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diff --git a/12095.txt b/12095.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ab6f90 --- /dev/null +++ b/12095.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7347 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, More Bywords, by Charlotte M. Yonge + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: More Bywords + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + +Release Date: April 20, 2004 [eBook #12095] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE BYWORDS*** + + +Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +MORE BYWORDS + + + + +Contents: + + The Price of Blood + The Cat of Cat Copse + De Facto and De Jure + Sigbert's Guerdon + The Beggar's Legacy + A Review of the Nieces + Come to Her Kingdom + Mrs. Batseyes + Chops + + + +THE PRICE OF BLOOD + + + +Ab ira et odio, et omni mala voluntate, + Libera nos, Domine. +A fulgure et tempestate, + Libera nos, Domine. +A morte perpetua, + Libera nos, Domine. + +So rang forth the supplication, echoing from rock and fell, as the +people of Claudiodunum streamed forth in the May sunshine to invoke +a blessing on the cornlands, olives, and vineyards that won vantage- +ground on the terraces carefully kept up on the slopes of the +wonderful needle-shaped hills of Auvergne. + +Very recently had the Church of Gaul commenced the custom of going +forth, on the days preceding the Ascension feast, to chant Litanies, +calling down the Divine protection on field and fold, corn and wine, +basket and store. It had been begun in a time of deadly peril from +famine and earthquake, wild beast and wilder foes, and it had been +adopted in the neighbouring dioceses as a regular habit, as indeed +it continued throughout the Western Church during the fourteen +subsequent centuries. + +One great procession was formed by different bands. The children +were in two troops, a motley collection of all shades; the deep +olive and the rolling black eye betraying Ethiopian or Moorish slave +ancestry, the soft dark complexion and deep brown eye showing the +Roman, and the rufous hair and freckled skin the lower grade of +Cymric Kelt, while a few had the more stately pose, violet eye, and +black hair of the Gael. The boys were marshalled with extreme +difficulty by two or three young monks; their sisters walked far +more orderly, under the care of some consecrated virgin of mature +age. The men formed another troop, the hardy mountaineers still +wearing the Gallic trousers and plaid, though the artisans and +mechanics from the town were clad in the tunic and cloak that were +the later Roman dress, and such as could claim the right folded over +them the white, purple-edged scarf to which the toga had dwindled. + +Among the women there was the same scale of decreasing nationality +of costume according to rank, though the culmination was in +resemblance to the graceful classic robe of Rome instead of the last +Parisian mode. The poorer women wore bright, dark crimson, or blue +in gown or wrapping veil; the ladies were mostly in white or black, +as were also the clergy, excepting such as had officiated at the +previous Eucharist, and who wore their brilliant priestly vestments, +heavy with gold and embroidery. + +Beautiful alike to eye and ear was the procession, above all from a +distance, now filing round a delicate young green wheatfield, now +lost behind a rising hill, now glancing through a vineyard, or +contrasting with the gray tints of the olive, all that was +incongruous or disorderly unseen, and all that was discordant +unheard, as only the harmonious cadence of the united response was +wafted fitfully on the breeze to the two elderly men who, unable to +scale the wild mountain paths in the procession, had, after the +previous service in the basilica and the blessing of the nearer +lands, returned to the villa, where they sat watching its progress. + +It was as entirely a Roman villa as the form of the ground and the +need of security would permit. Lying on the slope of a steep hill, +which ran up above into a fantastic column or needle piercing the +sky, the courts of the villa were necessarily a succession of +terraces, levelled and paved with steps of stone or marble leading +from one to the other. A strong stone wall enclosed the whole, +cloistered, as a protection from sun and storm. The lowest court +had a gateway strongly protected, and thence a broad walk with box- +trees on either side, trimmed into fantastic shapes, led through a +lawn laid out in regular flower-beds to the second court, which was +paved with polished marble, and had a fountain in the midst, with +vases of flowers, and seats around. Above was another broad flight +of stone steps, leading to a portico running along the whole front +of the house, with the principal chambers opening into it. Behind +lay another court, serving as stables for the horses and mules, as +farmyard, and with the quarters of the slaves around it, and higher +up there stretched a dense pine forest protecting the whole +establishment from avalanches and torrents of stones from the +mountain peak above. + +Under the portico, whose pillars were cut from the richly-coloured +native marbles, reposed the two friends on low couches. + +One was a fine-looking man, with a grand bald forehead, encircled +with a wreath of oak, showing that in his time he had rescued a +Roman's life. He also wore a richly-embroidered purple toga, the +token of high civic rank, for he had put on his full insignia as a +senator and of consular rank to do honour to the ceremonial. Indeed +he would not have abstained from accompanying the procession, but +that his guest, though no more aged than himself, was manifestly +unequal to the rugged expedition, begun fasting in the morning chill +and concluded, likewise fasting, in the noonday heat. Still, it +would scarcely have distressed those sturdy limbs, well developed +and preserved by Roman training, never permitted by him to +degenerate into effeminacy. And as his fine countenance and well- +knit frame testified, Marcus AEmilius Victorinus inherited no small +share of genuine Roman blood. His noble name might be derived +through clientela, and his lineage had a Gallic intermixture; but +the true Quirite predominated in his character and temperament. The +citizenship of his family dated back beyond the first establishment +of the colony, and rank, property, and personal qualities alike +rendered him the first man in the district, its chief magistrate, +and protector from the Visigoths, who claimed it as part of their +kingdom of Aquitania. + +So much of the spirit of Vercingetorix survived among the remnant of +his tribe that Arvernia had never been overrun and conquered, but +had held out until actually ceded by one of the degenerate Augusti +at Ravenna, and then favourable terms had been negotiated, partly by +AEmilius the Senator, as he was commonly called, and partly by the +honoured friend who sat beside him, another relic of the good old +times when Southern Gaul enjoyed perfect peace as a favoured +province of the Empire. This guest was a man of less personal +beauty than the Senator, and more bowed and aged, but with care and +ill-health more than years, for the two had been comrades in school, +fellow-soldiers and magistrates, working simultaneously, and with +firm, mutual trust all their days. + +The dress of the visitor was shaped like that of the senator, but of +somewhat richer and finer texture. He too wore the TOGA +PRAETEXTATA, but he had a large gold cross hanging on his breast and +an episcopal ring on his finger; and instead of the wreath of bay he +might have worn, and which encircled his bust in the Capitol, the +scanty hair on his finely-moulded head showed the marks of the +tonsure. His brow was a grand and expansive one; his gray eyes were +full of varied expression, keen humour, and sagacity; a lofty +devotion sometimes changing his countenance in a wonderful manner, +even in the present wreck of his former self, when the cheeks showed +furrows worn by care and suffering, and the once flexible and +resolute mouth had fallen in from loss of teeth. For this was the +scholar, soldier, poet, gentleman, letter-writer, statesman, +Sidonius Apollinaris, who had stood on the steps of the Imperial +throne of the West, had been crowned as an orator in the Capitol, +and then had been called by the exigences of his country to give up +his learned ease and become the protector of the Arvernii as a +patriot Bishop, where he had well and nobly served his God and his +country, and had won the respect, not only of the Catholic Gauls but +of the Arian Goths. Jealousy and evil tongues had, however, +prevailed to cause his banishment from his beloved hills, and when +he repaired to the court of King Euric to solicit permission to +return, he was long detained there, and had only just obtained +license to go back to his See. He had arrived only a day or two +previously at the villa, exhausted by his journey, and though +declaring that his dear mountain breezes must needs restore him, and +that it was a joy to inhale them, yet, as he heard of the +oppressions that were coming on his people, the mountain gales could +only 'a momentary bliss bestow,' and AEmilius justly feared that the +decay of his health had gone too far for even the breezes and baths +of Arvernia to reinvigorate him. + +His own mountain estate, where dwelt his son, was of difficult +access early in the year, and AEmilius hoped to persuade him to rest +in the villa till after Pentecost, and then to bless the nuptials of +Columba AEmilia, the last unwedded daughter of the house, with Titus +Julius Verronax, a young Arvernian chief of the lineage of +Vercingetorix, highly educated in all Latin and Greek culture, and a +Roman citizen much as a Highland chieftain is an Englishman. His +home was on an almost inaccessible peak, or PUY, which the Senator +pointed out to the Bishop, saying-- + +"I would fain secure such a refuge for my family in case the tyranny +of the barbarians should increase." + +"Are there any within the city?" asked the Bishop. "I rejoice to +see that thou art free from the indignity of having any quartered +upon thee." + +"For which I thank Heaven," responded the Senator. "The nearest are +on the farm of Deodatus, in the valley. There is a stout old +warrior named Meinhard who calls himself of the King's Trust; not a +bad old fellow in himself to deal with, but with endless sons, +followers, and guests, whom poor Deodatus and Julitta have to keep +supplied with whatever they choose to call for, being forced to +witness their riotous orgies night after night." + +"Even so, we are far better off than our countrymen who have the +heathen Franks for their lords." + +"That Heaven forbid!" said AEmilius. "These Goths are at least +Christians, though heretics, yet I shall be heartily glad when the +circuit of Deodatus's fields is over. The good man would not have +them left unblest, but the heretical barbarians make it a point of +honour not to hear the Blessed Name invoked without mockery, such as +our youths may hardly brook." + +"They are unarmed," said the Bishop. + +"True; but, as none knows better than thou dost, dear father and +friend, the Arvernian blood has not cooled since the days of Caius +Julius Caesar, and offences are frequent among the young men. So +often has our community had to pay 'wehrgeld,' as the barbarians +call the price they lay upon blood, that I swore at last that I +would never pay it again, were my own son the culprit." + +"Such oaths are perilous," said Sidonius. "Hast thou never had +cause to regret this?" + +"My father, thou wouldst have thought it time to take strong +measures to check the swaggering of our young men and the foolish +provocations that cost more than one life. One would stick a +peacock's feather in his cap and go strutting along with folded arms +and swelling breast, and when the Goths scowled at him and called +him by well-deserved names, a challenge would lead to a deadly +combat. Another such fight was caused by no greater offence than +the treading on a dog's tail; but in that it was the Roman, or more +truly the Gaul, who was slain, and I must say the 'wehrgeld' was +honourably paid. It is time, however, that such groundless +conflicts should cease; and, in truth, only a barbarian could be +satisfied to let gold atone for life." + +"It is certainly neither Divine law nor human equity," said the +Bishop. "Yet where no distinction can be made between the +deliberate murder and the hasty blow, I have seen cause to be +thankful for the means of escaping the utmost penalty. Has this +oath had the desired effect?" + +"There has been only one case since it was taken," replied AEmilius. +"That was a veritable murder. A vicious, dissolute lad stabbed a +wounded Goth in a lonely place, out of vengeful spite. I readily +delivered him up to the kinsfolk for justice, and as this proved me +to be in earnest, these wanton outrages have become much more rare. +Unfortunately, however, the fellow was son to one of the widows of +the Church--a holy woman, and a favourite of my little Columba, who +daily feeds and tends the poor thing, and thinks her old father very +cruel." + +"Alas! from the beginning the doom of the guilty has struck the +innocent," said the Bishop. + +"In due retribution, as even the heathen knew." Perfect +familiarity with the great Greek tragedians was still the mark of a +gentleman, and then Sidonius quoted from Sophocles-- + + + Compass'd with dazzling light, + Throned on Olympus's height, +His front the Eternal God uprears +By toils unwearied, and unaged by years; + Far back, through ages past, + Far on, through time to come, + Hath been, and still must last, + Sin's never-changing doom. + + +AEmilius capped it from AEschylus-- + + +But Justice holds her equal scales + With ever-waking eye; +O'er some her vengeful might prevails + When their life's sun is high; + On some her vigorous judgments light + In that dread pause 'twixt day and night, + Life's closing, twilight hour. +But soon as once the genial plain +Has drunk the life-blood of the slain, +Indelible the spots remain, + And aye for vengeance call. + + +"Yea," said the Bishop, "such was the universal law given to Noah +ere the parting of the nations--blood for blood! And yet, where +should we be did not Mercy rejoice against Justice, and the Blood of +Sprinkling speak better things than the blood of Abel? Nay, think +not that I blame thee, my dear brother. Thou art the judge of thy +people, and well do I know that one act of stern justice often, as +in this instance, prevents innumerable deeds of senseless violence." + +"Moreover," returned the Senator, "it was by the relaxing of the +ancient Roman sternness of discipline and resolution that the +horrors of the Triumvirate began, and that, later on, spirit decayed +and brought us to our present fallen state." + +By this time the procession, which had long since passed from their +sight, was beginning to break up and disperse. A flock of little +children first appeared, all of whom went aside to the slaves' +quarters except one, who came running up the path between the box- +trees. He was the eldest grandson and namesake of the Senator, a +dark-eyed, brown-haired boy of seven, with the golden bulla hanging +round his neck. Up he came to the old man's knee, proud to tell how +he had scaled every rock, and never needed any help from the +pedagogue slave who had watched over him. + +"Sawest thou any barbarians, my Victorinus?" asked his grandfather. + +"They stood thickly about Deodatus's door, and Publius said they +were going to mock; but we looked so bold and sang so loud that they +durst not. And Verronax is come down, papa, with Celer; and Celer +wanted to sing too, but they would not let him, and he was so good +that he was silent the moment his master showed him the leash." + +"Then is Celer a hound?" asked the Bishop, amused. + +"A hound of the old stock that used to fight battles for Bituitus," +returned the child. "Oh, papa, I am so hungry." + +He really did say 'papa,' the fond domestic name which passed from +the patriarch of the household to the Father of the Roman Church. + +"Thy mother is watching for thee. Run to her, and she will give +thee a cake--aye, and a bath before thy dinner. So Verronax is +come. I am glad thou wilt see him, my father. The youth has grown +up with my own children, and is as dear to me as my own son. Ah, +here comes my Columba!" + +For the maidens were by this time returning, and Columba, robed in +white, with a black veil, worn mantilla fashion over her raven hair, +so as to shade her soft, liquid, dark eyes, came up the steps, and +with a graceful obeisance to her father and the Bishop, took the +seat to which the former drew her beside them. + +"Has all gone well, my little dove?" asked her father. + +"Perfectly well so far, my father," she replied; but there was +anxiety in her eyes until the gate again opened and admitted the +male contingent of the procession. No sooner had she seen them +safely advancing up the box avenue than she murmured something about +preparing for the meal, and, desiring a dismissal from her father, +disappeared into the women's apartments, while the old man smiled at +her pretty maidenly modesty. + +Of the three men who were advancing, one, Marcus AEmilius, about +seven or eight and twenty years of age, was much what the Senator +must have been at his age--sturdy, resolute, with keen eyes, and +crisp, curled, short black hair. His younger brother, Lucius, was +taller, slighter, more delicately made, with the same pensive +Italian eyes as his sister, and a gentle, thoughtful countenance. +The tonsure had not yet touched his soft, dark brown locks; but it +was the last time he would march among the laity, for, both by his +own desire and that of his dead mother, he was destined to the +priesthood. Beside these two brothers came a much taller figure. +The Arvernii seem to have been Gael rather than Cymri, and the +mountain chief, Titus Julius Verronax, as the Romans rendered his +name of Fearnagh, was of the purest descent. He had thick, wavy +chestnut hair, not cut so short as that of the Romans, though kept +with the same care. His eyebrows were dark, his eyes, both in hue +and brightness, like a hawk's, his features nobly moulded, and his +tall form, though large and stately, was in perfect symmetry, and +had the free bearing and light springiness befitting a mountaineer. +He wore the toga as an official scarf, but was in his national garb +of the loose trousers and short coat, and the gold torq round his +neck had come to him from prehistoric ages. He had the short Roman +sword in his belt, and carried in his hand a long hunting-spear, +without which he seldom stirred abroad, as it served him both as +alpenstock and as defence against the wolves and bears of the +mountains. Behind him stalked a magnificent dog, of a kind +approaching the Irish wolfhound, a perfect picture of graceful +outline and of strength, swiftness, and dignity, slightly shaggy, +and of tawny colouring--in all respects curiously like his master. + +In language, learning, and manners Verronax the Arvernian was, +however, a highly cultivated Roman, as Sidonius perceived in the +first word of respectful welcome that he spoke when presented to the +Bishop. + +All had gone off well. Old Meinhard had been on the watch, and had +restrained any insult, if such had been intended, by the other +Goths, who had stood watching in silence the blessing of the fields +and vineyards of Deodatus. + +The peril over, the AEmilian household partook cheerfully of the +social meal. Marina, the wife of Marcus, and Columba sat on carved +chairs, the men of the family reclining on the couches constructed +to hold three. The bright wit of Sidonius, an eminent +conversationalist, shone the more brightly for his rejoicing at his +return to his beloved country and flock, and to the friend of his +youth. There were such gleams in the storms that were overwhelming +the tottering Empire, to which indeed these men belonged only in +heart and in name. + +The meal was for a fast day, and consisted of preparations of eggs, +milk, flour, and fish from the mountain streams, but daintily +cooked, for the traditions of the old Roman gastronomy survived, and +Marina, though half a Gaul, was anxious that her housekeeping should +shine in the eyes of the Bishop, who in his secular days had been +known to have a full appreciation of the refinements of the table. + +When the family rose and the benediction had been pronounced, +Columba was seen collecting some of the remnants in a basket. + +"Thou surely dost not intend going to that widow of thine to-day," +exclaimed her sister-in-law, Marina, "after such a walk on the +mountain?" + +"Indeed I must, sister," replied Columba; "she was in much pain and +weakness yesterday, and needs me more than usual." + +"And it is close to the farm of Deodatus," Marina continued to +object, "where, the slaves tell me, there are I know not how many +fresh barbarian guests!" + +"I shall of course take Stentor and Athenais," said Columba. + +"A pair of slaves can be of no use. Marcus, dost thou hear? Forbid +thy sister's folly." + +"I will guard my sister," said Lucius, becoming aware of what was +passing. + +"Who should escort her save myself?" said the graceful Verronax, +turning at the same moment from replying to some inquiries from the +Bishop. + +"I doubt whether his escort be not the most perilous thing of all," +sighed Marina. + +"Come, Marina," said her husband good-humouredly, "be not always a +boder of ill. Thou deemest a Goth worse than a gorgon or hydra, +whereas, I assure you, they are very good fellows after all, if you +stand up to them like a man, and trust their word. Old Meinhard is +a capital hunting comrade." + +Wherewith the worthy Marcus went off with his little son at his +heels to inspect the doings of the slaves in the farm-court in the +rear, having no taste for the occupation of his father and the +Bishop, who composed themselves to listen to a MS. of the letters of +S. Gregory Nazianzen, which Sidonius had lately acquired, and which +was read aloud to them by a secretary slave. + +Some time had thus passed when a confused sound made the Senator +start up. He beheld his daughter and her escort within the lower +court, but the slaves were hastily barring the gates behind them, +and loud cries of "Justice! Vengeance!" in the Gothic tongue, +struck his only too well-accustomed ears. + +Columba flung herself before him, crying-- + +"O father, have pity! It was for our holy faith." + +"He blasphemed," was all that was uttered by Verronax, on whose +dress there was blood. + +"Open the gates," called out the Senator, as the cry outside waxed +louder. "None shall cry for justice in vain at the gate of an +AEmilius. Go, Marcus, admit such as have a right to enter and be +heard. Rise, my daughter, show thyself a true Roman and Christian +maiden before these barbarians. And thou, my son, alas, what hast +thou done?" he added, turning to Verronax, and taking his arm while +walking towards the tribunal, where he did justice as chief +magistrate of the Roman settlement. + +A few words told all. While Columba was engaged with her sick +widow, a young stranger Goth strolled up, one who had stood combing +his long fair hair, and making contemptuous gestures as the Rogation +procession passed in the morning. He and his comrades began +offensively to scoff at the two young men for having taken part in +the procession, uttering the blasphemies which the invocation of our +Blessed Lord was wont to call forth. + +Verronax turned wrathfully round, a hasty challenge passed, a rapid +exchange of blows; and while the Arvernian received only a slight +scratch, the Goth fell slain before the hovel. His comrades were +unarmed and intimidated. They rushed back to fetch weapons from the +house of Deodatus, and there had been full time to take Columba +safely home, Verronax and his dog stalking statelily in the rear as +her guardians. + +"Thou shouldst have sought thine impregnable crag, my son," said the +Senator sadly. + +"To bring the barbarian vengeance upon this house?" responded +Verronax. + +"Alas, my son, thou know'st mine oath." + +"I know it, my father." + +"It forbids not thy ransoming thyself." + +Verronax smiled slightly, and touched the collar at his throat. + +"This is all the gold that I possess." + +The Senator rapidly appraised it with his eye. There was a regular +tariff on the lives of free Romans, free Goths, guests, and trusted +men of the King; and if the deceased were merely a LITE, or freeman +of the lowest rank, it was just possible that the gold collar might +purchase its master's life, provided he were not too proud to part +with the ancestral badge. + +By this time the tribunal had been reached--a special portion of the +peristyle, with a curule chair, inlaid with ivory, placed on a +tesselated pavement, as in the old days of the Republic, and a +servant on each side held the lictor's axe and bundle of rods, which +betokened stern Roman justice, wellnigh a mockery now. The forum of +the city would have been the regular place, but since an earthquake +had done much damage there, and some tumults had taken place among +the citizens, the seat of judgment had by general consent been +placed in the AEmilian household as the place of chief security, and +as he was the accredited magistrate with their Gothic masters, as +Sidonius had been before his banishment. + +As Sidonius looked at the grave face of the Senator, set like a +rock, but deadly pale, he thought it was no unworthy representative +of Brutus or Manlius of old who sat on that seat. + +Alas! would he not be bound by his fatal oath to be only too true a +representative of their relentless justice? + +On one side of the judgment-seat stood Verronax, towering above all +around; behind him Marina and Columba, clinging together, trembling +and tearful, but their weeping restrained by the looks of the +Senator, and by a certain remnant of hope. + +To the other side advanced the Goths, all much larger and taller men +than any one except the young Gaulish chieftain. The foremost was a +rugged-looking veteran, with grizzled locks and beard, and a +sunburnt face. This was Meinhard, the head of the garrison on +Deodatus's farm, a man well known to AEmilius, and able to speak +Latin enough to hold communication with the Romans. Several younger +men pressed rudely behind him, but they were evidently impressed by +the dignity of the tribunal, though it was with a loud and fierce +shout that they recognised Verronax standing so still and unmoved. + +"Silence!" exclaimed the Senator, lifting his ivory staff. + +Meinhard likewise made gestures to hush them, and they ceased, while +the Senator, greeting Meinhard and inviting him to share his seat of +authority, demanded what they asked. + +"Right!" was their cry. "Right on the slayer of Odorik, the son of +Odo, of the lineage of Odin, our guest, and of the King's trust." + +"Right shall ye have, O Goths," returned AEmilius. "A Roman never +flinches from justice. Who are witnesses to the deed? Didst thou +behold it, O Meinhard, son of Thorulf?" + +"No, noble AEmilius. It had not been wrought had I been present; +but here are those who can avouch it. Stand forth, Egilulf, son of +Amalrik." + +"It needs not," said Verronax. "I acknowledge the deed. The Goth +scoffed at us for invoking a created Man. I could not stand by to +hear my Master insulted, and I smote him, but in open fight, whereof +I bear the token." + +"That is true," said Meinhard. "I know that Verronax, the +Arvernian, would strike no coward blow. Therefore did I withhold +these comrades of Odorik from rushing on thee in their fury; but +none the less art thou in feud with Odo, the father of Odorik, who +will require of thee either thy blood or the wehrgeld." + +"Wehrgeld I have none to pay," returned Verronax, in the same calm +voice. + +"I have sworn!" said AEmilius in a clear low voice, steady but full +of suppressed anguish. A shriek was heard among the women, and +Sidonius stepped forth and demanded the amount of wehrgeld. + +"That must be for King Euric to decide," returned Meinhard. "He +will fix the amount, and it will be for Odo to choose whether he +will accept it. The mulct will be high, for the youth was of high +Baltic blood, and had but lately arrived with his father from the +north!" + +"Enough," said Verronax. "Listen, Meinhard. Thou knowest me, and +the Arvernian faith. Leave me this night to make my peace with +Heaven and my parting with man. At the hour of six to-morrow +morning, I swear that I will surrender myself into thine hands to be +dealt with as it may please the father of this young man." + +"So let it be, Meinhard," said AEmilius, in a stifled voice. + +"I know AEmilius, and I know Verronax," returned the Goth. + +They grasped hands, and then Meinhard drew off his followers, +leaving two, at the request of Marcus, to act as sentinels at the +gate. + +The Senator sat with his hands clasped over his face in unutterable +grief, Columba threw herself into the arms of her betrothed, Marina +tore her hair, and shrieked out-- + +"I will not hold my peace! It is cruel! It is wicked! It is +barbarous!" + +"Silence, Marina," said Verronax. "It is just! I am no ignorant +child. I knew the penalty when I incurred it! My Columba, +remember, though it was a hasty blow, it was in defence of our +Master's Name." + +The thought might comfort her by and by; as yet it could not. + +The Senator rose and took his hand. + +"Thou dost forgive me, my son?" he said. + +"I should find it hard to forgive one who lessened my respect for +the AEmilian constancy," returned Verronax. + +Then he led Marcus aside to make arrangements with him respecting +his small mountain estate and the remnant of his tribe, since Marina +was his nearest relative, and her little son would, if he were cut +off, be the sole heir to the ancestral glories of Vercingetorix. + +"And I cannot stir to save such a youth as that!" cried the Senator +in a tone of agony as he wrung the hand of Sidonius. "I have bound +mine own hands, when I would sell all I have to save him. O my +friend and father, well mightest thou blame my rashness, and doubt +the justice that could be stern where the heart was not touched." + +"But I am not bound by thine oath, my friend," said Sidonius. "True +it is that the Master would not be served by the temporal sword, yet +such zeal as that of this youth merits that we should strive to +deliver him. Utmost justice would here be utmost wrong. May I send +one of your slaves as a messenger to my son to see what he can +raise? Though I fear me gold and silver is more scarce than it was +in our younger days." + +This was done, and young Lucius also took a summons from the Bishop +to the deacons of the Church in the town, authorising the use of the +sacred vessels to raise the ransom, but almost all of these had been +already parted with in the time of a terrible famine which had +ravaged Arvernia a few years previously, and had denuded all the +wealthy and charitable families of their plate and jewels. Indeed +Verronax shrank from the treasure of the Church being thus applied. +Columba might indeed weep for him exultingly as a martyr, but, as he +well knew, martyrs do not begin as murderers, and passion, +pugnacity, and national hatred had been uppermost with him. It was +the hap of war, and he was ready to take it patiently, and prepare +himself for death as a brave Christian man, but not a hero or a +martyr; and there was little hope either that a ransom so +considerable as the rank of the parties would require could be +raised without the aid of the AEmilii, or that, even if it were, the +fierce old father would accept it. The more civilised Goths, whose +families had ranged Italy, Spain, and Aquitaine for two or three +generations, made murder the matter of bargain that had shocked +AEmilius; but this was an old man from the mountain cradle of the +race, unsophisticated, and but lately converted. + +In the dawn of the summer morning Bishop Sidonius celebrated the +Holy Eucharist for the mournful family in the oratory, a vaulted +chamber underground, which had served the same purpose in the days +of persecution, and had the ashes of two tortured martyrs of the +AEmilian household, mistress and slave, enshrined together beneath +the altar, which had since been richly inlaid with coloured marble. + +Afterwards a morning meal was served for Verronax and for the elder +AEmilius, who intended to accompany him on his sad journey to +Bordigala, where the King and the father of Odorik were known to be +at the time. Sidonius, who knew himself to have some interest with +Euric, would fain have gone with them, but his broken health +rendered a rapid journey impossible, and he hoped to serve the +friends better by remaining to console the two women, and to +endeavour to collect the wehrgeld in case it should be accepted. + +The farewells, owing to the Roman dignity of AEmilius and the proud +self-respect of the Arvernian, were more calm than had been feared. +Even thus, thought Sidonius, must Vercingetorix have looked when he +mounted his horse and rode from his lines at Alesia to save his +people, by swelling Caesar's triumph and dying beneath the Capitol. +Oh, ABSIT OMEN! Columba was borne up by hopes which Verronax would +not dash to the ground, and she received his embrace with steadfast, +though brimming eyes, and an assurance that she would pray without +ceasing. + +Lucius was not to be found, having no doubt gone forward, intending +to direct his friend on his journey, and there part with him; but +the saddest part of the whole was the passionate wailings and +bemoanings of the remnants of his clan. One of his attendants had +carried the tidings; wild Keltic men and women had come down for one +last sight of their Fearnagh MacFearccadorigh, as they called him by +his true Gaulish name--passionately kissing his hands and the hem of +his mantle, beating their breasts amid howls of lamentation, and +throwing themselves in his path, as, with the high spirit which +could not brook to be fetched as a criminal, he made his way to the +gate. + +Mounted on two strong mules, the only animals serviceable in the +mountain paths, the Senator and Verronax passed the gate, Marcus +walking beside them. + +"We are beforehand with the Goth," said Verronax, as he came out. + +"Lazy hounds!" said Marcus. "Their sentinels have vanished. It +would serve them right if thou didst speed over the border to the +Burgundians!" + +"I shall have a laugh at old Meinhard," said Verronax. "Little he +knows of discipline." + +"No doubt they have had a great lyke wake, as they barbarously call +their obsequies," said the Senator, "and are sleeping off their +liquor." + +"We will rouse them," said the Arvernian; "it will be better than +startling poor Columba." + +So on they moved, the wildly-clad, barefooted Gauls, with locks +streaming in the wind, still keeping in the rear. They reached the +long, low farm-buildings belonging to Deodatus, a half-bred Roman +Gaul, with a large vineyard and numerous herds of cattle. The place +was wonderfully quiet. The Goths seemed to be indulging in very +sound slumbers after their carouse, for nothing was to be seen but +the slaves coming in with bowls of milk from the cattle. Some of +them must have given notice of the approach of the Senator, for +Deodatus came to his door with the salutation, "AVE CLARISSIME!" and +then stood staring at Verronax, apparently petrified with wonder; +and as the young chief demanded where was Meinhard, he broke forth-- + +"Does his nobility ask me? It is two hours since every Goth quitted +the place, except the dead man in the house of the widow Dubhina, +and we are breathing freely for once in our lives. Up they went +towards the AEmilian villa with clamour and threats enough to make +one's blood run cold, and they must be far on their way to Bordigala +Gergovia by this time." + +"His nobility must have passed through their midst unseen and +unheard!" cried old Julitta, a hardworking, dried-up woman, clasping +her sinewy, wrinkled hands; "a miracle, and no wonder, since our +holy Bishop has returned." + +The excitable household was on the point of breaking out into +acclamation, but Verronax exclaimed: "Silence, children! Miracles +are not for the bloodguilty. If it be, as I fear, they have met +Lucius and seized him in my stead, we must push on at once to save +him." + +"Meinhard could not mistake your persons," returned AEmilius; but +while he was speaking, a messenger came up and put into his hand one +of the waxen tablets on which notes were written-- + + +L. AEM. VIC. TO M. AEM. VIC. S. Q.,--Pardon and bless thy son. +Meinhard assures me that I shall be accepted as equal in birth and +accessory to the deed. Remember Columba and the value of Verronax's +life, and let me save him. Consent and hold him back. Greet all +the dear ones.