eyes in my head, Mary, and I can guess that you will soon be
married. I suppose what has happened will put off the happy
day though. I suppose you'll have a baby or babies. How
funny that one of us should go in for that sort of thing! I
promise you that I'll take a great interest in your life, dear. I'll
stand as fairy god-mother to your baby. Good-bye, dear.
Yours ever,
"SUSAN.
"
 "P.S. Did Dr. Duncan tell you that I have married my cousin?
Sha'n't I make a capital wife?"
The cutting from the newspaper which was enclosed in the letter
was an announcement of her father's death.
Mary read the letter slowly, and each line seemed a separate sting,
as doubtlessly it was intended to be. Little as she loved her father,
she was shocked to hear that he was dead. She had intended to go
to him as soon as she was married, and implore his forgiveness. She
had looked forward to the reconciliation with him, for all her hate
had died away long since. She was troubled, too, by the vague
threats the letter contained, couched though they were in terms of
affectionate solicitude. She felt a great terror when she read the
underlined promise of the woman who hated her, to stand as fairy
god-mother to her child. She could not shake away the fear that the
shadow, far away though it was now, would once again rise up from
the horizon to cloud her happiness; but she stifled these fancies with
a great effort, and said, "Oh, Harry! my poor father is dead."
There were no exaggerated protestations of sympathy where little
grief was felt, but the event cast a chill over the party.
This letter had come at so inopportune a moment, that it could not
but raise forebodings. Even the doctor felt a vague dread, and Mrs.
White was quite upset by what she considered a very bad omen
indeed.
No one had spoken for some time, Mary had been holding the letter
in her hand thinking; at last she said, "Harry, I cannot tell whether I
ought to show you this letter. Will you be angry if I don't. There is
something about the secret in it."
"Mary, darling, unless there is something in it you want to preserve,
I should put that letter in the fire. Observe your oath, and don't
worry yourself about showing me everything as if I was suspicious of
you. You know I am not that."
"Thank you, dear; I will burn it then."
 CHAPTER XXVI.
SHATTERED IDOLS.
About six months had passed away since the events narrated in the
last chapter. In that short time a considerable change had come over
the lives of the characters of this story.
Dr. Duncan and Mary were husband and wife, and had settled down
in a comfortable little house in St. John's Wood, in which district he
had purchased a practice.
As Susan Riley had foretold, the decay of the Secret Society
commenced on that day when the Chief had shown weak mercy to a
deserter. Catherine King gradually lost her hold of the wills of the
Sisterhood. She was changed; the difference might have been
imperceptible to a casual observer, but there it was. She was no
longer infallible to her followers; she was no longer believed in,
because she no longer believed in herself; and that subtle power
which faith in self gives, and which compels faith and obedience in
others, had gone for ever. The magic of her direct personal influence
had been her best, perhaps her only true qualification for the task
she had set herself. She was wanting in the faculty of organization,
and was fully conscious of this; so when her personal influence
waned, the real instability of the Society soon commenced to make
itself manifest. Disputes and doubts arose, and many of the Sisters
having lost all confidence in their Chief, became timid, and kept
quietly away from the Society.
So far nothing had been done by this band of fanatics; the
abominable work contemplated by them had not yet commenced.
They were waiting for those expected changes in the laws relating to
the tenure of land, which were to be rendered more effective by
their action.
With an intense anxiety did Catherine King await the general
election. All her hopes depended on that. Were the enemies of
private property to gain the day, were the desired act of Parliament
to be passed, the signal would be given to the Sisters to proceed at
once upon their labours. A new vitality would then stir the Society;
the old enthusiasm would return, and in the midst of the peril of the
battle she would soon regain all her lost influence. But she thought it
best, in the present temper of her associates, to keep aloof from
them until the moment for action came. She did not show herself to
them, but entrusted Sister Eliza to see that everything was prepared.
It was a period of anxious suspense, of oppressive inactivity for all.
At last the general election took place. An intense excitement
pervaded the whole country. Questions of the utmost importance
were in the air. The programme of one party was so violent and
revolutionary, that its supporters would, not so long since, have
rendered themselves liable to the penalties for treason; and all
moderate men were filled with dismay. Democrats of the extremest
type seemed to be having it all their own way in the land, if one
could judge by their noise and confidence of success. Several
boroughs returned men of this stamp during the first few days of the
polling. Eagerly did Catherine snatch up the different editions of the
papers to follow the progress of each contest, and hope and
ambition returned to her as she read the results.
