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diff --git a/19140.txt b/19140.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0ce98c --- /dev/null +++ b/19140.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10340 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Girlhood and Womanhood, by Sarah Tytler + +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: Girlhood and Womanhood + The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes + +Author: Sarah Tytler + +Release Date: August 29, 2006 [EBook #19140] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jacqueline Jeremy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +GIRLHOOD and WOMANHOOD + +The Story of some Fortunes and Misfortunes + +BY SARAH TYTLER + +AUTHOR OF "PAPERS FOR THOUGHTFUL GIRLS," "CITOYENNE JACQUELINE," +ETC. ETC. + +LONDON +WM. ISBISTER, LIMITED +56, LUDGATE HILL +1883 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + I. CAIN'S BRAND, 1 + + ON THE MOOR, 1 + + THE ORDEAL, 16 + + "HE LAY DOWN TO SLEEP ON THE MOORLAND + SO DREARY," 29 + + MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE, 37 + + II. ON THE STAGE AND OFF THE STAGE, 62 + + THE "BEAR" AT BATH, 62 + + LADY BETTY ON THE STAGE, 72 + + MISTRESS BETTY BECOMES NURSE, 77 + + MASTER ROWLAND GOES UP TO LONDON, 86 + + MISTRESS BETTY TRAVELS DOWN INTO + SOMERSETSHIRE, 90 + + BETWEEN MOSELY AND LARKS' HALL, 96 + + III. A CAST IN THE WAGGON, 108 + + DULCIE'S START IN THE WAGGON FOR HER + COMPANY, 108 + + TWO LADS SEEK A CAST IN THE WAGGON, 113 + + REDWATER HOSPITALITY, 122 + + OTHER CASTS FOLLOWING THE CAST IN THE + WAGGON, 134 + + DULCIE AND WILL, AT HOME IN ST. MARTIN'S + LANE, 151 + + SAM AND CLARISSA IN COMPANY IN LEICESTER + SQUARE, 158 + + STRIPS SOME OF THE THORNS FROM THE + HEDGE AND THE GARDEN ROSES, 161 + + IV. ADAM HOME'S REPENTANCE, 167 + + WILD, WITTY NELLY CARNEGIE, 167 + + A GALLANT REBUFFED.--NELLY'S PUNISHMENT, 172 + + A MOURNFUL MARRIAGE EVE, 177 + + NELLY CARNEGIE IN HER NEW HOME, 179 + + NELLY'S NEW PASTIMES, 185 + + THE LAIRD CONSCIENCE-SMITTEN, 186 + + BLESSING AND AFFLICTION.--ADAM HOME'S + RETURN, 192 + + THE RECONCILIATION AND RETURN TO + STANEHOLME, 197 + + V. HECTOR GARRET OF OTTER, 202 + + THE FIRE, 202 + + THE OFFER, 211 + + THE NEW HOME, 228 + + THE PAGES OF THE PAST, 236 + + THE MOTHER AND CHILD, 248 + + THE STORM, 259 + + VI. THE OLD YEOMANRY WEEKS, 268 + + THE YEOMEN'S ADVENT.--PRIORTON SPRUCES + ITSELF UP, 268 + + A MATCH-MAKER'S SCHEME, 275 + + A MORNING MEETING AND AN EVENING'S + READING, 280 + + THE BALL, AND WHAT CAME OF IT, 293 + + VII. DIANA, 302 + + AN UNDERTAKING, 302 + + THE FULFILMENT, 311 + + HAZARD, 316 + + THE LAST THROW, 323 + + VIII. MISS WEST'S CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE, 337 + + + + +CAIN'S BRAND + + +I.--ON THE MOOR. + +Cain's brand! that is no fact of the far past, no legend of the Middle +Ages, for are there not Cains among us; white-faced, haggard-featured +Cains to the last? Men who began with a little injury, and did not dream +that their gripe would close in deadly persecution? Cains who slew the +spirit, and through the spirit murdered the body? Cains unintentionally, +whom all men free from the stain of blood, and to whom in the Jewish +economy the gates of the Cities of Refuge would have stood wide open, +yet who are never again light of thought and light of heart? On their +heads the grey is soon sprinkled, and in the chamber of their hearts is +drawn a ghastly picture, whose freshness fades, but whose distinct +characters are never obliterated. + +Of this class of men, of hot passions, with rash advisers, who meditated +wrong, but not the last wrong, victims of a narrow, imperious code of +honour, only to-day expunged from military and social etiquette, was the +Laird of the Ewes. Many of us may have seen such another--a tall, lithe +figure, rather bent, and very white-headed for his age, with a wistful +eye; but otherwise a most composed, intelligent, courteous gentleman of +a laird's degree. Take any old friend aside, and he will tell, with +respectful sympathy, that the quiet, sensible, well-bred Laird, has +suffered agonies in the course of his life, though too wise and modest a +man to hold up his heart for daws to peck at, and you will believe him. +Look narrowly at the well-preserved, well-veiled exterior, and you will +be able to detect, through the nicely adjusted folds, or even when it is +brightened by smiles, how remorse has sharpened the flesh, and grief +hollowed it, and long abiding regret shaded it. + +Twenty years before this time, Crawfurd of the Ewes, more accomplished +than many of the lairds, his contemporaries, and possessed of the sly +humour on which Scotchmen pride themselves, had been induced to write a +set of lampoons against a political opponent of his special chief. He +was young then, and probably had his literary vanity; at least he +executed his task to the satisfaction of his side of the question; and +without being particularly broad and offensive, or perhaps very fine in +their edge, his caricatures excited shouts of laughter in the parish, +and in the neighbouring town. + +But he laughs best who laughs last. A brother laird, blind with fury, +and having more of the old border man in him than the Laird of the Ewes, +took to his natural arms, and dispatched Mr. Crawfurd a challenge to +fight him on the Corn-Cockle Moor. No refusal was possible then, none +except for a man of rare principle, nerve, and temper. The Laird of the +Ewes had no pretensions to mighty gifts; so he