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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Squire of Sandal-Side, by Amelia Edith
+Huddleston Barr
+
+
+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: The Squire of Sandal-Side
+       A Pastoral Romance
+
+
+Author: Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 10, 2005  [eBook #16258]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SQUIRE OF SANDAL-SIDE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Bethanne M. Simms, Sigal Alon, Mary Meehan, and the
+Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+THE SQUIRE OF SANDAL-SIDE
+
+A Pastoral Romance
+
+by
+
+AMELIA E. BARR
+
+Author of "Jan Vedder's Wife," "A Daughter of Fife,"
+"The Bow of Orange Ribbon," etc.
+
+New York
+The A.D. Porter Co.
+Publishers
+
+1886
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+   I.  SEAT-SANDAL
+
+  II.  THE SHEEP-SHEARING
+
+ III.  JULIUS SANDAL
+
+  IV.  THUS RUNS THE WORLD AWAY
+
+   V.  CHARLOTTE
+
+  VI.  THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS
+
+ VII.  WOOING AND WEDDING
+
+VIII.  THE ENEMY IN THE HOUSEHOLD
+
+  IX.  ESAU
+
+   X.  THE NEW SQUIRE
+
+  XI.  SANDAL AND SANDAL
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+SEAT-SANDAL.
+
+     "This happy breed of men, this little world."
+
+                                    "To know
+     That which before us lies in daily life
+     Is the prime wisdom."
+
+     "All that are lovers of virtue ... be quiet, and go a-angling."
+
+
+There is a mountain called Seat-Sandal, between the Dunmail Raise and
+Grisedale Pass; and those who have stood upon its summit know that
+Grasmere vale and lake lie at their feet, and that Windermere,
+Esthwaite, and Coniston, with many arms of the sea, and a grand
+brotherhood of mountains, are all around them. There is also an old gray
+manor-house of the same name. It is some miles distant from the foot of
+the mountain, snugly sheltered in one of the loveliest valleys between
+Coniston and Torver. No one knows when the first stones of this house
+were laid. The Sandals were in Sandal-Side when the white-handed,
+waxen-faced Edward was building Westminster Abbey, and William the
+Norman was laying plans for the crown of England. Probably they came
+with those Norsemen who a century earlier made the Isle of Man their
+headquarters, and from it, landing on the opposite coast of Cumberland,
+settled themselves among valleys and lakes and mountains of primeval
+beauty, which must have strongly reminded them of their native land.
+
+For the prevailing names of this district are all of the Norwegian type,
+especially such abounding suffixes and prefixes as _seat_ from "set," a
+dwelling; _dale_ from "dal," a valley; _fell_ from "fjeld," a mountain;
+_garth_ from "gard," an enclosure; and _thwaite_, from "thveit," a
+clearing. It is certain, also, that, in spite of much Anglo-Saxon
+admixture, the salt blood of the roving Viking is still in the
+Cumberland dalesman. Centuries of bucolic isolation have not obliterated
+it. Every now and then the sea calls some farmer or shepherd, and the
+restless drop in his veins gives him no peace till he has found his way
+over the hills and fells to the port of Whitehaven, and gone back to the
+cradling bosom that rocked his ancestors.
+
+But in the main, this lovely spot was a northern Lotus-land to the
+Viking. The great hills shut him in from the sight of the sea. He built
+himself a "seat," and enclosed "thwaites" of greater or less extent;
+and, forgetting the world in his green paradise, was for centuries
+almost forgotten by the world. And if long descent and an ancient family
+have any special claim to be held honorable, it is among the Cumberland
+"statesmen," or freeholders, it must be looked for in England.
+
+The Sandals have been wise and fortunate owners of the acres which
+Loegberg Sandal cleared for his descendants. They have a family tradition
+that he came from Iceland in his own galley; and a late generation has
+written out portions of a saga,--long orally transmitted,--which relates
+the incidents of his voyage. All the Sandals believe implicitly in its
+authenticity; and, indeed, though it is full of fighting, of the plunder
+of gold and rich raiment, and the carrying off of fair women, there is
+nothing improbable in its relations, considering the people and the
+time whose story it professes to tell.
+
+Doubtless this very Loegberg Sandal built the central hall of
+Seat-Sandal. There were giants in those days; and it must have been the
+hands of giants that piled the massive blocks, and eyes accustomed to
+great expanses that measured off the large and lofty space. Smaller
+rooms have been built above it and around it, and every generation has
+added something to its beauty and comfort; but Loegberg's great hall,
+with its enormous fireplace, is still the heart of the home.
+
+For nowhere better than among these "dalesmen" can the English elemental
+resistance to fusion be seen. Only at the extreme point of necessity
+have they exchanged ideas with any other section, yet they have left
+their mark all over English history. In Cumberland and Westmoreland, the
+most pathetic romances of the Red Rose were enacted. In the strength of
+these hills, the very spirit of the Reformation was cradled. From among
+them came the Wyckliffite queen of Henry the Eighth, and the noble
+confessor and apostle Bernard Gilpin. No lover of Protestantism can
+afford to forget the man who refused the bishopric of Carlisle, and a
+provostship at Oxford, that he might traverse the hills and dales, and
+read to the simple "statesmen" and shepherds the unknown Gospels in the
+vernacular. They gathered round him in joyful wonder, and listened
+kneeling to the Scriptures. Only the death of Mary prevented his
+martyrdom; and to-day his memory is as green as are the ivies and
+sycamores around his old home.
+
+The Protestant spirit which Gilpin raised among these English Northmen
+was exceptionally intense; and here George Fox found ready the strong
+mystical element necessary for his doctrines. For these men had long
+worshipped "in temples not made with hands." In the solemn "high places"
+they had learned to interpret the voices of winds and waters; and among
+the stupendous crags, more like clouds at sunset than fragments of solid
+land, they had seen and heard wonderful things. All over this country,
+from Kendal to old Ulverston, Fox was known and loved; and from
+Swarthmoor Hall, a manor-house not very far from Seat-Sandal, he took
+his wife.
+
+After this the Stuarts came marching through the dales, but the
+followers of Wyckliffe and Fox had little sympathy with the Stuarts. In
+the rebellion of 1715, their own lord, the Earl of Derwentwater, was
+beheaded for aiding the unfortunate family; and the hills and waters
+around are sad with the memories of his lady's heroic efforts and
+sufferings. So, when Prince Charles came again, in 1745, they were moved
+neither by his beauty nor his romantic daring: they would take no part
+at all in his brilliant blunder.
+
+It was for his stanch loyalty on this occasion, that the Christopher
+Sandal of that day was put among the men whom King George determined to
+honor. A baronetcy was offered him, which he declined; for he had a
+feeling that he would deeply offend old Loegberg Sandal, and perhaps all
+the rest of his ancestral wraiths, if he merged their ancient name in
+that of Baron of Torver. The sentiment was one the German King of
+England could understand and respect; and Sandal received, in place of a
+costly title, the lucrative office of High Sheriff of Cumberland, and a
+good share besides of the forfeited lands of the rebel houses of
+Huddleston and Millom.
+
+Then he took his place among the great county families of England. He
+passed over his own hills, and went up to London, and did homage for the
+king's grace to him. And that strange journey awakened in the mountain
+lord some old spirit of adventure and curiosity. He came home by the
+ocean, and perceived that he had only half lived before. He sent his
+sons to Oxford; he made them travel; he was delighted when the youngest
+two took to the sea as naturally as the eider-ducks fledged in a
+sea-sand nest.
+
+Good fortune did not spoil the old, cautious family. It went "cannily"
+forward, and knew how "to take occasion by the hand," and how to choose
+its friends. Towards the close of the eighteenth century, an opportune
+loan again set the doors of the House of Lords open to the Sandals; but
+the head of the family was even less inclined to enter it than his
+grandfather had been.
+
+"Nay, then," was his answer, "t' Sandals are too old a family to hide
+their heads in a coronet. Happen, I am a bit opinion-tied, but it's over
+late to loosen knots made centuries ago; and I don't want to loosen
+them, neither."
+
+So it will be perceived, that, though the Sandals moved, they moved
+slowly. A little change went a great way with them. The men were all
+conservative in politics, the women intensely so in all domestic
+traditions. They made their own sweet waters and unguents and pomades,
+long after the nearest chemist supplied a far better and cheaper
+article. Their spinning-wheels hummed by the kitchen-fire, and their
+shuttles glided deftly in the weaving-room, many a year after Manchester
+cottons were cheap and plentiful. But they were pleasant, kindly women,
+who did wonderful needlework, and made all kinds of dainty dishes and
+cordials and sirups. They were famous florists and gardeners, and the
+very neatest of housewives. They visited the poor and sick, and never
+went empty-handed. They were hearty Churchwomen. They loved God, and
+were truly pious, and were hardly aware of it; for those were not days
+of much inquiry. People did their duty and were happy, and did not
+reason as to "why" they did it, nor try to ascertain if there were a
+legitimate cause for the effect.
+
+But about the beginning of this century, a different day began to dawn
+over Sandal-Side. The young heir came to his own, and signalized the
+event by marrying the rich Miss Lowther of Whitehaven. She had been
+finely educated. She had lived in large cities, and been to court. She
+dressed elegantly; she had a piano and much grand furniture brought over
+the hills to Sandal; and she filled the old house during the summer with
+lords and ladies, and poets and artists, who flitted about the idyllic
+little village, like gay butterflies in a lovely garden.
+
+The husband and children of such a woman were not likely to stand still.
+Sandal, encouraged by her political influence, went into Parliament. Her
+children did fairly well; for though one boy was wild, and cost them a
+deal of money, and another went away in a passion one morning, and never
+came back, the heir was a good son, and the two girls made splendid
+marriages. On the whole, she could feel that she had done well to her
+generation. Even after she had been long dead, the old women in the
+village talked of her beauty and spirit, of the tight hand she kept over
+every one and every thing pertaining to Sandal. Of all the mistresses
+of the old "seat," this Mistress Charlotte was the most prominent and
+the best remembered.
+
+Every one who steps within the wide, cool hall of Seat-Sandal faces
+first of all things her picture. It is a life-size painting of a
+beautiful woman, in the queer, scant costume of the regency. She wears a
+white satin frock and white satin slippers, and carries in her hand a
+bunch of white roses. She appears to be coming down a flight of wide
+stairs; one foot is lifted for the descent, and the dark background, and
+the dim light in which it hangs, give to the illusion an almost
+startling reality. It was her fancy to have the painting hung there to
+welcome all who entered her doors; and though it is now old-fashioned,
+and rather shabby and faded, no one of the present generation cares to
+order its removal. All hold quietly to the opinion that "grandmother
+would not like it."
+
+In that quiet acre on the hillside, which holds the generations of the
+Sandals, she had been at rest for ten years. But her son still bared his
+gray head whenever he passed her picture; still, at times, stood a
+minute before it, and said with tender respect, "I salute thee,
+mother." And in her granddaughter's lives still she interfered; for she
+had left in their father's charge a sum of money, which was to be used
+solely to give them some pleasure which they could not have without it.
+In this way, though dead, she kept herself a part of their young lives;
+became a kind of fairy grandmother, who gave them only delightful
+things, and her name continued a household word.
+
+Only the mother seemed averse to speak it; and Charlotte, who was most
+observant, noticed that she never lifted her eyes to the picture as she
+passed it. There were reasons for these things which the children did
+not understand. They had been too young at her death to estimate the
+bondage in which she had kept her daughter-in-law, who, for her
+husband's sake, had been ever patient and reticent. Nothing is, indeed,
+more remarkable than the patience of wives under this particular trial.
+They may be restive under many far less wrongs, but they bear the
+mother-in-law grievance with a dignity which shames the grim joking and
+the petulant abuse of men towards the same relationship. And for many
+years the young wife had borne nobly a domestic tyranny which pressed
+her on every hand. If then, she was glad to be set free from it, the
+feeling was too natural to be severely blamed; for she never said
+so,--no, not even by a look. Her children had the benefit of their
+grandmother's kindness, and she was too honorable to deprive the dead of
+their meed of gratitude.
+
+The present holder of Sandal had none of his mother's ambitious will. He
+cared for neither political nor fashionable life; and as soon as he came
+to his inheritance, married a handsome, sensible daleswoman with whom he
+had long been in love. Then he retired from a world which had nothing to
+give him comparable, in his eyes, with the simple, dignified pleasures
+incident to his position as Squire of Sandal-Side. For dearly he loved
+the old hall, with its sheltering sycamores and oaks,--oaks which had
+been young trees when the knights lying in Furness Abbey led the
+Grasmere bowmen at Crecy and Agincourt. Dearly he loved the large, low
+rooms, full of comfortable elegance; and the sweet, old-fashioned, Dutch
+garden, so green through all the snows of winter, so cheerfully grave
+and fragrant in the summer twilights, so shady and cool even in the
+hottest noons.
+
+Thirty years ago he was coming through it one July evening. It had been
+a very hot day; and the flowers were drooping, and the birds weary and
+silent. But Squire Sandal, though flushed and rumpled looking, had still
+the air of drippy mornings and hazy afternoons about him. There was a
+creel at his back, and a fishing-rod in his hand, and he had just come
+from the high, unplanted places, and the broomy, breezy moorlands; and
+his broad, rosy face expressed nothing but happiness.
+
+At his side walked his favorite daughter Charlotte,--his dear companion,
+the confidant and sharer of all his sylvan pleasures. She was tired and
+dusty; and her short printed gown showed traces of green, spongy grass,
+and lichen-covered rocks. But her face was a joy to see: she had such
+bright eyes, such a kind, handsome mouth, such a cheerful voice, such a
+merry laugh. As they came in sight of the wide-open front-doors, she
+looked ruefully down at her feet and her grass-and-water-stained skirt,
+and then into her father's face.
+
+"I don't know what Sophia will say if she sees me, father; I don't,
+indeed."
+
+"Never you mind her, dear. Sophia's rather high, you know. And we've
+had a rare good time. Eh? What?"
+
+"I should think we have! There are not many pleasures in life better
+than persuading a fine trout to go a little way down stream with you.
+Are there, father?"
+
+"You are right, Charlotte. Trout are the kind of company you want on an
+outing. And then, you know, if you can only persuade one to go down
+stream a bit with you, there's not much difficulty in persuading him to
+let you have the pleasure of seeing him to dinner. Eh? What?"
+
+"I think I will go round by the side-door, father. I might meet some one
+in the hall."
+
+"Nay, don't do that. There isn't any need to shab off. You've done
+nothing wrong, and I'm ready to stand by you, my dear; and you know what
+a good time we've been having all day. Eh? What?"
+
+"Of course I know, father,--
+
+    "Showers and clouds and winds,
+       All things well and proper;
+     Trailer, red and white,
+       Dark and wily dropper.
+     Midges true to fling
+       Made of plover hackle,
+     With a gaudy wing,
+       And a cobweb tackle."
+
+"Cobweb tackle, eh, Charlotte? Yes, certainly; for a hand that can
+manage it. Lancie Crossthwaite will land you a trout, three pounds
+weight, with a line that wouldn't lift a dead weight of one pound from
+the floor to the table. I'll uphold he will. Eh? What?"
+
+"I'll do it myself, some day; see if I don't, father."
+
+"I've no doubt of it, Charlotte; not a bit." Then being in the
+entrance-hall, they parted with a smile of confidence, and Charlotte
+hastened up-stairs to prepare herself for the evening meal. She gave one
+quick glance at her grandmother's picture as she passed it, a glance of
+mingled deprecation and annoyance; for there were times when the
+complacent serenity of the perfect face, and the perfect propriety of
+the white satin gown, gave her a little spasm of indignation.
+
+She dressed rapidly, with a certain deft grace that was part of her
+character. And it was a delightful surprise to watch the metamorphosis;
+the more so, as it went on with a perfect unconsciousness of its
+wonderful beauty. Here a change, and there a change, until the bright
+brown hair was loosened from its net of knotted silk, to fall in wavy,
+curly masses; and the printed gown was exchanged for one of the finest
+muslin, pink and flowing, and pinned together with bows of pale blue
+satin. A daring combination, which precisely suited her blonde,
+brilliant beauty. Her eyes were shining; her cheeks touched by the sun
+till they had the charming tints of a peach on a southern wall. She
+looked at herself with a little nod of satisfaction, and then tapped at
+the door of the room adjoining her own. It was Miss Sandal's room; and
+Miss Sandal, though only sixteen months older than Charlotte, exacted
+all the deference due to her by the right of primogeniture.
+
+"Come in, Charlotte."
+
+"How did you know it was I?"
+
+"I know your knock, however you vary it. Nobody knocks like you. I
+suppose no two people would make three taps just the same." She was far
+too polite to yawn; but she made as much of the movement as she could
+not control, and then put a mark in her book, and laid it down. A very
+different girl, indeed, was she from her younger sister; a stranger
+would never have suspected her of the same parentage.
+
+She had dark, fine eyes, which, however, did not express what she felt:
+they rather gave the idea of storing up impressions to be re-acted upon
+by some interior power. She had a delicate complexion, a great deal of
+soft, black hair compactly dressed, and a neat figure. Her disposition
+was dreamy and self-willed; occult studies fascinated her, and she was
+passionately fond of moonlight. She was simply dressed in a white muslin
+frock, with a black ribbon around her slim waist; but the ribbon was
+clasped by a buckle of heavily chased gold, and her fingers had many
+rings on them, and looked--a very rare circumstance--the better for
+them. Having put down her book, she rose from her chair; and as she
+dipped the tips of her hands in water, and wiped them with elaborate
+nicety, she talked to Charlotte in a soft, deliberate way.
+
+"Where have you been, you and father, ever since daybreak?"
+
+"Up to Blaeberry Tarn, and then home by Holler Beck. We caught a creel
+full of trout, and had a very happy day."
+
+"Really, you know?"
+
+"Yes, really; why not?"
+
+"I cannot understand it, Charlotte. I suppose we never were sisters
+before." She said the words with the air of one who rather states a fact
+than asks a question; and Charlotte, not at all comprehending, looked at
+her curiously and interrogatively.
+
+"I mean that our relationship in this life does not touch our anterior
+lives."
+
+"Oh, you know you are talking nonsense, Sophia! It gives me such a feel,
+you can't tell, to think of having lived before; and I don't believe it.
+There, now! Come, dear, let us go to dinner; I'm that hungry I'm fit to
+drop." For Charlotte was watching, with a feeling of injury, Sophia's
+leisurely method of putting every book and chair and hairpin in its
+place.
+
+The sisters' rooms were precisely alike in their general features, and
+yet there was as great a relative difference in their apartments as in
+their natures. Both were large, low rooms, facing the sunrise. The walls
+of both were of dark oak; the roofs of both were of the same sombre
+wood; so also were the floors. They were literally oak chambers. And in
+both rooms the draperies of the beds, chairs, and windows were of white
+dimity. But in Sophia's, there were many pictures, souvenirs of
+girlhood's friendships, needlework, finished and unfinished drawings,
+and a great number of books mostly on subjects not usually attractive to
+young women. Charlotte's room had no pictures on its walls, and no odds
+and ends of memorials; and as sewing was to her a duty and not a
+pleasure, there was no crotcheting or Berlin-wool work in hand; and with
+the exception of a handsome copy of "Izaak Walton," there were no books
+on her table but a Bible, Book of Common Prayer, and a very shabby
+Thomas a Kempis.
+
+So dissimilar were the girls in their appearance and their tastes; and
+yet they loved each other with that calm, habitual, family affection,
+which, undemonstrative as it is, stands the wear and tug of life with a
+wonderful tenacity. Down the broad, oak stairway they sauntered
+together; Charlotte's tall, erect figure, bright, loose hair, pink
+dress, and flowing ribbons, throwing into effective contrast the dark
+hair, dark eyes, white drapery, and gleaming ornaments of her elder
+sister.
+
+In the hall they met the squire. He was very fond and very proud of his
+daughters; and he gave his right arm to Sophia, and slipped his left
+hand into Charlotte's hand with an affectionate pride and confidence
+that was charming.
+
+"Any news, mother?" he asked, as he lifted one of the crisp brown trout
+from its bed of white damask and curly green parsley.
+
+"None, squire; only the sheep-shearing at the Up-Hill Farm to-morrow.
+John of Middle Barra called with the statesman's respects. Will you go,
+squire?"
+
+"Certainly. My men are all to lend a hand. Barf Latrigg is ageing fast
+now; he was my father's crony; if I slighted him, I should feel as if
+father knew about it. Which of you will go with me? Thou, mother?"
+
+"That, I cannot, squire. The servant lasses are all promised for the
+fleece-folding; and it's a poor house that won't keep one woman busy in
+it."
+
+"Sophia and Charlotte will go then?"
+
+"Excuse me, father," answered Sophia languidly. "I shall have a
+headache to-morrow, I fear; I have been nervous and poorly all the
+afternoon."
+
+"Why, Sophia, I didn't think I had such a foolish lass! Taking fancies
+for she doesn't know what. If you plan for to-morrow, plan a bit of
+pleasure with it; that's a long way better than expecting a headache.
+Charlotte will go then. Eh? What?"
+
+"Yes, father; I will go. Sophia never could bear walking in the
+heat. I like it; and I think there are few things merrier than a
+sheep-shearing."
+
+"So poetic! So idyllic!" murmured Sophia, with mild sarcasm.
+
+"Many people think so, Sophia. Mr. Wordsworth would remember Pan and
+Arcadian shepherds playing on reedy pipes, and Chaldaean shepherds
+studying the stars, and those on Judaea's hills who heard the angels
+singing. He would think of wild Tartar shepherds, and handsome Spanish
+and Italian."
+
+"And still handsomer Cumberland ones." And Sophia, having given this
+little sisterly reminder, added calmly, "I met Mr. Wordsworth to-day,
+father. He had come over the fells with a party, and he looked very
+much bored with his company."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if he were. He likes his own company best. He is a
+great man now, but I remember well when people thought he was just a
+little off-at-side. You knew Nancy Butterworth, mother?"
+
+"Certainly I did, squire. She lived near Rydal."
+
+"Yes. Nancy wasn't very bright herself. A stranger once asked her what
+Mr. Wordsworth was like; and she said, 'He's canny enough at times.
+Mostly he's wandering up and down t' hills, talking his po-et-ry; but
+now and then he'll say, "How do ye do, Nancy?" as sensible as you or
+me.'"
+
+"Mr. Wordsworth speaks foolishness to a great many people besides Nancy
+Butterworth," said Sophia warmly; "but he is a great poet and a great
+seer to those who can understand him."
+
+"Well, well, Mr. Wordsworth is neither here nor there in our affairs.
+We'll go up to Latriggs in the afternoon, Charlotte. I'll be ready at
+two o'clock."
+
+"And I, also, father." Her face was flushed and thoughtful, and she had
+become suddenly quiet. The squire glanced at her, but without curiosity;
+he only thought, "What a pity she is a lass! I wish Harry had her good
+sense and her good heart; I do that."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE SHEEP-SHEARING.
+
+     "Plain living and high thinking ...
+        The homely beauty of the good old cause,
+       ...our peace, our fearful innocence,
+     And pure religion breathing household laws."
+
+     "A happy youth, and their old age
+      Is beautiful and free."
+
+
+The sheep-shearings at Up-Hill Farm were a kind of rural Olympics.
+Shepherds came there from far and near to try their skill against each
+other,--young men in their prime mostly, with brown, ruddy faces, and
+eyes of that bright blue lustre which is only gained by a free, open-air
+life. The hillside was just turning purple with heather bloom, and along
+the winding, stony road the yellow asphodels were dancing in the wind.
+Everywhere there was the scent of bog-myrtle and wild-rose and
+sweetbrier, and the tinkling sound of becks babbling over glossy rocks;
+and in the glorious sunshine and luminous air, the mountains appeared to
+expand and elevate, and to throw out glowing peaks and summits into
+infinite space.
+
+Hand in hand the squire and his daughter climbed the fellside. They had
+left home in high spirits, merrily flinging back the mother's and
+Sophia's last advices; but gradually they became silent, and then a
+little mournful. "I wonder why it is, father?" asked Charlotte; "I'm not
+at all tired, and how can fresh air and sunshine make one melancholy?"
+
+"Maybe, now, sad thoughts are catching. I was having a few. Eh? What?"
+
+"I don't know. Why were you having sad thoughts?"
+
+"Well, then, I really can't understand why. There's no need to fret over
+changes. At the long end the great change puts all right. Charlotte, I
+have been coming to Barf Latrigg's shearings for about half a century. I
+remember the first. I held my nurse's hand, and wore such a funny little
+coat, and such a big lace collar. And, dear me! it was just such a day
+as this, thirty-two years ago, that your mother walked up to the
+shearing with me, Charlotte; and I asked her if she would be my wife,
+and she said she would. Thou takes after her a good deal; she had the
+very same bright eyes and bonny face, and straight, tall shape thou has
+to-day. Barf Latrigg was sixty then, turning a bit gray, but able to
+shear with any man they could put against him. He'll be ninety now; but
+his father lived till he was more than a hundred, and most of his
+fore-elders touched the century. He's had his troubles too."
+
+"I never heard of them."
+
+"No. They are dead and buried. A dead trouble may be forgot: it is the
+living troubles that make the eyes dim, and the heart fail. Yes, yes;
+Barf is as happy as a boy now, but I remember when he was back-set and
+fore-set with trouble. In life every thing goes round like a cart-wheel.
+Eh? What?"
+
+In a short time they reached the outer wall of the farm. They were eight
+hundred feet above the valley; and looking backwards upon the woods from
+their airy shelf, the tops of the trees appeared like a solid green
+road, on which they might drop down and walk. Stone steps in the stone
+wall admitted them into the enclosure, and then they saw the low gray
+house spreading itself in the shadow of the noble sycamores--
+
+     ... "musical with bees;
+     Such tents the patriarchs loved."
+
+As they approached, the old statesman strode to the open door to meet
+them. He was a very tall man, with a bright, florid face, and a great
+deal of fine, white hair. Two large sheep-dogs, which only wanted a hint
+to be uncivil, walked beside him. He had that independent manner which
+honorable descent and absolute ownership of house and land give; and he
+looked every inch a gentleman, though he wore only the old dalesman's
+costume,--breeches of buckskin fastened at the knees with five silver
+buttons, home-knit stockings and low shoes, and a red waistcoat, open
+that day, in order to show the fine ruffles on his shirt. He was
+precisely what Squire Sandal would have been, if the Sandals had not
+been forced by circumstances into contact with a more cultivated and a
+more ambitious life.
+
+"Welcome, Sandal! I have been watching for thee. There would be little
+prosperation in a shearing if thou wert absent. And a good day to thee,
+Charlotte. My Ducie was speaking of thee a minute ago. Here she comes to
+help thee off with thy things."
+
+Charlotte was untying her bonnet as she entered the deep, cool porch,
+and a moment afterward Ducie was at her side. It was easy to see the
+women loved each other, though Ducie only smiled, and said, "Come in;
+I'm right glad to see you, Charlotte. Come into t' best room, and cool
+your face a bit. And how is Mrs. Sandal and Sophia? Be things at their
+usual, dear?"
+
+"Thank you, Ducie; all and every thing is well,--I hope. We have not
+heard from Harry lately. I think it worrits father a little, but he is
+never the one to show it. Oh, how sweet this room is!"
+
+She was standing before the old-fashioned swivel mirror, that had
+reflected three generations,--a fair, bright girl, with the light and
+hope of youth in her face. The old room, with its oak walls, immense
+bed, carved awmries, drawers, and cupboards, made a fine environment for
+so much life and color. And yet there were touches in it that resembled
+her, and seemed to be the protest of the present with the past,--vivid
+green and scarlet masses of geranium and fuchsia in the latticed window,
+and a great pot of odorous flowers upon the hearthstone. But the
+peculiar sweetness which Charlotte noticed came from the polished oak
+floor, which was strewed with bits of rosemary and lavender, to prevent
+the slipping of the feet upon it.
+
+Charlotte looked down at them as she ejaculated, "How sweet this room
+is!" and the shadow of a frown crossed her face. "I would not do it,
+Ducie, for any one," she said. "Poor herbs of grace! What sin have they
+committed to be trodden under foot? I would not do it, Ducie: I feel as
+if it hurt them."
+
+"Nay, now; flowers grow to be pulled dear, just as lasses grow to be
+loved and married."
+
+"Is that what you think, Ducie? Some cherished in the jar; some thrown
+under the feet, and bruised to death,--the feet of wrong and sorrow,"--
+
+"Don't you talk that way, Charlotte. It isn't lucky for girls to talk of
+wrong and sorrow. Talking of things bespeaks them. There's always _them_
+that hear; _them_ that we don't see. And everybody pulls flowers,
+dearie."
+
+"I don't. If I pull a rose, I always believe every other rose on that
+tree is sad about it. They may be in families, Ducie, who can tell? And
+the little roses may be like the little children, and very dear to the
+grown roses."
+
+"Why, what fancies! Let us go into the yard, and see the shearing.
+You've made me feel as if I'd never like to pull a posy again. You
+shouldn't say such things, indeed you shouldn't: you've given me quite a
+turn, I'm sure."
+
+As Ducie talked, they went through the back-door into a large yard
+walled in from the hillside, and having in it three grand old sycamores.
+One of these was at the top of the enclosure, and a circle of green
+shadow like a tent was around it. In this shadow the squire and the
+statesman were sitting. Their heads were uncovered, their long clay
+pipes in their hands; and, with a placid complacency, they were watching
+the score of busy men before them. Many had come long distances to try
+their skill against each other; for the shearings at Latrigg's were a
+pastoral game, at which it was a local honor to be the winner. There the
+young statesman who could shear his six score a day found others of a
+like capacity, and it was Greek against Greek at Up-Hill shearing that
+afternoon.
+
+"I had two thousand sheep to get over," said Latrigg, "but they'll be
+bare by sunset, squire. That isn't bad for these days. When I was young
+we wouldn't have thought so much of two thousand, but every dalesman
+then knew what good shearing was. _Now_," and the old man shook his head
+slowly, "good shearers are few and far between. Why, there's some here
+from beyond Kirkstone Pass and Nab Scar!"
+
+It was customary for young people of all conditions to give men as aged
+as Barf Latrigg the honorable name of "grandfather;" and Charlotte said,
+as she sat down in the breezy shadow beside him, "Who is first,
+grandfather?"
+
+"Why, our Stephen, to be sure! They'll have to be up before day-dawn to
+keep sidey with our Steve.--Steve, how many is thou ahead now?" The
+voice that asked the question, though full of triumph, was thin and
+weak; but the answer came back in full, mellow tones,--
+
+"Fifteen ahead, grandfather."
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad!"
+
+"Charlotte Sandal says 'she's so glad.' Now then, if thou loses ground,
+I wouldn't give a ha'penny for thee."
+
+Then the women who were folding the fleeces on tables under the other
+two sycamores lifted their eyes, and glanced at Steve; and some of the
+elder ones sent him a merry jibe, and some of the younger ones, smiles,
+that made his brown handsome face deepen in color; but he was far too
+earnest in his work to spare a moment for a reply. By and by, the squire
+put down his pipe, and sat watching with his hands upon his knees. And a
+stray child crept up to Charlotte, and climbed upon her lap, and went to
+sleep there, and the wind flecked these four representatives of four
+generations all over with wavering shadows; and Ducie came backwards and
+forwards, and finally carried the sleeping child into the house; and
+Stephen, busy as he was, saw every thing that went on in the group under
+the top sycamore.
+
+Even before sundown, the last batch of sheep were fleeced and
+_smitten_,[Smitten. Marked with the cipher of the owner in a
+mixture mostly of tar.] and turned on to the hillside; and Charlotte,
+leaning over the wall, watched them wander contentedly up the fell,
+with their lambs trotting beside them. Grandfather and the squire had
+gone into the house; Ducie was calling her from the open door; she knew
+it was tea-time, and she was young and healthy and hungry enough to be
+glad of it.
+
+At the table she met Stephen. The strong, bare-armed Hercules, whom she
+had watched tossing the sheep around for his shears as easily as if they
+had been kittens under his hands, was now dressed in a handsome tweed
+suit, and looking quite as much of a gentleman as the most fastidious
+maiden could desire. He came in after the meal had begun, flushed
+somewhat with his hard labor, and perhaps, also, with the hurry of his
+toilet; but there was no embarrassment in his manner. It had never yet
+entered Stephen's mind that there was any occasion for embarrassment,
+for the friendship between the squire's family and his own had been
+devoid of all sense of inequality. The squire was "the squire," and was
+perhaps richer than Latrigg, but even that fact was uncertain; and the
+Sandals had been to court, and married into county families; but then
+the Latriggs had been for exactly seven hundred years the neighbors of
+Sandal,--good neighbors, shoulder to shoulder with them in every trial
+or emergency.
+
+The long friendship had never known but one temporary shadow, and this
+had been during the time that the present squire's mother ruled in
+Sandal; the Mistress Charlotte whose influence was still felt in the old
+seat. She had entirely disapproved the familiar affection with which
+Latrigg met her husband, and it was said the disputes which drove one of
+her sons from his home were caused by her determination to break up the
+companionship existing between the young people of the two houses at
+that time.
+
+The squire remembered it. He had also, in some degree, regarded his
+mother's prejudices while she lived; but, after her death, Sophia and
+Charlotte, as well as their brother, began to go very often to Up-Hill
+Farm. Naturally Stephen, who was Ducie's son, became the companion of
+Harry Sandal; and the girls grew up in his sight like two beautiful
+sisters. It was only within the past year that he had begun to
+understand that one was dearer to him than the other; but though none of
+the three was now ignorant of the fact, it was as yet tacitly ignored.
+The knowledge had not been pleasant to Sophia; and to Charlotte and
+Stephen it was such a delicious uncertainty, that they hardly desired to
+make it sure; and they imagined their secret was all their own, and were
+so happy in it, that they feared to look too curiously into their
+happiness.
+
+There was to be a great feast and dance that night: and, as they sat at
+the tea-table, they heard the mirth and stir of its preparation; but it
+came into the room only like a pleasant echo, mingling with the barking
+of the sheep-dogs, and the bleating of the shorn sheep upon the fells,
+and the murmur of their quiet conversation about "the walks" Latrigg
+owned, and the scrambling, black-faced breed whose endurance made them
+so profitable. Something was also said of other shearings to which
+Stephen must go, if he would assure his claim to be "top-shearer," and
+of the wool-factories which the most astute statesmen were beginning to
+build.
+
+"If I were a younger man, I'd be in with them," said Latrigg. "I'd spin
+and weave my own fleeces, and send them to Leeds market, with no
+go-between to share my profits." And Steve put in a sensible word now
+and then, and passed the berry-cake and honey and cream; and withal met
+Charlotte's eyes, and caught her smiles, and was as happy as love and
+hope could make him.
+
+After tea the squire wished to go; but Latrigg said, "Smoke one pipe
+with me Sandal," and they went into the porch together. Then Steve and
+Charlotte sauntered about the garden, or, leaning on the stone wall,
+looked down into the valley, or away off to the hills. Many things they
+said to each other which seemed to mean so little, but which meant so
+much when love was the interpreter. For Charlotte was eighteen and
+Stephen twenty-two; and when mortals still so young are in love, they
+are quite able to create worlds out of nothing.
+
+After a while the squire lifted his eyes, and took in the bit of
+landscape which included them. The droop of the young heads towards each
+other, and their air of happy confidence, awakened a vague suspicion in
+his heart. Perhaps Latrigg was conscious of it; for he said, as if in
+answer to the squire's thought, "Steve will have all that is mine. It's
+a deal easier to die, Sandal, when you have a fine lad like Steve to
+leave the old place to."
+
+"Steve is in the female line. That's a deal different to having sons.
+Lasses are cold comfort for sons. Eh? What?"
+
+"To be sure; but I've given Steve my name. Any one not called Latrigg at
+Up-Hill would seem like a stranger."
+
+"I know how you feel about that. A squire in Seat-Sandal out of the old
+name would have a very middling kind of time, I think. He'd have a sight
+of ill-will at his back."
+
+"Thou means with _them_!"
+
+The squire nodded gravely; and after a minute's silence said, "It stands
+to reason _they_ take an interest. I do in them. When I think of this or
+that Sandal, or when I look up at their faces as I sit smoking beside
+them, I'm sure I feel like their son; and I wouldn't grieve them any
+more than if they were to be seen and talked to. It's none likely, then,
+that _they_ forget. I know they don't."
+
+"I'm quite of thy way of thinking, Sandal; but Steve will be called
+Latrigg. He has never known any other name, thou sees."
+
+"To be sure. Is Ducie willing?"
+
+"Poor lass! She never names Steve's father. He'd no business in her
+life, and he very soon went out of it. Stray souls will get into
+families they have no business in, sometimes. They make a deal of
+unhappiness when they do."
+
+Sandal sat listening with a sympathetic face. He hoped Latrigg was going
+to tell him something definite about his daughter's trouble; but the old
+man puffed, puffed, in silence a few minutes, and then turned the
+conversation. However, Sandal had been touched on a point where he was
+exceedingly sensitive; and he rose with a sigh, and said, "Well, well,
+Latrigg, good-by. I'll go down the fell now. Come, Charlotte."
+
+Unconsciously he spoke with an authority not usual to him, and the
+parting was a little silent and hurried; for Ducie was in the throng of
+her festival, and rather impatient for Stephen's help. Only Latrigg
+walked to the gate with them. He looked after Sandal and his daughter
+with a grave, but not unhappy wistfulness; and when a belt of larches
+hid them from his view, he turned towards the house, saying softly,--
+
+"It is like to be my last shearing. Very soon this life will _have
+been_, but through Christ's mercy I have the over-hand of the future."
+
+It was almost as hard to go down the fell as to come up it, for the road
+was very steep and stony. The squire took it leisurely, carrying his
+straw hat in his hand, and often standing still to look around him. The
+day had been very warm; and limpid vapors hung over the mountains, like
+something far finer than mist,--like air made visible,--giving them an
+appearance of inconceivable remoteness, full of grandeur; for there is a
+sublimity of distance, as well as a sublimity of height. He made
+Charlotte notice them. "Maybe, many a year after this, you'll see the
+hills look just that way, dearie; then think on this evening and on me."
+
+She did not speak, but she looked into his face, and clasped his hand
+tightly. She was troubled with her own mood. Try as she would, it was
+impossible to prevent herself drifting into most unusual silences.
+Stephen's words and looks filled her heart; she had only half heard the
+things her father had been saying. Never before had she found an hour in
+her life when she wished for solitude in preference to his
+society,--her good, tender father. She put Stephen out of her mind, and
+tried again to feel all her old interest in his plans for their
+amusement. Alas, alas! The first secret, especially if it be a
+love-secret, makes a break in that sweet, confidential intercourse
+between a parent and child which nothing restores. The squire hardly
+comprehended that there might be a secret. Charlotte was unthoughtful of
+wrong; but still there was a repression, a something undefinable between
+them, impalpable, but positive as a breath of polar air. She noticed the
+mountains, for he made her do so; but the birds sang sleepy songs to her
+unheeded, and the yellow asphodels made a kind of sunshine at her feet
+that she never saw; and even her father's voice disturbed the dreamy
+charm of thoughts that touched a deeper, sweeter joy than moor or
+mountain, bird or flower, had ever given her.
+
+Before they reached home, the squire had also become silent. He came
+into the hall with the face of one dissatisfied and unhappy. The feeling
+spread through the house, as a drop of ink spreads itself through a
+glass of water. It almost suited Sophia's mood, and Mrs. Sandal was not
+inclined to discuss it until the squire was alone with her. Then she
+asked the question of all questions the most irritating, "What is the
+matter with you, squire?"
+
+"What is the matter, indeed? Love-making. That is the matter, Alice."
+
+"Charlotte?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And Stephen Latrigg?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I thought as much. Opportunity is a dangerous thing."
+
+"My word! To hear you talk, one would think it was matterless how our
+girls married."
+
+"It is never matterless how any girl marries, squire; and our
+Charlotte"--
+
+"Oh, I thought Charlotte was a child yet! How could I tell there was
+danger at Up-Hill? You ought to have looked better after your daughters.
+See that she doesn't go near-hand Latrigg's again."
+
+"I wouldn't be so foolish, William. It's a deal better not to notice.
+Make no words about it; and, if you don't like Stephen, send Charlotte
+away a bit. Half of young people's love-affairs is just because they are
+handy to each other."
+
+"'Like Stephen!' It is more than a matter of liking, as you know very
+well. If Harry Sandal goes on as he has been going, there will be little
+enough left for the girls; and they must marry where money will not be
+wanted. More than that, I've been thinking of brother Tom's boy for one
+of them. Eh? What?"