But after the first few days, matters did not look so bright for the
Radicals. The intemperance of their language, the wildness of the
reforms they promised, defeated their own ends. A reaction set in.
The great mass of Englishmen who are not led away by the
impracticable theories of political adventurers recorded their votes as
usual for the candidates of common sense belonging to both of the
two great parties; but that considerable army of vain men, who,
though they possess property, and therefore an interest in the order
of the State, yet pose as philosophical Radicals and talk communism
without understanding what they mean, became alarmed at the
destructive programme of their friends—they perceived that they
themselves were threatened as well as the lords and landed
proprietors they hated and envied. So panic seized them, and in
their selfish fear they did exactly what might have been expected
from such creatures—they rushed to the opposite extreme, babbled
about Constitutionalism, and voted for ultra-Tories to protect them.
And lo! instead of the Radical House that was to return the great
Land Act and other more startling measures, an assembly of which
the large majority held very different views indeed was elected, to
the exceeding surprise of the over-cute wire-pullers, who thought
they had arranged everything so cleverly.
Catherine stayed at home, greedily reading the papers, day after
day, and hope died away again and she became sick at heart. When
at last there could be no doubt about the result, she wrote to Sister
Eliza and asked her to come to her.
Her friend was shocked when she entered the little parlour in Maida
Vale to see how ill and worn her Chief was looking.
"Good-afternoon, Eliza," said Catherine in a feeble voice; "I sent for
you because you are the only one I could bear to see. You do not
look at me with reproachful eyes as the others do—and I am unwell
and weak."
There was sympathy expressed on Sister Eliza's homely features as
she replied:
"No wonder, Sister Catherine, after what you have been suffering.
But brighter days will come."
"Never, never! Sister Eliza—but I have sent for you to learn the
whole truth. What has happened—what do they say now?"
"Fools and cowards!" exclaimed the boarding-house keeper,
contemptuously; "they do not know their own minds."
"I thought it would be so; and what do they say? Tell me all!"
"The Sisters are in a very discontented mood; they grumble at
everything. Many have for the first time discovered that our whole
project is ridiculous in the extreme. They say that they have wasted
time and money for nothing."
"And whose fault is it that it has been for nothing?"
"Those who supplied the treasury of the Society with considerable
sums of money, notably Sister Jane, are clamouring for its restitution
or a full account of how it has been spent."
"They shall have neither," cried Catherine, indignantly.
"Some of the Sisters even hint that you have put by a pretty purse
for yourself out of the funds—those were the very words of one."
"They dare say that!—they dare accuse me of that!" exclaimed the
Chief, rising to her feet and walking impatiently up and down the
room, her eyes blazing with wrath and her fists clenched. "Cowardly
wretches! are these the earnest martyrs with whose assistance I
hoped to forward the emancipation of humanity?—and what more
do they say?"
"One fool—it was Sister Jane, by-the-bye—even spoke of suing you
for the money she advanced, until I explained to her that Justice will
only listen to a plaintiff who comes into court with clean hands, and
reminded her that there were slight objections to her revealing in
court the objects for which she had advanced the money."
"Do you mean that she actually proposed to betray us?"
"No! she spoke wildly, not thinking of what she was saying. She dare
not be a traitor."
"And what does Susan Riley and the others of the Inner Circle say?"
"They, of course, dare not desert the Cause; but they hint that it
would be as well to dissolve the Society, now that the object of it
has been indefinitely postponed by this unfortunate election. They
say it cannot hold together much longer."
"And Sister Susan says this, too?"
"She has virtually left us; at any rate she keeps away now, and
seems to take no interest whatever in the Society," replied Sister
Eliza in scornful tones.
"And it has come to this, then!" said Catherine, musingly; then she
turned and asked abruptly, "and what do you think about it?"
"I don't know what to think. I should like to make an example of a
few of the wretches, curse them!" muttered Eliza between her teeth,
feeling a bitter indignation as she thought of the meanness of her
associates. "Ah! they are unworthy to follow you, Sister Catherine."
Catherine sat down again, and was silent for several minutes. A
black despair settled down upon her mind. She saw that it was all
over—the Cause had received its death-blow. Of all her friends and
disciples, but one was left her—this faithful Eliza, who would, if she
let her, cling all the closer to her fallen Chief. It was all over—the
hopes, the doubts, the suspense, were gone; and when she spoke it
was in a quite calm and passionless voice.
