The Testing of Diana Mallory

The Testing of Diana Mallory, by
Mrs. Humphry

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Testing of Diana Mallory, by Mrs.
Humphry Ward, Illustrated by W. Hatherell
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Testing of Diana Mallory
Author: Mrs. Humphry Ward
Release Date: September 14, 2004 [eBook #13453]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
TESTING OF DIANA MALLORY***
E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which
includes the original illustrations. See 13453-h.htm or 13453-h.zip:

(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/3/4/5/13453/13453-h/13453-h.htm) or
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/3/4/5/13453/13453-h.zip)

THE TESTING OF DIANA MALLORY
by
MRS. HUMPHRY WARD
Illustrated by W. Hatherell, R.I.
1908

[Illustration: "THERE SHE WAITED WHILE THE DAWN STOLE
UPON THE NIGHT"]

BOOKS BY MRS. HUMPHRY WARD
THE TESTING OF DIANA MALLORY. Ill'd ... $1.50
LADY ROSE'S DAUGHTER. Illustrated ... 1.50 Two volume edition ...
3.00
THE MARRIAGE OF WILLIAM ASHE. Ill'd ... 1.50 Two volume
Autograph edition ... net 4.00
FENWICK'S CAREER. Illustrated ... 1.50 De Luxe edition, two
volumes ... net 5.00
ELEANOR ... 1.50
LIFE OF W. T. ARNOLD ... net 1.50

TO MY KIND HOSTS BEYOND THE ATLANTIC
FROM
A GRATEFUL TRAVELLER
JULY, 1908

Illustrations
"THERE SHE WAITED WHILE THE DAWN STOLE UPON THE
NIGHT". . . Frontispiece
"THE MAN'S PULSES LEAPED ANEW". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
"YOU NEEDN'T BE CROSS WITH ME, DIANA" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
174
"'DEAR LADY,' HE SAID, GENTLY, 'I THINK YOU OUGHT TO
GIVE WAY!'". . . 256
"ALICIA, UPRIGHT IN HER CORNER--OLIVER, DEEP IN HIS
ARMCHAIR" . . . . 332
"SIR JAMES PLAYED DIANA'S GAME WITH PERFECT
DISCRETION" . . . . . . . 462
"SIR JAMES MADE HIMSELF DELIGHTFUL TO
THEM" . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
"ROUGHSEDGE STOOD NEAR, RELUCTANTLY
WAITING". . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Part I
"Action is transitory--a step, a blow, The motion of a muscle--this way

or that--
'Tis done, and in the after-vacancy
We wonder at ourselves like men betrayed:
Suffering is permanent, obscure, and dark,
And shares the nature of infinity." --THE BORDERERS.

The Testing of Diana Mallory
CHAPTER I
The clock in the tower of the village church had just struck the quarter.
In the southeast a pale dawn light was beginning to show above the
curving hollow of the down wherein the village lay enfolded; but the
face of the down itself was still in darkness. Farther to the south, in a
stretch of clear night sky hardly touched by the mounting dawn, Venus
shone enthroned, so large and brilliant, so near to earth and the
spectator, that she held, she pervaded the whole dusky scene, the
shadowed fields and wintry woods, as though she were their very soul
and voice.
"The Star of Bethlehem!--and Christmas Day!"
Diana Mallory had just drawn back the curtain of her bedroom. Her
voice, as she murmured the words, was full of a joyous delight;
eagerness and yearning expressed themselves in her bending attitude,
her parted lips and eyes intent upon the star.
The panelled room behind her was dimly lit by a solitary candle, just
kindled. The faint dawn in front, the flickering candle-light behind,
illumined Diana's tall figure, wrapped in a white dressing-gown, her
small head and slender neck, the tumbling masses of her dark hair, and
the hand holding the curtain. It was a kind and poetic light; but her
youth and grace needed no softening.

After the striking of the quarter, the church bell began to ring, with a
gentle, yet insistent note which gradually filled the hollows of the
village, and echoed along the side of the down. Once or twice the sound
was effaced by the rush and roar of a distant train; and once the call of
an owl from a wood, a call melancholy and prolonged, was raised as
though in rivalry. But the bell held Diana's strained ear throughout its
course, till its mild clangor passed into the deeper note of the clock
striking the hour, and then all sounds alike died into a profound yet
listening silence.
"Eight o'clock! That was for early service," she thought; and there
flashed into her mind an image of the old parish church, dimly lit for
the Christmas Eucharist, its walls