walked out with his +second one autumn morning when his reapers were flourishing their +sickles, met his foe, and though without the skill to defend himself, he +shot his man right through the head. He was tried and acquitted. He was +the challenged, not the challenger; he might have given the provocation, +but no blame was suffered to attach to him. His antagonist, with a +foreboding of his fate, or by way of clearing his conscience, as the +knights used to confess of a morning before combat, had exonerated +Mr. Crawfurd before he came upon the ground. The Court was strongly +in his favour, and he was sent back to his family and property without +anything more severe than commiseration; but that could never reach his +deep sore. + +How was this gentle, nervous, humorous Laird to look out upon the world, +from which he had sent the soul of a companion who had never even harmed +him? The widow, whom he had admired as a gay young matron, dwelt not a +mile from him in her darkened dwelling; the fatherless boy would +constantly cross the path of his well-protected, well-cared-for +children. How bear the thousand little memories--the trifling dates, +acts, words, pricking him with anguish? They say the man grew sick at +the mere sight of the corn-cockle, which, though not plentiful on other +moors, chanced to abound on this uncultivated tract, and bestowed on it +its name; and he shivered as with an ague fit, morning after morning, +when the clock struck the hour at which he had left his house. He did in +some measure overcome this weakness, for he was a man of ordinary +courage and extraordinary reserve, but it is possible that he endured +the worst of his punishment when he made no sign. + +The Laird was a man of delicate organism, crushed by a blow from which +he could not recover. Had he lived a hundred years earlier, or been a +soldier on active service, or a student walking the hospitals, he might +have been more hardened to bloodshed. Had his fate been different, he +might have borne the brunt of the offence as well as his betters; but +the very crime which he was least calculated to commit and survive +encountered him in the colours he had worn before the eventful day. + +Yet there was nothing romantic about Crawfurd of the Ewes, or about +the details of his deed, with one singular exception, and this was +connected with his daughter Joanna. The rest of the family were +commonplace, prosperous young people, honest enough hearts, but too +shallow to be affected by the father's misfortune. The father's sour +grapes had not set these children's teeth on edge. Joanna--Jack, or +Joe, as they called her in sport--whom they all, without any idea of +selfishness or injustice, associated with the Laird, as one member of +the family is occasionally chosen to bear the burdens of the +others,--Joanna was papa's right hand, papa's secretary, steward, +housekeeper, nurse. It had always been so; Joanna had been set aside +to the office, and no one thought of depriving her of it, any more +than she dreamt of resigning it. + +Joanna was the child born immediately after the duel, and on the waxen +brow of the baby was a crimson stain, slight but significant, which two +fingers might have covered. Was this the token of retribution--the +threat of vengeance? The gossips' tongues wagged busily. Some said it +was Cain's brand, "the iniquity of the fathers visited on the children;" +others alleged more charitably that it ought to prove a sign in the +Laird's favour, to have the symbol of his guilt transferred to a +scape-goat--the brow of a child. However, the gossips need not have +hidden the child's face so sedulously for the first few days from the +mother. Mrs. Crawfurd took the matter quite peaceably, and was relieved +that no worse misfortune had befallen her or her offspring. "Poor little +dear!" it was sad that she should carry such a trace; but she daresayed +she would outgrow it, or she must wear flat curls--it was a pity that +they had gone quite out of fashion. It was the father who kissed the +mark passionately, and carried the child oftenest in his arms, and let +her sit longest on his knee; and so she became his darling, and learnt +all his ways, and could suit herself to his fancies, and soothe his +pains, from very youthful years. The public recognised this peculiar +property of her father in Joanna, and identified her with the sorrowful +period of his history. She was pointed out in connexion with the +story--the tragedy of the county,--and she knew instinctively that there +would be a whispered reference to her whenever it was told in society. + +The Crawfurds had a cousin visiting them--an English cousin, Polly +Musgrave--from the luxury and comparative gaiety of her rich, +childless aunt's house in York. Polly was a well-endowed orphan, had +no near family ties, and had been educated in the worldly wisdom and +epicurean philosophy of a fashionable girls' school. She had come to +spend a few weeks, and get acquainted with her Scotch country cousins. +Polly had not found her heart, but it was to the credit of her sense +and good-nature that she made the very best of a sojourn that had +threatened to be a bore to her. She dazzled the girls, she romped with +the boys, she entered with the greatest glee into rural occupations, +rode on the roughest pony, saw sunset and sunrise from Barnbougle, and +threatened to learn to milk cows and cut corn. She brought +inconceivable motion and sparkle into the rather stagnant country +house, and she was the greatest possible