+
+"You mean, you have been writing to Tom about a marriage? I would have
+been above a thing like that, William. I suppose you did it to please
+your mother. She always did hanker after Tom, and she always did dislike
+the Latriggs. I have heard that when people were in the grave they
+'ceased from troubling,' but"--
+
+"Alice!"
+
+"I meant no harm, squire, I'm sure; and I would not say wrong of the
+dead for any thing, specially of your mother; but I think about my own
+girls."
+
+"There, now, Alice, don't whimper and cry. I am not going to harm your
+girls, not I. Only mother was promised that Tom's son should have the
+first chance for their favor. I'm sure there's nothing amiss in that.
+Eh?"
+
+"A young man born in a foreign country among blacks, or very near
+blacks. And nobody knows who his mother was."
+
+"Oh, yes! his mother was a judge's daughter, and she had a deal of
+money. Her son has been well done to; sent to the very best German and
+French schools, and now he is at Oxford. I dare say he is a very good
+young man, and at any rate he is the only Sandal of this generation
+except our own boy."
+
+"Your sisters have sons."
+
+"Yes, Mary has three: they are _Lockerbys_. Elizabeth has two: they are
+_Piersons_. My poor brother Launcie was drowned, and never had son or
+daughter; so that Tom's Julius is the nearest blood we have."
+
+"Julius! I never heard tell of such a name."
+
+"Yes, it is a silly kind of a foreign name. His mother is called Julia:
+I suppose that is how it comes. No Sandal was ever called such a name
+before, but the young man mustn't be blamed for his godfather's
+foolishness, Alice. Eh?"
+
+"I'm not so unjust. Poor Launcie! I saw him once at a ball in Kendal.
+Are you sure he was drowned?"
+
+"I followed him to Whitehaven, and found out that he had gone away in a
+ship that never came home. Mother and Launcie were in bad bread when he
+left, and she never fretted for him as she did for Tom."
+
+"Why did you not tell me all this before?"
+
+"I said to myself, there's time enough yet to be planning husbands for
+girls that haven't a thought of the kind. We were very happy with them;
+I couldn't bear to break things up; and I never once feared about Steve
+Latrigg, not I."
+
+"What does your brother and his wife say?"
+
+"Tom is with me. As for his wife, I know nothing of her, and she knows
+nothing of us. She has been in England a good many times, but she never
+said she would like to come and see us, and my mother never wanted to
+see her; so there wasn't a compliment wasted, you see. Eh? What?"
+
+"No, I don't see, William. All about it is in a muddle, and I must say I
+never heard tell of such ways. It is like offering your own flesh and
+blood for sale. And to people who want nothing to do with us. I'm
+astonished at you, squire."
+
+"Don't go on so, Alice. Tom and I never had any falling out. He just got
+out of the way of writing. He likes India, and he had his own reasons
+for not liking England in any shape you could offer England to him.
+There's no back reckonings between Tom and me, and he'll be glad for
+Julius to come to his own people. We will ask Julius to Sandal; and you
+say, yourself, that the half of young folks' loving is in being handy to
+each other. Eh? What?"
+
+"I never thought you would bring my words up that way. But I'll tell you
+one thing, my girls are not made of melted wax, William. You'll be a
+wise man, and a strong man, if you get a ring on their fingers, if they
+don't want it there. Sophia will say very soft and sweet, 'No, thank
+you, father;' and you'll move Scawfell and Langdale Pikes before you get
+her beyond it. As for Charlotte, you yourself will stand 'making' better
+than she will. And you know that nothing short of an earthquake can lift
+you an inch outside your own way."
+
+And perhaps Sandal thought the hyperbole a compliment; for he smiled a
+little, and walked away, with what his wife privately called "a
+peacocky air," saying something about "Greek meeting Greek" as he did
+so. Mrs. Sandal did not in the least understand him: she wondered a
+little over the remark, and then dismissed it as "some of the squire's
+foolishness."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+JULIUS SANDAL.
+
+     "Variety's the very spice of life
+      That gives it all its flavor."
+
+     "Domestic happiness, thou only bliss
+      Of Paradise that has survived the fall."
+
+
+Life has a chronology quite independent of the almanac. The heart
+divides it into periods. When the sheep-shearing had been forgotten by
+all others, the squire often looked back to it with longing. It was a
+boundary which he could never repass, and which shut him out forever
+from the happy days of his daughters' girlhood,--the days when they had
+no will but his will, and no pleasures but in his smile and
+companionship. His son Harry had never been to him what Sophia and
+Charlotte were. Harry had spent his boyhood in public schools, and, when
+his education was completed, had defied all the Sandal traditions, and
+gone into the army. At this time he was with his regiment,--the old
+Cameronian,--in Edinburgh. And in other points, besides his choice of
+the military profession, Harry had asserted his will against his
+father's will. But the squire's daughters gave him nothing but delight.
+He was proud of their beauty, proud of Charlotte's love of out-door
+pleasures, proud of Sophia's love of books; and he was immeasurably
+happy in their affection and obedience.
+
+If Sandal had been really a wise man he would have been content with his
+good fortune; and like the happy Corinthian have only prayed, "O
+goddess, let the days of my prosperity continue!" But he had the
+self-sufficiency and impatience of a man who is without peer in his own
+small arena. He believed himself to be as capable of ordering his
+daughters' lives as of directing his sheep "walks," or the change of
+crops in his valley and upland meadows.
+
+Suddenly it had been revealed to him, that Stephen Latrigg had found his
+way into a life he thought wholly his own. Until that moment of
+revelation he had liked Stephen; but he liked him no longer. He felt
+that Stephen had stolen the privilege he should have asked for, and he
+deeply resented the position the young man had taken. On the contrary,
+Stephen had been guilty of no intentional wrong. He had simply grown
+into an affection too sweet to be spoken of, too uncertain and immature
+to be subjected to the prudential rules of daily life; yet, had the
+question been plainly put to him, he would have gone at once to the
+squire, and said, "I love Charlotte, and I ask for your sanction to my
+love." He would have felt such an acknowledgment to be the father's most
+sacred and evident right, and he was thinking of making it at the very
+hour in which Sandal was feeling bitterly toward him for its omission.
+And thus the old, old tragedy of mutual misunderstanding works to
+sorrowful ends.
+
+The night of the sheep-shearing the squire could not sleep. To lay awake
+and peer into the future through the dark hours was a new experience,
+and it made him full of restless anxieties. Of course he expected Sophia
+and Charlotte to marry, but not just yet. He had so far persistently
+postponed the consideration of this subject, and he was angry at Stephen
+Latrigg for showing him that further delay might be dangerous to his own
+plans.
+
+"A presumptuous young coxcomb," he muttered. "Does he think that being
+'top-shearer' gives him a right to make love to Charlotte Sandal?"
+
+In the morning he wrote the following letter:--
+
+     NEPHEW JULIUS SANDAL,--I hear you are at Oxford, and I
+     should think you would wish to make the acquaintance of your
+     nearest relatives. They will be glad to see you at Seat-Sandal
+     during the vacation, if your liking leads you that way. To hear
+     soon from you is the hope of your affectionate uncle,
+
+     WILLIAM SANDAL, _of Sandal-Side_.
+
+He finished the autograph with a broad flourish, and handed the paper to
+his wife. "What do you think of that, Alice? Eh? What?"
+
+There was a short silence, then Mrs. Sandal laid the note upon the
+table. "I don't think over much of it, William. Good-fortune won't bear
+hurrying. Can't you wait till events ripen naturally?"
+
+"And have all my plans put out of the way?"
+
+"Are you sure that your plans are the best plans?"
+
+"They will be a bit better than any Charlotte and Stephen Latrigg have
+made."
+
+"I don't believe they have such a thing as a plan between them. But if
+you think so, send Charlotte to her aunt Lockerby for a few months. Love
+is just like fire: it goes out if it hasn't fuel."
+
+"Nay, I want Charlotte here. After our Harry, Julius is the next heir,
+and I'm set on him marrying one of the girls. If he doesn't like Sophia
+he may like Charlotte. I have two chances then, and I'm not going to
+throw one away for Steve Latrigg's liking or loving. Don't you see,
+Alice? Eh? What?"
+
+"No: I never was one to see beyond the horizon. But if you must have
+to-morrow in to-day, why then send off your letter. I would let 'well'
+alone. When change comes to the door, it is time enough to ask it over
+the threshold. We are very happy now, William, and every happy day is so
+much certain gain in life."
+
+"That is a woman's way of talking. A man looks for the future."
+
+"And how seldom does he get what he looks for. But I know you, William
+Sandal. You will take your own way, be it good or bad; and what is more,
+you will make others take it with you."
+
+"I am inviting my own nephew, Alice. Eh? What?"
+
+"You know nothing about it. There are kin that are not kindred. You are
+inviting you know not who or what. But,"--and she pushed the letter
+towards him, with a gesture which seemed to say, "I am not responsible
+for the consequences."
+
+The squire after a moment's thought accepted them. He went into the
+yard, humming a strain of "The Bay of Biscay," and gave the letter to a
+groom, with orders to take it at once to the post-office. Then he called
+Charlotte from the rose-walk. "The horses are saddled," he said, "and I
+want you to trot over to Dalton with me."
+
+Mrs. Sandal had gone to her eldest daughter. She was in the habit of
+seeking Sophia's advice; or, more strictly speaking, she liked to
+discuss with her the things she had already determined to do. Sophia was
+sitting in the coolest and prettiest of gowns, working out with
+elaborate care a pencil drawing of Rydal Mount. She listened to her
+mother with the utmost respect and attention, and her fine color
+brightened slightly at the mention of Julius Sandal; but she never
+neglected once to change an F or an H pencil for a B at the precise
+stroke the change was necessary.
+
+"And so you see, Sophia, we may have a strange young man in the house
+for weeks, and where to put him I can't decide. And I wanted to begin
+the preserving and the raspberry vinegar next week, but your father is
+as thoughtless as ever was; and I am sure if Julius is like _his_ father
+he'll be no blessing in a house, for I have heard your grandmother speak
+in such a way of her son Tom."
+
+"I thought uncle Tom was grandmother's favorite."
+
+"I mean of his high temper and fine ways, and his quarrels with his
+eldest brother Launcelot."
+
+"Oh! What did they quarrel about?"
+
+"A good many things; among the rest, about the Latriggs. There was more
+than one pretty girl at Up-Hill then, and the young men all knew it. Tom
+and his mother were always finger and thumb. He was her youngest boy,
+and she fretted after him all her life."
+
+"And uncle Launcelot, did she not fret for him?"
+
+"Not so much. Launcelot was the eldest, and very set in his own way: she
+couldn't order him around."
+
+"The eldest? Then father would not have been squire of Sandal-Side if
+Launcelot had lived?"
+
+"No, indeed. Launcelot's death made a deal of difference to your father
+and me. Father was very solemn and set about his brother's rights; and
+even after grandfather died, he didn't like to be called 'squire' until
+every hope was long gone. But I would as soon have thought of poor
+Launcie coming back from the dead as of Tom's son visiting here; and it
+is inconvenient right now, exceedingly so; harvesting coming on, and
+preserving time, and none of the spare rooms opened since the spring
+cleaning."
+
+"It is trying for you, mother, but perhaps Julius may not be very much
+trouble. He'll be with father all the time, and he'll make a change."
+
+"Change! That is just what I dread. Young people are always for change.
+They are certain that every change must be a gain. Old people know that
+changes mean loss of some kind or other. After one is forty years old,
+Sophia, the seasons bring change enough."
+
+"I dare say they do, mother. I don't care much for change, even at my
+age. Have you told Charlotte?"
+
+"No, I haven't told her yet. I think she is off to Dalton. Father said
+he was going this morning, and he never would go without her."
+
+Indeed, the squire and his younger daughter were at that moment
+cantering down the valley, mid the fresh green of the fields, and the
+yellow of the ripening wheat, and the hazy purple of mountains holding
+the whole landscape in their solemn shelter except in front, where the
+road stretched to the sea, amid low hills overgrown with parsley-fern
+and stag's-horn-moss. They had not gone very far before they met Stephen
+Latrigg. He was well mounted and handsomely dressed; and, as he bowed to
+the squire and Charlotte, his happy face expressed a delight which
+Sandal in his present mood felt to be offensive. Evidently Steve
+intended to accompany them as far as their roads were identical; but the
+squire pointedly drew rein, and by the cool civility of his manner made
+the young man so sensible of his intrusion, that he had no alternative
+but to take the hint. He looked at Charlotte with eyes full of tender
+reproach, and she was too unprepared for such a speedy termination to
+their meeting to oppose it. So Stephen was galloping at headlong speed
+in advance, before she realized that he had been virtually refused their
+company.
+
+"Father, why did you do that?"
+
+"Do what, Charlotte? Eh? What?"
+
+"Send Steve away. I am sure I do not know what to make of you doing such
+a thing. Poor Steve!"
+
+"Well, then, I had my reason for it. Did you see the way he looked at
+you? Eh? What?"
+
+"Dear me! A cat may look at a king. Did you send Steve away for a look?
+You have put me about, father."
+
+"There's looks and other looks, my lass. Cats don't look at kings the
+way Steve looked at you. Now, then, I want no love-making between you
+and Steve Latrigg."
+
+"What nonsense! Steve hasn't said a word of love-making, as you call
+it."
+
+"I thought you had all your woman-senses, Charlotte. Bethink you of the
+garden walk last night."
+
+"We were talking all the time of the sweetbrier and hollyhocks,--and
+things like that."
+
+"You might have talked of the days of the week or the
+multiplication-table: one kind of words was just as good as another. Any
+thing Steve said last night could have been spelled with four letters."
+
+"Four letters?"
+
+"To be sure. L-o-v-e."
+
+"You used to like Stephen."
+
+"I like all bright, honest, good lads; but when they want to make love
+to Miss Charlotte Sandal, they think one thing, and I think another.
+There has been ill-luck with love-making between the Sandals and the
+Latriggs. My brothers Launcie and Tom quarrelled about one of Barf
+Latrigg's daughters, and mother lost them both through her. There is no
+love-line between the two houses, or if there is nothing can make it run
+straight. Don't you try to, Charlotte; neither the dead nor the living
+will like it or have it."
+
+He intended then to tell her about Julius Sandal, but a look at her face
+checked him. He had a wise perception about women; and he reflected
+that he had very seldom repented of speaking too little to them, but
+very often repented of speaking too much. So he dropped Stephen, and
+dropped Julius; and began to talk about the fish in the becks and tarns,
+and the new breed of sheep he was trying in the lower "walks." Ere long
+they came into the rich valley of Furness; and he made her notice the
+difference between it and the vale of Esk and Duddon, with its dreary
+waste of sullen moss and unfruitful solitudes.
+
+"Those old Cistercian monks that built Furness Abbey knew how to choose
+a bit of good land, Charlotte. Eh? What?"
+
+"I suppose so. What did they do with it?"
+
+"Let it out."
+
+"I wonder who would want to come here seven hundred years ago."
+
+"You don't know what you are saying, Charlotte. There were great men
+here then, and great deeds doing. King Stephen kept things very lively;
+and the Scots were always running over the Border for cattle and sheep,
+and any thing else they could lay their hands on. And the monks had
+great flocks, so they rented their lands to companies of four fighting
+men; and one of the four was to be ready day and night to protect the
+sheep, and the Scots kept them busy. Eh? What?"
+
+"The Musgraves and Armstrongs and Netherbys, I know," and the cloud
+passed from her face; and to the clatter of her horse's hoofs, she
+lilted merrily a stanza of an old border song:--
+
+    "The mountain sheep were sweeter,
+       But the valley sheep were fatter;
+     We therefore deemed it meeter
+       To carry off the latter.
+     We made an expedition;
+       We met a force, and quelled it;
+     We took a strong position,
+       And killed the men who held it."
+
+And the squire, who knew the effort it cost her, fell readily into her
+mood of forced gayety until the simulated feeling became a real one; and
+they entered Dalton neck and neck together, after a mile's hard race.
+
+In the mean time the letter which was to summon Fate sped to its
+destination. When it arrived in Oxford, Julius had left Oxford for
+London, and it followed him there. He was sitting in his hotel the
+ensuing night, when it was delivered into his hands; and as it happened,
+he was in a mood most favorable to its success. He had been down the
+river on a picnic, had found his company very tedious; and early in the
+day the climate had shown him what it was capable of, even at
+mid-summer. As he sat cowering before the smoky fire, the rain plashed
+in the muddy streets, and dripped mournfully down the dim window-panes.
+He was wondering what he must do with himself during the long vacation.
+He was tired of the Continent, he was lonely in England; and the United
+States had not then become the great playground for earth's weary or
+curious children.
+
+Many times the idea of seeking out his own relations occurred to him. He
+had promised his father to do so. But, as a rule, people haven't much
+enthusiasm about unknown relations; and Julius regarded his promise more
+in the light of a duty to be performed than as the realization of a
+pleasure. Still, on that dreary night, in the solitary dulness of his
+very respectable inn, the Sandals, Lockerbys, and Piersons became three
+possible sources of interest. While his thoughts were drifting in this
+direction, the squire's letter was received; and the young man, who was
+something of a fatalist, accepted it as the solution of a difficulty.
+
+"Sandal turns the new leaf for me," he murmured; "the new leaf in the
+book of life. I wonder what story will be written in it."
+
+He answered the invitation while the enthusiasm of its reception swayed
+him, and he promised to follow the letter immediately. The squire
+received this information on Saturday night, as he was sitting with his
+wife and daughters. "Your nephew Julius Sandal, from Calcutta, is coming
+to pay us a visit, Alice," he said; and his air was that of a man who
+thinks he is communicating a piece of startling intelligence. But the
+three women had already exchanged every possible idea on the subject,
+and felt no great interest in its further discussion.
+
+"When is he coming?" asked Mrs. Sandal without enthusiasm; and Sophia
+supplemented the question by remarking, "I suppose he has nowhere else
+to go."
+
+"I wouldn't say such things, Sophia; I would not."
+
+"He has been in England some months, father."
+
+"Well, then, he was only waiting till he was asked to come. I'm sure
+that was a proper thing. If there is any blame between us, it is my
+fault. I sent him a word of welcome last Wednesday morning, and it is
+very likely he will be here to-morrow. I'm sure he hasn't let any grass
+grow under his feet. Eh? What?"
+
+Charlotte looked up quickly. "_Wednesday morning_." She was quite
+capable of putting this and that together, and by a momentary mental
+process she arrived at an exceedingly correct estimate of her father's
+invitation. Her blue eyes scintillated beneath her dropped lids; and,
+though she went calmly on tying the feather to the fishing-fly she was
+making, she said, in a hurried and unsteady voice, "I know he will be
+disagreeable, and I have made up my mind to dislike him."
+
+Julius Sandal arrived the next morning when the ladies were preparing
+for church. He had passed the night at Ambleside, and driven over to
+Sandal in the first cool hours of the day. The squire was walking about
+the garden, and he saw the carriage enter the park gates. He said
+nothing to any one, but laid down his pipe, and went to meet it. Then
+Julius made the first step towards his uncle's affection,--he left the
+vehicle when they met, and insisted upon walking by his side.
+
+When they reached the house, his valet was attending to the removal of
+his luggage, and they entered the great hall together. At that moment
+Mistress Charlotte's remarkable likeness seemed to force itself upon the
+squire's attention. He was unable to resist the impulse which made him
+lead his nephew up to it. "Let me introduce you, first of all, to your
+father's mother. I greet you in her name as well as in my own." As he
+spoke, the squire lifted his hat, and Julius did the same. It was a
+sudden, and to both men a quite unexpected, ceremonial; and it gave an
+air, touching and unusual, to his welcome.
+
+And if that man is an ingrate who does not love his native land, how
+much more _immediate_, tender, and personal must the feeling be for the
+_home_ of one's own race. That stately lady, who seemed to meet him at
+the threshold, was only the last of a long, shadowy line, whose hands
+were stretched out to him, even from the dark, forgotten days in which
+Loegberg Sandal laid the foundations of it. Julius was sensitive, and
+full of imagination: he felt his heart beat quick, and his eyes grow dim
+to the thought; and he loitered up the wide, low steps, feeling very
+like a man going up the phantom stairway of a dream.
+
+The squire's cheery voice broke the spell. "We shall be ready for church
+in a quarter of an hour, Julius; will you remain at home, or go with
+us?"
+
+"I should like to go with you."
+
+"That's good. It is but a walk through the park: the church is almost at
+its gates."
+
+When he returned to the hall, the family were waiting for him; Mrs.
+Sandal and her daughters standing together in a little group, the squire
+walking leisurely about with his hands crossed behind his back. It would
+have been to some men a rather trying ordeal to descend the long flight
+of stairs, with three pairs of ladies' eyes watching him; but Julius
+knew that he had a striking personal appearance, and that every
+appointment of his toilet was faultless. He knew also the value of the
+respectable middle-aged valet following him, and felt that his
+irreproachable manner of serving his hat and gloves was a satisfactory
+reflection of his own importance.
+
+It is the women of a family that give the tone and place to it. One
+glance at his aunt and cousins satisfied Julius. Mrs. Sandal was stately
+and comely, and had the quiet manners of a high-bred woman. Sophia, in
+white mull, with a large hat covered with white drooping feathers, and a
+glimmer of gold at her throat and wrists, was at least picturesque. Of
+Charlotte, he saw nothing in the first moments of their meeting but a
+pair of bright blue eyes, and a face as sweet and fresh as if it had
+been made out of a rose. He took his place between the girls, and the
+squire and his wife walked behind them. Sophia, being the eldest, took
+the initiative, talking softly and thoughtfully, as it was proper to do
+upon a Sunday morning.
+
+The sods under their feet were thick and green; the oaks and sycamores
+above them had the broad shadows of many centuries. The air was balmy
+with emanations from the woods and fields, and full of the expanding
+melody of church-bells travelling from hill to hill. Julius was
+conscious of every thing; even of the proud, shy girl who walked on his
+left hand, and whose attitude impressed him as slightly antagonistic.
+They soon reached the church, a very ancient one, built in the bloody
+days of the Plantagenets by the two knights whose grim effigies kept
+guard within the porch. It was dim and still when they entered: the
+congregation all kneeling at the solemn confession; the clergyman's
+voice, low and pathetic, intensifying silence to which it only added
+mortal minors of lament and entreaty. He was a small, spare man, with a
+face almost as white as the vesture of his holy office. Julius glanced
+up at him, and for a few minutes forgot all his dreamy philosophies,
+aggressive free thought, and shallow infidelities. He could not resist
+the influences around him; and when the people rose, and the organ
+filled the silence with melody, and a young sweet voice chanted
+joyfully,--
+
+    _"O come let us sing unto the Lord: let us heartily rejoice
+       in the strength of our salvation.
+    Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving:
+       and shew ourselves glad in him with Psalms,"--_
+
+he turned round, and looked up to the singer, with a heart beating to
+every triumphant note. Then he saw it was Charlotte Sandal; and he did
+not wonder at the hearty way in which the squire joined in the melodious
+invocation, nor at his happy face, nor at his shining eyes; and he said
+to himself with a sigh, "That is a Psalm one could sing oftener than
+once in seven days."
+
+He had not noticed Charlotte much as they went to church: he amended his
+error as he returned to the "seat." And he thought that the old sylvan
+goddesses must have been as she was; must have had just the same fresh
+faces, and bright brown hair; just the same tall, erect forms and light
+steps; just the same garments of mingled wood-colors and pale green.
+
+The squire had a very complacent feeling. He looked upon Julius as a
+nephew of his own discovering, and he felt something of a personal pride
+in all that was excellent in the young man. He watched impatiently for
+his wife to express her satisfaction, but Mrs. Sandal was not yet sure
+that she had any good reason to express it.
+
+"Is he not handsome, Alice?"
+
+"Some people would think so, William. I like a face I can read."
+
+"I'm sure it is a long way better to keep yourself to yourself. Say what
+you will, I am sure he will have plenty of good qualities. Eh? What?"
+
+"For instance, a great deal of money."
+
+"Treat him fair, Alice; treat him fair. You never were one to be unfair,
+and I don't think you'll begin with my nephew."
+
+"No, I'll never be unfair, not as long as I live; and I'll take up for
+Julius Sandal as soon as I am half sure he deserves it."
+
+"You can't think what a pleasure it would be to me if he fancied one of
+our girls. I've planned it this many a long day, Alice."
+
+"Well, then, William, if you have a wish as strong as that, it is
+something more than a wish, it is a kind of right; and I'll never go
+against you in any fair matter."
+
+"And though you spoke scornful of money, it is a good thing; and the
+girl Julius marries will be a rich woman. Eh? What?"
+
+"Perhaps; but it is the happiness and not the riches of her child that
+is a good mother's reward, and a good father's too. Eh, William?"
+
+"Certainly, Alice, certainly." But his unspoken reflection was, "women
+are that short sighted, they cannot put up with a small evil to prevent
+a big one."
+
+He had forgotten that "the wise One" and the "Counsellor" thought one
+day's joys and sorrows "sufficient" for the heart to bear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THUS RUNS THE WORLD AWAY.
+
+                "But we mortals
+     Planted so lowly, with death to bless us,
+     Sorrow no longer."
+
+     "Our choices are our destiny. Nothing is ours that our choices have
+     not made ours."
+
+
+Julius Sandal had precisely those superficial excellences which the
+world is ready to accept at their apparent value; and he had been in so
+many schools, and imbibed such a variety of opinions, that he had a
+mental suit for all occasions. "He knows about every thing," said Sandal
+to the clergyman, at the close of an evening spent together,--an evening
+in which Julius had been particularly interesting. "Don't you think so,
+sir?"
+
+The rector looked up at the starry sky, and around the mountain-girdled
+valley, and answered slowly, "He has a great many ideas, squire; but
+they are second-hand, and do not fit his intellect."
+
+Charlotte had much the same opinion of the paragon, only she expressed
+it in a different way. "He believes in every thing, and he might as well
+believe in nothing. Confucius and Christ are about the same to him, and
+he thinks Juggernaut only 'a clumsier spelling of a name which no man
+spells correctly.'"
+
+"His mind is like a fine mosaic, Charlotte."
+
+"Oh, indeed, Sophia, I don't think so! Mosaics have a design and fit it.
+The mind of Julius is more like that quilt of a thousand pieces which
+grandmother patched. There they are, the whole thousand, just bits of
+color, all sizes and shapes. I would rather have a good square of white
+Marseilles."
+
+"I don't think you ought to speak in such a way, Charlotte. You can't
+help seeing how much he admires you."
+
+There was a tone in Sophia's carefully modulated voice which made
+Charlotte turn, and look at her sister. She was sitting at her
+embroidery-frame, and apparently counting the stitches in the rose-leaf
+she was copying; but Charlotte noticed that her hand trembled, and that
+she was counting at random. In a moment the veil fell from her eyes: she
+understood that Sophia was in love with Julius, and fearful of her own
+influence over him. She had been about to leave the room: she returned
+to the window, and stood at it a few moments, as if considering the
+assertion.
+
+"I should be very sorry if that were the case, Sophia."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I do not admire Julius in any way. I never could admire him. I
+don't want to be in debt to him for even one-half hour of sentimental
+affection."
+
+"You should let him understand that, Charlotte, if it be so."
+
+"He must be very dull if he does not understand."
+
+"When father and you went fishing yesterday, he went with you."
+
+"Why did you not come also? We begged you to do so."
+
+"Because I hate to be hot and untidy, and to get my hands soiled, and my
+face flushed. That was your condition when you returned home; but all
+the same, he said you looked like a water-nymph or a wood-nymph."
+
+"I think very little of him for such talk. There is nothing 'nymphy'
+about me. I should hate myself if there were. I am going to write, and
+ask Harry to get a furlough for a few weeks. I want to talk sensibly to
+some one. I am tired of being on the heights or in the depths all the
+time; and as for poetry, I wish I might never hear words that rhyme
+again. I've got to feel that way about it, that if I open a book, and
+see the lines begin with capitals, my first impulse is to tear it to
+pieces. There, now, you have my opinions, Sophia!"
+
+Sophia laughed softly. "Where are you going? I see you have your bonnet
+on."
+
+"I am going to Up-Hill. Grandfather Latrigg had a fall yesterday, and
+that's a bad thing at his age. Father is quite put out about it."
+
+"Is he going with you?"
+
+"He was, but two of the shepherds from Holler Scree have just come for
+him. There is something wrong with the flocks."
+
+"Julius?"
+
+"He does not know I am going; and if he did, I should tell him plainly
+he was not wanted either at Up-Hill, or on the way to it. Ducie thinks
+little of him, and grandfather Latrigg makes his face like a stone wall
+when Julius talks his finest."
+
+"They don't understand Julius. How can they? Steve is their model, and
+Steve is not the least like Julius."
+
+"I should think not."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Never mind. Good-by."
+
+She shut the door with more emphasis than she was aware of, and went to
+her mother for some cordials and dainties to take with her. As she
+passed through the hall the squire called her, and she followed his
+voice into the small parlor which was emphatically "master's room."
+
+"I have had very bad news about the Holler Scree flock, Charlotte, and I
+must away there to see what can be done. Tell Barf Latrigg it is the
+sheep, and he will understand: he was always one to put the dumb
+creatures first. The kindest thing that is in your own heart say it to
+the dear old man for me; will you, Charlotte?"
+
+"You can trust to me, father."
+
+"Yes, I know I can; for that and more too. And there is more. I feel a
+bit about Stephen. Happen I was less than kind to him the other day.
+But I gave you good reasons, Charlotte; and I have such confidence in
+you, that I said to mother, 'You can send Charlotte. There is nothing
+underhand about her. She knows my will, and she'll do it.' Eh? What?"
+
+"Yes, father: I'll be square on all four sides with you. But I told you
+there had been no love-making between me and Steve."
+
+"Steve was doing his best at it. Depend upon it he meant love-making;
+and I must say I thought you made out to understand him very well. Maybe
+I was mistaken. Every woman is a new book, and a book by herself; and it
+isn't likely I can understand them all."
+
+"Stephen is sure to speak to me about your being so queer to him. Had I
+not better tell the truth?"
+
+"I have a high opinion of that way. Truth may be blamed, but it can't be
+shamed. However, if he was not making love to you at the shearing, won't
+you find it a bit difficult to speak your mind? Eh? What?"
+
+"He will understand."
+
+"Ay, I thought so."
+
+"Father, we have never had any secrets, you and me. If I am not to
+encourage Stephen Latrigg, do you want me to marry Julius Sandal?"
+
+"Well, I never! Such a question! What for?"
+
+"Because, at the very first, I want to tell you that I could not do
+it--_no way_. I am quite ready to give up my will to your will, and my
+pleasure to your pleasure. That is my duty; but to marry cousin Julius
+is a different thing."
+
+"Don't get too far forward, Charlotte. Julius has not said a word to me
+about marrying you."
+
+"But he is doing his best at it. Depend upon it he means marrying; and I
+must say I thought you made out to understand him very well. Maybe I was
+mistaken. Every man is a new book, and a book by himself; and it is not
+likely I can understand them all."
+
+"Now you are picking up my own words, and throwing them back at me. That
+isn't right. I don't know whatever to say for myself. Eh? What?"
+
+"Say, 'dear Charlotte,' and 'good-by Charlotte,' and take an easy mind
+with you to Holler Scree, father. As far as I am concerned, I will
+never grieve you, and never deceive you,--no, not in the least little
+thing."
+
+So she left him. Her face was bright with smiles, and her words had even
+a ring of mirth in them; but below all there was a stubborn weight that
+she could not throw off, a darkness of spirit that no sunshine could
+brighten. Since Julius had come into their home, home had never been the
+same. There was a stranger at the table and in all its sweet, familiar
+places, and she was sure that to her he always would be a stranger.
+Something was said or done that put them farther apart every day. She
+could not understand how any Sandal could be so absolutely out of her
+love and sympathy. Who has not experienced these invasions of hostile
+natures? Alien voices, characters fundamentally different, yet bound to
+them by natural ties which the soul refuses to recognize.
+
+The somberness of her thoughts affected her surroundings very much as
+rain affects the atmosphere. The hills looked melancholy: she was aware
+of every stone on the road. Alas! this morning she had begun to grow
+old, for she felt that she had _a past_,--a past that could never
+return. Hitherto her life had been to-day and to-morrow, and to-morrow
+always in the sunshine. Hitherto the thought of Stephen had been blended
+with something that was to happen. Now she knew she must always be
+remembering the days that for them would come no more. She found herself
+reviewing even her former visits to Up-Hill. In them also change had
+begun. And it is over the young, sorrow triumphs most cruelly. They are
+so easily wounded, so inapt to resist, so harassed by scruples, so
+astonished at troubles they cannot comprehend, that their very
+sensitiveness prepares them for suffering. Very bitter tears are shed
+before we are twenty years old. At forty we have learned to accept the
+inevitable, and to feel many things possible which we once declared
+would break our hearts in two.
+
+There was an air of great depression also at Up-Hill. Ducie was full of
+apprehension. She said to Charlotte, "When men as old as father fall,
+they stumble at their own grave; and I can't think what I'll do without
+father."
+
+"You have Steve."
+
+"Steve is going away. He would have left this morning, but for this
+fresh trouble. I see you are startled, Charlotte."
+
+"I am that. I heard nothing of it. He moves in a great hurry."
+
+"He always moves that way, does Steve."
+
+"How is grandfather?"
+
+"He has had quite a backening since yesterday night. He has got 'the
+call,' Charlotte. I've had more than one sign of it. Just before he fell
+he went into the garden, and brought in with him a sprig of
+'Death-come-quickly.' [The plant _Geranium Robertianum_.] 'Father,' I
+asked, 'whatever made you pull that?' Then he looked so queerly, and
+answered, 'I didn't pull it, Ducie: I found it on the wall.' He was quite
+curious, and sent me to ask this one and the other one if they had been
+in the garden. No one had been there; and, at the long end, he said,
+'Make no more talk about it, Ducie. There's _them_ that go up and down
+the fellside that no one sees. _They_ lift the latch, and wait not for
+the open door, the king's command being urgent. I have had a message.' He
+fell an hour afterwards, Charlotte. He did not think he was much hurt at
+the time, but he got his death-throw. I know it."
+
+"I should like to speak to him, Ducie. Tell him that Charlotte Sandal
+wants his blessing."
+
+He was lying on the big oak bed in the best room, waiting for his
+dismissal in cheerful serenity. "Come here, Charlotte," he said; "stoop
+down, and let me see you once more. My sight grows dim. I am going away,
+dear."
+
+"O grandfather! is there any thing I can do for you?"
+
+"Be a good girl. Be good, and do good. Stand true to
+Steve,--remember,--true to Steve." And he did not seem inclined to talk
+more.
+
+"He is saving his strength for the squire," said Ducie. "He has a deal
+to say to him."
+
+"Father hoped to be back this afternoon."
+
+"Though it be the darkening when he gets home, ask him to come at once,
+Charlotte. Father is waiting for him, and I don't think he will pass the
+turn of the night."
+
+There were many subtle links of sympathy between Up-Hill and Sandal.
+Death could not be in one house without casting a shadow in the other.
+Julius privately thought such a fellow-feeling a little stretched. The
+Latriggs were on a distinctly lower social footing than the Sandals.
+Rich they might be; but they were not written among the list of county
+families, nor had they even married into their ranks. He could not
+understand why Barf Latrigg's death should be allowed to interfere with
+life at Seat-Sandal. Yet Mrs. Sandal was at Up-Hill all the afternoon;
+and, though the squire did not get home until quite the darkening, he
+went at once, without taking food or rest, to the dying man.
+
+"Why, Barf is very near all the same as my own father," he said. And
+then, in a lower voice, "and he may see my father before the strike of
+day. I wouldn't miss Barfs last words for a year of life. I wouldn't
+that."
+
+It was a lovely night,--warm, and sweet with the scent of August lilies,
+and the rich aromas of ripening fruit and grain. The great hills and the
+peaceful valleys lay under the soft radiance of a full moon; and there
+was not a sound but the gurgle of running water, or the bark of some
+solitary sheep-dog, watching the folds on the high fells. Sophia and
+Julius were walking in the garden, both feeling the sensitive
+suggestiveness of the hour, talking softly together on topics people
+seldom discuss in the sunshine,--intimations of lost powers, prior
+existences, immortal life. Julius was learned in the Oriental view of
+metempsychosis. Sophia could trace the veiled intuition through the
+highest inspiration of Western thought.
+
+"It whispers in the heart of every shepherd on these hills," she said;
+"and they interpreted for Mr. Wordsworth the dream of his own soul."
+
+"I know, Sophia. I lifted the book yesterday: your mark was in it." And
+he recited in a low, intense voice,--
+
+    "'Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
+       The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
+     Hath had elsewhere its setting,
+         And cometh from afar:
+       Not in entire forgetfulness,
+       And not in utter nakedness,
+     But trailing clouds of glory do we come
+         From God, who is our home:'"
+
+"Oh, yes!" answered Sophia, lifting her dark eyes in a real enthusiasm.
+
+    "Though inland far we be,
+     Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
+       Which brought us hither.'"
+
+And they were both very happy in this luxury of mystical speculation.
+Eternity was behind as before them. Soft impulses from moon and stars,
+and from the witching beauty of lonely hills and scented garden-ways,
+touched within their souls some primal sympathy that drew them close to
+that unseen boundary dividing spirits from shadow-casting men. It is
+true they rather felt than understood; but when the soul has faith, what
+matters comprehension?
+
+In the cold sweetness of the following dawn, the squire returned from
+Up-Hill. "Barf is gone, Alice," were his first words.
+
+"But all is well, William."
+
+"No doubt of it. I met the rector on the hillside. 'How is Barf?' I
+asked; and he answered, 'Thank God, he has the mastery!' Then he went on
+without another word. Barf had lost his sight when I got there; but he
+knew my voice, and he asked me to lay my face against his face. 'I've
+done well to Sandal,--well to Sandal,' he muttered at intervals.
+'You'll know it some day, William.' I can't think what he meant. I hope
+he hasn't left me any money. I could not take it, Alice."
+
+"Was that all?"
+
+"When Steve came in he said something like 'Charlotte,' and he looked
+hard at me; and then again, 'I've done well by Sandal.' But I was too
+late. Ducie said he had been very restless about me earlier in the
+afternoon: he was nearly outside life when I got there. We thought he
+would speak no more; but about three o'clock this morning he called
+quite clearly, '_Ducie, the abbot's cross_.' Then Ducie unlocked the oak
+chest that stands by the bed-side, and took from it an ivory crucifix.
+She put it in his left hand. With a smile he touched the Christ upon it;
+and so, clasping the abbot's cross, he died."
+
+"I wonder at that, William. A better Church-of-England man was not in
+all the dales than Barf Latrigg."
+
+"Ay; but you see, Alice, that cross is older than the Church of England.
+It was given to the first Latrigg of Up-Hill by the first abbot of
+Furness. Before the days of Wyckliffe and Latimer, every one of them,
+babe and hoary-head, died with it in their hands. There are things that
+go deeper down than creeds, Alice; and the cross with the Saviour on it
+is one of them. I would like to feel it myself, even when I was past
+seeing it. I would like to take the step between here and there with it
+in my hands."
+
+In the cool of the afternoon, Julius and the girls went to Up-Hill. He
+had a solemn curiousness about death; and both personally and
+theoretically the transition filled him with vague, momentous ideas,
+relating to all sides of his conscious being. In every land where he had
+sojourned, the superstitions and ceremonials that attended it were
+subjects of interest to him. So he was much touched when he entered the
+deep, cool porch, and saw the little table at the threshold, covered
+with a white linen cloth, and holding a plate of evergreens and a
+handful of salt. And when Sophia and Charlotte each scattered a little
+salt upon the ground, and broke off a small spray of boxwood, he knew
+instinctively that they were silently expressing their faith in the
+preservation of the body, and in the life everlasting; and he imitated
+them in the simple rite.
+
+Ducie met them with a grave and tender pleasure. "Come, and see the
+empty soul-case," she said softly; "there is nothing to fear you." And
+she led them into the chamber where it lay. The great bed was white as a
+drift of snow. On the dark oak walls, there were branches of laurel and
+snowberry. The floor was fragrant under the feet, with bits of rosemary,
+and bruised ears of lavender, and leaves of thyme. The casements were
+wide open to admit the fresh mountain breeze; and at one of them Steve
+rested in the carved chair that had been his grandfather's, and was now
+his own.
