Page:By order of the Czar.djvu/105

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BY ORDER OF THE CZAR. 93

Bedford-square the shining lights of the Irish party, as well as the distressed refugees of foreign nationalities. Dick Chetwynd doubted the lady's sincerity and her hatred of " the brutal Saxon," and used all his influence with Philip to keep him clear of the Irish conspiracy. He might per- haps have best served Philip's interests by attaching the young fellow to the Irish cause in preference to that of the despairing organization which seems to lead its chief direc- tors to untold miseries of torture and death.

Whatever Lady Forsyth's opinions might be, they did not prevent her from mixing in the best Saxon society that would open its doors to her. If she sang " The Wearing of the Green " at her own exclusive parliamentary parties, she would all the same modestly join in the anthem of "God Save the Queen," when she found herself in the more representative circles of London life. She was of a poetic temperament, had the gift of eloquence, and was looked up to by a section of young art students, who chafed against the stiff rules of the Royal Academy, and be- lieved in the more rapid and generous curriculum of the French schools. She wrote tolerable and fiery verse on heroic subjects, talked clever criticism, was a humorous satirist of political parties, dressed more or less aestheti- cally, gave her afternoon receptions in rooms of a semi- religious darkness, was a pleasant, cultured, odd, out-of- the-common hostess ; and while some people laughed at her, others admired her, many thought her exceedingly clever, and most people liked to go to her receptions.

Philip was devotedly attached to his mother, but he doubted the sincerity of certain men and women who, while they upheld the rebel sentiments of the Green, man- aged to make themselves very happy with the Red among the fleshpots of London. But for himself he had no very strong convictions either one way or the other, nor in fact had his mother. He was deeply moved at all times by a