contrast to Joanna Crawfurd. +Joanna was a natural curiosity to Polly, and the study amused her, +just as she made use of every other variety and novelty, down to the +poultry-yard and kitchen-garden at the Ewes. + +The girls were out on the moor, in the drowsy heat of a summer day, +grouped idly and prettily into such a cluster as girls will fall into +without effort. Susan, the beauty--there is always a beauty among +several girls--in languid propriety, with her nice hair, and her +scrupulously falling collar and sleeves, and her blush of a knot of +ribbon; Lilias, the strong-minded, active person, sewing busily at +charity work, of which all estimable households have now their share; +Constantia, the half-grown girl, lying in an awkward lump among the hay, +intently reading her last novel, and superlatively scorning the society +of her grown-up relatives; Joanna, sitting thoughtfully, stroking old +Gyp, the ragged terrier, that invariably ran after either Joanna or her +father; and Polly, who had been riding with Oliver, standing with her +tucked-up habit, picturesque hat and feathers, smart little gentleman's +riding-gloves and whip, and very _espiegle_ face--a face surrounded by +waves of silky black hair, with a clear pale skin, and good eyes and +teeth, which Polly always declared were her fortune in the way of good +looks; but her snub nose was neither of a vulgar nor coarse tendency--it +was a very lively, coquettish, handsomely cut, irresistible cock nose. + +If these girls on the moor had been tried in the fire heated seven +times, it would not have been to the strong-minded, broad-chested, +dark-browed Lilias that they would have clung. They would have come +crouching in their extremity and taken hold of the skirt of round, soft, +white Joanna, with the little notable stain on her temple. + +Polly was detailing her adventures and repeating her news with a relish +that was appetizing. + +"We went as far as Lammerhaugh, when Oliver remembered that he had a +commission for your father at Westcotes, just when my love, Punch, was +broken off his trot, and promised to canter, and the morning was so +fresh then--a jewel of a morning. It was provoking; I wanted Noll to +continue absent in mind, or prove disobedient, or something, but you +good folks are so conscientious." + +"Duty first, and then pleasure," said Lilias emphatically. + +"That was a Sunday-school speech, Lilias, and spoken out of school; you +ought to pay a forfeit; fine her, Susie." + +"Aren't you hot, Polly?" asked Susan, without troubling herself to take +up the jest. + +"Not a bit--no more than you are; I'm up to a great deal yet; I'll go to +the offices and gather the eggs. No, I am warm though, and I don't want +to be blowsy to-night; I think I'll go into the house to the bath-room, +and have a great icy splash of a shower-bath." + +"You'll hurt your health, Polly, for ever bathing at odd hours, as you +do," remonstrated Joanna. + +"All nonsense, my dear; I always do what is pleasantest, and it agrees +with me perfectly. In winter, I do toast my toes; and you know I eat +half-a-dozen peaches and plums at a time like a South Sea Islander, +only I believe they feast on cocoa-nut and breadfruit; don't they, +Conny? You are the scholar; you know you have your geography at your +finger-ends yet." + +"Oh, don't tease me, Polly!" protested Conny impatiently. + +"Dear Jack, hand me a sprig of broom to stick in Conny's ear," persisted +Polly in a loud whisper. + +Constantia shook her head furiously, as if she were already horribly +tickled, and that at the climax of her plot. + +"Never mind, Conny, I'll protect you. What a shame, Polly, to spoil her +pleasure!" cried Joanna indignantly. + +"I beg your pardon, Donna Quixotina." + +"I wonder you girls can waste your time in this foolish manner," +lectured Lilias, with an air of superiority; "you are none of you better +than another, always pursuing amusement." + +"What a story, Lilias!" put in Polly undauntedly; "you know I sew yard +upon yard of muslin-work, and embroider ells of French merino, and +task myself to get done within a given time. Aunt Powis says I make +myself a slave." + +"Because you like it," declared Lilias disdainfully; "you happen to be a +clever sewer, and you are fond of having your fingers busy and +astonishing everybody--besides, you admire embroidery in muslin and +cloth; and even your pocket-money--what with gowns and bonnets, tickets +to oratorios and concerts, and promenades, and 'the kid shoes and +perfumery,' which are papa's old-fashioned summing up of our expenses, +bouquets and fresh gloves would be nearer the truth--won't always meet +the claims upon your gold and silver showers; and Susan," added Lilias, +not to be cheated out of her diatribe, and starting with new alacrity, +"practising attitudes and looking at her hands; and Conny reading her +trashy romances." + +"It is not a romance, Lilias," complained Conny piteously; "it is a tale +of real life." + +"It is all the same," maintained the inexorable Lilias; "one of the most +aggravating novels I ever read was a simple story." + +"Oh, Lilias, do lend it to me!" begged Polly; "I'm not literary, but it +is delightful to be intensely interested until the very hair rises on +the crown of one's head." + +"I don't know that you would like it," put in Joanna; "it is not one of +the modern novels, and it has only one dismal catastrophe; it is the +fine old novel by Mrs. Inchbald." + +"Then I don't want it; I don't care for old things, since I have not a +palate for