"I understand now, Sister Eliza; I will give my last order to the
Sisterhood. Go to them and tell them the Society is dissolved—they
may all go their separate ways. Remind them that they must,
throughout their lives, observe their oath of secrecy—that is all I ask
of them. If they fail to do this, a higher Society will know how to
punish traitors. Tell them that I will render no account of the moneys
that have passed through my hands. I have never taken one penny
of the fund for my own use. Whatever balance there is I will send to
another Society—a Society of men, not of cowardly women—who
will make good use of it. This is my last message to the Sisters."
"But if—" her amazed listener was commencing in a faltering voice.
"No, no! Eliza," interrupted Catherine, impatiently; "no buts and ifs—
it is too late for them. I do not wish to discuss this matter. I do not
wish ever again to hear the Society mentioned before me. To think
of it maddens me. Please do not talk to me about it. Let us change
the conversation; I will ring the bell for some tea."
The strong green tea was brought up. Sister Eliza sipped hers in
silence, gazing sadly at her broken-hearted Chief.
Soon Catherine got up from her chair, and going to a cupboard,
drew out a small bottle. She laughed a little hysterical laugh—one of
those laughs that have more pain in them than any sob—and said:
"I am taking a leaf out of our friend Susan Riley's book. She found
laudanum useful. A little mixed with one's tea is good; at any rate it
prevents rage from driving one quite mad," and she poured some of
the contents of the bottle into her cup.
"It is a dangerous practice though," observed her friend.
"Dangerous! how so? What have I to fear? The habit of laudanum-
tippling soon spoils a young woman's beauty. Look at Susan, it has
made her vanity suffer somewhat, I know; but it can't hurt me in
that way, or in any other way, for the matter of that," and she
laughed that terrible laugh again.
Sister Eliza felt a sincere sorrow for this one human being she
admired; she saw that Catherine ought not to be left alone in her
present wild state of mind. "I should like to come and see you often,
Sister Catherine," she ventured to say.
"It is very kind of you, Eliza, but it cannot be a good thing for you,
as I don't feel like being a very pleasant companion just now. I leave
town to-morrow, perhaps for years, and I cannot tell you where I
am going."
Sister Eliza found that her presence, far from soothing, only irritated
the more the miserable woman. Catherine would not be comforted.
She was in that mood when the mind rejects all consolation, and
loves to torture itself—when one purposely hurts the feelings of
one's best friends to make one's own heart bleed the more; so Sister
Eliza, seeing that no good would be effected by staying longer, bade
her good-bye and left her.

The Sisterhood was no more. Susan Riley, like a rat, had early
deserted the falling house: unlike the Chief, she had profited not a
little in various ways from the Society, and had been in receipt of a
salary as one of the officers; but gratitude was not one of this young
lady's characteristics. Having saved some money, she now took a
small tobacconist's shop in the neighbourhood of the Strand. She
thought it would be the very business to suit her, genteel, idle, and
affording excellent opportunities for flirtations and intrigues with
such of her customers as were possessed of more money than
brains.
But there was little store of happiness for Susan now. The gay
butterfly portion of her life was over, and weary ennui, alternating
with bitter reflections, filled most of her long hours. For it happened
that in the course of a few months her beauty had faded rapidly. Bad
temper and laudanum had deepened her wrinkles, sallowed her
complexion, and even scattered a few grey hairs through her once
lustrous locks.
All the object of her life had gone from her. She perceived that men
no longer admired her, she was old, she was ugly, there was nothing
sweet in the whole world for her now, she hated life, but, still more,
she feared the grim phantom death. A restless nervousness
tormented her. She became subject to what she would herself
describe as "the blues," a despondent fearful condition peculiar to
temperaments such as hers.
She was in a miserable state—a state not uncommon though among
the men and women of luxurious cities, whose lives have been
devoted to selfish indulgence only, when they have exhausted every
joy, and dull satiety alone remains. Such a melancholy darkened the
last days of many a worn-out voluptuary of ancient Rome, driving
him to insane deeds of cruelty, and orgies of strange vices in vain
hope of relief.
In this condition a man or woman is tortured by observing the
happiness of others in contrast to his own misery. Susan hated
youth, beauty, virtue, happiness, with a bitter hate.