--VALE. + + +The little tablet could hold no more than this--almost every word +curtailed. The Senator's firm lip quivered at last as he exclaimed, +"My brave son. Thus does he redeem his father's rash oath!" + +Verronax, whose Roman breeding had held his impulsive Keltic nature +in check as long as it was only himself that was in danger, now +broke into loud weeping-- + +"My Lucius! my brother beloved! and didst thou deem Arvernian honour +fallen so low that I could brook such a sacrifice? Let us hasten on +instantly, my father, while yet it is time!" + +It would have been impossible to withhold him, and Marcus returned +with the strange tidings, while his father and Verronax set forth +with a few servants, mounted like themselves on mules, to reach the +broad Roman road that led from Gergovia to Bordigala. Three wild, +barefooted Gauls of Verronax's clan shook their heads at all his +attempts to send them home, and went running along after him with +the same fidelity as poor Celer, whom he had left tied up at the +villa as his parting gift to little Victorinus, but who had broken +loose, and came bounding to his master, caressing him with nose and +tongue at their first halt. + +There had been, as in all Roman roads, regular posting stations at +intervals along the way, where horses and mules could be hired, but +the troubles of the Empire, invasion, and scarcity had greatly +disturbed the system. Many of the stations were deserted, and at +others either the whole of the animals, or all the fleeter ones, had +been taken up by Meinhard and his convoy. Indeed it almost seemed +that not only Lucius was anxious not to be overtaken, but that +Meinhard was forwarding his endeavours to consummate his sacrifice +before the Arvernian could prevent it. + +Hotly did Verronax chafe at each hindrance. He would have dashed +onwards with feverish head-long speed, using his own fleet limbs +when he could not obtain a horse, but AEmilius feared to trust him +alone, lest, coming too late to rescue Lucius, he should bring on +himself the fury of the Goths, strike perhaps in revenge, and not +only lose his own life and render the sacrifice vain, but imperil +many more. + +So, while making all possible speed, he bound the young Arvernian, +by all the ties of paternal guardianship and authority, to give his +word not to use his lighter weight and youthful vigour to outstrip +the rest of the party. + +The Senator himself hardly knew what was his own wish, for if his +fatherly affection yearned over his gentle, dutiful, studious +Lucius, yet Columba's desolation, and the importance of Verronax as +a protector for his family, so weighed down the other scale, that he +could only take refuge in 'committing his way unto the Lord.' + +The last halting-place was at a villa belonging to a Roman, where +they heard that an assembly was being held in the fields near +Bordigala for judgment on the slaughter of a young Goth of high +rank. On learning how deeply they were concerned, their host lent +them two horses, and rode with them himself, as they hastened on in +speechless anxiety. + +These early Teutonic nations all had their solemn assemblies in the +open air, and the Goths had not yet abandoned the custom, so that as +the Senator and the chieftain turned the summit of the last low hill +they could see the plain beneath swarming like an ant-hill with +people, and as they pressed onward they could see a glittering tent, +woven with cloth of gold, a throne erected in front, and around it a +space cleared and guarded by a huge circle of warriors (LITES), +whose shields joined so as to form a wall. + +Near the throne stood the men of higher degree, all alike to join +the King in his judgment, like the Homeric warriors of old, as +indeed Sidonius had often said that there was no better comment on +the ILIAD than the meetings of the barbarians. + +By the time AEmilius and Verronax had reached the spot, and gained +an entrance in virtue of their rank and concern in the matter, Euric +sat enthroned in the midst of the assembly. He was far removed from +being a savage, though he had won his crown by the murder of his +brother. He and the counts (comrades) around him wore the Roman +garb, and used by preference the Latin speech, learning, arms, and +habits, just as European civilisation is adopted by the Egyptian or +Japanese of the present day. He understood Roman jurisprudence, and +was the author of a code for the Goths, but in a case like this he +was obliged to conform to national customs. + +There he sat, a small, light-complexioned man, of slighter make than +those around him, holding in his hand a scroll. It was a letter +from Sidonius, sent beforehand by a swift-footed mountaineer, and +containing a guarantee for 1200 soldi, twice the price for a Goth of +ordinary rank. On the one side stood, unbound and unguarded, the +slender form of Lucius; on the other a gigantic old Visigoth, blind, +and with long streaming snowy hair and beard, his face stern with +grief and passion, and both his knotted hands crossed upon the +handle of a mighty battle-axe. + +The King had evidently been explaining to him the terms of the +Bishop's letter, for the first words that met the ear of AEmilius +were-- + +"Nay, I say nay, King Euric. Were I to receive treble the weight of +gold, how should that enable me to face my son in the halls of Odin, +with his blood unavenged?" + +There was a murmur, and the King exclaimed-- + +"Now, now, Odo, we know no more of Odin." + +"Odin knows us no more," retorted the old man, "since we have washed +ourselves in the Name of another than the mighty Thor, and taken up +the weakly worship of the conquered. So my son would have it! He +talked of a new Valhal of the Christian; but let him meet me where +he will, he shall not reproach me that he only of all his brethren +died unavenged. Where is the slayer? Set him before me that I may +strike him dead with one blow!" + +Lucius crossed himself, looked upwards, and was stepping forwards, +when Verronax with a shout of 'Hold!' leapt into the midst, full +before the avenger's uplifted weapon, crying-- + +"Slay me, old man! It was I who killed thy son, I, Fearnagh the +Arvernian!" + +"Ho!" said Odo. "Give me thine hand. Let me feel thee. Yea, these +be sinews! It is well. I marvelled how my Odorik should have +fallen by the soft Roman hand of yonder stripling; but thou art a +worthy foe. What made the priestling thrust himself between me and +my prey?" + +"His generous love," returned Verronax, as Lucius flung himself on +his neck, crying-- + +"O my Verronax, why hast thou come? The bitterness of death was +past! The gates were opening." + +Meanwhile AEmilius had reached Euric, and had made him understand +the substitution. Old Odo knew no Latin, and it was the King, an +able orator in both tongues, who expounded all in Gothic, showing +how Lucius AEmilius had offered his life in the stead of his friend, +and how Verronax had hurried to prevent the sacrifice, reiterating, +almost in a tone of command, the alternative of the wehrgeld. + +The lites all burst into acclamations at the nobility of the two +young men, and some muttered that they had not thought these Romans +had so much spirit. + +Euric made no decision. He did full justice to the courage and +friendship of the youths, and likewise to the fact that Odorik had +provoked the quarrel, and had been slain in fair fight; but the +choice lay with the father, and perhaps in his heart the politic +Visigoth could not regret that Arvernia should lose a champion sure +to stand up for Roman or national claims. + +Odo listened in silence, leaning on his axe. Then he turned his +face to the bystanders, and demanded of them-- + +"Which of them is the bolder? Which of them flinched at my axe?" + +The spectators were unanimous that neither had blenched. The +slender lad had presented himself as resolutely as the stately +warrior. + +"It is well," said Odo. "Either way my son will be worthily +avenged. I leave the choice to you, young men." + +A brief debate ended in an appeal to the Senator, who, in spite of +all his fortitude, could not restrain himself from groaning aloud, +hiding his face in his hands, and hoarsely saying, "Draw lots." + +"Yes," said Euric; "commit the judgment to Heaven." + +It was hailed as a relief; but Lucius stipulated that the lots +should be blessed by a Catholic priest, and Verronax muttered +impatiently-- + +"What matters it? Let us make an end as quickly as may be!" + +He had scarcely spoken when shouts were heard, the throng made way, +the circle of lites opened, as, waving an olive branch, a wearied, +exhausted rider and horse appeared, and staggering to the foot of +the throne, there went down entirely spent, the words being just +audible, "He lives! Odorik lives!" + +It was Marcus AEmilius, covered with dust, and at first unable to +utter another word, as he sat on the ground, supported by his +brother, while his father made haste to administer the wine handed +to him by an attendant. + +"Am I in time?" he asked. + +"In time, my son," replied his father, repeating his announcement in +Gothic. "Odorik lives!" + +"He lives, he will live," repeated Marcus, reviving. "I came not +away till his life was secure." + +"Is it truth?" demanded the old Goth. "Romans have slippery ways." + +Meinhard was quick to bear testimony that no man in Arvernia doubted +the word of an AEmilius; but Marcus, taking a small dagger from his +belt, held it out, saying-- + +"His son said that he would know this token." + +Odo felt it. "It is my son's knife," he said, still cautiously; +"but it cannot speak to say how it was taken from him." + +"The old barbarian heathen," quoth Verronax, under his breath; "he +would rather lose his son than his vengeance." + +Marcus had gathered breath and memory to add, "Tell him Odorik said +he would know the token of the red-breast that nested in the winged +helm of Helgund." + +"I own the token," said Odo. "My son lives. He needs no +vengeance." He turned the handle of his axe downwards, passed it to +his left hand, and stretched the right to Verronax, saying, "Young +man, thou art brave. There is no blood feud between us. Odo, son +of Helgund, would swear friendship with you, though ye be Romans." + +"Compensation is still due according to the amount of the injury," +said the Senator scrupulously. "Is it not so, O King?" + +Euric assented, but Odo exclaimed-- + +"No gold for me! When Odo, son of Helgund, forgives, he forgives +outright. Where is my son?" + +Food had by this time been brought by the King's order, and after +swallowing a few mouthfuls Marcus could stand and speak. + +Odorik, apparently dead, had been dragged by the Goths into the hut +of the widow Dubhina to await his father's decision as to the +burial, and the poor woman had been sheltered by her neighbour, +Julitta, leaving the hovel deserted. + +Columba, not allowing her grief and suspense to interfere with her +visits of mercy to the poor woman, had come down as usual on the +evening of the day on which her father and her betrothed had started +on their sad journey. Groans, not likely to be emitted by her +regular patient, had startled her, and she had found the floor +occupied by the huge figure of a young Goth, his face and hair +covered with blood from a deep wound on his head, insensible, but +his moans and the motion of his limbs betraying life. + +Knowing the bitter hatred in Claudiodunum for everything Gothic, the +brave girl would not seek for aid nearer than the villa. Thither +she despatched her male slave, while with her old nurse she did all +in her power for the relief of the wounded man, with no +inconsiderable skill. Marcus had brought the Greek physician of the +place, but he had done nothing but declare the patient a dead man by +all the laws of Galen and Hippocrates. However, the skull and +constitution of a vigorous young Goth, fresh from the mountains, +were tougher than could be imagined by a member of one of the +exhausted races of the Levant. Bishop Sidonius had brought his +science and sagacity to the rescue, and under his treatment Odorik +had been restored to his senses, and was on the fair way to +recovery. + +On the first gleam of hope, Marcus had sent off a messenger, but so +many of his household and dependents were absent that he had no +great choice; so that as soon as hope had become security, he had +set forth himself; and it was well he had done so, for he had +overtaken the messenger at what was reckoned as three days' journey +from Bordigala. He had ridden ever since without rest, only +dismounting to change his steed, scarcely snatching even then a +morsel of food, and that morning neither he nor the horse he rode +had relaxed for a moment the desperate speed with which he rode +against time; so that he had no cause for the shame and vexation +that he felt at his utter collapse before the barbarians. King +Euric himself declared that he wished he had a Goth who could +perform such a feat of endurance. + +While Marcus slept, AEmilius and the two young men offered their +heartfelt thanks in the Catholic church of Bordigala, and then Euric +would not be refused their presence at a great feast of +reconciliation on the following day, two of Verronax's speedy-footed +followers having been sent off at once to bear home tidings that his +intelligence had been in time. + +The feast was served in the old proconsular house, with the Roman +paraphernalia, arranged with the amount of correct imitation that is +to be found at an English dinner-party in the abode of an Indian +Rajah. It began with Roman etiquette, but ended in a Gothic revel, +which the sober and refined AEmilii could hardly endure. + +They were to set off on their return early on the morrow, Meinhard +and Odo with them; but when they at length escaped from the +barbarian orgies, they had little expectation that their companions +would join them in the morning. + +However, the two Goths and their followers were on the alert as soon +as they, and as cool-headed as if they had touched no drop of wine. + +Old Odo disdained a mule, and would let no hand save his own guide +his horse. Verronax and Lucius constituted themselves his guides, +and whenever he permitted the slightest assistance, it was always +from the Arvernian, whom he seemed to regard as a sort of adopted +son. + +He felt over his weapons, and told him long stories, of which +Verronax understood only a word or two here and there, though the +old man seemed little concerned thereat. Now and then he rode along +chanting to himself an extemporary song, which ran somewhat thus-- + + +Maids who choose the slain, +Disappointed now. +The Hawk of the Mountain, +The Wolf of the West, +Meet in fierce combat. +Sinks the bold Wolf-cub, +Folds his wing the Falcon! +Shall the soft priestling +Step before him to Valhal, +Cheating Lok's daughter +Of weak-hearted prey? +Lo! the Wolf wakens. +Valkyr relaxes, +Waits for a battlefield, +Wolf-cub to claim. +Friendly the Falcon, +Friendly the Gray-Wolf. + + +So it ran on, to the great scandal of Lucius, who longed for better +knowledge of the Gothic tongue to convince the old man of the folly +of his heathen dreams. Meinhard, who was likewise rather shocked, +explained that the father and son had been recent arrivals, who had +been baptized because Euric required his followers to embrace his +faith, but with little real knowledge or acceptance on the part of +the father. Young Odorik had been a far more ardent convert; and, +after the fashion of many a believer, had taken up the distinctions +of sect rather than of religion, and, zealous in the faith he knew, +had thought it incumbent on him to insult the Catholics where they +seemed to him idolatrous. + +A message on the road informed the travellers that they would find +Odorik at the villa. Thither then they went, and soon saw the whole +household on the steps in eager anticipation. A tall young figure, +with a bandage still round his fair flowing locks, came down the +steps as Verronax helped the blind man to dismount; and Odo, with a +cry of 'My son!' with a ring of ecstasy in the sound, held the youth +to his breast and felt him all over. + +"Are we friends?" said Odorik, turning to Verronax, when his father +released him. + +"That is as thou wiliest," returned the Arvernian gravely. + +"Know then," said Odorik, "that I know that I erred. I knew not thy +Lord when I mocked thine honour to Him. Father, we had but half +learnt the Christian's God. I have seen it now. It was not thy +blow, O Arvernian! that taught me; but the Master who inspired +yonder youth to offer his life, and who sent the maiden there to +wait upon her foe. He is more than man. I own in him the Eternal +Creator, Redeemer, and Lord!" + +"Yea," said Sidonius to his friend AEmilius, "a great work hath been +wrought out. Thus hath the parable of actual life led this zealous +but half-taught youth to enter into the higher truth. Lucius will +be none the worse priest for having trodden in the steps of Him who +was High-priest and Victim. Who may abide strict Divine Justice, +had not One stood between the sinner and the Judge? Thus 'Mercy and +Truth have met together; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each +other.'" + + + +THE CAT OF CAT COPSE + + + +A HAMPSHIRE TRADITION + +I + +The Dane! the Dane! The heathen Dane +Is wasting Hampshire's coast again-- +From ravaged church and plundered farm +Flash the dread beacons of alarm-- + Fly, helpless peasants, fly! +Ytene's green banks and forest shades, +Her heathery slopes and gorse-clad glades + Re-echo to the cry-- +Where is the King, whose strong right hand +Hath oft from danger freed the land? +Nor fleet nor covenant avails +To drive aloof those pirate sails, + In vain is Alfred's sword; +Vain seems in every sacred fane +The chant--'From fury of the Dane, + Deliver us, good Lord.' + +II + +The long keels have the Needles past, +Wight's fairest bowers are flaming fast; +From Solent's waves rise many a mast, +With swelling sails of gold and red, +Dragon and serpent at each head, +Havoc and slaughter breathing forth, +Steer on these locusts of the north. +Each vessel bears a deadly freight; +Each Viking, fired with greed and hate, +His axe is whetting for the strife, +And counting how each Christian life +Shall win him fame in Skaldic lays, +And in Valhalla endless praise. +For Hamble's river straight they steer; +Prayer is in vain, no aid is near-- +Hopeless and helpless all must die. +Oh, fainting heart and failing eye, +Look forth upon the foe once more! +Why leap they not upon the shore? +Why pause their keels upon the strand, +As checked by some resistless hand? +The sail they spread, the oars they ply, +Yet neither may advance nor fly. + +III + +Who is it holds them helpless there? +'Tis He Who hears the anguished prayer; + 'Tis He Who to the wave +Hath fixed the bound--mud, rock, or sand-- +To mark how far upon the strand + Its foaming sweep may rave. +What is it, but the ebbing tide, +That leaves them here, by Hamble's side, +So firm embedded in the mud +No force of stream, nor storm, nor flood, +Shall ever these five ships bear forth +To fiords and islets of the north; +A thousand years shall pass away, +And leave those keels in Hamble's bay. + +IV + +Ill were it in my rhyme to tell +The work of slaughter that befell; +In sooth it was a savage time-- +Crime ever will engender crime. +Each Viking, as he swam to land, +Fell by a Saxon's vengeful hand; +Turn we from all that vengeance wild-- +Where on the deck there cowered a child, +And, closely to his bosom prest, +A snow-white kitten found a nest. +That tender boy, with tresses fair, +Was Edric, Egbert's cherished heir; +The plaything of the homestead he, +Now fondled on his grandame's knee; +Or as beside the hearth he sat, +Oft sporting with his snow-white cat; +Now by the chaplain taught to read, +And lisp his Pater and his Creed; +Well nurtured at his mother's side, +And by his father trained to ride, +To speak the truth, to draw the bow, +And all an English Thane should know, +His days had been as one bright dream-- +As smooth as his own river's stream! +Until, at good King Alfred's call, +Thane Egbert left his native hall. + +V + +Then, five days later, shout and yell, +And shrieks and howls of slaughter fell, +Upon the peaceful homestead came. +'Mid flashing sword, and axe, and flame, +Snatched by a Viking's iron grasp, +From his slain mother's dying clasp, +Saved from the household's flaming grave, +Edric was dragged, a destined slave, +Some northern dame to serve, or heed +The flocks that on the Saeter feed. +Still, with scarce conscious hold he clung +To the white cat, that closely hung +Seeking her refuge in his arm, +Her shelter in the wild alarm-- +And who can tell how oft his moan +Was soothed by her soft purring tone? +Time keeping with retracted claw, +Or patting with her velvet paw; +Although of home and friends bereft, +Still this one comforter was left, +So lithe, so swift, so soft, so white, +She might have seemed his guardian sprite. + The rude Danes deemed her such; +And whispered tales of 'disir' bound +To human lords, as bird or hound. +Nor one 'mid all the fleet was found + To hurt one tender paw. +And when the captive knelt to pray +None would his orisons gainsay; +For as they marked him day by day, + Increased their wondering awe. + +VI + +Crouched by the mast, the child and cat, +Through the dire time of slaughter sat, + By terror both spellbound; +But when night came, a silence drear +Fell on the coast; and far or near, +No voice caught Edric's wakeful ear, + Save water's lapping sound. +He wandered from the stern to prow, +Ate of the stores, and marvelled how + He yet might reach the ground; +Till low and lower sank the tide, +Dark banks of mud spread far and wide + Around that fast-bound wreck. +Then the lone boy climbed down the ship, +To cross the mud by bound and skip, + His cat upon his neck. +Light was his weight and swift his leap, +Now would he softly tread, now creep, +For treacherous was the mud, and deep +From stone to weed, from weed to plank, +Leaving a hole where'er he sank; +With panting breath and sore taxed strength +The solid earth he felt at length. +Sheltered within the copse he lay, +When dawn had brightened into day, +For when one moment there was seen, +His red cap glancing 'mid the green, + A fearful cry arose-- +"Here lurks a Dane!" "The Dane seek out" +With knife and axe, the rabble rout +Made the copse ring with yell and shout + To find their dreaded foes. +And Edric feared to meet a stroke, +Before they knew the tongue he spoke. +Hid 'mid the branches of an oak, + He heard their calls and blows. +Of food he had a simple store, +And when the churls the chase gave o'er, +And evening sunk upon the vale, +With rubbing head and upright tail, +Pacing before him to and fro, +Puss lured him on the way to go-- +Coaxing him on, with tender wile, +O'er heath and down for many a mile. +Ask me not how her course she knows. +He from Whom every instinct flows +Hath breathed into His creatures power, +Giving to each its needful dower; +And strive and question as we will, +We cannot trace the inborn skill, +Nor fathom how, where'er she roam, +The cat ne'er fails to find her home. + +VII + +What pen may dare to paint the woe, +When Egbert saw his home laid low? +Where, by the desolated hearth, +The mother lay who gave him birth, +And, close beside, his fair young wife, +And servants, slain in bootless strife-- + Mournful the King stood near. +Alfred, who came to be his guest, +And deeply rued that his behest +Had all unguarded left that nest, + To meet such ruin drear. +With hand, and heart, and lip, he gave +All king or friend, both true and brave, +Could give, one pang of grief to save, + To comfort, or to cheer-- +As from the blackened walls they drew +Each corpse, and laid with reverence due; +And then it was that Egbert knew + All save the child were here. +King Alfred's noble head was bent, +A monarch's pain his bosom rent; +Kindly he wrung Thane Egbert's hand-- +"Lo! these have won the blissful land, +Where foeman's shout is heard no more, +Nor wild waves beat upon the shore; +Brief was the pang, the strife is o'er-- + They are at peace, my friend! +Safe, where the weary are at rest; +Safe, where the banish'd and opprest + Find joys that never end." +Thane Egbert groaned, and scarce might speak +For tears that ploughed his hardy cheek, + As his dread task was done. +And for the slain, from monk and priest +Rose requiems that never ceased, + While still he sought his son. +"Oh, would to Heaven!" that father said, +"There lay my darling calmly dead, +Rather than as a thrall be bred-- + His Christian faith undone." +"Nay, life is hope!" bespake the King, +"God o'er the child can spread His wing +And shield him in the Northman's power +Safe as in Alswyth's guarded bower; +Treaty and ransom may be found +To win him back to English ground." + +VIII + +The funeral obsequies were o'er, + But lingered still the Thane, +Hanging around his home once more, + Feeding his bitter pain. +The King would fain with friendly force +Urge him anew to mount his horse, +Turn from the piteous sight away, +And fresh begin life's saddened day, +His loved ones looking yet to greet, +Where ne'er shall part the blest who meet. +Just then a voice that well he knew, +A sound that mixed the purr and mew, + Went to the father's heart. +On a large stone King Alfred sat +Against his buskin rubbed a cat, + Snow-white in every part, +Though drenched and soiled from head to tail. +The poor Thane's tears poured down like hail-- +"Poor puss, in vain thy loving wail," + Then came a joyful start! +A little hand was on his cloak-- +"Father!" a voice beside him spoke, + Emerging from the wood. +All travel-stained, and marked with mire, +With trace of blood, and toil, and fire, +Yet safe and sound beside his sire, + Edric before them stood. +And as his father wept for joy, +King Alfred blessed the rescued boy, + And thanked his Maker good! +Who doth the captive's prayer fulfil, +Making His creatures work His will + By means not understood. + +NOTE.--The remains of the five Danish vessels still lie embedded in +the mud of the Hamble River near Southampton, though parts have been +carried off and used as wood for furniture in the farm-houses. The +neighbouring wood is known as Cat Copse, and a tradition has been +handed down that a cat, and a boy in a red cap, escaped from the +Danish ships, took refuge there. + + + +DE FACTO AND DE JURE + + + +I. DE FACTO + +The later summer sunbeams lay on an expanse of slightly broken +ground where purple and crimson heather were relieved by the golden +blossoms of the dwarf gorse, interspersed with white stars of +stitch-wort. Here and there, on the slopes, grew stunted oaks and +hollies, whose polished leaves gleamed white with the reflection of +the light; but there was not a trace of human habitation save a +track, as if trodden by horses' feet, clear of the furze and heath, +and bordered by soft bent grass, beginning to grow brown. + +Near this track--for path it could hardly be called--stood a slender +lad waiting and watching, a little round cap covering his short-cut +brown hair, a crimson tunic reaching to his knee, leggings and shoes +of deerhide, and a sword at his side, fastened by a belt of the like +skin, guarded and clasped with silver. His features were delicate, +though sunburnt, and his eyes were riveted on the distance, where +the path had disappeared amid the luxuriant spires of ling. + +A hunting-horn sounded, and the youth drew himself together into an +attitude of eager attention; the baying of hounds and trampling of +horses' hoofs came nearer and nearer, and by and by there came in +view the ends of boar-spears, the tall points of bows, a cluster of +heads of men and horses--strong, sturdy, shaggy, sure-footed +creatures, almost ponies, but the only steeds fit to pursue the +chase on this rough and encumbered ground. + +Foremost rode, with ivory and gold hunting-horn slung in a rich +Spanish baldrick, and a slender gilt circlet round his green +hunting-cap, a stout figure, with a face tanned to a fiery colour, +keen eyes of a dark auburn tint, and a shock of hair of the same +deep red. + +At sight of him, the lad flung himself on his knees on the path, +with the cry, "Haro! Haro! Justice, Sir King!" + +"Out of my way, English hound!" cried the King. "This is no time +for thy Haro." + +"Nay, but one word, good fair King! I am French--French by my +father's side!" cried the lad, as there was a halt, more from the +instinct of the horse than the will of the King. 'Bertram de +Maisonforte! My father married the Lady of Boyatt, and her +inheritance was confirmed to him by your father, brave King William, +my Lord; but now he is dead, and his kinsman, Roger de Maisonforte, +hath ousted her and me, her son and lawful heir, from house and +home, and we pray for justice, Sir King?' + +'Ha, Roger, thou there! What say'st thou to this bold beggar!' +shouted the Red King. + +'I say,' returned a black, bronzed hunter, pressing to the front, +'that what I hold of thee, King William, on tenure of homage, and of +two good horses and staunch hounds yearly, I yield to no English +mongrel churl, who dares to meddle with me.' + +'Thou hear'st, lad,' said Rufus, with his accustomed oath, 'homage +hath been done to us for the land, nor may it be taken back. Out of +our way, or--' + +'Sir! sir!' entreated the lad, grasping the bridle, 'if no more +might be, we would be content if Sir Roger would but leave my mother +enough for her maintenance among the nuns of Romsey, and give me a +horse and suit of mail to go on the Holy War with Duke Robert.' + +'Ho! ho! a modest request for a beggarly English clown!' cried the +King, aiming a blow at the lad with his whip, and pushing on his +horse, so as almost to throw him back on the heath. 'Ho! ho! fit +him out for a fool's errand!' + +'We'll fit him! We'll teach him to take the cross at other men's +expense!' shouted the followers, seizing on the boy. + +'Nay; we'll bestow his cross on him for a free gift!' exclaimed +Roger de Maisonforte. + +And Bertram, struggling desperately in vain among the band of +ruffians, found his left arm bared, and two long and painful +slashes, in the form of the Crusader's cross, inflicted, amid loud +laughter, as the blood sprang forth. + +'There, Sir Crusader,' said Roger, grinding his teeth over him. 'Go +on thy way now--as a horse-boy, if so please thee, and know better +than to throw thy mean false English pretension in the face of a +gentle Norman.' + +Men, horses, dogs, all seemed to trample and scoff at Bertram as he +fell back on the elastic stems of the heath and gorse, whose +prickles seemed to renew the insults by scratching his face. When +the King's horn, the calls, the brutal laughter, and the baying of +the dogs had begun to die away in the distance, he gathered himself +together, sat up, and tried to find some means of stanching the +blood. Not only was the wound in a place hard to reach, but it had +been ploughed with the point of a boar-spear, and was grievously +torn. He could do nothing with it, and, as he perceived, he had +further been robbed of his sword, his last possession, his father's +sword. + +The large tears of mingled rage, grief, and pain might well spring +from the poor boy's eyes in his utter loneliness, as he clenched his +hand with powerless wrath, and regained his feet, to retrace, as +best he might, his way to where his widowed mother had found a +temporary shelter in a small religious house. + +The sun grew hotter and hotter, Bertram's wound bled, though not +profusely, the smart grew upon him, his tongue was parched with +thirst, and though he kept resolutely on, his breath came panting, +his head grew dizzy, his eyes dim, his feet faltered, and at last, +just as he attained a wider and more trodden way, he dropped +insensible by the side of the path, his dry lips trying to utter the +cry, "Lord, have mercy on me!" + + +II. DE JURE + + +When Bertram de Maisonforte opened his eyes again cold waters were +on his face, wine was moistening his lips, the burning of his wound +was assuaged by cooling oil, while a bandage was being applied, and +he was supported on a breast and in arms, clad indeed in a hauberk, +but as tenderly kind as the full deep voice that spoke in English, +"He comes round. How now, my child?" + +"Father," murmured Bertram, with dreamy senses. + +"Better now; another sup from the flask, David," again said the kind +voice, and looking up, he became aware of the beautiful benignant +face, deep blue eyes, and long light locks of the man in early +middle age who had laid him on his knee, while a priest was binding +his arm, and a fair and graceful boy, a little younger than himself, +was standing by with the flask of wine in his hand, and a face of +such girlish beauty that as he knelt to hold the wine to his lips, +Bertram asked-- + +"Am I among the Angels?" + +"Not yet," said the elder man. "Art thou near thine home?" + +"Alack! I have no home, kind sir," said Bertram, now able to raise +himself and to perceive that he was in the midst of a small hand of +armed men, such as every knight or noble necessarily carried about +with him for protection. There was a standard with a dragon, and +their leader himself was armed, all save his head, and, as Bertram +saw, was a man of massive strength, noble stature, and kingly +appearance. + +"What shall we do for thee?" he asked. "Who hath put thee in this +evil case?" + +Bertram gave his name, and at its Norman sound there was a start of +repulsion from the boy. "French after all!" he exclaimed. + +"Nay, David," said the leader, "if I mind me rightly, the Lady +Elftrud of Boyatt wedded a brave Norman of that name. Art thou her +son? I see something of her face, and thou hast an English tongue." + +"I am; I am her only son!" exclaimed Bertram; and as he told of his +wrongs and the usage he had met with, young David cried out with +indignation-- + +"Uncle, uncle, how canst thou suffer that these things should be? +Here are our faithful cnihts. Let us ride to the forest. Wherefore +should it not be with Red William and his ruffians as with Scottish +Duncan and Donald?" + +"Hush thee, David, my nephew. Thou knowest that may not be. But +for thee, young Bertram, we will see what can be done. Canst sit a +horse now?" + +"Yea, my lord, full well. I know not what came over me, even now," +said Bertram, much ashamed of the condition in which he had been +found. + +A sumpter horse was found for him, the leader of the party saying +that they would go on to his own home, where the youth's wound +should be looked to, and they could then decide what could be done +for him. + +Bertram was still so far faint, suffering, weak, and weary, that he +was hardly awake to curiosity as to his surroundings, and had quite +enough to do to keep his seat in the saddle, and follow in the wake +of the leader's tall white horse, above which shone his bright chain +mail and his still brighter golden locks, so that the exhausted boy +began in some measure to feel as if he were following St. Michael on +his way to some better world. + +Now and then the tall figure turned to see how it was with him, and +as he drooped more with fatigue and pain, bade one of the retainers +keep beside him and support him. + +Thus at length the cavalcade left the heathery expanse and reached a +valley, green with meadow-land and waving corn, with silvery beards +of barley rippling in the evening light, and cows and sheep being +gathered for the night towards a dwelling where the river had been +trained to form a moat round low green ramparts enclosing a number +of one-storied thatched houses and barns, with one round tower, a +strong embattled gateway, and at a little distance a square church +tower, and other cottages standing outside. + +A shout of ecstasy broke out from the village as the advancing party +was seen and recognised. Men, women, and children, rudely but +substantially clad, and many wearing the collar of the thrall, ran +out from their houses, baring their heads, bowing low, and each in +turn receiving some kind word or nod of greeting from the lord whom +they welcomed, while one after another of his armed followers turned +aside, and was absorbed into a happy family by wife or parent. A +drawbridge crossed the moat, and there was a throng of joyful +servants in the archway--foremost a priest, stretching out his hands +in blessing, and a foreign-looking old woman, gray-haired and dark- +eyed, who gathered young David into her embrace as he sprang from +his horse, calling him her heart's darling and her sunshine, and +demanding, with a certain alarm, where were his brothers. + +"In Scotland, dear Nurse Agnes--even where they should be," was +David's answer. "We are conquerors, do you see! Edgar is a crowned +and anointed King--seated on the holy stone of Scone, and Alexander +is beside him to fight for him!" + +"It is even so, nurse," said the elder man, turning from the priest, +to whom he had more briefly spoken; "God hath blessed our arms, and +young Edgar has his right. God shield him in it! And now, nurse, +here is a poor youth who needs thy care, after one of Red William's +rough jests." + + +III. KING AT HOME + + +Weary, faint, and feverish as Bertram de Maisonforte was, he was +past caring for anything but the relief of rest, cool drink, and the +dressing of his wound; nor did he even ask where he was until he +awoke in broad daylight the next morning, to the sound of church +bells, to the sight of a low but spacious chamber, with stone walls, +deerskins laid on the floor, and the old nurse standing by him with +a cup of refreshing drink, and ready to attend to his wound. + +It was then that, feeling greatly refreshed, he ventured upon asking +her in whose house he was, and who was the good lord who had taken +pity on him. + +"Who should it be save him who should be the good lord of every +Englishman," she replied, "mine own dear foster-son, the princely +Atheling--he who takes up the cause of every injured man save his +own?" + +Bertram was amazed, for he had only heard Normans speak of Edgar +Atheling, the heir of the ancient race, as a poor, tame-spirited, +wretched creature, unable to assert himself, and therefore left +unmolested by the conquerors out of contempt. He proceeded to ask +what the journey was from which the Atheling was returning, and the +nurse, nothing loth, beguiled the tendance on his arm by explaining +how she had long ago travelled from Hungary with her charges, Edgar, +Margaret, and Christina; how it had come about that the crown, which +should have been her darling's, had been seized by the fierce duke +from beyond the sea; how Edgar, then a mere child, had been forced +to swear oaths of fealty by which he held himself still bound; how +her sweetest pearl of ladies, her jewel Margaret, had been wedded to +the rude wild King of Scots, and how her gentle sweetness and +holiness had tamed and softened him, so that she had been the +blessing of his kingdom till he and his eldest son had fallen at +Alnwick while she lay a-dying; how the fierce savage Scots had risen +and driven forth her young children; and how their uncle the +Atheling had ridden forth, taken them to his home, bred them in all +holiness and uprightness and good and knightly courage, and when +Edgar and Alexander, the two eldest, were full grown, had gone +northward with them once more, and had won back, in fair field, the +throne of their father Malcolm. + +Truly there might well be rejoicing and triumph on the estate where +the Atheling ruled as a father and had been sorely missed. He was +at his early mass of thanksgiving at present, and Bertram was so +much better that Nurse Agnes did not withstand his desire to rise +and join the household and villagers, who were all collected in the +building, low and massive, but on which Edgar Atheling had lavished +the rich ornamental work introduced by the Normans. The round +arched doorway was set in a succession of elaborate zigzags, birds' +heads, lions' faces, twists and knots; and within, the altar- +hangings and the priest's robes were stiff with the exquisite and +elaborate embroidery for which the English nunneries were famed. + +The whole building, with its low-browed roof, circular chancel arch +still more richly adorned, and stout short columns, was filled with +kneeling figures in rough homespun or sheepskin garments, and with +shaggy heads, above which towered the shining golden locks of the +Atheling, which were allowed to grow to a much greater length than +was the Norman fashion, and beside him was the still fairer head of +his young nephew, David of Scotland. It was a thanksgiving service +for their victory and safe return; and Bertram was just in time for +the TE DEUM that followed the mass. + +The Atheling, after all was over, came forth, exchanging greetings +with one after another of his franklins, cnihts, and thralls, all of +whom seemed to be equally delighted to see him back again, and whom +he bade to a feast in the hall, which would be prepared in the +course of the day. Some, meantime, went to their homes near at +hand, others would amuse themselves with games at ball, archery, +singlestick, and the like, in an open space within the moat--where +others fished. + +Bertram was not neglected. The Atheling inquired after his health, +heard his story in more detail, and after musing on it, said that +after setting affairs in order at home, he meant to visit his sister +and niece in the Abbey at Romsey, and would then make some +arrangement for the Lady of Maisonforte; also he would endeavour to +see the King on his return to Winchester, and endeavour to plead +with him. + +"William will at times hearken to an old comrade," he said; "but it +is an ill time to take him when he is hot upon the chase. Meantime, +thou art scarce yet fit to ride, and needest more of good Agnes's +leech-craft." + +Bertram was indeed stiff and weary enough to be quite content to lie +on a bearskin in the wide hall of the dwelling, or under the eaves +without, and watch the doings with some amusement. + +He had been bred in some contempt of the Saxons. His father's +marriage had been viewed as a MESALLIANCE, and though the knight of +Maisonforte had been honourable and kindly, and the Lady Elftrud had +fared better than many a Saxon bride, still the French and the +Breton dames of the neighbourhood had looked down on her, and the +retainers had taught her son to look on the English race as swine, +boors, and churls, ignorant of all gentle arts, of skill and grace. + +But here was young David among youths of his own age, tilting as +gracefully and well as any young Norman could--making Bertram long +that his arm should cease to be so heavy and burning, so that he +might show his prowess. + +Here was a contention with bow and arrow that would not have +disgraced the best men-at-arms of Maisonforte--here again, later in +the day, was minstrelsy of a higher order than his father's ears had +cared for, but of which his mother had whispered her traditions. + +Here, again, was the chaplain showing his brother-priests with the +greatest pride and delight a scroll of Latin, copied from a MS. +Psalter of the holy and Venerable Beda by the hand of his own dear +pupil, young David. + +Bertram, who could neither read nor write, and knew no more Latin +than his Paternoster, Credo, and Ave, absolutely did not believe his +eyes and ears till he had asked the question, whether this were +indeed the youth's work. How could it be possible to wield pen as +well as lance? + +But the wonder of all was the Atheling. After an absence of more +than a year, there was much to be adjusted, and his authority on his +own lands was thoroughly judicial even for life or death, since even +under Norman sway he held the power of an earl. + +Seated in a high-backed, cross-legged chair--his majestic form +commanding honour and respect--he heard one after another causes +that came before him, reserved for his judgment, questions of +heirship, disputes about cattle, complaints of thievery, +encroachments on land; and Bertram, listening with the interest that +judgment never fails to excite, was deeply impressed with the clear- +headedness, the ready thought, and the justice of the decision, even +when the dispute lay between Saxon and Norman, always with reference +to the laws of Alfred and Edward which he seemed to carry in his +head. + +Indeed, ere long, two Norman knights, hearing of the Atheling's +return, came to congratulate him, and lay before him a dispute of +boundaries which they declared they would rather entrust to him than +to any other. And they treated him far more as a prince than as a +Saxon churl. + +They willingly accepted his invitation to go in to the feast of +welcome, and a noble one it was, with music and minstrelsy, +hospitality to all around, plenty and joy, wassail bowls going +round, and the Atheling presiding over it, and with a