old wines or an eye for old pictures. I hate the musty, +buckram ghosts of our fathers." + +"Oh! but Mrs. Inchbald never raised ghosts, Polly; she manoeuvred +stately, passionate men and women of her own day." + +"The wiser woman she. But they would be ghosts to me, Jack, unless they +were in the costume of the present day; there is not an inch of me given +to history." + +"And you, Joanna," concluded Lilias, quite determined to breast every +interruption and finish her peroration, "you have listened, and smiled, +and frowned, and dreamt for an hour." + +"I was waiting in case papa should want me," apologized Joanna, +rather humbly. + +"That need not have hindered you from hemming round the skirt of +this frock." + +"Oh, Lilias! I am sorry for you, girl," cried Polly. "You're in a +diseased frame of mind; you are in a fidget of work; you don't know the +enjoyment of idleness, the luxury of laziness. You'll spoil your +complexion; your hair will grow grey; no man will dare to trifle with +such a notable woman!" + +"I don't care!" exclaimed Lilias bluntly and magnanimously. "I don't +want to be trifled with; I don't value men's admiration." + +"Now! Now!! Now!!! Now!!!!" protested Polly; "I don't value men's +admiration either, of course, but I like partners, and I would not be +fond of being branded as a strong-minded female, a would-be Lady +Bountiful, a woman going a-tracking; that's what men say of girls who +don't care to be trifled with. But, Lilias, are you quite sure you don't +believe in any of the good old stories--the 'goody' stories I would call +them if I were a man--of the amiable girl who went abroad in the old +pelisse, and who was wedded to the enthusiastic baronet? My dears, you +must have observed they were abominably untrue; the baronet, weak and +false, always, since the world began, marries the saucy, spendthrift +girl, who is prodigal in rich stuffs, and bright colours, and becoming +fits, and neat boots and shoes--who thinks him worth listening to, and +laughing with, and thinking about--the fool." + +"Really, Polly, you are too bad," cried both Susan and Lilias at once; +their stock-in-trade exhausted, and not knowing very well what they +meant, or what they should suggest further if this sentence were not +answer enough. + +"Now, I believe Joanna does not credit the goody stories, or does not +care for them, rather; but we are not all heroines, we cannot all afford +an equal indifference." + +Joanna coloured until the red stain became undistinguishable, and even +Polly felt conscious that her allusion was too flippant for the cause. + +"So you see, Lilias," she continued quickly, "I'm not the least ashamed +of having been caught fast asleep in my room before dinner the other +rainy day. I always curl myself up and go to sleep when I've got nothing +better to do, and I count the capacity a precious gift; besides, I will +let you into a secret worth your heads: it improves your looks immensely +after you've been gadding about for a number of days, and horribly +dissipated in dancing of nights at Christmas, or in the oratorio week, +or if you are in a town when the circuit is sitting--not present as a +prisoner, Conny." + +"Polly!" blazed out Constantia, who, on the plea of the needle-like +sharpness and single-heartedness which sometimes distinguishes her +fifteen years, was permitted to be more plain-spoken and ruder than her +sisters; "I hate to hear you telling of doing everything you like with +such enjoyment. I think, if you had been a man, you would have been an +abominable fellow, and you are only harmless because you are a girl." + +Polly laughed immoderately. "Such a queer compliment, Conny!" + +"Hold your tongue, Conny." + +"Go back to your book; we'll tell mamma," scolded the elder girls; +and Conny hung her head, scarlet with shame and consternation. + +Conny had truth on her side; yet Polly's independence and animal +delight in life, in this artificial world, was not to be altogether +despised either. + +Polly maintained honestly that the girl had done no harm. She was glad +she had never had to endure senior sisters, and if she had been +afflicted with younger plagues, she would have made a point of not +snubbing them, on the principle of fair play. + +"And you were a little heathenish, Polly," suggested Joanna, "not giving +fair play to the heroism of the ancients." + +But Susan had long been waiting her turn, testifying more interest in +her right to speak than she usually wasted on the affairs of the state. +She wished to cross-examine Polly on a single important expression, and +although Susan at least was wonderfully harmless, her patience could +hold out no longer. + +"Why are you afraid of being blowsy to-night, Polly?" + +"I'm not frightened, I would not disturb myself about a risk; but you've +kept an invitation all this time under my tongue, not in my pockets, I +assure you;" and Polly elaborately emptied them, the foppish breast +pocket, and that at the waist. + +"It is only from Mrs. Maxwell," sighed Susan; "we are never invited +anywhere except to Hurlton, in this easy way." + +"But there is company; young Mr. Jardine has come home to Whitethorn, +and he is to dine with the Maxwells, and we are invited over to Hurlton +in the evening lest the claret or the port should be too much for him." + +The girls did not say "Nonsense!" they looked at each other; Joanna was +very pale, the red stain was very clear now. At last Lilias spoke, +hesitating a little to begin with, "It is so like Mrs. Maxwell--without +a