Miss Beale’s own life during this later period naturally became more social than ever before. She attended many public functions, and was brought constantly into touch with those who shared her high intellectual aims or literary work. Among these was Dr. Jowett, to whom she felt she owed a special debt for his translation of the Republic. A day came at last, in 1893, when, as a witty friend said, she and the Master lunched together, ‘with Plato as an unobtrusive third.’

In 1894, accompanied by Miss Draper, she made another visit to Paris, to be present at the wedding of Lady Victoria Blackwood and Mr. W. L. Plunket. She greatly enjoyed the experience, especially Lord Dufferin’s friendliness.

‘Lord Dufferin proposed to send a young man to take us out in the morning, and show us something of Paris. I rather wondered that we grey-haired ladies should require an escort, but of course accepted, and we were awaiting our young man in the salon of the Hôtel Normandie when, to our surprise and pleasure, we heard Lord Dufferin’s own voice in the hall. Though he had to be present at the civil wedding at twelve o’clock, he most kindly found time to take us up the Heights of Montmartre. We had much interesting conversation on the way.’

The diary which Miss Beale still kept carefully, though briefly, gives a glimpse of this fuller outside life, but remains faithful to its early character as a record of thought and aspiration. A few extracts from the last years are given.

1893.
‘Jan.15.Retreat at Brondesbury. Canon Body 9th to 13th.
”22.Last Sunday of Epiphany.... Perfect revelation of God’s character only possible to man in Christ. Arise, shine! Magi faithful to what was given....
”24.More earnestness in work needed. Unnecessary speaking of others’ faults.
”31.Again a quarter of an hour wasted....
Feb.2.Edward died.[87] Presentation in the Temple.
”14.Friendless Girls’ meeting.
Mar.31.All Saints. Mr. Illingworth.
May10.In London. Degree Day. Radley.
”11.Ascension Day. H. C. Radley. At Cowley House. Froude’s Lecture. Lunch at Balliol.
”12.Text. “In Him was Life and the Life was the Light.”
”14.Mrs. Russell Gurney lunched.
June7-10.Royal Society. Staying with the Samuelsons.
”19.Grandchildren’s party. Twenty-three present. Five absent.
”24.Council. Baker Street. Queen’s College. Greek Play.
”25.At Miss Clarke’s.
”26.Oxford. Home.
Dec.(31?).Was at Sudeley for Christmas.
1896.
April21.Cambridge Conference.[88] Stayed at the [Vice-] Chancellor’s.[89]
May3.Pressed in spirit. “I stand at the door and knock.” Read Bishop French’s Life.
”6.Girls came back.
”7.First day. Full of self.
”13.Slept at Bethnal Green.
1897.
Feb.9.Bishop came.
”10.Miss Clarke died.
”15.Went to funeral. “He giveth grace for grace.” As we spend, more pours in, the water level is kept up. “He that watereth shall be watered also himself.”
”25.Telegram to say £3000 subscribed by the Guild [for St. Hilda’s East].
1898.
Jan.8.Council.
”14.After reading to-day [I thought] ... the smallest living thing can stir tides of the boundless ocean, the atom move the infinite.
”23.H. C., St. Philip’s. Woman touched garment. Sermon and lesson, to be healed of that weakness which is undermining spiritual strength, not by thinking, but by touching Jesus Christ.
Sept.13.Had a very refreshing holiday. (1) Lord Farrer’s; (2) Lodgings; (3) Miss Bidder’s; (4) Bonchurch; (5) Forest; (6) Woodchester.
”9.Studio looks well and all rooms.
”23.Opened.
”25.H. C. Fresh resolutions against spirit of indolence.’

The year 1895, which opened sadly with the death of Miss Buss, was marked by wide extensions of the Cheltenham College work. The playground was now in daily use. A triumph of the athletic tendency of the age, it was also an emphatic mark of Miss Beale’s acceptance of new ideas. To the end she could not quite understand why it was wanted, but she saw it had to be, and even grew proud of it in its way.

In 1895 the old Cheltenham theatre, which the College had purchased a few years before, was razed to the ground, and the erection of a new, fine building in its place, as an integral part of the College buildings, was begun. This was an immense hall,[90] capable of holding nearly two thousand people, and possessed of remarkable acoustic qualities. It was fitted up with a large stage and everything necessary for the acting which had already become a feature of the Guild meetings. The Guild plays grew to be Miss Beale’s recreation in her old age. It was an immense pleasure to see the stories and poems she had prized all her life made living on the stage. She had a keen dramatic sense, and delighted in watching rehearsals and personally coaching some of the individual actors. She was interested even in getting details of dress as correct as possible, and in the schemes of colour, objecting to a predominance of red, a colour she always disliked. The Guild plays were of course chosen, like the subjects of her literature lessons, with a view to elevate rather than to entertain. Three performances specially stand out in the memory: Comus, in 1896, with its exquisite dancing and dressing; that of Griselda, in 1904; and the last of all, with its prophetic note of farewell, Hatshepset, in 1906. Probably Griselda most of all appealed to Miss Beale, who gave an interpretation all her own to Chaucer’s tale. She saw in it a spiritual allegory of God’s dealings with the soul, and she set it forth in a beautiful little introduction to the story. Years before it had been proposed that Sir Edwin Arnold’s Griselda should be taken for the College play. She wrote very strongly against it to Miss Wolseley Lewis:—

‘I am sure none of you would be able to bear the modernised dramatised Griselda if you learned it. It is like painting the face of an unearthly mediæval saint and clothing her with garments which show the human form. In the Griselda of Chaucer there is nothing of the vulgar love-making of the “merchant.” The love of the “markis” comes as a gift from heaven.

‘Then that scene in which she ministers to his pleasure by music; it is all such a low kind of ministry. Whereas in the original, hers is just the worship of perfect faith,—obedience to his will, because she will not question it.... The whole thing jars on me.... The quiet, grave “markis” (of Chaucer) may be a type of Him who tries us to confirm our faith, but this human “marquis” is of the earth earthy, and cannot stand for a spiritual type. It reminds me of the passage in which Ruskin comments on the attitude of the Prophets in “The Transfiguration.”[91] Do you remember it in Modern Painters?