+
+The young men did not know each other; but this was neither the time nor
+the place for social civilities, and they only slightly bowed as their
+eyes met. Indeed, it seemed wrong to trouble the peaceful silence with
+mere words of courtesy; but Charlotte gave her hand to Stephen, and with
+it that candid, loving gaze, which has, from the eyes of the beloved,
+the miraculous power of turning the water of life into wine. And
+Charlotte perceived this, and she went home happy in the happiness she
+had given.
+
+Four days later, Barf Latrigg was buried. In the glory of the August
+afternoon, the ladies of Seat-Sandal stood with Julius in the shadow of
+the park gates, and watched the long procession winding slowly down the
+fells. At first it was accompanied by fitful, varying gusts of solemn
+melody; but as it drew nearer, the affecting tones of the funeral hymn
+became more and more distinct and sustained. There were at least three
+hundred voices thrilling the still, warm air with its pathetic music;
+and, as they approached the church gates, it blended itself with the
+heavy tread of those who carried and of those who followed the dead,
+like a wonderful, triumphant march.
+
+After the funeral was over, the squire went back to Up-Hill to eat the
+arvel-meal, [Death-feast.] and to hear the will of his old friend read.
+It was nearly dark when he returned, and he was very glad to find his
+wife alone. "I have had a few hard hours, Alice," he said wearily; "and
+I am more bothered about Barfs will than I can tell why."
+
+"I suppose Steve got all."
+
+"Pretty nearly. Barf's married daughters had their portions long ago,
+but he left each of them three hundred pounds as a good-will token.
+Ducie got a thousand pounds and her right in Up-Hill as long as she
+lived. All else was for Steve except--and this bothers me--a box of
+papers left in Ducie's charge. They are to be given to me at her
+discretion; and, if not given during her lifetime or my lifetime, the
+charge remains then between those that come after us. I don't like it,
+and I can't think what it means. Eh? What?"
+
+"He left you nothing?"
+
+"He left me his staff. He knew better than to leave me money. But I am
+bothered about that box of papers. What can they refer to? Eh? What?"
+
+"I can make a guess, William. When your brother Tom left home, and went
+to India, he took money enough with him; but I'm afraid he got it
+queerly. At any rate, your father had some big sums to raise. You were
+at college at the time; and though there was some underhand talk, maybe
+you never heard it, for no one round Sandal-Side would pass on a word
+likely to trouble the old squire, or offend Mistress Charlotte. Now,
+perhaps it was at that time Barf Latrigg 'did well to Sandal.'"
+
+"I think you may be right, Alice. I remember that father was a bit mean
+with me the last year I was at Oxford. He would have reasons he did not
+tell me of. One should never judge a father. He is often forced to cut
+the loaf unevenly for the good of every one."
+
+But this new idea troubled Sandal. He was a man of super-sensitive honor
+with regard to money matters. If there were really any obligation of
+that kind between the two houses, he hardly felt grateful to Latrigg for
+being silent about it. And still more the transfer of these papers vexed
+him. Ducie might know what he might never know. Steve might have it in
+his power to trouble Harry when he was at rest with his fore-elders. The
+subject haunted and worried him; and as worries are never complete
+worries till they have an individuality, Steve very soon became the
+personal embodiment of mortifying uncertainty, and wounded _amour
+propre_. For if Mrs. Sandal's suspicion were true, or even if it were
+not true, she was not likely to be the only one in Sandal-Side who would
+construe Latrigg's singular disposition of his papers in the same way.
+Certainly Squire William did not feel as if the dead man had 'done well
+to Sandal.'
+
+Stephen was equally annoyed. His grandfather had belonged to a dead
+century, and retained until the last his almost feudal idea of the bond
+between his family and the Sandals. But the present squire had stepped
+outside the shadows of the past, and Stephen was fully abreast of his
+own times. He understood very well, that, whatever these papers related
+to, they would be a constant thorn in Sandal's side; and he saw them
+lying between Charlotte and himself, a barrier unknown, and
+insurmountable because unknown.
+
+From Ducie he could obtain neither information nor assistance. "Mother,"
+he asked, "do you know what those papers are about?"
+
+"Ratherly."
+
+"When can you tell me?"
+
+"There must be a deal of sorrow before I can tell you."
+
+"Do you want to tell me?"
+
+"If I should dare to want it one minute, I should ask God's pardon the
+next. When I unlock that box, Steve, there is like to be trouble in
+Sandal. I think your grandfather would rather the key rusted away."
+
+"Does the squire know any thing about them?"
+
+"Not he."
+
+"If he asks, will you tell him?"
+
+"Not yet. I--hope never."
+
+"I wish they were in the fire."
+
+"Perhaps some day you may put them there. You will have the right when I
+am gone."
+
+Then Steve silently kissed her, and went into the garden; and Ducie
+watched him through the window, and whispered to herself, "It is a bit
+hard, but it might be harder; and right always gets the over-hand at the
+long end."
+
+The first interview between the squire and Stephen after Barf Latrigg's
+funeral was not a pleasanter one than this misunderstanding promised.
+Sandal was walking on Sandal Scree-top one morning, and met Steve.
+"Good-morning, Mr. Latrigg," he said; "you are a statesman now, and we
+must give you your due respect." He did not say it unkindly; but Steve
+somehow felt the difference between Mr. Latrigg and Squire Sandal as he
+had never felt it when the greeting had only been, "Good-morning,
+Steve. How do all at home do?"
+
+Still, he was anxious to keep Sandal's good-will, and he hastened to ask
+his opinion upon several matters relating to the estate which had just
+come into his hands. Ordinarily this concession would have been a piece
+of subtle flattery quite irresistible to the elder man, but just at that
+time it was the most imprudent thing Steve could have done.
+
+"I had an offer this morning from Squire Methley. He wants to rent the
+Skelwith 'walk' from me. What do you think of him, sir?"
+
+"As how?"
+
+"As a tenant. I suppose he has money. There are about a thousand sheep
+on it."
+
+"He lives on the other side of the range, and I know him not; but our
+sheep have mingled on the mountain for thirty years. I count not after
+him, and he counts not after me;" and Sandal spoke coldly, like a man
+defending his own order. "Are you going to rent your 'walks' so soon?
+Eh? What?"
+
+"As soon as I can advantageously."
+
+"I bethink me. At the last shearing you were all for spinning and
+weaving. The Coppice Woods were to make your bobbins; Silver Force was
+to feed your engines; the little herd lads and lassies to mind your
+spinning-frames. Well, well, Mr. Latrigg, such doings are not for me to
+join in! I shall be sorry to see these lovely valleys turned into
+weaving-shops; but you belong to a new generation, and the young know
+every thing,--or they think they do."
+
+"And you will soon join the new generation, squire. You were always
+tolerant and wide awake. I never knew your prejudices beyond reasoning
+with."
+
+"Mr. Latrigg, leave my prejudices, as you call them, alone. To-day I am
+not in the humor either to defend them or repent of them."
+
+They talked for some time longer,--talked until the squire felt bored
+with Steve's plans. The young man kept hoping every moment to say
+something that would retrieve his previous blunders; but who can please
+those who are determined not to be pleased? And yet Sandal was annoyed
+at his own injustice, and then still more annoyed at Steve for causing
+him to be unjust. Besides which, the young man's eagerness for change,
+his enthusiasms and ambitions, offended him in a particular way that
+morning; for he had had an unpleasant letter from his son Harry, who was
+not eager and enthusiastic and ambitious, but lazy, extravagant, and
+quite commonplace. Also Charlotte had not cared to come out with him,
+and the immeasurable self-complacency of his nephew Julius had really
+quite spoiled his breakfast; and then, below all, there was that
+disagreeable feeling about the Latriggs.
+
+So Stephen did not conciliate Sandal, and he was himself very much
+grieved at the squire's evident refusal of his friendly advances. There
+is no humiliation so bitter as that of a rejected offering. Was it not
+the failure of Cain's attempted propitiation that kindled the flame of
+hate and murder in his heart? Steve Latrigg went back to Up-Hill,
+nursing a feeling of indignation against the man who had so suddenly
+conceived a dislike to him, and who had dashed, with regrets and
+doubtful speeches and faint praise, all the plans which at sunrise had
+seemed so full of hope, and so worthy of success.
+
+The squire was equally annoyed. He could not avoid speaking of the
+interview, for it irritated him, and was uppermost in his thoughts. He
+detailed it with a faint air of pitying contempt. "The lad is upset with
+the money and land he has come into, and the whole place is too small
+for his greatness." That was what he said, and he knew he was unjust;
+but the moral atmosphere between Steve and himself had become permeated
+with distrust and dislike. Unhappy miasmas floated hither and thither in
+it, and poisoned him. When with Stephen he hardly recognized himself: he
+did not belong to himself. Sarcasm, contradiction, opposing ideas, took
+possession of and ruled him by the forces of antipathy, just as others
+ruled him by the forces of love and attraction.
+
+The days that had been full of peaceful happiness were troubled in all
+their hours; and yet the sources of trouble were so vague, so blended
+with what he had called unto himself, that he could not give vent to his
+unrest and disappointment. His life had had a jar; nothing ran smoothly;
+and he was almost glad when Julius announced the near termination of his
+visit. He had begun to feel as if Julius were inimical to him; not
+consciously so, but in that occult way which makes certain foods and
+drinks, certain winds and weathers, inimical to certain personalities.
+His presence seemed to have blighted his happiness, as the north wind
+blighted his myrtles. "If I could only have let 'well' alone. If I had
+never written that letter." Many a time a day he said such words to his
+own heart.
+
+In the mean time, Julius was quite unconscious of his position. He was
+thoroughly enjoying himself. If others were losing, he was not. He was
+in love with the fine old hall. The simple, sylvan character of its
+daily life charmed his poetic instincts. The sweet, hot days on the
+fells, with a rod in his hand, and Charlotte and the squire for company,
+were like an idyl. The rainy days in the large, low drawing-room,
+singing with Sophia, or dreaming and speculating with her on all sorts
+of mysteries, were, in their way, equally charmful. He liked to walk
+slowly up and down, and to talk to her softly of things obscure,
+cryptic, cabalistic. The plashing rain, the moaning wind, made just the
+monotonous accompaniment that seemed fitting; and the lovely girl,
+listening, with needle half-drawn, and sensitive, sensuous face lifted
+to his own, made a situation in which he knew he did himself full
+justice.
+
+At such times he thought Sophia was surely his natural mate,--'the soul
+that halved his own,' the one of 'nearer kindred than life hinted of.'
+At other times he was equally conscious that he loved Charlotte Sandal
+with an intensity to which his love for Sophia was as water is to wine.
+But Charlotte's indifference mortified him, and their natures were
+almost antagonistic to each other. Under such circumstances a great love
+is often a dangerous one. Very little will turn it into hatred. And
+Julius had been made to feel more than once the utter superfluity of his
+existence, as far as Charlotte Sandal was concerned.
+
+Still, he determined not to resign the hope of winning her until he was
+sure that her indifference was not an affectation. He had read of women
+who used it as a lure. If it were Charlotte's special weapon he was
+quite willing to be brought to submission by it. After all, there was
+piquancy in the situation; for to most men, love sought and hardly won
+is far sweeter than love freely given.
+
+Yet of all the women whom he had known, Charlotte Sandal was the least
+approachable. She was fertile in preventing an opportunity; and if the
+opportunity came, she was equally fertile in spoiling it. But Julius had
+patience; and patience is the art and secret of hoping. A woman cannot
+always be on guard, and he believed in not losing heart, and in waiting.
+Sooner or later, the happy moment when success would be possible was
+certain to arrive.
+
+One day in the early part of September, the squire asked his wife for
+all the house-servants she could spare. "A few more hands will bring
+home the harvest to-night," he said; "and it would be a great thing to
+get it in without a drop of rain."
+
+So the men and maids went off to the wheat-fields, as if they were going
+to a frolic; and there was a happy sense of freedom, with the picnicky
+dinner, and the general air of things being left to themselves about the
+house. After an unusually merry lunch, Julius proposed a walk to the
+harvest-field, and Sophia and Charlotte eagerly agreed to it.
+
+It was a joy to be out of doors under such a sky. The intense,
+repressing greens of summer were now subdued and shaded. The air was
+subtle and fragrant. Amber rays shone through the boughs. The hills were
+clothed in purple. An exquisite, impalpable haze idealized all nature.
+Right and left the reapers swept their sharp sickles through the ripe
+wheat. The women went after them, binding the sheaves, and singing among
+the yellow swaths shrill, wild songs, full of simple modulations.
+
+The squire's field was busy as a fair; and the idle young people sat
+under the oaks, or walked slowly in the shadow of the hedges, pulling
+poppies and wild flowers, and realizing all the poetry of a pastoral
+life, without any of its hard labor or its vulgar cares. Mrs. Sandal had
+given them a basket with berries and cake and cream in it. They were all
+young enough to get pleasantly hungry in the open air, all young enough
+to look upon berries and cake and cream as a distinct addition to
+happiness. They set out a little feast under the trees, and called the
+squire to come and taste their dainties.
+
+He was standing, without his coat and vest, on the top of a loaded wain,
+the very embodiment of a jovial, handsome, country gentleman. The reins
+were in his hand; he was going to drive home the wealthy wagon; but he
+stopped and stooped, and Charlotte, standing on tip-toes, handed him a
+glass of cream. "God love thy bonny face," he said, with a beaming
+smile, as he handed her back the empty glass. Then off went the great
+horses with their towering load, treading carefully between the hedges
+of the narrow lane, and leaving upon the hawthorns many a stray ear for
+the birds gleaning.
+
+When the squire returned he called to Julius and his daughters, "What
+idle-backs you are! Come, and bind a sheaf with me." And they rose with
+a merry laugh, and followed him down the field, working a little, and
+resting a little; and towards the close of the afternoon, listening to
+the singing of an old man who had brought his fiddle to the field in
+order to be ready to play at the squire's "harvest-home." He was a thin,
+crooked, old man, very spare and ruddy. "Eighty-three years old, young
+sir," he said to Julius; and then, in a trembling, cracked voice, he
+quavered out,--
+
+    "Says t' auld man to t' auld oak-tree,
+     Young and lusty was I when I kenned thee:
+     I was young and lusty, I was fair and clear,
+     Young and lusty was I, many a long year.
+     But sair failed is I, sair failed now;
+     Sair failed is I, since I kenned thou.
+                    Sair failed, honey,
+                    Sair failed now;
+                    Sair failed, honey,
+                    Since I kenned thou."
+
+It was the appeal of tottering age to happy, handsome youth, and Julius
+could not resist it. With a royal grace he laid a guinea in the old
+man's open palm, and felt fully rewarded by his look of wonder and
+delight.
+
+"God give you love and luck, young sir. I am eighty-three now, and sair
+failed; but I was once twenty-three, and young and lusty as you be. But
+life is at the fag end with me now. God save us all!" Then, with a
+meaning look at the two pretty girls watching him, he went slowly off,
+droning out to a monotonous accompaniment, an old love ballad:--
+
+    "Picking of lilies the other day,
+     Picking of lilies both fresh and gay,
+     Picking of lilies, red, white, and blue,
+     Little I thought what love could do."
+
+"'_Little I thought what love could do_,'" Julius repeated; and he sang
+the doleful refrain over and over, as they strolled back to the oak
+under which they had had their little feast. Then Sophia, who had a
+natural love of neatness and order, began to collect the plates and
+napkins, and arrange them in the basket; and this being done, she looked
+around for the housemaid in order to put it in her charge. The girl was
+at the other end of the field, and she went to her.
+
+Charlotte had scarcely perceived what was going on. The old man's
+singing had made her a little sad. She, too, was thinking of "what love
+could do." She was standing under the tree, leaning against the great
+mossy trunk. Her brown hair had fallen loose, her cheeks were flushed,
+her lips crimson, her whole form a glowing picture of youth in its
+perfect beauty and freshness. Sophia was out of hearing. Julius stepped
+close to her. His soul was in his face; he spoke like a man who was no
+longer master of himself.
+
+"Charlotte, I love you. I love you with all my heart."
+
+She looked at him steadily. Her eyes flashed. She threw downward her
+hands with a deprecating motion.
+
+"You have no right to say such words to me, Julius. I have done all a
+woman could do to prevent, them. I have never given you any
+encouragement. A gentleman does not speak without it."
+
+"I could not help speaking. I love you, Charlotte. Is there any wrong in
+loving you? If I had any hope of winning you."
+
+"No, no; there is no hope. I do not love you. I never shall love you."
+
+"Unless you have some other lover, Charlotte, I shall dare to hope"--
+
+"I have a lover."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"And I am frank with you because it is best. I trust you will respect my
+candor."
+
+He only bowed. Indeed, he found speech impossible. Never before had
+Charlotte looked so lovely and so desirable to him. He felt her positive
+rejection very keenly.
+
+"Sophia is coming. Please to forget that this conversation has ever
+been."
+
+"You are very cruel."
+
+"No. I am truly kind. Sophia, I am tired; let us go home."
+
+So they turned out of the field, and into the lane. But something was
+gone, and something had come. Sophia felt the change, and she looked
+curiously at Julius and Charlotte. Charlotte was calmly mingling the
+poppies and wheat in her hands. Her face revealed nothing. Julius was a
+little melancholy. "The fairies have left us," he said. "All of a
+sudden, the revel is over." Then as they walked slowly homeward, he took
+Sophia's hand, and swayed it gently to and fro to the old fiddler's
+refrain,--
+
+    "'Little I thought what love could do.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+CHARLOTTE.
+
+     "Oh, how this spring of love resembleth
+      The uncertain glory of an April day!"
+
+     "Hammering and clinking, chattering stony names
+      Of shale and hornblende, rag and trap and tuff,
+      Amygdaloid and trachyte."
+
+
+When Charlotte again went to Up-Hill she found herself walking through a
+sober realm of leafless trees. The glory of autumn was gone. The hills,
+with their circular sheep-pens, were now brown and bare; and the plaided
+shepherds, descending far apart, gave only an air of loneliness to the
+landscape. She could see the white line of the stony road with a sad
+distinctness. It was no longer bordered with creeping vines and patches
+of murmuring bee-bent heather. And the stream-bed also had lost nearly
+all its sentinel rushes, and the tall brakens from its shaggy slopes
+were gone. But Silver Beck still ran musically over tracts of tinkling
+stones; and, through the chilly air, the lustered black cock was
+crowing for the gray hen in the hollow.
+
+Very soon the atmosphere became full of misty rain; and ere she reached
+the house, there was a cold wind, and the nearest cloud was sprinkling
+the bubbling beck. It was pleasant to see Ducie at the open door ready
+to welcome her; pleasant to get into the snug houseplace, and watch the
+great fire leaping up the chimney, and throwing lustres on the carved
+oak presses and long settles, and on the bright brass and pewter
+vessels, and the rows of showy chinaware. Very pleasant to draw her
+chair to the little round table on the hearthstone, and to inhale the
+fragrance of the infusing tea, and the rich aroma of potted char and
+spiced bread and freshly-baked cheese-cakes. And still more pleasant to
+be taken possession of, to have her damp shoes and cloak removed, her
+chill fingers warmed in a kindly, motherly clasp, and to be made to feel
+through all her senses that she was indeed "welcome as sun-shining."
+
+With a little shiver of disappointment she noticed that there were only
+two tea-cups on the table; and the house, when she came to analyze its
+atmosphere, had in it the perceptible loneliness of the absent master.
+"Is not Stephen at home?" she asked, as Ducie settled herself
+comfortably for their meal; "I thought Stephen was at home."
+
+"No, he isn't. He went to Kendal three days ago about his fleeces.
+Whitney's carpet-works have made him a very good offer. Did not the
+squire speak of it?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well he knew all about it. He met Steve, and Steve told him. The squire
+has been a little queer with us lately, Charlotte. Do you know what the
+trouble is? I thought I would have you up to tea, and ask you; so when
+Sandal was up here this morning, I said, 'Let Charlotte come, and have a
+cup of tea with me, squire, I'd be glad.' And he said, 'When?' And I
+said, 'This afternoon. I am fair lonely without Steve.' And he said,
+'I'm agreeable. She'll be glad enough to come.' And I said, 'Thank'ee,
+squire, I'll be glad enough to see her.' But what _is_ the matter,
+Charlotte? The squire has been in his airs with Steve ever so long."
+
+Then Charlotte's face grew like a flame; and she answered, in a tone of
+tender sadness, "Father thinks Steve loves me; and he says there is no
+love-line between our houses, and that, if there were, it is crossed
+with sorrow, and that neither the living nor the dead will have marriage
+between Steve and me."
+
+"I thought that was the trouble. I did so. As for the living, he speaks
+for himself; as for the dead, it is your grandmother Sandal he thinks
+of. She was a hard, proud woman, Charlotte. Her two daughters rejoiced
+at their wedding-days, and two out of her three sons she drove away from
+their home. Your father was on the point of going, when his brother
+Launcie's death made him the heir. Then she gave him a bit more respect,
+and for pretty Alice Morecombe's sake he stayed by the old squire. Ten
+years your mother waited for William Sandal, Charlotte."
+
+"Yes, I know."
+
+"Do you love Steve, Charlotte? I am Steve's mother, dear, and you may
+speak to me as if you were talking to your own heart. I would never tell
+Steve either this way or that way for any thing. Steve would not thank
+me if I did. He is one of them that wants to reach his happiness in his
+own way, and by his own hand. And I have good reasons for asking you
+such a question, or I would not ask it; you may be sure I have, that you
+may."
+
+Charlotte had put down her cup, and she sat with her hands clasped upon
+her lap, looking down into it. Ducie's question took her by surprise,
+and she was rather offended by it. For Charlotte Sandal had been taught
+all the reticences of good society, and for a moment she resented a
+catechism so direct and personal; but only for a moment. Before Ducie
+had done speaking, she had remembered that nothing but true kindness
+could have prompted the inquiry. Ducie was not a curious, tattling,
+meddlesome woman; Charlotte had never known her to interfere in any
+one's affairs. She had few visitors, and she made no calls. Year in and
+year out, Ducie could always be found at home with herself.
+
+"You need not tell me, dear, if you do not know; or if you do not want
+to tell me."
+
+"I do know, Ducie; and I do not mind telling you in the least. I love
+Stephen very dearly. I have loved him ever since--I don't know when."
+
+"And you have always had as good and as true as you have given. Steve is
+fondly heart-grown to you, Charlotte. But we will say no more; and what
+we have said is dropped into my heart like a stone dropped into deep
+water."
+
+Then they spoke of the rector, how he was failing a little; and of one
+of the maids at Seat-Sandal who was to marry the head shepherd at
+Up-Hill; and at last, when there had been enough of indifferent talk to
+effectually put Steve out of mind, Ducie asked suddenly, "How is Harry,
+and is he doing well?"
+
+This was a subject Charlotte was glad to discuss with Ducie. Harry was a
+great favorite with her, and had been accustomed to run to Up-Hill
+whenever he was in any boyish scrape. And Harry was _not_ doing well.
+"Father is vexed and troubled about him, Ducie," she answered. "Whenever
+a letter comes from Harry, it puts every thing wrong in the house.
+Mother goes away and cries; and Sophia sulks because, she says, 'it is a
+shame any single one of the family should be allowed to make all the
+rest uncomfortable.'"
+
+"Harry should never have gone into the army. He hasn't any resisting
+power, hasn't Harry. And there is nothing but temptation in the army.
+Dear me, Charlotte! We may well pray not to be led into the way of
+temptation; for if we once get into it, we are no better off than a fly
+in a spider's web."
+
+She was filling the two empty cups as she spoke, but she suddenly set
+down the teapot, and listened a moment. "I hear Steve's footsteps. Sit
+still, Charlotte. He is opening the door. I knew it was he."
+
+"Mother! mother!"
+
+"Here I am, Steve."
+
+He came in rosy and wet with his climb up the fellside; and, as he
+kissed his mother, he put out his hand to Charlotte. Then there was the
+pleasantest stir of care and welcome imaginable; and Steve soon found
+himself sitting opposite the girl he loved so dearly, taking his cup
+from her hands, looking into her bright, kind eyes, exchanging with her
+those charming little courtesies which can be made the vehicles of so
+much that is not spoken, and that is understood without speech.
+
+But the afternoons were now very short, and the happy meal had to be
+hastened. The clouds, too, had fallen low; and the rain, as Ducie said,
+"was plashing and pattering badly." She folded her own blanket-shawl
+around Charlotte; and as there was no wind, and the road was mostly wide
+enough for two, Steve could carry an umbrella, and get her safely home
+before the darkening.
+
+How merrily they went out together into the storm! Steve thought he
+could hardly have chosen any circumstances that would have pleased him
+better. It was quite necessary that Charlotte should keep close to his
+side; it was quite natural that she should lift her face to his in
+talking; it was equally natural that Steve should bend towards
+Charlotte, and that, in a moment, without any conscious intention of
+doing so, he should kiss her.
+
+She trembled and stood still, but she was not angry. "That was very
+wrong, Steve. I told you at the harvest-home what father said, and what
+I had promised father. I'll break no squares with father, and you must
+not make me do so."
+
+"I could not help it, Charlotte, you looked so bewitching."
+
+"Oh, dear! the old, old excuse, 'The woman tempted me,' etc."
+
+"Forgive me, dear Charlotte. I was going to tell you that I had been
+very fortunate in Kendal, and next week I am going to Bradford to learn
+all about spinning and weaving and machinery. But what is success
+without you? If I make every dream come to pass, and have not Charlotte,
+my heart will keep telling me, night and day, '_All for nothing, all for
+nothing_.'"
+
+"Do not be so impatient. You are making trouble, and forespeaking
+disappointment. Before you have learned all about manufacturing, and
+built your mill, before you are really ready to begin your life's work,
+many a change may have taken place in Sandal-Side. When Julius comes at
+Christmas I think he will ask Sophia to marry him, and I think Sophia
+will accept his offer. That marriage would open the way for our
+marriage."
+
+"Only partly I fear. I can see that squire Sandal has taken a dislike,
+and your mother was a little high with me when I saw her last."
+
+"Partly your own fault, sir. Why did you give up the ways of your
+fathers? The idea of mills and trading in these dales is such a new
+one."
+
+"But a man must move with his own age, Charlotte. There is no prospect
+of another Stuart rebellion. I cannot do the queen's service, and get
+rewarded as old Christopher Sandal did. And I want to go to Parliament,
+and can't go without money. And I can't make money quick enough by
+keeping sheep and planting wheat. But manufacturing means money, land,
+influence, power."
+
+"Father does not see these things as you do, Steve. He sees the peaceful
+dales invaded by white-faced factory-hands, loud-voiced, quarrelling,
+disrespectful. All the old landmarks and traditions will disappear; also
+simple ways of living, calm religion, true friendships. Every good old
+sentiment will be gauged by money, will finally vanish before money, and
+what the busy world calls 'improvements.' It makes him fretful, jealous,
+and unhappy."
+
+"That is just the trouble, Charlotte. When a man has not the spirit of
+his age, he has all its unhappiness. But my greatest fear is, that you
+will grow weary of waiting for _our hour_."
+
+"I have told you that I shall not. There is an old proverb which says,
+'Trust not the man who promises with an oath.' Is not my simple word,
+then, the best and the surest hope?"
+
+Then she nestled close to his side, and began to talk of his plans and
+his journey, and to anticipate the time when he would break ground upon
+Silver Beck, and build the many-windowed factory that had been his dream
+ever since he had began to plan his own career. The wind rose, the rain
+fell in a down-pour before they reached the park-gates; but there was a
+certain joy in facing the wet breeze, and although they did not loiter,
+yet neither did they hurry. In both their hearts there was a little fear
+of the squire, but neither spoke of it. Charlotte would not suppose or
+suggest any necessity for avoiding him, and Steve was equally sensitive
+on the subject.
+
+When they arrived at Seat-Sandal the main entrance was closed, and
+Stephen stood with her on the threshold until a man-servant opened
+slowly its ponderous panels. There was a bright fire burning in the
+hall, and lights were in the sconces on the walls. Charlotte asked Steve
+to come in and rest a while. She tried to avoid showing either fear or
+hurry, and Steve was conscious of the same effort on his own part; but
+yet he knew that they both thought it well none of the family were aware
+of her return, or of his presence. She watched him descend the dripping
+steps into the darkness, and then went towards the fire. An unusual
+silence was in the house. She stood upon the hearthstone while the
+servant rebolted the door, and then asked,--
+
+"Is dinner served, Noel?"
+
+"It be over, Miss Charlotte."
+
+So she went to her own room. It was chilly and dreary. The fire had been
+allowed to die down, and had only just been replenished. It was smoking
+also, and the candles on her toilet-table burned dimly in the damp
+atmosphere. She hurriedly changed her gown, and was going down-stairs,
+when a movement in Sophia's room arrested her attention. It was very
+unusual for Sophia to be up-stairs at that hour, and the fact struck her
+significantly. She knocked at the door, and was told rather irritably to
+"Come in."
+
+"Dear me, Sophia! what is the matter? It feels as if there were
+something wrong in the house."
+
+"I suppose there is something wrong. Father got a letter from Harry by
+the late post, and he left his dinner untouched; and mother is in her
+room crying, of course. I do think it is a shame that Harry is allowed
+to turn the house upside down whenever he feels like it."
+
+"Perhaps he is in trouble."
+
+"He is always in trouble, for he is always busy making trouble. His very
+amusements mean trouble for all who have the misfortune to have any
+thing to do with him. Julius told me that no man in the 'Cameronians'
+had a worse name than Harry Sandal."
+
+"Julius! The idea of Julius talking badly about our Harry, and to you! I
+wonder you listened to him. It was a shabby thing to do; it was that."
+
+"Julius only repeated what he had heard, and he was very sorry to do so.
+He felt it to be conscientiously his duty."
+
+"Bah! God save me from such a conscience! If Julius had heard any thing
+good of Harry, he would have had no conscientious scruples about
+silence; not he! I dare say Julius would be glad if poor Harry was out
+of his way."
+
+"Charlotte Sandal, you shall not say such very unladylike, such
+unchristianlike, things in my room. It is quite easy to see _whose_
+company you have been in."
+
+"I have been with Ducie. Can you find me a sweeter or better soul?"
+
+"Or a handsomer young man than her son?"
+
+"I mean that also, certainly. Handsome, energetic, enterprising, kind,
+religious."
+
+"Spare me the balance of your adjectives. We all know that Steve is
+square on every side, and straight in every corner. Don't be so earnest;
+you fatigue me to-night. I am on the verge of a nervous headache, and I
+really think you had better leave me." She turned her chair towards the
+fire as she spoke, and hardly palliated this act of dismissal by the
+faint "excuse me," which accompanied it. And Charlotte made no remark,
+though she left her sister's room, mentally promising herself to keep
+away from it in the future.
+
+She went next to the parlor. The squire's chair was empty, and on the
+little stand at its side, the "Gentleman's Magazine" lay uncut. His
+slippers, usually assumed after dinner, were still warming on the white
+sheepskin rug before the fire. But the large, handsome face, that
+always made a sunshiny feeling round the hearth, was absent; and the
+room had a loneliness that made her heart fear. She waited a few
+minutes, looking with expectation towards a piece of knitting which was
+Mrs. Sandal's evening work. But the ivory needles and the colored wools
+remained uncalled for, and she grew rapidly impatient, and went to her
+mother's room. Mrs. Sandal was lying upon her couch, exhausted with
+weeping; and the squire sat holding his head in his hands, the very
+picture of despondency and sorrow.
+
+"Can I come and speak to you, mother?"
+
+The squire answered, "To be sure you can, Charlotte. We are glad to see
+you. We are in trouble, my dear."
+
+"Is it Harry, father?"
+
+"Trouble mostly comes that way. Yes, it is Harry. He is in a great
+strait, and wants five hundred pounds, Charlotte; five hundred pounds,
+dear, and he wants it at once. Only six weeks ago he wrote in the same
+way for a hundred and fifty pounds. He is robbing me, robbing his
+mother, robbing Sophia and you."
+
+"William, I wouldn't give way to temper that road; calling your own son
+and my son a thief. It's not fair," said Mrs. Sandal, with considerable
+asperity.
+
+"I must call things by their right names, Alice. I call a cat, a cat;
+and I call our Harry a thief; for I don't know that forcing money from a
+father is any better than forcing it from a stranger. It is only using a
+father's love as a pick-lock instead of an iron tool. That's all the
+difference, Alice; and I don't think the difference is one that helps
+Harry's case much. Eh? What?"
+
+"Dear me! it is always money," sighed Charlotte.
+
+"Your father knows very well that Harry must have the money, Charlotte.
+I think it is cruel of him to make every one ill before he gives what is
+sure to be given in the end. Sophia has a headache, I dare say, and I am
+sure I have."
+
+"But I cannot give him this money, Alice. I have not realized on my wool
+and wheat yet. I cannot coin money. I will not beg or borrow it. I will
+not mortgage an acre for it."
+
+"And you will let your only son the heir of Sandal-Side, go to jail and
+disgrace for five hundred pounds. I never heard tell of such cruelty.
+Never, never, never!"
+
+"You do not know what you are saying, Alice. Tell me how I am to find
+five hundred pounds. Eh? What?"
+
+"There must be ways. How can a woman tell?"
+
+"Father, have I not got some money of my own?"
+
+"You have the accrued interest on the thousand pounds your grandmother
+left you. Sophia has the same."
+
+"Is the interest sufficient?"
+
+"You have drawn from it at intervals. I think there is about three
+hundred pounds to your credit."
+
+"Sophia will have nearly as much. Call her, father. Surely between us we
+can arrange five hundred pounds. I shall be real glad to help Harry.
+Young men have so many temptations now, father. Harry is a good sort in
+the main. Just have a little patience with him. Eh, father?"
+
+And the squire was glad of the pleading voice. Glad for some one to make
+the excuses he did not think it right to make. Glad to have the little
+breath of hope that Charlotte's faith in her brother gave him. He stood
+up, and took her face between his hands and kissed it. Then he sent a
+servant for Sophia; and after a short delay the young lady appeared,
+looking pale and exceedingly injured.
+
+"Did you send for me, father?"
+
+"Yes, I did. Come in and sit down. There is something to be done for
+Harry, and we want your help, Sophia. Eh? What?"
+
+She pushed a chair gently to the table, and sat down languidly. She was
+really sick, but her air and attitude was that of a person suffering an
+extremity of physical anguish. The squire looked at her and then at
+Charlotte with dismay and self-reproach.
+
+"Harry wants five hundred pounds, Sophia."
+
+"I am astonished he does not want five thousand pounds. Father, I would
+not send him a sovereign of it. Julius told me about his carryings-on."
+
+She could hardly have said any words so favorable to Harry's cause. The
+squire was on the defensive for his own side in a moment.
+
+"What has Julius to do with it?" he cried. "Sandal-Side is not his
+property, and please God it never will be. Harry is one kind of a
+sinner, Julius is another kind of a sinner. God Almighty only knows
+which kind of sinner is the meaner and worse. The long and the short of
+it, is this: Harry must have five hundred pounds. Charlotte is willing
+to give the balance of her interest account, about three hundred pounds,
+towards it. Will you make up what is lacking, out of your interest
+money? Eh? What?"
+
+"I do not know why I should be asked to do this, I am sure."
+
+"Only because I have no ready money at present. And because, however bad
+Harry is, he is your brother. And because he is heir of Sandal, and the
+honor of the name is worth saving. And because your mother will break
+her heart if shame comes to Harry. And there are some other reasons too;
+but if mother, brother, and honor don't seem worth while to you, why,
+then, Sophia, there is no use wasting words. Eh? What?"
+
+"Let father have what is needed, Sophia. I will pay you back."
+
+"Very well, Charlotte; but I think it is most unjust, most iniquitous,
+as Julius says"--
+
+"Now, then, don't quote Julius to me. What right had he to be discussing
+my family matters, or Sandal matters either, I wonder? Eh? What?"
+
+"He is in the family."
+
+"Is he? Very well, then, I am still the head of the family. If he has
+any advice to offer, he can come to me with it. Eh? What?"
+
+"Father, I am as sick as can be to-night."
+
+"Go thy ways then. Mother and I are both poorly too. Good-night, girls,
+both." And he turned away with an air of hopeless depression, that was
+far more pitiful than the loudest complaining.
+
+The sisters went away together, silent, and feeling quite "out" with
+each other. But Sophia really had a nervous attack, and was shivery and
+sick with it. By the lighted candle in her hand, Charlotte saw that her
+very lips were white, and that heavy tears were silently rolling down
+her wan cheeks. They washed all of Charlotte's anger away; she forgot
+her resolution not to enter her sister's room again, and at its door she
+said, "Let me stay with you till you can sleep, Sophia; or I will go,
+and ask Ann to make you a cup of strong coffee. You are suffering very
+much."
+
+"Yes, I am suffering; and father knows how I do suffer with these
+headaches, and that any annoyance brings them on; and yet, if Harry
+cries out at Edinburgh, every one in Seat-Sandal must be put out of
+their own way to help him. And I do think it is a shame that our little
+fortunes are to be crumbled as a kind of spice into his big fortune. If
+Harry does not know the value of money I do."
+
+"I will pay you back every pound. I really do not care a bit about
+money. I have all the dress I want. You buy books and music, I do not.
+I have no use for my money except to make happiness with it; and, after
+all, that is the best interest I can possibly get."
+
+"Very well. Then, you can pay Harry's debts if it gives you pleasure. I
+suppose I am a little peculiar on this subject. Last Sunday, when the
+rector was preaching about the prodigal son, I could not help thinking
+that the sympathy for the bad young man was too much. I know, if I had
+been the elder brother, I should have felt precisely as he did. I don't
+think he ought to be blamed. And it would certainly have been more just
+and proper for the father to have given the feast and the gifts to the
+son who never at any time transgressed his commandments. You see,
+Charlotte, that parable is going on all over the world ever since; going
+on right here in Seat-Sandal; and I am on the elder brother's side.
+Harry has given me a headache to-night; and I dare say he is enjoying
+himself precisely as the Jerusalem prodigal did before the swine husks,
+when it was the riotous living."
+
+"Have a cup of coffee, Sophy. I'll go down for it. You are just as
+trembly and excited as you can be."
+
+"Very well; thank you, Charlotte. You always have such a bright, kind
+face. I am afraid I do not deserve such a good sister."
+
+"Yes, you do deserve all I can help or pleasure you in." And then, when
+the coffee had been taken, and Sophia lay restless and wide-eyed upon
+her bed, Charlotte proposed to read to her from any book she desired; an
+offer involving no small degree of self-denial, for Sophia's books were
+very rarely interesting, or even intelligible, to her sister. But she
+lifted the nearest two, Barret's "Maga," and "The Veiled Prophet," and
+rather dismally asked which it was to be?
+
+"Neither of them, Charlotte. The 'Maga' makes me think, and I know you
+detest poetry. I got a letter to-night from Agnes Bulteel, and it
+appears to be about Professor Sedgwick. I was so annoyed at Harry I
+could not feel any interest in it then; but, if you don't object, I
+should like to hear you read it now."
+
+"Object? No, indeed. I think a great deal of the old professor. What gay
+times father and I have had on the Screes with him, and his hammer and
+leather bags! And, as Agnes writes a large, round hand, and does not
+fresco her letters, I can read about the professor easily."
+
+     RESPECTED MISS SANDAL,--I have such a thing to tell you
+     about Professor Sedgwick and our Joe; hoping that the squire or
+     Miss Charlotte may see him, and let him know that Joe meant no harm
+     at all. One hot forenoon lately, when we were through at home, an
+     old gentlemanly make of a fellow came into our fold, and said,
+     quite natural, that he wanted somebody to go with him on to the
+     fells. We all stopped, and took a good look at him before anybody
+     spoke; but at last father said, middling sharp-like,--he always
+     speaks that way, does father, when we're busy,--
+
+     "We've something else to do here than go raking over the fells on a
+     fine day like this with nobody knows who."
+
+     He gave father a lile, cheerful bit of a laugh, and said he didn't
+     want to hinder work; but he would give anybody that knew the fells
+     well a matter of five shillings to go with him, and carry his two
+     little bags. And father says to our Joe, "Away with thee! It's a
+     crown more than ever thou was worth at home." So the strange man
+     gave Joe two little leather bags to carry; and Joe thought he was
+     going to make his five shillings middling easy, for he never
+     expected he would find any thing on the fells to put into the bags.