moment's consideration--so soon after his return, before we had met +casually, as we must have done. I dare say she is sorry now, when she +comes to think over it. I hope Mr. Maxwell will be angry with her--the +provoking old goose," ran on Lilias, neither very reverently nor very +gratefully for an excellent, exemplary girl. + +"There is one thing, we can't refuse," said Susan with marvellous +decision; "it would be out of the question for us to avoid him; it would +be too marked for us to stay away." + +"Read your book, Conny," commanded Lilias fiercely; "you were +sufficiently intent upon it a moment ago; girls should not be made +acquainted with such troubles." + +"I don't want to be a bar upon you," cried the belated Conny, rising and +walking away sulkily, but pricking her ears all the time. + +"Joanna, you had better mention the matter to papa." + +"Don't you think you're making an unnecessary fuss?" remarked Polly. "Of +course, I remembered uncle's misfortune," she admitted candidly, "though +none of you speak of it, and I noticed Oliver stammer dreadfully when +Mrs. Maxwell mentioned Mr. Jardine; but I thought that at this time of +day, when everybody knew there was no malice borne originally, and Uncle +Crawfurd might have been killed, you might have been polite and +neighbourly with quiet consciences. I tell you, I mean to set my cap at +young Mr. Jardine of Whitethorn, and when I marry him, and constitute +him a family connexion, of course the relics of that old accident will +be scattered to the winds." + +"Oh! Polly, Polly!" cried the girls, "you must never, never speak so +lightly to papa." + +"Of course not, I am not going to vex my uncle; I can excuse him, +but Joanna need not look so scared. There is not such a thing as +retribution and vengeance, child, in Christian countries; it is you +who are heathenish. Or have you nursed a vain imagination of +encountering Mr. Jardine, unknown to each other, and losing your +hearts by an unaccountable fascination, and being as miserable as +the principals in the second last chapter of one of Conny's three +volumes? or were you to atone to him in some mysterious, fantastic, +supernatural fashion, for the unintentional wrong? Because if you have +done so, I'm afraid it is all mist and moonshine, poor Jack, quite as +much as the twaddling goody stories." + +"Polly," said Joanna angrily, but speaking low, "I think you might spare +us on so sad a subject." + +"I want you to have common sense; I want you to be comfortable; no +wonder my uncle has never recovered his spirits." + +"Indeed, Polly, I don't think you've any reason to interfere in +papa's concerns." + +"I don't see that you are entitled to blame Joanna," defended sister +Lilias, stoutly;--Lilias, who was so swift to find fault herself. + +"There, I'll say no more; I beg your pardon, I merely intended to show +you your world in an ordinary light." + +"Do you know, Polly, that Mrs. Jardine has never visited us since?" +asked Susan. + +"Very likely, she was entitled to some horror. But she is a reasonable +woman. Mr. Maxwell told me--every third party discusses the story behind +your backs whenever it chances to come up, I warn you--Mr. Maxwell +informed me that she never blamed Uncle Crawfurd, and that she sent her +son away from her because she judged it bad for him to be brought up +among such recollections, and feared that when he was a lad he might be +tampered with by the servants, and might imbibe prejudices and aversions +that would render him gloomy and vindictive, and unlike other people for +the rest of his life; she could not have behaved more wisely. I am +inclined to suppose that Mrs. Jardine of Whitethorn has more knowledge +of the world and self-command than the whole set of my relations here, +unless, perhaps, my Aunt Crawfurd--she will only speculate on your +dresses--that is the question, Susan." + + +II.--THE ORDEAL. + +"Would you not have liked to have gone with the other girls, Joanna? for +Conny, she must submit to be a _halflin_ yet. But is it not dull for you +only to hear of a party? country girls have few enough opportunities of +being merry," observed Mr. Crawfurd, with his uneasy consciousness, and +his sad habit of self-reproach. + +"Oh, Mr. Crawford, it would not have done--not the first time--Joanna +had much better stay at home on this occasion. She is too well brought +up to complain of a little sacrifice." + +It is curious how long some wives will live on friendly terms with their +husbands and never measure their temperaments, never know where the shoe +pinches, never have a notion how often they worry, and provoke, and pain +their spouses, when the least reticence and tact would keep the ship and +its consort sailing in smooth water. + +Mrs. Crawfurd would have half-broken her heart if Mr. Crawfurd had not +changed his damp stockings; she would fling down her work and look out +for him at any moment of his absence; she would not let any of her +children, not her favourite girl or boy, take advantage of him; she was +a good wife, still she did not know where the shoe pinched, and so she +stabbed him perpetually, sometimes with fretting pin-pricks, sometimes +with sore sword-strokes. + +"My dear, I wish you were not a sacrifice to me." It is a heart-breaking +thing to hear a man speak quite calmly, and like a man, yet with a +plaintive tone in his voice. Ah! the old, arch spirit of the literary +Laird of the Ewes had been shaken to its centre, though he was a +tolerable man of business, and rather fond of attending