Sometimes she thought of Mary, the girl she despised, who, she
considered, had twice stood between her and her lovers, who had
indirectly brought about the collapse of the Society. She thought of
her as being now a young wife, happy, and loved, and the thought
made her feel so absolutely ill with the intensity of her ungratified
malice, that she was often obliged to withdraw her mind from the
painful contemplation.
Now it happened one day, about six months after Mary's marriage,
that Susan, being in a more restless and irritable mood than usual,
deserted her counter, leaving the girl who assisted her in charge of
the shop. It was a mellow October afternoon, and she walked to her
favourite haunt of old at that hour—Regent Street.
The usual idle well-dressed crowd of men about town, lady-
adventurers and so on, was taking its wonted promenade. In former
days many of these men would have stared pretty hard at Miss
Susan Riley, but now no one would notice her, or at most a
gentleman would glance momentarily at her with a look void of
admiration, and then turn his eyes to some more tempting object.
She felt the humiliation of this bitterly, and her ill-temper was written
on her mouth and brow, which rendered her less attractive than
ever. She could have cried with rage.
At last she came to a well-known photographic establishment, and
joined the throng in front of the window, contemplating the portraits
of actresses, statesmen, professional beauties, bishops, and other
celebrities, when she heard a merry laugh by her side that made her
start.
She hated now to hear the glad innocent laughter of her fellows, but
there was something in that laugh which she seemed to recognize.
She turned suddenly and perceived Dr. Duncan and his wife walking
away from the window.
She followed them for a short way, keeping a little to one side of
them, so as to scan Mary's features without being herself observed.
She contrived to catch a glimpse of her face; it was enough to show
her that all the anxiety had died away from it. The face was not so
thin as of old, it had more colour, it was prettier than ever.
The husband and wife were engaged in a lively conversation. Then
Susan heard Mary laugh again, the same low happy laugh. Its
gladness jarred upon her own black thoughts. She turned away
suddenly, uttering a savage oath to herself.
The sight of her enemy's happiness goaded her into a state of great
fury; she walked back to her shop as fast as she could. On entering
it she found her assistant engaged in a mild flirtation with a
customer across the counter.
Here was a pretext for venting her wrath on some one. She called
the assistant into the back-room and reprimanded her in such
insulting terms that the girl burst into tears and said she would leave
her on the spot.
"Go at once then!" cried the enraged woman, "out with you into the
streets. You'll find as many men as you want there."
Susan could not sleep all that night for malice; and from that day
she was absorbed by her hatred for Mary. It was a hate that became
a very monomania with her. It was the only passion left to relieve
the monotonous weariness of her existence, and it ever grew more
intense. She would rub her hands together and laugh in her
excitement when she sat alone. "I have again something worth living
for," she would mutter to herself, "I will ruin that girl's happiness—
somehow—somehow," and her subtle mind pondered and plotted
how to effect a sweet revenge.
But weeks passed, and so far she had formed no definite plan, had
discovered no safe but extreme torture, so she determined for the
present to do all she could in a small way to annoy her foe
periodically. She knew that with her devilish ingenuity she could not
fail to find some method of undermining the young wife's happiness.
 CHAPTER XXVII.
THE SECOND WARNING.
During these early months of her married life, Mary enjoyed an
almost perfect happiness, for the first time of her short existence.
She sometimes wondered and was afraid when she thought of it,
looking upon herself as being altogether unworthy of so many joys.
She had passed through the terrible ordeal, and the strange
vicissitudes of her life had produced an ennobling and refining effect
upon her character, which was reflected on her beautiful face. She
was, indeed, as sweet a woman as the soul of man could desire.
There was something peculiarly winning about her now; every
graceful movement, every word and smile told of a heart full of
innocent gladness and love. There was a childish simplicity, there
was a delightful playfulness about her, that yet betrayed profound
depths of feeling. She fascinated all with the unconscious witchery of
her manners. The coarsest man could not fail to feel better in her
company; she could touch what good was yet left in his nature; it
would seem to him as if she were surrounded by some subtle
atmosphere that affected his heart somewhat in the way that
beautiful music does, a hymn of perfect chastened joy breathing of
the lost Paradise.
When the husband and wife returned from their honeymoon—a long
leisurely ramble among Italian lakes—Mary entered into the spirit of
housekeeping with great zest. It was pretty to observe the delight
she took in her new duties. She was quite in love with the little villa
in St. John's Wood, with its trees and garden and greenhouse, there
was so much to look after and take a pride in, and she was always
busy at one thing or the other, filling the house with her blithe song.
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