+     But Joe was mistaken. The old gentleman, he said, went louping over
+     wet spots and great stones, and scraffling over crags and screes,
+     till you would have thought he was some kin to a Herdwick sheep.
+
+Charlotte laughed heartily at this point. "It is just the way Sedgwick
+goes on. He led father and me exactly such a chase one day last June."
+
+"I dare say he did. I remember you looked like it. Go on."
+
+     After a while he began looking hard at all the stones and crags he
+     came to; and then he took to breaking lumps off them with a queer
+     little hammer he had with him, and stuffing the bits into the bags
+     that Joe was carrying. He fairly capped Joe then. He couldn't tell
+     what to make of such a customer. At last Joe asked him why ever he
+     came so far up the fell for little bits of stone, when he might get
+     so many down in the dales? He laughed, and went on knapping away
+     with his little hammer, and said he was a jolly-jist.
+
+"Geologist she means, Charlotte."
+
+"Of course; but Agnes spells it 'jolly-jist.'"
+
+"Agnes ought to know better. She waited table frequently, and must have
+heard the word pronounced. Go on, Charlotte."
+
+     He kept on at this feckless work till late in the afternoon, and by
+     that time he had filled both bags full with odd bits of stone. Joe
+     said he hadn't often had a harder darrack after sheep at
+     clipping-time than he had after that old man, carrying his leather
+     bags. But, however, they got back to our house, and mother gave the
+     stranger some bread and milk; and after he had taken it, and talked
+     with father about sheep-farming and such like, he paid Joe his five
+     shillings like a man, and told him he would give him another five
+     shillings if he would bring his bags full of stones down to
+     Skeal-Hill by nine o'clock in the morning.
+
+"Are you sleepy Sophy?"
+
+"Oh, dear, no! Go on."
+
+     Next morning Joe took the bags, and started for Skeal-Hill. It was
+     another hot morning; and he hadn't gone far till he began to think
+     that he was as great a fool as the jolly-jist to carry broken
+     stones to Skeal-Hill, when he could find plenty on any road-side
+     close to the place he was going to. So he shook them out of the
+     bags, and stepped on a gay bit lighter without them. When he got
+     near to Skeal-Hill he found old Abraham Atchisson sitting on a
+     stool, breaking stones to mend roads with; and Joe asked him if he
+     could fill his leather bags from his heap. Abraham told Joe to take
+     them that wasn't broken if he wanted stones; so Joe told him how it
+     was, and all about it. The old man was like to tottle off his stool
+     with laughing, and he said, "Joe take good care of thysen'; thou
+     art over sharp to live very long in this world; fill thy bags, and
+     make on with thee."
+
+"Don't you remember old Abraham, Sophy? He built the stone dyke at the
+lower fold."
+
+"No, I do not remember, I think."
+
+"You are getting sleepy. Shall I stop?"
+
+"No, no; finish the letter."
+
+     When Joe got to Skeal-Hill, the jolly-jist had just got his
+     breakfast, and they took Joe into the parlor to him. He laughed all
+     over when Joe went in with the bags, and told him to set them down
+     in a corner, and asked him if he would have some breakfast. Joe had
+     had his porridge, but he said he didn't mind; so he told them to
+     bring in some more coffee and eggs, and ham and toasted bread; and
+     Joe got such a breakfast as isn't common with him, while the old
+     gentleman was getting himself ready to go off in a carriage that
+     was waiting at the door for him. When he came down-stairs he gave
+     Joe another five shillings, and paid for Joe's breakfast, and for
+     what he had eaten himself. Then he told him to put the leather bags
+     beside the driver's feet, and into the carriage he got, and
+     laughed, and nodded, and away he went; and then Joe heard them say
+     he was Professor Sedgwick, a great jolly-jist. And Joe thinks it
+     would be a famous job if father could sell all of the stones on our
+     fell at five shillings a bagful, and a breakfast at odd times. And
+     would it not be so, Miss Sandal? But I'm not easy in my mind about
+     Joe changing the stones; though, as Joe says, one make of stone is
+     about the same as another.
+
+"Sophia, you are sleepy now."
+
+"Yes, a little. You can finish to-morrow."
+
+Then she laid down the simple letter, and sat very still for a little
+while. Her heart was busy. There is a solitary place that girdles our
+life into which it is good to enter at the close of every day. There we
+may sit still with our own soul, and commune with it; and out of its
+peace pass easily into the shadowy kingdom of sleep, and find a little
+space of rest prepared. So Charlotte sat in quiet meditation until
+Sophia was fathoms deep below the tide of life. Sight, speech, feeling,
+where were they gone? Ah! when the door is closed, and the windows
+darkened, who can tell what passes in the solemn temple of mortality?
+Are we unvisited then? Unfriended? Uncounselled?
+
+                                               "Behold!
+     The solemn spaces of the night are thronged
+     By bands of tender dreams, that come and go
+     Over the land and sea; they glide at will
+     Through all the dim, strange realms of men asleep,
+     And visit every soul."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS.
+
+     "Still to ourselves in every place consigned.
+      Our own felicity we make or find."
+
+     "Catch, then, oh, catch the transient hour!
+        Improve each moment as it flies.
+      Life's a short summer, man a flower;
+        He dies, alas! how soon he dies!"
+
+
+There are days which rise sadly, go on without sunshine, and pass into
+night without one gleam of color. Life, also, has these pallid,
+monotonous hours. A distrust of all things invades the soul, and
+physical inertia and mental languor make daily existence a simple
+weight. It was Christmas-time, but the squire felt none of the elation
+of the season. He was conscious that the old festal preparations were
+going on, but there was no response to them in his heart. Julius had
+arrived, and was helping Sophia to hang the holly and mistletoe. But
+Sandal knew that his soul shrank from the nephew he had called into his
+life; knew that the sound of his voice irritated him, that his laugh
+filled him with resentment, that his very presence in the house seemed
+to desecrate it, and to slay for him the very idea of home.
+
+He was sitting in the "master's room," wondering how the change had come
+about. But he found nothing to answer the wonder, because he was looking
+for some palpable wrong, some distinctive time or cause. He was himself
+too simple-hearted to reflect that it is seldom a great fault which
+destroys liking for a person. A great fault can be forgiven. It is small
+personal offences constantly repeated; little acts of meanness, and,
+above all, the petty plans and provisions of a selfish nature. Besides
+which, the soul has often marvellous intuitions, unmasking men and
+things; premonitions, warnings, intelligences, that it cannot doubt and
+cannot explain.
+
+Inside the house there was a pleasant air and stir of preparation; the
+rapid movements of servants, the shutting and opening of doors, the low
+laughter of gay hearts well contented with the time and the
+circumstances. Outside, the mesmerizing snow was falling with a soft,
+silent persistence. The squire looked sadly at the white hills, and the
+white park, and the branches bending under their load, and the sombre
+sky, gray upon darker gray.
+
+Last Christmas the girls had relied entirely upon his help. He had found
+the twine, and driven the nails, and steadied the ladder when Sophia's
+light form mounted it in order to hang the mistletoe. They had been so
+happy. The echo of their voices, their snatches of Christmas carols,
+their laughter and merry badinage, was still in his heart. He remembered
+the impromptu lunch, which they had enjoyed so much while at work. He
+could see the mother come smiling in, with constant samples of the
+Christmas cheer fresh out of the oven. He had printed the verses and
+mottoes himself, spent all the afternoon over them, and been rather
+proud of his efforts. Charlotte had said, "they were really beautiful;"
+even Sophia had admitted that "they looked well among the greens." But
+to-day he had not been asked to assist in the decorations. True, he had
+said, in effect, that he did not wish to assist; but, all the same, he
+felt shut out from his old pre-eminence; and he could not help
+regarding Julius Sandal as a usurper.
+
+These were drearisome Christmas thoughts and feelings; and they found
+their climax in a pathetic complaint, "I never thought Charlotte would
+have given me the go-by. All along she has taken my side, no matter what
+came up. Oh, my little lass!"
+
+As if in answer to the heart-cry, Charlotte opened the door. She was
+dressed in furs and tweeds, and she had the squire's big coat and
+woollen wraps in her hand. Before he could speak, she had reached his
+chair, and put her arm across his shoulder, and said in her bright,
+confidential way, "Come, father, let you and me have a bit of pleasure
+by ourselves: there isn't much comfort in the house to-day."
+
+"You say right, Charlotte; you do so, my dear. Where shall we go? Eh?
+Where?"
+
+"Wherever you like best. There is no snow to hamper us yet. Some of the
+servants are down from Up-Hill. Ducie has sent mother a great spice-loaf
+and a fine Christmas cheese."
+
+"Ducie is a kind woman. I have known Ducie ever since I knew myself.
+Could we climb the fell-breast, Charlotte? Eh? What?"
+
+"I think we could. Ducie will miss it, if you don't go and wish her 'a
+merry Christmas.' You never missed grandfather Latrigg. Old friends are
+best, father."
+
+"They are that. Is Steve at home?"
+
+"He isn't coming home this Christmas. I wasn't planning about Steve,
+father. Don't think such a thing as that of me."
+
+"I don't, Charlotte. I don't think of Charlotte Sandal and of any thing
+underhand at the same time. I'm a bit troubled and out of sorts this
+morning, my dear."
+
+She kissed him affectionately for answer. She not only divined what a
+trial Julius had become, but she knew also that his heart was troubled
+in far greater depths than Julius had any power to stir. Harry Sandal
+was really at the root of every bitter moment. For Harry had not taken
+the five hundred pounds with the creditable contrite humiliation of the
+repenting prodigal. It was even yet doubtful whether he would respond to
+his parents' urgent request to spend Christmas at Seat-Sandal. And when
+there is one rankling wrong, which we do not like to speak of, it is so
+natural to relieve the heart by talking a great deal about those wrongs
+which we are less inclined to disguise and deny.
+
+In the great hall a sudden thought struck the squire; and he stood
+still, and looked in Charlotte's face. "You are sure that you want to
+go, my dear? Won't you be missed? Eh? What?"
+
+She clasped his hand tighter, and shook her head very positively. "They
+don't want me, father. I am in the way."
+
+He did not answer until they had walked some distance; then he asked
+meaningly, "Has it come to that? Eh? What?"
+
+"Yes, it has come to that."
+
+"I am very glad it isn't you. And I'm nettled at myself for ever showing
+him a road to slight you, Charlotte."
+
+"If there is any slight between Julius and me, father, I gave it; for he
+asked me to marry him, and I plainly told him no."
+
+"Hear--you--but. I _am_ glad. You refused him? Come, come, that's a bit
+of pleasure I would have given a matter of five pounds to have known a
+day or two since. It would have saved me a few good ratings. Eh? What?"
+
+"Why, father! Who has been rating you?"
+
+"Myself, to be sure. You can't think what set-downs I have given William
+Sandal. Do you mind telling me about that refusal, Charlotte? Eh? What?"
+
+"Not a bit. It was in the harvest-field. He said he loved me, and I told
+him gentlemen did not talk that way to girls who had never given them
+the least encouragement; and I said I did not love him, and never, never
+could love him. I was very firm, father, perhaps a little bit cross; for
+I did not like the way he spoke. I don't think he admires me at all now."
+
+"I dare be bound he doesn't. 'Firm and a little bit cross.' It wouldn't
+be a nice five minutes for Julius. He sets a deal of store by himself;"
+and then, as if he thought it was his duty not to show too much
+gratification, he added, "I hope you were very civil, Charlotte. A good
+asker should have a good nay-say. And you refused him? Well, I _am_
+pleased. Mother never heard tell of it? Eh? What?"
+
+"Oh, no; I have told no one but you. At the long end you always get at
+my secrets, father."
+
+"We've had a goodish few together,--fishing secrets, and such like; but
+I must tell mother this one, eh? She _will_ go on about it. In the
+harvest-field, was it? I understand now why he walked himself off a day
+or two before the set day. And he is all for Sophia now, is he? Well, I
+shouldn't wonder if Sophia will 'best' him a little on every side. You
+_have_ given me a turn, Charlotte. I didn't think of a son-in-law
+yet,--not just yet. Dear me! How life does go on! Ever since the
+sheep-shearing it has been running away with me. Life is a road on which
+there is no turning round, Charlotte. Oh, if there only were! If you
+could just run back to where you made the wrong turning! If you could
+only undo things that you have done! Eh? What?"
+
+"Not even God can make what has been, not to have been. When a thing is
+done, if it is only the taking of a walk, the walk is taken to all
+eternity."
+
+At the word "eternity," they stood on the brow of the hill which they
+had been climbing, and the squire said it again very solemnly.
+"Eternity! How dreadful to spend it in repentance which can undo
+nothing! That is the most awful conception of the word 'eternity.' Eh?
+What?"
+
+They were silent a moment, then Sandal turned and looked westward. "It
+is mizzling already, Charlotte; the snow will turn into rain, and we
+shall have a downpour. Had we not better go home?"
+
+But Charlotte painted in such glowing colors Ducie's fireside, and the
+pipe, and the cosey, quiet dinner they would be sure to get there, that
+the squire could not resist the temptation. "For all will be at sixes
+and sevens at home," he commented, "and no peace for anybody, with
+greens and carols and what not. Eh? What?"
+
+"And very likely, as it is Christmas Eve, you may be asked to give
+Sophia away. So a nice dinner, and a quiet smoke, and an hour's nap will
+help you through to-night." And the thought in each heart, beyond this
+one, was "Perhaps Harry will be at home."
+
+Nobody missed the fugitives. Mrs. Sandal was sure Harry would come, and
+she was busy preparing his room with her own hands. The brightest fire,
+the gayest greens, the whitest and softest and best of every thing, she
+chose for Harry's room.
+
+Certainly they were not missed by Julius and Sophia. They were far too
+much interested in themselves and in their own affairs. From the first
+hour of his return to Seat-Sandal, Sophia had understood that Julius was
+her lover, and that the time for his declaration rested in the main with
+herself. When the Christmas bells were ringing, when the house was
+bright with light and evergreens, and the very atmosphere full of
+happiness, she had determined to give him the necessary encouragement.
+But the clock of Fate cannot be put back. When the moment arrives, the
+word is spoken or the deed done. Both of them were prepared for the
+moment, and yet not just then prepared; for Love still holds his great
+surprise somewhat in reserve.
+
+They were in the drawing-room. The last vase had been filled, the last
+wreath hung; and Sophia looked at her beautiful hands, marked with the
+rim of the scissors, and stained with leaves and berries, in a little
+affected distress. Julius seated himself on the sofa beside her. She
+trembled, but he looked at her almost triumphantly. Over Sophia's heart
+he knew his power. With the questioning, unwinking gaze of love his eyes
+sought hers, and he tenderly spoke her name, "_Sophia_." She could
+answer only by her conscious silence.
+
+"My wife! Mine in lives long forgotten."
+
+"O Julius!"
+
+"Always mine; missed in some existences, recovered in others, but
+bringing into every life with you my mark of ownership. See here."
+
+Then he lifted her hand, and opening its palm upward, he placed his own
+in the same attitude beside it. "Look into them both, Sophia, and see
+how closely our line of fortune is alike. That is something, but
+behold." And he showed her a singular mark, which had in his own palm
+its precise counterpart.
+
+"Is it not also in Charlotte's palm? In others?"
+
+"No, indeed. Among all the women on earth, only yours has this facsimile
+of my own. It is the soul mark upon the body. Every educated Hindoo can
+trace it; and all will tell you, that, if two individuals have it
+precisely alike, they are twin souls, and nothing can prevent their
+union."
+
+"Did they explain it to you, Julius?"
+
+"An Oriental never explains. They apprehend what is too subtle for
+words. They know best just what they have never been told. Sophia, this
+hand of yours fits mine. It is the key to it; the interpreter of my
+fate. Give me my own, darling."
+
+To Charlotte he would never have spoken in such a tone. She would have
+resented its claim and authority, and perceived that it was likely to be
+the first encroachment of a tyranny she did not intend to bow to. But
+Sophia was easily deceived on this ground. She liked the mystical air it
+gave to the event; the gray sanction of unknown centuries to the love of
+to-day.
+
+They speculated and supposed, and were supremely happy. The usual lover
+wanders in the dreams of the future: they sought each other through the
+phantom visions of the past. And they were so charmed with the
+occupation, that they quite forgot the exigencies and claims of the
+present existence until the rattle of wheels, the stamping of feet, and
+a joyful cry from Mrs. Sandal recalled them to it.
+
+"It is Harry," said Sophia. "I must go to him, Julius."
+
+He held her very firmly. "I am first. Wait a moment. You must promise me
+once more: 'My life is your life, my love is your love, my will is your
+will, my interest is your interest; I am your second self.' Will you say
+this Sophia, as I say it?" And she answered him without a word. Love
+knows how such speech may be. Even when she had escaped from her lover,
+she was not very sorry to find that Harry had gone at once to his own
+room; for he had driven through the approaching storm, and been
+thoroughly drenched. She was longing for a little solitude to bethink
+her of the new position in which she found herself; for, though she had
+a dreamy curiosity about her pre-existences, she had a very active and
+positive interest in the success and happiness of her present life.
+
+Suddenly she remembered Charlotte, and with the remembrance came the
+fact that she had not seen her since the early forenoon. But she
+immediately coupled the circumstance with the absence of the squire, and
+then she reached the real solution of the position in a moment. "They
+have gone to Up-Hill, of course. Father always goes the day before
+Christmas; and Charlotte, no doubt, expected to find Steve at home. I
+must tell Julius about Charlotte and Steve. Julius will not approve of
+a young man like Steve in our family, and it ought not to be. I am sure
+father and mother think so."
+
+At this point in her reflections, she heard Charlotte enter her own
+room, but she did not go to her. Sophia had a dislike to wet, untidy
+people, and she was not in any particular flurry to tell her success.
+Indeed, she was rather inclined to revel for an hour in the sense of it
+belonging absolutely to Julius and herself. She was not one of those
+impolitic women, who fancy that they double their happiness by imparting
+it to others.
+
+She determined to dress with extraordinary care. The occasion warranted
+it, surely; for it was not only Christmas Eve, it was also her betrothal
+eve. She put on her richest garment, a handsome gown of dark blue silk
+and velvet. A spray of mistletoe-berries was in her black hair, and a
+glittering necklace of fine sapphires enhanced the beauty and whiteness
+of her exquisite neck and shoulders. She was delighted with the effect
+of her own brave apparel, and also a little excited with the course
+events had taken, or she never would have so far forgotten the
+privileges of her elder birth as to visit Charlotte's room first on
+such an important personal occasion.
+
+Charlotte was still wrapped in her dressing-gown, lazily musing before
+the crackling, blazing fire. Her hands were clasped above her head, her
+feet comfortably extended upon the fender, her eyes closed. She had been
+a little tired with buffeting the storm; and the hot tea, which Mrs.
+Sandal had insisted upon as a preventative of cold, had made her, as she
+told Sophia, "deliciously dozy."
+
+"But dinner will be ready in half an hour, and you have to dress yet,
+Charlotte. How do I look?"
+
+"You look charming. How bright your eyes are, Sophia! I never saw you
+look so well. How much Julius will admire you to-night!"
+
+"As to that, Julius always admires me. He says he used to dream about
+me, even before he saw me."
+
+"Oh, you know that is nonsense! He couldn't do that. I dare say he
+dreams about you now, though. I should think he would like to."
+
+"You will have to hurry, Charlotte."
+
+"I can dress in ten minutes if I want to."
+
+"I will leave you now." She hesitated a moment at the door, but she
+could not bring herself to speak of her engagement. She saw that
+Charlotte was in one of her "no-matter-every-thing-right" moods, and
+knew she would take the important news without the proper surprise and
+enthusiasm. In fact, she perceived that Harry's visit occupied her whole
+mind; for, as she stood a moment or two irresolute as to her own
+desires, Charlotte talked eagerly of her brother.
+
+"Well, I hope if Harry is of so much importance in your eyes, you will
+dress decently to meet him. The rector is coming to dinner also."
+
+"I shall wear my blue gown. If I imitate you, I cannot be much out of
+the way. Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho! I hope Harry will have a pleasant visit. We
+must do our best, Sophia, to make him happy."
+
+"O Charlotte, if you have nothing to talk about but Harry, Harry, Harry,
+I am going! I am very fond of Harry, but I don't pretend to be blind to
+Harry's faults. Remember how many disagreeable hours he has given us
+lately. And I must say that I think he was very ungrateful about the
+hundred and eighty pounds I gave him. He never wrote me a line of
+thanks."
+
+"You did not give it to Harry, you loaned it to me. Be just Sophia. I
+have paid you fifteen pounds of it back already, and I shall not buy a
+single new dress until it is all returned. You will not lose a shilling,
+Sophia."
+
+"How Quixotic you can be! However, it is no use exciting ourselves
+to-night. One likes to keep the peace at Yule-tide, and so I will bow
+down to your idol as much as I can conscientiously."
+
+Charlotte made no answer. She had risen hastily, and with rather
+unnecessary vigor was rattling the ewer and basin, and plashing out the
+water. Sophia came back into the room, arranged the glass at the proper
+angle to give her a last comprehensive review of herself; and this being
+quite satisfactory, she went away with a smiling complacency, and a
+subdued excitement of manner, which in some peculiar way revealed to
+Charlotte the real position of affairs between her sister and Julius
+Sandal.
+
+"She might have told me." She dashed the water over her face at the
+implied complaint; and it was easy to see, from the impatient way in
+which she subsequently unbound her hair, and pulled the comb through it,
+and from the irritability of all her movements, that she felt the
+omission to be a slight, not only indicating something not quite
+pleasant in the past, but prefiguring also she knew not what
+disagreeable feelings for the future.
+
+"It is not Sophia's fault," she muttered; "Julius is to blame for it. I
+think he really hates me now. He has said to her, 'There is no need to
+tell Charlotte, specially; it will make her of too much importance. I
+don't approve of Charlotte in many ways.' Oh, I know you, sir!" and with
+the thought she pulled the string of her necklace so impatiently that it
+broke; and the golden beads fell to her feet, and rolled hither and
+thither about the room.
+
+The incident calmed her. She finished her toilet in haste, and went
+down-stairs. All the rooms were lighted, and she saw Julius and Sophia
+pacing up and down the main parlor, hand in hand, so interested in their
+_sotto voce_ conversation as to be quite unconscious that she had stood
+a moment at the open door for their recognition. So she passed on
+without troubling them. She heard her mother's happy laugh in the large
+dining-room, and she guessed from its tone that Harry was with her. Mrs.
+Sandal was beautifully dressed in black satin, and she held in her hand
+a handsome silver salver. Evidently she had been about to leave the room
+with it, when detained by some remark of her son's; for she was half-way
+between the table and the door, her pretty, kindly face all alight with
+love and happiness.
+
+Harry was standing on the hearth-rug, facing the room,--a splendidly
+handsome young fellow in a crimson and yellow uniform. He was in the
+midst of a hearty laugh, but when he saw Charlotte there was a sudden
+and wonderful transformation in his face. It grew in a moment much
+finer, more thoughtful, wistful, human. He sprang forward, took her in
+his arms, and kissed her. Then he held her from him a little, looked at
+her again, and kissed her again; and with that last kiss he whispered,
+"You good sister. You saved me, Charlotte, with that five hundred
+pounds."
+
+"I would have given it had it been my all, it been fifty times as much,
+Harry."
+
+There was no need to say another word. Harry and Charlotte understood
+each other, and Harry turned the conversation upon his cousin.
+
+"This Indian fellow, this Sandal of the Brahminical caste, what is he
+like, Charley?"
+
+"He does not admire me, Harry; so how can I admire him?"
+
+"Then there must be something wrong with him in the fundamentals; a
+natural-born inability to admire what is lovely and good."
+
+"You mustn't say such a thing as that, Harry. I am sure that Sophia is
+engaged to him."
+
+"Does father like him?"
+
+"Not much; but Julius is a Sandal, after all, and"--
+
+"After me, the next heir. Exactly. It shall not be my fault, Charley, if
+he does not stand a little farther off soon. I can get married too."
+
+"O Harry, if you only would! It is your duty; and there is little Emily
+Beverley. She is so beautiful and good, and she adores you, Harry."
+
+"Dear little Emmy. I used to love Emmy a long time ago."
+
+"It would make father so happy, and mother and me too. And the Beverleys
+are related to mother,--and isn't mother sweet. Father was saying"--
+
+At that moment the squire entered the room. His face was a little
+severe; but the moment his eyes fell upon Charlotte and Harry, every
+line of sternness was gone like a flash. Harry's arm was round his
+sister's waist, her head against his shoulder; but in a moment he gently
+released himself, and went to his father. And in his nineteenth-century
+way he said what the erring son of old said, "Father, I have not done
+right lately. I am very sorry."
+
+"Say no more, Harry, my lad. There shall be no back reckoning between
+you and me. You have been mixed up with a sight of follies, but you can
+over-get all that. You take after me in looks. Up-sitting and
+down-sitting, you are my son. You come of a good kind; you have a kind
+heart and plenty of dint;[Dint, energy.] now, then, make a
+fresh start, Harry. Oh, my dear, dear son!" The father's eyes were full
+of tears, his face shone with love, and he held the young man's hand in
+a clasp which forgave every thing in the past, and promised everything
+for the future.
+
+Then Julius and Sophia came in, and there was barely time to introduce
+the young men before dinner was served. They disliked each other on
+sight; indeed, the dislike was anterior to sight, and may be said to
+have commenced when Harry first heard how thoroughly at home Julius had
+made himself at Seat-Sandal, and when Julius first saw what a desirable
+estate and fine old "seat" Harry's existence deprived him of. And in
+half an hour this general aversion began to particularize itself. The
+slim, suave youth, with his black eyes and soft speech, and small hands
+and feet, seemed to Harry Sandal in every respect an interloper. The
+Saxon in this Sandal was lost in the Oriental. The two races were,
+indeed, distinctly evident in the two men in many ways, but noticeably
+in their eyes: Harry's being large, blue, and wide open; those of
+Julius, very black; and in their long, narrow setting and dreamy look,
+expressing centuries of tranquil contemplation.
+
+But the dinner passed off very pleasantly, more so than family festivals
+usually pass. After it the lovers went into private session to consider
+whether they should declare their new relationship during the evening,
+or wait until Julius could have a private audience with the squire.
+Sophia was inclined to the first course, because of the presence of the
+rector. She felt that his blessing on her betrothal would add a
+religious grace to the event, but Julius was averse to speak on any
+matter so private to himself before Harry Sandal. He felt that he could
+neither endure his congratulations nor his dissent; that, in fact, he
+did not want his opinion on the matter at all. Besides, he had
+determined to have but one discussion of the affair, and that must
+include all pertaining to Sophia's rights and her personal fortune.
+
+While they were deciding this momentous question, the rector and
+Charlotte were singing over the carols for the Christmas service; the
+squire was smoking and listening; and Harry was talking in a low voice
+to his mother. But after the rector had gone, it became very difficult
+to avoid a feeling of _ennui_ and restraint, although it was Christmas
+Eve. Mrs. Sandal soon went into the housekeeper's room to assist in the
+preparation of the Yule hampers for the families of the men who worked
+on the estate. Sandal fell into a musing fit, and soon appeared to be
+dozing; although Charlotte saw that he occasionally opened his eyes, and
+looked at the whispering lovers, or else shot her a glance full of
+sympathetic intelligence.
+
+Music has many according charms, and Charlotte tried it, but with small
+success. Julius and Sophia had a song in their own hearts, and this
+night they knew no other. Harry loved his sister very dearly, but he was
+not inclined to "carolling;" and the repression and constraint were soon
+evident through all the conventional efforts to be "merry." It was the
+squire who finally hit upon the circumstance which tided over the
+evening, and sent every one to bed in a ripple of laughter. For, when
+the piano was closed, he opened his eyes, and said, "Sophia, your mother
+tells me she has had a very nice Christmas present from the little maid
+you took such a liking to,--little Agnes Bulteel. It is a carriage hap
+made of sheepskins white as the snow, and from some new breed of sheep
+surely; for the wool is longer and silkier than ever I saw."
+
+"Agnes Bulteel!" cried Charlotte. "O Sophia! where are her last letters?
+I am sure father would like to hear about Joe and the jolly-jist."
+
+"Joe Bulteel is no fool," said the squire warmly. "It is the way around
+here to laugh a bit at Joe; but Joe aims to do right, and he is a very
+spirity lad. What are you and Sophia laughing at? Eh? What?"
+
+"Get the letters, Sophia. Julius and Harry will enjoy them I know. Harry
+must remember Joe Bulteel."
+
+"Certainly. Joe has carried my line and creel many a day. Trout couldn't
+fool Joe. He was the one to find plovers' eggs, and to spot a blaeberry
+patch. Joe has some senses ordinary people do not have, I think. I
+should like to hear about Joe and the _what_?"
+
+"The jolly-jist,--Professor Sedgwick really. Joe has been on the fells
+with the professor."
+
+So they drew around the fire, and Sophia went for the letters. She was a
+good reader, and could give the county peculiarities with all their
+quaint variations of mood and temper and accent. She was quite aware
+that the reading would exhibit her in an entirely new _role_ to Julius,
+and she entered upon the task with all the confidence and enthusiasm
+which insured the entertainment. And as both Professor Sedgwick and Joe
+Bulteel were well known to the squire and Harry, they entered into the
+joke also with all their hearts; and one peal of laughter followed
+another, as the squire's comments made many a distinct addition to the
+unconscious humor of the letters.
+
+At that point of the story where Joe had triumphantly pocketed his last
+five shillings, and gone home reflecting on what a "famous job it would
+be to sell all the stones on their fell at five shillings a little
+bagful," Mrs. Sandal entered. A servant followed with spiced wine and
+dainty bits of cake and pastry; and then, after a merry interval of
+comment and refreshment, Sophia resumed the narrative.
+
+     All this happened at the end of May, Miss Sandal; and one day last
+     August father went down Lorton way, and it was gayly late when he
+     got home. As he was sitting on his own side the fire, trying to
+     loose the buttons of his spats, he said to Joe, "I called at
+     Skeal-Hill on my road home." Mother was knitting at her side of the
+     hearth. She hadn't opened her mouth since father came home; nay,
+     she hadn't so much as looked at him after the one hard glower that
+     she gave him at first; but when he said he'd been at Skeal-Hill,
+     she gave a grunt, and said, as if she spoke to nobody but herself,
+     "Ay, a blind body might see that."--"I was speaking to Joe," said
+     father. "Joe," said he again, "I was at Skeal-Hill,"--mother gave
+     another grunt then,--"and they told me that thy old friend the
+     jolly-jist is back again. I think thou had better step down, and
+     see if he wants to buy any more broken stones; old Abraham has a
+     fine heap or two lying aside Kirgat." Joe thought he had done many
+     a dafter thing than take father at his word, whether he meant it or
+     not; and so thought, so done, for next morning he took himself off
+     to Skeal-Hill.
+
+     When he got there, and asked if the jolly-jist was stirring yet,
+     one servant snorted, and another grunted, till Joe got rather
+     maddish; but at last one of them skipjacks of fellows, that wear a
+     little jacket like a lass's bedgown, said he would see. He came
+     back laughing, and said, "Come this way, Joe." Well, our Joe
+     followed him till he stopped before a room door; and he gave a
+     little knock, and then opened it, and says he, "Joe, sir." Joe
+     wasn't going to stand that; and he said, "'Joe, sir,' he'll ken its
+     'Joe, sir,' as soon as he sees the face of me. And get out with thy
+     'Joe, sir,' or I'll make thee laugh at the wrong side of that ugly
+     face of thine." With that the fellow skipped out of our Joe's way
+     gayly sharp, and Joe stepped quietly into the room.
+
+     There the little old gentleman was sitting at a table
+     writing,--gray hair, spectacles, white neck-cloth, black
+     clothes,--just as if he had never either doffed or donned himself
+     since he went away. But before Joe could put out his hand, or say a
+     civil word to him, he glinted up at Joe through his spectacles very
+     fierce like, and grunted out something about wondering how Joe
+     durst show his face again. Well, that put the cap on all for poor
+     Joe. He had thought over what father said, and _how_ he said it, on
+     his road down till he found himself getting rather mad about it;
+     and the way they all snorted and laughed when he came to Skeal-Hill
+     made him madder; and that bedgown fellow, with his "Joe, sir," made
+     him madder than ever; but when the old jolly-jist--that he thought
+     would be so fain to see him, if it was only for the sake of their
+     sprogue on the fells together--when he wondered "how Joe durst show
+     his face there," it set Joe rantin' mad, and he _did_ make a burst.
+
+At this point the squire was laughing so noisily that Sophia had to
+stop; and his hearty _ha, ha, ha_! was so contagious, that Harry and
+Julius and Charlotte, and even Mrs. Sandal, echoed it in a variety of
+merry peals. Sophia was calmer. She sat by the lamp, pleasantly
+conscious of the amusement she was giving; and, considering that she had
+already laughed the circumstance out in her room, quite as well
+entertained as any of the party. In a few minutes the squire recovered
+himself. "Let us have the rest now, Sophia. I'd have given a gold
+guinea to have heard Joe's 'burst.'"
+
+     "Show my face?" said Joe; "and what should I show, then? If it
+     comes to showing faces, I've a better face to show than ever
+     belonged to one of your breed, if the rest of them are aught like
+     the sample they have sent us. But if you must know," said Joe, "I
+     come of a stock that never would be frightened to show their face
+     to a king, let alone an old noodles that calls himself a
+     jolly-jist. And I defy the face of clay," said Joe, "to show that
+     any of us ever did aught he need to be ashamed of, wherever we show
+     our faces. Dare to show my face, eh?" said Joe again, "My song! but
+     this is a bonnie welcome to give a fellow that has come so far to
+     see you such a hot morning." Joe said a deal more of the same make;
+     and all the time he was saying it, the old man laid himself back in
+     his great chair, and kept twiddling his thumbs, and glancing up at
+     Joe with a half-smirk on his face, as if he had got something very
+     funny before him.
+
+"Joe is like all these shepherd lads," said the squire, "as independent
+as never was. They are a manly race, but the Bulteels all come of a good
+kind."
+
+Julius laughed scornfully, but the squire took him up very short. "You
+need not laugh, nephew. It is as I say. The Bulteels are as good stock
+as the Sandals; a fine old family, and, like the Sandals, at home here
+when the Conqueror came. Joe would do the right thing I'll be bound. Let
+us hear if he didn't, Sophia."
+
+     After a while Joe stopped, for he had run himself very near short
+     of wind; and he began rather to think shame of shouting and
+     bellering so at an old man, and him as whisht as a trout through it
+     all. And when Joe pulled in, he only said, as quietly as ever was,
+     that Joe was a "natural curiosity."
+
+     Joe didn't know very well what this meant; but he thought it was
+     sauce, and it had like to have set him off again; but he beat
+     himself down as well as he could, and he said, "Have you any thing
+     against me? If you have, speak it out like a man; and don't sit
+     there twiddling your thumbs, and calling folks out of their names
+     in this road." Then it came out plain enough. All this ill-nature,
+     Miss Sandal, was just because poor Joe hadn't brought him the same
+     stones as he had gathered on the fells; and he said that changing
+     them was either a very dirty trick, or a very clumsy joke.
+
+     "Trick," said Joe. "_Joke_, did you say? It was ratherly past a
+     joke to expect me to carry a load of broken stones all the way
+     here, when there was plenty on the spot. I'm not such a fool as
+     you've taken me for," said Joe. The jolly-jist took off his
+     spectacles, and glowered at Joe without them. Then he put them on
+     again, and glowered at Joe with them; and then he laughed, and
+     asked Joe, if he thought there could be no difference in stones.
+     "Why!" answered Joe, "you hardly have the face to tell me that one
+     bag of stones isn't as good as another bag of stones; and surely to
+     man you'll never be so conceited as to say that you can break
+     stones better than old Abraham Atchisson, who breaks them for his
+     bread, and breaks them all day long and every day."
+
+     With that the old man laughed again, and told Joe to sit down; and
+     then he asked him what he thought made him take so much trouble
+     seeking bits of stone on the fells, if he could get what he wanted
+     on the road-side. "Well," Joe said, "if I must tell you the truth,
+     I thought you were rather soft in the head; but it made no matter
+     what I thought, so long as you paid me so well for going with you."
+     As Joe said this, it came into his head that it was better to
+     flatter a fool than to fight him; and after all, that there might
+     be something in the old man liking stones of his own breaking
+     better than those of other folks' breaking. We all think the most
+     of what we have had a hand in ourselves, don't we Miss Sandal? It's
+     nothing but natural. And as soon as this run, through Joe's head,
+     he found himself getting middling sorry for the old man; and he
+     said, "What will you give me to get you your own bits of stones
+     back again?"
+
+     He cocked up his ears at that, and asked if his "speciments," as he
+     called them, were safe. "Ay," said Joe, "they are safe enough.
+     Nobody hereabout thinks a little lot of stones worth meddling with,
+     so long as they don't lie in their road." With that the jolly-jist
+     jumped up, and said Joe must have something to eat and drink. Then
+     Joe thought to himself, "Come, come, we are getting back to our own
+     menseful way again." But he would not stir a peg till he heard
+     what he was to have for getting the stones again; for Joe knew he
+     would never hear the last of it, if he came home empty-handed. They
+     made it all right very soon, however; and the old man went
+     up-stairs, and brought down the two leather bags, and gave them to
+     Joe to carry, as if nothing had happened; and off they started,
+     very like as they did before.
+
+     The Skeal-Hill folk all gathered together about the door to look
+     after them, as if they had been a show; but they neither of them
+     minded for that, but walked away as thick as inkle-weavers till
+     they got to the foot of our great meadow, where the stones were all
+     lying just as Joe had turned them out of the bags, only rather
+     grown over with grass. And as Joe picked them up one by one, and
+     handed them to the old jolly-jist, it did Joe's heart good to see
+     how pleased he looked. He wiped them on his coat-cuff, and wet
+     them, and glowered at them through his spectacles, as if they were
+     something good to eat, and he was very hungry; and then he packed
+     them away into the bags till they were both chock full again.
+
+     Well, the bargain was, that Joe should carry them back to
+     Skeal-Hill; so back they put, the jolly-jist watching his bags all
+     the way, as if they were full of golden guineas, and our Joe a
+     thief. When they got there, he made Joe take them right into the
+     parlor; and the first thing he did was to call for some red wax and
+     a light, and he clapped a great splatch of a seal on either bag;
+     and then he looked at Joe, and gave a little grunt of a laugh, and
+     a smartish wag of the head, as much as to say, "Do it again, Joe,
+     if you can." But after that he said, "Here, Joe, is five shillings
+     for restoring my speciments, and here is another five shillings for
+     showing me a speciment of human nature that I did not believe in
+     until this day." [This story is told of Professor Sedgwick in broad
+     _patois_ by Alexander Craig Gibson, F.S.A.]
+
+"That is good," cried the squire, clapping his knee emphatically. "It
+was like the professor, and it was like Joe Bulteel. The story does them
+both credit. I am glad I heard it. Alice, fill our glasses again." Then
+he stood up, and looked around with a smile.
+
+"God's blessing on this house, and on all beneath its roof-tree!
+
+"Wife and children, a merry Christmas to you!
+
+"Friends and serving hands, a merry Christmas to you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+WOOING AND WEDDING.
+
+     "She was made for him,--a special providence in his behalf."
+
+     "Like to like,--and yet love may be dear bought."
+
+     "In time comes she whom Fate sends."
+
+
+Until after Twelfth Night the Christmas festivities were continued; but
+if the truth had been admitted, the cumbrous ceremonials, the excessive
+eating and visiting, would have been pronounced by every one very
+tiresome. Julius found it particularly so, for the festival had no roots
+in his boyhood's heart; and he did not include it in his dreams of
+pre-existence.
+
+"It is such semblance of good fellowship, such a wearisome pretence of
+good wishes that mean nothing," he said one day. "What value is there in
+such talk?"
+
+"Well," answered the squire, "it isn't a bad thing for some of us to
+feel obliged once in a twelve months to be good-natured, and give our
+neighbors a kind wish. There are them that never do it except at
+Christmas. Eh? What?"
+
+"Such wishes mean nothing."
+
+"Nay, now, there is no need to think that kind words are false words.
+There is a deal of good sometimes in a mouthful of words. Eh? What?"
+
+"And yet, sir, as the queen of the crocodiles remarked, 'Words mend none
+of the eggs that are broken.'"
