ntroduced
to her by Willie, Oscar's elder brother, whom I had met in Fleet
Street. Willie was then a tall, well-made fellow of thirty or
thereabouts with an expressive taking face, lit up with a pair of deep
blue laughing eyes. He had any amount of physical vivacity, and told a
good story with immense verve, without for a moment getting above the
commonplace: to him the Corinthian journalism of _The Daily Telegraph_
was literature. Still he had the surface good nature and good humour
of healthy youth and was generally liked. He took me to his mother's
house one afternoon; but first he had a drink here and a chat there so
that we did not reach the West End till after six o'clock.

The room and its occupants made an indelible grotesque impression on
me. It seemed smaller than it was because overcrowded with a score of
women and half a dozen men. It was very dark and there were empty
tea-cups and cigarette ends everywhere. Lady Wilde sat enthroned
behind the tea-table looking like a sort of female Buddha swathed in
wraps--a large woman with a heavy face and prominent nose; very like
Oscar indeed, with the same sallow skin which always looked dirty; her
eyes too were her redeeming feature--vivacious and quick-glancing as a
girl's. She "made up" like an actress and naturally preferred shadowed
gloom to sunlight. Her idealism came to show as soon as she spoke. It
was a necessity of her nature to be enthusiastic; unfriendly critics
said hysterical, but I should prefer to say high-falutin' about
everything she enjoyed or admired. She was at her best in misfortune;
her great vanity gave her a certain proud stoicism which was
admirable.

The Land League was under discussion as we entered, and Parnell's
attitude to it. Lady Wilde regarded him as the predestined saviour of
her country. "Parnell," she said with a strong accent on the first
syllable, "is the man of destiny; he will strike off the fetters and
free Ireland, and throne her as Queen among the nations."

A murmur of applause came from a thin bird-like woman standing
opposite, who floated towards us clad in a sage-green gown, which
sheathed her like an umbrella case; had she had any figure the dress
would have been indecent.

"How like 'Speranza'!" she cooed, "dear Lady Wilde!" I noticed that
her glance went towards Willie, who was standing on the other side of
his mother, talking to a tall, handsome girl. Willie's friend seemed
amused at the lyrical outburst of the g