markets, sales, +and meetings. + +"Papa, what are you thinking of?" exclaimed Joanna indignantly. "I am +very proud to help you, and I go out quite as often as the others. Do +you not know, we keep a card hung up on Lilias's window-shutter, and we +write down every month's invitations--in stormy weather they are not +many--and we fulfil them in rotation. You don't often want me in the +evenings, for you've quite given me up at chess, and you only condescend +to backgammon when it is mid-winter and there has been no curling, and +the book club is all amiss. Lilias insists upon the card, because the +parties are by no means always merry affairs, and she says that +otherwise we would slip them off on each other, and pick and choose, and +be guilty of a great many selfish, dishonourable proceedings." + +"Lilias is the wise woman in the household. I'm aware there is a wise +woman in every family--but how comes it that Lilias is the authority +with us? It always rather puzzles me, Joanna; for when I used to implore +Miss Swan to accept her salary, and pay Dominie Macadam his lawful +demand of wages for paving the boys' brains in preparation for the High +School, they always complimented me with the assurance that you were my +clever daughter." + +"Because they saw your weak side, I dare say, my dear," suggests +Mrs. Crawfurd. + +"No, I am the cleverest, papa; I am so deep that I see that it is easier +to live under an absolute monarchy than to announce myself a member of a +republic, and assert my prerogatives and defend my privileges--but I +confess I have a temper, papa. Lilias says I am very self-willed, and I +must grant that she is generally in the right." + +"You don't feel satisfied with the bridle, child, till it gets into +stronger hands." + +"Yes, Joanna has a temper," chimed in Mrs. Crawfurd, pursuing her own +thread of the conversation. "Strangers think her softer than Susan; but +I have seen her violent, and when she takes it into her head, she is the +most stubborn of the whole family. I don't mean to scold you, my dear; +you are a very good girl, too, but you are quite a deception." + +"Oh, mamma! what a character!" Joanna could not help laughing. "I must +amend my ways." + +Of course, Joanna was violent at times, as we imagine a sensitive girl +with an abhorrence of meanness and vice, and she was stubborn when she +was convinced of the right and her friends would assert the wrong. Mr. +Crawfurd's idea was, that Joanna had a temper like Cordelia, not when +she spoke in her pleased accents, "gentle, soft, and low," but when she +was goaded into vehemence, as will happen in the best regulated palaces +and households. + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Crawfurd, five minutes afterwards, disturbing +the cosy little party round the tea-table by her sudden air of distress. +"Oh! dear, dear me! Susie has left her pearl sprigs behind her. There +they are on the loo-table. My pearl sprigs, Mr. Crawfurd, that I used +to wear when I was young; they have come in again for the hair, and +Susie settled they were just the thing to give a more dressed look to +her spring silk--these easy way parties are so ill to manage, and Polly +was of the same mind, and she came in to show me the effect, for I +always like to see the girls after they are dressed, and be satisfied +how they look--and there she has forgotten the box, and she will appear +quite a dowdy, and be so vexed." + +"I don't think it will signify very much, mamma; Susan looks very well +in her blue silk." + +"But it is such a pity, Joanna; so unfortunate,--she only put them out +of her hand for one moment, and you see there they are still;" and so +Mrs. Crawfurd sounded the lamentation, and dwelt on its salient points, +and ingeniously extracted new grounds of regret, till, by dint of +repetition, in ten minutes more Mr. Crawfurd and Joanna were almost +persuaded that Susan had sustained a serious loss. + +"Send a servant with the foolery," proposed Mr. Crawfurd, seeking a +little relief, and tolerably affronted at his interest in the question. + +"I don't think it would do. Would it, Joanna? There is always such +confusion at Hurlton when there is company? and then they have people +dining. There would be a mistake, and my pearls are no joke, Mr. +Crawfurd. They cost papa fifty pounds when they were so prettily set to +go to Sir William's ball. Ah! you don't remember it. There would be a +fuss, and Lilias would not like it. If Oliver had not been there at +dinner, or Charlie had been at home--" + +"Of the two evils choose the least," recommended Mr. Crawfurd, taking up +his book. + +"If you are very anxious, mamma," said Joanna, "as it is very early, and +they set out to walk round by the garden at Houndswood to get some +geraniums, which Polly saw yesterday, and set her heart upon; if you +order out the ponies and Sandy, I think Conny and I could easily ride +over to Hurlton, and deliver the little parcel to the girls in time. It +would be a nice evening ride for us, since you are afraid that Conny +hangs too much over her books." + +"Thank you, dear; that is just like you, Joanna, you are so sensible and +helpful, no wonder papa monopolizes you. I will be so glad that Susie +has the pearls. Such a pity, poor dear! that her evening should be +spoilt, and they lying ready to be put on. Conny? Yes, indeed, that girl +will be getting spine complaint, or the rickets. In my day it was sewing +in frames that twisted girls; but these books in the lap, the head poked +forward, one shoulder up, and