+
+"I know nothing about the queen of the crocodiles. But if you don't
+believe in words, Julius, it is quite allowable at Christmas time to put
+your good words into any substantial form you like. Nobody will doubt a
+good wish that is father to a handsome gift; so, if you don't believe in
+good words, you have a very reliable substitute in good deeds. I saw how
+you looked when I said 'A merry Christmas' to old Simon Gills, and you
+had to say the words after me. Very well; send old Simon a new plaid or
+a pound of tobacco, and he'll believe in your wish, and you'll believe
+in yourself. Eh? What?"
+
+The days were full of such strained conversations on various topics.
+Harry could say nothing which Julius did not politely challenge by some
+doubtful inquiry. Julius felt in every word and action of Harry's the
+authority of the heir, and the forbearance of a host tolerant to a
+guest. He complained bitterly to Sophia of the position in which he was
+constantly put. "Your father and brother have been examining timber, and
+looking at the out-houses this morning, and I understand they were
+discussing the building of a conservatory for Charlotte; but I was left
+out of the conversation entirely. Is it fair, Sophia? You and I are the
+next heirs, and just as likely to inherit as Harry. More so, I may say,
+for a soldier's life is already sold, and Harry is reckless and
+dissipated as well. I think I ought to have been consulted. I should not
+be in favor of thinning the timber. I dare say it is done to pay Harry's
+bills; and thus, you see, it may really be we who are made to suffer. I
+don't think your father likes our marriage, dear one."
+
+"But he gave his consent, beloved."
+
+"I was very dissatisfied with his way of doing it. He might as well have
+said, 'If it has to be, it has to be; and there is no use fretting
+about it.' I may be wrong, but that is the impression his consent left
+on my mind. And he was quite unreasonable when I alluded to money
+matters. I would not have believed that your father was capable of being
+so disagreeably haughty. Of course, I expected him to say something
+about our rights, failing Harry's, and he treated them as if they did
+not exist. Even when I introduced them in the most delicate way, he was
+what I call downright rude. 'Julius,' he said, 'I will not discuss any
+future that pre-supposes Harry's death.'"
+
+"Father's sun rises and sets in Harry, and it was like him to speak that
+way; he meant nothing against us. Father would always do right. What I
+feel most is the refusal to give us our own apartments in Seat-Sandal.
+We do not want to live here all the time, but we ought to be able to
+feel that we have a certain home here."
+
+"Yes, indeed. It is very important in my eyes to keep a footing in the
+house. Possession is a kind of right. But never mind, Sophia. I have
+always had an impression that this was my home. The first moment I
+crossed the threshold I felt it. All its rooms were familiar to me.
+People do not have such presentiments for nothing."
+
+There is a class of lovers who find their supremest pleasure in
+isolating themselves; who consider their own affairs an oasis of
+delight, and make it desert all around them. Julius and Sophia belonged
+to it. They really enjoyed the idea that they were being badly used.
+They talked over the squire's injustice, Mrs. Sandal's indifference to
+every one but Harry, and Charlotte's envy, until they had persuaded
+themselves that they were the only respectable and intelligent members
+of the family. Naturally Sophia's nature deteriorated under this
+isolating process. She grew secretive and suspicious. Her love-affairs
+assumed a proportion which put her in false relations to all the rest of
+the world.
+
+It was unfortunate that they had come to a crisis during Harry's visit,
+for of course Harry occupied a large share of every one's interest. The
+squire took the opportunity to talk over the affairs of the estate with
+him, and this was not a kind of conversation they felt inclined to make
+general. It took them long solitary walks to the different "folds," and
+several times as far as Kendal together. "Am I one of the family, or am
+I not?" Julius would ask Sophia on such occasions; and then the
+discussion of this question separated them from it, sometimes for hours
+at a time.
+
+Mrs. Sandal hardly perceived the growth of this domestic antagonism.
+When Harry was at Seat-Sandal, she lived and moved and had her being in
+Harry. His food and drink, and the multitude of his small comforts; his
+friends and amusements; the renovation of his linen and hosiery; his
+hopes and fears, and his promotion or marriage, were enough to fill the
+mother's heart. She was by no means oblivious of Sophia's new interests,
+she only thought that they could be put aside until Harry's short visit
+was over; and Charlotte's sympathies were also with Harry. "Julius and
+Sophia do not want them, mother," she said, "they are sufficient unto
+themselves. If I enter a room pre-occupied by them, Sophia sits silent
+over her work, with a look of injury on her face; and Julius walks
+about, and kicks the stools out of his way, and simply 'looks' me out of
+their presence."
+
+After such an expulsion one morning, she put on her bonnet and mantle,
+and went into the park. She was hot and trembling with anger, and her
+eyes were misty with tears. In the main walk she met Harry. He was
+smoking, and pacing slowly up and down under the bare branches of the
+oaks. For a moment he also seemed annoyed at her intrusion on his
+solitude; but the next one he had tucked her arm through his own, and
+was looking with brotherly sympathy into her flushed and troubled face.
+This morning Charlotte felt it to be a great comfort to complain to him,
+to even cry a little over the breaking of the family bond, and the loss
+of her sister's affection.
+
+"I have always been so proud of Sophia, always given up to her in every
+thing. When grandmother showed me the sapphire necklace, and said she
+was going to leave it to me because she loved me best, I begged her not
+to slight Sophia in such a way as that,--Sophia being the elder, you
+know, Harry. I cried about it until she was almost angry with me. Julius
+offered his hand to me first; and though I claim no merit for giving up
+what I do not want, yet, all the same, if I had wanted him I should
+have refused, because I saw that Sophia had set her heart upon him. I
+should indeed, Harry."
+
+"I believe you would, Charlotte."
+
+"And somehow Julius manages to give me the feeling that I am only in
+Seat-Sandal on his tolerance. Many a time a day I have to tell myself
+that father is still alive, and that I have a right in my own home. I do
+not know how he manages to make me feel so."
+
+"In the same way that he conveys to me the impression that I shall never
+be squire of Sandal-Side. He has doomed me to death in his own mind; and
+I believe if I had to live with him, I should feel constrained to go and
+shoot myself."
+
+"I would come home, and get married, Harry. There will be room enough
+and welcome enough for your wife in Seat-Sandal, especially if she be
+Emily."
+
+"She will not be Emily; for I love some one else far away
+better,--millions of times better than I love Emily."
+
+"I am so glad, Harry. Have you told father?"
+
+"Not yet. I do not think he will be glad, Charlotte."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"There are many reasons."
+
+"Such as?"
+
+"She is poor."
+
+"Oh! that is bad, Harry; because I know that we are not rich. But she is
+not your inferior? I mean she is not uneducated or unladylike?"
+
+"She is highly educated, and in all England there is not a more perfect
+lady."
+
+"Then I can see no reason to think father will not be pleased. I am
+sure, Harry, that I shall love your wife. Oh, yes! I shall love her very
+dearly."
+
+Then Harry pressed her arm close to his side, and looked lovingly down
+into her bright, earnest face. There was no need of speech. In a glance
+their souls touched each other.
+
+"And so he asked you first, eh, Charley?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you would not have him? What for Charley?"
+
+"I did not like Julius, and I did like some one else."
+
+"Oh! Oh! Who is the some one else?"
+
+"Guess, Harry. He is very like you, very: fair and tall, with clear,
+candid, happy blue eyes; and brown hair curling close over his head. In
+the folds and in the fields he is a master. His heart is gentle to all,
+and full of love for me. He has spirit, dint, [Dint, energy.]
+ambition, enterprise; and can work twenty hours out of the twenty-four
+to carry out his own plans. He is a right good fellow, Harry."
+
+"A North-country man?"
+
+"Certainly. Do you think I would marry a stranger?"
+
+"Cumberland born?"
+
+"Who else?"
+
+"Then it is Steve Latrigg, eh? Well, Charley, you might go farther, and
+fare worse. I don't think he is worthy of you."
+
+"Oh, but I do!"
+
+"Very few men are worthy of you."
+
+"Only Steve. I want you to like Steve. Harry."
+
+"Certainly. Seat-Sandal folks and Up-Hill folks are always thick
+friends. And Steve and I were boy chums. He is a fine fellow, and no
+mistake. I am glad he is to be my brother. I asked mother about him;
+and she said he was in Yorkshire, learning how to spin and weave wool--a
+queer thing, Charley."
+
+"Not at all. He may just as well spin his own fleeces as sell them to
+Yorkshiremen to spin." Then they talked awhile of Stephen's plans, and
+Harry appeared to be much impressed with them. "It is a pity father does
+not join him, Charley," he said. "Every one is doing something of the
+kind now. Land and sheep do not make money fast enough for the wants of
+our present life. The income of the estate is no larger than it was in
+grandfather's time; but the expenses are much greater, although we do
+not keep up the same extravagant style. I need money, too, need it very
+much; but I see plainly that father has none to spare. Julius will press
+him very close."
+
+"What has Julius to do with father's money?"
+
+"Father must, in honor, pay Sophia's portion. Unfortunately, when the
+fellow was here last, father told him that he had put away from the
+estate one hundred pounds a year for each of his girls. Under this
+promise, Sophia's right with interest will be near three thousand
+pounds, exclusive of her share in the money grandmother left you. I am
+sorry to say that I have had something to do with making it hard for
+father to meet these obligations. And Julius wants the money paid at the
+marriage. Father, too, feels very much as I feel, and would rather throw
+it into the sea than give it to him; only _noblesse oblige_."
+
+The subject evidently irritated Harry beyond endurance, and he suddenly
+changed it by taking from his pocket an ivory miniature. He gave it to
+Charlotte, and watched her face with a glow of pleasant expectation.
+"Why, Harry!" she cried, "does so lovely a woman really exist?"
+
+He nodded happily, and answered in a voice full of emotion, "And she
+loves me."
+
+"It is the countenance of an angel."
+
+"And she loves me. I am not worthy to touch the hem of her garment,
+Charley, but she loves me." Then Charlotte lifted the pictured face to
+her lips. Their confidence was complete; and they did not think it
+necessary to talk it over, or to exact promises of secrecy from each
+other.
+
+The next day Harry returned to his regiment, and Sophia's affairs began
+to receive the attention which their important crisis demanded. In those
+days it was customary for girls to make their own wedding outfit, and
+there was no sewing-machine to help them. "Mine is the first marriage in
+the family," Sophia said, "and I think there ought to be a great deal of
+interest felt in it." And there was. Grandmother Sandal's awmries were
+opened for old laces and fine cambric, and petticoats and spencers of
+silks wonderful in quality and color, and guiltless of any admixture of
+less precious material. There were whole sets of many garments to make,
+and tucking and frilling and stitching were then slow processes. Agnes
+Bulteel came to assist; but the work promised to be so tedious, that the
+marriage-day was postponed until July.
+
+In the mean time, Julius spent his time between Oxford and Sandal-Side.
+Every visit was distinguished by some rich or rare gift to his bride,
+and he always felt a pleasure in assuring himself that Charlotte was
+consumed with envy and regret. He was very much in love with Sophia, and
+quite glad she was going to marry him; and yet he dearly liked to think
+that he made Charlotte sorry for her rejection of his love, and
+wistfully anxious for the rings and bracelets that were the portion of
+his betrothed. Sophia soon found out that this idea flattered and
+pleased him, and it gave her neither shame nor regret to indorse it. She
+loved no one but Julius, and she made a kind of merit in giving up every
+one for him. The sentiment sounded rather well; but it was really an
+intense selfishness, wearing the mask of unselfishness. She did not
+reflect that the daily love and duty due to others cannot be sinlessly
+withheld, or given to some object of our own particular choice, or that
+such a selfish idolatry is a domestic crime.
+
+It was a very unhappy time to Charlotte. Her mother was weary with many
+unusual cares, her father more silent and depressed than she had ever
+before seen him. The sunny serenity of her happy home was disturbed by a
+multitude of new elements, for an atmosphere of constant expectation
+gave a restless tone to its usual placid routine. And through all and
+below all, there was that feeling of money perplexity, which, where it
+exists, is no more to be hid than the subtle odor of musk, present
+though unseen.
+
+This year the white winter appeared to Charlotte interminable in length.
+The days in which it was impossible to go out, full of Sophia's sewing
+and little worries and ostentations; the windy, tempestuous nights, that
+swept the gathering drifts away; the cloudless moonlight nights, full of
+that awful, breathless quiet that broods in land-locked dales,--all of
+them, and all of Nature's moods, had become inexpressibly, monotonously
+wearisome before the change came. But one morning at the end of March,
+there was a great west wind charged with heavy rains, and in a few hours
+the snow on all the fells had been turned into rushing floods, that came
+roaring down from every side into the valley.
+
+              "'Oh, wind!
+      If winter comes, can spring be far behind?'"
+
+quoted Charlotte, as she stood watching the white cascades.
+
+"It will be cuckoo time directly my dear; and the lambs will be bleating
+on the fells, and the yellow primroses blowing under all the hedges. I
+want to see the swallows take the storm on their wings badly this year.
+Eh? What, Charlotte?"
+
+"So do I, father. I never was so tired of the house before."
+
+"There's a bit of a difference lately, I think. Eh? What?"
+
+Charlotte looked at him; there was no need to speak. They both
+understood and felt the full misery of household changes that are not
+entirely happy ones; changes that bring unfaithfulness and ingratitude
+on one side, and resentful, wounded love on the other. And the worst of
+it all was, that it might have been so different. Why had the lovers set
+themselves apart from the family, had secrets and consultations and
+interests they refused to share? How had it happened that Sophia had
+come to consider her welfare as apart from, and in opposition to, that
+of the general welfare of Seat-Sandal? And when this feeling existed, it
+seemed unjust to Charlotte that they should still expect the whole house
+and household to be kept in turmoil for the furtherance of their plans,
+and that every one should be made to contribute to their happiness.
+
+"After all, maybe it is a bit natural," said the squire with a sad air
+of apology. "I have noticed even the robins get angry if you watch them
+building their nests."
+
+"But they, at least, build their own nest, father. The cock-robin does
+not go to his parents, and the hen robin to her parents, and say, 'Give
+us all the straw you can, and put it down at the foot of our tree; but
+don't dare to peep into the branches, or offer us any suggestions about
+the nest, or expect to have an opinion about our housekeeping.'
+Selfishness spoils every thing, father. I think if a rose could be
+selfish it would be hideous."
+
+"I don't think a lover would make my Charlotte forget her father and
+mother, and feel contempt for her home, and all in and about it that she
+does not want for herself. Why, a stranger would think that Sophia was
+never loved by any human heart before! They would think that she never
+had been happy before. Nay, then, she sets more store by the few
+nick-nacks Julius has given her than all I have bought her for twenty
+years. When yonder last bracelet came, she went on as if she had never
+seen aught of the kind in all her born days. Yet I have bought her one
+or two that cost more money, and happen more love, than it did. Eh?
+What, Charlotte?"
+
+There were two large tears standing in his blue eyes, and two sprang
+into Charlotte's to meet them. She clasped his hand tight, and after a
+minute's silence said,--
+
+"I have a lover, father; the best a girl ever had. Has he made any
+difference between you and me? Only that I love you better. You are my
+first love; the very first creature I remember, father. One summer day
+you had me in your arms in the garden. I recollect looking at you and
+knowing you. I think it was at that moment my soul found me."
+
+"It was on a summer day, Charlotte? Eh? What?"
+
+"And the garden was all roses, father; red with roses,--roses full of
+scent. I can smell them yet. The sunshine, the roses, the sweet air,
+your face,--I shall never, never forget that moment, father."
+
+"Nor I. I was a very happy man in those days, Charlotte. Young and
+happy, and full of hope. I thought my children were some new make of
+children. I could not have believed then, that they would ever give me
+a heartache, or have one themselves. And I had not a care. Money was
+very easy with me then: now it is middling hard to bring buckle and
+tongue together."
+
+"When Sophia is married, we can begin and save a little. Mother and you
+and I can be happy without extravagances."
+
+"To be sure, we can; but the trouble is, my saving will be the losing of
+all I have to send away. It is very hard, Charlotte, to do right at both
+ends. Eh? What?"
+
+After this conversation, spring came on rapidly, and it was not long ere
+Charlotte managed to reach Up-Hill. She had not seen Ducie for several
+weeks, and she was longing to hear something of Stephen. "But if ill had
+come, ill would have cried out, and I would have heard tell;" she
+thought, as she picked her way among the stones and _debris_ of the
+winter storms. The country was yet bare; the trees had no leaves, no
+nests, no secrets; but she could see the sap running into the branches,
+making them dark red, scarlet, or yellow as rods of gold. Higher up, the
+pines, always green, took her into their shade; into their calm spirit
+of unchangeableness, their equal light, their keen aromatic air. Then
+came the bare fell, and the raw north wind, and the low gray house,
+stretching itself under the leafless, outspreading limbs of the
+sycamores.
+
+In the valley, there had been many wild flowers,--tufts of violets and
+early primroses,--and even at Up-Hill the blackthorn's stiff boughs were
+covered with tiny white buds, and here and there an open blossom. Ducie
+was in the garden at work; and as Charlotte crossed the steps in its
+stone wall she lifted her head, and saw her. Their meeting was free from
+all demonstration; only a smile, and a word or two of welcome, and yet
+how conscious of affection! How satisfied both women were! Ducie went on
+with her task, and Charlotte stood by her side, and watched her drop the
+brown seeds into the damp, rich earth; watched her clip the box-borders,
+and loosen the soil about the springing crocus bulbs. Here and there
+tufts of snowdrops were in full bloom,--white, frail bells, looking as
+if they had known only cheerless hours and cold sunbeams, and wept and
+shrank and feared through them.
+
+As they went into the house, Ducie gathered a few; but at the
+threshhold, Charlotte turned, and saw them in her hand. A little fear
+and annoyance came into her face. "You a North-country woman, Ducie,"
+she said, "and yet going to bring snowdrops across the doorstone? I
+would not have believed such a thing of you. Leave them outside the
+porch. Be said, now."
+
+"It seems such a thing to think of flowers that way,--making them signs
+of sorrow."
+
+"You know what you said about your father and the
+plant,--'Death-come-quickly.' I have heard snowdrops called 'flowers
+from dead-men's dale.' Look at them. They are like a shrouded corpse.
+They keep their heads always turned down to the grave. It is ill-luck to
+bring them where there is life and love and warmth. It will do you no
+harm to mind me; so be said, Ducie. Besides, I wouldn't pull them
+anyway. There was little Grace Lewthwaite, she was always gathering the
+poor, innocent flowers just to fling them on the dusty road to be
+trodden and trampled to pieces; well, before she was twelve years old,
+she faded away too. Perhaps even the prayers of mangled flowers may be
+heard by the merciful Creator."
+
+"You do give me such turns, Charlotte." But who ever reasons with a
+superstition? Ducie simply obeyed Charlotte's wish, and laid the pallid
+blooms almost remorsefully back upon the earth from which she had taken
+them. A strange melancholy filled her heart; although the servants were
+busy all around, and everywhere she heard the good-natured laugh, the
+thoughtless whistle, or the songs of hearts at ease.
+
+When she entered the houseplace she put the bright kettle on the hob,
+and took out her silver teapot and her best cups of lovely crown Derby.
+And as she moved about in her quiet, hospitable way they began to talk
+of Stephen. "Was he well?"--"Yes, he was well, but there were things
+that might be better. I thought when he went to Bradford," continued
+Ducie, "that he would at least be learning something that he might be
+the better of in the long end; and that in a mill he would over-get his
+notions about sheepskins being spun into golden fleeces. But he doesn't
+seem to get any new light that way, and Up-Hill is not doing well
+without him. Fold and farm are needing the master's eye and hand; and it
+will be a poor lambing season for us, I think, wanting Steve. And, deary
+me, Charlotte, one word from you would bring him home!"
+
+Charlotte stooped, and lifted the tortoise-shell cat, lying on the rug
+at her feet. She was not fond of cats, and she was only attentive to
+puss as the best means of hiding her blushes. Ducie understood the
+small, womanly ruse, and waited no other answer. "What is the matter
+with the squire, Charlotte? Does he think that Stephen isn't good enough
+to marry you? I'll not say that Latrigg evens Sandal in all things, but
+I will say that there are very few families that can even Latrigg. We
+have been without reproach,--good women, honest men; not afraid of any
+face of clay, though it wore a crown above it."
+
+"Dear Ducie, there is no question at all of that. The trouble arose
+about Julius Sandal. Father was determined that I or Sophia should marry
+him, and he was afraid of Steve standing in the way of Julius. As for
+myself, I felt as if Julius had been invited to Seat-Sandal that he
+might make his choice of us; and I took good care that he should
+understand from the first hour that I was not on his approbation. I
+resented the position on my own account, and I did not intend Stephen to
+feel that he was only getting a girl who had been appraised by Julius
+Sandal, and declined."
+
+"You are a good girl, Charlotte; and as for Steve standing in the way of
+Julius Sandal, he will, perhaps, do that yet, and to some more purpose
+than sweet-hearting. I hear tell that he is very rich; but Steve is not
+poor,--no, not by a good deal. His grandfather and I have been saving
+for him more than twenty years, and Steve is one to turn his penny well
+and often. If you marry Steve, you will not have to study about money
+matters."
+
+"Poor or rich, I shall marry Steve if he is true to me."
+
+"There is another thing, Charlotte, a thing I talk about to no one; but
+we will speak of it once and forever. Have you heard a word about
+Steve's father? My trouble is long dead and buried, but there are some
+that will open the grave itself for a mouthful of scandal. What have you
+heard? Don't be afraid to speak out."
+
+"I heard that you ran away with Steve's father."
+
+"Yes, I did."
+
+"That your father and mother opposed your marriage very much."
+
+"Yes, that also is true."
+
+"That he was a handsome lad, called Matt Pattison, your father's head
+shepherd."
+
+"Was that all?"
+
+"That it killed your mother."
+
+"No, that is untrue. Mother died from an inflammation brought on by
+taking cold. I was no-ways to blame for her death. I was to blame for
+running away from my home and duty, and I took in full all the sorrowful
+wage I earned. Steve's father did not live to see his son; and when I
+heard of mother's death, I determined to go back to father, and stay
+with him always if he would let me. I got to Sandal village in the
+evening, and stayed with Nancy Bell all night. In the morning I went up
+the fell; it was a wet, cold morning, with gusts of wind driving the
+showers like a solid sheet eastward. We had a hard fight up the breast
+of the mountain; and the house looked bleak and desolate, for the men
+were all in the barn threshing, and the women in the kitchen at the
+butter-troughs. I stood in the porch to catch my breath, and take my
+plaid from around the child; and I heard father in a loud, solemn voice
+saying the Collect,--father always spoke in that way when he was saying
+the Confession or the Collect,--and I knew very well that he would be
+standing at that east window, with his prayer-book open on the sill. So
+I waited until I heard the 'Amen,' and then I lifted the latch and went
+in. He turned around and faced me; and his eyes fell at once upon little
+Steve, who was a bonny lad then, more than three years old. 'I have come
+back to you, father,' I said, 'I and my little Steve.'--'Where is thy
+husband?' he asked. I said, 'He is in the grave. I did wrong, and I am
+sorry, father."
+
+"'Then I forgive thee.' That was all he said. His eyes were fixed upon
+Steve, for he never had a son of his own; and he held out his hands, and
+Steve went straight to him; and he lifted the boy, and kissed him again
+and again, and from that moment he loved him with all his soul. He never
+cast up to me the wrong I had done; and by and by I told him all that
+had happened to me, and we never more had a secret between us, but
+worked together for one end; and what that end was, some day you may
+find out. I wish you would write a word or two to Steve. A word would
+bring him home, dear."
+
+"But I cannot write it, Ducie. I promised father there should be no
+love-making between us, and I would not break a word that father trusts
+in. Besides, Stephen is too proud and too honorable to have any
+underhand courting. When he can walk in and out Seat-Sandal in dayshine
+and in dark, and as every one's equal, he will come to see me. Until
+then we can trust each other and wait."
+
+"What does the squire think of Steve's plans? Maybe, now, they are not
+very pleasant to him. I remember at the sheep-shearing he did not say
+very much."
+
+"He did not say very much because he never thought that Steve was in
+earnest. Father does not like changes, and you know how land-owners
+regard traders. And I'm sure you wouldn't even one of our shepherd-lads
+with a man that minds a loom. The brave fellows, travelling the
+mountain-tops in the fiercest storms to fold the sheep, or seek some
+stray or weakly lamb, are very different from the lank, white-faced
+mannikins all finger-ends for a bit of machinery; aren't they, Ducie?
+And I would far rather see Steve counting his flocks on the fells than
+his spinning-jennys in a mill. Father was troubled about the railway
+coming to Ambleside, and I do think a factory in Sandal-Side would make
+him heart-sick."
+
+"Then Steve shall never build one while Sandal lives. Do you think I
+would have the squire made heart-sick if I could make him heart-whole?
+Not for all the woollen yarn in England. Tell him Ducie said so. The
+squire and I are old, old friends. Why, we pulled primroses together in
+the very meadow Steve thought of building in! I'm not the woman to put a
+mill before a friend, oh, no! And in the long end I think you are right,
+Charlotte. A man had better work among sheep than among human beings.
+They are a deal more peaceable and easy to get on with. It is not so
+very hard for a shepherd to be a good man."
+
+"You speak as I like to hear you, Ducie; but I must be going, for a deal
+falls to my oversight now." And she rose quickly from the tea-table,
+and as she tied on her bonnet, began to sing,--
+
+    "'God bless the sheep upon the fells!
+      Oh, do you hear the tinkling bells
+      Of sheep that wander on the fells?
+
+      The tinkling bells the silence fills,
+      Sings cheerily the soul that wills;
+      God bless the shepherd on the hills!
+
+      God bless the sheep! Their tinkling bells
+      Make music over all the fells;
+      By _force_ and _gill_ and _tarn_ it swells,
+      And this is what their music tells:
+      God bless the sheep upon the fells.'"
+
+The melody was wild and simple, a little plaintive also; and Charlotte
+sang it with a low, sweet monotony that recalled, one knew not how or
+why, the cool fragrance of the hillside, and the scent of wild flowers
+by running water.
+
+Then she went slowly home, Ducie walking to the pine-wood with her.
+There was a vague unrest and fear at her heart, she knew not why; for
+who can tell whence spring their thoughts, or what mover first starts
+them from their secret lodging-place? A sadness she could not fight
+down took possession of her; and it annoyed her the more, because she
+found every one pleasantly excited over a box of presents that had just
+arrived from India for Sophia. She knew that her depression would be
+interpreted by some as envy and jealousy, and she resented the false
+position it put her in; and yet she found it impossible to affect the
+enthusiasm which was expected from her over the Cashmere shawl and
+scarfs, the Indian fans and jewelry, the carved ivory trinkets, the
+boxes full of Eastern scents,--sandalwood and calamus, nard and attar of
+roses, and pungent gums that made the old "Seat" feel like a little bit
+of Asia.
+
+In a few days Julius followed; he came to see the presents, and to read,
+with personal illustrations and comments, the letters that had
+accompanied them. Sophia's ideas of her own importance grew constantly
+more pronounced; indeed, there was a certain amount of "claim" in them,
+which no one liked very well to submit to. And yet it was difficult to
+resist demands enforced by such remarks as, "It is the last time I shall
+ask for such a thing;" "One expects their own people to take a little
+interest in their marriage;" "I am sure Julius and _his_ family have
+done all _they_ can;" "They seem to understand what a girl must feel and
+like at such an eventful time of her life," and so on, and so on, in
+variations suited to the circumstances or the occasion.
+
+Every one was worn out before July, and every one felt it to be a relief
+when the wedding-day came. It was ushered in with the chiming of bells,
+and the singing of bride-songs by the village children. The village
+itself was turned upside down, and the house inside out. As for the
+gloomy old church, it looked like a festal place, with flowers and gay
+clothing and smiling faces. It was the express wish of Sophia that none
+of the company should wear white. "That distinction," she said, "ought
+to be reserved for the bride;" and among the maids in pink and blue and
+primrose, she stood a very lily of womanhood. Her diaphanous, floating
+robe of Dacca muslin; her Indian veil of silver tissue, filmy as light;
+her gleaming pearls and feathery fan, made her
+
+     "A sight to dream of, not to tell."
+
+The service was followed by the conventional wedding-breakfast; the
+congratulations of friends, and the rattling away of the bridal-carriage
+to the "hurrahing" of the servants and the villagers; and the
+_tin-tin-tabula_ of the wedding-peals. Before four o'clock the last
+guest had departed, and the squire stood with his wife and Charlotte
+weary and disconsolate amid the remains of the feast and the dying
+flowers; all of them distinctly sensitive to that mournful air which
+accomplished pleasures leave behind them.
+
+The squire could say nothing to dispel it. He took his rod as an excuse
+for solitude, and went off to the fells. Mrs. Sandal was crying with
+exhaustion, and was easily persuaded to go to her room, and sleep. Then
+Charlotte called the servants, men and women, and removed every trace of
+the ceremony, and all that was unusual or extravagant. She set the
+simplest of meals; she managed in some way, without a word, to give the
+worried squire the assurance that all the folly and waste and hurryment
+were over for ever; and that his life was to fall back into a calm,
+regular, economical groove.
+
+He drank his tea and smoked his pipe to this sense, and was happier than
+he had been for many a week.
+
+"It is a middling good thing, Alice," he said, "that we have only one
+more daughter to marry. I should think a matter of three or four would
+ruin or kill a man, let alone a mother. Eh? What?"
+
+"That is the blessed truth, William. And yet it is the pride of my heart
+to say that there never was such a bride or such a bridal in Sandal-Side
+before. Still, I am tired, and I feel just as if I had had a trouble.
+Come day, go day; at the long end, life is no better than the preacher
+called it--_vanity_."
+
+"To be sure it is not. We laugh at a wedding, we cry at a burying, a
+christening brings us a feast. On the Sabbath we say our litany; and as
+for the rest of the year, one day marrows another."
+
+"Well, well, William Sandal! Maybe we will both feel better after a
+night's sleep. To-morrow is untouched."
+
+And the squire, looking into her pale, placid face, had not the heart to
+speak out his thought, which was, "Nay, nay; we have mortgaged
+to-morrow. Debt and fear, and the penalties of over-work and over-eating
+and over-feeling, will be dogging us for their dues by dayshine."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE ENEMY IN THE HOUSEHOLD.
+
+     "There is a method in man's wickedness,
+      It grows up by degrees."
+
+     "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
+      To have a thankless child!"
+
+
+After the wedding, there were some weeks of that peaceful monotony which
+is the happiest vehicle for daily life,--weeks so uniform that Charlotte
+remembered their events as little as she did their particular weather.
+The only circumstance that cast any shadow over them related to Harry.
+His behavior had been somewhat remarkable, and the hope that time would
+explain it had not been realized at the end of August.
+
+About three weeks before Sophia's marriage, Harry suddenly wrote to say
+that he had obtained a three months' furlough, in order to go to Italy
+with a sick friend. This letter, so utterly unexpected, caused some
+heart-burning and disappointment. Sophia had calculated upon Harry's
+fine appearance and splendid uniform as a distinct addition to her
+wedding spectacle. She also felt that the whole neighborhood would be
+speculating upon the cause of his absence, and very likely infer from it
+that he disapproved of Julius; and the bare suspicion of such a slight
+made her indignant.
+
+Julius considered this to be the true state of the case, though he
+promised himself "to find out all about Mr. Harry's affairs" as soon as
+he had the leisure and opportunity.
+
+"The idea of Harry going as sick-nurse with any friend or comrade is
+absurd, Sophia. However, we can easily take Florence into our
+wedding-trip, only we must not let Charlotte know of our intention.
+Charlotte is against us, Sophia; and you may depend upon it, Harry meant
+to insult us by his absence."
+
+Insult or not to the bride and bridegroom, it was a great disappointment
+to Mrs. Sandal. To see, to speak to Harry was always a sure delight to
+her. The squire loved and yet feared his visits. Harry always needed
+money; and lately his father had begun to understand, and for the first
+time in his life, what a many-sided need it was. To go to his
+secretary, and to find no gold pieces in its cash-drawer; and to his
+bank-book, and find no surplus credit there, gave the squire a feeling
+of blank amazement and heart-sick perplexity. He felt that such a change
+as that might prefigure other changes still more painful and frightsome.
+
+Charlotte inclined to the same opinion as Julius, regarding her
+brother's sudden flight to Florence. She concluded that he had felt it
+impossible to congratulate his sister, or to simulate any fraternal
+regard for Julius; and her knowledge of facts made her read for "sick
+friend" "fair friend." It was, indeed, very likely that the beautiful
+girl, whose likeness Harry carried so near his heart, had gone to
+Florence; and that he had moved heaven and earth to follow her there.
+And when his own love-affairs were pressing and important, how was it
+likely that he could care for those of Julius and Sophia?
+
+So, at intervals, they wondered a little about Harry's peculiar
+movement, and tried hard to find something definite below the surface
+words of his short letters. Otherwise, a great peace had settled over
+Seat-Sandal. Its hall-doors stood open all day long, and the August
+sunshine and the garden scents drifted in with the lights and shadows.
+Life had settled down into such simple ways, that it seemed to be always
+at rest. The hours went and came, and brought with them their little
+measure of duty and pleasure, both so usual and easy, that they took
+nothing from the feelings or the strength, and gave an infinite sense of
+peace and contentment.
+
+One August evening they were in the garden; there had been several hot,
+clear days, and the harvesters were making the most of every hour. The
+squire had been in the field until near sunset, and now he was watching
+anxiously for the last wain. "We have the earliest shearing in
+Sandal-Side," he said. "The sickle has not been in the upper meadows
+yet, and if they finish to-night it will be a good thing. It's a fine
+moon for work. _A fine moon, God bless her!_ Hark! There is the song I
+have been waiting for, and all's well, Charlotte." And they stood still
+to listen to the rumble of the wagon, and the rude, hearty chant that at
+intervals accompanied it:--
+
+    "Blest be the day that Christ was born!
+     The last sheaf of Sandal corn
+     Is well bound, and better shorn.
+              Hip, hip, hurrah!"
+
+"Good-evening, squire." The speaker had come quickly around one of the
+garden hedges, and his voice seemed to fall out of mid-air. Charlotte
+turned, with eyes full of light, and a flush of color that made her
+exceedingly handsome.
+
+"Well-a-mercy! Good-evening, Stephen. When did you get home? Nobody had
+heard tell. Eh? What?"
+
+"I came this afternoon, squire; and as there is a favor you can do us, I
+thought I would ask it at once."
+
+"Surely, Stephen. What can I do? Eh? What?"
+
+"I hear your harvest is home. Can you spare us a couple of men? The
+wheat in Low Barra fields is ready for the sickle."
+
+"Three men, four, if you want them. You cannot have too many sickles.
+Cut wheat while the sun shines. Eh? What? How is the lady at Up-Hill?"
+
+"Mother is middling well, I'm obliged to you. I think she has failed
+though, since grandfather died."
+
+"It is likely. She has been too much by herself. You should stay at
+home, Stephen Latrigg. A man's duty is more often there than anywhere
+else. Eh?"
+
+"I think you are right now, squire." And then he blundered into the very
+statement that he ought to have let alone. "And I am not going to build
+the mill, squire,--not yet, at least. I would not do any thing to annoy
+you for the world."
+
+The information was pleasant to Sandal; but he had already heard it, in
+its least offensive way, through Ducie and Charlotte. Steve's broad
+relinquishment demanded some acknowledgment, and appeared to put him
+under an obligation which he did not feel he had any right to
+acknowledge. He considered the building of a mill so near his own
+property a great social wrong, and why should he thank Stephen Latrigg
+for not committing it?
+
+So he answered coldly, "You must take your own way, Stephen. I am an old
+man. I have had my say in my generation, maybe I haven't any right to
+meddle with yours. New men, new times." Then being conscious that he
+was a little ungenerous he walked off to Mrs. Sandal, and left the
+lovers together. Steve would have forgiven the squire a great deal more
+for such an opportunity, especially as a still kinder after-thought
+followed it. For he had not gone far before he turned, and called back,
+"Bring Steve into the house, Charlotte. He will stay, and have a bit of
+supper with us, no doubt." Perhaps the lovers made the way into the
+house a little roundabout. But Sandal was not an unjust man; and having
+given them the opportunity, he did not blame them for taking it. Besides
+he could trust Charlotte. Though the heavens fell, he could trust
+Charlotte.
+
+During supper the conversation turned again to Stephen's future plans.
+Whether the squire liked to admit the fact or not, he was deeply
+interested in them; and he listened carefully to what the young man
+said.
+
+"If I am going to trust to sheep, squire, then I may as well have plenty
+to trust to. I think of buying the Penghyll 'walk,' and putting a
+thousand on it."
+
+"My song, Stephen!"
+
+"I can manage them quite well. I shall get more shepherds, and there
+are new ways of doing things that lighten labor very much. I have been
+finding out all about them. I think of taking three thousand fleeces, at
+the very least, to Bradford next summer."
+
+"Two hundred years ago somebody thought of harnessing a flock of wild
+geese for a trip to the moon. They never could do it. Eh? What?"
+
+Stephen laughed a little uncomfortably. "That was nonsense, squire."
+
+"It was 'almighty youth,' Stephen. The young think they can do every
+thing. In a few years they do what they can and what they may. It is a
+blessed truth that the mind cannot stay long in a _bree_. It gets tired
+of ballooning, and comes down to hands and feet again. Eh? What?"
+
+"I think you mean kindly, squire."
+
+The confidence touched him. "I do, Steve. Don't be in a hurry, my lad.
+There are some things in life that are worth a deal more than
+money,--things that money cannot buy. Let money take a backward place."
+Then he voluntarily asked about the processes of spinning and weaving
+wool, and in spite of his prejudices was a little excited over
+Stephen's startling statements and statistics.
+
+Indeed, the young man was so interesting, that Sandal went with him to
+the hall-door, and stood there with him, listening to his graphic
+descriptions of the wool-rooms at the top of the great Yorkshire mills.
+"I'd like well to take you through one, squire. Fleeces? You would be
+wonder-struck. There are long staple and short staple; silky wool and
+woolly wool; black fleeces from the Punjaub, and curly white ones from
+Bombay; long warps from Russia, short ones from Buenos Ayres; little
+Spanish fleeces, and our own Westmoreland and Cumberland skins, that
+beat every thing in the world for size. And then to see them turned into
+cloth as fast as steam can do it! My word, squire, there never was magic
+or witchcraft like the steam and metal witchcraft of a Yorkshire mill."
+
+"Well, well, Steve. I don't fret myself because I am set in stiller
+ways, and I don't blame those who like the hurryment of steam and metal.
+Each of us has God's will to do, and our own race to run; and may we
+prosper."
+
+After this, Steve, sometimes gaining and sometimes losing, gradually
+won his way back to the squire's liking. September proved to be an
+unusually fair month; and to the lovers it was full of happiness, for
+early in it their relation to each other was fully recognized; and
+Stephen had gone in and out of the pleasant "Seat," dayshine and dark,
+as the acknowledged lover of Charlotte Sandal. The squire, upon the
+whole, submitted gracefully: he only stipulated that for some time,
+indefinitely postponed, the subject of marriage was not to be taken into
+consideration. "I could not bear it any road. I could not bear it yet,
+Stephen. Wait your full time, and be glad to wait. So few young men will
+understand that to pluck the blossom is to destroy the fruit."
+
+Towards the end of September, there was a letter from Sophia dated
+Florence. Some letters are like some individuals, they carry with them a
+certain unpleasant atmosphere. None of Sophia's epistles had been very
+satisfactory; for they were so short, and yet so definitely pinned to
+Julius, that they were but commentaries on that individual. At Paris she
+had simply asked Julius, "What do _you_ think of Paris?" And the opinion
+of Julius was then given to Seat-Sandal confidently as the only correct
+estimate that the world was likely to get. At Venice, Rome, Naples, her
+plan was identical; and any variation of detail simply referred to the
+living at different places, and how Julius liked it, and how it had
+agreed with him.
+
+So when the Florence letter came, there was no particular enthusiasm
+about it. The address assigned it to the squire, and he left it lying on
+the table while he finished the broiled trout and coffee before him. But
+it troubled Charlotte, and she waited anxiously for the unpleasant words
+she felt sure were inside of it. Yet there was no change on the squire's
+face, and no sign of annoyance, as he read it. "It is about the usual
+thing, Alice. Julius likes Florence. It is called 'the beautiful.'