strange and +quiet influence, breaking up the entertainment in all good will, by +the memory of his sweet sister Margaret's grace-cup, ere mirth had +become madness, or the English could incur their reproach of coarse +revelry. + +"And," as the Norman knight who had prevailed said to Bertram, "Sir +Edgar the Atheling had thus shown himself truly an uncrowned King." + + +IV. WHO SHALL BE KING? + + +The noble cloisters of Romsey, with the grand church rising in their +midst, had a lodging-place, strictly cut off from the nunnery, for +male visitors. + +Into this Edgar Atheling rode with his armed train, and as they +entered, some strange expression in the faces of the porters and +guards met them. + +"Had my lord heard the news?" demanded a priest, who hastened +forward, bowing low. + +"No, Holy Father. No ill of my sister?" anxiously inquired the +Prince. + +"The Mother Abbess is well, my Lord Atheling; but the King--William +the Red--is gone to his account. He was found two eves ago pierced +to the heart with an arrow beneath an oak in Malwood Chace." + +"God have mercy on his poor soul!" ejaculated Edgar, crossing +himself. "No moment vouchsafed for penitence! Alas! Who did the +deed, Father Dunstan?" + +"That is not known," returned the priest, "save that Walter Tyrrel +is fled like a hunted felon beyond seas, and my Lord Henry to +Winchester." + +Young David pressed up to his uncle's side. + +"Sir, sir," he said, "what a time is this! Duke Robert absent, none +know where; our men used to war, all ready to gather round you. +This rule will be ended, the old race restored. Say but the word, +and I will ride back and raise our franklins as one man. Thou wilt, +too, Bertram!" + +"With all mine heart!" cried Bertram. "Let me be the first to do +mine homage." + +And as Edgar Atheling stood in the outer court, with lofty head and +noble thoughtful face, pure-complexioned and high-browed, each who +beheld him felt that there stood a king of men. A shout of "King +Edgar! Edgar, King of England," echoed through the buildings; and +priests, men-at-arms, and peasants began to press forward to do him +homage. But he raised his hand-- + +"Hold, children," he said. "I thank you all; but much must come ere +ye imperil yourselves by making oaths to me that ye might soon have +to break! Let me pass on and see my sister." + +Abbeys were not strictly cloistered then, and the Abbess Christina +was at the door, a tall woman, older than her brother, and somewhat +hard-featured, and beside her was a lovely fair girl, with peach- +like cheeks and bright blue eyes, who threw herself into David's +arms, full of delight. + +"Brother," said Christina, "did I hear aright? And have they hailed +thee King? Are the years of cruel wrong ended at last? Victor for +others, wilt thou be victor for thyself?" + +"What is consistent with God's will, and with mine oaths, that I +hope to do," was Edgar's reply. + +But even as he stood beside the Abbess in the porch, without having +yet entered, there was a clattering and trampling of horse, and +through the gate came hastily a young man in a hauberk, with a ring +of gold about his helmet, holding out his hands as he saw the +Atheling. + +"Sire Edgar," he said, "I knew not I should find you here, when I +came to pay my first DEVOIRS as a King to the Lady Mother Abbess" +(he kissed her unwilling hand) "and the Lady Edith." + +Edith turned away a blushing face, and the Abbess faltered-- + +"As a King?" + +"Yea, lady. As such have I been owned by all at Winchester. I +should be at Westminster for my Coronation, save that I turned from +my course to win her who shall share my crown." + +"Is it even thus, Henry?" said Edgar. "Hast not thought of other +rights?" + +"Of that crazed fellow Robert's?" demanded Henry. "Trouble not +thine head for him! Even if he came back living from this Holy War +in the East, my father had too much mercy on England to leave it to +the like of him." + +"There be other and older rights, Sir Henry," said the Abbess. + +Henry looked up for a moment in some consternation. "Ho! Sir +Edgar, thou hast been so long a peaceful man that I had forgotten. +Thou knowest thy day went by with Hereward le Wake. See, fair Edith +and I know one another--she shall be my Queen." + +"Veiled and vowed," began the Abbess. + +"Oh, not yet! Tell her not yet!" whispered Edith in David's ear. + +"Thou little traitress! Wed thy house's foe, who takes thine +uncle's place? Nay! I will none of thee," said David, shaking her +off roughly; but her uncle threw his arm round her kindly. + +At that moment a Norman knight spurred up to Henry with some +communication that made him look uneasy, and Christina, laying her +hand on Edgar's arm, said: "Brother, we have vaults. Thy troop +outnumbers his. The people of good old Wessex are with thee! Now +is thy time! Save thy country. Restore the line and laws of Alfred +and Edward." + +"Thou know'st not what thou wouldst have, Christina," said Edgar. +"One sea of blood wherever a Norman castle rises! I love my people +too well to lead them to a fruitless struggle with all the might of +Normandy unless I saw better hope than lies before me now! Mind +thee, I swore to Duke William that I would withstand neither him nor +any son of his whom the English duly hailed. Yet, I will see how it +is with this young man," he added, as she fell back muttering, +"Craven! Who ever won throne without blood?" + +Henry had an anxious face when he turned from his knight, who, no +doubt, had told him how completely he was in the Atheling's power. + +"Sir Edgar," he said, "a word with you. Winchester is not far off-- +nor Porchester--nor my brother William's Free companies, and his +treasure. Normans will scarce see Duke William's son tampered with, +nor bow their heads to the English!" + +"Belike, Henry of Normandy," said Edgar, rising above him in his +grave majesty. "Yet have I a question or two to put to thee. Thou +art a graver, more scholarly man than thy brother, less like to be +led away by furies. Have the people of England and Normandy sworn +to thee willingly as their King?" + +"Even so, in the Minster," Henry began, and would have said more, +but Edgar again made his gesture of authority. + +"Wilt thou grant them the charter of Alfred and Edward, with copies +spread throughout the land?" + +"I will." + +"Wilt thou do equal justice between English and Norman?" + +"To the best of my power." + +"Wilt thou bring home the Archbishop, fill up the dioceses, do thy +part by the Church?" + +"So help me God, I will." + +"Then, Henry of Normandy, I, Edgar Atheling, kiss thine hand, and +become thy man; and may God deal with thee, as thou dost with +England." + +The noble form of Edgar bent before the slighter younger figure of +Henry, who burst into tears, genuine at the moment, and vowed most +earnestly to be a good King to the entire people. No doubt, he +meant it--then. + +And now--far more humbly, he made his suit to the Atheling for the +hand of his niece. + +Edgar took her apart. "Edith, canst thou brook this man?" + +"Uncle, he was good to me when we were children together at the old +King's Court. I have made no vows, I tore the veil mine aunt threw +over me from mine head. Methinks with me beside him he would never +be hard to our people." + +"So be it then, Edith. If he holds to this purpose when he hath +been crowned at Westminster, he shall have thee, though I fear thou +hast chosen a hard lot, and wilt rue the day when thou didst quit +these peaceful walls." + +And one more stipulation was made by Edgar the Atheling, ere he rode +to own Henry as King in the face of the English people at +Westminster--namely, that Boyatt should be restored to the true +heiress the Lady Elftrud. And to Roger, compensation was secretly +made at the Atheling's expense, ere departing with Bertram in his +train for the Holy War. For Bertram could not look at the scar +without feeling himself a Crusader; and Edgar judged it better for +England to remove himself for awhile, while he laid all earthly +aspirations at the Feet of the King of kings. + +The little English troop arrived just in time to share in the +capture of the Holy City, to join in the eager procession of +conquerors to the Holy Sepulchre, and to hear Godfrey de Bouillon +elected to defend the sacred possession, refusing to wear a crown +where the King of Saints and Lord of Heaven and Earth had worn a +Crown of Thorns. + + + +SIGBERT'S GUERDON + + + +A feudal castle, of massive stone, with donjon keep and high +crenellated wall, gateway tower, moat and drawbridge, was a strange, +incongruous sight in one of the purple-red stony slopes of +Palestine, with Hermon's snowy peak rising high above. It was +accounted for, however, by the golden crosses of the kingdom of +Jerusalem waving above the watch-tower, that rose like a pointing +finger above the keep, in company with a lesser ensign bearing a +couchant hound, sable. + +It was a narrow rocky pass that the Castle of Gebel-Aroun guarded, +overlooking a winding ravine between the spurs of the hills, +descending into the fertile plain of Esdraelon from the heights of +Galilee Hills, noted in many an Israelite battle, and now held by +the Crusaders. + +Bare, hard, and rocky were the hills around--the slopes and the +valley itself, which in the earlier season had been filled with rich +grass, Calvary clover, blood-red anemones, and pale yellow +amaryllis, only showed their arid brown or gray remnants. The moat +had become a deep waterless cleft; and beneath, on the accessible +sides towards the glen, clustered a collection of black horsehair +tents, the foremost surmounted by the ill-omened crescent. + +The burning sun had driven every creature under shelter, and no one +was visible; but well was it known that watch and ward was closely +kept from beneath those dark tents, that to the eyes within had the +air of couching beasts of prey. Yes, couching to devour what could +not fail to be theirs, in spite of the mighty walls of rock and +impregnable keep, for those deadly and insidious foes, hunger and +thirst, were within, gaining the battle for the Saracens without, +who had merely to wait in patience for the result. + +Some years previously, Sir William de Hundberg, a Norman knight, had +been expelled from his English castle by the partisans of Stephen, +and with wife and children had followed Count Fulk of Anjou to his +kingdom of Palestine, and had been endowed by him with one of the +fortresses which guarded the passes of Galilee, under that +exaggeration of the feudal system which prevailed in the crusading +kingdom of Jerusalem. + +Climate speedily did its work with the lady, warfare with two of her +sons, and there only remained of the family a youth of seventeen, +Walter, and his sister Mabel, fourteen, who was already betrothed to +the young Baron of Courtwood, then about to return to England. The +treaty with Stephen and the success of young Henry of Anjou gave Sir +William hopes of restitution; but just as he was about to conduct +her to Jerusalem for the wedding, before going back to England, he +fell sick of one of the recurring fevers of the country; and almost +at the same time the castle was beleaguered by a troop of Arabs, +under the command of a much-dreaded Sheik. + +His constitution was already much shaken, and Sir William, after a +few days of alternate torpor and delirium, passed away, without +having been conscious enough to leave any counsel to his children, +or any directions to Father Philip, the chaplain, or Sigbert, his +English squire. + +At the moment, sorrow was not disturbed by any great alarm, for the +castle was well victualled, and had a good well, supplied by springs +from the mountains; and Father Philip, after performing the funeral +rites for his lord, undertook to make his way to Tiberias, or to +Jerusalem, with tidings of their need; and it was fully anticipated +that succour would arrive long before the stores in the castle had +been exhausted. + +But time went on, and, though food was not absolutely lacking, the +spring of water which had hitherto supplied the garrison began to +fail. Whether through summer heats, or whether the wily enemy had +succeeded in cutting off the source, where once there had been a +clear crystal pool in the rock, cold as the snow from which it came, +there only dribbled a few scanty drops, caught with difficulty, and +only imbibed from utter necessity, so great was the suspicion of +their being poisoned by the enemy. + +The wine was entirely gone, and the salted provision, which alone +remained, made the misery of thirst almost unbearable. + +On the cushions, richly embroidered in dainty Eastern colouring, lay +Mabel de Hundberg, with dry lips half opened and panting, too weary +to move, yet listening all intent. + +Another moment, and in chamois leather coat, his helmet in hand, +entered her brother from the turret stair, and threw himself down +hopelessly, answering her gesture. + +"No, no, of course no. The dust was only from another swarm of +those hateful Saracens. I knew it would be so. Pah! it has made my +tongue more like old boot leather than ever. Have no more drops +been squeezed from the well? It's time the cup was filled!" + +"It was Roger's turn. Sigbert said he should have the next," said +Mabel. + +Walter uttered an imprecation upon Roger, and a still stronger one +on Sigbert's meddling. But instantly the cry was, "Where is +Sigbert?" + +Walter even took the trouble to shout up and down the stair for +Sigbert, and to demand hotly of the weary, dejected men-at-arms +where Sigbert was; but no one could tell. + +"Gone over to the enemy, the old traitor," said Walter, again +dropping on the divan. + +"Never! Sigbert is no traitor," returned his sister. + +"He is an English churl, and all churls are traitors," responded +Walter. + +The old nurse, who was fitfully fanning Mabel with a dried palm- +leaf, made a growl of utter dissent, and Mabel exclaimed, "None was +ever so faithful as good old Sigbert." + +It was a promising quarrel, but their lips were too dry to keep it +up for more than a snarl or two. Walter cast himself down, and bade +old Tata fan him; why should Mabel have it all to herself? + +Then sounds of wrangling were heard below, and Walter roused himself +to go down and interfere. The men were disputing over some +miserable dregs of wine at the bottom of a skin. Walter shouted to +call them to order, but they paid little heed. + +"Do not meddle and make, young sir," said a low-browed, swarthy +fellow. "There's plenty of cool drink of the right sort out there." + +"Traitor!" cried Walter; "better die than yield." + +"If one have no mind for dying like an old crab in a rock," said the +man. + +"They would think nought of making an end of us out there," said +another. + +"I'd as lief be choked at once by a cord as by thirst," was the +answer. + +"That you are like to be, if you talk such treason," threatened +Walter. "Seize him, Richard--Martin." + +Richard and Martin, however, hung back, one muttering that Gil had +done nothing, and the other that he might be in the right of it; and +when Walter burst out in angry threats he was answered in a gruff +voice that he had better take care what he said, "There was no +standing not only wasting with thirst and hunger, but besides being +blustered at by a hot-headed lad, that scarce knew a hauberk from a +helmet." + +Walter, in his rage, threw himself with drawn sword on the mutineer, +but was seized and dragged back by half a dozen stalwart arms, such +as he had no power to resist, and he was held fast amid rude laughs +and brutal questions whether he should thus be carried to the +Saracens, and his sister with him. + +"The old Sheik would give a round sum for a fair young damsel like +her!" were the words that maddened her brother into a desperate +struggle, baffled with a hoarse laugh by the men-at-arms, who were +keeping him down, hand and foot, when a new voice sounded: "How +now, fellows! What's this?" + +In one moment Walter was released and on his feet, and the men fell +back, ashamed and gloomy, as a sturdy figure, with sun-browned face, +light locks worn away by the helmet, and slightly grizzled, stood +among them, in a much-rubbed and soiled chamois leather garment. + +Walter broke out into passionate exclamations; the men, evidently +ashamed, met them with murmurs and growls. "Bad enough, bad +enough!" broke in Sigbert; "but there's no need to make it worse. +Better to waste with hunger and thirst than be a nidering fellow-- +rising against your lord in his distress." + +"We would never have done it if he would have kept a civil tongue." + +"Civility's hard to a tongue dried up," returned Sigbert. "But look +you here, comrades, leave me a word with my young lord here, and I +plight my faith that you shall have enow to quench your thirst +within six hours at the least." + +There was an attempt at a cheer, broken by the murmur, "We have +heard enough of that! It is always six hours and six hours." + +"And the Saracen hounds outside would at least give us a draught of +water ere they made away with us," said another. + +"Saracens, forsooth!" said Sigbert. "You shall leave the Saracens +far behind you. A few words first with my lord, and you shall hear. +Meanwhile, you, John Cook, take all the beef remaining; make it in +small fardels, such as a man may easily carry." + +"That's soon done," muttered the cook. "The entire weight would +scarce bow a lad's shoulders." + +"The rest of you put together what you would save from the enemy, +and is not too heavy to carry." One man made some attempt at +growling at a mere lad being consulted, while the stout warriors +were kept in ignorance; but the spirit of discipline and confidence +had returned with Sigbert, and no one heeded the murmur. Meantime, +Sigbert followed the young Lord Walter up the rough winding stairs +to the chamber where Mabel lay on her cushions. "What! what!" +demanded the boy, pausing to enter. Sigbert, by way of answer, +quietly produced from some hidden pouch two figs. Walter snatched +at one with a cry of joy. Mabel held out her hand, then, with a +gasp, drew it back. "Has Roger had one?" + +Sigbert signed in the affirmative, and Mabel took a bite of the +luscious fruit with a gasp of pleasure, yet paused once more to hold +the remainder to her nurse. + +"The Saints bless you, my sweet lamb!" exclaimed the old woman; +"finish it yourself. I could not." + +"If you don't want it, give it to me," put in Walter. + +"For shame, my lord," Sigbert did not scruple to say, nor could the +thirsty girl help finishing the refreshing morsel, while Walter, +with some scanty murmur of excuse, demanded where it came from, and +what Sigbert had meant by promises of safety. + +"Sir," said Sigbert, "you may remember how some time back your +honoured father threw one of the fellaheen into the dungeon for +maiming old Leo." + +"The villain! I remember. I thought he was hanged." + +"No, sir. He escaped. I went to take him food, and he was gone! I +then found an opening in the vault, of which I spoke to none, save +your father, for fear of mischief; but I built it up with stones. +Now, in our extremity, I bethought me of it, and resolved to try +whether the prisoner had truly escaped, for where he went, we might +go. Long and darksome is the way underground, but it opens at last +through one of the old burial-places of the Jews into the thickets +upon the bank of the Jordan." + +"The Jordan! Little short of a league!" exclaimed Walter. + +"A league, underground, and in the dark," sighed Mabel. + +"Better than starving here like a rat in a trap," returned her +brother. + +"Ah yes; oh yes! I will think of the cool river and the trees at +the end." + +"You will find chill enough, lady, long ere you reach the river," +said Sigbert. "You must wrap yourself well. 'Tis an ugsome +passage; but your heart must not fail you, for it is the only hope +left us." + +The two young people were far too glad to hear of any prospect of +release, to think much of the dangers or discomforts of the mode. +Walter danced for joy up and down the room like a young colt, as he +thought of being in a few hours more in the free open air, with the +sound of water rippling below, and the shade of trees above him. +Mabel threw herself on her knees before her rude crucifix, partly in +thankfulness, partly in dread of the passage that was to come first. + +"Like going through the grave to life," she murmured to her nurse. + +And when the scanty garrison was gathered together, as many as +possible provided with brands that might serve as torches, and +Sigbert led them, lower and lower, down rugged steps hewn in the +rock, through vaults where only a gleam came from above, and then +through deeper cavernous places, intensely dark, there was a shudder +perceptible by the clank and rattle of the armour which each had +donned. In the midst, Walter paused and exclaimed-- + +"Our banner! How leave it to the Paynim dogs?" + +"It's here, sir," said Sigbert, showing a bundle on his back. + +"Warning to the foe to break in and seek us," grumbled Gilbert. + +"Not so," replied Sigbert. "I borrowed an old wrapper of nurse's +that will cheat their eyes till we shall be far beyond their ken." + +In the last dungeon a black opening lay before them, just seen by +the light of the lamp Sigbert carried, but so low that there was no +entrance save on hands and knees. + +"That den!" exclaimed Walter. "'Tis a rat-hole. Never can we go +that way." + +"I have tried it, sir," quoth Sigbert. "Where I can go, you can go. +Your sister quails not." + +"It is fearful," said Mabel, unable to repress a shiver; "but, +Walter, think what is before us if we stay here! The Saints will +guard us." + +"The worst and lowest part only lasts for a few rods," explained +Sigbert. "Now, sir, give your orders. Torches and lanterns, save +Hubert's and nurse's, to be extinguished. We cannot waste them too +soon, but beware of loosing hold on them." + +Walter repeated the orders thus dictated to him, and Sigbert +arranged the file. It was absolutely needful that Sigbert should go +first to lead the way. Mabel was to follow him for the sake of his +help, then her brother, next nurse, happily the only other female. +Between two stout and trustworthy men the wounded Roger came. Then +one after another the rest of the men-at-arms and servants, five- +and-twenty in number. The last of the file was Hubert, with a lamp; +the others had to move in darkness. There had been no horse of any +value in the castle, for the knight's charger had been mortally hurt +in his last expedition, and there had been no opportunity of +procuring another. A deerhound, however, pushed and scrambled to +the front, and Sigbert observed that he might be of great use in +running before them. Before entering, however, Sigbert gave the +caution that no word nor cry must be uttered aloud, hap what might, +until permission was given, for they would pass under the Saracen +camp, and there was no knowing whether the sounds would reach the +ears above ground. + +A strange plunge it was into the utter darkness, crawling on hands +and knees, with the chill cavernous gloom and rock seeming to press +in upon those who slowly crept along, the dim light of Sigbert's +lamp barely showing as he slowly moved on before. One of the two in +the rear was dropped and extinguished in the dismal passage, a loss +proclaimed by a suppressed groan passing along the line, and a +louder exclamation from Walter, causing Sigbert to utter a sharp +'Hush!' enforced by a thud and tramp above, as if the rock were +coming down on them, but which probably was the trampling of horses +in the camp above. + +The smoke of the lamp in front drifted back, and the air was more +and more oppressive. Mabel, with set teeth and compressed lips, +struggled on, clinging tight to the end of the cord which Sigbert +had tied to his body for her to hold by, while in like manner +Walter's hand was upon her dress. It became more and more difficult +to breathe, or crawl on, till at last, just as there was a sense +that it was unbearable, and that it would be easier to lie still and +die than be dragged an inch farther, the air became freer, the roof +seemed to be farther away, the cavern wider, and the motion freer. + +Sigbert helped his young lady to stand upright, and one by one all +the train regained their feet. The lamp was passed along to be +rekindled, speech was permitted, crevices above sometimes admitted +air, sometimes dripped with water. The worst was over--probably the +first part had been excavated, the farther portion was one of the +many natural 'dens and caves of the earth,' in which Palestine +abounds. There was still a considerable distance to be traversed, +the lamps burnt out, and had to be succeeded by torches carefully +husbanded, for the way was rough and rocky, and a stumble might end +in a fall into an abyss. In time, however, openings of side +galleries were seen, niches in the wall, and tokens that the outer +portion of the cavern had been once a burial-place of the ancient +Israelites--'the dog Jews,' as the Crusaders called them, with a +shudder of loathing and contempt. + +And joy infinite--clear daylight and a waving tree were perceptible +beyond. It was daylight, was it? but the sun was low. Five hours +at least had been spent in that dismal transit, before the +exhausted, soiled, and chilled company stepped forth into a green +thicket with the Jordan rushing far below. Five weeks' siege in a +narrow fortress, then the two miles of subterranean struggle--these +might well make the grass beneath the wild sycamore, the cork-tree, +the long reeds, the willows, above all, the sound of the flowing +water, absolute ecstasy. There was an instant rush for the river, +impeded by many a thorn-bush and creeper; but almost anything green +was welcome at the moment, and the only disappointment was at the +height and steepness of the banks of rock. However, at last one +happy man found a place where it was possible to climb down to the +shingly bed of the river, close to a great mass of the branching +headed papyrus reed. Into the muddy but eminently sweet water most +of them waded; helmets became cups, hands scooped up the water, +there were gasps of joy and refreshment and blessing on the cool +wave so long needed. + +Sigbert and Walter between them helped down Mabel and her nurse, and +found a secure spot for them, where weary faces, feet, and hands +might be laved in the pool beneath a rock. + +Then, taking up a bow and arrows laid down by one of the men, +Sigbert applied himself to the endeavour to shoot some of the water- +fowl which were flying wildly about over the reeds in the unwonted +disturbance caused by the bathers. He brought down two or three of +the duck kind, and another of the party had bethought him of angling +with a string and one of the only too numerous insects, and had +caught sundry of the unsuspecting and excellent fish. He had also +carefully preserved a little fire, and, setting his boy to collect +fuel, he produced embers enough to cook both fish and birds +sufficiently to form an appetising meal for those who had been +reduced to scraps of salt food for full a fortnight. + +"All is well so far," said Walter, with his little lordly air. "We +have arranged our retreat with great skill. The only regret is that +I have been forced to leave the castle to the enemy! the castle we +were bound to defend." + +"Nay, sir, if it be your will," said Sigbert, "the tables might yet +be turned on the Saracen." + +With great eagerness Walter asked how this could be, and Sigbert +reminded him that many a time it had been observed from the tower +that, though the Saracens kept careful watch on the gates of the +besieged so as to prevent a sally, they left the rear of their camp +absolutely undefended, after the ordinary Eastern fashion, and +Sigbert, with some dim recollection of rhymed chronicles of Gideon +and of Jonathan, believed that these enemies might be surprised +after the same fashion as theirs. Walter leapt up for joy, but +Sigbert had to remind him that the sun was scarcely set, and that +time must be given for the Saracens to fall asleep before the +attack; besides that, his own men needed repose. + +"There is all the distance to be traversed," said Walter. + +"Barely a league, sir." + +It was hard to believe that the space, so endless underground, was +so short above, and Walter was utterly incredulous, till, climbing +the side of the ravine so high as to be above the trees, Sigbert +showed him the familiar landmarks known in hunting excursions with +his father. He was all eagerness; but Sigbert insisted on waiting +till past midnight before moving, that the men might have time to +regain their vigour by sleep, and also that there might be time for +the Saracens to fall into the deepest of all slumbers in full +security. + +The moon was low in the West when Sigbert roused the party, having +calculated that it would light them on the way, but would be set by +the time the attack was to be made. + +For Mabel's security it was arranged that a small and most unwilling +guard should remain with her, near enough to be able to perceive how +matters went; and if there appeared to be defeat and danger for her +brother, there would probably be full time to reach Tiberias even on +foot. + +However, the men of the party had little fear that flight would be +needed, for, though perhaps no one would have thought of the scheme +for himself, there was a general sense that what Sigbert devised was +prudent, and that he would not imperil his young lord and lady upon +a desperate venture. + +Keeping well and compactly together, the little band moved on, along +arid, rocky paths, starting now and then at the howls of the jackals +which gradually gathered into a pack, and began to follow, as if-- +some one whispered--they scented prey, "On whom?" was the question. + +On a cliff looking down on the Arab camp, and above it on the dark +mass of the castle, where, in the watch-tower, Sigbert had left a +lamp burning, they halted just as the half-moon was dipping below +the heights towards the Mediterranean. Here the Lady Mabel and her +guard were to wait until they heard the sounds which to their +practised ears would show how the fight went. + +The Arab shout of victory they knew only too well, and it was to be +the signal of flight towards Tiberias; but if success was with the +assailants, the war-cry 'Deus vult,' and 'St. Hubert for Hundberg,' +were to be followed by the hymn of victory as the token that it was +safe to descend. + +All was dark, save for the magnificent stars of an Eastern night, as +Mabel, her nurse, and the five men, commanded by the wounded Roger, +stood silently praying while listening intently to the muffled tramp +of their own people, descending on the blacker mass denoting the +Saracen tents. + +The sounds of feet died away, only the jackal's whine and moan, were +heard. Then suddenly came a flash of lights in different +directions, and shouts here, there, everywhere, cries, yells, +darkness, an undistinguishable medley of noise, the shrill shriek of +the Moslem, and the exulting war-cry of the Christian ringing +farther and farther off, in the long valley leading towards the +Jordan fords. + +Dawn began to break--overthrown tents could be seen. Mabel had time +to wonder whether she was forgotten, when the hymn began to sound, +pealing on her ears up the pass, and she had not had time for more +than an earnest thanksgiving, and a few steps down the rocky +pathway, before a horse's tread was heard, and a man-at-arms came +towards her leading a slender, beautiful Arab horse. "All well! the +young lord and all. The Saracens, surprised, fled without ever +guessing the number of their foes. The Sheik made prisoner in his +tent. Ay, and a greater still, the Emir Hussein Bey, who had +arrived to take possession of the castle only that very evening. +What a ransom he would pay! Horses and all were taken, the spoil of +the country round, and Master Sigbert had sent this palfrey for Lady +Mabel to ride down." + +Perhaps Sigbert, in all his haste and occupation, had been able to +discern that the gentle little mare was not likely to display the +Arab steed's perilous attachment to a master, for Mabel was safely +mounted, and ere sunrise was greeted by her joyous and victorious +brother. "Is not this noble, sister? Down went the Pagan dogs +before my good sword! There are a score of them dragged off to the +dead man's hollow for the jackals and vultures; but I kept one +fellow uppermost to show you the gash I made! Come and see." + +Roger here observed that the horse might grow restive at the +carcase, and Mabel was excused the sight, though Walter continued to +relate his exploits, and demand whether he had not won his spurs by +so grand a ruse and victory. + +"Truly I think Sigbert has," said his sister. "It was all his +doing." + +"Sigbert, an English churl! What are you thinking of, Mabel?" + +"I am thinking to whom the honour is due." + +"You are a mere child, sister, or you would know better. Sigbert is +a very fair squire; but what is a squire's business but to put his +master in the way of honour? Do not talk such folly." + +Mabel was silenced, and after being conducted across the bare +trampled ground among the tents of the Arabs, she re-entered the +castle, where in the court groups of disarmed Arabs stood, their +bournouses pulled over their brows, their long lances heaped in a +corner, grim and disconsolate at their discomfiture and captivity. + +A repast of stewed kid, fruit, and sherbet was prepared for her and +her brother from the spoil, after which both were weary enough to +throw themselves on their cushions for a long sound sleep. + +Mabel slept the longer, and when she awoke, she found that the sun +was setting, and that supper was nearly ready. + +Walter met her just as she had arranged her dress, to bid nurse make +ready her bales, for they were to start at dawn on the morrow for +Tiberias. It was quite possible that the enemy might return in +force to deliver their Emir. A small garrison, freshly provisioned, +could hold out the castle until relief could be sent; but it would +be best to conduct the two important prisoners direct to the King, +to say nothing of Walter's desire to present them and to display +these testimonies of his prowess before the Court of Jerusalem. + +The Emir was a tall, slim, courteous Arab, with the exquisite +manners of the desert. Both he and the Sheik were invited to the +meal. Both looked startled and shocked at the entrance of the fair- +haired damsel, and the Sheik crouched in a corner, with a savage +glare in his eye like a freshly caught wild beast, though the Emir +sat cross-legged on the couch eating, and talking in the LINGUA +FRANCA, which was almost a native tongue, to the son and daughter of +the Crusader. From him Walter learnt that King Fulk was probably at +Tiberias, and this quickened the eagerness of all for a start. It +took place in the earliest morning, so as to avoid the heat of the +day. How different from the departure in the dark underground +passage! + +Horses enough had been captured to afford the Emir and the Sheik +each his own beautiful steed (the more readily that the creatures +could hardly have been ridden by any one else), and their parole was +trusted not to attempt to escape. Walter, Mabel, Sigbert, and Roger +were also mounted, and asses were found in the camp for the nurse, +and the men who had been hurt in the night's surprise. + +The only mischance on the way was that in the noontide halt, just as +the shimmer of the Lake of Galilee met their eyes, under a huge +terebinth-tree, growing on a rock, when all, except Sigbert, had +composed themselves to a siesta, there was a sudden sound of loud +and angry altercation, and, as the sleepers started up, the Emir was +seen grasping the bridle of the horse on which the Sheik sat +downcast and abject under the storm of fierce indignant words hurled +at him for thus degrading his tribe and all Islam by breaking his +plighted word to the Christian. + +This was in Arabic, and the Emir further insisted on his prostrating +himself to ask pardon, while he himself in LINGUA FRANCA explained +that the man was of a low and savage tribe of Bedouins, who knew not +how to keep faith. + +Walter broke out in loud threats, declaring that the traitor dog +ought to be hung up at once on the tree, or dragged along with hands +tied behind him; but Sigbert contented himself with placing a man at +each side of his horse's head, as they proceeded on their way to the +strongly fortified town of the ancient Herods, perched at the head +of the dark gray Lake of Galilee, shut in by mountain peaks. The +second part of the journey was necessarily begun in glowing heat, +for it was most undesirable to have to spend a night in the open +country, and it was needful to push on to a fortified hospice or +monastery of St. John, which formed a half-way house. + +Weary, dusty, athirst, they came in sight of it in the evening; and +Walter and Roger rode forward to request admittance. The porter +begged them to wait when he heard that the party included women and +Saracen prisoners; and Walter began to storm. However, a few +moments more brought a tall old Knight Hospitalier to the gate, and +he made no difficulties as to lodging the Saracens in a building at +the end of the Court, where they could be well guarded; and Mabel +and her nurse were received in a part of the precincts appropriated +to female pilgrims. + +It was a bare and empty place, a round turret over the gateway, with +a stone floor, and a few mats rolled up in the corner, mats which +former pilgrims had not left in an inviting condition. + +However, the notions of comfort of the twelfth century were not +exacting. Water to wash away the dust of travel was brought to the +door, and was followed by a substantial meal on roasted kid and thin +cakes of bread. Sigbert came up with permission for the women to +attend compline, though only strictly veiled; and Mabel knelt in the +little cool cryptlike chapel, almost like the late place of her +escape, and returned thanks for the deliverance from their recent +peril. + +Then, fresh mats and cushions having been supplied, the damsel and +her nurse slept profoundly, and were only roused by a bell for a +mass in the darkness just before dawn, after which they again set +forth, the commander of the Hospice himself, and three or four +knights, accompanying them, and conversing familiarly with the Emir +on the current interests of Palestine. + +About half-way onward, the glint and glitter of spears was seen amid +a cloud of dust on the hill-path opposite. The troop drew together +on their guard, though, as the Hospitalier observed, from the side +of Tiberias an enemy could scarcely come. A scout was sent forward +to reconnoitre; but, even before he came spurring joyously back, the +golden crosses of Jerusalem had been recognised, and confirmed his +tidings that it was the rearguard of the army, commanded by King +Fulk himself, on the way to the relief of the Castle of Gebel-Aroun. + +In a brief half-hour more, young Walter de Hundberg, with his sister +by his side, was kneeling before an alert, slender, wiry figure in +plain chamois leather, with a worn sunburnt face and keen blue eyes-- +Fulk of Anjou--who had resigned his French county to lead the +crusading cause in Palestine. + +"Stand up, fair youth, and tell thy tale, and how thou hast +forestalled our succour." + +Walter told his tale of the blockaded castle, the underground +passage, and the dexterous surprise of the besiegers, ending by +presenting, not ungracefully, his captives to the pleasure of the +King. + +"Why, this is well done!" exclaimed Fulk. "Thou art a youth of +promise, and wilt well be a prop to our grandson's English throne. +Thou shalt take knighthood from mine own hand as thy prowess well +deserveth. And thou, fair damsel, here is one whom we could scarce +hold back from rushing with single hand to deliver his betrothed. +Sir Raymond of Courtwood, you are balked of winning thy lady at the +sword's point, but thou wilt scarce rejoice the less." + +A dark-eyed, slender young knight, in bright armour, drew towards +Mabel, and she let him take her hand; but she was intent on +something else, and exclaimed-- + +"Oh, sir, Sir King, let me speak one word! The guerdon should not +be only my brother's. The device that served us was--our squire's." + +The Baron of Courtwood uttered a fierce exclamation. Walter +muttered, "Mabel, do not be such a meddling fool"; but the King +asked, "And who may this same squire be?" + +"An old English churl," said Walter impatiently. "My father took +him as his squire for want of a better." + +"And he has been like a father to us," added Mabel + +"Silence, sister! It is not for you to speak!" petulantly cried +Walter. "Not that the Baron of Courtwood need be jealous," added +he, laughing somewhat rudely. "Where is the fellow? Stand