Romance: A Chronicle of the Adventures of John
Kemp in England and Jamaica By Joseph Conrad
(Copyright. I'Jol, by McClure, l'hllllps & Co.)
IHT FlltMT.
'I'h unrry nml the Hrx'h,
CHA I'TKR I.
1 VL-JTI.MHIA V ..n.l 4n 1 ......
mmL 1 ij'ii i . w - niiu i.r iniaj r.t jr
I I my polite "vnya ustod con l'los."
A I Wk.it uni fll..u.l .1-. HI It..
Itiut far-off day of my romance,
when from between the blur und
v .lilli' hales In lim Ramon's darkened
fctoivrinim, lit King-don, I saw tllr door op"rl
before the tin it I- of hii old rimn with
n llr'd, lull),', whlti- face, that day I n:n nut
likely tu forget. I remember the chilly
smell of the Went Indian store, the sufi II
of damp ghsim, of Idcoh, (if plincnto, of
olive nil, of now sugar, of new rum; iho
glassy double sheen of Ramon's ureal spec
tacles, the piercing eyes In the mahogany
face, while the tup tap, tap of a cune en
the Hans went ' on behind the Inner dour;
the. click of the latch: the stream of Unlit.
Tht door, petulantly thrust inward,
Mruck ngalntt mime barrels. I remember
the rattling of the holts on that door, and
the tall figure that appeared there, snuff
box In hand.
In that land of white clothe, that pre
cise, ancient CastillHii In Mack wan some
thing to remember. The I lack enne that
had mmln the tap, tap, tap dandled by a
liken rord from the hand whose dcllcnto
Miie-velned, wrinkled wrist ran back Into a
foam of luwn rullles. The other hand
paused in the act of conveying a pinch of
miff to the nostrils of the hooked tms
that had, on the Hkln stretched light over
the hrMge, the polish of old Ivory; the.
elbow prcsHluK the black cocked hat against
the side; the logs, one bent, the other bow
ing il Mttle back-thls was the attitude of
Beraphlna's father.
Having Imperiously thrust the door of tho
Inner room open, he remained Immovable,
with no intention of entering, and called
In a harsh, uged voice: "Senor Hamon!
Seiior Ramon!" and then twice: "Sera-phlua-Seraphlna!"
turning his head buck.
Then for the first time I saw Heraphlna.
looking over her father's shoulder. I
remember her face of that day; her eyes
Were Kray the Krny of black, not of blue.
Kor a moment they looked mo straight In
tho face, reflectively, unconcerned, and
then traveled to tho spectacles of old
Ramon.
This Kla nee remember I was young on
that day had been enough to set me won
dering what they were thinking of me;
What they could have seen of me.
"Hut there he Is your Senor Ramon,"
he said to her father, as If she were chid
ing htm for a 'tulanct In calling; ''your
sight Is not very good, my poor lit tin
father- there he Is, your Ramon."
The warm reflection of the light behind
her, gliding the curve of her face from ear
to chin, lost Itself In the shadows of
M.uk lace f illing rrom dark hair that was
not unit" black. She spoke as If the words
rlung to her lljia; ns If she had to put
them forth delicately for fear of damaging
the frail things. She raised her long hand
to a white flower that clung above her
ear like the pen of a clerk, and disappeared.
Kamoii hurried with a slilTness of Im
mense respect towards the ancient grandee.
Tho door swung to.
1 remalni! alone. The Mue bales and
the while, and the great red oil Jam loomed
In the dim light tillering through the jal
ousies out of the blinding sunlight of Ja
maica. A moment after, tin door opened
once more and a young man came out to
me; tall, slim, with very bright, very largo
Mack eyes aglow In an absolute pallor of
face. That waa Carlos Ricgo.
Well, that Is my yesterday of romance,
for tho many thing that ha.ve passed be
tW"in those times and now have become
dim or have gone out of my mind. And
my day liefore yesterday was the day on
which I, nt -J2, stood looking at myself In
the tall glass, the day on which 1 left my
home In Kent and went. n chance willed
It. out to sea with Carlos Ricgo.
That day my cousin Rooksby had be
come engage,! to my sister Veronica, and
I had a tit of jealous misery. I ws raw
boned, with fair hair. I had a good skin,
tanned by the weather, good tceih and
brown eyes. I had not had a very happy
life, and I had lived shut In on mvsi If,
thinking of tho wide world beyond my
reach, that seemed to hold Infinite pos
sibilities of romance, of adventure, of love,
perhaps, and stores of gold- In the fam
ily my mother counted; my father did not.
