Produced by James RuskCHRISTIE JOHNSTONEA NOVELBy Charles ReadeTranscribers Note Italics are indicated by the underscore characterAcute accents are indicated by a single quote  after the vowelwhile grave accents have a single quote before the vowel All otheraccents are ignoredI dedicate all that is good in this work to my motherC RNOTETHIS story was written three years ago and one or two topics in it arenot treated exactly as they would be if written by the same hand todayBut if the author had retouched those pages with his colors of 1853 hewould he thinks have destroyed the only merit they have viz thatof containing genuine contemporaneous verdicts upon a cant that wasflourishing like a peony and a truth that was struggling for bare lifein the year of truth 1850He prefers to deal fairly with the public and with this explanationand apology to lay at its feet a faulty but genuine piece of workCHAPTER IVISCOUNT IPSDEN aged twentyfive income eighteen thousand pounds peryear constitution equine was unhappy This might surprise some peoplebut there are certain blessings the nonpossession of which makes morepeople discontented than their possession renders happyForemost among these are Wealth and Rank Were I to add Beauty tothe list such men and women as go by fact not by conjecture wouldhardly contradict meThe fortunate man is he who born poor or nobody works gradually upto wealth and consideration and having got them dies before he findsthey were not worth so much troubleLord Ipsden started with nothing to win and naturally lived foramusement Now nothing is so sure to cease to please as pleasuretoamuse as amusement Unfortunately for himself he could not at thisperiod of his life warm to politics so having exhausted his Londonclique he rolled through the cities of Europe in his carriage andcruised its shores in his yacht But he was not happyHe was a man of taste and sipped the arts and other knowledge as hesauntered Europe roundBut he was not happyWhat shall I do said _lennuye_Distinguish yourself said oneHowNo immediate answerTake a _prima donna_ over said anotherWell the man took a _prima donna_ over which scolded its maid from theAlps to Dover in the _lingua Toscana_ without the _bocca Romana_ andsang in London without applause because what goes down at La Scala doesnot generally go down at Il Teatro della Regina HaymarketSo then my lord strolled into Russia there he drove a pair of horsesone of whom put his head down and did the work the other pranced andcapricoled alongside all unconscious of the trace He seemed happierthan his working brother but the biped whose career corresponded withthis playful animals was not happyAt length an event occurred that promised to play an adagio upon LordIpsden s mind He fell in love with Lady Barbara Sinclair and he hadno sooner done this than he felt as we are all apt to do on similaroccasions how wise a thing he had doneBesides a lovely person Lady Barbara Sinclair had a character thathe saw would make him and in fact Lady Barbara Sinclair was to aninexperienced eye the exact opposite of Lord IpsdenHer mental impulse was as plethoric as his was languidShe was as enthusiastic as he was coolShe took a warm interest in everything She believed that government isa science and one that goes with _copia verborum_She believed that in England government is administered not by a setof men whose salaries range from eighty to five hundred pounds a yearand whose names are never heard but by the First Lord of the Treasuryand other great menHence she inferred that it matters very much to all of us in whose handis the rudder of that state vessel which goes down the wind of publicopinion without veering a point let who will be at the helmShe also cared very much who was the new bishop Religionif notreligion theologywould be affected therebyShe was enthusiastic about poets imagined their verse to be some sortof clew to their characters and so onShe had other theories which will be indicated by and by at presentit is enough to say that her mind was young healthy somewhat originalfull of fire and faith and empty of experienceLord Ipsden loved her it was easy to love herFirst there was not in the whole range of her mind and body one grainof affectation of any sortShe was always in point of fact under the influence of some male mindor other generally some writer What young woman is not more or lessa mirror But she never imitated or affected she was always herself bywhomsoever coloredThen she was beautiful and eloquent much too highbred to put arestraint upon her natural manner she was often more _naive_ and evenbrusk than your wouldbe aristocrats dare to be but what a charmingabruptness hers wasI do not excel in descriptions and yet I want to give you some carnalidea of a certain peculiarity and charm this lady possessed permit meto call a sister art to my aidThere has lately stepped upon the French stage a charming personagewhose manner is quite free from the affectation that soils nearly allFrench actressesMademoiselle Madeleine Brohan When you see thisyoung lady play Mademoiselle La Segliere you see highbred sensibilitypersonified and you see something like Lady Barbara SinclairShe was a connection of Lord Ipsdens but they had not met for twoyears when they encountered each other in Paris just before thecommencement of this Dramatic Story Novel by courtesyThe month he spent in Paris near her was a bright month to LordIpsden A bystander would not have gathered from his manner that hewas warmly in love with this lady but for all that his lordship wasgradually uncoiling himself and gracefully quietly basking in the raysof Barbara SinclairHe was also just beginning to take an interest in subjects of thedayministries flat paintings controversial novels Cromwellsspotless integrity etcwhy not They interested herSuddenly the lady and her family returned to England Lord Ipsden whowas going to Rome came to England insteadShe had not been five days in London before she made her preparationsto