forth, +Sigbert." + +Travel and heat-soiled, sunburnt, gray, and ragged, armour rusted, +leathern garment stained, the rugged figure came forward, footsore +and lame, for he had given up his horse to an exhausted man-at-arms. +A laugh went round at the bare idea of the young lady's preferring +such a form to the splendid young knight, her destined bridegroom. + +"Is this the esquire who hath done such good service, according to +the young lady?" asked the King. + +"Ay, sir," returned Walter; "he is true and faithful enough, though +nothing to be proud of in looks; and he served us well in my sally +and attack." + +"It was his--" Mabel tried to say, but Sigbert hushed her. + +"Let be, let be, my sweet lady; it was but my bounden duty." + +"What's that? Speak out what passes there," demanded young +Courtwood, half-jealously still. + +"A mere English villein, little better than a valet of the camp!" +were the exclamations around. "A noble damsel take note of him! +Fie for shame!" + +"He has been true and brave," said the King. "Dost ask a guerdon +for him, young sir?" he added to Walter. + +"What wouldst have, old Sigbert?" asked Walter, in a patronising +voice. + +"I ask nothing, sir," returned the old squire. "To have seen my +lord's children in safety is all I wish. I have but done my duty." + +King Fulk, who saw through the whole more clearly than some of those +around, yet still had the true Angevin and Norman contempt for a +Saxon, here said: "Old man, thou art trusty and shrewd, and mayst +be useful. Wilt thou take service as one of my men-at-arms?" + +"Thou mayst," said Walter; "thou art not bound to me. England hath +enough of Saxon churls without thee, and I shall purvey myself an +esquire of youthful grace and noble blood." + +Mabel looked at her betrothed and began to speak. + +"No, no, sweet lady, I will have none of that rough, old masterful +sort about me." + +"Sir King," said Sigbert, "I thank thee heartily. I would still +serve the Cross; but my vow has been, when my young lord and lady +should need me no more, to take the Cross of St. John with the +Hospitaliers." + +"As a lay brother? Bethink thee," said Fulk of Anjou. "Noble blood +is needed for a Knight of the Order." + +Sigbert smiled slightly, in spite of all the sadness of his face, +and the Knight Commander who had ridden with them, a Fleming by +birth, said-- + +"For that matter, Sir King, we are satisfied. Sigbert, the son of +Sigfrid, hath proved his descent from the old English kings of the +East Saxons, and the Order will rejoice to enrol in the novitiate so +experienced a warrior." + +"Is this indeed so?" asked Fulk. "A good lineage, even if English!" + +"But rebel," muttered Courtwood. + +"It is so, Sir King," said Sigbert. "My father was disseised of the +lands of Hundberg, and died in the fens fighting under Hereward le +Wake. My mother dwelt under the protection of the Abbey of +Colchester, and, by and by, I served under our Atheling, and, when +King Henry's wars in Normandy were over, I followed the Lord of +Hundberg's banner, because the men-at-arms were mine own neighbours, +and his lady my kinswoman. Roger can testify to my birth and +lineage." + +"So, thou art true heir of Hundberg, if that be the name of thine +English castle?" + +"Ay, sir, save for the Norman! But I would not, if I could, meddle +with thee, my young lord, though thou dost look at me askance, spite +of having learnt of me to ride and use thy lance. I am the last of +the English line of old Sigfrid the Wormbane, and a childless man, +and I trust the land and the serfs will be well with thee, who art +English born, and son to Wulfrida of Lexden. And I trust that thou, +my sweet Lady Mabel, will be a happy bride and wife. All I look for +is to end my days under the Cross, in the cause of the Holy +Sepulchre, whether as warrior or lay brother. Yes, dear lady, that +is enough for old Sigbert." + +And Mabel had to acquiesce and believe that her old friend found +peace and gladness beneath the eight-pointed Cross, when she and her +brother sailed for England, where she would behold the green fields +and purple heather of which he had told her amid the rocks of +Palestine. + +Moreover, she thought of him when on her way through France, she +heard the young monk Bernard, then rising into fame, preach on the +beleaguered city, saved by the poor wise man; and tell how, when the +city was safe, none remembered the poor man. True, the preacher +gave it a mystic meaning, and interpreted it as meaning the +emphatically Poor Man by Whom Salvation came, and Whom too few bear +in mind. Yet such a higher meaning did not exclude the thought of +one whose deserts surpassed his honours here on earth. + + + +THE BEGGAR'S LEGACY + + + +An Alderman bold, Henry Smith was enrolled, + Of the Silversmiths' Company; +Highly praised was his name, his skill had high fame, + And a prosperous man was he. + +Knights drank to his health, and lauded his wealth; + Sailors came from the Western Main, +Their prizes they sold, of ingots of gold, + Or plate from the galleys of Spain. + +Then beakers full fine, to hold the red wine, + Were cast in his furnace's mould, +Or tankards rich chased, in intricate taste, + Gimmal rings of the purest gold. + +On each New Year's morn, no man thought it scorn-- + Whether statesman, or warrior brave-- +The choicest device, of costliest price, + For a royal off'ring to crave. + +"Bring here such a toy as the most may joy + The eyes of our gracious Queen, +Rows of orient pearls, gold pins for her curls, + Silver network, all glistening sheen." + +Each buyer who came--lord, squire, or dame-- + Behaved in most courteous guise, +Showing honour due, as to one they knew + To be at once wealthy and wise. + +In London Guild Hall, the citizens all, + Esteemed him their future Lord Mayor; +Not one did he meet, in market or street, + But made him a reverence fair. + +"Ho," said Master Smith, "I will try the pith + Of this smooth-faced courtesy; +Do they prize myself, do they prize my pelf, + Do they value what's mine or me?" + +His gold chain of pride he hath laid aside, + And furred gown of the scarlet red; +He set on his back a fardel and pack, + And a hood on his grizzled head. + +His 'prentices all he hath left in stall, + But running right close by his side, +In spite of his rags, guarding well his bags, + His small Messan dog would abide. + +So thus, up and down, through village and town, + In rain or in sunny weather, +Through Surrey's fair land, his staff in his hand, + Went he and the dog together. + +"Good folk, hear my prayer, of your bounty spare, + Help a wanderer in his need; +Better days I have seen, a rich man I have been, + Esteemed both in word and deed." + +In the first long street, certain forms he did meet, + But scarce might behold their faces; +From matted elf-locks eyes stared like an ox, + And shambling were their paces! + +Not one gave him cheer, nor would one come near, + As he turned him away to go, +Then a heavy stone at the dog was thrown, + To deal a right cowardly blow. + +In Mitcham's fair vale, the men 'gan to rail, + "Not a vagabond may come near;" +Each mother's son ran, each boy and each man, + To summon the constable here. + +The cart's tail behind, the beggar they bind, + They flogged him full long and full sore; +They hunted him out, did that rabble rout, + And bade him come thither no more! + +All weary and bruised, and scurvily used, + He went trudging along his track; +The lesson was stern he had come to learn, + And yet he disdained to turn back. + +Where Walton-on-Thames gleams fair through the stems + Of its tufted willow palms, +There were loitering folk who most vilely spoke, + Nor would give him one groat in alms. + +"Dog Smith," was the cry, "behold him go by, + The fool who hath lost all he had!" +For only to tease can delight and can please + The ill-nurtured village lad. + +Behold, in Betchworth was a blazing hearth + With a hospitable door. +"Thou art tired and lame," quoth a kindly dame, + "Come taste of our humble store. + +"Though scant be our fare, thou art welcome to share; + We rejoice to give thee our best; +Come sit by our fire, thou weary old sire, + Come in, little doggie, and rest." + +And where Mole the slow doth by Cobham go, + He beheld a small village maiden; +Of loose flocks of wool her lap was quite full, + With a bundle her arms were laden. + +"What seekest thou, child, 'mid the bushes wild, + Thy face and thine arms that thus tear?" +"The wool the sheep leave, to spin and to weave; + It makes us our clothes to wear." + +Then she led him in, where her mother did spin, + And make barley bannocks to eat; +They gave him enough, though the food was rough-- + The kindliness made it most sweet. + +Many years had past, report ran at last, + The rich Alderman Smith was dead. +Then each knight and dame, and each merchant came, + To hear his last testament read. + +I, Harry Smith, found of mind clear and sound, + Thus make and devise my last will: +While England shall stand, I bequeath my land, + My last legacies to fulfil. + +"To the muddy spot, where they cleaned them not, + When amongst their fields I did roam; +To every one there with the unkempt hair + I bequeath a small-toothed comb. + +"Next, to Mitcham proud, and the gaping crowd, + Who for nobody's sorrows grieve; +With a lash double-thong, plaited firm and strong, + A horsewhip full stout do I leave. + +"To Walton-on-Thames, where, 'mid willow stems, + The lads and the lasses idle; +To restrain their tongues, and breath of their lungs, + I bequeath a bit and a bridle. + +"To Betchworth so fair, and the households there + Who so well did the stranger cheer, +I leave as my doles to the pious souls, + Full seventy pounds by the year. + +"To Cobham the thrifty I leave a good fifty, + To be laid out in cloth dyed dark; +On Sabbath-day to be given away, + And known by Smith's badge and mark. + +"To Leatherhead too my gratitude's due, + For a welcome most freely given; +Let my bounty remain, for each village to gain, + Whence the poor man was never driven." + +So in each sweet dale, and bright sunny vale, + In the garden of England blest; +Those have found a friend, whose gifts do not end, + Who gave to that stranger a rest! + + +Henry Smith's history is literally true. He was a silversmith of +immense wealth in London in the latter part of the sixteenth +century, but in his later years he chose to perambulate the county +of Surrey as a beggar, and was known as 'Dog Smith.' He met with +various fortune in different parishes, and at Mitcham was flogged at +the cart's tail. On his death, apparently in 1627, he was found to +have left bequests to almost every place in Surrey, according to the +manners of the inhabitants--to Mitcham a horsewhip, to Walton-on- +Thames a bridle, to Betchworth, Leatherhead, and many more, +endowments which produce from 50 to 75 pounds a year, and to Cobham +a sum to be spent annually in woollen cloth of a uniform colour, +bearing Smith's badge, to be given away in church to the poor and +impotent, as the following tablet still records:-- + +1627 + +ITEM--That the Gift to the impotent and aged poor people, shall be +bestowed in Apparell of one Coulour, with some Badge or other Mark, +that it may be known to be the Gift of the said Henry Smith, or else +in Bread, flesh, or fish on the Sabbath-day publickly in the Church. +In Witness whereof the said Henry Smith did put to his Hand and seal +the Twenty-first day of January in the Second Year of the Reign of +our most gracious Sovereign Lord King Charles the First. + + + +A REVIEW OF NIECES + + + +GENERAL SIR EDWARD FULFORD, K.G.C., TO HIS SISTER MISS FULFORD +UNITED SERVICE CLUB, 29TH JUNE. + +My Dear Charlotte,--I find I shall need at least a month to get +through the necessary business; so that I shall only have a week at +last for my dear mother and the party collected at New Cove. You +will have ample time to decide which of the nieces shall be asked to +accompany us, but you had better give no hint of the plan till you +have studied them thoroughly. After all the years that you have +accompanied me on all my stations, you know how much depends on the +young lady of our house being one able to make things pleasant to +the strange varieties who will claim our hospitality in a place like +Malta, yet not likely to flag if left in solitude with you. She +must be used enough to society to do the honours genially and +gracefully, and not have her head turned by being the chief young +lady in the place. She ought to be well bred, if not high bred, +enough to give a tone to the society of her contemporaries, and +above all she must not flirt. If I found flirtation going on with +the officers, I should send her home on the spot. Of course, all +this means that she must have the only real spring of good breeding, +and be a thoroughly good, religious, unselfish, right-minded girl; +otherwise we should have to rue our scheme. In spite of all you +would do towards moulding and training a young maiden, there will be +so many distractions and unavoidable counter-influences that the +experiment would be too hazardous, unless there were a character and +manners ready formed. There ought likewise to be cultivation and +intelligence to profit by the opportunities she will have. I should +not like Greece and Italy, to say nothing of Egypt and Palestine, to +be only so much gape seed. You must have an eye likewise to good +temper, equal to cope with the various emergencies of travelling. +N.B. You should have more than one in your eye, for probably the +first choice will be of some one too precious to be attainable.-- +Your affectionate brother, + +EDWARD FULFORD. + + +MISS FULFORD TO SIR EDWARD FULFORD +1 SHINGLE COTTAGES, NEW COVE, S. CLEMENTS, 30TH JUNE. + +My Dear Edward,--When Sydney Smith led Perfection to the Pea because +the Pea would not come to Perfection, he could hardly have had such +an ideal as yours. Your intended niece is much like the 'not +impossible she' of a youth under twenty. One comfort is that such +is the blindness of your kind that you will imagine all these charms +in whatever good, ladylike, simple-hearted girl I pitch upon, and +such I am sure I shall find all my nieces. The only difficulty will +be in deciding, and that will be fixed by details of style, and the +parents' willingness to spare their child. + +This is an excellent plan of yours for bringing the whole family +together round our dear old mother and her home daughter. This is +the end house of three on a little promontory, and has a charming +view--of the sea in the first place, and then on the one side of +what is called by courtesy the parade, on the top of the sea wall +where there is a broad walk leading to S. Clements, nearly two miles +off. There are not above a dozen houses altogether, and the hotel +is taken for the two families from London and Oxford, while the +Druces are to be in the house but one next to us, the middle one +being unluckily let off to various inhabitants. We have one bedroom +free where we may lodge some of the overflowings, and I believe the +whole party are to take their chief meals together in the large room +at the hotel. The houses are mostly scattered, being such as +fortunate skippers build as an investment, and that their wives may +amuse themselves with lodgers in their absence. The church is the +weakest point in this otherwise charming place. The nearest, and +actually the parish church, is a hideous compo structure, built in +the worst of times as a chapel of ease to S. Clements. I am afraid +my mother's loyalty to the parochial system will make her secure a +pew there, though at the farther end of the town there is a new +church which is all that can be wished, and about a mile and a half +inland there is a village church called Hollyford, held, I believe, +by a former fellow-curate of Horace Druce. Perhaps they will +exchange duties, if Horace can be persuaded to take a longer holiday +than merely for the three weeks he has provided for at Bourne Parva. +They cannot come till Monday week, but our Oxford professor and his +party come on Thursday, and Edith will bring her girls the next day. +Her husband, our Q.C., cannot come till his circuit is over, but of +course you know more about his movements than I do. I wonder you +have never said anything about those girls of his, but I suppose you +class them as unattainable. I have said nothing to my mother or +Emily of our plans, as I wish to be perfectly unbiased, and as I +have seen none of the nieces for five years, and am prepared to +delight in them all, I may be reckoned as a blank sheet as to their +merits.--Your affectionate sister, + +CHARLOTTE FULFORD. + + +JULY 4.--By noon to-day arrived Martyn, {127} with Mary his wife, +Margaret and Avice their daughters, Uchtred their second son, and +poor Harry Fulford's orphan, Isabel, who has had a home with them +ever since she left school. Though she is only a cousin once +removed, she seems to fall into the category of eligible nieces, and +indeed she seems the obvious companion for us, as she has no home, +and seems to me rather set aside among the others. I hope there is +no jealousy, for she is much better looking than her cousins, with +gentle, liquid eyes, a pretty complexion, and a wistful expression. +Moreover, she is dressed in a quiet ladylike way, whereas grandmamma +looked out just now in the twilight and said, "My dear Martyn, have +you brought three boys down?" It was a showery, chilly evening, and +they were all out admiring the waves. Ulsters and sailor hats were +appropriate enough then, but the genders were not easy to +distinguish, especially as the elder girl wears her hair short--no +improvement to a keen face which needs softening. She is much too +like a callow undergraduate altogether, and her sister follows suit, +though perhaps with more refinement of feature--indeed she looks +delicate, and was soon called in. They are in slight mourning, and +appear in gray serges. They left a strap of books on the sofa, of +somewhat alarming light literature for the seaside. Bacon's ESSAYS +AND ELEMENTS OF LOGIC were the first Emily beheld, and while she +stood regarding them with mingled horror and respect, in ran Avice +to fetch them, as the two sisters are reading up for the Oxford +exam--'ination' she added when she saw her two feeble-minded aunts +looking for the rest of the word. However, she says it is only Pica +who is going up for it this time. She herself was not considered +strong enough. Yet there have those two set themselves down with +their books under the rocks, blind to all the glory of sea and +shore, deaf to the dash and ripple of the waves! I long to go and +shout Wordsworth's warning about 'growing double' to them. I am +glad to say that Uchtred has come and fetched Avice away. I can +hardly believe Martyn and Mary parents to this grown-up family. +They look as youthful as ever, and are as active and vigorous, and +full of their jokes with one another and their children. They are +now gone out to the point of the rocks at the end of our promontory, +fishing for microscopical monsters, and comporting themselves boy +and girl fashion. + +Isabel has meantime been chatting very pleasantly with grandmamma, +and trying to extricate us from our bewilderment as to names and +nicknames. My poor mother, after strenuously preventing +abbreviations in her own family, has to endure them in her +descendants, and as every one names a daughter after her, there is +some excuse! This Oxford Margaret goes by the name of Pie or Pica, +apparently because it is the remotest portion of Magpie, and her +London cousin is universally known as Metelill--the Danish form, I +believe; but in the Bourne Parva family the young Margaret Druce is +nothing worse than Meg, and her elder sister remains Jane. "Nobody +would dare to call her anything else," says Isa. Avice cannot but +be sometimes translated into the Bird; while my poor name, in my +second London niece, has become the masculine Charley. "I shall +know why when I see her," says Isa laughing. This good-natured +damsel is coming out walking with us old folks, and will walk on +with me, when grandmamma turns back with Emily. Her great desire is +to find the whereabouts of a convalescent home in which she and her +cousins have subscribed to place a poor young dressmaker for a six +weeks' rest; but I am afraid it is on the opposite side of S. +Clements, too far for a walk. + +JULY 5.--Why did you never tell me how charming Metelill is? I +never supposed the Fulford features capable of so much beauty, and +the whole manner and address are so delightful that I do not wonder +that all her cousins are devoted to her; Uchtred, or Butts, as they +are pleased to name him, has brightened into another creature since +she came, and she seems like sunshine to us all. As to my namesake, +I am sorry to say that I perceive the appropriateness of Charley; +but I suppose it is style, for the masculine dress which in Pica and +Avice has an air of being worn for mere convenience' sake, and is +quite ladylike, especially on Avice, has in her an appearance of +defiance and coquetry. Her fox-terrier always shares her room, +which therefore is eschewed by her sister, and this has made a +change in our arrangements. We had thought the room in our house, +which it seems is an object of competition, would suit best for Jane +Druce and one of her little sisters; but a hint was given by either +Pica or her mother that it would be a great boon to let Jane and +Avice share it, as they are very great friends, and we had the +latter there installed. However, this fox-terrier made Metelill +protest against sleeping at the hotel with her sister, and her +mother begged us to take her in. Thereupon, Emily saw Isa looking +annoyed, and on inquiry she replied sweetly, "Oh, never mind, aunty +dear; I daresay Wasp won't be so bad as he looks; and I'll try not +to be silly, and then I daresay Charley will not tease me! Only I +had hoped to be with dear Metelill; but no doubt she will prefer her +Bird--people always do." So they were going to make that poor child +the victim! For it seems Pica has a room to herself, and will not +give it up or take in any one. Emily went at once to Avice and +asked whether she would mind going to the hotel, and letting Isa be +with Metelill, and this she agreed to at once. I don't know why I +tell you all these details, except that they are straws to show the +way of the wind, and you will see how Isabel is always the +sacrifice, unless some one stands up for her. Here comes Martyn to +beguile me out to the beach. + +JULY 6 (Sunday).--My mother drove to church and took Edith, who was +glad neither to walk nor to have to skirmish for a seat. Isa walked +with Emily and me, and so we made up our five for our seat, which, +to our dismay, is in the gallery, but, happily for my mother, the +stairs are easy. The pews there are not quite so close to one's +nose as those in the body of the church; they are a little wider, +and are furnished with hassocks instead of traps to prevent +kneeling, so that we think ourselves well off, and we were agreeably +surprised at the service. There is a new incumbent who is striving +to modify things as well as his people and their architecture +permit, and who preached an excellent sermon. So we triumph over +the young folk, who try to persuade us that the gallery is a +judgment on us for giving in to the hired pew system. They may +banter me as much as they like, but I don't like to see them jest +with grandmamma about it, as if they were on equal terms, and she +does not understand it either. "My dear," she gravely says, "your +grandpapa always said it was a duty to support the parish church." +"Nothing will do but the Congregational system in these days; don't +you think so?" began Pica dogmatically, when her father called her +off. Martyn cannot bear to see his mother teased. He and his wife, +with the young ones, made their way to Hollyford, where they found a +primitive old church and a service to match, but were terribly late, +and had to sit in worm-eaten pews near the door, amid scents of +peppermint and southernwood. On the way back, Martyn fraternised +with a Mr. Methuen, a Cambridge tutor with a reading party, who has, +I am sorry to say, arrived at the house VIS-A-VIS to ours, on the +other side of the cove. Our Oxford young ladies turn up their noses +at the light blue, and say the men have not the finish of the dark; +but Charley is in wild spirits. I heard her announcing the arrival +thus: "I say, Isa, what a stunning lark! Not but that I was up to +it all the time, or else I should have skedaddled; for this place +was bound to be as dull as ditchwater." "But how did you know?" +asked Isa. "Why, Bertie Elwood tipped me a line that he was coming +down here with his coach, or else I should have told the mater I +couldn't stand it and gone to stay with some one." This Bertie +Elwood is, it seems, one of the many London acquaintance. He looks +inoffensive, and so do the others, but I wish they had chosen some +other spot for their studies, and so perhaps does their tutor, +though he is now smoking very happily under a rock with Martyn. + +JULY 7.--Such a delightful evening walk with Metelill and Isa as +Emily and I had last night, going to evensong in our despised +church! The others said they could stand no more walking and heat, +and yet we met Martyn and Mary out upon the rocks when we were +coming home, after being, I must confess, nearly fried to death by +the gas and bad air. They laughed at us and our exertions, all in +the way of good humour, but it was not wholesome from parents. Mary +tried to make me confess that we were coming home in a self- +complacent fakir state of triumph in our headaches, much inferior to +her humble revelling in cool sea, sky, and moonlight. It was like +the difference between the BENEDICITE and the TE DEUM, I could not +help thinking; while Emily said a few words to Martyn as to how +mamma would be disappointed at his absenting himself from Church, +and was answered, "Ah! Emily, you are still the good home child of +the primitive era," which she did not understand; but I faced about +and asked if it were not what we all should be. He answered rather +sadly, "If we could'; and his wife shrugged her shoulders. Alas! I +fear the nineteenth century tone has penetrated them, and do not +wonder that this poor Isabel does not seem happy in her home. + +9.--What a delightful sight is a large family of young things +together! The party is complete, for the Druces arrived yesterday +evening in full force, torn from their bucolic life, as Martyn tells +them. My poor dear old Margaret! She does indeed look worn and +aged, dragged by cares like a colonist's wife, and her husband is +quite bald, and as spare as a hermit. It is hard to believe him +younger than Martyn; but then his whole soul is set on Bourne Parva, +and hers on him, on the children, on the work, and on making both +ends meet; and they toil five times more severely in one month than +the professor and his lady in a year, besides having just twice as +many children, all of whom are here except the schoolboys. Margaret +declares that the entire rest, and the talking to something not +entirely rural, will wind her husband up for the year; and it is +good to see her sitting in a basket-chair by my mother, knitting +indeed, but they both do that like breathing, while they purr away +to one another in a state of perfect repose and felicity. Meantime +her husband talks Oxford with Martyn and Mary. Their daughter Jane +seems to be a most valuable helper to both, but she too has a worn, +anxious countenance, and I fear she may be getting less rest than +her parents, as they have brought only one young nursemaid with +them, and seem to depend on her and Meg for keeping the middle-sized +children in order. She seems to have all the cares of the world on +her young brow, and is much exercised about one of the boxes which +has gone astray on the railway. What do you think she did this +morning? She started off with Avice at eight o'clock for the S. +Clements station to see if the telegram was answered, and they went +on to the Convalescent Home and saw the Oxford dressmaker. It seems +that Avice had taken Uchtred with her on Sunday evening, made out +the place, and gone to church at S. Clements close by--a very long +walk; but it seems that those foolish girls thought me too fine a +lady to like to be seen with her in her round hat on a Sunday. I +wish they could understand what it is that I dislike. If I objected +to appearances, I am afraid the poor Druces would fare ill. +Margaret's girls cannot help being essentially ladies, but they have +not much beauty to begin with--and their dress! It was chiefly made +by their own sewing machine, with the assistance of the Bourne Parva +mantua-maker, superintended by Jane, 'to prevent her from making it +foolish'; and the effect, I grieve to say, is ill-fitting dowdiness, +which becomes grotesque from their self-complacent belief that it +displays the only graceful and sensible fashion in the place. It +was laughable to hear them criticising every hat or costume they +have seen, quite unaware that they were stared at themselves, till +Charley told them people thought they had come fresh out of Lady +Bountiful's goody-box, which piece of impertinence they took as a +great compliment to their wisdom and excellence. To be sure, the +fashions are distressing enough, but Metelill shows that they can be +treated gracefully and becomingly, and even Avice makes her serge +and hat look fresh and ladylike. Spite of contrast, Avice and Jane +seem to be much devoted to each other. Pica and Charley are another +pair, and Isa and Metelill--though Metelill is the universal +favourite, and there is always competition for her. In early +morning I see the brown heads and blue bathing-dresses, a- +mermaiding, as they call it, in the cove below, and they come in all +glowing, with the floating tresses that make Metelill look so +charming, and full of merry adventures at breakfast. We all meet in +the great room at the hotel for a substantial meal at half-past one, +and again (most of us at least) at eight; but it is a moot point +which of these meals we call dinner. Very merry both of them are; +Martyn and Horace Druce are like boys together, and the girls scream +with laughter, rather too much so sometimes. Charley is very noisy, +and so is Meg Druce, when not overpowered by shyness. She will not +exchange a sentence with any of the elders, but in the general laugh +she chuckles and shrieks like a young Cochin-Chinese chicken +learning to crow; and I hear her squealing like a maniac while she +is shrimping with the younger ones and Charley. I must except those +two young ladies from the unconscious competition, for one has no +manners at all, and the other affects those of a man; but as to the +rest, they are all as nice as possible, and I can only say, "How +happy could I be with either." Isa, poor girl, seems to need our +care most, and would be the most obliging and attentive. Metelill +would be the prettiest and sweetest ornament of our drawing-room, +and would amuse you the most; Pica, with her scholarly tastes, would +be the best and most appreciative fellow-traveller; and Jane, if she +could or would go, would perhaps benefit the most by being freed +from a heavy strain, and having her views enlarged. + +10.--A worthy girl is Jane Druce, but I fear the Vicarage is no +school of manners. Her mother is sitting with us, and has been +discoursing to grandmamma on her Jane's wonderful helpfulness and +activity in house and parish, and how everything hinged on her last +winter when they had whooping-cough everywhere in and out of doors; +indeed she doubts whether the girl has ever quite thrown off the +effects of all her exertions then. Suddenly comes a trampling, a +bounce and a rush, and in dashes Miss Jane, fiercely demanding +whether the children had leave to go to the cove. Poor Margaret +meekly responds that she had consented. "And didn't you know," +exclaims the damsel, "that all their everyday boots are in that +unlucky trunk?" There is a humble murmur that Chattie had promised +to be very careful, but it produces a hotter reply. "As if +Chattie's promises of that kind could be trusted! And I had _TOLD_ +them that they were to keep with baby on the cliff!" Then came a +real apology for interfering with Jane's plans, to which we listened +aghast, and Margaret was actually getting up to go and look after +her amphibious offspring herself, when her daughter cut her off +short with, "Nonsense, mamma, you know you are not to do any such +thing! I must go, that's all, or they won't have a decent boot or +stocking left among them." Off she went with another bang, while +her mother began blaming herself for having yielded in haste to the +persuasions of the little ones, oblivious of the boots, thus +sacrificing Jane's happy morning with Avice. My mother showed +herself shocked by the tone in which Margaret had let herself be +hectored, and this brought a torrent of almost tearful apologies +from the poor dear thing, knowing she did not keep up her authority +or make herself respected as would be good for her girl, but if we +only knew how devoted Jane was, and how much there was to grind and +try her temper, we should not wonder that it gave way sometimes. +Indeed it was needful to turn away the subject, as Margaret was the +last person we wished to distress. + +Jane could have shown no temper to the children, for at dinner a +roly-poly person of five years old, who seems to absorb all the fat +in the family, made known that he had had a very jolly day, and he +loved cousin Avice very much indeed, and sister Janie very much +indeeder, and he could with difficulty be restrained from an +expedition to kiss them both then and there. + +The lost box was announced while we were at dinner, and Jane is gone +with her faithful Avice to unpack it. Her mother would have done it +and sent her boating with the rest, but submitted as usual when +commanded to adhere to the former plan of driving with grandmamma. +These Druce children must be excellent, according to their mother, +but they are terribly brusque and bearish. They are either seen and +not heard, or not seen and heard a great deal too much. Even Jane +and Meg, who ought to know better, keep up a perpetual undercurrent +of chatter and giggle, whatever is going on, with any one who will +share it with them. + +10.--I am more and more puzzled about the new reading of the Fifth +Commandment. None seem to understand it as we used to do. The +parents are content to be used as equals, and to be called by all +sorts of absurd names; and though grandmamma is always kindly and +attentively treated, there is no reverence for the relationship. I +heard Charley call her 'a jolly old party,' and Metelill respond +that she was 'a sweet old thing.' Why, we should have thought such +expressions about our grandmother a sort of sacrilege, but when I +ventured to hint as much Charley flippantly answered, "Gracious me, +we are not going back to buckram"; and Metelill, with her caressing +way, declared that she loved dear granny too much to be so stiff and +formal. I quoted-- + +"If I be a Father, where is My honour?" + +And one of them taking it, I am sorry to say, for a line of secular +poetry, exclaimed at the stiffness and coldness. Pica then put in +her oar, and began to argue that honour must be earned, and that it +was absurd and illogical to claim it for the mere accident of +seniority or relationship. Jane, not at all conscious of being an +offender, howled at her that this was her horrible liberalism and +neology, while Metelill asked what was become of loyalty. "That +depends on what you mean by it," returned our girl graduate. "LOI- +AUTE, steadfastness to principle, is noble, but personal loyalty, to +some mere puppet or the bush the crown hangs on, is a pernicious +figment." Charley shouted that this was the No. 1 letter A point in +Pie's prize essay, and there the discussion ended, Isa only sighing +to herself, "Ah, if I had any one to be loyal to!" + +"How you would jockey them!" cried Charley, turning upon her so +roughly that the tears came into her eyes; and I must have put on +what you call my Government-house look, for Charley subsided +instantly. + +11.--Here was a test as to this same obedience. The pupils, who are +by this time familiars of the party, had devised a boating and +fishing expedition for all the enterprising, which was satisfactory +to the elders because it was to include both the fathers. +Unluckily, however, this morning's post brought a summons to Martyn +and Mary to fulfil an engagement they have long made to meet an +American professor at ---, and they had to start off at eleven +o'clock; and at the same time the Hollyford clergyman, an old +fellow-curate of Horace Druce, sent a note imploring him to take a +funeral. So the voice of the seniors was for putting off the +expedition, but the voice of the juniors was quite the other way. +The three families took different lines. The Druces show obedience +though not respect; they growled and grumbled horribly, but +submitted, though with ill grace, to the explicit prohibition. Non- +interference is professedly Mary's principle, but even she said, +with entreaty veiled beneath the playfulness, when it was pleaded +that two of the youths had oars at Cambridge, "Freshwater fish, my +dears. I wish you would wait for us! I don't want you to attend +the submarine wedding of our old friends Tame and Isis." To which +Pica rejoined, likewise talking out of Spenser, that Proteus would +provide a nice ancient nymph to tend on them. Her father then +chimed in, saying, "You will spare our nerves by keeping to dry land +unless you can secure the ancient mariner who was with us +yesterday." + +"Come, come, most illustrious," said Pica good-humouredly, "I'm not +going to encourage you to set up for nerves. You are much better +without them, and I must get some medusae." + +It ended with, "I beg you will not go without that old man," the +most authoritative speech I have heard either Martyn or Mary make to +their daughters; but it was so much breath wasted on Pica, who +maintains her right to judge for herself. The ancient mariner had +been voted an encumbrance and exchanged for a jolly young waterman. + +Our other mother, Edith, implored, and was laughed down by Charley, +who declared she could swim, and that she did not think Uncle Martyn +would have been so old-womanish. Metelill was so tender and +caressing with her frightened mother that I thought here at last was +submission, and with a good grace. But after a turn on the +esplanade among the pupils, back came Metelill in a hurry to say, +"Dear mother, will you very much _MIND_ if I go? They will be so +disappointed, and there will be such a fuss if I don't; and Charley +really ought to have some one with her besides Pie, who will heed +nothing but magnifying medusae." I am afraid it is true, as Isa +says, that it was all owing to the walk with that young Mr Horne. + +Poor Edith fell into such a state of nervous anxiety that I could +not leave her, and she confided to me how Charley had caught her +foolish masculine affectations in the family of this very Bertie +Elwood, and told me of the danger of an attachment between Metelill +and a young government clerk who is always on the look-out for her. +"And dear Metelill is so gentle and gracious that she cannot bear to +repel any one," says the mother, who would, I see, be thankful to +part with either daughter to our keeping in hopes of breaking off +perilous habits. I was saved, however, from committing myself by +the coming in of Isabel. That child follows me about like a tame +cat, and seems so to need mothering that I cannot bear to snub her. + +She came to propound to me a notion that has risen among these +Oxford girls, namely, that I should take out their convalescent +dressmaker as my maid instead of poor Amelie. She is quite well +now, and going back next week; but a few years in a warm climate +might be the saving of her health. So I agreed to go with Isa to +look at her, and judge whether the charming account I heard was all +youthful enthusiasm. Edith went out driving with my mother, and we +began our TETE-A-TETE walk, in which I heard a great deal of the +difficulties of that free-and-easy house at Oxford, and how often +Isa wishes for some one who would be a real guide and helper, +instead of only giving a playful, slap-dash answer, like good- +natured mockery. The treatment may suit Mary's own daughters, but +'Just as you please, my dear,' is not good for sensitive, anxious +spirits. We passed Jane and Avice reading together under a rock; I +was much inclined to ask them to join us, but Isa was sure they were +much happier undisturbed, and she was so unwilling to share me with +any one that I let them alone. I was much pleased with the +dressmaker, Maude Harris, who is a nice, modest, refined girl, and +if the accounts I get from her employers bear out what I hear of +her, I shall engage her; I shall be glad, for the niece's sake, to +have that sort of young woman about the place. She speaks most +warmly of what the Misses Fulford have done for her. + +Jane will be disappointed if I cannot have her rival candidate--a +pet schoolgirl who works under the Bourne Parva dressmaker. "What a +recommendation!" cries Pica, and there is a burst of mirth, at which +Jane looks round and says, "What is there to laugh at? Miss +Dadworthy is a real good woman, and a real old Bourne Parva person, +so that you may be quite sure Martha will have learnt no nonsense to +begin with." + +"No," says Pica, "from all such pomps and vanities as style, she +will be quite clear." + +While Avice's friendship goes as far as to say that if Aunt +Charlotte cannot have Maude, perhaps Martha could get a little more +training. Whereupon Jane runs off by the yard explanations of the +admirable training--religious, moral, and intellectual--of Bourne +Parva, illustrated by the best answers of her favourite scholars, +anecdotes of them, and the reports of the inspectors, religious and +secular; and Avice listens with patience, nay, with respectful +sympathy. + +12.