Katrine: A Novel Read online

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  "I HAVE WAITED ALL THESE YEARS"]

  KATRINE

  A Novel

  BY

  ELINOR MACARTNEY LANE

  AUTHOR OF "NANCY STAIR" AND "MILLS OF GOD"

  NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

  MCMIX

  Copyright, 1909, by HARPER & BROTHERS.

  _All rights reserved._

  Published March, 1909.

  _To_ =Grant B. Schley=

  _Dear and great Friend! In_ =Katrine's= _fancied_ "Land" _You long have held your own much-honored place-- Have met great Esmond; held kind Newcome's hand; And talked with merry Alan face to face; For there, where Loyalty was word of countersign, You entered, all unchallenged, for the land was thine!_

  _E.M.L._

  PARIS, 1909

  CONTENTS

  CHAP. PAGE PREFACE vii I. UNDER THE SOUTHERN PINES 1 II. THE MEETING IN THE WOODS 15 III. A KINDNESS WITH MIXED MOTIVES 29 IV. THE PROMISE IN THE ROSE GARDEN 43 V. FRANK FALLS FURTHER UNDER KATRINE'S INFLUENCE 50 VI. DERMOTT GIVES A DINNER AT THE OLD LODGE 63 VII. KATRINE'S OWN COUNTRY 76 VIII. FRANK YIELDS TO TEMPTATION 88 IX. THE TRUTH 94 X. TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND 104 XI. KATRINE IS LEFT ALONE 113 XII. THE REAL FRANCIS RAVENEL 121 XIII. DERMOTT'S INTERVIEW WITH FRANK AT THE TREVOY 127 XIV. DERMOTT DISCOVERS A NEW SIDE TO FRANK'S CHARACTER 137 XV. JOSEF 143 XVI. MRS. RAVENEL UNWITTINGLY BECOMES AN ALLY OF KATRINE 152 XVII. MCDERMOTT VISITS HIS FRENCH COUSIN 160 XVIII. KATRINE MEETS ANNE LENNOX 172 XIX. A VISION OF THE PAST 193 XX. THE INFLUENCE OF WORK 212 XXI. THE NIGHT OF KATRINE'S DEBUT 219 XXII. FRANK AND KATRINE MEET AT THE VAN RENSSELAER'S 228 XXIII. AN INTERRUPTED CONFESSION 234 XXIV. "I WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU" 249 XXV. KATRINE IN NEW YORK 271 XXVI. DERMOTT MCDERMOTT 282 XXVII. SELF-SURRENDER 299 XXVIII. UNDER THE SOUTHERN PINES ONCE MORE 303

  PREFACE

  It is difficult to tell the story of Irish folk intimately andconvincingly, the bare truths concerning their splendid recklessness,their unproductive ardor, their loyalty and creative memories, soundingto another race like a pack of lies.

  When, therefore, I recall "The Singing Woman," Katrine; her beauty, herfearlessness, her loyalty, her voice of gold--it seems as if only onelost to caution and heedless of consequence would undertake her historyexpecting it to be believed. But there is this advantage: thenewspapers, recording much of her early life, are still extant, herParis work discussed by Josef's pupils to this day, and her divineforgetfulness the night she was to sing at the Metropolitan a knownthing to people of two continents; but unrecorded of her, till now, isthat, for love, like brave, mad Antony, she threw a world away.

  It is impossible to tell the tale of Katrine without narrating side byside the story of Dermott McDermott; and here trouble begins, forIreland would never allow anything written concerning him that was notflattering, and the Irish people, especially in the regions of Kildareand Athlone, have combined to make a saint of him. A saint of DermottMcDermott! Heaven save the mark!

  But of Frank Ravenel's life I can speak with truth and authority. I hadthe story from his own lips under the pines and the stars of NorthCarolina, fishing the Way-Home River, or sitting together on theChestnut Ridge, where Katrine and he first met. This was before hebecame--before Katrine made him--the great man he is to-day.

  * * * * *

  And two things linger with me--the first a conversation between Dermottand Katrine at the Countess de Nemours'.

  "Tell me," said Katrine: "do you think any woman ever married the manwho was kindest to her?"

  "It's unrecorded if it ever occurred," Dermott answered.

  * * * * *

  And a second, the truth of which is less open to dispute.

  "Nora," Katrine asked, "could you ever have loved any but Dennis-yourfirst love?"

  "No," answered Nora. "To an Irishwoman the drame comes but the wance."

  E.M.L.