knees half as high as the shoulder, are a +thousand times worse." + +"Good luck to you, Jack. Now you deserve your name, since you constitute +yourself groom of the chambers to your sisters." + +Joanna laughed back to him. "Come and meet us, papa." And in the +shortest interval given to tie on their hats and skirts, the girls were +racing along to Hurlton. + +In that moorland country, with outlying moorland fields where it was not +primitive nature--in a large family like that of the Crawfurds, rough +walking ponies swarmed as in Shetland. They were in constant request at +the Ewes, and the girls rode them lightly and actively, with the +table-boy, Sandy, at their heels, as readily as they walked. Perhaps +Joanna was the least given to the practice, though she availed herself +of it on this domestic occasion. + +Joanna was a deception, as her mother said. She was a little, round, +soft thing, whom you would have expected to flash over with sunshine. +She was not a melancholy girl--as you may have been able to judge--and +it was not her blame that anything in her position had developed her +into a thoughtful, earnest character. But then she was always fancied +younger than she really was; people supposed her as easy as her mother, +while she could be vehement, and was firm to tenacity. Perhaps the +reason of the puzzle might be, not only that she had a little of that +constitutional indolence which serves to conceal latent energy, but +that, in trifles, she did inherit, in a marked degree, the unexacting, +kindly temper which causes the wheels of every-day life to turn easily. +She allowed herself to be pushed aside. She accepted the fate or +superstition which linked her with her father's sorrow; she was content, +she thought, to suffer the dregs of his act with him; she wished she +could suffer for him; the connexion had indeed a peculiar charm for her +enthusiasm and generosity, like her admiration of this Corncockle Moor. + +Corncockle Moor, in its dreariness, loneliness, and wildness, now hung +out a vast curtain, which Joanna and Conny were skirting under the +golden decline of day, not so far from the spot where the little group +of men had gathered on the autumn morning, and the two sharp, short +cracks, and the little curl of blue smoke had indicated where one life +had gone out, and another was blasted in a single second. Joanna had +scarcely got time to wonder how Harry Jardine and her sisters would look +at each other, and she did not allow herself to think of it now. She +would wait till she had skilfully avoided any chance of encountering the +company, delivered her mother's errand, and was safe with Conny, +cantering homewards. Even then she would not dwell on the notion, lest +her father should allude to the stranger, and she should betray any +feeling to discompose him. "I must take care of papa. Papa is my +charge," repeated Joanna, proud as any Roman maid or matron. + +What malign star sent Mrs. Maxwell into the bedroom, just as Joanna had +entered it? She ought to have been only quitting the dining-room for +the drawing-room, but Mrs. Maxwell was always to be found where she was +least expected. She was a good-natured, social, blundering body, whom +girls condescended to affect, because she liberally patronized young +people, proving, however, quite as often the marplot, as the maker of +their fortunes--not from malice, but from a certain maladroitness and +fickleness. Mrs. Maxwell took it into her head to lay hands on Joanna, +and to send out for Conny, whom Joanna had cautiously deposited in the +paddock, and to insist that they should remain, and join the party. She +would take no denial; she never got them all together; it was so cruel +to leave out Joanna and Conny, a pair of her adopted children, since she +had no bairns of her own to bless herself with. She had plenty of +partners, or the girls would dance together. Yes, say no more about +it; she was perfectly delighted with the accession to her number--it +was to be. + +Conny's eyes sparkled greedily. "Oh, Joanna! mamma won't be angry." + +Oh, Conny! you traitor! + +"There, it will be a treat to Conny, and there is nothing to prevent it. +Conny has let the cat out of the bag, as Tom would say. Conny consents, +Joanna may sulk as she pleases." + +"I won't sulk, Mrs. Maxwell; I'll go off by myself, and leave you +Constantia, since she wishes it." + +"To hear of such a thing! You girls won't allow it. It is very shabby, +Susan, Lilias, Miss Musgrave, that Joanna should not have a little +amusement with the rest." + +"I'm sure we won't prevent it, Mrs. Maxwell, we don't stand in the way," +said Lilias stiffly; "Joanna is free to remain or return as she chooses. +Joanna, you had better stay, or there will be a scene, and the whole +house will hear of it." + +"Keep her, Mrs. Maxwell, please," cried Miss Polly mischievously; "my +cousin Joan is so scarce of her countenance, that I want to know how she +can behave in company." + +"Very well, I assure you," avouched Mrs. Maxwell zealously; then she +began to remember, and start, and flounder--"only she is so modest. +Joanna, my dear, you cannot be so stupid as to hesitate from a certain +reason?" + +"Oh, no. You can send back Sandy, Mrs. Maxwell, since you are so good. +Mamma knows what we will require; or I will write a little note." + +Joanna could have borne any encounter rather than a discussion of the +obstacle with Mrs. Maxwell--a discussion which might be gone over again +any day to anybody. + +But Joanna was terribly vexed and