Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 13453-h.htm or 13453-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/4/5/13453/13453-h/13453-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/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.