She whs the daughter of a Scottish earl
who had ruined himself again and again.
Ho had been an Inventor, a projector,
and my mother had been a pour beauty,
brought up on the farm we still lived on
the last rug of land that had remained to
her father. Then she had married a Bool
man In his way; a good enough catch,
moderately well off, very amiable, eai-lly
Influenced, a dilettante find a bit of a
dreamer, too. Me had taken her Into tho
swim of tlie regency, and his purse had
not held out. So my mother, asserting
herself, had lu.-dstcil upon a return to
our farm, which had been her dowry. The
nltcrnalivo would have been a shabby.
Ignominious life ut Calais in the shadow
of Hruimncl and Mich.
My father usci to sit nil day by tlv
pleasant, well-spoken, amiable young squiro
of the immediate neighborhood; young Sir
Ralph, a man popular with all sorts, and
In love with my sister Veronica from early
days. Veronica was very beautiful, and
gentle, anil very kind; tall, slim, with slop
ing white shoulders and long white arms,
hair the color of amber, and startled blue
eyes -a good mate for Rooksby.
liooksby had foreign relations. The uncle
from whom he inherited the J'rlory had
married a Rlogo, n, Castillian during tho
peninsular war. Hi? had died In Spain, I
think. When Ralph made the grand tour
ho had made the aoimnlntanoe of his Span
ish relations; he used to talk about them,
the Klegos, and Veronica used to talk of
what he said of them until they crime to
stand for romnnoo to me. One day, a little
ness overcome, I adored Carlos, and Vero
nica liked him, and laughed at him, till
one. day he said goodhy and rode off along
the London road, followed by his Tomas
Castro. I had an intense longing to go with
him out Into the great world that brooded
all round our foothills.
Shortly after Carlos went, Rooksby pro
posed for the hand of Veronica and wal
accepted by my mother. Veronica went
about looking happy. That ujiset me, too
It seemed unjust that she would go out
into the great world to Hath, to Brighton,
should see the prince regent and the great
fights on Hounslow heath whilst I was t
remain forever a farmer's boy. That after
noon I was upstairs, looking at the reflec
tion of myself in the tall glass, wondering;
miserably why I seemed to be such an
T1IKRK HAD EVIDENTLY HKKN SO.NfB TUAY WITH KNIVES.
fire, Inscribing 'idea" every now and
then In a pix-ketbook. I think he was
writing an epic poem, and I think he was
happy in an ineffectual way. He hid
thin red hair, untidy for want of a alet,
a shining, delicate hooked nose, narrow
lidded blue eyes, and a face with the c dor
and texture of u white-heart cherry, lie
used to sicnd his duys in a hooded chilr.
My mother managed everything, Uad ng
an out-of-door life which gave her f.ieo
the color of a wrinkled pippin. It was the
face of a Roman mother, tight-lipped,
brown-eyed and tierce.
As for me. I was undr her, and. since I
had my aspirations. I had a rather bitter
childhood. And I had others to contrast
myself vi'lh. J'list there was Rooksby,
before Ralph and Veronica became en
gaged, these Spaniards descended out of
the blue. It was romance suddenly dangled
right before my eyes. It was romance;
you have no idea what It meant to me to
talk to Carlos Riego.
Carina wus dark, and of a grace to set
Ralph as much in the shade as Ralph him
self set me; and Carlos had seen a deal
more of the world than Ralph. He brought
with him a short, pursy, bearded com
panion, half friend, half servant, who said
he had served In Napoleon's Spanish con
tingent, and had a way of striking his
brcust with a wooden hand this arm had
suffered in a cavalry c1iiir.-I. und exclaim
ing. ' I. Tomas Castro! . . ." He waa an
Andalusian.
For myself, the first shock of his strange-
oaf.
The voice of Rooksby hailed me suddenly
downstairs. "Hey, John Jchn Kemp; come
down. I uuy!"
He wanted to talk to me, he sail, and I
followed him out to the soft road that
(limbs the hills to the westward. The
evening was falling slowly and mournfully;
it was dark already ill the folds of the
somber downs.
"I know what you've got to tell m,"
I said. "You're going to marry Ve.on ca.
Well, you've no need of my blessing. Some
pet. pie have all the luck."
"Confound it," 1 continued. "I shall run
away to sea! I say, Halph, give me C trl is
direction. I'll go aftir him. Carlos is the
only su.il I know outside five miles front
lure, lie's friends la the lud.ej. Ttxa.1
J