+Julius thinks that it deserves the title. The wine in Rome did not suit
+Julius, but he finds the Florence vintage much better. The climate is
+very delightful, Julius is sure he will derive benefit from it; and so
+on, and so on, and so on." Then there was a short pause, and a rapid
+turn of the sheet to glance at the other side. "Oh, Julius met Harry
+yesterday! He--Julius--does not think Harry is doing right. 'Harry
+always was selfish and extravagant, and though he did affront us on our
+wedding-day, Julius thought it proper to call upon him. He--I mean
+Harry--was with a most beautiful young girl. Julius thinks father ought
+to write to him, and tell him to go back to his duty.'"
+
+These were the words, doubtful and suggestive, which made every heart in
+Seat-Sandal thoroughly uncomfortable. And yet Charlotte stoutly said, "I
+would not mind Sophia's insinuations, father and mother. She is angry at
+Harry. Harry has as much right in Florence as Sophia has. He told us he
+was going there. He has written to us frequently. Suppose he was with a
+beautiful girl: is Julius the only young man entitled to such a
+privilege? Sophia is happy in her own way, and we do not envy nor
+interfere with her happiness; but why should we permit her to make us
+unhappy? Throw the letter out of your memories, dear father and mother.
+It is only a piece of ill-nature. Perhaps Julius had been cross with
+her; and if Sophia has a grievance, she never rests until she passes it
+on to some one."
+
+Women still hold the divining-cup, and Charlotte was not far wrong in
+her supposition. In spite of their twinship of soul, and in spite of
+that habit of loving which was involved in their belief "that they had
+been husband and wife in many a previous existence," Mr. and Mrs. Julius
+Sandal disagreed as conventionally as the ordinary husband and wife of
+one existence. The day on which the Florence letter was written had been
+a very unhappy one for Sophia. Julius had quarrelled with her about some
+very trivial affair, and had gone out in a temper disgracefully at
+variance with the occasion for it; and Sophia had sat all day nursing
+her wrath in her darkened room. She did not dress for the evening drive,
+for she had determined to "keep up" her anger until Julius made her some
+atonement.
+
+But when he came home, she could not resist his air of confidence and
+satisfaction. He had quite forgotten the affair at the breakfast-table,
+and was only eager for her help and sympathy. "I have seen Harry," he
+said.
+
+"Very well. You came here to find him. I suppose I can see him also. I
+am sure I need to see some one. I have been neglected all day;
+suffering, lonely,"--
+
+"Sophia, you and I are here to look after our own affairs a little. If
+you are willing to help me, I shall be glad; if not"--
+
+"You know I will help you in any thing I can, Julius."
+
+Then he kissed her, and she cried a little, and he kissed her again; and
+she dressed herself, and they went for a drive, and during it met Harry,
+and brought him back to dine with them. Julius was particularly pleasant
+to the unsuspicious soldier. He soon perceived that he was thoroughly
+disgusted with the rigor and routine of military life, and longing to
+free himself from its thraldom; and he encouraged him in the idea.
+
+"I wonder how you stand it, Harry," he said sympathetically.
+
+"You see, Julius, when I went into the army, I was so weary of
+Sandal-Side; and I liked the uniform, and the stir of an officer's life,
+and the admiration of the girls, and the whole _eclat_ of the thing. But
+when a man's time comes, and he falls so deeply in love that he cares
+for nothing on earth but one woman, then he hates whatever comes between
+himself and that woman."
+
+"Naturally so. I suppose it is the young lady I saw you walking with
+this morning."
+
+And Harry blushed like a girl as he gravely nodded his head.
+
+"Does she live here?"
+
+"She will for the future."
+
+"And you must go back to your regiment?"
+
+"Almost immediately."
+
+"Too bad! Too bad! Why not leave the army?"
+
+"I--I have thought of that; but unless I returned to Sandal-Side, my
+father would be angry beyond every thing."
+
+"Fathers cannot be autocrats--quite. You might sell out."
+
+"Julius, you ought not to suggest such a thing. The temptation has been
+lurking in my own heart. I am sorry you have given it a voice. It would
+be a shameful thing to do unless father were willing."
+
+"I have a friend anxious for a commission. I should think a thousand
+pounds would make an exchange."
+
+"Do not speak on the subject, Julius."
+
+"Very well. I was only supposing; a fellow-feeling, you know. I have
+married the girl I desired; and I am sorry for a young man who is
+obliged to leave a handsome mistress, and to feel that others may see
+her and talk to her while he cannot. It was only a supposition. Do not
+mind it."
+
+But the germ of every wrong deed is the reflection whether it be
+possible. And after Harry had gone away with the thought in his heart,
+Julius sat musing over his own plans, and Sophia wrote the letter which
+so unnecessarily and unkindly shadowed the pleasant life at Seat-Sandal.
+For though the squire pooh-poohed it, and Charlotte professed
+indifference about it, and Mrs. Sandal kept assuring herself and others
+that "Harry never, never would do any thing wrong or unkind, especially
+about a woman," every one was apprehensive and watchful. But at last,
+even suspicion tires of watching for events that never happen; and
+Sophia sent other letters, and made no mention of Harry; and the fear
+that had crouched at each home-heart slunk away into forgetfulness.
+
+Into total forgetfulness. When Harry voluntarily came home for
+Christmas, no one coupled his visit with the remarks made by Sophia four
+months previously. They had not expected to see him, and the news of
+his advent barely reached the house before he followed it; for there was
+a heavy snow-storm, and the mail was sent forward with difficulty. So
+Mrs. Sandal was reading the letter announcing his visit when she heard
+his voice in the hall, and the joyful cry of Charlotte as she ran to
+meet him. And that night every one was too happy, too full of inquiry
+and information, to notice that Harry was under an unusual restraint. It
+did not even strike Charlotte until she awoke the next morning with all
+her faculties fresh and clear; then she felt, rather than understood,
+that there was something not quite right about Harry.
+
+It was still snowing, and every thing was white; but the atmosphere of a
+quiet, happy Christmas was in the house. There were smiling faces and
+good wishes at the breakfast-table, and the shifting lustres of blazing
+fires upon the dark walls and evergreens and wax-white mistletoe. And
+the wind brought a Christmas greeting from the bells of Furness and
+Torver, and Sandal-Side peal sent it on to Earlstower and Coniston.
+After breakfast they all went to church; and Harry saw, as in a dream,
+the sacred table spread with spotless cloth and silver cups and
+flagons, and the dim place decked with holly, and the smiling glance of
+welcome from his old acquaintances in the village. And he fell into a
+reverie which was not a Christmas reverie, and had it suddenly broken by
+his sister singing high and clear the carol the angels sung on the hills
+of Bethlehem,--"Glory be to God on high!" And the tears sprang into his
+eyes, and he looked stealthily at his father and mother, who were
+reverently listening; and said softly to himself, "I wish that I had
+never been born."
+
+For he had come to tell his father news which he knew would shake the
+foundations of love and life; and he felt like a coward and a thief in
+delaying the explanation. "What right have I to this one day's more
+love?" he asked himself; and yet he could not endure to mar the holy,
+unselfish festival with the revelation of his own selfishness. As the
+day wore on, a sense of weariness and even gloom came with it. Rich food
+and wine are by no means conducive to cheerfulness. The squire sloomed
+and slept in his chair; and finally, after a cup of tea, went to bed.
+The servants had a party in their own hall, and Mrs. Sandal and
+Charlotte were occupied an hour or two in its ordering. Then the mother
+was thoroughly weary; and before it was quite nine o'clock, Harry and
+Charlotte were left alone by the parlor fire. Charlotte was a little
+dull also; for Steve had found it impossible to get down the mountain
+during the storm, and she missed him, and was constantly inclined to
+fall into short silences.
+
+After one of them, she raised her eyes to Harry's face, and was shocked
+by its expression. "Harry," she said, leaning forward to take his hand,
+"I am sure you are in trouble. What is it?"
+
+"If I durst tell you, Charlotte!"
+
+"Whatever you have dared to do, you may dare to tell me, Harry, I
+think."
+
+"I have got married."
+
+"Well, where is the harm? Is it to the lady whose picture you showed
+me?"
+
+"Yes. I told you she was poor."
+
+"It is a great pity she is poor. I am afraid we are getting poor too.
+Father was saying last week that he had been talking with Squire
+Beverley. Emily is to have fifteen thousand pounds. Father is feverishly
+anxious about you and Emily. Her fortune would be a great thing at
+Sandal, and father likes her."
+
+"What is the use of talking about Emily? I have been married to Beatrice
+Lanza since last September."
+
+"Such a strange name! Is it a Scotch name?"
+
+"She is an Italian."
+
+"Harry Sandal! What a shame!"
+
+"Don't you think God made Italians as well as Englishmen?"
+
+"That is not the question. God made Indians and negroes and all sorts of
+people. But he set the world in races, as he set races in families. He
+told the Jews to keep to themselves. He was angry when they intermarried
+with others. It always brought harm. What kind of a person is an
+Italian? They are papists, I know. The Pope of Rome is an Italian. O
+Harry, Harry, Harry! It will kill father and mother. But perhaps, as you
+met her in Edinburgh, she is a Protestant. The Scotch are all
+Protestants."
+
+"Beatrice is a Roman Catholic, a very strict Roman Catholic. I had to
+marry her in a Romish church." He said the words rather defiantly, for
+Charlotte's attitude offended him; and he had reached that point when it
+was a reckless pleasure to put things at their worst.
+
+"Then I am ashamed of you. The dear old rector! He married father and
+mother; he christened and confirmed you; you might be sure, that if you
+could not ask him to marry you, you had no business to marry at all."
+
+"You said her face was like an angel's, and that you would love her,
+Charlotte."
+
+"Oh, indeed! But I did not think the angel was an Italian angel and a
+Roman-Catholic angel. Circumstances alter cases. You, who have been
+brought up a good Church-of-England gentleman, to go over to the Pope of
+Rome!"
+
+"I have not gone over to the Pope of Rome."
+
+"All the same, Harry; all the same. And you know how father feels about
+that. Father would fight for the Church quicker than he would fight for
+his own house and land. Why! the Sandals got all of their Millom Estate
+for being good Protestants; for standing by the Hanoverian line instead
+of those popish Stuarts. Father will think you have committed an act of
+treason against both church and state, and he will be ashamed to show
+his face among the Dale squires. It is too bad! too bad for any thing!"
+and she covered her face, and cried bitterly.
+
+"She is so lovely, so good"--
+
+"Nonsense! Were there no lovely English girls? no good English girls?
+Emily is ten times lovelier."
+
+"You know what you said."
+
+"I said it to please you."
+
+"Charlotte!"
+
+"Yes, I did,--at least, in a great measure. It is easy enough to call a
+pretty girl an angel; and as for my promise to love your wife, of course
+I expected you would choose a wife suitable to your religion and your
+birth. Suppose you selected some outlandish dress,--an Italian
+brigand's, for instance,--what would the neighboring gentlemen think of
+you? It would be an insult to their national costume, and they would do
+right to resent it. Well, being who and what you are, you have no right
+to bring an Italian woman into Seat-Sandal. It is an insult to every
+woman in the county, and they will make you feel it."
+
+"I shall not give them the opportunity. Beatrice cannot live in this
+beastly climate."
+
+"The climate is wrong also? Naturally. It would follow the religion and
+the woman. Harry Sandal, I wish I had died, ere my ears had heard such a
+shame and sorrow for my father and mother! Where are you going to live,
+then?"
+
+"In Florence. It is the birthplace of Beatrice the city associated with
+all her triumphs."
+
+"God have mercy, Harry! Her triumphs! Is she, then, an actress?"
+
+"She is a singer,--a wonderful singer; one to whom the world has
+listened with breathless delight."
+
+"A singing woman! And you have married her? It is an outrage on your
+ancestors, and on your parents and sisters."
+
+"I will not hear you speak in that way, Charlotte. Of course I married
+her. Did you wish me to ruin and debase her? _That_, I suppose, you
+could have forgiven. My sin against the Sandals and society is, that I
+married her."
+
+"No, sir; you know better. Your sin is in having any thing whatever to
+do with her. There is not a soul in Sandal that would have hesitated
+between ruin and marriage. If it had to be one or the other, then father
+and mother both, then I, then all your friends, would have said without
+hesitation, 'Marry the woman.'"
+
+"I expected and hoped this would be your view of the situation. I could
+not give up Beatrice, and I could not be a scoundrel to her."
+
+"You might have thought of another woman besides Beatrice. Is a sin
+against a mother a less sin than one against a strange woman? A mother
+is something sacred. To wound her heart is to throw a stone at her. You
+have committed a sort of sacrilege. And you are married. No entreaties
+can prevent, and no repentance can avail. Oh, what a sorrow to darken
+all the rest of father's and mother's days! What right have you to spoil
+their lives, in order to give yourself a little pleasure? O Harry! I
+never knew that you were selfish before."
+
+"I deserve all you say, Charley, but I loved Beatrice so much."
+
+"Are you sure, even of that excuse? I heard you vow that you loved Eliza
+Pierson 'so much,' and Fanny Ulloch 'so much,' and Emily Beverley 'so
+much.' Why did you not come home, and speak to me before it was too
+late? Why come at all now?"
+
+"Because I want to talk to you about money. I have sold out."
+
+"Sold out? Is there any more bad news? Do you know what father paid for
+your commission? Do you know how it hampered him to do it? that, in
+fact, he has never been quite easy about ready money since?"
+
+"I had to sell out. Did I not tell you that Beatrice could not live in
+this climate? She was very ill when she returned to Italy. Signor Lanza
+was in great trouble about her."
+
+"Signor Lanza? Her brother, I suppose."
+
+"You suppose wrong. He is her father."
+
+"For her, then, you have given up your faith, your country, your home,
+your profession, every thing that other men hold dear and sacred. Do you
+expect father to support you? Or is your wife to sing in Italy?"
+
+"I think you are trying how disagreeable you can be, Charlotte."
+
+"I am asking you honest questions in honest words."
+
+"I have the money from the sale of my commission."
+
+"It does not then strike you as dishonorable to keep it?"
+
+"No, father gave me it."
+
+"It appears to me, that if money was taken from the estate, let us say
+to stock a sheep-walk, and it was decided after three years' trial to
+give up the enterprise, and sell the sheep, that the money would
+naturally go back to the estate. When you came of age, father made you a
+very generous allowance. After a time you preferred that he should
+invest a large sum in a military commission for you; and you proposed to
+live upon your pay,--a thing you never have even tried to do. Suddenly,
+you find that the commission will not suit your more recent plans, and
+you sell it. Ought not the money to go back to the estate, and you to
+make a fresh arrangement with father about your allowance? That is my
+idea."
+
+"Foolishness! And pray what allowance would my father make me, after the
+marriage I have contracted?"
+
+"Now, you show your secret heart, Harry. You know you have no right to
+expect one, and so you keep what is not yours. This sin also for the
+woman whom you have put before every sentiment of love and honor."
+
+"You were stubborn enough about Steve Latrigg."
+
+"I was honorable; I was considerate for father, and did not put Stephen
+before him. Do you think I would ever marry Stephen against father's
+wish, or to the injury or suffering of any one whom I love? Certainly I
+would marry no one else, but I gave father my word that I would wait for
+his sanction. When people do right, things come right for them. But if
+father had stood out twenty years, Steve and I would have waited. Ducie
+gave us the same advice. 'Wait, children,' she said: 'I have seen many a
+wilful match, and many a run-away match, but never one, never one that
+prospered.'"
+
+"Charley, I expected you to stand by me. I expected you to help me."
+
+"O Harry, Harry! How can I help? What can I do? There is nothing left
+but to suffer."
+
+"There is this: plead for me when I am away. My wife is sick in
+Florence. I must go to her at once. The money I have from my commission
+is all I have. I am going to invest it in a little house and vineyard. I
+have found out that my real tastes are for a pastoral life."
+
+"Ah, if you could only have found that out for father!"
+
+"Circumstances may change."
+
+"That is, your father may die. I suppose you and your wife have talked
+over that probability. Beatrice will be able to endure the climate
+then."
+
+"If I did not see that you were under very strong excitement, Charlotte,
+I should be much offended by what you say. But you don't mean to hurt
+me. Do you imagine that I feel no sorrow in leaving father and my mother
+and you and the old home? My heart is very sad to-night, Charley. I feel
+that I shall come here no more."
+
+"Then why go away? Why, why?"
+
+"Because a man leaves father and mother and every thing for the woman he
+loves. Charley, help me."
+
+She shook her head sadly.
+
+"Help me to break the trouble to father."
+
+"There is no 'breaking' it. It will break him. It will kill him. Alas,
+it is the ungrateful child that has the power to inflict a slow and
+torturing death! Poor father! Poor mother! And it is I that must witness
+it. I, that would die to save them from such undeserved sorrow."
+
+Then Harry rose up angrily, pushed his chair impatiently away, and
+without a word went to his own room.
+
+In the morning the squire came down to breakfast in exceedingly high
+spirits. A Scotchman would have called him "_fey_," and been certain
+that misfortune was at his heels. And Charlotte looked at him in
+wondering pity, for Harry's face was the face of a man determined to
+carry out his own will regardless of consequences.
+
+"Come, come, Harry," said the squire in a loud, cheerful voice, "you are
+moping, and eating no breakfast. Charlotte will have to fill three times
+before it is 'cup down' with me. I think we will take Dobbin, and go
+over to Windermere in the tax-cart. The roads will be a bit sloppery,
+but Dobbin isn't too old to splash through them at a rattling pace. He
+is a famous good old-has-been is Dobbin. Give me a Suffolk Punch for a
+roadster. I set much by them. Eh? What?"
+
+"I must leave Sandal this morning, sir."
+
+"Sir me no sir, Harry. 'Father' will stand between you and me, I think.
+You must make a put-off for one day. I was at Bowness last week, and
+they say such a winter for char-fishing was never seen. While I was on
+the lakeside, Kit Noble's boat came in. He had all of twenty dozen in
+the bottom of it. Mr. Wordsworth was there too, and he made a piece of
+poetry about 'The silvery lights playing over them;' and he took me to
+see a picture that a London gentleman painted of Kit and his boat. You
+never saw fish out of the water look so fresh; their olive-green backs
+and vermillion bellies and dark-red fins were as natural as life. Come
+Harry, we will go and fetch over a few dozen. If you carry your colonel
+some, he will take the gift as an excuse for the day. Eh? What?"
+
+"I think Harry had better not go with you, father."
+
+"Eh? What is the matter with you, Charlotte? You are as nattert and
+cross as never was. Where is your mother? I like my morning cup filled
+with a smile. It helps the day through."
+
+"Mother isn't feeling well. She had a bad dream about Harry and you, and
+she is making herself sick over it. She is all in a tremble. I didn't
+think mother was so foolish."
+
+"Dreams are from somewhere beyond us, Charlotte. There's them that visit
+us a-dreaming. I am not so wise as to be foolish. I believe in some
+things that are outside of my short wits. Maybe we had better not go to
+Windermere. We might be tempted into a boat, and dry land is a middling
+bit safer. Eh? What?"
+
+Charlotte felt as if she could endure her father's unsuspicious
+happiness no longer. It was like watching a little child smiling and
+prattling on the road to its mother's funeral. She put Mrs. Sandal's
+breakfast on a small tray, and with this in her hand went up-stairs,
+leaving Harry and the squire still at the table.
+
+"Charlotte is a bit hurrysome this morning," he said; and Harry making
+no answer, he seemed suddenly to be struck with his attitude. He looked
+curiously at him a moment, and then lapsed into silence. "Harry wants
+money." That was his first thought, and he began to calculate how far he
+was able to meet the want. Even then, his only bitter reflection was,
+that Harry should suppose it necessary to be glum about it. "A cheerful
+asker is the next thing to a cheerful giver;" and to such musings he
+filled his pipe, and with a shadow of offence on his large ruddy face
+went into "the master's room" to smoke.
+
+When kindly good-nature is snubbed, it feels it keenly; and there was a
+mist of tears in the squire's blue eyes when Harry followed, and he
+turned them on him. And it was part of his punishment, that, even in the
+first flush of the pleasure of his sin, he felt all the pangs of
+remorse.
+
+"Father?"
+
+"Well, well, Harry! I see you are wanting money again."
+
+"It will be the last time. I am married, and am going to Italy to live."
+
+"Eh? What?" The squire flushed hotly. His hand shook, his long clay pipe
+fell to the hearthstone, and was shattered to pieces.
+
+Then a reckless desire to have the whole wrong out urged the unhappy
+son to a most cruel distinctness of detail. Without wasting a word in
+explanation or excuse, he stated broadly that he had fallen in love with
+the famous singer, Beatrice Lanza, and had married her. He spared
+himself or his father nothing; he appeared to gather a hard courage as
+he spoke of her failing health, her hatred of England, her devotion to
+her own faith, and the necessity of his retirement to Italy with her. He
+seemed determined to put it out of the power of any one to say worse of
+him than he had already said of himself. In conclusion he added, "I have
+sold my commission, and paid what I owed, and have very little money
+left. Life, however, is not an expensive affair in the village to which
+I am going. If you will allow me two hundred pounds a year I shall be
+very grateful."
+
+"I will not give you one penny, sir."
+
+The words came thick and heavy, and with great difficulty; though the
+wretched father had risen, and was standing by the table, leaning hard
+with both hands upon it.
+
+He would not look at his son, though the young man went on speaking. He
+heard nothing that he said. In his ears there was the roaring of mighty
+waters. All the waves and the billows were going over him. For a few
+moments he struggled desperately with the black, advancing tide. His
+sight failed, it was growing dark. Then he threw the last forces of life
+into one terrible cry, and fell, as a great tree falls, heavily to the
+ground.
+
+The cry rang through the house. The mother, trembling in her bed;
+Charlotte, crouching upon the stairs, fearing and listening; the
+servants, chattering in the kitchen and the chambers,--all heard it, and
+were for a moment horrified by the agony and despair it expressed. But
+ere the awful echo had quite subsided, Charlotte was at her father's
+side; in a moment afterwards, Mrs. Sandal, sobbing at every flying step,
+and still in her night-clothing, followed; and then servants from every
+quarter came rushing to the master's room.
+
+There was no time for inquiry or lamentation. Harry and two of the men
+mounted swift horses in search of medical help. Others lifted the
+insensible man, and carried him tenderly to his bed. In a moment the
+atmosphere of the house had changed. The master's room, which had held
+for generations nothing but memories of pastoral business and sylvan
+pleasures, had suddenly become a place of sorrow. The shattered pipe
+upon the hearthstone made Charlotte utter a low, hopeless cry of pain.
+She closed the shutters, and put the burning logs upon the hearth safely
+together, and then locked the door. Alas! alas! they had carried the
+master out, and in Charlotte's heart there was a conviction that he
+would never more cross its threshold.
+
+After Harry's first feelings of anguish and horror had subsided, he was
+distinctly resentful. He felt his father's suffering to be a wrong to
+him. He began to reflect that the day for such intense emotions had
+passed away. But he forgot that the squire belonged to a generation
+whose life was filled and ruled by a few strong, decided feelings and
+opinions that struck their roots deep into the very foundations of
+existence; a generation, also, which was bearing the brunt of the
+transition between the strong, simple life of the past, and the rapid,
+complex life of the present. Thus the squire opposed to the indifference
+of the time a rigidity of habits, which, to even small events, gave
+that exceptional character which rarity once imparted. He felt every
+thing deeply, because every thing retained its importance to him. He had
+great reverence. He loved, and he hated. All his convictions and
+prejudices were for life.
+
+Harry's marriage had been a blow at the roots of all his conscious
+existence. The Sandals had always married in their own county,
+Cumberland ladies of honorable pedigree, good daughters of the Church of
+England, good housewives, gentle and modest women, with more or less
+land and gold as their dowry. Emily Beverley would have been precisely
+such a wife. And in a moment, even while Harry was speaking, the squire
+had contrasted this Beatrice Lanza with her;--a foreigner,--an Italian,
+of all foreigners most objectionable; a subject of the Papal States; a
+member of the Romish Church; a woman of obscure birth, poor and
+portionless, and in ill-health; worse than all, a public woman, who had
+sung for money, and yet who had made Harry desert his home and country
+and profession for her. And with this train of thought another ran
+parallel,--the shame and the wrong of it all. The disgrace to his wife
+and daughters, the humiliation to himself. Each bitter thought beat on
+his heart like the hammer on the anvil. They fought and blended with
+each other. He could not master one. He felt himself being beaten to the
+ground. He made agonizing efforts to retain control over the surging
+wave of anguish, rising, rising, rising from his breast to his brain.
+And failing to do so, he fell with the mighty cry of one who, even in
+the death agony, protests against the victor.
+
+The news spread as if all the birds in the air carried it. There were a
+dozen physicians in Seat-Sandal before noon. There was a crowd of
+shepherds around it, waiting in silent groups for their verdict. All the
+afternoon the gentlemen of the Dales were coming and going with offers
+of help and sympathy; and in the lonely parlor the rector was softly
+pacing up and down, muttering, as he walked, passages from the "Order
+for the Visitation of the Sick":--
+
+"O Saviour of the world, who by thy cross and precious blood hast
+redeemed us, save us, and help us, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord.
+
+"Spare us good Lord. Spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy
+most precious blood.
+
+"Shut not up thy tender mercies in displeasure; but make him to hear of
+joy and gladness.
+
+"Deliver him from the fear of the enemy. Lift up the light of thy
+countenance upon him. Amen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+ESAU.
+
+                    "To be weak is miserable,
+     Doing or suffering."
+
+                    "Now conscience wakes despair
+     That slumberd; wakes the bitter memory
+     Of what he was, what is, and what must be."
+
+
+It was the middle of February before Harry could leave Sandal-Side. He
+had remained there, however, only out of that deference to public
+opinion which no one likes to offend; and it had been a most melancholy
+and anxious delay. He was not allowed to enter the squire's room, and
+indeed he shrank from the ordeal. His mother and Charlotte treated him
+with a reserve he felt to be almost dislike. He had been so accustomed
+to consider mother-love sufficient to cover all faults, that he forgot
+there was a stronger tie; forgot that to the tender wife the husband of
+her youth--her lover, friend, companion--is far nearer and dearer than
+the tie that binds her to sons and daughters.
+
+Also, he did not care to give any consideration to the fact, that both
+his mother and Charlotte resented the kind of daughter and sister he had
+forced upon them. So there was little sympathy with him at Seat-Sandal,
+and he fancied that all the gentlemen of the neighborhood treated him
+with a perceptible coolness of manner. Perhaps they did. There are
+social intuitions, mysterious in their origin, and yet hitting
+singularly near the truth. Before circumstances permitted him to leave
+Sandal-Side, he had begun to hate the Seat and the neighborhood, and
+every thing pertaining to it, with all his heart.
+
+The only place of refuge he had found had been Up-Hill. The day after
+the catastrophe he fought his way there, and with passionate tears and
+complaints told Ducie the terrible story. Ducie had some memories of her
+own wilful marriage, which made her tolerant with Harry. She had also
+been accused of causing her mother's death; and though she knew herself
+to be innocent, she had suffered by the accusation. She understood
+Harry's trouble as few others could have done; and though a good deal
+of his evident misery was on account of his separation from Beatrice,
+Ducie did not suspect this, and really believed the young man to be
+breaking his heart over the results of his rash communication.
+
+He was agreeably surprised, also, to find that Stephen treated him with
+a consideration he had never done when he was a dashing officer, with
+all his own small world at his feet. For when any man was in trouble,
+Steve Latrigg was sure to take that man's part. He did not ask too
+particularly into the trouble. He had a way of saying to Ducie, "There
+will be faults on both sides. If two stones knock against each other
+until they strike fire, you may be sure both of them have been hard,
+mother. Any way, Harry is in trouble, and there is none but us to stand
+up for him."
+
+But in spite of Steve's constant friendship, and Ducie's never-failing
+sympathy, Harry had a bad six weeks. There were days during them when he
+stood in the shadow of death, with almost the horror of a parricide in
+his heart. Long, lonely days, empty of every thing but anxiety and
+weariness. Long, stormy days, when he had not even the relief of a walk
+to Up-Hill. Days in which strangers slighted him. Days in which his
+mother and Charlotte could not even bear to see him. Days in which he
+fancied the servants disliked and neglected him. He was almost happy one
+afternoon when Stephen met him on the hillside, and said, "The squire is
+much better. The doctors think he is in no immediate danger. You might
+go to your wife, Harry, I should say."
+
+"I am glad, indeed, to hear the squire is out of danger. And I long to
+go to my sick wife. I get little credit for staying here. I really
+believe, Steve, that people accuse me of waiting to step into father's
+shoes. And yet if I go away they will say things just as cruel and
+untrue."
+
+But he went away before day-dawn next morning. Charlotte came
+down-stairs, and served his coffee; but Mrs. Sandal was watching the
+squire, who had fallen into a deep sleep. Charlotte wept much, and said
+little; and Harry felt at that hour as if he were being very badly
+treated. He could scarcely swallow; and the intense silence of the house
+made every slight noise, every low word, so distinct and remarkable,
+that he felt the constraint to be really painful.
+
+"Well," he said, rising in haste, "I may as well go without a kind word.
+I am not to have one, apparently."
+
+"Who is here to speak it? Can father? or mother? or I? But you have that
+woman."
+
+"Good-by, Charley."
+
+She bit her lips, and wrung her hands; and moaning like some wounded
+creature lifted her face, and kissed him.
+
+"Good-by. Fare you well, poor Harry."
+
+A little purse was in his hand when she took her hand away; a netted
+silk one that he had watched the making of, and there was the glimmer of
+gold pieces through it. With a blush he put it in his pocket, for he was
+sorely pressed for money; and the small gift was a great one to him. And
+it almost broke his heart. He felt that it was all she could give
+him,--a little gold for all the sweet love that had once been his.
+
+His horse was standing ready saddled. 'Osttler Bill opened the
+yard-gate, and lifted the lantern above his head, and watched him ride
+slowly away down the lane. When he had gone far enough to drown the
+clatter of the hoofs he put the creature to his mettle, and Bill waved
+the lantern as a farewell. Then, as it was still dark, he went back to
+the stable and lay down to sleep until the day broke, and the servants
+began to open up the house.
+
+When Harry reached Ambleside it was quite light, and he went to the
+Salutation Inn, and ordered his breakfast. He had been a favorite with
+the landlady all his life long, and she attended to his comfort with
+many kindly inquiries and many good wishes. "And what do you think now,
+Capt. Sandal? Here has been a man from Up-Hill with a letter for you."
+
+"Is he gone?"
+
+"That he is. He would not wait, even for a bite of good victuals. He was
+dryish, though, and I gave him a glass of beer. Then him and his little
+Galloway took themselves off, without more words about it. Here it is,
+and Mr. Latrigg's writing on it or I wasn't christened Hannah Stavely."
+
+Harry opened it a little anxiously; but his heart lightened as he
+read,--
+
+     DEAR HARRY,--If you show the enclosed slip of paper to
+     your old friend Hannah Stavely, she will give you a hundred pounds
+     for it. That is but a little bit of the kindness in mother's heart
+     and mine for you. At Seat-Sandal I will speak up for you always,
+     and I will send you a true word as to how all gets on there. God
+     bless the squire, and bring you and him together again!
+
+     Your friend and brother,
+
+     STEPHEN LATRIGG.
+
+And so Harry went on his way with a lighter heart. Indeed, he was not
+inclined at any time to share sorrow out of which he had escaped. Every
+mile which he put between himself and Sandal-Side gave back to him
+something of his old gay manner. He began first to excuse himself, then
+to blame others; and in a few hours he was in very comfortable relations
+with his own conscience; and this, not because he was deliberately cruel
+or wicked, but because he was weak, and loved pleasure, and considered
+that there was no use in being sorry when sorrow was neither a credit to
+himself, nor a compliment to others. And so to Italy and to love he sped
+as fast as money and steam could carry him. And on the journey he did
+his very best to put out of his memory the large, lonely, gray "Seat,"
+with its solemn, mysterious chamber of suffering, and its wraiths and
+memories and fearful fighting away of death.
+
+But on the whole, the hope which Stephen had given him of the squire's
+final recovery was a too flattering one. There was, perhaps, no
+immediate danger of death, but there was still less prospect of entire
+recovery. He had begun to remember a little, to speak a word or two, to
+use his hands in the weak, uncertain way of a young child; but in the
+main he lay like a giant, bound by invisible and invincible bonds;
+speechless, motionless, seeking through his large, pathetic eyes the
+help and comfort of those who bent over him. He had quite lost the fine,
+firm contour of his face, his ruddy color was all gone; indeed, the
+country expression of "face of clay," best of all words described the
+colorless, still countenance amid the white pillows in the darkened
+room.
+
+As the spring came on he gained strength and intelligence, and one
+lovely day his men lifted him to a couch by the window. The lattices
+were flung wide open, that he might see the trees tossing about their
+young leaves, and the grass like grass in paradise, and hear the bees
+humming among the apple-blooms, and the sheep bleating on the fells.
+The earth was full of the beauty and the tranquillity of God. The squire
+looked long at the familiar sights; looked till his lips trembled, and
+the tears rolled heavily down his gray face. And then he realized all
+that he had suffered, he remembered the hand that had dealt him the
+blow. And while Mrs. Sandal was kissing away his tears, and speaking
+words of hope and love, a letter came from Sophia.
+
+It was dated Calcutta. Julius had taken her there in the winter, and the
+news of her father's illness did not reach her for some weeks. But, as
+it happened, when Charlotte's letter detailing the sad event arrived,
+Julius was particularly in need of something to wonder over and to
+speculate about; and of all subjects, Seat-Sandal interested him most.
+To be master of the fine old place was his supreme ambition. He felt
+that he possessed all the qualities necessary to make him a leader among
+the Dales gentlemen. He foresaw, through them, social influence and
+political power; and he had an ambition to make his reign in the house
+of Sandal the era of a new and far more splendid dynasty.
+
+He had been lying in the shade, drinking iced coffee, and smoking. But
+as Sophia read, he sat upright, and a look of speculation came into his
+eyes. "There is no use weeping, my love," he said languidly, "you will
+only dim your beauty, and that will do neither your father nor me any
+good. Let us go to Sandal. Charlotte and mother must be worn out, and we
+can be useful at such a time. I think, indeed, our proper place is
+there. The affairs of the 'walks' and the farms must be attended to, and
+what will they do on quarter-day? Of course Harry will not remain there.
+It would be unkind, wrong, and in exceedingly bad taste."
+
+"Poor, dear father! And oh, Julius, what a disgrace to the family! A
+singer! How could Harry behave so shamefully to us all?"
+
+"Harry never cared for any mortal but himself. How disgracefully he
+behaved about our marriage; for this same woman's sake, I have no doubt.
+You must remember that I disapproved of Harry from the very first. The
+idea of terminating a _liaison_ of that kind with a marriage! Harry
+ought to be put out of decent society. You and I ought to be at
+Seat-Sandal now. Charlotte will be pushing that Stephen Latrigg into the
+Sandal affairs, and you know what I think of Stephen Latrigg. He is to
+be feared, too, for he has capabilities, and Charlotte to back him; and
+Charlotte was always underhand, Sophia. You would not see it, but she
+was. Order your trunks to be packed at once,--don't forget the rubies my
+mother promised you,--and I will have a conversation with the judge."
+
+Judge Thomas Sandal was by no means a bad fellow. He had left
+Sandal-Side under a sense of great injustice, but he had done well to
+himself; and those who had done him wrong, had disappeared into the
+cloud of death. He had forgotten all his grievances, he had even
+forgotten the inflicters of them. He had now a kindly feeling towards
+Sandal, and was a little proud of having sprung from such a grand old
+race. Therefore, when Julius told him what had happened, and frankly
+said he thought he could buy from Harry Sandal all his rights of
+succession to the estate, Judge Thomas Sandal saw nothing unjust in the
+affair.
+
+The law of primogeniture had always appeared to him a most unjust and
+foolish law. In his own youth it had been a source of burning anger and
+dispute. He had always declared it was a shame to give Launcelot every
+thing, and William and himself scarce a crumb off the family loaf. To
+his eldest brother, as his eldest brother, he had declined to give
+"honor and obedience." "William is a far finer fellow," he said one day
+to his mother; "far more worthy to follow father than Launcie is. If
+there is any particular merit in keeping up the old seat and name, for
+goodness' sake let father choose the best of us to do it!" For such
+revolutionary and disrespectful sentiments he had been frequently in
+disgrace; and the end of the disputing had been his own expatriation,
+and the founding of a family of East-Indian Sandals.
+
+He heard Julius with approval. "I think you have a very good plan," he
+said. "Harry Sandal, with his play-singing wife, would have a very bad
+time of it among the Dalesmen. He knows it. He will have no desire to
+test the feeling. I am sure he will be glad to have a sum of ready money
+in lieu of such an uncomfortable right. As for the Latriggs, my mother
+always detested them. Sophia and you are both Sandals; certainly, your
+claim would be before that of a Charlotte Latrigg."
+
+"Harry, too, is one of those men who are always poor, always wanting
+money. I dare say I can buy his succession for a song."
+
+"No, no. Give him a fair price. I never thought much of Jacob buying
+poor Esau out for a mess of pottage. It was a mean trick. I will put ten
+thousand pounds at Bunder's in Threadneedle Street, London, for you.
+Draw it all if you find it just and necessary. The rental ought to
+determine the value. I want you to have Seat-Sandal, but I do not want
+you to steal it. However, my brother William may not die for many a year
+yet; those Dale squires are a century-living race."
+
+In accordance with these plans and intentions, Sophia wrote. Her letter
+was, therefore, one of great and general sympathy; in fact, a very
+clever letter indeed. It completely deceived every one. The squire was
+told that Sophia and Julius were coming, and his face brightened a
+little. Mrs. Sandal and Charlotte forgot all but their need of some help
+and comfort which was family help and comfort, free of ceremony, and
+springing from the same love, hopes, and interests.
+
+Stephen, however, foresaw trouble. "Julius will get the squire under his
+finger," he said to Charlotte. "He will make himself indispensable about
+the estate. As for Sophia, she could always work mother to her own
+purposes. Mother obeyed her will, even while she resented and
+disapproved her authority. So, Charlotte, I shall begin at once to build
+Latrigg Hall. I know it will be needed. The plan is drawn, the site is
+chosen; and next Monday ground shall be broken for the foundation."
+
+"There is no harm in building your house, Steve. If father should die,
+mother and I would be here upon Harry's sufferance. He might leave the
+place in our care, he might bring his wife to it any day."
+
+"And how could you live with her?"
+
+"It would be impossible. I should feel as if I were living with my
+father's--with the one who really gave father the death-blow."
+
+So when Julius and Sophia arrived at Seat-Sandal, the walls of Latrigg
+Hall were rising above the green sod. A most beautiful site had been
+chosen for it,--the lowest spur on the western side of the fell; a
+charming plateau facing the sea, shaded with great oaks, and sloping
+down into a little dale of lovely beauty. The plan showed a fine central
+building, with lower wings on each side. The wide porches, deep windows,
+and small stone balconies gave a picturesque irregularity to the general
+effect. This home had been the dream of Stephen's manhood, and Ducie
+also had urged him to its speedy realization; for she knew that it was
+the first step towards securing for himself that recognition among the
+county gentry which his wealth and his old family entitled him to. Not
+that there was any intention of abandoning Up-Hill. Both would have
+thought such a movement a voluntary insult to the family wraiths,--one
+sure to bring upon them disaster of every kind. Up-Hill was to be
+Ducie's residence as long as she lived; it was to be always the home of
+the family in the hot months, and thus retain its right as an integral
+part and portion of the Latriggs' hearth.
+
+"I have seen the plan of Latrigg Hall," said Julius one day to Sophia.
+"An absurdly fine building for a man of Stephen's birth. What will he
+do with it? It will require as large an income as Seat-Sandal to support
+it."
+
+"Stephen is rich. His grandfather left him a great deal of money. Ducie
+will add considerably to the sum, and Stephen seems to have the faculty
+of getting it. My mother says he is managing three 'walks,' and all of
+them are doing well."
+
+"Nevertheless, I do not like him. 'In-law' kinsmen and kinswomen are
+generally detestable. Look at my brothers-in-law, Mr. Harry Sandal and
+Mr. Stephen Latrigg; and my sisters-in-law, Mrs. Harry Sandal and Miss
+Charlotte Sandal; a pretty undesirable quartette I think."
+
+"And look at mine. For sisters-in-law, Mahal and Judith Sandal; for
+brothers-in-law, William and Tom Sandal; a pretty undesirable quartette
+I think."
+
+Julius did not relish the retort; for he replied stiffly, "If so, they
+are at least at the other end of the world, and not likely to trouble
+you. That is surely something in their favor."