--We miss Mary and Martyn more than I expected. Careless and +easy-going as they seem, they made a difference in the ways of the +young people; they were always about with them, not as dragons, but +for their own pleasure. The presence of a professor must needs +impose upon young men, and Mary, with her brilliant wit and charming +manners, was a check without knowing it. The boating party came +back gay and triumphant, and the young men joined in our late meal; +and oh, what a noise there was! though I must confess that it was +not they who made the most. Metelill was not guilty of the noise, +but she was--I fear I must say it--flirting with all her might with +a youth on each side of her, and teasing a third; I am afraid she is +one of those girls who are charming to all, and doubly charming to +your sex, and that it will never do to have her among the staff. I +don't think it is old-maidish in us to be scandalised at her walking +up and down the esplanade with young Horne till ten o'clock last +night; Charley was behind with Bertie Elwood, and, I grieve to say, +was smoking. It lasted till Horace Druce went out to tell them that +Metelill must come in at once, as it was time to shut up the house. + +The Oxford girls were safe indoors; Isa working chess problems with +another of the lads, Avice keeping Jane company over the putting the +little ones to sleep--in Mount Lebanon, as they call the Druce +lodging--and Pica preserving microscopic objects. "Isn't she +awful?" said one of those pupils. "She's worse than all the dons in +Cambridge. She wants to be at it all day long, and all through the +vacation." + +They perfectly flee from her. They say she is always whipping out a +microscope and lecturing upon protoplasms--and there is some truth +in the accusation. She is almost as bad on the emancipation of +women, on which there is a standing battle, in earnest with Jane--in +joke with Metelill; but it has, by special orders, to be hushed at +dinner, because it almost terrifies grandmamma. I fear Pica tries +to despise her! + +This morning the girls are all out on the beach in pairs and threes, +the pupils being all happily shut up with their tutor. I see the +invalid lady creep out with her beach-rest from the intermediate +house, and come down to her usual morning station in the shade of a +rock, unaware, poor thing, that it has been monopolised by Isa and +Metelill. Oh, girls! why don't you get up and make room for her? +No; she moves on to the next shady place, but there Pica has a +perfect fortification of books spread on her rug, and Charley is +sketching on the outskirts, and the fox-terrier barks loudly. Will +she go on to the third seat? where I can see, though she cannot, +Jane and Avice sitting together, and Freddy shovelling sand at their +feet. Ah! at last she is made welcome. Good girls! They have +seated her and her things, planted a parasol to shelter her from the +wind, and lingered long enough not to make her feel herself turning +them out before making another settlement out of my sight. + +THREE O'CLOCK.--I am sorry to say Charley's sketch turned into a +caricature of the unprotected female wandering in vain in search of +a bit of shelter, with a torn parasol, a limp dress, and dragging +rug, and altogether unspeakably forlorn. It was exhibited at the +dinner-table, and elicited peals of merriment, so that we elders +begged to see the cause of the young people's amusement. My blood +was up, and when I saw what it was, I said-- + +"I wonder you like to record your own discourtesy, to call it +nothing worse." + +"But, Aunt Charlotte," said Metelill in her pretty pleading way, "we +did not know her." + +"Well, what of that?" I said. + +"Oh, you know it is only abroad that people expect that sort of +things from strangers." + +"One of the worst imputations on English manners I ever heard," I +said. + +"But she was such a guy!" cried Charley. "Mother said she was sure +she was not a lady." + +"And therefore you did not show yourself one," I could not but +return. + +There her mother put in a gentle entreaty that Charley would not +distress grandmamma with these loud arguments with her aunt, and I +added, seeing that Horace Druce's attention was attracted, that I +should like to have added another drawing called 'Courtesy,' and +shown that there was _SOME_ hospitality _EVEN_ to strangers, and +then I asked the two girls about her. They had joined company +again, and carried her beach-rest home for her, finding out by the +way that she was a poor homeless governess who had come down to stay +in cheap lodgings with an old nurse to try to recruit herself till +she could go out again. My mother became immediately interested, +and has sent Emily to call on her, and to try and find out whether +she is properly taken care of. + +Isa was very much upset at my displeasure. She came to me +afterwards and said she was greatly grieved; but Metelill would not +move, and she had always supposed it wrong to make acquaintance with +strangers in that chance way. I represented that making room was +not picking up acquaintance, and she owned it, and was really +grateful for the reproof; but, as I told her, no doubt such a rule +must be necessary in a place like Oxford. + +How curiously Christian courtesy and polished manners sometimes +separate themselves! and how conceit interferes with both! I acquit +Metelill and Isa of all but thoughtless habit, and Pica was +absorbed. She can be well mannered enough when she is not defending +the rights of woman, or hotly dogmatical on the crude theories she +has caught--and suppose she has thought out, poor child! And Jane, +though high-principled, kind, and self-sacrificing, is too narrow +and--not exactly conceited--but exclusive and Bourne Parvaish, not +to be as bad in her way, though it is the sound one. The wars of +the Druces and Maronites, as Martyn calls them, sometimes rage +beyond the bounds of good humour. + +TEN P.M.--I am vexed too on another score. I must tell you that +this hotel does not shine in puddings and sweets, and Charley has +not been ashamed to grumble beyond the bounds of good manners. I +heard some laughing and joking going on between the girls and the +pupils, Metelill with her "Oh no! You won't! Nonsense!" in just +that tone which means "I wish, I would, but I cannot bid you,"--the +tone I do not like to hear in a maiden of any degree. + +And behold three of those foolish lads have brought her gilt and +painted boxes of bon-bons, over which there was a prodigious +giggling and semi-refusing and bantering among the young folks, +worrying Emily and me excessively, though we knew it would not do to +interfere. + +There is a sea-fog this evening unfavourable to the usual +promenades, and we elders, including the tutor, were sitting with my +mother, when, in her whirlwind fashion, in burst Jane, dragging her +little sister Chattie with her, and breathlessly exclaiming, +"Father, father, come and help! They are gambling, and I can't get +Meg away!" + +When the nervous ones had been convinced that no one had been caught +by the tide or fallen off the rocks, Jane explained that Metelill +had given one box of bon-bons to the children, who were to be served +with one apiece all round every day. And the others were put up by +Metelill to serve as prizes in the 'racing game,' which some one had +routed out, left behind in the lodging, and which was now spread on +the dining-table, with all the young people playing in high glee, +and with immense noise. + +"Betting too!" said Jane in horror. "Mr. Elwood betted three +chocolate creams upon Charley, and Pica took it! Father! Come and +call Meg away." + +She spoke exactly as if she were summoning him to snatch her sister +from ROUGE ET NOIR at Monaco; and her face was indescribable when +her aunt Edith set us all off laughing by saying, "Fearful +depravity, my dear." + +"Won't you come, father?" continued Jane; "Mr. Methuen, won't you +come and stop those young men?" + +Mr. Methuen smiled a little and looked at Horace, who said-- + +"Hush, Janie; these are not things in which to interfere." + +"Then," quoth Jane sententiously, "I am not astonished at the +dissipation of the university." + +And away she flounced in tears of wrath. Her mother went after her, +and we laughed a little, it was impossible to help it, at the bathos +of the chocolate creams; but, as Mr. Methuen said, she was really +right, the amusement was undesirable, as savouring of evil. Edith, +to my vexation, saw no harm in it; but Horace said very decidedly he +hoped it would not happen again; and Margaret presently returned, +saying she hoped that she had pacified Jane, and shown her that to +descend as if there were an uproar in the school would only do much +more harm than was likely to happen in that one evening; and she +said to me afterwards, "I see what has been wanting in our training. +We have let children's loyalty run into intolerance and rudeness." +But Meg was quite innocent of there being any harm in it, and only +needed reproof for being too much charmed by the pleasure for once +to obey her dictatorial sister. + +13, TEN A.M.--Horace has had it out with sundry of the young ladies, +so as to prevent any more betting. Several had regretted it. "Only +they did so want to get rid of the bon-bons! And Jane did make such +an uproar." After all, nobody did really bet but Charley and the +young Elwood, and Pica only that once. Jane candidly owns that a +little gentleness would have made a difference. + +Again I see this obtuseness to courtesy towards strangers. Our +despised church has become popular, and so many of the young folks +choose to accompany us that they overflowed into the free seats in +the aisle, where I had a full view of them from above. These +benches are long, and I was sorry to see the girls planting +themselves fast at the outer end, and making themselves square, so +as to hinder any one else from getting in, till the verger came and +spoke to them, when Charley giggled offensively; and even then they +did not make room, but forced the people to squeeze past. Isa could +not help herself, not being the outermost; but she was much +distressed, and does not shelter herself under Charley's plea that +it was so hot that the verger should have been indicted for cruelty +to animals. Certainly they all did come home very hot from walking +back with the pupils. + +Pica and Avice were not among them, having joined the Druces in +going to Hollyford, where Horace preached this morning. Their gray +serges and sailor hats were, as they said, "not adapted to the town +congregation." + +"It is the congregation you dress for?" said their uncle dryly, +whereupon Pica upbraided him with inconsistency in telling his poor +people not to use the excuse of 'no clothes,' and that the heart, +not the dress, is regarded. He said it was true, but that he should +still advocate the poor man's coming in his cleanest and best. +"There are manners towards God as well as towards man," he said. + +I was too much tired by the heat to go to church again this evening, +and am sitting with my mother, who is dozing. Where the young +people are I do not know exactly, but I am afraid I hear Charley's +shrill laugh on the beach. + +14.--Who do you think has found us out? Our dear old Governor- +General, "in all his laurels," as enthusiastic little Avice was +heard saying, which made Freddy stare hard and vainly in search of +them. He is staying at Hollybridge Park, and seeing our name in the +S. Clements' list of visitors, he made Lady Hollybridge drive him +over to call, and was much disappointed to find that you could not +be here during his visit. He was as kind and warm-hearted as ever, +and paid our dear mother such compliments on her son, that we tell +her the bows on her cap are starting upright with pride. + +Lady Hollybridge already knew Edith. She made herself very +pleasant, and insisted on our coming EN MASSE to a great garden +party which they are giving to-morrow. Hollybridge is the S. +Clements' lion, with splendid grounds and gardens, and some fine old +pictures, so it is a fine chance for the young people; and we are +going to hire one of the large excursion waggonettes, which will +hold all who have age, dress, and will for gaieties. The pupils, as +Mr. Methuen is a friend of the Hollybridge people, will attend us as +outriders on their bicycles. I am rather delighted at thus catching +out the young ladies who did not think it worth while to bring a +Sunday bonnet. They have all rushed into S. Clements to furbish +themselves for the occasion, and we are left to the company of the +small Druces. Neither Margaret nor Emily chooses to go, and will +keep my mother company. + +I ventured on administering a sovereign apiece to Isa and Jane +Druce. The first blushed and owned that it was very welcome, as her +wardrobe had never recovered a great thunderstorm at Oxford. Jane's +awkwardness made her seem as if it were an offence on my part, but +her mother tells me it made her very happy. Her father says that +she tells him he was hard on Avice, a great favourite of his, and +that I must ask Jane to explain, for it is beyond him. It is all +right about the Oxford girl. I have engaged her, and she goes home +to-morrow to prepare herself. This afternoon she is delighted to +assist her young ladies in their preparations. I liked her much in +the private interview. I was rather surprised to find that it was +'Miss Avice,' of whom she spoke with the greatest fervour, as having +first made friends with her, and then having constantly lent her +books and read to her in her illness. + +15.--S. Swithun is evidently going to be merciful to us to-day, and +the damsels have been indefatigable--all, that is to say, but the +two Londoners, who have lawn tennis dresses, and their mother's maid +to turn them out complete. Isa brought home some tulle and white +jessamine with which she is deftly freshening the pretty compromise +between a bonnet and a hat which she wears on Sunday; also a +charming parasol, with a china knob and a wreath of roses at the +side. She hopes I shall not think her extravagant, but she had a +little money of her own. + +Jane Druce displays two pairs of gloves and two neckties for herself +and her sister; and after all Meg will not go; she is so uncouth +that her mother does not like her to go without her own supervision; +and she with true Bourne Parva self-appreciation and exclusiveness +says-- + +"I'm sure I don't want to go among a lot of stupid people, who care +for nothing but fine clothes and lawn tennis." + +There was a light till one o'clock last night in the room where +Avice sleeps with Charley and the dog; and I scarcely saw either of +the Oxford sisters or Jane all this morning till dinner-time, when +Pica appeared very appropriately to her name, turned out in an old +black silk dress left behind by her mother, and adorned with white +tulle in all sorts of folds, also a pretty white bonnet made up by +Avice's clever fingers, and adorned with some soft gray sea-birds' +feathers and white down. Isa and Metelill were very well got up and +nice. Metelill looks charming, but I am afraid her bouquet is from +one of those foolish pupils. She, as usual, has shared it with Isa, +who has taken half to prevent her cousin being remarkable. And, +after all, poor Avice is to be left behind. There was no time to +make up things for two, and being in mourning, she could not borrow, +though Metelill would have been too happy to lend. She says she +shall be very happy with the children, but I can't help thinking +there was a tear in her eye when she ran to fetch her dress cloak +for Jane, whom, by the bye, Avice has made wonderfully more like +other people. Here is the waggonette, and I must finish to-morrow. + +16.--We have had a successful day. The drive each way was a treat +in itself, and the moon rising over the sea on our way home was a +sight never to be forgotten. Hollybridge is charming in itself. +Those grounds with their sea-board are unique, and I never saw such +Spanish chestnuts in England. Then the gardens and the turf! One +must have lived as long in foreign parts as we have to appreciate +the perfect finish and well-tended look of such places. Your dear +old chief does not quite agree. He says he wants space, and is +oppressed with the sense of hedges and fences, except when he looks +to the sea, and even there the rocks look polished off, and treated +by landscape gardeners! He walked me about to see the show places, +and look at the pictures, saying he had been so well lionised that +he wanted some one to discharge his information upon. It was great +fun to hear him criticising the impossibilities of a battle-piece-- +Blenheim, I think--the anachronisms of the firearms and uniforms, +and the want of discipline around Marlborough, who would never have +won a battle at that rate. You know how his hawk's eye takes note +of everything. He looked at Metelill and said, "Uncommonly pretty +girl that, and knows it," but when I asked what he thought of +Isabel's looks, he said, "Pretty, yes; but are you sure she is quite +aboveboard? There's something I don't like about her eyes." I wish +he had not said so. I know there is a kind of unfriendly feeling +towards her among some of the girls, especially the Druces and +Charley. I have heard Charley openly call her a humbug, but I have +thought much of this was dislike to the softer manners, and perhaps +jealousy of my notice, and the expression that the old lord noticed +is often the consequence of living in an uncongenial home. + +Of course my monopoly of the hero soon ended, and as I had no +acquaintances there, and the young ones had been absorbed into +games, or had fraternised with some one, I betook myself to +explorations in company with Jane, who had likewise been left out. +After we had wandered along a dazzling stand of calceolarias, she +said, "Aunt Charlotte, papa says I ought to tell you something; I +mean, why Avice could not come to-day, and why she has nothing to +wear but her round hat. It is because she and Pica spent all they +had in paying for that Maude Harris at the Convalescent Home. They +had some kind of flimsy gauzy bonnets that were faded and utterly +done for after Commemoration week; and as Uncle Martyn is always +growling about ladies' luggage, they thought it would be a capital +plan to go without all the time they are down here, till another +quarter is due. Avice never thought of its not being right to go to +Church such a figure, and now she finds that papa thinks the command +to "have power on her head" really may apply to that sort of +fashion, we are going to contrive something for Sunday, but it could +not be done in time for to-day. Besides, she had no dress but a +serge." + +"She preferred dressing her sister to dressing herself," I answered; +and Jane began assuring me that no one knew how unselfish that dear +old Bird is. The little money she had, she added to Pica's small +remnant, and thus enough had been provided to fit the elder sister +out. + +"I suppose," I said, "that Isa manages better, for she does not seem +to be reduced to the same extremities, though I suppose she has less +allowance than her cousins." + +"She has exactly the same. I know it." And Jane caught herself up, +evidently checking something I might have thought ill-natured, which +made me respond something intended to be moralising, but which was +perhaps foolish, about good habits of economy, and how this +disappointment, taken so good-humouredly, would be a lesson to +Avice. "A lesson? I should think so," said Jane bluntly. "A +lesson not to lend her money to Isa"; and then, when I asked what +she meant, she blurted out that all Isa's so-called share of the +subscription for Maude Harris had been advanced by Avice--Pica had +told her so, with comments on her sister's folly in lending what she +well knew would never be repaid; and Alice could not deny it, only +defending herself by saying, she could not sacrifice the girl. It +was a very uncomfortable revelation, considering that Isa might have +given her cousin my sovereign, but no doubt she did not think that +proper, as I had meant it to be spent for this outing. + +I will at least give her the benefit of the doubt, and I would not +encourage Jane to say any more about her. Indeed, the girl herself +did not seem so desirous of dwelling on Isa as of doing justice to +Avice, whom, she told me very truly, I did not know. "She is always +the one to give way and be put aside for Pie and Isa," said Jane. +And now I think over the time we have had together, I believe it has +often been so. "You are very fond of her," I said; and Jane +answered, "I should _THINK_ so! Why, she spent eight months with us +once at Bourne Parva, just after the great row with Miss Hurlstone. +Oh, didn't you know? They had a bad governess, who used to meet a +lover--a German musician, I think he was--when they were out +walking, and bullied Avice because she was honest. When it all came +to light, Pica came out and Isa was sent to school, but Avice had +got into a low state of health, and they said Oxford was not good +for her, so she came to us. And papa prepared her for Confirmation, +and she did everything with us, and she really is just like one of +ourselves," said Jane, as the highest praise imaginable, though any +one who contrasted poor Jane's stiff PIQUE (Miss Dadsworth's turn- +out) with the grace even of the gray serge, might not think it a +compliment. Jane was just beginning to tell me that Avice always +wrote to her to lay before her father the difficulties about right +and wrong faith and practice that their way of life and habits of +society bring before the poor child, when Isa descended upon us with +"Oh! Aunt Charlotte, I could not think what had become of you, when +I saw the great man without you." + +I begin to wonder whether she is really so very fond of me, or +whether she does not like to see me with one of the others. + +However, I shall be able to take Jane's hint, and cultivate Avice, +for, as my mother did not come yesterday, Lady Hollybridge has most +kindly insisted on her going over to-day. The carriage is taking +some one to the station, and is to call for her and me to bring us +to luncheon, the kind people promising likewise to send us back. So +I asked whether I might bring a niece who had not been able to come +yesterday, and as the young people had, as usual, become enamoured +of Metelill, they begged for her likewise. Avice looks very well in +the dress she made up for Pica, and being sisters and in mourning, +the identity will only be natural. She is very much pleased and +very grateful, and declares that she shall see everything she cares +about much more pleasantly than in the larger party, and perhaps +'really hear the hero talk.' And Uncle Horace says, "True, you +Bird, you are not like some young folk, who had rather hear +themselves talk than Socrates and S. Ambrose both at once." "Oh!" +said saucy Pica, "now we know what Uncle Horace thinks of his own +conversations with father!" By the bye, Martyn and Mary come home +to-morrow, and I am very glad of it, for those evening diversions on +the beach go on in full force, and though there is nothing tangible, +except Charley's smoke, to object to, and it is the present way of +young people, there is something unsatisfactory in it. Edith does +not seem to mind what her daughters do. Margaret has no occasion to +be uneasy about Jane, who always stays with the little ones while +the maids are at supper, and generally takes with her the devoted +Avice, who has some delicacy of throat forbidding these evening +excursions. Meg gets more boisterous and noisy every day, Uchtred +being her chief companion; but as she is merely a tomboy, I believe +her parents think it inexpedient to give her hints that might only +put fancies in her head. So they have only prohibited learning to +smoke, staying out later than nine o'clock, and shrieking louder +than a steam whistle! + +17.--Yesterday was a great success. Avice was silent at first, but +Metelill drew her out, and she had become quite at her ease before +we arrived. You would have been enchanted to see how much was made +of our dear mother. Lord Hollybridge came out himself to give her +his arm up the stone steps and across the slippery hall. The good +old chief talked to her by the hour about you, and Avice's eyes +shone all the time. After luncheon our kind hostess arranged that +dear mother should have half an hour's perfect rest, in a charming +little room fitted like a tent, and then had a low chair with two +little fairy ponies in it to drive her about the gardens, while I +walked with the two gentlemen and saw things much better than in the +former hurly-burly, though that was a beautiful spectacle in its +way. Avice, who has seen scores of FETES in college grounds, much +preferred the scenery, etc., in their natural state to a crowd of +strangers. The young people took possession of the two girls, and +when we all met for the five o'clock tea, before going home, Lady +Georgina eagerly told her father that Miss Fulford had made out the +subject of 'that picture.' It was a very beautiful Pre-Raffaelite, +of a lady gathering flowers in a meadow, and another in +contemplation, while a mysterious shape was at the back; the ladies +stiff-limbed but lovely faced, and the flowers--irises, anemones, +violets, and even the grass-blossom, done with botanical accuracy. +A friend of Lord Hollybridge had picked it up for him in some +obscure place in Northern Italy, and had not yet submitted it to an +expert. Avice, it appeared, had recognised it as representing Leah +and Rachel, as Action and Contemplation in the last books of Dante's +PURGATORIO, with the mystic griffin car in the distance. Our hosts +were very much delighted; we all repaired to the picture, where she +very quietly and modestly pointed out the details. A Dante was +hunted up, but Lady Hollybridge and I were the only elders who knew +any Italian, and when the catalogue was brought, Avice knew all the +names of the translators, but as none were to be found, Lord +Hollybridge asked if she would make him understand the passage, +which she did, blushing a little, but rendering it in very good +fluent English, so that he thanked her, and complimented her so much +that she was obliged to answer that she had got it up when they were +hearing some lectures on Dante; and besides it was mentioned by +Ruskin; whereupon she was also made to find the reference, and mark +both it and Dante. + +"I like that girl," said the old Governor-General, "she is +intelligent and modest both. There is something fine about the +shape of her head." + +When we went home, Metelill was as proud and delighted as possible +at what she called the Bird's triumph; but Avice did not seem at all +elated, but to take her knowledge as a mere outcome of her ordinary +Oxford life, where allusions, especially Ruskinese and Dantesque, +came naturally. And then, as grandmamma went to sleep in her +corner, the two girls and I fell into a conversation on that whole +question of Action and Contemplation. At least Metelill asked the +explanation, but I doubt whether she listened much while Avice and I +talked out the matter, and I felt myself a girl again, holding the +old interminable talks with the first dear Avice, before you made +her my sister for those two happy years, and--Well, it is no use +paining you and myself with going back to those days, though there +was something in the earnest thoughtfulness and depth of her young +namesake and godchild that carried me back to the choicest day of +companionship before you came on the scene. And to think what a +jewel I have missed all this time! + +18.--I am deeply grieved, and am almost ashamed to write what I have +to tell you. I had been out to see my mother with Margaret and +Emily settle in their favourite resort on the beach, and was coming +in to write my letters, when, in the sitting-room, which has open +French windows down to the ground, I heard an angry voice-- + +"I tell you it was no joke. It's no use saying so," and I beheld +Charley and Isa in the midst of a violent quarrel. "I've looked on +at plenty of your dodges, sucking up to Aunt Charlotte to get taken +out with her; but when it comes to playing spiteful tricks on my +sister I will speak out." + +By this time I was on the window-step, checking Charley's very +improper tone, and asking what was the matter. Isa sprang to me, +declaring that it was all Charley's absurd suspicion and +misconstruction. At last, amid hot words on both sides, I found +that Charley had just found, shut into a small album which Metelill +keeps upon the drawing-room table, a newly taken photograph of young +Horne, one of the pupils, with a foolish devoted inscription upon +the envelope, directed to Miss Fulford. + +Isa protested that she had only popped it in to keep it safe until +she could return it. Charley broke out. "As if I did not know +better than that! Didn't you make him give you that parasol and +promise him your photo? Ay, and give it him in return? You thought +he would keep your secret, I suppose, but he tells everything, like +a donkey as he is, to Bertie Elwood, and Bertie and I have such fun +over him. And now, because you are jealous of poor Metelill, and +think Aunt Charlotte may take a fancy to you instead of her, you are +sticking his photo into her book just to do her harm with the aunts. +I'm not strait-laced. I wouldn't mind having the photos of a +hundred and fifty young men, only they would be horrid guys and all +just alike; but Aunt Charlotte is--is--well--a regular old maid +about it, and you knew she would mind it, and so you did it on +purpose to upset Metelill's chances." + +Isa clung to me in floods of tears, desiring me not to believe +anything so cruel and false. Every one always was so hard upon her, +she said, and she had only put the thing inadvertently there, to get +it out of sight, into the first book she saw, but unfortunately she +did not know I had heard her trying to pass it off to Charley as a +jest. However, as there was no proof there, I asked about the +parasol. While the shopping was going on, she and young Horne had +been in another street, and this was the consequence! I was +perfectly confounded. Receive presents from young men! It seemed +to me quite impossible. "Oh, Isa thinks nothing of that!" said +Charley. "Ask her where she got those bangles, and that bouquet +which she told you was half Metelill's. You think me awful, I know, +Aunt Charlotte, but I do draw a line, though I would never have said +one word about it if she had not played this nasty trick on +Metelill." Isa would have begun some imploring excuse, but our two +gentlemen were seen coming up towards the window, and she fled, +gasping out an entreaty that I would not tell Uncle Martyn. + +Nor did I then and there, for I needed to understand the matter and +look into it, so I told Martyn and Horace not to wait for me, and +heard Charley's story more coolly. I had thought that Mr. Horne was +Metelill's friend. "So he was at first," Charley said, "but he is +an uncommon goose, and Isa is no end of a hand at doing the pathetic +poverty-stricken orphan! That's the way she gets so many presents!" +Then she explained, in her select slang, that young Horne's love +affairs were the great amusement of his fellow-pupils, and that she, +being sure that the parasol was no present from me, as Isa had given +the cousins to understand, had set Bertie Elwood to extract the +truth by teasing his friend. "But I never meant to have told," said +Charley, "if you had not come in upon us, when I was in the midst of +such a wax that I did not know what I was saying"; and on my +demanding what she meant by the elegant expression she had used +about Isa and me, she explained that it was the schoolboy's word for +currying favour. Every one but we stupid elders perceived the game, +nay, even the Druces, living in full confidence with their children, +knew what was going on. I have never spoken, but somehow people +must read through one's brains, for there was a general conviction +that I was going to choose a niece to accompany us. I wonder if +you, my wise brother, let out anything to Edith. It is what men +always do, they bind women to silence and then disclose the secret +themselves, and say, "Nothing is safe with these women." + +Any way, these girls have been generous, or else true to their +ESPRIT DE CORPS, I do not know which to call it; for though they +looked on at Isa's manoeuvres and my blindness with indignant +contempt, they never attempted to interfere. Jane Druce was seized +with a fit of passionate wrath and pity for me, but her father +withheld her from disclosures, assuring her that I should probably +find out the girl's true disposition, and that it would be wrong to +deprive Isa of a chance of coming under a fresh influence. + +Poor girl, she must be very clever, for she kept up her constant +wooing of me while she also coquetted with Mr. Horne, being really, +as her contemporaries declare, a much worse flirt than Metelill, but +the temptation of the parasol threw her off her guard, and she was +very jealous of my taking out Metelill and Avice. I see now that it +has been her effort to keep the others away from me. This spiteful +trick, if it be true that she meant it, seems to have been done on +Metelill, as being supposed to be her only real rival. Avice always +yields to her, and besides, is too inoffensive to afford her any +such opportunity. + +When I talked to Mary, she said, "Oh yes, I always knew she was a +horrid little treacherous puss. Nature began it, and that governess +worked on a ready soil. We sent her to school, and hoped she was +cured, but I have long seen that it has only shown her how to be +more plausible. But what can one do? One could not turn out an +orphan, and I did not see that she was doing our own girls any harm. +I'm sure I gave her every chance of marrying, for there was nothing +I wished for so much, and I never told Martyn of her little +manoeuvres, knowing he would not stand them; and now what he will +do, I can't think, unless you and Edward will take her off our +hands. I believe you might do her good. She is an unfathomable +mixture of sham and earnest, and she really likes you, and thinks +much of you, as having a certain prestige, and being a woman of the +world" (fancy that). "Besides, she is really religious in a sort of +a way; much good you'll say it does her, but, as you know, there's a +certain sort of devotion which makes no difference to people's +conduct." + +It seems to be the general desire of the family that we should take +this unfortunate Isabel off their hands. Shall we? Cruelly as I +have been disappointed in the girl, I can't help liking her; she is +obliging, pleasant, ladylike in manners, very affectionate, and I +can't help thinking that with the respect and fear for you she would +feel she might be restrained, and that we could be the saving of +her, though at the same time I know that my having been so +egregiously deceived may be a sign that I am not fit to deal with +her. I leave it to your decision altogether, and will say no more +till I hear. Metelill is a charming girl, and I fancy you prefer +her, and that her mother knows it, and would send her for at least a +winter; but she gets so entirely off her balance whenever a young +man of any sort comes near, that I should not like to take charge of +her. It might be good for the worthy Jane, but as she would take a +great deal of toning down and licking into shape, and as she would +despise it all, refer everything to the Bourne Parva standard, and +pine for home and village school, I don't think she need be +considered, especially as I am sure she would not go, and could not +be spared. Pica would absorb herself in languages and antiquities, +and maintain the rights of women by insisting on having full time to +study her protoplasms, snubbing and deriding all the officers who +did not talk like Oxford dons. Probably the E. E. would be the only +people she would think fit to speak to. Avice is the one to whom I +feel the most drawn. She is thoroughly thoughtful, and her religion +is not of the uninfluential kind Mary describes. Those distresses +and perplexities which poor Isa affected were chiefly borrowed from +her genuine ones; but she has obtained the high cultivation and +intelligence that her Oxford life can give in full measure, and +without conceit or pretension, and it is her unselfish, yielding +spirit that has prevented me from knowing her sooner, though when +not suppressed she can be thoroughly agreeable, and take her part in +society with something of her mother's brilliancy. I think, too, +that she would be spared, as Oxford does not agree with her, and a +southern winter or two would be very good for her. Besides, the +others might come and see her in vacation time. Could we not take +both her and Isabel at least for the first winter? + +19.--A stormy wet day, the first we have had. Poor Isa has made an +attempt at explanation and apology, but lost herself in a mist of +words and tears. I suppose I was severe, for she shrinks from me, +and clings to Avice, who has stood her friend in many a storm +before, and, as Jane indignantly tells me, persists in believing +that she is really sorry and wishes to be good. She is very +attentive and obliging, and my dear mother, who is in happy +ignorance of all this uproar, really likes her the best of all the +girls. + +21.--We have had a great alarm. Last evening we went to the parish +church; Horace Druce had been asked to preach, and the rain, which +had fallen all the morning, cleared off just in time for the walk. +Emily, Margaret, two of her children, and I sat in the gallery, and +Avice and Isa in the free seats below. Avice had been kept at home +by the rain in the morning, but had begged leave to go later. +Darkness came on just as the first hymn was given out, and the +verger went round with his long wand lighting the gas. In the +gallery we saw plainly how, at the east end, something went wrong +with his match, one which he thought had failed, and threw aside. +It fell on a strip of straw matting in the aisle, which, being very +dry, caught fire and blazed up for a few seconds before it was +trampled out. Some foolish person, however, set the cry of 'Fire!' +going, and you know what that is in a crowded church. The vicar, in +his high old-fashioned desk with a back to it, could not see. +Horace in a chair, in the narrow, shallow sanctuary, did see that it +was nothing, but between the cries of 'Fire!' and the dying peal of +the organ, could not make his voice heard. All he could do was to +get to the rear of the crowd, together with the other few who had +seen the real state of things, and turn back all those whom they +could, getting them out through the vestry. But the main body were +quite out of their reach, and everybody tried to rush scrambling +into the narrow centre aisle, choking up the door, which was a +complicated trap meant to keep out draughts. We in the gallery +tried vainly to assure them that the only danger was in the crowd, +and the clergyman in his desk, sure that was the chief peril, at any +rate, went on waving and calling to them to wait; but the cries and +shrieks drowned everything, and there was a most terrible time, as +some 600 people jammed themselves in that narrow space, fighting, +struggling, fainting. + +You may suppose how we watched our girls. They had let themselves +be thrust up to the end of the seat by later comers: Avice the +innermost. We saw them look up to us, with white faces. To our +joy, Avice seemed to understand our signs and to try to withhold +Isa, but she was too wild with fright not to try to push on to the +end of the pew. Avice held her dress, and kept her back. Then, as +the crowd swayed, the two girls stood on the seat, and presently I +saw Avice bend down, and take from some one's arms a little child, +which she seated on the edge of the pew, holding it in her arms, and +soothing it. I don't know how long it all lasted, Horace says it +was not ten minutes before he had got men and tools to break down +the obstruction at the door, and pull out the crowded, crushed +people, but to us it seemed hours. They were getting calmer too in +the rear, for many had followed the lead through the vestry door, +and others had found out that there was no fire at all. + +Wonderful to tell, no one was killed. There were some broken arms, +three I think, and some bad bruises. Many people were fainting, and +much hurt by the horrible heat and crush, but when at last the way +was free, we saw Horace come into the church, looking about in great +anxiety for the two girls, whom he had failed to find in the +trampled multitude. Then Avice came up to him, with the child in +her arms, and Isa followed, quite safe! How thankful we all were! +Avice says she remembered at once that she had been told of the +American fireman's orders to his little girl always to keep still in +such an alarm, for the crowd was a worse peril than the fire. By +the time we had come down the stairs and joined them, the child's +father had come for it in great anxiety, for its sister had been +trampled down fainting, and had just only revived enough to miss it! +I shall never forget what it was to see people sucked down in that +surging mass, and the thankful thrill of seeing our girls standing +there quietly with the child between them, its little fair head on +Avice's breast. We went home quietly and thankfully. Horace took +Avice to the hotel that he might explain all to her parents, and let +them know how well she had behaved; Isabel was shaken and tearful, +and her voice sounded weak and nervous as she bade her cousin good- +night and embraced her with much agitation. So I went to her room +to see whether she needed any doctoring, but I found Metelill +soothing her nicely, so I only kissed her (as I had not done these +two nights). "Ah, dear aunt, you forgive me!" she said. The tone +threw me back, as if she were making capital of her adventure, and I +said, "You have not offended _ME_." "Ah! you are still angry, and +yet you _DO_ love me still a little," she said, not letting me go. +"The more love, the more grief for your having done wrong," I said; +and she returned, "Ah! if I always had you." That chilled me, and I +went away. She does not know the difference between pardon and +remission of consequences. One must have something of the spirit of +the fifty-first Psalm before that perception comes. Poor dear +child, how one longs for power to breathe into her some such +penitence! + +Avice is quite knocked up to-day, and her mother has kept her in +bed, where she is very happy with her Jane. I have been to see her, +and she has been thanking me for having suggested the making way for +fresh comers in a pew. Otherwise, she says, she could not have +withstood the rush. + + +SIR EDWARD FULFORD TO MISS FULFORD +22D JULY. + +My Dear Charlotte,--I decidedly object to the company of a young +lady with such a genius for intrigue as Isabel Fulford seems to +possess. If we had only ourselves to consider, no doubt it would be +well for you to take her in hand, but in the sort of house ours will +be, there must be no one we cannot depend upon in our own family. + +I suppose I am guilty of having betrayed my thoughts to Edith. I +had certainly wished for Metelill. She is an engaging creature, and +I am sorry you take so adverse a view of her demeanour; but I +promised to abide by your judgment and I will not question it. We +will ask Arthur and Edith to bring her to visit us, and then perhaps +you may be better satisfied with her. + +The learned young lady is out of the question, and as Avice is my +dear wife's godchild as well as mine, I am very glad she has +deserved that your choice should fall upon her. It seems as if you +would find in her just the companionship you wish, and if her health +needs the southern climate, it is well to give her the opportunity. +You had better propose the scheme at once, and provide what she will +need for an outfit. The last touches might be given at Paris. I +hope to get time to run down to New Cove next week, and if you and +the niece can be ready to start by the middle of August, we will +take Switzerland by the way, and arrive at Malta by the end of +September. + +I shall be curious to hear the result of your throwing the +handkerchief.--Your affectionate brother, + +E. F. + + +MISS FULFORD TO SIR EDWARD FULFORD + +JULY 24.--I threw the handkerchief by asking Martyn and Mary to +spare their daughter. Tears came into Mary's eyes, the first I ever +saw there, and she tried in vain to say something ridiculous. +Martyn walked to the window and said huskily, "Dr. A--- said it +would confirm her health to spend a few winters in the South. Thank +you, Charlotte!" They did not doubt a moment, but Martyn feels the +parting more than I ever thought he would, and Pica and Uchtred go +about howling and bewailing, and declaring that they never shall +know where to find anything again. + +Avice herself is much more sorrowful than glad, though she is too +courteous and grateful not to show herself gracious to me. She did +entreat me to take Isa instead, so earnestly that I was obliged to +read her your decided objections. It was a blow to her at first, +but she is rapidly consoling herself over the wonderful commissions +she accepts. She is to observe Mediterranean zoophytes, and send +them home on glass slides for the family benefit. She is to send +her father photographs and drawings to illustrate his lectures, and +Jane has begged for a pebble or rock from S. Paul's Bay, to show to +her class at school. Indeed, I believe Avice is to write a special +journal, to be published in the BOURNE PARVA PARISH MAGAZINE; +Charley begs for a sea-horse, and Freddy has been instructed by one +of the pupils to bargain for nothing less than the Colossus of +Rhodes; Metelill is quite as cordial in her rejoicing, and Edith +owns that, now it has come to the point, she is very glad to keep +her daughter. + +And Isa? Well, she is mortified, poor child. I think she must have +cried bitterly over the disappointment, for she looked very wretched +when we met at dinner. + +Meanwhile, Martyn had a walk with Emily, who found that he was very +sorry not to be relieved from Isabel, though he knew you were quite +right not to take her. He thought Oxford not a good place for such +a girl, and the absence of the trustworthy Avice would make things +worse. Then Emily proposed to take Isabel back to the Birchwood +with her. Grandmamma really likes the girl, who is kind and +attentive. There are no young people to whom she could do harm, +Emily can look after her, and will be glad of help and +companionship. The whole family council agreed that it will be a +really charitable work, and that if any one can do her good, it will +be the mother and Aunt Emily. + +Isa has acquiesced with an overflow of gratitude and affection to +them for taking pity on her. It sounds a little fulsome, but I +believe some of it is genuine. She is really glad that some one +wishes for her, and I can quite believe that she will lose in Avice +all that made life congenial to her under Mary's brisk +uncompromising rule. If she can only learn to be true--true to +herself and to others--she will yet be a woman to love and esteem, +and at Birchwood they will do their best to show that religious +sentiment must be connected with Truth. + +And so ends my study of the manners of my nieces, convincing me the +more that as the manners are, so is the man or woman. The heart, or +rather the soul, forms the manners, and they _ARE_ the man. + +C. F. + + + +COME TO HER KINGDOM + + + +'Take care! Oh, take care!' + +Whisk, swish, click, click, through the little crowd at Stokesley on +a fine April afternoon, of jocund children just let loose from +school, and mothers emerging from their meeting, collecting their +progeny after the fashion of old ewes with their lambs; Susan +Merrifield in a huge, carefully preserved brown mushroom hat, with a +big basket under one arm, and a roll of calico under the other; her +sister Elizabeth with a book in one hand, and a packet of ambulance +illustrations; the Vicar, Mr. Doyle, and his sister likewise loaded, +talking to them about the farmer's wedding of the morning, for which +the bells had been ringing fitfully all day, and had just burst out +again. Such was the scene, through which, like a flash, spun a +tricycle, from which a tiny curly-haired being in knickerbockers was +barely saved by his mother's seizing him by one arm. + +'A tricycle!' exclaimed the Vicar. + +'A woman! Oh!' cried Susan in horror, 'and she's stopping--at the +Gap. Oh!' + +'My dear Susie, you must have seen ladies on tricycles before,' +whispered her sister. + +'No, indeed, I am thankful to say I have not! If it should be Miss +Arthuret!' said Susan, with inexpressible tones in her voice. + +'She was bowing right and left,' said the Vicar, a little +maliciously; 'depend upon it, she thought this was a welcome from +the rural population.' + +'Hark! here's something coming.' + +The Bonchamp fly came rattling up, loaded with luggage, and with a +quiet lady in black seated in it, which stopped at the same gate. + +'The obedient mother, no doubt,' said Elizabeth. 'She looks like a +lady.' + +There had been a good deal of excitement at Stokesley about the +property known by the pleasing name of the Gap. An old gentleman +had lived there for many years, always in a secluded state, and +latterly imbecile, and on his death in the previous year no one had +for some time appeared as heir; but it became known that the +inheritrix was a young lady, a great-niece, living with a widowed +mother in one of the large manufacturing towns in the north of +England. Her father had been a clergyman and had died when she was +an infant. That was all that was known, and as the house had become +almost uninhabitable, the necessary repairs had prevented the +heiress from taking possession all this time. It was not a very +large inheritance, only comprising a small farm, the substantial +village shop, four or five cottages, and a moderate-sized house and +grounds, where the neglected trees had grown to strange irregular +proportions, equally with the income, which, owing to the outgoings +being small, had increased to about 800 or 900 pounds a year, and of +course it was a subject of much anxiety with Admiral Merrifield's +family to know what sort of people the newcomers would prove. + +Of the large family only the two eldest daughters were at home; +Susan, now nearly forty, had never left it, but had been the +daughter-of-all-work at home and lady-of-all-work to the parish ever +since she had emerged from the schoolroom; her apricot complexion +showing hardly any change, and such as there was never perceived by +her parents. The Admiral, still a light, wiry, hale man, as active +as ever, with his hands full of county, parish, and farming +business; an invalid for many years, but getting into that health +which is LA JEUNESSE DE LA VIEILLESSE. + +Elizabeth had, from twenty-five to thirty-two, been spared from home +by her father to take care of his stepmother in London, where she +had beguiled her time with a certain amount of authorship under a +NOM DE PLUME, and had been introduced to some choice society both +through her literary abilities and her family connections. + +Four years previous the old lady had died, leaving her a legacy, +which, together with her gains, would have enabled her to keep such +a home in town as to remain in touch with the world to which she had +been introduced; but she had never lost her Stokesley heart enough +for the temptation to outweigh the disappointment she would have +caused at home, and the satisfaction and rest of being among her own +people. So she only went up for an occasional visit, and had become +the brightness of the house, and Susan's beloved partner in all her +works. + +Her father, who understood better than did her mother and sister +what she had given up, had insisted on her having a sitting-room to +herself, which she embellished with the personal possessions she had +accumulated, and where she pursued her own avocations in the +forenoon, often indeed interrupted, but never showing, and not often +feeling, that it was to her hindrance, and indeed the family looked +on her work sufficiently as a profession, not only to acquiesce, but +to have a certain complacency in it, though it was a kind of +transparent fiction that MESA was an anagram of her initials and +that of Stokesley. Her mother at any rate believed that none of the +neighbours guessed at any such thing. + +Stokesley was a good deal out of the world, five miles from the +station at Bonchamp, over hilly, stony roads, so that the cyclist +movement had barely reached it; the neighbourhood was sparse, and +Mrs. Merrifield's health had not been conducive to visiting, any +more than was her inclination, so that there was a little agitation +about first calls. + +The newcomers appeared at church on Sunday at all the services. A +bright-faced girl of one-and-twenty, with little black eyes like +coals of fire, a tight ulster, like a riding habit, and a small +billycock hat, rather dismayed those who still held that bonnets +ought to be the Sunday gear of all beyond childhood; but the mother, +in rich black silk, was unexceptionable. + +Refusing to be marshalled up the aisle to the seat which persistent +tradition assigned to the Gap in the aristocratic quarter, daughter +and mother (it was impossible not thus to call them) sat themselves +down on the first vacant place, close to a surviving white smock- +frock, and blind to the bewildered glances of his much-bent friend +in velveteen, who, hobbling in next after, found himself displaced +and separated alike from his well-thumbed prayer and hymn book and +the companion who found the places for him. + +'It ain't fitty like,' said the old man confidentially to Susan, +'nor the ladies wouldn't like it when we comes in with our old coats +all of a muck with wet.' + +'The principle is right,' said Bessie, when this was repeated to +her; 'but practice ought to wait till native manners and customs are +learnt.' + +The two sisters offered to save their mother the first visit--leave +her card, or make her excuses; but Mrs. Merrifield held that a card +thus left savoured of deceit, and that the deed must be womanfully +done in person. But she would not wait till the horses could be +spared, saying that for near village neighbours it was more friendly +to go down in her donkey-chair; and so she did, Bessie driving her, +and the Admiral walking with them. + +The Gap had, ever since Bessie could remember, been absolutely +shrouded in trees, its encircling wall hidden in ivy bushes, over +which laburnums, lilacs, pink thorns, and horse chestnuts towered; +and the drive from the seldom-opened gate was almost obstructed by +the sweeping arms of laurels and larches. + +It was obstructed now, but by these same limbs lying amputated; and +'chop, chop!' was heard in the distance. + +'Oh, the Arbutus!' sighed Bessie. + +'Clearing was much needed,' said her father, with a man's propensity +for the axe. + +The donkey, however, thought it uncanny, 'upon the pivot of his +skull, turned round his long left ear,' and planted his feet firmly. +Mrs. Merrifield, deprecating the struggle by which her husband would +on such occasions enforce discipline, begged to get out; and while +this was going on, the ulstered young lady, with a small axe in +hand, came, as it were, to the rescue, and, while the donkey was +committed to a small boy, explained hastily, 'So overgrown, there is +nothing to be done but to let in light and air. My mother is at +home,' she added; 'she will be happy to see you,' and, conducting +them in with complete self-possession--rather, as it occurred to +Bessie, as the Queen might have led the way to the Duchess of Kent, +though there was a perfect simplicity and evident enjoyment about +her that was very prepossessing, and took off the edge of the sense +of conceit. Besides, the palace was, to London eyes at least, so +little to boast of, with the narrow little box of a wooden porch, +the odd, one-sided vestibule, and the tiny anteroom with the worn +carpet; but the drawing-room, in spite of George IV furniture, was +really pretty, with French windows opening on a well-mown lawn, and +fresh importations of knick-knacks, and vases of wild flowers, which +made it look inhabited and pleasant. There was no one there, and +the young lady proceeded to fetch her mother; and the unguarded +voice was caught by Bessie's quick ears from the window. + +'Here are Admiral and Mrs. Merrifield, and one daughter. Come +along, little mammy! Worthy, homely old folks--just in your line.' + +To Bessie's relief, she perceived that this was wholly unheard by +her father and mother. And there was no withstanding the eager, +happy, shy looks of the mother, whose whole face betrayed that after +many storms she had come into a haven of peace, and that she was +proud to owe it to her daughter. + +A few words showed that mother and daughter were absolutely +enchanted with Stokesley, their own situation, and one another--the +young lady evidently all the more because she perceived so much to +be done. + +'Everything wants improving. It is so choked up,' she said, 'one +wants to let in the light.' + +'There are a good many trees,' said the Admiral, while Bessie +suspected that she meant figuratively as well as literally; and as +the damsel was evidently burning to be out at her clearing +operations again, and had never parted with her axe, the Admiral +offered to go with her and tell her about the trees, for, as he +observed, she could hardly judge of those not yet out in leaf. + +She accepted him, though Bessie shrewdly suspected that the advice +would be little heeded, and, not fancying the wet grass and +branches, nor the demolition of old friends, she did not follow the +pair, but effaced herself, and listened with much interest to the +two mothers, who sat on the sofa with their heads together. Either +Mrs. Merrifield was wonderful in inspiring confidence, or it was +only too delightful to Mrs. Arthuret to find a listener of her own +standing to whom to pour forth her full heart of thankfulness and +delight in her daughter. 'Oh, it is too much!' occurred so often in +her talk that, if it had not been said with liquid eyes, choking +voice, and hands clasped in devout gratitude, it would have been +tedious; but Mrs. Merrifield thoroughly went along with it, and was +deeply touched. + +The whole story, as it became known, partly in these confidences, +partly afterwards, was this. The good lady, who had struck the +family at first as a somewhat elderly mother for so young a +daughter, had been for many years a governess, engaged all the time +to a curate, who only obtained a small district incumbency in a +town, after wear and tear, waiting and anxiety, had so exhausted him +that the second winter brought on bronchitis, and he scarcely lived +to see his little daughter, Arthurine. The mother had struggled on +upon a pittance eked out with such music teaching as she could +procure, with her little girl for her sole care, joy, and pride--a +child who, as she declared, had never given her one moment's pang or +uneasiness. + +'Poor mamma, could she say that of any one of her nine?' thought +Bessie; and Mrs. Merrifield made no such attempt. + +Arthurine had brought home all prizes, all distinctions at the High +School, but--here was the only disappointment of her life--a low +fever had prevented her trying for a scholarship at Girton. In +consideration, however, of her great abilities and high qualities, +as well as out of the great kindness of the committee, she had been +made an assistant to one of the class mistresses, and had worked on +with her own studies, till the wonderful tidings came of the +inheritance that had fallen to her quite unexpectedly; for since her +husband's death Mrs. Arthuret had known nothing of his family, and +while he was alive there were too many between him and the +succession for the chance to occur to him as possible. The relief +and blessing were more than the good lady could utter. All things +are comparative, and to one whose assured income had been 70 pounds +a year, 800 pounds was unbounded wealth; to one who had spent her +life in schoolrooms and lodgings, the Gap was a lordly demesne. + +'And what do you think was the first thing my sweet child said?' +added Mrs. Arthuret, with her eyes glittering through tears. +'Mammy, you shall never hear the scales again, and you shall have +the best Mocha coffee every day of your life.' + +Bessie felt that after this she must like the sweet child, though +sweetness did not seem to her the predominant feature in Arthurine. + +After the pathos to which she had listened there was somewhat of a +comedy to come, for the ladies had spent the autumn abroad, and had +seen and enjoyed much. 'It was a perfect feast to see how Arthurine +entered into it all,' said the mother. 'She was never at a loss, +and explained it all to me. Besides, perhaps you have seen her +article?' + +'I beg your pardon.' + +'Her article in the KENSINGTON. It attracted a great deal of +attention, and she has had many compliments.' + +'Oh! the KENSINGTON MAGAZINE,' said Mrs. Merrifield, rather +uneasily, for she was as anxious that Bessie should not be suspected +of writing in the said periodical as the other mother was that +Arthurine should have the fame of her contributions. + +'Do you take it?' asked Mrs. Arthuret, 'for we should be very glad +to lend it to you.' + +A whole pile was on the table, and Mrs. Merrifield looked at them +with feeble thanks and an odd sort of conscious dread, though she +could with perfect truth have denied either 'taking it' or reading +it. + +Bessie came to her relief. 'Thank you,' she said; 'we do; some of +us have it. Is your daughter's article signed A. A., and doesn't it +describe a boarding-house on the Italian lakes? I thought it very +clever and amusing.' + +Mrs. Arthuret's face lighted up. 'Oh yes, my dear,' slipped out in +her delight. 'And do you know, it all came of her letter to one of +the High School ladies, who is sister to the sub-editor, such a +clever, superior girl! She read it to the headmistress and all, and +they agreed that it was too good to be lost, and Arthurine copied it +out and added to it, and he--Mr. Jarrett--said it was just what he +wanted--so full of information and liveliness--and she is writing +some more for him.' + +Mrs. Merrifield was rather shocked, but she felt that she herself +was in a glass house, was, in fact, keeping a literary daughter, so +she only committed herself to, 'She is very young.' + +'Only one-and-twenty,' returned Mrs. Arthuret triumphantly; 'but +then she has had such advantages, and made such use of them. +Everything seems to come at once, though, perhaps, it is unthankful +to say so. Of course, it is no object now, but I could not help +thinking what it would have been to us to have discovered this +talent of hers at the time when we could hardly make both ends +meet.' + +'She will find plenty of use for it,' said Mrs. Merrifield, who, as +the wife of a country squire and the mother of nine children, did +not find it too easy to make her ends meet upon a larger income. + +'Oh yes! indeed she will, the generous child. She is full of plans +for the regeneration of the village.' + +Poor Mrs. Merrifield! this was quite too much for her. She thought +it irreverent to apply the word in any save an ecclesiastical sense; +nor did she at all desire to have the parish, which was considered +to be admirably worked by the constituted authorities, +'regenerated,' whatever that might mean, by a young lady of one-and- +twenty. She rose up and observed to her daughter that she saw papa +out upon the lawn, and she thought it was time to go home. + +Mrs. Arthuret came out with them, and found what Bessie could only +regard as a scene of desolation. Though gentlemen, as a rule, have +no mercy on trees, and ladies are equally inclined to cry, 'Woodman, +spare that tree,' the rule was reversed, for Miss Arthuret was +cutting, and ordering cutting all round her ruthlessly with +something of the pleasure of a child in breaking a new toy to prove +that it is his own, scarcely listening when the Admiral told her +what the trees were, and how beautiful in their season; while even +as to the evergreens, she did not know a yew from a cedar, and +declared that she must get rid of this horrid old laurustinus, while +she lopped away at a Portugal laurel. Her one idea seemed to be +that it was very unwholesome to live in a house surrounded with +trees; and the united influence of the Merrifields, working on her +mother by representing what would be the absence of shade in a few +months' time, barely availed to save the life of the big cedar; +while the great rhododendron, wont to present a mountain of shining +leaves and pale purple blossoms every summer, was hewn down without +remorse as an awful old laurel, and left a desolate brown patch in +its stead. + +'Is it an emblem,' thought Bessie, 'of what she would like to do to +all of us poor old obstructions?' + +After all, Mrs. Merrifield could not help liking the gentle mother, +by force of sympathy; and the Admiral was somewhat fascinated by the +freshness and impetuosity of the damsel, as elderly men are wont to +be with young girls who amuse them with what they are apt to view as +an original form of the silliness common to the whole female world +except their own wives, and perhaps their daughters; and Bessie was +extremely amused, and held her peace, as she had been used to do in +London. Susan was perhaps the most annoyed and indignant. She was +presiding over seams and button-holes the next afternoon at school, +when the mother and daughter walked in; and the whole troop started +to their feet and curtsied. + +'Don't make them stand! I hate adulation. Sit down, please. +Where's the master?' + +'In the boys' school, ma'am,' said the mistress, uncomfortably +indicating the presence of Miss Merrifield, who felt herself obliged +to come forward and shake hands. + +'Oh! so you have separate schools. Is not that a needless expense?' + +'It has always been so,' returned Susan quietly. + +'Board? No? Well, no doubt you are right; but I suppose it is at a +sacrifice of efficiency. Have you cookery classes?' + +'We have not apparatus, and the girls go out too early for it to be +of much use.' + +'Ah, that's a mistake. Drawing?' + +'The boys draw.' + +'I shall go and see them. Not the girls? They look orderly enough; +but are they intelligent? Well, I shall look in and examine them on +their special subjects, if they have any. I suppose not.' + +'Only class. Grammar and needlework.' + +'I see, the old routine. Quite the village school.' + +'It is very nice work,' put in Mrs. Arthuret, who had been looking +at it. + +'Oh yes, it always is when everything is sacrificed to it. Good- +morning, I shall see more of you, Mrs.--ahem.' + +'Please, ma'am, should I tell her that she is not a school manager?' +inquired the mistress, somewhat indignantly, when the two ladies had +departed. + +'You had better ask the Vicar what to do,' responded Susan. + +The schoolmaster, on his side, seemed to have had so much advice and +offers of assistance in lessons on history, geography, and physical +science, that he had been obliged to refer her to the managers, and +explain that till the next inspection he was bound to abide by the +time-table. + +'Ah, well, I will be one of the managers another year.' + +So she told the Vicar, who smiled, and said, 'We must elect you.' + +'I am sure much ought to be done. It is mere waste to have two +separate schools, when a master can bring the children on so much +better in the higher subjects.' + +'Mrs. Merrifield and the rest of us are inclined to think that what +stands highest of all with us is endangered by mixed schools,' said +Mr. Doyle. + +'Oh!' Arthurine opened her eyes; 'but education does all _THAT_!' + +'Education does, but knowledge is not wisdom. Susan Merrifield's +influence has done more for our young women than the best class +teaching could do.' + +'Oh, but the Merrifields are all so BORNES and homely; they stand in +the way of all culture.' + +'Indeed,' said the Vicar, who had in his pocket a very favourable +review of MESA's new historical essay. + +'Surely an old-fashioned squire and Lady Bountiful and their very +narrow daughters should not be allowed to prevent improvement, +pauperise the place, and keep it in its old grooves.' + +'Well, we shall see what you think by the time you have lived here +long enough to be eligible for--what?' + +'School manager, guardian of the poor!' cried Arthurine. + +'We shall see,' repeated the Vicar. 'Good-morning.' + +He asked Bessie's leave to disclose who MESA was. + +'Oh, don't!' she cried, 'it would spoil the fun! Besides, mamma +would not like it, which is a better reason.' + +There were plenty of books, old and new, in Bessie's room, magazines +and reviews, but they did not come about the house much, unless any +of the Rockstone cousins or the younger generation were staying +there, or her brother David had come for a rest of mind and body. +Between housekeeping, gardening, parish work, and pottering, Mrs. +Merrifield and Susan never had time for reading, except that Susan +thought it her duty to keep something improving in hand, which +generally lasted her six weeks on a moderate average. The Admiral +found quite reading enough in the newspapers, pamphlets, and +business publications; and their neighbours, the Greville family, +were chiefly devoted to hunting and lawn tennis, so that there was +some reason in Mrs. Arthuret's lamentation to the Vicar that dear +Arthurine did so miss intellectual society, such as she had been +used to with the High School mistresses--two of whom had actually +been at Girton! + +'Does she not get on with Bessie Merrifield?' he asked. + +'Miss Bessie has a very sweet face; Arthurine did say she seemed +well informed and more intelligent than her sister. Perhaps +Arthurine might take her up. It would be such an advantage to the +poor girl.' + +'Which?' was on Mr. Doyle's tongue, but he restrained it, and only +observed that Bessie had lived for a good many years in London. + +'So I understood,' said Arthurine, 'but with an old grandmother, and +that is quite as bad as if it was in the country; but I will see +about it. I might get up a debating society, or one for studying +German.' + +In the meantime Arthurine decided on improving and embellishing the +parish with a drinking fountain, and meeting Bessie one afternoon in +the village, she started the idea. + +'But,' said Bessie, 'there is a very good supply. Papa saw that +good water was accessible to all the houses in the village street +ten years ago, and the outlying ones have wells, and there's the +brook for the cattle.' + +'I am sure every village should have a fountain and a trough, and I +shall have it here instead of this dirty corner.' + +'Can you get the ground?' + +'Oh, any one would give ground for such a purpose! Whose is it?' + +'Mr. Grice's, at Butter End.' + +The next time Susan and Bessie encountered Arthurine, she began-- + +'Can you or Admiral Merrifield do nothing with that horrid old +Grice! Never was any one so pigheaded and stupid.' + +'What? He won't part with the land you want?' + +'No; I wrote to him and got no answer. Then I wrote again, and I +got a peaked-hand sort of note that his wife wrote, I should think. +"Mr. Grice presented his compliments" (compliments indeed!), "and +had no intention of parting with any part of Spragg's portion." +Well, then I called to represent what a benefit it would be to the +parish and his own cattle, and what do you think the old brute +said?--that "there was a great deal too much done for the parish +already, and he wouldn't have no hand in setting up the labourers, +who were quite impudent enough already." Well, I saw it was of no +use to talk to an old wretch like that about social movements and +equal rights, so I only put the question whether having pure water +easily accessible would not tend to make them better behaved and +less impudent as he called it, upon which he broke out into a +tirade. "He didn't hold with cold water and teetotal, not he. Why, +it had come to _THAT_--that there was no such thing as getting a +fair day's work out of a labouring man with their temperance, and +their lectures, and their schools, and their county councils and +what not!" Really I had read of such people, but I hardly believed +they still existed.' + +'Grice is very old, and the regular old sort of farmer,' said +Bessie. + +'But could not the Admiral persuade him, or Mr. Doyle?' + +'Oh no,' said Susan, 'it would be of no use. He was just as bad +about a playground for the boys, though it would have prevented +their being troublesome elsewhere.' + +'Besides,' added Bessie, 'I am sure papa would say that there is no +necessity. He had the water analysed, and it is quite good, and +plenty of it.' + +'Well, I shall see what can be done.' + +'She thinks us as bad as old Grice,' said Susan, as they saw her +walking away in a determined manner. + +The next thing that was heard was the Admiral coming in from the +servants' hall, whither he had been summoned by 'Please, sir, James +Hodd wishes to speak to you.' + +'What is this friend of yours about, Bessie?' + +'What friend, papa?' + +'Why, this Miss Arthur--what d'ye call her?' said the Admiral (who +on the whole was much more attracted by her than were his +daughters). 'Here's a deputation from her tenant, James Hodd, with +"Please, sir, I wants to know if 'tis allowed to turn folks out of +their houses as they've paid rent for reg'lar with a week's notice, +when they pays by the year."' + +'You don't mean it!' exclaimed Mrs. Merrifield and Susan together. + +'Poor old Mrs. West,' said the mother. + +'And all the Tibbinses!' exclaimed Susan. 'She can't do it, can +she, papa?' + +'Certainly not, without the proper notice, and so I told James, and +that the notice she had sent down to him was so much waste-paper.' + +'So at least she has created a village Hampden,' said Bessie, +'though, depend upon it, she little supposes herself to be the petty +tyrant.' + +'I must go and explain to her, I suppose, to-morrow morning,' said +the Admiral. + +However, he had scarcely reached his own gate before the ulstered +form was seen rushing up to him. + +'Oh! Admiral Merrifield, good-morning; I was coming to ask you--' + +'And I was coming to you.' + +'Oh! Admiral, is it really so--as that impudent man told me--that +those horrid people can't be got out of those awful tumbledown, +unhealthy places for all that immense time?' + +'Surely he was not impudent to you? He was only asserting his +right. The cottages were taken by the year, and you have no choice +but to give six months' notice. I hope he was not disrespectful.' + +'Well, no--I can't say that he was, though I don't care for those +cap-in-hand ways of your people here. But at any rate, he says he +won't go--no, not any of them, though I offered to pay them up to +the end of the time, and now I must put off my beautiful plans. I +was drawing them all yesterday morning--two model cottages on each +side, and the drinking fountain in the middle. I brought them up to +show you. Could you get the people to move out? I would promise +them to return after the rebuilding.' + +'Very nice drawings. Yes--yes--very kind intentions.' + +'Then can't you persuade them?' + +'But, my dear young lady, have you thought what is to become of them +in the meantime?' + +'Why, live somewhere else! People in Smokeland were always shifting +about.' + +'Yes--those poor little town tenements are generally let on short +terms and are numerous enough. But here--where are the vacant +cottages for your four families? Hodd with his five children, +Tibbins with eight or nine, Mrs. West and her widow daughter and +three children, and the Porters with a bedridden father?' + +'They are dreadfully overcrowded. Is there really no place?' + +'Probably not nearer than those trumpery new tenements at Bonchamp. +That would be eight miles to be tramped to the men's work, and the +Wests would lose the washing and charing that maintains them.' + +'Then do you think it can never be done? See how nice my plans +are!' + +'Oh yes! very pretty drawings, but you don't allow much outlet.' + +'I thought you had allotments, and that they would do, and I mean to +get rid of the pig-sties.' + +'A most unpopular proceeding, I warn you.' + +'There's nothing more unsanitary than a pig-sty.' + +'That depends on how it is kept. And may I ask, do you mean also to +dispense with staircases?' + +'Oh! I forgot. But do you really mean to say that I can never +carry out my improvements, and that these people must live all +herded together till everybody is dead?' + +'Not quite that,' said the Admiral, laughing; 'but most improvements +require patience and a little experience of the temper and habits of +the people. There are cottages worse than these. I think two of +them have four rooms, and the Wests and Porters do not require so +much. If you built one or two elsewhere, and moved the people into +them, or waited for a vacant one, you might carry out some of your +plans--gradually.' + +'And my fountain?' + +'I am not quite sure, but I am afraid your cottages are on that +stratum where you could not bring the water without great expense.' + +Arthurine controlled herself enough for a civil 'Good-morning!' but +she shed tears as she walked home and told her pitying mother that +she was thwarted on every side, and that nobody could comprehend +her. + +The meetings for German reading were, however, contrived chiefly-- +little as Arthurine guessed it--by the influence of Bessie +Merrifield. The two Greville girls and Mr. Doyle's sister, together +with the doctor's young wife, two damsels from the next parish, and +a friend or two that the Arthurets had made at Bonchamp, formed an +imposing circle--to begin. + +'Oh, not on WILHELM TELL!' cried Arthurine. 'It might as well be +the alphabet at once.' + +However, the difficulties in the way of books, and consideration for +general incompetency, reduced her to WILHELM TELL, and she began +with a lecture first on Schiller, and then upon Switzerland, and on +the legend; but when Bessie Merrifield put in a word of such history +and criticisms as were not in the High School Manual, she was sure +everything else must be wrong--'Fraulein Blumenbach never said so, +and she was an admirable German scholar.' + +Miss Doyle went so far as to declare she should not go again to see +Bessie Merrifield so silenced, sitting by after the first saying +nothing, but only with a little laugh in her eyes. + +'But,' said Bessie, 'it is such fun to see any person having it so +entirely her own way--like Macaulay, so cock-sure of everything--and +to see those Bonchamp girls--Mytton is their name--so entirely +adoring her.' + +'I am sorry she has taken up with those Myttons,' said Miss Doyle. + +'So am I,' answered Susan. + +'You too, Susie!' exclaimed Bessie--'you, who never have a word to +say against any one!' + +'I daresay they are very good girls,' said Susan; 'but they are--' + +'Underbred,' put in Miss Doyle in the pause. 