+
+The first movement of the Julius Sandals in Seat-Sandal had been a
+clever one. "I want you to let us have the east rooms, dear mother,"
+said Sophia, on their arrival; "Julius does feel the need of the morning
+sun so much." And though other rooms had been prepared, the request was
+readily granted, and without any suspicion of the motive which had
+dictated it. And yet they had made a very prudent calculation. Occupying
+the east rooms gave them a certain prominence and standing in the house,
+for only guests of importance were assigned to them; and the servants,
+who are people of wise perceptions generally, took their tone from the
+circumstance.
+
+It seemed as if a spirit of dissatisfaction and quarrelling came with
+them. The maids all found out that their work was too heavy, and that
+they were worn out with it. Sophia had been pitying them. "Mrs. Sandal
+does not mean to be hard, but she is so wrapped up in the squire she
+sees nothing; and Miss Charlotte is so strong herself, she really
+expects too much from others. She does not intend to be exacting, but
+then she is; she can't help it."
+
+And sitting over "a bit of hot supper" the chambermaid repeated the
+remark; and the housemaid said she only knew that she was traipsed off
+her feet, and hadn't been near hand her own folks for a fortnight; and
+the cook thought Missis had got quite nattry. She had been near falling
+out with her more than once; and all the ill-nature was because she was
+fagged out, all day long and every day making some kind of little
+knick-shaw or other that was never eaten.
+
+Not one remembered that the Julius Sandals had themselves considerably
+increased the work of the house; and that Mrs. Julius alone could find
+quite sufficient employment for one maid. Since her advent, Charlotte's
+room had been somewhat neglected for the fine guest-chambers; but it was
+upon Charlotte all the blame of over-work and weariness was laid.
+Insensibly the thought had its effect. She began to feel that for some
+reason or other she was out of favor; that her few wants were carelessly
+attended to, and that Mrs. Julius influenced the house as completely as
+she had done when she was Miss Sandal.
+
+She soon discovered, also, that repining was useless. Her mother begged
+for peace at any cost. "Put up with it," she said, "for a little while,
+Charlotte. I cannot bear quarrelling. And you know how Sophia will
+insist upon explaining. She will call up the servants, and 'fend and
+prove,' and make complaints and regrets, and in the long end have all on
+her own side. And I can tell you that Ann has been queer lately, and
+Elizabeth talks of leaving at Martinmas. O Charlotte! put up with
+things, my dear. There is only you to help me."
+
+Charlotte could not resist such appeals. She knew she was really the
+hand to which all other hands in the house looked, the heart on which
+her father and mother leaned their weary hearts; still, she could not
+but resent many an unkind position, which Sophia's clever tactics
+compelled her to take. For instance, as she was leaving the room one
+morning, Sophia said in her blandest voice, "Dear Charlotte, will you
+tell Ann to make one of those queen puddings for Julius. He does enjoy
+them so much."
+
+Ann did not receive the order pleasantly. "They are a sight of trouble,
+Miss Charlotte. I'll be hard set with the squire's fancies to-day. And
+there is as good as three dinners to make now, and I must say a queen's
+pudding is a bit thoughtless of you." And Charlotte felt the injustice
+she was too proud to explain to a servant. But even to Sophia, complaint
+availed nothing. "You must give extra orders yourself to Ann in the
+future," she said. "Ann accuses me of being thoughtless in consequence
+of them."
+
+"As if I should think of interfering in your duties, Charlotte. I hope I
+know better than that. You would be the first to complain of my 'taking
+on' if I did, and I should not blame you. I am only a guest here now.
+But I am sure a little queen pudding is not too much to ask, in one's
+own father's house too. Julius has not many fancies I am sure, but such
+a little thing."
+
+"Julius can have all the fancies he desires, only do please order them
+from Ann yourself."
+
+"Well, I never! I am sure father and mother would never oppose a little
+pudding that Julius fancies."
+
+Does any one imagine that such trials as these are small and
+insignificant? They are the very ones that make the heart burn, and the
+teeth close on the lips, and the eyes fill with angry tears. They take
+hope out of daily work, and sunshine out of daily life, and slay love as
+nothing else can slay it. There was an evil spirit in the house,--a
+small, selfish, envious, malicious spirit; people were cross, and they
+knew not why; felt injured, and they knew not why; the days were harder
+than those dreadful ones when fire and candle were never out, and every
+one was a watcher in the shadow of death.
+
+As the season advanced, Julius took precisely the position which Stephen
+had foretold he would take. At first he deferred entirely to the squire;
+he received his orders, and then saw them carried out. Very soon he
+forgot to name the squire in the matter. He held consultations with the
+head man, and talked with him about the mowing and harvesting, and the
+sale of lambs and fleeces. The master's room was opened, and Julius sat
+at the table to receive tenants and laborers. In the squire's chair it
+was easy to feel that he was himself squire of Sandal-Side and Torver.
+
+It was a most unhappy summer. Evils, like weeds, grow apace. There was
+scarcely any interval between some long-honored custom and its
+disappearance. To-day it was observed as it had been for a lifetime;
+the next week it had passed away, and appeared to be forgotten. "Such
+times I never saw," said Ann. "I have been at Sandal twenty-two years
+come Martinmas, but I'm going to Beverley next feast."
+
+"You'll not do it, Ann. It's but talk."
+
+"Nay, but I'm set on it. I have taken the 'fastening penny,' and I'm
+bound to make that good. Things are that trying here now, that I can't
+abide them longer."
+
+All summer servants were going and coming at Seat-Sandal; the very
+foundations of its domestic life were broken up, and Charlotte's bright
+face had a constant wrinkle of worry and annoyance. Sophia was careful
+to point out the fact. "She has no housekeeping ability. Every thing is
+in a mess. If I only durst take hold of things. But Charlotte is such a
+spitfire, one does not like to offer help. I would be only too glad to
+put things right, but I should give offence," etc. "The poison of asps
+under the tongue," and a very little of it, can paralyze and irritate a
+whole household.
+
+Mowing-time and shearing-time and reaping-time came and went, but the
+gay pastoral festivals brought none of their old-time pleasure. The men
+in the fields did not like Julius in the squire's place, and they took
+no pains to hide the fact. Then he came home with complaints. "They were
+idle. They were disrespectful. The crops had fallen short." He could not
+understand it; and when he had expressed some dissatisfaction on the
+matter, the head man had told him, to take his grumbling to God
+Almighty. "An insolent race, these statesmen and Dale shepherds," he
+added; "if one of them owns ten acres, he thinks himself as good as if
+he owns a thousand."
+
+"All well-born men, Julius, all of them; are they not, Charlotte? Eh?
+What?"
+
+"So well born," answered Charlotte warmly, "that King James the First
+set up a claim to all these small estates, on the plea that their owners
+had never served a feudal lord, and were, therefore, tenants of the
+crown. But the large statesmen went with the small ones. They led them
+in a body to a heath between Kendal and Stavely, and there over two
+thousand men swore, 'that as they had their lands by the sword, they
+would keep them by the same.' So you see, Julius, they were gentlemen
+before the feudal system existed; they never put a finger under its
+authority, and they have long survived its fall."
+
+"Well, for all that, they make poor servants."
+
+"There's men that want Indian ryots or negro slaves to do their turn. I
+want free men at Sandal-Side as long as I am squire of that name."
+
+"They missed you sorely in the fields, father. It was not shearing-time,
+nor hay-time, nor harvest-time to any one in Sandal this year. But you
+will stand in your meadows again--God grant it!--next summer. And then
+how the men will work! And what shouting there will be at the sight of
+you! And what a harvest-home we shall have!"
+
+And he caught her enthusiasm, and stood up to try his feet, and felt
+sure that he walked stronger, and would soon be down-stairs once more.
+And Julius, whose eyes love did not blind, felt a little scorn for those
+who could not see such evident decay and dissolution. "It is really
+criminal," he said to Sophia, "to encourage hopes so palpably false."
+For Julius, like all selfish persons, could perceive only one side of a
+question, the side that touched his own side. It never entered his mind
+that the squire was trying to cheer and encourage his wife and daughter,
+and was privately quite aware of his own condition. Sandal had not told
+him that he had received "the token," the secret message which every
+soul receives when the King desires his presence. He had never heard
+those solemn conversations which followed the reading of "The Evening
+Service," when the rector knelt by the side of his old friend, and they
+two talked with Death as with a companion. So, though Julius meddled
+much with Sandal affairs, there was a life there into which he never
+entered.
+
+One evening in October, Charlotte was walking with Stephen. They had
+been to look at the new building, for every inch of progress was a
+matter of interest to them. As they came through the village, they
+perceived that Farmer Huet was holding his apple feast; for he was
+carrying from his house into his orchard a great bowl of spiced ale, and
+was followed by a merry company, singing wassail as they poured a little
+at the root of every tree:--
+
+              "Here's to thee, good apple-tree!
+    Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow,
+    Whence thou may'st bear apples enou';
+               Hats full, caps full,
+               Bushels full, sacks full.
+               Hurrah, then! Hurrah, then!
+               Here's to thee, good apple-tree!"
+
+They waited a little to watch the procession round the orchard; and as
+they stood, Julius advanced from an opposite direction. He took a letter
+from his pocket, which he had evidently been to the mail to secure, for
+Charlotte watched him break the seal as he approached; and when he
+suddenly raised his head, and saw her look of amazement, he made a
+little bravado of the affair, and said, with an air of frankness, "It is
+a letter from Harry. I thought it was best for his letters not to come
+to the house. The mail-bag might be taken to the squire's room, and who
+knows what would happen if he should see one of these," and he tapped
+the letter significantly with his long pointed fore-finger.
+
+"You should not have made such an arrangement as that, Julius, without
+speaking to mother. It was cruel to Harry. Why should the villagers
+think that the sight of a letter from him would be so dreadful to his
+own people?"
+
+"I did it for the best, Charlotte. Of course, you will misjudge me."
+
+"Ah! I know now why Polly Esthwaite called you, 'such a nice, kind,
+thoughtful gentleman as never was.' Is the letter for you?"
+
+"Mr. Latrigg can examine the address if you wish."
+
+"Mr. Latrigg distinctly refuses to look at the letter. Come, Charlotte,
+the air is cold and raw;" and with very scant courtesy they parted.
+
+"What can it mean, Steve, Julius and Harry in correspondence? I don't
+know what to think of such a thing. Harry has only written once to me
+since he went away. There is something wrong in all this secrecy, you
+may depend upon it."
+
+"I would not be suspicious, Charlotte. Harry is affectionate and
+trusting. Julius has written him letters full of sympathy and
+friendship; and the poor fellow, cut off from home and kindred, has been
+only too glad to answer. Perhaps we should have written also."
+
+"But why did Julius take that trouble? Julius always has a motive for
+what he does. I mean a selfish motive. Has Harry written to you?"
+
+"Only a few lines the very day he left. I have heard nothing since."
+
+The circumstance troubled Charlotte far beyond its apparent importance.
+She could conceive of no possible reason for Julius interfering in
+Harry's life, and she had the feeling of a person facing a danger in the
+dark. Julius was also annoyed at her discovery. "It precipitates
+matters," he said to Sophia, "and is apparently an unlucky chance. But
+chance is destiny, and this last letter of Harry's indicates that all
+things are very nearly ready for me. As for your sister, Charlotte
+Sandal, I think she is the most interfering person I ever knew."
+
+The air of the supper-table was one of reserve and offence. Only Sophia
+twittered and observed and wondered about all kinds of trivial things.
+"Mother has so many headaches now. Does she take proper care of herself,
+Charlotte? She ought to take exercise. Julius and I never neglect taking
+exercise. We think it a duty. No time do you say? Mother ought to take
+time. Poor, dear father was never unreasonable; he would wish mother to
+take time. What tasteless custards, Charlotte! I don't think Ann cares
+how she cooks now. When I was at home, and the eldest daughter, she
+always liked to have things nice. Julius, my dear one, can you find any
+thing fit to eat?" And so on, and so on, until Charlotte felt as if she
+must scream, or throw a plate down, or fly beyond the sight and sound of
+all things human.
+
+The next evening Julius announced his intention of going abroad at once.
+"But I shall leave Sophia to be a little society for mother, and I shall
+not delay an hour beyond the time necessary for travel and business." He
+spoke with an air of conscious self-denial; and as Charlotte did not
+express any gratitude he continued, "Not that I expect any thanks,
+Sophia and I, but fortunately we find duty is its own reward."
+
+"Are you going to see Harry?"
+
+"I may do such a thing."
+
+"Is he sick?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I hope he will not get sick while you are there." And then some
+passionate impulse took possession of her; her face glowed like a
+flame, and her eyes scintillated like sparks. "If any thing happens
+Harry while you are with him, I swear, by each separate Sandal that ever
+lived, that you shall account for it!"
+
+"Oh, you know, Sophia dear, this is too much! Leave the table, my love.
+Your sister must be"--and he tapped his forehead; while Sophia, with a
+look of annihilating scorn, drew her drapery tight around her, and
+withdrew.
+
+"What did I say? What do I think? What terror is in my heart? Oh, Harry,
+Harry, Harry!"
+
+She buried her face in her hands, and sat lost in woeful thought,--sat so
+long that Phoebe the table-maid felt her delay to be unkind and
+aggravating; especially when one of the chamber-maids came down for her
+supper, and informed the rulers of the servants' hall that "Mrs. Julius
+was crying up-stairs about Miss Charlotte falling out with her husband."
+
+"Mercy on us! What doings we have to bide with!" and Ann shook her check
+apron, and sat down with an air of nearly exhausted patience.
+
+"You can't think what a taking Mr. Julius is in. He's going away
+to-morrow."
+
+"For good and all?"
+
+"Not he. He'll be back again. He has had a falling-out with Miss
+Charlotte."
+
+"Poor lass! Say what you will, she has been hard set lately. I never
+knew nor heard tell of her being flighty and fratchy before the squire's
+trouble."
+
+"Good hearts are plenty in good times, Ann Skelton. Miss Charlotte's
+temper is past all the last few weeks, she is that off-and-on and
+changeable like and spirity. Mrs. Julius says she does beat all."
+
+"I don't pin my faith on what Mrs. Julius says. Not I."
+
+In the east rooms the criticism was still more severe. Julius railed for
+an hour ere he finally decided that he never saw a more suspicious,
+unladylike, uncharitable, unchristianlike girl than Charlotte Sandal! "I
+am glad to get away from her a little while," he cried; "how can she be
+your sister, Sophia?"
+
+So glad was he to get away, that he left before Charlotte came down in
+the morning. Ann made him a cup of coffee, and received a shilling and
+some suave words, and was quite sure after them that "Mr. Julius was the
+finest gentleman that ever trod in shoe-leather." And Julius was not
+above being gratified with the approbation and good wishes of servants;
+and it gave him pleasure to leave in the little hurrah of their bows and
+courtesies, their smiles and their good wishes.
+
+He went without delay straight to the small Italian village in which
+Harry had made his home. Harry's letters had prepared him for trouble
+and poverty, but he had little idea of the real condition of the heir of
+Sandal-Side. A few bare rooms in some dilapidated palace, grim with
+faded magnificence, comfortless and dull, was the kind of place he
+expected. He found him in a small cottage surrounded by a barren, sandy
+patch of ground overgrown with neglected vines and vagabond weeds. The
+interior was hot and untidy. On a couch a woman in the firm grip of
+consumption was lying; an emaciated, feverish woman, fretful with acute
+suffering. A little child, wan and waxy-looking, and apparently as ill
+as its mother, wailed in a cot by her side. Signor Lanza was smoking
+under a fig-tree in the neglected acre, which had been a vineyard or a
+garden. Harry had gone into the village for some necessity; and when he
+returned Julius felt a shock and a pang of regret for the dashing young
+soldier squire that he had known as Harry Sandal.
+
+He kissed his wife with passionate love and sorrow, and then turned to
+Julius with that mute look of inquiry which few find themselves able to
+resist.
+
+"He is alive yet,--much better, he says; and Charlotte thinks he may be
+in the fields again next season."
+
+"Thank God! My poor Beatrice and her baby! You see what is coming to
+them?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And I am so poor I cannot get her the change of air, the luxuries, the
+medicines, which would at least prolong life, and make death easy."
+
+"Go back with me to Sandal-Side, and see the squire: he may listen to
+you now."
+
+"Never more! It was cruel of father to take my marriage in such a way.
+He turned my life's joy into a crime, cursed every hour that was left
+me."
+
+"People used to be so intense--'a few strong feelings,' as Mr.
+Wordsworth says--too strong for ordinary life. We really can't afford to
+love and hate and suffer in such a teetotal way now; but the squire came
+from the Middle Ages. This is a dreadfully hot place, Harry."
+
+"Yes, it is. We were very much deceived in it. I bought it; and we
+dreamed of vineyards and milk and wine, and a long, happy, simple life
+together. Nothing has prospered with us. We were swindled in the house
+and land. The signor knows nothing about vines. He was born here, and
+wanted to come back and be a great man." And as he spoke he laughed
+hysterically, and took Julius into an inner room. "I don't want Beatrice
+to hear that I am out of money. She does not know I am destitute. That
+sorrow, at least, I have kept from her."
+
+"Harry, I am going to make you a proposal. I want to be kind and just to
+you. I want to put you beyond the need of any one's help. Answer me one
+question truly. If your father dies, what will you do?"
+
+"You said he was getting better. For God's sake, do not speak of his
+death."
+
+"I am supposing a case. You would then be squire of Sandal-Side. Would
+you return there with Beatrice?"
+
+"Ah, no! I know what those Dalesmen are. My father's feelings were only
+their feelings intensified by his relation to me. They would look upon
+me as my father's murderer, and Beatrice as an accessory to the deed."
+
+"Still you would be squire of Sandal-Side."
+
+"Mother would have to take my place, or Charlotte. I have thought of
+that. I could not bear to sit in father's chair, and go up and down the
+house. I should see him always. I should hear continually that awful cry
+with which he fell. It fills, even here, all the spaces of my memory and
+my dreams. I cannot go back to Sandal-Side. Nothing could take me back,
+not even my mother."
+
+"Then listen, I am the heir failing you."
+
+"No, no: there is my son Michael."
+
+Julius was stunned for a moment. "Oh, yes! The child is a boy, then?"
+
+"It is a boy. What were you going to say?"
+
+"I was going to ask you to sell your rights to me for ten thousand
+pounds. It would be better for you to have a sum like that in your hand
+at once, than to trust to dribbling remittances sent now and then by
+women in charge. You could invest that sum to noble purpose in America,
+become a citizen of the country, and found an American line, as my
+father has founded an Indian one."
+
+"The poor little chap makes no difference. He is only born to die. And I
+think your offer is a good one. I am so worn out, and things are really
+desperate with me. I never can go back to England. I am sick to death of
+Florence. There are places where Beatrice might even yet recover. Yes,
+for her sake, I will sell you my inheritance. Can I have the money
+soon?"
+
+"This hour. I had the proper paper drawn up before I came here. Read it
+over carefully. See if you think it fair and honorable. If you do, sign
+your name; and I will give you a check you can cash here in Florence.
+Then it will be your own fault if Beatrice wants change of air,
+luxuries, and medicine."
+
+He laid the paper on the table, and Harry sat down and pretended to read
+it. But he did not understand any thing of the jargon. The words danced
+up and down. He could only see "Beatrice," "freedom from care," "power
+to get away from Florence," and the final thought, the one which removed
+his last scruple, "Lanza can have the cottage, and I shall be clear of
+him forever."
+
+Without a word he went for a pen and ink, and wrote his name boldly to
+the deed of relinquishment. Then Julius handed him a check for ten
+thousand pounds, and went with him to the bank in order to facilitate
+the transfer of the sum to Harry's credit. On the street, in the hot
+sunshine, they stood a few minutes.
+
+"You are quite satisfied, Harry?"
+
+"You have saved me from despair. Perhaps you have saved Beatrice. I am
+grateful to you."
+
+"Have I done justly and honorably by you?"
+
+"I believe you have."
+
+"Then good-by. I must hasten home. Sophia will be anxious, and one never
+knows what may happen."
+
+"Julius, one moment. Tell my mother to pray for me. And the same word to
+Charlotte. Poor Charley! Sophia"--
+
+"Sophia pities you very much, Harry. Sophia feels as I do. We don't
+expect people to cut their lives on a fifteenth-century pattern."
+
+Then Harry lifted his hat, and walked away, with a shadow still of his
+old military, up-head manner. And Julius looked after him with contempt,
+and thought, "What a poor fellow he is! Not a word for himself, or a
+plea for that wretched little heir in his cradle. There are some
+miserable kinds of men in this world. I thank God I am not one of them!"
+
+And the wretched Esau, with the ten thousand pounds in his pocket? Ah,
+God only knew his agony, his shame, his longing, and despair! He felt
+like an outcast. Yes, even when he clasped Beatrice in his arms, with
+promises of unstinted comforts; when she kissed him, with tender words
+and tears of joy,--he felt like an outcast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE NEW SQUIRE.
+
+                       "A word was brought,
+     Unto him,--the King himself desired his presence."
+
+                       "The mystery of life
+     He probes; and in the battling din of things
+     That frets the feeble ear, he seeks and finds
+     A harmony that tunes the dissonant strife
+     To sweetest music."
+
+
+This year the effort to keep Christmas in Seat-Sandal was a failure.
+Julius did not return in time for the festival, and the squire was
+unable to take any part in it. There had been one of those sudden,
+mysterious changes in his condition, marking a point in life from which
+every step is on the down-hill road to the grave. One day he had seemed
+even better than usual; the next morning he looked many years older.
+Lassitude of body and mind had seized the once eager, sympathetic man;
+he was weary of the struggle for life, and had _given up_. This change
+occurred just before Christmas; and Charlotte could not help feeling
+that the evergreens for the feast might, after all, be the evergreens
+for the funeral.
+
+One snowy day between Christmas and New Year, Julius came home. Before
+he said a word to Sophia, she divined that he had succeeded in his
+object. He entered the house with the air of a master; and, when he
+heard how rapidly the squire was failing, he congratulated himself on
+his prudent alacrity in the matter. The next morning he was permitted an
+interview. "You have been a long time away, Julius," said the squire
+languidly, and without apparent interest in the subject.
+
+"I have been a long journey."
+
+"Ah! Where have you been? Eh?"
+
+"To Italy."
+
+The sick man flushed crimson, and his large, thin hands quivered
+slightly. Julius noted the change in him with some alarm; for, though it
+was not perhaps actually necessary to have the squire's signature to
+Harry's relinquishment, it would be more satisfactory to obtain it. He
+knew that neither Mrs. Sandal nor Charlotte would dispute Harry's deed;
+but he wished not only to possess Seat-Sandal, but also the good-will
+of the neighborhood, and for this purpose he must show a clear, clean
+right to the succession. He had explained the matter to Sophia, and been
+annoyed at her want of enthusiasm. She feared that any discussion
+relating to Harry might seriously excite and injure her father, and she
+could not bring herself to advise it. But the disapproval only made
+Julius more determined to carry out his own views; and therefore, when
+the squire asked, "Where have you been?" he told him the truth; and oh,
+how cruel the truth can sometimes be!
+
+"I have been to Italy."
+
+"To see"--
+
+"Harry? Yes."
+
+Then, without waiting to inform himself as to whether the squire wished
+the conversation dropped or continued, he added, "He was in a miserable
+condition,--destitute, with a dying wife and child."
+
+"Child! Eh? What?"
+
+"Yes, a son; a little chap, nothing but skin and bone and black
+eyes,--an Italian Sandal."
+
+The squire was silent a few minutes; then he asked in a slow,
+constrained voice, "What did you do?"
+
+"Harry sent for me in order that we might discuss a certain proposal he
+wished to make me. I have accepted it--reluctantly accepted it; but
+really it appeared the only way to help him to any purpose."
+
+"What did Harry want? Eh? What?"
+
+"He wanted to go to America, and begin a new life, and found a new house
+there; and, as he had determined never under any circumstances to visit
+Sandal-Side again, he asked me to give him the money necessary for
+emigration."
+
+"Did you?"
+
+"Yes, I did."
+
+"For what? What equivalent could he give you?"
+
+"He had nothing to give me but his right of succession. I bought it for
+ten thousand pounds. A sum of money like that ought to give him a good
+start in America. I think, upon the whole, he was very wise."
+
+"Harry Sandal sold my home and estate over my head, while I was still
+alive, without a word to me! God have mercy!"
+
+"Uncle, he never thought of it in that light, I am sure."
+
+"That is what he did; sold it without a thought as to what his mother's
+or sister's wishes might be. Sold it away from his own child. My God!
+The man is an immeasurable scoundrel; and, Julius Sandal, you are
+another."
+
+"Sir?"
+
+"Leave me. I am still master of Sandal. Leave me. Leave my house. Do not
+enter it again until my dead body has passed the gates."
+
+"It will be right for you first to sign this paper."
+
+"What paper? Eh? What?"
+
+"The deed of Harry's relinquishment. He has my money. I look to your
+honor to secure me."
+
+"You look the wrong road. I will sign no such paper,--no, not for twenty
+years of life."
+
+He spoke sternly, but almost in a whisper. The strain upon him was
+terrible; he was using up the last remnants of his life to maintain it.
+
+"That you should sign the deed is only bare honesty. I gave the money
+trusting to your honesty."
+
+"I will not sign it. It would be a queer thing for me to be a partner
+in such a dirty job. The right of succession to Sandal, barring Harry
+Sandal, is not vested in you. It is in Harry's son. Whoever his mother
+may be, the little lad is heir of Sandal-Side; and I'll not be made a
+thief in my last hours by you. That's a trick beyond your power. Now,
+then, I'll waste no more words on you, good, bad, or indifferent."
+
+He had, in fact, reached the limit of his powers, and Julius saw it; yet
+he did not hesitate to press his right to Sandal's signature by every
+argument he thought likely to avail. Sandal was as one that heard not,
+and fortunately Mrs. Sandal's entrance put an end to the painful
+interview.
+
+This was a sorrow the squire had never contemplated, and it filled his
+heart with anxious misery. He strove to keep calm, to husband his
+strength, to devise some means of protecting his wife's rights. "I must
+send for Lawyer Moser: if there is any way out of this wrong, he will
+know the right way," he thought. But he had to rest a little ere he
+could give the necessary prompt instructions. Towards noon he revived,
+and asked eagerly for Stephen Latrigg. A messenger was at once sent to
+Up-Hill. He found Stephen in the barn, where the men were making the
+flails beat with a rhythm and regularity as exhilarating as music.
+Stephen left them at once; but, when he told Ducie what word had been
+brought him, he was startled at her look and manner.
+
+"I have been looking for this news all day: I fear me, Steve, that the
+squire has come to 'the passing.' Last night I saw your grandfather."
+
+"Dreamed of him?"
+
+"Well, then, call it a dream. I saw your grandfather. He was in this
+room; he was sorting the papers he left; and, as I watched his hands, he
+lifted his head and looked at me. I have got my orders, I feel that. But
+wait not now, I will follow you anon."
+
+In the "Seat" there was a distinct feeling of consummating calamity. The
+servants had come to a state of mind in which the expectation was rather
+a relief. They were only afraid the squire might rally again. In Mrs.
+Sandal's heart there was that resentful resignation which says to
+sorrow, "Do thy worst. I am no longer able to resist, or even to plead."
+Charlotte only clung to her dream of hope, and refused to be wakened
+from it. She was sure her father had been worse many a time. She was
+almost cross at Ducie's unusual visit.
+
+About four o'clock Steve had a long interview with the squire. Charlotte
+walked restlessly to and fro in the corridor; she heard Steve's voice,
+strong and kind and solemn, and she divined what promises he was making
+to the dying man for herself and for her mother. But even her love did
+not anticipate their parting words,--
+
+"Farewell, Stephen. Yet one word more. If Harry should come back--what
+of Harry? Eh? What?"
+
+"I will stand by him. I will put my hand in his hand, and my foot with
+his foot. They that wrong Harry will wrong me, they that shame Harry
+will shame me. I will never call him less than a brother, as God hears
+me speak."
+
+A light "that never was on sea or sky" shone in Sandal's fast dimming
+eyes, and irradiated his set gray countenance. "Stephen, tell him at
+death's door I turned back to forgive him--to bless him. I
+stretch--out--my hand--to--him."
+
+At this moment Charlotte opened the door softly, and waved Stephen
+towards her. "Your mother is come, and she says she must see the
+squire." And then, before Stephen could answer, Ducie gently put them
+both aside. "Wait in the corridor, my children," she said: "none but God
+and Sandal must hear my farewell." With the words, she closed the door,
+and went to the dying man. He appeared to be unconscious; but she took
+his hand, stroked it kindly, and bending down whispered, "William,
+William Sandal! Do you know me?"
+
+"Surely it is Ducie. It is growing dark. We must go home, Ducie. Eh?
+What?"
+
+"William, try and understand what I say. You will go the happier to
+heaven for my words." And, as they grew slowly into the squire's
+apprehension, a look of amazement, of gratitude, of intense
+satisfaction, transfigured the clay for the last time. It seemed as if
+the departing soul stood still to listen. He was perfectly quiet until
+she ceased speaking; then, in a strange, unearthly tone, he uttered one
+word, "Happy." It was the last word that ever parted his lips. Between
+shores he lingered until the next daybreak, and then the loving
+watchers saw that the pallid wintry light fell on the dead. How peaceful
+was the large, worn face! How tranquil! How distant from them! How
+grandly, how terribly indifferent! To Squire William Sandal, all the
+noisy, sorrowful controversies of earth had grown suddenly silent.
+
+The reading of the squire's will made public the real condition of
+affairs. Julius had spoken with the lawyer previously, and made clear to
+him his right in equity to stand in the heir's place. But the squires
+and statesmen of the Dales heard the substitution with muttered
+dissents, or in a silence still more emphatic of disapproval. Ducie and
+Mrs. Sandal and Charlotte were shocked and astounded at the revelation,
+and there was not a family in Sandal-Side who had that night a good word
+for Julius Sandal. He thought it very hard, and said so. He had not
+forced Harry in any way. He had taken no advantage of him. Harry was
+quite satisfied with the exchange, and what had other people to do with
+his affairs? He did not care for their opinion. "That for it!" and he
+snapped his fingers defiantly to every point of the compass. But, all
+the same, he walked the floor of the east rooms nearly all night, and
+kept Sophia awake to listen to his complaints.
+
+Sophia was fretful and sleepy, and not as sympathetic with "the soul
+that halved her own," as centuries of fellow-feeling might have claimed;
+but she had her special worries. She perceived, even thus early, that as
+long as the late squire's widow was in the Seat, her own authority would
+be imperfect. "Of course, she did not wish to hurry her mother; but she
+would feel, in her place, how much more comfortable for all a change
+would be. And mother had her dower-house in the village; a very
+comfortable home, quite large enough for Charlotte and herself and a
+couple of maids, which was certainly all they needed."
+
+Where did such thoughts and feelings spring from? Were they lying
+dormant in her heart that summer when the squire drove home his harvest,
+and her mother went joyfully up and down the sunny old rooms, always
+devising something for her girls' comfort or pleasures? In those days
+how proud Sophia had been of her father and mother! What indignation she
+would have felt had one suggested that the time was coming when she
+would be glad to see a stranger in her father's place, and feel
+impatient to say to her mother, "Step down lower; I would be mistress in
+your room"! Alas! there are depths in the human heart we fear to look
+into; for we know that often all that is necessary to assuage a great
+grief, or obliterate a great loss, is the inheritance of a fine mansion,
+or a little money, or a few jewels, or even a rich garment. And as soon
+as the squire was in his grave, Julius and Sophia began to discuss the
+plans which only a very shallow shame had made them reticent about
+before.
+
+Indeed, it soon became necessary for others, also, to discuss the
+future. People soon grow unwelcome in a house that is not their own; and
+the new squire of Sandal-Side was eager to so renovate and change the
+place that it would cease to remind him of his immediate predecessors.
+The Sandals of past centuries were welcome, they gave dignity to his
+claims; but the last squire, and his son Harry Sandal, only reminded him
+of circumstances he felt it more comfortable to forget. So, during the
+long, dreary days of midwinter, he and Sophia occupied themselves very
+pleasantly in selecting styles of furniture, and colors of draperies,
+and in arranging for a full suite of Oriental rooms, which were to
+perpetuate in pottery and lacquerware, Indian bronzes and mattings,
+Chinese screens and cabinets, the Anglo-Indian possessor of the old
+Cumberland estate.
+
+Even pending these alterations, others were in progress. Every family
+arrangement was changed in some respect. The hour for breakfast had been
+fixed at what Julius called a civilized time. This, of course, delayed
+every other meal; yet the servants, who had grumbled at over-work under
+the old authority, had not a complaint to make under the new. For the
+present master and mistress of Sandal were not people who cared for
+complaints. "If you can do the work, Ann, you may stay," said Sophia to
+the dissatisfied cook; "if not, the squire will pay you your due wages.
+He has a friend in London whose cook would like a situation in the
+country." After which explanation Ann behaved herself admirably, and
+never found her work hard, though dinner was two hours later, and the
+supper dishes were not sent in until eleven o'clock.
+
+But, though Julius had succeeded in bringing his table so far within his
+own ideas of comfort, in other respects he felt his impotence to order
+events. Every meal-time brought him in contact with the widow Sandal and
+with Charlotte; and neither Sophia, nor yet himself, had felt able to
+request the late mistress to resign her seat at the foot of the table.
+And Sophia soon began to think it unkind of her mother not to see the
+position, and voluntarily amend it. "I do really think mother might have
+some consideration for me, Julius," she complained. "It puts me in such
+a very peculiar position not to take my place at my own table; and it is
+so trying and perplexing for the servants,--making them feel as if there
+were two mistresses."
+
+"And always the calm, scornful face of your sister Charlotte at her
+side. Do you notice with what ostentatious obedience and attention she
+devotes herself to your mother?"
+
+"She thinks that she is showing me my duty, Julius. But people have some
+duties toward themselves."
+
+"And towards their husbands."
+
+"Certainly. I thank Heaven I have always put my husband first." And she
+really glanced upwards with the complacent air of one who expected
+Heaven to imitate men, and "praise her for doing well unto herself."
+
+"This state of things cannot go on much longer, Sophia."
+
+"Certainly it cannot. Mother must look after her own house soon."
+
+"I would speak to her to-day, Sophia. She has had six weeks now to
+arrange her plans, and next month I want to begin and put the house into
+decent condition. I think I will write to London this afternoon, and
+tell Jeffcott to send the polishers and painters on the 15th of March."
+
+"Mother is so slow about things, I don't think she will be ready to move
+so early."
+
+"Oh, I really can't stand them any longer! I can't indeed, Sophia, and I
+won't. I did not marry your mother and sister, nor yet buy them with the
+place. Your mother has her recognized rights in the estate, and she has
+a dower-house to which to retire; and the sooner she goes there now, the
+better. You may tell her I say so."
+
+"You may as well tell her yourself, Julius."
+
+"Do you wish me to be insulted by your sister Charlotte again? It is
+too bad to put me in such a position. I cannot punish two women, even
+for such shameful innuendos as I had to take when she sat at the head of
+the table. You ought to reflect, too, that the rooms they occupy are the
+best rooms in the house,--the master's rooms. I am going to have the oak
+walls polished, in order to bring out the carvings; and I think we will
+choose green and white for the carpets and curtains. The present
+furniture is dreadfully old-fashioned, and horribly full of old
+memories."
+
+"Well, then, I shall give mother to understand that we expect to make
+these changes very soon."
+
+"Depend upon it, the sooner your mother and Charlotte go to their own
+house, the better for all parties. For, if we do not insist upon it,
+they will stay and stay, until that Latrigg young man has his house
+finished. Then Charlotte will expect to be married from here, and we
+shall have all the trouble and expense of the affair. Oh, I tell you,
+Sophia, I see through the whole plan! But reckoning without me, and
+reckoning with me, are different things."
+
+This conversation took place after a most unpleasant lunch. Julius had
+come to it in a fretful, hypercritical mood. He had been calculating
+what his proposed changes would cost, and the sum total had given him a
+slight shock. He was like many extravagant people, subject to passing
+spells of almost contemptible economy; and at that hour the proposed
+future outlay of thousands did not trouble him so much as the actual
+penny-half-penny value of his mother-in-law's lunch.
+
+He did not say so, but in some way the feeling permeated the table. The
+widow pushed her plate aside, and sipped her glass of wine in silence.
+Charlotte took a pettish pleasure in refusing what she felt she was
+unwelcome to. Both left the table before Julius and Sophia had finished
+their meal; and both, as soon as they reached their rooms, turned to
+each other with faces hot with indignation, and hearts angry with a
+sense of shameful unkindness.
+
+Charlotte spoke first. "What is to be done, mother? I cannot see you
+insulted, meal after meal, in this way. Let us go at once. I have told
+you it would come to this. We ought to have moved immediately,--just as
+soon as Julius came here as master."
+
+"My house in the village has been empty for three years. It is cold and
+damp. It needs attention of every kind. If we could only stay here until
+Stephen's house was finished: then you could be married."
+
+"O mother dear, that is not possible! You know Steve and I cannot marry
+until father has been dead at least a year. It would be an insult to
+father to have a wedding in his mourning year."
+
+"If your father knows any thing, Charlotte, he knows the trouble we are
+in. He would count it no insult."
+
+"But all through the Dales it would be a shame to us. Steve and I would
+not like to begin life with the ill words or ill thoughts of our
+neighbors."
+
+"What shall I do? Charlotte, dear, what shall I do?"
+
+"Let us go to our own home. Better to brave a little damp and discomfort
+than constant humiliation."
+
+"This is my home, my own dear home! It is full of memories of your
+father and Harry."
+
+"O mother, I should think you would want to forget Harry!"
+
+"No, no, no! I want to remember him every hour of the day and night. How
+could I pray for him, if I forgot him? Little you know how a mother
+loves, Charlotte. His father forgave him: shall I be less pitiful?--I,
+who nursed him at my breast, and carried him in my arms."
+
+Charlotte did not answer. She was touched by her mother's fidelity, and
+she found in her own heart a feeling much akin to it. Their conversation
+reverted to their unhappy position, and to the difficulty of making an
+immediate change. For not only was the dower-house in an untenantable
+state, but the weather was very much against them. The gray weather, the
+gloomy sky, the monotonous rains, the melting snow, the spiteful east
+wind,--by all this enmity of the elements, as well as by the enmity in
+the household, the poor bereaved lady was saddened and controlled.
+
+The wretched conversation was followed by a most unhappy silence. Both
+hearts were brooding over their slights and wrongs. Day by day
+Charlotte's life had grown harder to bear. Sophia's little flaunts and
+dissents, her astonishments and corrections, were almost as cruel as the
+open hatred of Julius, his silence, his lowering brows, and insolence
+of proprietorship. To these things she had to add the intangible
+contempt of servants, and the feeling of constraint in the house where
+she had been the beloved child and the one in authority. Also she found
+the insolence which Stephen had to brave every time he called upon her
+just as difficult to bear as were her own peculiar slights. Julius had
+ceased to recognize him, had ceased to speak of him except as "that
+person." Every visit he made Charlotte was the occasion of some petty
+impertinence, some unmistakable assurance that his presence was
+offensive to the master of Seat-Sandal.
+
+All these things troubled the mother also, but her bitterest pang was
+the cruelty of Sophia. A slow, silent process of alienation had been
+going on in the girl ever since her engagement to Julius: it had first
+touched her thoughts, then her feelings; now its blighting influence had
+deteriorated her whole nature. And in her mother's heart there were sad
+echoes of that bitter cry that comes down from age to age, "Oh, my son
+Absalom, Absalom! My son, my son!"
+
+"O Sophia! oh, my child, my child! How can you treat me so? What have I
+done?" She was murmuring such words to herself when the door was opened,
+and Sophia entered. It was characteristic of the woman that she did not
+knock ere entering. She had always jealously guarded her rights to the
+solitude of her own room; and, even when she was a school-girl, it had
+been an understood household regulation that no one was to enter it
+without knocking. But now that she was mistress of all the rooms in
+Seat-Sandal, she ignored the simple courtesy towards others.
+Consequently, when she entered, she saw the tears in her mother's eyes.
+They only angered her. "Why should the sorrows of others darken her
+happy home?" Sophia was one of those women whom long regrets fatigue. As
+for her father, she reflected, "that he had been well nursed, decorously
+buried, and that every propriety had been attended to. It was, in her
+opinion, high time that the living--Julius and herself--should be
+thought of." The stated events of life--its regular meals, its trivial
+pleasures--had quite filled any void in her existence made by her
+father's death. If he had come back to earth, if some one had said to
+her, "He is here," she would have been far more embarrassed than
+delighted. The worldly advantages built upon the extinction of a great
+love! Sophia could contemplate them without a blush.
+
+She came forward, shivering slightly, and stirred the fire. "How cold
+and dreary you are! Mother, why don't you cheer up and do something? It
+would be better for you than moping on the sofa."
+
+"Suppose Julius had died six weeks ago, would you think of 'cheering
+up,' Sophia?"
+
+"Charlotte, what a shameful thing to say!"
+
+"Precisely what you have just said to mother."
+
+"Supposing Julius dead! I never heard such a cruel thing. I dare say it
+would delight you."
+
+"No, it would not; for Julius is not fit to die."
+
+"Mother, I will not be insulted in my own house in such a way. Speak to
+Charlotte, or I must tell Julius."
+
+"What have you come to say, Sophia?"
+
+"I came to talk pleasantly, to see you, and"--
+
+"You saw me an hour or two since, and were very rude and unkind. But if
+you regret it, my dear, it is forgiven."
+
+"I do not know what there is to forgive. But really, Charlotte and you
+seem so completely unhappy and dissatisfied here, that I should think
+you would make a change."
+
+"Do you mean that you wish me to go?"
+
+"If you put words into my mouth."
+
+"It is not worth while affecting either regret or offence, Sophia. How
+soon do you wish us to leave?"
+
+The dowager mistress of Sandal-Side had stood up as she asked the
+question. She was quite calm, and her manner even cold and indifferent.
+"If you wish us to go to-day, it is still possible. I can walk as far as
+the rectory. For your father's sake, the rector will make us
+welcome.--Charlotte, my bonnet and cloak!"
+
+"Mother! I think such threats very uncalled for. What will people say?
+And how can poor Julius defend himself against two ladies? I call it
+taking advantage of us."
+
+"'Taking advantage?' Oh, no! Oh, no!--Charlotte, my dear, give me my
+cloak."
+
+The little lady was not to be either frightened or entreated; and she
+deigned Julius--who had been hastily summoned by Sophia--no answer,
+either to his arguments or his apologies.
+
+"It is enough," she cried, with a slight quiver in her voice, "it is
+enough! You turn me out of the home he gave me. Do you think that the
+dead see not? know not? You will find out, you will find out." And so,
+leaning upon Charlotte's arm, she walked slowly down the stairway, and
+into the dripping, soaking, gloomy afternoon. It was indeed wretched
+weather. A thick curtain of mist filled all the atmosphere, and made of
+daylight only a diluted darkness, in which it was hard to distinguish
+the skeletons of the trees which winter had stripped. The mountains had
+disappeared; there was no sky; a veil of chilling moisture and
+depressing gloom was over every thing. But neither Charlotte nor her
+mother was at that hour conscious of such inoffensive disagreeables.
+They were trembling with anger and sorrow. In a moment such a great
+event had happened, one utterly unconceived of, and unprepared for. Half
+an hour previous, the unhappy mother had dreaded the breaking away from
+her old life, and had declined to discuss with Charlotte any plan
+tending to such a consummation. Then, suddenly, she had taken a step
+more decided and unusual than had ever entered Charlotte's mind.
+
+The footpath through the park was very wet and muddy. Every branch
+dropped water. They were a little frightened at what they were doing,
+and their hearts were troubled by many complex emotions. But fortunately
+the walk was a short one, and the shortest way to the rectory lay
+directly through the churchyard. Without a word Mrs. Sandal took it; and
+without a word she turned aside at a certain point, and through the
+long, rank, withered grasses walked straight to the squire's grave. It
+was yet quite bare; the snow had melted away, and it had a look as
+desolate as her own heart. She stood a few minutes speechless by its
+side; but the painfully tight clasp in which she held Charlotte's hand
+expressed better than any words could have done the tension of feeling,
+the passion of emotion, which dominated her. And Charlotte felt that
+silence was her mother's safety. If she spoke, she would weep, perhaps
+break down completely, and be unable to reach the shelter of the
+rectory.
+
+The rector was walking about his study. He saw the two female forms
+passing through the misty graveyard, and up to his own front door; but
+that they were Mrs. Sandal and Charlotte Sandal, was a supposition
+beyond the range of his life's probabilities. So, when they entered his
+room, he was for the moment astounded; but how much more so, when
+Charlotte, seeing her mother unable to frame a word, said, "We have come
+to you for shelter and protection!"
+
+Then Mrs. Sandal began to sob hysterically; and the rector called his
+housekeeper, and the best rooms were quickly opened and warmed, and the
+sorrowful, weary lady lay down to rest in their comfort and seclusion.
+Charlotte did not find their friend as unprepared for the event as she
+supposed likely. Private matters sift through the public mind in a way
+beyond all explanation, and "There had been a general impression," he
+said, "that the late squire's widow was very ill done to by the new
+squire."
+
+Charlotte did not spare the new squire. All his petty ways of annoying
+her mother and herself and Stephen; all his small economies about their
+fire and food and comforts; all his scornful contempt for their
+household ways and traditions; all that she knew regarding his purchase
+of Harry's rights, and its ruthless revelation to her dying father,--all
+that she knew wrong of Julius, she told. It was a relief to do it. While
+he had been their guest, and afterwards while they had been his guests,
+her mouth had been closed. Week after week she had suffered in silence.
+The long-restrained tide of wrong flowed from her lips with a strange,
+pathetic eloquence; and, as the rector held her hands, his own were wet
+with her fast-falling tears. At last she laid her head against his
+shoulder, and wept as if her heart would break. "He has been our ruin,"
+she cried, "our evil angel. He has used Harry's folly and father's
+goodness and Sophia's love--all of them--for his own selfish ends."
+
+"He is a bad one. He should be hanged, and cheap at it! Hear him,
+talking of having lived so often! God have mercy! He is not worthy of
+one life, let alone of two."
+
+At this juncture, Julius himself entered the room. Neither of its
+occupants had heard his arrival, and he saw Charlotte in the abandon of
+her grief and anger. She would have risen, but the rector would not let
+her. "Sit still, Charlotte," he said. "He has done his do, and you need
+not fear him any more. And dry your tears, my dearie; learn while you
+are young to squander nothing, not even grief." Then he turned to
+Julius, and gave him one of those looks which go through all disguises
+into the shoals and quicksands of the heart; such a look as that with
+which the tamer of wild beasts controls his captive.
+
+"Well, squire, what want you?"
+
+"I want justice, sir. I am come here to defend myself."
+
+"Very well, I am here to listen."
+
+Self-justification is a vigorous quality: Julius spoke with eloquence,
+and with a superficial show of right. The rector heard him patiently,
+offering no comment, and permitting no disputation. But, when Julius was
+finished, he answered with a certain stern warmth, "Say what you will,
+squire, you and I are of two ways of thinking. You are in the wrong, and
+you will be hard set to prove yourself in the right; and that is as
+true as gospel."
+
+"I am, at least, a gentleman, rector; and I know how to treat
+gentlewomen."
+
+"Gentle-man! Gentle-sinner, let me say! Will Satan care whether you be a
+peasant, or a star-and-garter gentleman? Tut, tut! in my office I know
+nothing about gentlemen. There are plenty of gentlemen with Beelzebub;
+and they will ring all eternity for a drop of water, and never find a
+servant to answer them."
+
+"Sir, though you are a clergyman, you have no right to speak to me in
+such a manner."
+
+"Because I am a clergyman, I have the right. If I see a man sleeping
+while the Devil rocks his cradle, have I not the right to say to him,
+'Wake up, you are in danger'? Let me tell you, squire, you have
+committed more than one sin. Go home, and confess them to God and man.
+Above all, turn down a leaf in your Bible where a fool once asked, 'Who
+is my neighbor?' Keep it turned down, until you have answered the
+question better than you have been doing it lately."
+
+"None of my neighbors can say wrong of me. I have always done my duty
+to them. I have paid every one what I owe"--
+
+"Not enough, squire; not enough. Follow on, as Hosea says, to love them.
+Don't always give them the white, and keep the yolk for yourself. You
+know your duty. Haste you back home, then, and do it."
+
+"I will not be put off in such a way, sir. You must interfere in this
+matter: make these silly women behave themselves. I cannot have the
+whole country-side talking of my affairs."
+
+"Me interfere! No, no! I am not in your livery, squire; and I won't
+fight your quarrels. Sir, my time is engaged."
+
+"I have a right"--
+
+"My time is engaged. It is my hour for reading the Evening Service. Stay
+and hear it, if you desire. But it is a bad neighborhood, where a man
+can't say his prayers quietly." And he stood up, walked slowly to his
+reading-desk, and began to turn the leaves of the Book of Common Prayer.
+
+Then Julius went out in a passion, and the rector muttered, "The Devil
+may quote Scripture, but he does not like to hear it read. Come,
+Charlotte, let us thank God, thank him twice, nay, thrice, not alone
+for the faith of Christ Jesus, but also for the legacy of Christ Jesus.
+Oh, child, amid earth's weary restlessness and noisy quarrels, how rich
+a legacy,"--
+
+"'Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SANDAL AND SANDAL.
+
+     "Time will discover every thing; it is a babbler, and speaks even
+     when no question is put."
+
+     "Run, spindles! Run, and weave the threads of doom."
+
+
+Next morning very early, Stephen had a letter from Charlotte. He was
+sitting at breakfast with Ducie when the rector's boy brought it; and it
+came, as great events generally come, without any premonition or
+heralding circumstance. Ducie was pouring out coffee; and she went on
+with her employment, thinking, not of the letter Stephen was opening,
+but of the malt, and of the condition of the brewing-boiler. An angry
+exclamation from Stephen made her lift her eyes to his face. "My word,
+Stephen, you are put out! What's to do?"
+
+"Julius has turned Mrs. Sandal and Charlotte from house and home,
+yesterday afternoon. They are at the rectory. I am going, mother."
+
+"Stop a moment, Steve. This is now my affair."
+
+Stephen looked at his mother with amazement. Her countenance, her voice,
+her whole manner, had suddenly changed. An expression of angry purpose
+was in her wide-open eyes and firm mouth, as she asked, "Can you or
+Jamie, or any of the men, drive me to Kendal?"
+
+"To-day?"
+
+"I want to leave within an hour."
+
+"The rain down-pours; and it is like to be worse yet, if the wind does
+not change."
+
+"If it were ten times worse, I must to Kendal. I am much to blame that I
+have let weather stop me so far and so long. While Dame Nature was busy
+about her affairs, I should have been minding mine. Deary me, deary me!"
+
+"If you are for Kendal, then I will drive. The cart-road down the fell
+is too bad to trust you with any one but myself. Can we stop a moment at
+the rectory on our road?"
+
+"We can stop a goodish bit. I have a deal to say to the parson. Have the
+tax-cart ready in half an hour; for there will be no betterness in the
+weather until the moon--God bless her!--is full round; and things are
+past waiting for now."
+
+In twenty minutes Ducie was ready. The large cloak and hood of the
+Daleswoman wrapped her close. She was almost indistinguishable in its
+folds. The rector met her with a little irritation. It was very early to
+be disturbed, and he thought her visit would refer, doubtless, to some
+trivial right between her son and Charlotte Sandal; besides which, he
+had made up his mind to discuss the Sandal affairs with no one.
+
+But Ducie had spoken but a few moments before a remarkable change took
+place in his manner. He was bending eagerly forward, listening to her
+half-whispered words with the greatest interest and amazement. As she
+proceeded, he could scarcely control his emotion; and very soon all
+other expressions were lost in one of a satisfaction that was almost
+triumph.
+
+"I will keep them here until you return," he answered; "but let me tell
+you, Ducie, you have been less quick to do right than I thought of you."
+
+"The fell has been a hard walk for an old woman, the cart-road nearly
+impassable until this rain washed away the drifts; but I did not
+neglect my duty altogether, neither, parson. Moser was written to six
+weeks since, and he has been at work. Maybe, after all, no time has been
+lost. I'll away now, if you will call Stephen. Don't let Mrs. Sandal
+'take on' more than you can help;" and, as Stephen lifted the reins,
+"You think it best to bring all here?"
+
+"Far away best. God speed you!" He watched them out of sight,--his snowy
+hair and strong face and black garments making a vivid picture in the
+misty, drippy doorway,--and then, returning to his study, he began his
+daily walk up and down its carpeted length, with a singularly solemn
+elation. Ere long, the thoughtful stride was accompanied by low, musical
+mutterings, dropping from his lips in such majestic cadences that his
+steps involuntarily fell to their music in a march-like rhythm.
+
+    "Daughter of Justice, wronged Nemesis,
+     Thou of the awful eyes,
+     Whose silent sentence judgeth mortal life,--
+       Thou with the curb of steel,
+       Which proudest jaws must feel,
+     Stayest the snort and champ of human strife.
+
+     Under thy wheel unresting, trackless, all
+     Our joys and griefs befall;
+     In thy full sight our secret things go on;
+       Step after step, thy wrath
+       Follows the caitiff's path,
+     And in his triumph breaks his vile neck bone.
+     To all alike, thou meetest out their due,
+     Cubit for cubit, inch for inch,--stern, true."
+
+At the word "true" he paused a moment, and touched with his finger an
+old black volume on one of the book-shelves. "'Stern, true,' whether
+Euripides says 'cubit for cubit,' or Moses 'an eye for an eye,' or
+Solomon that 'he that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.'
+Stern, true; for surely that which a man sows he shall also reap."
+
+After a while he went up-stairs and talked with Mrs. Sandal and
+Charlotte. They were much depressed and very anxious, and had what
+Charlotte defined "a homeless feeling." "But you must be biddable,
+Charlotte," said the rector; "you must remain here until Stephen
+returns. Ducie had business that could not wait, and who but Stephen
+should drive her? When he comes back, we will all look to it. You shall
+not be very long out of your own home; and, in the mean time, how
+welcome you are here!"
+
+"It seems such a weary time, sir; so many months that we have been in
+trouble."
+
+"It was all night long, once, with some tired, fearful ones 'toiling in
+rowing;' but in the fourth watch came Christ and help to them. It is
+nigh hand--the 'fourth watch'--with you; so be cheerful."
+
+Yet it was the evening of the sixth day before Ducie and Stephen
+returned. It was still raining heavily, and Ducie only waited a moment
+or two at the rectory gate. Charlotte was amazed to see the old
+clergyman hasten through the plashing shower to speak to her. "Surely
+Ducie's business must have a great deal of interest to the rector,
+mother: he has gone out to speak to her, and such weather too."
+
+"Ducie was always a favorite with him. I hope, now that her affairs have
+been attended to, ours may receive some care."
+
+Charlotte answered only by a look of sympathy. It had seemed to her a
+little hard that their urgent need must wait upon Ducie's business; that
+Stephen should altogether leave them in their extremity; that her
+anxious inquiries and suggestions, her plans and efforts about their
+new home, should have been so coldly received, and so positively put
+aside until Ducie and Stephen came back. And she had a pang of jealousy
+when she saw the rector, usually so careful of his health, hasten with
+slippered feet and uncovered head, through the wet, chilling atmosphere,
+to speak to them.
+
+He came back with a radiant face, however, and Charlotte could hear him
+moving about his study; now rolling out a grand march of musical Greek
+syllables from Homer or Euripides, anon breaking into some familiar
+verse of Christian song. And, when tea was served, he went up-stairs for
+the ladies, and escorted them to the table with a manner so beaming and
+so happily predictive that Charlotte could not but catch some of its
+hopeful spirit.
+
+Just as they sat down to the tea-table, the wet, weary travellers
+reached Up-Hill. With a sigh of pleasure and content, Ducie once more
+passed into its comfortable shelter; and never had it seemed to her such
+a haven of earthly peace. Her usually placid face bore marks of strong
+emotion; she was physically tired; and Stephen was glad to see her among
+the white fleeces of his grandfather's big chair, with her feet
+outstretched to the blazing warmth of the fire, and their cosey
+tea-service by her side. Always reticent with him, she had been very
+tryingly so on their journey. No explanation of it had been given; and
+he had been permitted to pass his time among the looms in Ireland's
+mill, while she and the lawyer were occupied about affairs to which even
+his signature was not asked.
+
+As they sat together in the evening, she caught his glance searching her
+face tenderly; and she bent forward, and said, "Kiss me, Stephen, my
+dear lad. I have seen this week how kind and patient, how honorable and
+trustful, thou art. Well, then, the hour has come that will try thy love
+to the uttermost. But wise or unwise, all that has been done has been
+done with good intent, and I look for no word to pain me from thy mouth.
+Stephen, what is thy name?"
+
+"Stephen Latrigg."
+
+"Nay, but it isn't."
+
+Stephen blushed vividly; his mother's face was white and calm. "I would
+rather be called Latrigg than--the other name, than by my father's
+name."
+
+"Has any one named thy father to thee?"
+
+"Charlotte told me what you and she said on the matter. She understood
+his name to be Pattison. We were wondering if our marriage could be
+under my adopted name, that was all, and things like it."
+
+Ducie was watching his handsome face as he spoke, and feeling keenly the
+eager deprecation of pain to herself, mingling with the natural
+curiosity about his own identity, which the cloud upon his early years
+warranted. She looked at him steadily, with eyes shining brightly
+through tears.
+
+"Your name is not Pattison, neither is it Latrigg. When you marry
+Charlotte Sandal, it must be by your own true name; and that is Stephen
+Sandal."
+
+"Stephen Sandal, mother?"
+
+"Yes. You are the son of Launcelot Sandal, the late squire's eldest
+brother."
+
+"Then, mother, then I am--What am I, mother?"
+
+"You are squire of Sandal-Side and Torver. No living man but you has a
+right to the name, or the land, or to Seat-Sandal."
+
+"I should have known this before, mother."
+
+"I think not. We had, father and I, what we believed good reasons, and
+kind reasons, for holding our peace. But times and circumstances have
+changed; and, where silence was once true friendship and kindness, it is
+now wrong and cruelty. Many years ago, Stephen, when I was young and
+beautiful, Launcelot Sandal loved me. And my father and Launcelot's
+father loved each other as David and Jonathan loved. They were scarcely
+happy apart; and not even to please the proud mistress Charlotte, would
+the squire loosen the grip of heart and hand between them. But your
+father was more under his mother's influence: proud lad as he was, he
+feared her; and when she discovered his love for me, there was such a
+scene between them as no man will go through twice in his lifetime. I
+have no excuse to make for marrying him secretly except the old, old
+one, Stephen. I loved him, loved him as women have loved, and will love,
+from the beginning to the end of time."
+
+"Dear mother, there was no wrong in that. But why did you let the world
+think you loved a man beneath you? an uneducated shepherd like my
+reputed father? That wronged not only you, but those behind and those
+after you."
+
+"We were afraid of many things, and we wished to spare the friendship
+between our fathers. There were many other reasons, scarcely worth
+repeating now."
+
+"And what became of the shepherd?"
+
+"He was not Cumberland born. He came from the Cheviot Hills, and was
+always fretting for the border life: so he gladly fell in with the
+proposal your father made him. One summer morning he said he was going
+to herd the lambs on Latrigg Fell, but he went to Egremont. Your father
+had gone there a week before; but he came back that night, and met me at
+Ravenglass. We were married in Egremont church, by Parson Sellafield,
+and went to Whitehaven, where we lived quietly and happily for many a
+week. Pattison witnessed our marriage, and then, with gold in his
+pocket, took the border road. He went to Moffat and wed the girl he
+loved, and has been shepherding on Loch Fell ever since."
+
+"He is alive, then?"
+
+"He is at the Salutation Inn at Ambleside to-night. So, also, is Parson
+Sellafield, and the man and woman with whom we staid in Whitehaven, and
+in whose house you were born and lived until your fourth year. They are
+called Chisholm, and have been at Up-Hill many times."
+
+"I remember them."
+
+"And I did not intend that they should forget you."
+
+"I have always heard that Launcelot Sandal was drowned."
+
+"You have always heard that your father was drowned? That was near by
+the truth. While in Whitehaven, he wrote to his brother Tom, who was
+living and doing well in India. When his answer came, we determined to
+go to Calcutta; but I was not in a state of health fit for such a
+journey as that then was. So it was decided that your father should go
+first, and get a home ready for me. He left in the 'Lady Liddel,' and
+she was lost at sea. Your father was in an open boat for many days, and
+died of exhaustion."
+
+"Who told you so, mother?"
+
+"The captain lived to reach his home again, and he brought me his watch
+and ring and last message. He never saw your face, my lad, he never saw
+your face."
+
+A silence of some minutes ensued. Ducie had long ceased to weep for her
+dead love, but he was unforgotten. Her silence was not oblivion: it was
+a sanctuary where lights were burning round the shrine, over which the
+wings of affection were folded.
+
+"When my father was gone, then you came back to Up-Hill?"
+
+"No: I did not come back until you were in your fourth year. Then my
+mother died, and I brought you home. At the first moment you went
+straight to your grandfather's heart; and that night, as you lay asleep
+upon his knee, I told him the truth, as I tell it to you this night. And
+he said to me, 'Ducie, things have settled a bit lately. The squire has
+got over his trouble about Launcie; and young William is the
+acknowledged heir, and the welcome heir. He is going to marry Alice
+Morecombe at the long last, but it will make a big difference if
+Launcelot's son steps in where nobody wants him. Now, then,' he said, 'I
+will tell thee a far better way. We will give this dear lad my own name,
+none better in old Cumbria; and we will save gold, and we will make
+gold, to put it to the very front in the new times that are coming. And
+he will keep my name on the face of the earth, and so please the great
+company of his kin behind him. And it will be far better for him to be
+the top-sheaf of the Latriggs, than to force his way into Seat-Sandal,
+where there is neither love nor welcome for him.'
+
+"And I thought the same thing, Stephen; and after that, our one care was
+to make you happy, and to do well to you. That you were a born Sandal,
+was a great joy to him, for he loved your father and your grandfather;
+and, when Harry came, he loved him also, and he liked well to see you
+two on the fells together. Often he called me to come and look at you
+going off with your rods or guns; and often he said, 'Both fine lads,
+Ducie, but our Steve is the finer.'"
+
+"Oh, mother, I cannot take Harry's place! I love Harry, and I did not
+know how much until this hour"--
+
+"Stop a bit, Stephen. When Harry grew up, and went into the army, your
+grandfather wasn't so satisfied with what he had done. 'Here's a fine
+property going to sharpers and tailors and Italian singing-women,' he
+used to say; and he felt baddish about it. And yet he loved Squire
+William, as he had loved his father, and Mistress Alice and Harry and
+Sophia and Charlotte; why, he thought of them like his own flesh and
+blood. And he could not bear to undo his kindness. And he could not bear
+to tell Squire William the truth, for he knew well that he would undo
+it. So one day he sent for Lawyer Moser; and the two of them together
+found out a plan that seemed fair, for both Sandal and Latrigg.
+
+"You were to remain Stephen Latrigg, unless it was to ward off wrong or
+ruin in Sandal-Side. But if ever the day came when Sandal needed
+Latrigg, you were to claim your right, and stand up for Sandal. Such a
+state of things as Harry brought about, my father never dreamed of. He
+would not have been able to think of a man selling away his right to a
+place like Seat-Sandal; and among all the villains he ever knew, or
+heard tell of, he couldn't have picked out one to lead him to such a
+villain as Julius Sandal. So, you see, he left no special directions for
+such a case, and I was a bit feared to move in too big a hurry; and,
+maybe, I was a bit of a coward about setting every tongue in Sandal-Side
+talking about me and my bygone days.
+
+"But, when the squire died, I thought from what Charlotte told me of the
+Julius Sandals, that there would have to be a change; and when I saw
+your grandfather sorting the papers for me, and heard that Mistress
+Alice and Charlotte had been forced to leave their home, I knew that the
+hour for the change had struck, and that I must be about the business.
+Moser was written to soon after the funeral of Squire William. He has
+now all the necessary witnesses and papers ready. He is at Ambleside
+with them, and to-morrow morning they will have a talk with Mr. Julius
+at Seat-Sandal."
+
+"I wonder where Harry Sandal is."
+
+"After you, comes Harry. Your grandfather did not forget him. There is a
+provision in the will, which directs, that if, for any cause not
+conceivable by the testator, Harry Sandal must resign in favor of
+Stephen Sandal, then the land and money devised to you, as his heir,
+shall become the property of Harry Sandal. In a great measure you would
+only change places, and that is not a very hard punishment for a man who
+cared so little for his family home as Harry did. So you see, Stephen,
+you must claim your rights in order to give Harry his."
+
+The facts of this conversation opened up endlessly to the mother and
+son, and hour after hour it was continued without any loss of interest.
+But the keenest pleasure his new prospects gave Stephen referred itself
+to Mrs. Sandal and Charlotte. He could now reinstate them in their old
+home and in their old authority in it. For the bright visions underneath
+his eyelids, he could not sleep,--visions of satisfied affection, and of
+grief and humiliation crowned with joy and happiness and honor.
+
+It had been decided that Stephen should drive his mother to the rectory
+in the morning, and there they were to wait the result of Moser's
+interview with Julius. The dawning came up with sunshine; the storm was
+over, the earth lay smiling in that "clear shining after rain," which is
+so exhilarating and full of promise. The sky was as blue, the air as
+fresh, fell and wood, meadow and mountain, as clean and bright as if
+they had just come new from the fingers of the Almighty. Ducie was
+handsomely dressed in dark violet-colored satin, and Stephen noticed
+with pride how well her rich clothing and quiet, dignified manner became
+her; while Ducie felt even a greater pride in the stately, handsome
+young man who drove her with such loving care down Latrigg fell that
+eventful morning.
+
+Julius was at breakfast when the company from Ambleside were shown into
+the master's room in Seat-Sandal. The lawyer sent in his card; and
+Julius, who knew him well, was a trifle annoyed by the visit. "It will
+be about your mother's income, Sophia," he said, as he viciously broke
+the egg he was holding; "now mind, I am not going to yield one inch."
+
+"Why should you, Julius? I am sure we have been blamed and talked over
+enough. We never can be popular here."
+
+"We don't want to be popular here. When we have refurnished the house,
+we will bring our company from Oxford and London and elsewhere. We will
+have fine dinners and balls, hunting-parties and fishing-parties; and,
+depend upon it, we shall very soon have these shepherd lords and
+gentlemen begging for our favor."
+
+"Oh, you don't know them, Julius! They would not break bread with us if
+they were starving."
+
+"Very well. What do I care?"
+
+But he did care. When the wagoners driving their long teams pretended
+not to hear his greeting, for the jingling of their bells, he knew it
+was pretence, and the wagoners' aversion hurt him. When the herdsmen
+sauntered away from his path, and preferred not to talk to him, he felt
+the bitterness of their dislike, though they were only shepherds. When
+the gentlemen of the neighborhood looked straight before them, and did
+not see him in their path, he burned with an indignation he would have
+liked well to express. But no one took the trouble to offend him by word
+or deed, and a man cannot pick a quarrel with people for simply letting
+him alone.
+
+Sophia's opinion recalled one or two of these events that were
+particularly galling; and he finished his breakfast in a sulky,
+leisurely fashion, to such reflections as they evoked. Then, with a
+cigar in his mouth, he went to the master's room to see Moser. He had
+been told that other parties were there also, but he did not surmise
+that their business was identical. Yet he noticed the clergyman on
+entering, and appeared inclined to attend to his request first; but as
+he courteously waved his claim away, and retired to the other end of
+the room, Julius said curtly,--
+
+"Well, Mr. Moser, good-morning, sir."
+
+The lawyer was pretending to be absorbed in the captions of the papers
+in his hand, for he was offended at being kept waiting so long: "As if a
+bite of victuals was of more ado than business that could bring Matthew
+Moser all the road from Kendal."
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Sandal."
+
+The omission of "Squire," and the substitution of "Mr.," annoyed Julius
+very much, though he had not a suspicion of the lawyer's errand; and he
+corrected the mistake with a bland smile on his lips, and an angry light
+in his eyes. Moser, in reply, selected one particular paper, and put it
+into the hand of Julius.
+
+"Acting for Squire Sandal, I would be a middling bad sort of a lawyer to
+give you his name. Eh?"
+
+"You are talking in riddles, sir."
+
+"Eh! But I always read my riddles, Mr. Sandal. I am here to take
+possession of house and land, for the real heir of Sandal-Side."
+
+"I bought his right, as you know very well. You have Harry Sandal's own
+acknowledgment."
+
+"Eh? But you see, Harry Sandal never had a penny-worth of right to sell.
+Launcelot Sandal left a son, and for him I am acting. Eh?"
+
+"Launcelot Sandal was drowned. He never married."
+
+"Eh, but he did!--Parson Sellafield, what do you say about that?"
+
+"I married him on July 11, 18--, at Egremont church. There," pointing to
+Matt Pattison, "is the witness. Here is a copy of the license and the
+'lines.' They are signed, 'Launcelot Sandal' and 'Ducie Latrigg.'"
+
+"Confusion!"
+
+"Eh? No, no! There's not a bit of confusion, Mr. Sandal. It is all as
+clear as the multiplication table, and there is nothing clearer than
+that. Launcelot Sandal married Ducie Latrigg; they had one son, Stephen
+Sandal, otherwise known as Stephen Latrigg: proofs all ready, sir, not a
+link missing, Mr. Sandal. When will you vacate? The squire is inclined
+to be easy with you, and not to back-reckon, unless you force him to do
+so."
+
+"This is a conspiracy, Moser."
+
+"Conspiracy! Eh? Ugly word, Mr. Sandal. An actionable word, I may say."
+
+"It is a conspiracy. You shall hear from me through some respectable
+lawyer."
+
+"In the mean time, Mr. Sandal, I have taken, as you will see, the proper
+legal steps to prevent you wasting any more of the Sandal revenues.
+Every shilling you touch now, you will be held responsible for. Also,"
+and he laid another paper down, "you are hereby restrained from
+removing, injuring, or in any way changing, or disposing of, the present
+furniture of the Seat. The squire insists specially on this direction,
+and he kindly allows you seven days to remove your private effects. A
+very reasonable gentleman is Squire Sandal."
+
+Without further courtesies they parted; and the deposed squire locked
+the room-door, lifted the various documents, and read them with every
+sense he had. Then he went to Sophia; and at that hour he was almost
+angry with her, although he could not have told how, or why, such a
+feeling existed. When he opened the door of the parlor, her first words
+were a worry over the non-arrival, by mail, of some floss-silks,
+needful in the bird's-nest she was working for a fire-screen.
+
+"They have not come, Julius," she cried, with a face full of inquiry and
+annoyance.
+
+"They? Who?"
+
+"The flosses for my bird's-nest. The eggs must be in white floss."
+
+"The bird's nest can go to Jericho, or Calcutta, or into the fire. We
+are ordered to leave Seat-Sandal in seven days."
+
+"I would not be so absurd, Julius, so unfeeling, so ungentlemanly."
+
+"Well, then, my soul," and he bowed with elaborate grace, "Stephen
+Latrigg, squire of Sandal-Side, orders us to leave in seven days. Can
+you be ready?"
+
+She looked into the suave, mocking, inscrutable face, shrugged her
+shoulders, and began to count her stitches. Julius had many varieties of
+ill-humor. She regarded this statement only as a new phase of his
+temper; but he soon undeceived her. With a pitiless exactness he went
+over his position, and, in doing so, made the hopelessness of his case
+as clear to himself as it was to others. And yet he was determined not
+to yield without a struggle; though, apart from the income of Sandal,
+which he could not reach, he had little money and no credit.
+
+The story, with all its romance of attachment and its long trial of
+faithful secrecy, touched the prejudices and the sympathies of every
+squire and shepherd between Duddon and Esk and Windermere. Stephen came
+to his own, and they received him with open arms. But for Julius, there
+was not a "seat" in the Dales, nor a cottage on the fells, no, nor a
+chair in any of the local inns, where he was welcome. He stood his
+social excommunication longer than could have been expected; and, even
+at the end, his surrender was forced from him by the want of money, and
+the never-ceasing laments of Sophia. She was clever enough to understand
+from the first, that fighting the case was simply "indulging Julius in
+his temper;" and she did not see the wisdom of spending what little
+money they had in such a gratification.
+
+"You have been caught in your own trap, Julius," she said aggravatingly.
+"Very clever people often are. It is folly to struggle. You had better
+ask Stephen to pay you back the ten thousand pounds. I think he ought to
+do that. It is only common honesty."
+
+But Stephen had not the same idea of common honesty as Sophia had. He
+referred Julius to Harry.
+
+"Harry, indeed! Harry who is in New York making ducks and drakes of your
+money, Julius,--trying to buy shares and things that he knows no more of
+than he knows of Greek. It's a shame!" and Sophia burst into some
+genuine tears over the reflection.
+
+Still the idea, on a less extravagant basis, seemed possible to Steve.
+He began to think that it would be better to compromise matters with the
+Julius Sandals; better to lose a thousand pounds, or even two thousand
+pounds, if, by doing so, he could at once restore Mrs. Sandal and
+Charlotte to their home. And he was on the point of making a proposition
+of this kind, when it was discovered that Julius and his wife had
+silently taken their departure.
+
+"It is a hopeless fight against destiny," said Julius. "When the purse
+is empty, any cause is weak. I have barely money to take us to Calcutta,
+Sophia. It is very disagreeable to go there, of course; but my father
+advised this step, and I shall remind him of it. He ought, therefore, to
+re-arrange my future. It is hard enough for me to have lost so much
+time carrying out his plans. And I should write a letter to your mother
+before you go, if I were you, Sophia. It is your duty. She ought to have
+her cruel behavior to you pointed out to her."
+
+Sophia did her duty. She wrote a very clever letter, which really did
+make both her mother and sister wretchedly uncomfortable. Charlotte held
+it in her hand with a heartache, wondering whether she had indeed been
+as envious and unjust and unkind as Sophia felt her to have been; and
+Mrs. Sandal buried her face in her sofa pillow, and had a cry over her
+supposed partiality and want of true motherly feeling. "They had been so
+misunderstood, Julius and she,--wilfully misunderstood, she feared; and
+they were being driven to a foreign land, a deadly foreign land, because
+Charlotte and Stephen had raised against them a social hatred they had
+not the heart to conquer. If they defended themselves, they must accuse
+those of their own blood and house, and they were not mean enough to do
+such a thing as that. Oh, no! Sophia Sandal had always done her duty,
+and always would do it forever." And broad statements are such
+confusing, confounding things, that for one miserable hour the mother
+and sister felt as mean and remorseful as Sophia and Julius could
+desire. Then the rector read the letter aloud, and dived down into its
+depths as if it was a knotty text, and showed the two simple women on
+what false conditions all of its accusations rested.
+
+At the same time Julius wrote a letter also. It was to Harry Sandal,--a
+very short letter, but destined to cause nearly six years of lonely,
+wretched wandering and anxious sorrow.
+
+     DEAR HARRY,--There is great trouble about that ten thousand pounds.
+     It seems you had no right to sell. "Money on false pretences," I
+     think they call it. I should go West, far West, if I were you.
+
+     Your friend,
+
+     JULIUS SANDAL.
+
+He read it to Sophia, and she said, "What folly! Let Harry return home.
+You have heard that he comes into the Latrigg money. Very well, let him
+come home, and then you can make him pay you back. Harry is very
+honorable."
+
+"There is not the slightest chance of Harry paying me back. If he had a
+million, he wouldn't pay me back. Harry spoke me fair, but I caught one
+look which let me see into his soul. He hated me for buying his right.
+With my money in his hand, he hated me. He would toss his hat to the
+stars if he heard how far I have been over-reached. Next to Charlotte
+Sandal, I hate Harry Sandal; and I am going to send him a road that he
+is not likely to return. I don't intend Stephen and Harry to sit
+together, and chuckle over me. Besides, your mother and Charlotte are
+surely calculating upon having 'dear Harry' and 'poor Harry' at home
+again very soon. I have no doubt Charlotte is planning about that Emily
+Beverley already. For Harry is to have Latrigg Hall when it is finished,
+I hear."
+
+"Really? Is that so? Are you sure?"
+
+"Harry is to have the new hall, and all of old Latrigg's gold and
+property."
+
+"Julius, would it not be better to try and get around Harry? We could
+stay with him. I cannot endure Calcutta, and I always did like Harry."
+
+"And I always detested him. And he always detested me. No, my sweet
+Sophia, there is really nothing for us but a decent lodging-house on the
+shady side of the Chowringhee Road. My father can give me a post in
+'The Company,' and I must get as many of its rupees as I can manage. Go
+through the old rooms, and bid them farewell, my soul. We shall not come
+back to Seat-Sandal again in this chapter of our eternity." And with a
+mocking laugh he turned away to make his own preparations.
+
+"But why go in the night, Julius? You said to-night at eleven o'clock.
+Why not wait until morning?"
+
+"Because, beloved, I owe a great deal of money in the neighborhood.
+Stephen can pay it for me. I have sent him word to do so. Why should we
+waste our money? We have done with these boors. What they think of us,
+what they say of us, shall we mind it, my soul, when we drive under the
+peopuls and tamarinds at Barrackpore, or jostle the crowds upon the
+Moydana, or sit under the great stars and listen to the tread of the
+chokedars? All fate, Sophia! All fate, soul of my soul! What is
+Sandal-Side? Nothing. What is Calcutta? Nothing. What is life itself, my
+own one? Only a little piece out of something that was before, and will
+be after."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Who that has seen the Cumberland moors and fells in July can ever forget
+them?--the yellow broom and purple heather, the pink and white waxen
+balls of the rare vacciniums, the red-leaved sundew, the asphodels, the
+cranberries and blueberries and bilberries, and the wonderful green
+mosses in all the wetter places; and, above and around all, the great
+mountain chains veiled in pale, ethereal atmosphere, and rising in it as
+airy and unsubstantial as if they could tremble in unison with every
+thrill of the ether above them.
+
+It was thus they looked, and thus the fells and the moors looked, one
+day in July, eighteen months after the death of Squire William
+Sandal,--his daughter Charlotte's wedding-day. From far and near, the
+shepherd boys and lasses were travelling down the craggy ways, making
+all the valleys ring to their wild and simple songs, and ever and anon
+the bells rung out in joyful peals; and from Up-Hill to Seat-Sandal, and
+around the valley to Latrigg Hall, there were happy companies telling
+each other, "Oh, how beautiful was the bride with her golden hair
+flowing down over her dress of shining white satin!" "And how proud and
+handsome the bridegroom!" "And how lovely in their autumn days the two
+mothers! Mistress Alice Sandal leaning so confidently upon the arm of
+the stately Mrs. Ducie Sandal." "And how glad was the good rector!"
+Little work, either in field or house or fellside, was done that day;
+for, when all has been said about human selfishness, this truth
+abides,--in the main, we do rejoice with those who rejoice, and we do
+weep with those who weep.
+
+The old Seat was almost gay in the sunshine, all its windows open for
+the wandering breezes, and its great hall doors set wide for the feet of
+the new squire and his bride. For they were too wise to begin their
+married life by going away from their home; they felt that it was better
+to come to it with the bridal benediction in their ears, and the
+sunshine of the wedding-day upon their faces.
+
+The ceremony had been delayed some months, for Stephen had been in
+America seeking Harry; seeking him in the great cities and in the lonely
+mining-camps, but never coming upon his foot steps until they had been
+worn away into forgetfulness. At last the rector wrote to him, "Return
+home, Stephen. We are both wrong. It is not human love, but God love,
+that must seek the lost ones. If you found Harry now, and brought him
+back, it would be too soon. When his lesson is learned, the heart of God
+will be touched, and he will say, 'That will do, my son. Arise, and go
+home.'"
+
+And when Mrs. Sandal smiled through her tears, for the hope's sake, he
+took her hand, and added solemnly, "Be confident and glad, you shall see
+Harry come joyfully to his own home. Oh, if you could only listen,
+angels still talk with men! Raphael, the affable angel, loves to bring
+them confidences. God also speaks to his children in dreams, and by the
+oracles that wait in darkness. If we know not, it is because we ask not.
+But I know, and am sure, that Harry will return in joy and in peace. And
+if the dead look over the golden bar of heaven upon their earthly homes,
+Barf Latrigg, seeing the prosperity of the two houses, which stand upon
+his love and his self-denial, will say once more to his friend,
+'William, I did well to Sandal.'"
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SQUIRE OF SANDAL-SIDE***
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