'And how they +flatter!' + +'I think the raptures are genuine gush,' said Bessie; 'but that is +so much the worse for Arthurine. Is there any positive harm in the +family beyond the second-rate tone?' + +'It was while you were away,' said Susan; 'but their father somehow +behaved very ill about old Colonel Mytton's will--at least papa +thought so, and never wished us to visit them.' + +'He was thought to have used unfair influence on the old gentleman,' +said Miss Doyle; 'but the daughters are so young that probably they +had no part in it. Only it gives a general distrust of the family; +and the sons are certainly very undesirable young men.' + +'It is unlucky,' said Bessie, 'that we can do nothing but inflict a +course of snubbing, in contrast with a course of admiration.' + +'I am sure I don't want to snub her,' said good-natured Susan. +'Only when she does want to do such queer things, how can it be +helped?' + +It was quite true, Mrs. and Miss Arthuret had been duly called upon +and invited about by the neighbourhood; but it was a scanty one, and +they had not wealth and position enough to compensate for the girl's +self-assertion and literary pretensions. It was not a superior or +intellectual society, and, as the Rockstone Merrifields laughingly +declared, it was fifty years behindhand, and where Bessie +Merrifield, for the sake of the old stock and her meek bearing of +her success--nay, her total ignoring of her literary honours--would +be accepted. Arthurine, half her age, and a newcomer, was disliked +for the pretensions which her mother innocently pressed on the +world. Simplicity and complacency were taken for arrogance, and the +mother and daughter were kept upon formal terms of civility by all +but the Merrifields, who were driven into discussion and opposition +by the young lady's attempts at reformations in the parish. + +It was the less wonder that they made friends where their intimacy +was sought and appreciated. There was nothing underbred about +themselves; both were ladies ingrain, though Arthurine was abrupt +and sometimes obtrusive, but they had not lived a life such as to +render them sensitive to the lack of fine edges in others, and were +quite ready to be courted by those who gave the meed of appreciation +that both regarded as Arthurine's just portion. + +Mr. Mytton had been in India, and had come back to look after an old +relation; to whom he and his wife had paid assiduous attention, and +had been so rewarded as to excite the suspicion and displeasure of +the rest of the family. The prize had not been a great one, and the +prosperity of the family was further diminished by the continual +failures of the ne'er-do-well sons, so that they had to make the +best of the dull, respectable old house they had inherited, in the +dull, respectable old street of the dull, respectable old town. +Daisy and Pansy Mytton were, however, bright girls, and to them +Arthurine Arthuret was a sort of realised dream of romance, raised +suddenly to the pinnacle of all to which they had ever durst aspire. + +After meeting her at a great OMNIUM GATHERUM garden party, the +acquaintance flourished. Arthurine was delighted to give the +intense pleasure that the freedom of a country visit afforded to the +sisters, and found in them the contemporaries her girl nature had +missed. + +They were not stupid, though they had been poorly educated, and were +quite willing to be instructed by her and to read all she told them. +In fact, she was their idol, and a very gracious one. Deeply did +they sympathise in all her sufferings from the impediments cast in +her way at Stokesley. + +Indeed, the ladies there did not meet her so often on their own +ground for some time, and were principally disturbed by reports of +her doings at Bonchamp, where she played at cricket, and at hockey, +gave a course of lectures on physiology, presided at a fancy-dress +bazaar for the schools as Lady Jane Grey, and was on two or three +committees. She travelled by preference on her tricycle, though she +had a carriage, chiefly for the sake of her mother, who was still in +a state of fervent admiration, even though perhaps a little worried +at times by being hurried past her sober paces. + +The next shock that descended on Stokesley was that, in great +indignation, a cousin sent the Merrifields one of those American +magazines which are read and contributed to by a large proportion of +English. It contained an article called 'The Bide-as-we-bes and +parish of Stick-stodge-cum-Cadgerley,' and written with the same +sort of clever, flippant irony as the description of the mixed +company in the boarding-house on the Lago Maggiore. + +There was the parish embowered, or rather choked, in trees, the +orderly mechanical routine, the perfect self-satisfaction of all +parties, and their imperviousness to progress,--the two squires, one +a fox-hunter, the other a general reposing on his laurels,--the +school where everything was subordinated to learning to behave +oneself lowly and reverently to all one's betters, and to do one's +duty in that state of life to which it _HAS_ pleased Heaven to call +one,--the horror at her tricycle, the impossibility of improvement, +the predilection for farmyard odours, the adherence to tumbledown +dwellings, the contempt of drinking fountains,--all had their meed +of exaggeration not without drollery. + +The two ancient spinsters, daughters to the general, with their +pudding-baskets, buttonholes, and catechisms, had their full share-- +dragooning the parish into discipline,--the younger having so far +marched with the century as to have indited a few little tracts of +the Goody Two-Shoes order, and therefore being mentioned by her +friends with bated breath as something formidable, 'who writes,' +although, when brought to the test, her cultivation was of the +vaguest, most discursive order. Finally, there was a sketch of the +heavy dinner party which had welcomed the strangers, and of the +ponderous county magnates and their wives who had been invited, and +the awe that their broad and expansive ladies expected to impress, +and how one set talked of their babies, and the other of G.F.S. +girls, and the gentlemen seemed to be chiefly occupied in abusing +their M.P. and his politics. Altogether, it was given as a lesson +to Americans of the still feudal and stationary state of country +districts in poor old England. + +'What do you think of this, Bessie?' exclaimed Admiral Merrifield. +'We seem to have got a young firebrand in the midst of us.' + +'Oh, papa! have you got that thing? What a pity!' + +'You don't mean that you have seen it before?' + +'Yes; one of my acquaintances in London sent it to me.' + +'And you kept it to yourself?' + +'I thought it would only vex you and mamma. Who sent it to you?' + +'Anne did, with all the passages marked. What a horrid little +treacherous baggage!' + +'I daresay we are very tempting. For once we see ourselves as +others see us! And you see 'tis American.' + +'All the worse, holding us, who have done our best to welcome her +hospitably, up to the derision of the Yankees!' + +'But you won't take any notice.' + +'Certainly not, ridiculous little puss, except to steer as clear of +her as possible for fear she should be taking her observations. +"Bide as we be"; why, 'tis the best we can do. She can't pick a +hole in your mother though, Bess. It would have been hard to have +forgiven her that! You're not such an aged spinster.' + +'It is very funny, though,' said Bessie; 'just enough exaggeration +to give it point! Here is her interview with James Hodd.' + +Whereat the Admiral could not help laughing heartily, and then he +picked himself out as the general, laughed again, and said: +'Naughty girl! Bess, I'm glad that is not your line. Little +tracts--Goody Two-Shoes! Why, what did that paper say of your +essay, Miss Bess? That it might stand a comparison with Helps, +wasn't it?' + +'And I wish I was likely to enjoy such lasting fame as Goody Two- +Shoes,' laughed Bessie, in a state of secret exultation at this bit +of testimony from her father. + +Mrs. Merrifield, though unscathed, was much more hurt and annoyed +than either her husband or her daughter, especially at Susan and +Bessie being termed old maids. She _DID_ think it very ungrateful, +and wondered how Mrs. Arthuret could have suffered such a thing to +be done. Only the poor woman was quite foolish about her daughter-- +could have had no more authority than a cat. 'So much for modern +education.' + +But it was not pleasant to see the numbers of the magazine on the +counters at Bonchamp, and to know there were extracts in the local +papers, and still less to be indignantly condoled with by neighbours +who expressed their intention of 'cutting' the impertinent girl. +They were exactly the 'old fogies' Arthurine cared for the least, +yet whose acquaintance was the most creditable, and the home party +at Stokesley were unanimous in entreating others to ignore the whole +and treat the newcomers as if nothing had happened. + +They themselves shook hands, and exchanged casual remarks as if +nothing were amiss, nor was the subject mentioned, except that Mrs. +Arthuret contrived to get a private interview with Mrs. Merrifield. + +'Oh! dear Mrs. Merrifield, I am so grieved, and so is Arthurine. We +were told that the Admiral was so excessively angry, and he is so +kind. I could not bear for him to think Arthurine meant anything +personal.' + +'Indeed,' said Mrs. Merrifield, rather astonished. + +'But is he so very angry?--for it is all a mistake.' + +'He laughs, and so does Bessie,' said the mother. + +'Laughs! Does he? But I do assure you Arthurine never meant any +place in particular; she only intended to describe the way things go +on in country districts, don't you understand? She was talking one +day at the Myttons, and they were all so much amused that they +wanted her to write it down. She read it one evening when they were +with us, and they declared it was too good not to be published--and +almost before she knew it, Fred Mytton's literary friend got hold of +it and took it to the agency of this paper. But indeed, indeed, she +never thought of its being considered personal, and is as vexed as +possible at the way in which it has been taken up. She has every +feeling about your kindness to us, and she was so shocked when Pansy +Mytton told us that the Admiral was furious.' + +'Whoever told Miss Mytton so made a great mistake. The Admiral only +is--is--amused--as you know gentlemen will be at young girls' +little--little scrapes,' returned Mrs. Merrifield, longing to say +'impertinences,' but refraining, and scarcely believing what +nevertheless was true, that Arthurine did not know how personal she +had been, although her mother said it all over again twice. Bessie, +however, did believe it, from experience of resemblances where she +had never intended direct portraiture; and when there was a somewhat +earnest invitation to a garden party at the Gap, the Merrifields not +only accepted for themselves, but persuaded as many of their +neighbours as they could to countenance the poor girl. 'There is +something solid at the bottom in spite of all the effervescence,' +said Bessie. + +It was late in the year for a garden party, being on the 2d of +October, but weather and other matters had caused delays, and the +Indian summer had begun with warm sun and exquisite tints. 'What +would not the maple and the liquid amber have been by this time,' +thought the sisters, 'if they had been spared.' Some of the PETITE +NOBLESSE, however, repented of their condescension when they saw how +little it was appreciated. Mrs. Arthuret, indeed, was making +herself the best hostess that a lady who had served no +apprenticeship could be to all alike, but Arthurine or 'Atty,' as +Daisy and Pansy were heard shouting to her--all in white flannels, a +man all but the petticoats--seemed to be absorbed in a little court +of the second-rate people of Bonchamp, some whom, as Mrs. Greville +and Lady Smithson agreed, they had never expected to meet. She was +laughing and talking eagerly, and by and by ran up to Bessie, +exclaiming in a patronising tone-- + +'Oh! my dear Miss Bessie, let me introduce you to Mr. Foxholm--such +a clever literary man. He knows everybody--all about everybody and +everything. It would be such an advantage! And he has actually +made me give him my autograph! Only think of that!' + +Bessie thought of her own good luck in being anonymous, but did not +express it, only saying, 'Autograph-hunters are a great nuisance. I +know several people who find them so.' + +'Yes, he said it was one of the penalties of fame that one must +submit to,' returned Miss Arthuret, with a delighted laugh of +consciousness. + +Bessie rejoiced that none of her own people were near to see the +patronising manner in which Arthurine introduced her to Mr. Foxholm, +a heavily-bearded man, whose eyes she did not at all like, and who +began by telling her that he felt as if he had crossed the Rubicon, +and entering an Arcadia, had found a Parnassus. + +Bessie looked to see whether the highly-educated young lady detected +the malaprop for the Helicon, but Arthurine was either too well-bred +or too much exalted to notice either small slips, or even bad taste, +and she stood smiling and blushing complacently. However, just then +Susan hurried up. 'Bessie, you are wanted. Here's a card. The +gentleman sent it in, and papa asked me to find you.' + +Bessie opened her eyes. The card belonged to the editor of one of +the most noted magazines of the day, but one whose principles she +did not entirely approve. What could be coming? + +Her father was waiting for her. + +'Well, Miss Bessie,' he said, laughing, 'Jane said the gentleman was +very urgent in wanting to know when you would be in. An offer, eh?' + +'Perhaps it is an offer, but not of _THAT_ sort,' said Bessie, and +she explained what the unliterary Admiral had not understood. He +answered with a whistle. + +'Shall you do it, Bessie?' + +'I think not,' she said quietly. + +The editor was found waiting for her, with many apologies for +bringing her home, and the Admiral was so delighted with his +agreeableness as hardly to be able to tear himself away to bring +home his wife. + +The offer was, as Bessie expected, of excellent terms for a serial +story--terms that proved to her what was her own value, and in which +she saw education for her sister Anne's eldest boy. + +'Of course, there would be a certain adaptation to our readers.' + +She knew what that meant, and there was that in her face which drew +forth the assurance. + +'Of course nothing you would not wish to say would be required, but +it would be better not to press certain subjects.' + +'I understand,' said Bessie. 'I doubt--' + +'Perhaps you will think it over.' + +Bessie's first thought was, 'If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, then let +my right hand forget her cunning.' That had been the inward motto +of her life. Her second was, 'Little Sam! David's mission room!' +There was no necessity to answer at once, and she knew the +periodical rather by report than by reading, so she accepted the two +numbers that were left with her, and promised to reply in a week. +It was a question on which to take counsel with her father, and with +her own higher conscience and heavenly Guide. + +The Admiral, though not much given to reading for its own sake, and +perhaps inclined to think ephemeral literature the more trifling +because his little daughter was a great light there, was anything +but a dull man, and had an excellent judgment. So Bessie, with all +the comfort of a woman still with a wise father's head over her, +decided to commit the matter to him. He was somewhat disappointed +at finding her agreeable guest gone, and wished that dinner and bed +had been offered. + +Mrs. Merrifield and Susan were still a good deal excited about +Arthurine's complimentary friend, who they said seemed to belong to +Fred Mytton, of whom some of the ladies had been telling most +unpleasant reports, and there was much lamentation over the set into +which their young neighbour had thrown herself. + +'Such a dress too!' sighed Mrs. Merrifield. + +'And her headmistress has just arrived,' said Susan, 'to make her +worse than ever!' + +'How comes a headmistress to be running about the country at this +time of year?' asked Bessie. + +'She has been very ill,' said Mrs. Merrifield, 'and they wrote to +her to come down as soon as she could move. There was a telegram +this morning, and she drove up in the midst of the party, and was +taken to her room at once to rest. That was the reason Miss +Arthuret was away so long. I thought it nice in her.' + +'Perhaps she will do good,' said Bessie. + +Dinner was just over, and the Admiral had settled down with his +shaded lamp to read and judge of the article that Bessie had given +him as a specimen, when in came the message, 'Mrs. Rudden wishes to +speak to you, sir.' + +Mrs. Rudden was the prosperous widow who continued the business in +the village shop, conjointly with the little farm belonging to the +Gap property. She was a shrewd woman, had been able to do very well +by her family, and was much esteemed, paying a rent which was a +considerable item in the Gap means. The ladies wondered together at +the summons. Susan hoped 'that girl' did not want to evict her, and +Bessie suggested that a co-operative store was a more probable +peril. Presently the Admiral came back. 'Do any of you know Miss +Arthuret's writing?' he said. + +'Bessie knows it best,' said Susan. + +He showed a letter. 'That is hers--the signature,' said Bessie. 'I +are not sure about the rest. Why--what does it mean?' + +For she read-- + + +'The Gap, 2D OCT. + +'MRS. RUDDEN,--You are requested to pay over to the bearer, Mr. +Foxholm, fifty pounds of the rent you were about to bring me to- +morrow.--I remain, etc., + +'ARTHURINE ARTHURET.' + + +'What does it mean?' asked Bessie again. 'That's just what Mrs. +Rudden has come up to me to ask,' said the Admiral. 'This fellow +presented it in her shop about a quarter of an hour ago. The good +woman smelt a rat. What do you think she did? She looked at it and +him, asked him to wait a bit, whipped out at her back door, luckily +met the policeman starting on his rounds, bade him have an eye to +the customer in her shop, and came off to show it to me. That young +woman is demented enough for anything, and is quite capable of doing +it--for some absurd scheme. But do you think it is hers, or a +swindle?' + +'Didn't she say she had given her autograph?' exclaimed Susan. + +'And see here,' said Bessie, 'her signature is at the top of the +sheet of note-paper--small paper. And as she always writes very +large, it would be easy to fill up the rest, changing the first side +over.' + +'I must take it up to her at once,' said the Admiral. 'Even if it +be genuine, she may just as well see that it is a queer thing to +have done, and not exactly the way to treat her tenants.' + +'It is strange too that this man should have known anything about +Mrs. Rudden,' said Mrs. Merrifield. + +'Mrs. Rudden says she had a message this morning, when she had come +up with her rent and accounts, to say that Miss Arthuret was very +much engaged, and would be glad if she would come to-morrow! Could +this fellow have been about then?' + +No one knew, but Bessie breathed the word, 'Was not that young +Mytton there?' + +It was not taken up, for no one liked to pronounce the obvious +inference. Besides, the Admiral was in haste, not thinking it well +that Mr. Foxholm should be longer kept under surveillance in the +shop, among the bread, bacon, cheeses, shoes, and tins of potted +meat. + +He was then called for; and on his loudly exclaiming that he had +been very strangely treated, the Admiral quietly told him that Mrs. +Rudden had been disturbed at so unusual a way of demanding her rent, +and had come for advice on the subject; and to satisfy their minds +that all was right, Mr. Foxholm would, no doubt, consent to wait +till the young lady could be referred to. Mr. Foxholm did very +decidedly object; he said no one had any right to detain him when +the lady's signature was plain, and Admiral Merrifield had seen him +in her society, and he began an account of the philanthropical +purpose for which he said the money had been intended, but he was +cut short. + +'You must be aware,' said the Admiral, 'that this is not an ordinary +way of acting, and whatever be your purpose, Mrs. Rudden must +ascertain your authority more fully before paying over so large a +sum. I give you your choice, therefore, either of accompanying us +to the Gap, or of remaining in Mrs. Rudden's parlour till we +return.' + +The furtive eye glanced about, and the parlour was chosen. Did he +know that the policeman stationed himself in the shop outside? + +The dinner at the Gap was over, and Miss Elmore, the headmistress, +was established in an arm-chair, listening to the outpouring of her +former pupil and the happy mother about all the felicities and +glories of their present life, the only drawback being the dullness +and obstructiveness of the immediate neighbours. 'I thought Miss +Merrifield was your neighbour--Mesa?' + +'Oh no--quite impossible! These are Merrifields, but the daughters +are two regular old goodies, wrapped up in Sunday schools and penny +clubs.' + +'Well, that is odd! The editor of the --- came down in the train +with me, and said he was going to see Mesa--Miss Elizabeth +Merrifield.' + +'I do think it is very unfair,' began Arthurine; but at that moment +the door-bell rang. 'How strange at this time!' + +'Oh! perhaps the editor is coming here!' cried Arthurine. 'Did you +tell him _I_ lived here, Miss Elmore?' + +'Admiral Merrifield,' announced the parlour-maid. + +He had resolved not to summon the young lady in private, as he +thought there was more chance of common-sense in the mother. + +'You are surprised to see me at this time,' he said; 'but Mrs. +Rudden is perplexed by a communication from you.' + +'Mrs. Rudden!' exclaimed Arthurine. 'Why, I only sent her word that +I was too busy to go through her accounts to-day, and asked her to +come to-morrow. That isn't against the laws of the Medes and +Persians, is it?' + +'Then did you send her this letter?' + +'I?' said Arthurine, staring at it, with her eyes at their fullest +extent. 'I! fifty pounds! Mr. Foxholm! What does it mean?' + +'Then you never wrote that order?' + +'No! no! How should I?' + +'That is not your writing?' + +'No, not that.' + +'Look at the signature.' + +'Oh! oh! oh!'--and she dropped into a chair. 'The horrible man! +That's the autograph I gave him this afternoon.' + +'You are sure?' + +'Quite; for my pen spluttered in the slope of the A. Has she gone +and given it to him?' + +'No. She brought it to me, and set the policeman to watch him.' + +'What a dear, good woman! Shall you send him to prison, Admiral +Merrifield? What can be done to him?' said Arthurine, not looking +at all as if she would like to abrogate capital punishment. + +'Well, I had been thinking,' said the Admiral. 'You see he did not +get it, and though I could commit him for endeavouring to obtain +money on false pretences, I very much doubt whether the prosecution +would not be worse for you than for him.' + +'That is very kind of you, Admiral!' exclaimed the mother. 'It +would be terribly awkward for dear Arthurine to stand up and say he +cajoled her into giving her autograph. It might always be +remembered against her!' + +'Exactly so,' said the Admiral; 'and perhaps there may be another +reason for not pushing the matter to extremity. The man is a +stranger here, I believe.' + +'He has been staying at Bonchamp,' said Mrs. Arthuret. 'It was +young Mr. Mytton who brought him over this afternoon.' + +'Just so. And how did he come to be aware that Mrs. Rudden owed you +any money?' + +There was a pause, then Arthurine broke out-- + +'Oh, Daisy and Pansy can't have done anything; but they were all +three there helping me mark the tennis-courts when the message +came.' + +'Including the brother?' + +'Yes.' + +'He is a bad fellow, and I would not wish to shield him in any way, +but that such a plot should be proved against him would be a +grievous disgrace to the family.' + +'I can't ever feel about them as I have done,' said Arthurine, in +tears. 'Daisy and Pansy said so much about poor dear Fred, and +every one being hard on him, and his feeling my good influence--and +all the time he was plotting this against me, with my chalk in his +hand marking my grass,' and she broke down in child-like sobs. + +The mortification was terrible of finding her pinnacle of fame the +mere delusion of a sharper, and the shock of shame seemed to +overwhelm the poor girl. + +'Oh, Admiral!' cried her mother, 'she cannot bear it. I know you +will be good, and manage it so as to distress her as little as +possible, and not have any publicity.' + +'1 will do my best,' said the Admiral. 'I will try and get a +confession out of him, and send him off, though it is a pity that +such a fellow should get off scot-free.' + +'Oh, never mind, so that my poor Arthurine's name is not brought +forward! We can never be grateful enough for your kindness.' + +It was so late that the Admiral did not come back that night, and +the ladies were at breakfast when he appeared again. Foxholm had, +on finding there was no escape, confessed the fraud, but threw most +of the blame on Fred Mytton, who was in debt, not only to him but to +others. Foxholm himself seemed to have been an adventurer, who +preyed on young men at the billiard-table, and had there been in +some collusion with Fred, though the Admiral had little doubt as to +which was the greater villain. He had been introduced to the Mytton +family, who were not particular; indeed, Mr. Mytton had no objection +to increasing his pocket-money by a little wary, profitable betting +and gambling on his own account. However, the associates had no +doubt brought Bonchamp to the point of being too hot to hold them, +and Fred, overhearing the arrangement with Mrs. Rudden, had +communicated it to him--whence the autograph trick. Foxholm was +gone, and in the course of the day it was known that young Mytton +was also gone. + +The Admiral promised that none of his family should mention the +matter, and that he would do his best to silence Mrs. Rudden, who +for that matter probably believed the whole letter to have been +forged, and would not enter into the enthusiasm of autographs. + +'Oh, thank you! It is so kind,' said the mother; and Arthurine, who +looked as if she had not slept all night, and was ready to burst +into tears on the least provocation, murmured something to the same +effect, which the Admiral answered, half hearing-- + +'Never mind, my dear, you will be wiser another time; young people +will be inexperienced.' + +'Is that the cruellest cut of all?' thought Miss Elmore, as she +beheld her former pupil scarcely restraining herself enough for the +farewell civilities, and then breaking down into a flood of tears. + +Her mother hovered over her with, 'What is it? Oh! my dear child, +you need not be afraid; he is so kind!' + +'I hate people to be kind, that is the very thing,' said Arthurine,-- +'Oh! Miss Elmore, don't go!--while he is meaning all the time that +I have made such a fool of myself! And he is glad, I know he is, he +and his hateful, stupid, stolid daughters.' + +'My dear! my dear!' exclaimed her mother. + +'Well, haven't they done nothing but thwart me, whatever I wanted to +do, and aren't they triumphing now in this abominable man's +treachery, and my being taken in? I shall go away, and sell the +place, and never come back again.' + +'I should think that was the most decided way of confessing a +failure,' said Miss Elmore; and as Mrs. Arthuret was called away by +the imperative summons to the butcher, she spoke more freely. 'Your +mother looks terrified at being so routed up again.' + +'Oh, mother will be happy anywhere; and how can I stay with these +stick-in-the-mud people, just like what I have read about?' + +'And have gibbeted! Really, Arthurine, I should call them very +generous!' + +'It is their thick skins,' muttered she; 'at least so the Myttons +said; but, indeed, I did not mean to be so personal as it was +thought.' + +'But tell me. Why did you not get on with Mesa?' + +'That was a regular take-in. Not to tell one! When I began my +German class, she put me out with useless explanations.' + +'What kind of explanations?' + +'Oh, about the Swiss being under the Empire, or something, and she +_WOULD_ go into parallels of Saxon words, and English poetry, such +as our Fraulein never troubled us with. But I showed her it would +not _DO_.' + +'So instead of learning what you had not sense to appreciate, you +wanted to teach your old routine.' + +'But, indeed, she could not pronounce at all well, and she looked +ever so long at difficult bits, and then she even tried to correct +_ME_.' + +'Did she go on coming after you silenced her?' + +'Yes, and never tried to interfere again.' + +'I am afraid she drew her own conclusions about High Schools.' + +'Oh, Miss Elmore, you used to like us to be thorough and not +discursive, and how could anybody brought up in this stultifying +place, ages ago, know what will tell in an exam?' + +'Oh! Arthurine. How often have I told you that examinations are not +education. I never saw so plainly that I have not educated you.' + +'I wanted to prepare Daisy and Pansy, and they didn't care about her +prosing when we wanted to get on with the book.' + +'Which would have been the best education for them, poor girls, an +example of courtesy, patience, and humility, or _GETTING ON_, as you +call it?' + +'Oh! Miss Elmore, you are very hard on me, when I have just been so +cruelly disappointed.' + +'My dear child, it is only because I want you to discover why you +have been so cruelly disappointed.' + +It would be wearisome to relate all that Arthurine finally told of +those thwartings by the Merrifields which had thrown her into the +arms of the Mytton family, nor how Miss Elmore brought her to +confess that each scheme was either impracticable, or might have +been injurious, and that a little grain of humility might have made +her see things very differently. Yet it must be owned that the good +lady felt rather like bending a bow that would spring back again. + +Bessie Merrifield had, like her family, been inclined to conclude +that all was the fault of High Schools. She did not see Miss Elmore +at first, thinking the Arthurets not likely to wish to be intruded +upon, and having besides a good deal to think over. For she and her +father had talked over the proposal, which pecuniarily was so +tempting, and he, without prejudice, but on principle, had concurred +with her in deciding that it was her duty not to add one touch of +attractiveness to aught which supported a cause contrary to their +strongest convictions. Her father's approbation was the crowning +pleasure, though she felt the external testimony to her abilities, +quite enough to sympathise with such intoxication of success as to +make any compliment seem possible. Miss Elmore had one long talk +with her, beginning by saying-- + +'I wish to consult you about my poor, foolish child.' + +'Ah! I am afraid we have not helped her enough!' said Bessie. 'If +we had been more sympathetic she might have trusted us more.' + +'Then you are good enough to believe that it was not all folly and +presumption.' + +'I am sure it was not,' said Bessie. 'None of us ever thought it +more than inexperience and a little exaltation, with immense good +intention at the bottom. Of course, our dear old habits did look +dull, coming from life and activity, and we rather resented her +contempt for them; but I am quite sure that after a little while, +every one will forget all about this, or only recollect it as one +does a girlish scrape.' + +'Yes. To suppose all the neighbourhood occupied in laughing at her +is only another phase of self-importance. You see, the poor child +necessarily lived in a very narrow world, where examinations came, +whatever I could do, to seem everything, and she only knew things +beyond by books. She had success enough there to turn her head, and +not going to Cambridge, never had fair measure of her abilities. +Then came prosperity--' + +'Quite enough to upset any one's balance,' said Bessie. 'In fact, +only a very sober, not to say stolid, nature would have stood it.' + +'Poor things! They were so happy--so open-hearted. I did long to +caution them. "Pull cup, steady hand."' + +'It will all come right now,' said Bessie. 'Mrs Arthuret spoke of +their going away for the winter; I do not think it will be a bad +plan, for then we can start quite fresh with them; and the intimacy +with the Myttons will be broken, though I am sorry for the poor +girls. They have no harm in them, and Arthurine was doing them +good.' + +'A whisper to you, Miss Merrifield--they are going back with me, to +be prepared for governesses at Arthurine's expense. It is the only +thing for them in the crash that young man has brought on the +family.' + +'Dear, good Arthurine! She only needed to learn how to carry her +cup.' + + + +MRS. BATSEYES + + + +I. FATHER AND DAUGHTER + + +SCENE.--THE DRAWING-ROOM OF DARKGLADE VICARAGE. MR. AVELAND, AN +ELDERLY CLERGYMAN. MRS. MOLDWARP, WIDOW ON THE VERGE OF MIDDLE AGE. + +MR. A. So, my dear good child, you will come back to me, and do +what you can for the lonely old man! + +MRS. M. I know nothing can really make up-- + +MR. A. Ah! my dear, you know only too well by your own experience, +but if any one could, it would be you. And at least you will let +nothing drop in the parish work. You and Cicely together will be +able to take that up when Euphrasia is gone too. + +MRS. M. It will be delightful to me to come back to it! You know I +was to the manner born. Nothing seems to be so natural! + +MR. A. I am only afraid you are giving up a great deal. I don't +know that I could accept it--except for the parish and these poor +children. + +MRS. M. Now, dear father, you are not to talk so! Is not this my +home, my first home, and though it has lost its very dearest centre, +what can be so dear to me when my own has long been broken? + +MR. A. But the young folks--young Londoners are apt to feel such a +change a great sacrifice. + +MRS. M. Lucius always longs to be here whenever he is on shore, and +Cicely. Oh! it will be so good for Cicely to be with you, dear +father. I know some day you will be able to enjoy her. And I do +look forward to having her to myself, as I have never had before +since she was a little creature in the nursery. It is so fortunate +that I had not closed the treaty for the house at Brompton, so that +I can come whenever Phrasie decides on leaving you. + +MR. A. And she must not be long delayed. She and Holland have +waited for each other quite long enough. Your dear mother begged +that there should be no delay; and neither you nor I, Mary, could +bear to shorten the time of happiness together that may be granted +them. She will have no scruple about leaving George's children now +you and Cicely will see to them--poor little things! + +MRS. M. Cicely has always longed for a sphere, and between the +children and the parish she will be quite happy. You need have no +fears for her, father! + + +II. BROTHER AND SISTER + + +SCENE--THE BROAD WALK UNDER THE VICARAGE GARDEN WALL, LUCIUS +MOLDWARP, A LIEUTENANT IN THE NAVY. CICELY MOLDWARP. + +C. Isn't it disgusting, Lucius? + +L. What is? + +C. This proceeding of the mother's. + +L. Do you mean coming down here to live? + +C. Of course I do! Without so much as consulting me. + +L. The captain does not ordinarily consult the crew. + +C. Bosh, Lucius. That habit of discipline makes you quite stupid. +Now, haven't I the right to be consulted? + +L. (A WHISTLE) + +C. (A STAMP) + +L. Pray, what would your sagacity have proposed for grandpapa and +the small children? + +C. (HESITATION.) + +L. (A SLIGHT LAUGH.) + +C. I do think it is quite shocking of Aunt Phrasie to be in such +haste to marry! + +L. After eleven years--eh? or twelve, is it? + +C. I mean of course so soon after her mother's death. + +L. You know dear granny herself begged that the wedding might not +be put off on that account. + +C. Mr. Holland might come and live here. + +L. Perhaps he thinks he has a right to be consulted. + +C. Then she might take those children away with her. + +L. Leaving grandpapa alone. + +C. The Curate might live in the house. + +L. Lively and satisfactory to mother. Come now, Cis, why are you +so dead set against this plan? It is only because your august +consent has not been asked? + +C. I should have minded less if the pros and cons had been set +before me, instead of being treated like a chattel; but I do not +think my education should be sacrificed. + +L. Not educated! At twenty! + +C. Don't be so silly, Lucius. This is the time when the most +important brain work is to be done. There are the art classes at +the Slade, and the lectures I am down for, and the Senior Cambridge +and cookery and nursing. Yes, I see you make faces! You sailors +think women are only meant for you to play with when you are on +shore; but I must work. + +L. Work enough here! + +C. Goody-goody! Babies, school-children, and old women! I'm meant +for something beyond that, or what are intellect and artistic +faculty given for? + +L. You could read for Cambridge exam. all the same. Here are tons +of books, and grandpapa would help you. Why not? He is not a bit +of a dull man. He is up to everything. + +C. So far as _YOU_ know. Oh no, he is not naturally dense. He is +a dear old man; but you know clerics of his date, especially when +they have vegetated in the country, never know anything but the +Fathers and church architecture. + +L. Hum! I should have said the old gentleman had a pretty good +intelligence of his own. I know he set me on my legs for my exam. +as none of the masters at old Coade's ever did. What has made you +take such a mortal aversion to the place? We used to think it next +door to Paradise when we were small children. + +C. Of course, when country freedom was everything, and we knew +nothing of rational intercourse; but when all the most intellectual +houses are open to me, it is intolerable to be buried alive here +with nothing to talk of but clerical shop, and nothing to do but +read to old women, and cram the unfortunate children with the +catechism. And mother and Aunt Phrasie expect me to be in raptures! + +L. Whereas you seem to be meditating a demonstration. + +C. I shall tell mother that if she must needs come down to wallow +in her native goodiness, it is due to let me board in Kensington +till my courses are completed. + +L. Since she won't be an unnatural daughter, she is to leave the +part to you. Well, I suppose it will be for the general peace. + +C. Now, Lucius, you speak out of the remains of the old tyrannical +barbarism, when the daughters were nothing but goods and chattels. + +L. Goods, yes, indeed, and betters. + +C. No doubt the men liked it! But won't you stand by me, Lucius? +You say it would be for the general peace. + +L. I only said you would be better away than making yourself +obnoxious. I can't think how you can have the heart, Cis, such a +pet as you always were. + +C. I would not hurt their feelings for the world, only my +improvement is too important to be sacrificed, and if no one else +will stand up for me, I must stand up for myself. + + +III. BRIDE-ELECT AND FATHER + + +SCENE.--THREE WEEKS LATER. BREAKFAST TABLE AT DARKGLADE VICARAGE, +MR. AVELAND AND EUPHRASIA READING THEIR LETTERS. THREE LITTLE +CHILDREN EATING BREAD AND MILK. + +E. There! Mary has got the house at Brompton off her hands and can +come for good on the 11th. That is the greatest possible comfort. +She wants to bring her piano; it has a better tone than ours. + +MR. A. Certainly! Little Miss Hilda there will soon be strumming +her scales on the old one, and Mary and Cis will send me to sleep in +the evening with hers. + +E. Oh! + +MR. A. Why, Phrasie, what's the matter? + +E. This is a blow! Cicely is only coming to be bridesmaid, and +then going back to board at Kensington and go on with her studies. + +MR. A. To board? All alone? + +E. Oh! that's the way with young ladies! + +MR. A. Mary cannot have consented. + +E. Have you done, little folks? Then say grace, Hilda, and run out +till the lesson bell rings. Yes, poor Mary, I am afraid she thinks +all that Cecilia decrees is right; or if she does not naturally +believe so, she is made to. + +MR. A. Come, come, Phrasie, I always thought Mary a model mother. + +E. So did I, and so she was while the children were small, except +that they were more free and easy with her than was the way in our +time. And I think she is all that is to be desired to her son; but +when last I was in London, I cannot say I was satisfied, I thought +Cissy had got beyond her. + +MR. A. For want of a father? + +E. Not entirely. You know I could not think Charles Moldwarp quite +worthy of Mary, though she never saw it. + +MR. A. Latterly we saw so little of him! He liked to spend his +holiday in mountain climbing, and Mary made her visits here alone. + +E. Exactly so. Sympathy faded out between them, though she, poor +dear, never betrayed it, if she realised it, which I doubt. And as +Cissy took after her father, this may have weakened her allegiance +to her mother. At any rate, as soon as she was thought to have +outgrown her mother's teaching, those greater things, mother's +influence and culture, were not thought of, and she went to school +and had her companions and interests apart; while Mary, good soul, +filled up the vacancy with good works, and if once you get into the +swing of that sort of thing in town, there's no end to the demands +upon your time. I don't think she ever let them bore her husband. +He was out all day, and didn't want her; but I am afraid they do +bore her daughter, and absorb attention and time, so as to hinder +full companionship, till Cissy has grown up an extraneous creature, +not formed by her. Mary thinks, in her humility, dear old thing, +that it is a much superior creature; but I don't like it as well as +the old sort. + +MR. A. The old barndoor hen hatched her eggs and bred up her chicks +better than the fine prize fowl. Eh? + +E. So that incubator-hatched chicks, with a hot-bed instead of a +hovering wing and tender cluck-cluck, are the fashion! I was in +hopes that coming down to the old coop, with no professors to run +after, and you to lead them both, all would right itself, but it +seems my young lady wants more improving. + +MR. A. Well, my dear, it must be mortifying to a clever girl to +have her studies cut short. + +E. Certainly; but in my time we held that studies were subordinate +to duties; and that there were other kinds of improvement than in +model-drawing and all the rest of it. + +MR. A. It will not be for long, and Cissy will find the people, or +has found them, and Mary will accept them. + +E. If her native instinct objects, she will be cajoled or bullied +into seeing with Cissy's eyes. + +MR. A. Well, Euphrasia, my dear, let us trust that people are the +best judges of their own affairs, and remember that the world has +got beyond us. Mary was always a sensible, right-minded girl, and I +cannot believe her as blind as you would make out. + +E. At any rate, dear papa, you never have to say to her as to me, +'Judge not, that ye be not judged.' + + +IV. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER + + +SCENE.--DARKGLADE VICARAGE DRAWING-ROOM. + +MRS. M. So, my dear, you think it impossible to be happy here? + +C. Little Mamsey, why _WILL_ you never understand? It is not a +question of happiness, but of duty to myself. + +MRS. M. And that is-- + +C. Not to throw away all my chances of self-improvement by +burrowing into this hole. + +MRS. M. Oh, my dear, I don't like to hear you call it so. + +C. Yes, I know you care for it. You were bred up here, and know +nothing better, poor old Mamsey, and pottering suits you exactly; +but it is too much to ask me to sacrifice my wider fields of culture +and usefulness. + +MRS. M. Grandpapa would enjoy nothing so much as reading with you. +He said so. + +C. Oxford half a century old and wearing off ever since. No, I +thank you! Besides, it is not only physical science, but art. + +MRS. M. There's the School of Art at Holbrook. + +C. My dear mother, I am far past country schools of art! + +MRS. M. It is not as if you intended to take up art as a +profession. + +C. Mother! will nothing ever make you understand? Nothing ought to +be half-studied, merely to pass away the time as an _ACCOMPLISHMENT_ +(UTTERED WITH INFINITE SCORN, ACCENTUATED ON THE SECOND SYLLABLE), +just to do things to sell at bazaars. No! Art with me means work +worthy of exhibition, with a market-price, and founded on a thorough +knowledge of the secrets of the human frame. + +MRS. M. Those classes! I don't like all I hear of them, or their +attendants. + +C. If you _WILL_ listen to all the gossip of all the old women of +both sexes, I can't help it! Can't you trust to innocence and +earnestness? + +MRS. M. I wish it was the Art College at Wimbledon. Then I should +be quite comfortable about you. + +C. Have not we gone into all that already? You know I must go to +the fountain-head, and not be put off with mere feminine, lady-like +studies! Pah! Besides, in lodgings I can be useful. I shall give +two evenings in the week to the East End, to the Society for the +Diversion and Civilisation of the Poor. + +MRS. M. Surely there is room for usefulness here! Think of the +children! And for diversion and civilisation, how glad we should be +of your fresh life and brightness among poor people! + +C. Such poor! Why, even if grandpapa would let me give a lecture +on geology, or a reading from Dickens, old Prudence Blake would go +about saying it hadn't done nothing for her poor soul. + +MRS. M. Grandpapa wanted last winter to have penny readings, only +there was nobody to do it. He would give you full scope for that, +or for lectures. + +C. Yes; about vaccination and fresh air! or a reading of John +Gilpin or the Pied Piper. Mamsey, you know a model parish stifles +me. I can't stand your prim school-children, drilled in the +Catechism, and your old women who get out the Bible and the clean +apron when they see you a quarter of a mile off. Free air and open +minds for me! No, I won't have you sighing, mother. You have +returned to your native element, and you must let me return to mine. + +MRS. M. Very well, my dear. Perhaps a year or two of study in town +may be due to you, though this is a great disappointment to +grandpapa and me. I know Mrs. Payne will make a pleasant and safe +home for you, if you must be boarded. + +C. Too late for that. I always meant to be with Betty Thurston at +Mrs. Kaye's. In fact, I have written to engage my room. So there's +an end of it. Come, come, don't look vexed. It is better to make +an end of it at once. There are things that one must decide for +oneself. + + +V. TWO FRIENDS + + +SCENE--OVER THE FIRE IN MRS. KAYE'S BOARDING-HOUSE. CECILIA +MOLDWARP AND BETTY THURSTON. + +C. So I settled the matter at once. + +B. Quite right, too, Cis. + +C. The dear woman was torn every way. Grandpapa and Aunt Phrasie +wanted her to pin me down into the native stodge; and Lucius, like a +true man, went in for subjection: so there was nothing for it but +to put my foot down. And though little mother might moan a little +to me, I knew she would stand up stoutly for me to all the rest, and +vindicate my liberty. + +B. To keep you down there. Such a place is very well to breathe in +occasionally, like a whale; but as to living in them-- + +C. Just hear how they spend the day. First, 7.30, prayers in +church. The dear old man has hammered on at them these forty years, +with a congregation averaging 4 to 2.5. + +B. You are surely not expected to attend at that primitive +Christian hour! Cruelty to animals! + +C. If I don't, the absence of such an important unit hurts folks' +feelings, and I am driven to the fabrication of excuses. After +breakfast, whatever is available trots off to din the Catechism and +Genesis into the school-children's heads--the only things my +respected forefather cares about teaching them. Of course back +again to the children's lessons. + +B. What children? + +C. Didn't I explain? Three Indian orphans of my uncle's, turned +upon my grandfather--jolly little kids enough, as long as one hasn't +to teach them. + +B. Are governesses unknown in those parts? + +C. Too costly; and besides, my mother was designed by nature for a +nursery-governess. She has taught the two elder ones to be +wonderfully good when she is called off. 'The butcher, ma'am'; or, +'Mrs. Tyler wants to speak to you, ma'am'; or, 'Jane Cox is come for +a hospital paper, ma'am.' Then early dinner, of all things +detestable, succeeded by school needlework, mothers' meeting, and +children's walk, combined with district visiting, or reading to old +women. Church again, high tea, and evenings again pleasingly varied +by choir practices, night schools, or silence, while grandpapa +concocts his sermon. + +B. Is this the easy life to which Mrs. Moldwarp has retired? + +C. It is her native element. People of her generation think it +their vocation to be ladies-of-all-work to the parish of +Stickinthemud cum-Humdrum. + +B. All-work indeed! + +C. I did not include Sundays, which are one rush of meals, schools, +and services, including harmonium. + +B. No society or rational conversation, of course? + +C. Adjacent clergy and clergy woman rather less capable of aught +but shop than the natives themselves! You see, even if I did offer +myself as a victim, I couldn't do the thing! Fancy my going on +about the six Mosaic days, and Jonah's whale, and Jael's nail, and +doing their duty in that state of life where it _HAS_ pleased Heaven +to place them. + +B. Impossible, my dear! Those things can't be taught--if they are +to be taught--except by those who accept them as entirely as ever; +and it is absurd to think of keeping you where you would be totally +devoid of all intellectual food! + + +SCENE.--ART STUDENT AND DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR A YEAR LATER. +SOIREE IN A LONDON DRAWING-ROOM. PROFESSOR DUNLOP AND CECILIA. + + +PROF. D. Miss Moldwarp? Is your mother here? + +C. No; she is not in town. + +PROF. D. Not living there? + +C. She lives with my grandfather at Darkglade. + +PROF. D. Indeed! I hope Mr. and Mrs. Aveland are well? + +C. Thank you, _HE_ is well; but my grandmother is dead. + +PROF. D. Oh, I am sorry! I had not heard of his loss. How long +ago did it happen? + +C. Last January twelvemonth. My aunt is married, and my mother has +taken her place at home. + +PROF. D. Then you are here on a visit. Where are you staying? + +C. No, I live here. I am studying in the Slade schools. + +PROF. D. This must have greatly changed my dear old friend's life! + +C. I did not know that you were acquainted with my grandfather. + +PROF. D. I was one of his pupils. I may say that I owe everything +to him. It is long since I have been at Darkglade, but it always +seemed to me an ideal place. + +C. Rather out of the world. + +PROF. D. Of one sort of world perhaps; but what a beautiful +combination is to be seen there of the highest powers with the +lowliest work! So entirely has he dedicated himself that he really +feels the guidance of a ploughman's soul a higher task than the +grandest achievement in science or literature. By the bye, I hope +he will take up his pen again. It is really wanted. Will you give +him a message from me? + +C. How strange! I never knew that he was an author. + +PROF. D. Ah! you are a young thing, and these are abstruse +subjects. + +C. Oh! the Fathers and Ritual, I suppose? + +PROF. D. No doubt he is a great authority there, as a man of his +ability must be; but I was thinking of a course of scientific papers +he put forth ten years ago, taking up the arguments against +materialism as no one could do who is not as thoroughly at home as +he is in the latest discoveries and hypotheses. He ought to answer +that paper in the CRITICAL WORLD. + +C. I was so much interested in that paper. + +PROF. D. It has just the speciousness that runs away with young +people. I should like to talk it over with him. Do you think I +should be in the way if I ran down? + +C. I should think a visit from you would be an immense pleasure to +him; and I am sure it would be good for the place to be stirred up. + +PROF. D. You have not learnt to prize that atmosphere in which +things always seem to assume their true proportion, and to prompt +the cry of St. Bernard's brother--'All earth for me, all heaven for +you.' + +C. That was surely an outcome of the time when people used to +sacrifice certainties to uncertainties, and spoil life for the sake +of they knew not what. + +PROF. D. For eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. + +STRANGER. Mr. Dunlop! This is an unexpected pleasure! + +C. (ALONE). Well, wonders will never cease. The great Professor +Dunlop talking to me quite preachy and goody; and of all people in +the world, the old man at Darkglade turning out to be a great +physiologist! + + +VII. TWO OLD FRIENDS + + +SCENE.--DARKGLADE VICARAGE STUDY. MR. AVELAND AND PROFESSOR DUNLOP. + +PROF. D. Thank you, sir. It has been a great pleasure to talk over +these matters with you; I hope a great benefit. + +MR. A. I am sure it is a great benefit to us to have a breath from +the outer world. I hope you will never let so long a time go by +without our meeting. Remember, as iron sharpeneth iron, so doth a +man's countenance that of his friend. + +PROF. D. I shall be only too thankful. I rejoice in the having met +your grand-daughter, who encouraged me to offer myself. Is she +permanently in town? + +MR. A. She shows no inclination to return. I hoped she would do so +after the last competition; but there is always another stage to be +mounted. I wish she would come back, for her mother ought not to be +left single-handed; but young people seem to require so much +external education in these days, instead of being content to work +on at home, that I sometimes question which is more effectual, +learning or being taught. + +PROF. D. Being poured-upon versus imbibing? + +MR. A. It may depend on what amount there is to imbibe; and I +imagine that the child views this region as an arid waste; as of +course we are considerably out of date. + +PROF. D. The supply would be a good deal fresher and purer! + +MR. A. Do you know anything of her present surroundings? + +PROF. D. I confess that I was surprised to meet her with Mrs. +Eyeless, a lady who is active in disseminating Positivism, and all +tending that way. She rather startled me by some of her remarks; +but probably it was only jargon and desire to show off. Have you +seen her lately? + +MR. A. At Christmas, but only for a short time, when it struck me +that she treated us with the patronage of precocious youth; and I +thought she made the most of a cold when church or parish was +concerned. I hinted as much; but her mother seemed quite satisfied. +Poor girl! Have I been blind? I did not like her going to live at +one of those boarding-houses for lady students. Do you know +anything of them? + +PROF. D. Of course all depends on the individual lady at the head, +and the responsibility she undertakes, as well as on the tone of the +inmates. With some, it would be only staying in a safe and guarded +home. In others, there is a great amount of liberty, the girls +going out without inquiry whether, with whom, or when they return. + +MR. A. American fashion! Well, they say young women are equal to +taking care of themselves. I wonder whether my daughter understands +this, or whether it is so at Cecilia's abode. Do you know? + +PROF. D. I am afraid I do. The niece of a friend of mine was +there, and left it, much distressed and confused by the agnostic +opinions that were freely broached there. How did your grand- +daughter come to choose it? + +MR. A. For the sake of being with a friend. I think Thurston is +the name. + +PROF. D. I know something of that family; clever people, but bred +up--on principle, if it can be so called, with their minds a blank +as to religion. I remember seeing one of the daughters at the party +where I met Miss Moldwarp. + +MR. A. So this is the society into which we have allowed our poor +child to run! I blame myself exceedingly for not having made more +inquiries. Grief made me selfishly passive, or I should have opened +my eyes and theirs to the danger. My poor Mary, what a shock it +will be to her! + +PROF. D. Was not she on the spot? + +MR. A. True; but, poor dear, she is of a gentle nature, easily led, +and seeing only what her affection lets her perceive. And now, she +is not strong. + +PROF. D. She is not looking well. + +MR. A. You think so! I wonder whether I have been blind, and let +her undertake too much. + +PROF. D. Suppose you were to bring her to town for a few days. We +should be delighted to have you, and she could see the doctor to +whom she is accustomed. Then you can judge for yourself about her +daughter. + +MR. A. Thank you, Dunlop! It will be a great comfort if it can be +managed. + + +VIII. AUNT AND NIECE + + +SCENE.--IN A HANSOM CAB. MRS. HOLLAND AND CECILIA. + +MRS. H. I wanted to speak to you, Cissy. + +C. I thought so! + +MRS. H. What do you think of your mother? + +C. Poor old darling. They have been worrying her till she has got +hipped and nervous about herself. + +MRS. H. Do you know what spasms she has been having? + +C. Oh! mother has had spasms as long as I can remember; and the +more she thinks of them the worse they are. I have often heard her +say so. + +MRS. H. Yes; she has gone on much too long overworking herself, and +not letting your grandfather suspect anything amiss. + +C. Nerves. That is what it always is. + +MRS. H. Dr. Brownlow says there is failure of heart, not dangerous +or advanced at present, but that there is an overstrain of all the +powers, and that unless she keeps fairly quiet, and free from hurry +and worry, there may be very serious, if not fatal attacks. + +C. I never did think much of Dr. Brownlow. He told me my +palpitations were nothing but indigestion, and I am sure they were +not! + +MRS. H. Well, Cissy, something must be done to relieve your mother +of some of her burthens. + +C. I see what you are driving at, Aunt Phrasie; but I cannot go +back till I have finished these courses. There's my picture, +there's the cookery school, the ambulance lectures, and our +sketching tour in August. Ever so many engagements. I shall be +free in the autumn, and then I will go down and see about it. I +told mother so. + +MRS. H. All the hot trying months of summer without help! + +C. I never can understand why they don't have a governess. + +MRS. H. Can't you? Is there not a considerable outgoing on your +behalf? + +C. That is my own. I am not bound to educate my uncle's children +at my expense. + +MRS. H. No; but if you contributed your share to the housekeeping, +you would make a difference, and surely you cannot leave your mother +to break down her health by overworking herself in this manner. + +C. Why does grandpapa let her do so? + +MRS. H. Partly he does not see, partly he cannot help it. He has +been so entirely accustomed to have all those family and parish +details taken off his hands, and borne easily as they were when your +dear grandmamma and I were both there at home, that he cannot +understand that they can be over much--especially as they are so +small in themselves. Besides, he is not so young as he was, and +your dear mother cannot bear to trouble him. + +C. Well, I shall go there in September and see about it. It is +impossible before. + +MRS. H. In the hopping holidays, when the stress of work is over! +Cannot you see with your own eyes how fagged and ill your mother +looks, and how much she wants help? + +C. Oh! she will be all right again after this rest. I tell you, +Aunt Phrasie, it is _IMPOSSIBLE_ at present--(CAB STOPS). + + +IX. THE TWO SISTERS + + +SCENE.--A ROOM IN PROFESSOR DUNLOP'S HOUSE. MRS. MOLDWARP AND MRS. +HOLLAND. + +MRS. H. I have done my best, but I can't move her an inch. + +MRS. M. Poor dear girl! Yet it seems hardly fair to make my health +the lever, when really there is nothing serious the matter. + +MRS. H. I can't understand the infatuation. Can there be any love +affair? + +MRS. M. Oh no, Phrasie; it is worse! + +MRS. H. Worse! Mary, what can you mean? + +MRS. M. Yes, it _IS_ worse. I got at the whole truth yesterday. +My poor child's faith has gone! Oh, how could I let her go and let +her mingle among all those people, all unguarded! + +MRS. H. Do you mean that this is the real reason that she will not +come home? + +MRS. M. Yes; she told me plainly at last that she could not stand +our round of services. They seem empty and obsolete to her, and she +could not feign to attend them or vex us, and cause remarks by +staying away, and of course she neither could nor would teach +anything but secular matters. 'My coming would be nothing but pain +to everybody,' she said. + +MRS H. You did not tell me this before my drive with her. + +MRS. M. No, I never saw you alone; besides, I thought you would +speak more freely without the knowledge. And, to tell the truth, I +did think it possible that consideration for me might bring my poor +Cissy down to us, and that when once under my father's influence, +all these mists might clear away. But I do not deserve it. I have +been an unfaithful parent, shutting my eyes in feeble indulgence, +and letting her drift into these quicksands. + +MRS. H. Fashion and imitation, my dear Mary; it will pass away. +Now, you are not to talk any more. + +MRS. M. I can't-- (A SPASM COMES ON.) + + +X. AUNT AND NEPHEW + + +SCENE.--SIX MONTHS LATER, DARKGLADE VICARAGE, A DARKENED ROOM. MRS. +HOLLAND AND LUCIUS. + +MRS. H. Yes, Lucius, we have all much to reproach ourselves with; +even poor grandpapa is heart-broken at having been too much absorbed +to perceive how your dear mother was overtasked. + +L. You did all you could, aunt; you took home one child, and caused +the other to be sent to school. + +MRS. H. Yes, too late to be of any use. + +L. And after all, I don't think it was overwork that broke the poor +dear one down, so much as grief at that wretched sister of mine. + +MRS. H. Don't speak of her in that way, Lucius. + +L. How can I help it? I could say worse! + +MRS. H. She is broken-hearted, poor thing. + +L. Well she may be. + +MRS. H. Ah, the special point of sorrow to your dear mother was +that she blamed herself, for-- + +L. How could she? How can you say so, aunt? + +MRS. H. Wait a moment, Lucius. What grieved her was the giving in +to Cissy's determination, seeing with her eyes, and not allowing +herself to perceive that what she wished might not be good for her. + +L. Cissy always did domineer over mother. + +MRS. H. Yes; and your mother was so used to thinking Cissy's +judgment right that she never could or would see when it was time to +make a stand, and prevent her own first impressions from being +talked down as old-fashioned,--letting her eyes be bandaged, in +fact. + +L. So she vexed herself over Cissy's fault; but did not you try to +make Cissy see what she was about? + +MRS. H. True; but if love had blinded my dear sister, Cissy was +doubly blinded-- + +L. By conceit and self-will. + +MRS. H. Poor girl, I am too sorry for her now to use those hard +words, but I am afraid it is true. First she could or would not see +either that her companions might be undesirable guides, or that her +duty lay here, and then nothing would show her that her mother's +health was failing. Indeed, by that time the sort of blindness had +come upon her which really broke your mother's heart. + +L. You mean her unbelief, agnosticism, or whatever she chooses to +call it. I thought at least women were safe from that style of +thing. It is all fashion and bad company, I suppose? + +MRS. H. I hope and pray that it may be so; but I am afraid that it +goes deeper than you imagine. Still, I see hope in her extreme +unhappiness, and in the remembrance of your dear mother's last words +and prayers. + + +XI. GRANDFATHER AND GRAND-DAUGHTER + + +A MONTH LATER. MR. AVELAND AND CECILIA. + +MR. A. My dear child, I wish I could do anything for you. + +C. You had better let me go back to London, grandpapa. + +MR. A. Do you really wish it? + +C. I don't know. I hate it all; but if I were in the midst of +everything again, it might stifle the pain a little. + +MR. A. I am afraid that is not the right way of curing it. + +C. Oh, I suppose it will wear down in time. + +MR. A. Is that well? + +C. I don't know. It is only unbearable as it is; and yet when I +think of my life in town, the din and the chatter and the bustle, +and the nobody caring, seem doubly intolerable; but I shall work off +that. You had better let me go, grandpapa. The sight of me can be +nothing but a grief and pain to you. + +MR. A. No; it gives me hope. + +C. Hope of what? + +MR. A. That away from the whirl you will find your way to peace. + +C. I don't see how. Quiet only makes me more miserable. + +MR. A. My poor child, if you can speak out and tell me exactly how +it is with you, I think it might be comfortable to you. If it is +the missing your mother, and blaming yourself for having allowed her +to overdo herself, I may well share with you in that. I feel most +grievously that I never perceived how much she was undertaking, nor +how she flagged under it. Unselfish people want others to think for +them, and I did not. + +C. Dear grandpapa, it would not have been too much if I had come +and helped. I know that; but it is not the worst. You can't feel +as I do--that if my desertion led to her overworking herself, Aunt +Phrasie and Lucius say that what really broke her down was the +opinions I cannot help having. Say it was not, grandpapa. + +MR. A. I wish I could, my dear; but I cannot conceal that +unhappiness about you, and regret for having let you expose yourself +to those unfortunate arguments, broke her spirits so that her +energies were unequal to the strain that I allowed to be laid on +her. + +C. Poor dear mother! And you and she can feel in that way about +the importance of what to me seems--pardon me, grandpapa--utterly +unproved. + +MR. A. You hold everything unproved that you cannot work out like a +mathematical demonstration. + +C. I can't help it, grandpapa. I read and read, till all the +premises become lost in the cloud of myths that belong to all +nations. I don't want to think such things. I saw dear mother rest +on her belief, and grow peaceful. They were perfect realities to +her; but I cannot unthink. I would give anything to think that she +is in perfect happiness now, and that we shall meet again; but +nothing seems certain to me. All is extinguished. + +MR. A. How do you mean? + +C. They--Betty and her set, I mean--laughed at and argued one thing +after another, till they showed me that there were no positive +grounds to go on. + +MR. A. No material grounds. + +C. And what else is certain? + +MR. A. Do you think your mother was not certain? + +C. I saw she was; I see you are certain. But what am I to do? I +cannot unthink. + +MR. A. Poor child, they have loosed you from the shore, because you +could not see it, and left you to flounder in the waves. + +C. Well, so I feel it sometimes; but if I could only feel that +there was a shore, I would try to get my foothold. Oh, with all my +heart! + +MR. A. Will you take my word, dear child--the word of one who can +dare humbly to say he has proved it, so as to be as sure as of the +floor we are standing on, that that Rock exists; and God grant that +you may, in prayer and patience, be brought to rest on it once more. + +C. Once more! I don't think I ever did so really. I only did not +think, and kept away from what was dull and tiresome. Didn't you +read something about 'If thou hadst known--' + +MR. A. 'If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, +the things that belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from +thine eyes.' But oh, my dear girl, it is my hope and prayer, not +for ever. If you will endure to walk in darkness for a while, till +the light be again revealed to you. + +C. At any rate, dear grandfather, I will do what mother entreated, +and not leave you alone. + + +XII. + + +TWO YEARS LATER. ST. THOMAS'S DAY. + +C. Grandpapa, may I come with you on Christmas morning? + +MR. A. You make me a truly happy Christmas, dear child. + +C. I think I feel somewhat as St. Thomas did, in to-day's Gospel. +It went home to my heart + +MR. A. Ah, child, to us that 'Blessed are they who have not seen +and yet have believed,' must mean those who are ready to know by +faith instead of material tangible proof. + + + +CHOPS + + + +You ask me why I call that old great-grandmother black cat Chops? +Well, thereby hangs a tale. I don't mean the black tail which is +standing upright and quivering at your caresses, but a story that +there will be time to tell you before Charlie gets home from market. + +Seven years ago, Charlie had just finished his training both at an +agricultural college and under a farmer, and was thinking of going +out to Texas or to Canada, and sending for me when he should have +been able to make a new home for me, when his godfather, Mr. Newton, +offered to let him come down and look after the draining and +otherwise reclaiming of this great piece of waste land. It had come +to Mr. Newton through some mortgages, I believe, and he thought +something might be made of it by an active agent. It was the first +time Mr. Newton had shown the least interest in us, though he was a +cousin of our poor mother's; and Charlie was very much gratified, +more especially as when he had 150 pounds a year and a house, he +thought I might leave the school where I was working as a teacher, +and make a home with him. + +Yes, this is the house; but it has grown a good deal since we +settled down, and will grow more before you come to it for good. +Then it was only meant for a superior sort of gamekeeper, and had +only six rooms in it--parlour, kitchen, and back kitchen, and three +bedrooms above them; but this we agreed would be ample for ourselves +and Betsey, an old servant of our mother's, who could turn her hand +to anything, and on the break-up of our home had begged to join us +again whenever or wherever we should have a house of our own once +more. + +We have half a dozen cottages near us now; but then it seemed to us +like a lodge in a vast wilderness--three miles away from everything, +shop, house, or church. Betsey fairly sat down and cried when she +heard how far away was the butcher, and it really seemed as if we +were to have the inconveniences of colonisation without the honour +of it. However, contrivances made us merry; we made our rooms +pretty and pleasant, and as a pony and trap were essential to +Charlie in his work, we were able to fetch and carry easily. +Moreover, we had already a fair kitchen garden laid out, and there +were outhouses for pigs and poultry, so that even while draining and +fencing were going on, we raised a good proportion of our own +provisions, and very proud of them we were; our own mustard and +cress, which we sowed in our initials, tasted doubly sweet when we +reaped them as our earliest crop. + +Mr. Newton had always said that some day he should drop down and see +how Charles was getting on, but as he hardly ever stirred from his +office in London, and only answered letters in the briefest and most +business-like way, we had pretty well left off expecting him. + +We had been here about six months, and had killed our first pig--'a +pretty little porker as ever was seen,' as Betsey said. It was hard +to understand, after all the petting, admiration, and back- +scratching Betsey had bestowed on him, how ready she was to sentence +him, and triumph in his death; while I, feeble-minded creature, +delayed rising in the morning that I might cower under the +bedclothes and stop my ears against his dying squeals. However, +when he was no more, the housekeeping spirit triumphed in our +independence of the butcher, while his fry and other delicacies +lasted, and Betsey was supremely happy over the saltings of the +legs, etc., with a view to the more distant future. + +It was a cold day of early spring. I had been down the lanes and +brought in five tiny starved primroses with short stems, for which +Betsey scolded me soundly, telling me that the first brood of +chickens was always the same in number as the first primroses +brought into the house. I eked them out with moss in a saucer, and +then, how well I remember the foolish, weary feeling that I wished +something would happen to break the quiet. We were out of the reach +of new books, and the two magazines we took in would not be due for +ten long days. I did not feel sensible or energetic enough to turn +to one of the standard well-bound volumes that had been Charlie's +school prizes, and at the moment I hated my needlework, both steady +sewing and fancy work. It was the same with my piano. I had no new +fashionable music, and I was in a mood to disdain what was good and +classical. So, as the twilight came on, I sat drearily by the fire, +fondling the cat--yes, this same black cat--and thinking that my +life at the ladies' college had been a good deal livelier, and that +if I had given it up for the sake of my brother's society, I had +very little of that. + +The hunt had gone by last week--what a treat it would be if some one +would meet with a little accident and be carried in here! + +Behold, I heard a step at the back door, and the loud call of +'Kitty! Kitty!' There stood Charlie, as usual covered with clay +nearly up to the top of his gaiters--clay either pale yellow, or +horrid light blue, according to the direction of his walk. He was +beginning frantically to unbutton them, and as he beheld me he cried +out, 'Kitty! he's coming!' and before I could say, 'Who?' he went +on, 'Old Newton. His fly is working through the mud in Draggletail +Lane. The driver hailed me to ask the way, and when I saw who it +was, I cut across to give you notice. He'll stay the night to a +dead certainty.' + +What was to be done? A wild hope seized me that, at sight of the +place, he would retain his fly and go off elsewhere for better +accommodation. + +Only, where would he find it? The nearest town, where the only +railway station then was, was eight miles off, and he was not likely +to plod back thither again, and the village inn, five miles away, +was little more than a pot-house. + +No, we must rise to the occasion, Betsey and I, while Charlie was +making himself respectable to receive the guest. Where was he to +sleep? What was he to eat? A daintily fed, rather hypochrondriacal +old bachelor, who seldom stirred out of his comfortable house in +London. What a guest for us! + +The council was held while the gaiters were being unbuttoned. He +must have my room, and I would sleep with Betsey. As to food, it +was impossible to send to the butcher; and even if I could have +sacrificed my precious Dorking fowls, there would have been scant +time to prepare them. + +There was nothing for it but to give him the pork chops, intended +for our to-morrow's dinner, and if he did not like them, he might +fall back upon poached eggs and rashers. + +'Mind,' called Charlie, as I dashed into my room to remove my +properties and light the fire, so that it might get over its first +smoking fit,--'mind you lock up the cat. He hates them like +poison.' + +It was so long before the carriage appeared, that I began half to +hope, half to fear, it was a false alarm; but at last, just as it +was perfectly dark, we heard it stop at the garden gate, and Charlie +dashed out to open the fly door, and bring in the guest, who was +panting, nervous--almost terrified, at a wild drive, so contrary to +all his experiences. When the flyman's demands had been appeased, +and we had got the poor old gentleman out of his wraps, he turned +out to be a neat, little, prim-looking London lawyer, clean-shaved, +and with an indoor complexion. I daresay Charlie, with his big +frame, sunburnt face, curly beard, and loud hearty voice, seemed to +him like a kind of savage, and he thought he had got among the +Aborigines. + +After all, he had written to announce his coming. But he had not +calculated on our never getting our letters unless we sent for them. +He was the very pink of politeness to me, and mourned so much over +putting me to inconvenience that we could only profess our delight +and desire to make him comfortable. + +On the whole, it went off very well. I gave him a cup of tea to +warm and occupy him while the upstairs' chimney was coming to its +senses; and then Charles took him upstairs. He reappeared in +precise evening dress, putting us to shame; for Charles had not a +dress-coat big enough for him to get into, and I had forgotten to +secure my black silk before abandoning my room. We could not ask +him to eat in the best kitchen, as was our practice, and he showed +himself rather dismayed at our having only one sitting-room, saying +he had not thought the cottage such a dog-hole, or known that it +would be inhabited by a lady; and then he paid some pretty +compliment on the feminine hand evident in the room. We had laid +the table before he came down, but the waiting was managed by +ourselves, or rather, by Charles, for Mr. Newton's politeness made +him jump up whenever I moved; so that I had to sit still and do the +lady hostess, while my brother changed plates and brought in relays +of the chops from the kitchen. They were a great success. Mr. +Newton eyed them for a moment distrustfully, but Betsey had turned +them out beautifully--all fair and delicate with transparent fat, +and a brown stripe telling of the gridiron. He refused the egg +alternative, and greatly enjoyed them and our Brussels sprouts, +speaking highly of the pleasure of country fare, and apologising +about the good appetising effects of a journey, when Charlie tempted +him with a third chop, the hottest and most perfect of all. + +I think we also produced a rhubarb tart, and I know he commended our +prudence in having no wine, and though he refused my brother's ale, +seemed highly satisfied with a tumbler of brandy and water, when I +quitted the gentlemen to see to the coffee, while they talked over +the scheme for farm-buildings, which Charlie had sent up to him. + +When I bade him good-night, a couple of hours later, he was +evidently in a serene state of mind, regarding us as very superior +young people. + +In the middle of the night, Betsey and I were appalled by a +tremendous knocking on the wall. I threw on a dressing-gown and +made for the door, while Betsey felt for the matches. As I opened a +crack of the door, Charlie's voice was to be heard, 'Yes, yes; I'll +get you some, sir. You'll be better presently,' interspersed with +heavy groans; then, seeing me wide awake, he begged that Betsey +would go down and get some hot water--'and mustard,' called out a +suffering voice. 'Oh, those chops!' + +Poor Mr. Newton had, it appeared, wakened with a horrible oppression +on his chest, and at once attributing it to his unwonted meal of +pork chops, he had begun, in the dark, knocking and calling with +great energy. Charlie had stumbled in in the dark, not waiting to +light a candle, and indeed ours were chiefly lamps, which took time +to light. Betsey had hers, however, and had bustled into some +clothes, tumbling downstairs to see whether any water were still hot +in the copper, Charlie running down to help her, while I fumbled +about for a lamp and listened with awe to the groans from within, +wondering which of us would have to go for the doctor. + +Up came Charlie, in his shirt sleeves, with a steaming jug in one +hand and a lamp in the other. Up came Betsey, in a scarlet +petticoat and plaid shawl, her gray locks in curl-papers, and a +tallow-candle in hand. The door was thrown open, Charlie observing, + +'Now, sir,' then breaking out into 'Thunder and turf' (his favourite +Hibernian ejaculation); 'Ssssssss!' and therewith, her green eyes +all one glare, out burst this cat! She was the nightmare! She had +been sitting on the unfortunate man's chest, and all her weight had +been laid to the score of the chops! + +No doubt she had been attracted by the fire, stolen up in the +confusion of the house, remained hidden whilst Mr. Newton was going +to bed, and when the fire went out, settled herself on his chest, as +it seems he slept on his back, and it was a warm position. + +Probably his knockings on the wall dislodged her; but if so, +imagination carried on the sense of oppression, and with feline +pertinacity she had returned as soon as he was still again. + +Poor old gentleman! I am afraid he heard some irrepressible +laughter, and it was very sore to him to be ridiculous. His grave +dignity and politeness when he came down very late the next morning +were something awful, and it must have been very dreadful to him +that he could not get away till half the day was over. + +So dry and short was he over matters of business that Charles +actually thought we might begin to pack up and make our arrangements +for emigrating. Grave, dry, and civil as ever, he departed, and I +never saw him more, nor do I think he ever entirely forgave me. +There did not, however, come any dismissal, and when Charlie had +occasion to go up to his office and see him, he was just the same as +ever, and acceded to the various arrangements which have made this a +civilised, though still rather remote place. + +And when he died, a year ago, to our surprise we found that this +same reclaimed property was left to my brother. The consequence +whereof you well know, my dear little sister that is to be. Poor +old Chops! you had nearly marred our fortunes; and now, will you go +with me to my home at the Rectory, or do you prefer your old abode +to your old mistress? + + + +Footnotes: + +{127} [In the book this genealogy is a diagram. It is rendered as +text here.--DP] John Fulford: sons: John Fulford {127a} (married +Margaret Lacy) and Henry {127b}. + +{127a} John Fulford and Margaret Lacy: Sir Edward Fulford (married +Avice Lee--died after two years), Arthur, Q.C. (married Edith +Ganler) {127c}, Martyn (Professor, married Mary Alwyn) {127d}, +Charlotte, Emily, Margaret (married Rev. H. Druce) {127e}. + +{127b} Henry had a son called Henry--whose son was also Henry-- +whose daughter was Isabel. + +{127c} Arthur, Q.C. and Edith Ganler: Margaret called Metelill, +Charlotte called Charley, Sons not at New Cove. + +{127d} Martyn (Professor) and Mary Alwyn: Margaret called Pica, +Avice and Uchtred. + +{127e} Margaret and Rev. H. Druce: Jane and large family. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE BYWORDS*** + + +******* This file should be named 12095.txt or 12095.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/9/12095 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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