provoked that she had exposed herself +to this infliction, though she was fain to comfort herself with the +argument that it would make no difference to papa's feelings; and she +trusted that she and Conny would slip into the drawing-room when the +guests were occupied, and subside into corners, and escape attention. + +Joanna was established in her recess, nearly confident that she was not +conspicuous, and considerably interested in watching Harry Jardine. + +Mrs. Jardine's intentions had been in a great measure fulfilled. The +young Laird of Whitethorn had grown up at his English school and German +university without the cloud which rested on his father's end descending +on his spirit. He was as strong and pleasant and blithe as his father, +with the self-possession which a life amongst strangers, and the +available wallet of a traveller's information, could graft upon his +gentle birth and early manhood. At the same time, there was no deception +about Harry Jardine. While he was gay and good-humoured, he had an air +of vigour and action, and even a dash of temper lurking about his black +curls and bright eyes, which prepared one for hearing that he had not +only hobnobbed with the Goettingen students, but had also won their +prizes, and thrashed them when they aspired to English sports; and had +travelled four nights without sleep, under stress of weather, to reach +Whitethorn on the day he had fixed to his mother. He had brought a +steady character along with him, too; they said that he had been a good +son, and had remembered that his mother was a widow, and had endured +enough grief to last her all her days. Mrs. Jardine, who was not a +flatterer, declared that Harry had not cost her a care which she needed +to grudge. There is enough temptation, and to spare, for men like Harry +Jardine, but it is not in such that early self-indulgence and lamentable +weakness may be feared. + +Harry Jardine was the style of man fitted to command the admiration of +Joanna Crawfurd. Contemplative girls love men of experience. Staid girls +love men with a dash--a dash of bravery, self-reliance, or even of +recklessness. Harry Jardine's gladness to be at home; his interest in +everything and everybody; the pleasant tone in which he referred to his +mother; the genuine fun of which he gave a glimpse; the ring of his +laugh, were all set store upon by Joanna with a sober satisfaction. + +Harry had not been so agreeable, or felt the world so pleasant, two +hours before. It was impossible to escape memories or to hide wincing; +but he had said to himself that these associations ought to have been +worn threadbare by familiarity, or to have been approached gradually, +and he could not conquer his awkwardness or crush his susceptibility. +But youth is pliable and versatile, and Harry Jardine was determined to +evince no dislike, and make no marked distinction. Very soon the Miss +Crawfurds and their cousin blended with the other young ladies in his +view,--nay, he discovered that he had come across a cousin of theirs +settled abroad, and was qualified to afford them information of his +prospects and pursuits handsomely. + +So far Joanna's penalty had been moderate, until, towards the close of +the evening, when most of the young people had gone into the library to +get some refreshments, she found herself left in her corner almost +alone, with Mr. Jardine talking to Mrs. Maxwell within a few yards of +her. This was the occurrence which Joanna had dreaded. "By the pricking +of her thumbs" she was aware of a wicked destiny approaching her. Mr. +Jardine in his conversation glanced towards her, then looked away, and +beat his foot on the carpet, and a twitch passed over the muscles of his +face, and his smile, though he still affected a smile, had lost all its +glow. Joanna dared not look any longer. Mrs. Maxwell was certainly +speaking of her. Perhaps in her rash inconsiderate way she had +volunteered information. + +Perhaps Harry Jardine had himself made inquiry--the pale girl who kept +in the background, with the little scar--was it--on her temple? Joanna +quivered under the process, and the witness beneath the light brown hair +throbbed painfully. She was glad when Mr. Jardine walked away quickly; +but the next moment he came back and turned directly towards her. + +"I have been introduced to your sisters, Miss Crawfurd, and you must +excuse further ceremony from me. Will you allow me to take you into +the next room and get a glass of wine or a biscuit for you? You should +not try fasting at an evening party. Mrs. Maxwell would call it a very +bad example." + +He spoke fast, with a laugh, and crimsoned all over. She knew +perfectly well what he was about. He was determined to perform all +that could possibly be required of him. He would put down invidious +comments, disarm gossip, in short cut off the gorgon's head at the +first struggle. They might term it unnatural, overdone, but at least +it would not be to do again; and Harry Jardine's was the temper, that, +if you presented an obstacle to it, it itched the more to grapple with +the obstacle on the spot. + +Precisely for the reason that she could not ride away from the party, +after Mrs. Maxwell assailed her with a motive for her conduct, Joanna +could not repel his overture. It was incredibly trying to her. He saw +how differently she was affected from her sisters. He was aware of +another influence. He felt very uncomfortable. Why, the very flesh of +his arm, which she touched lightly enough, crept, when the superstition +of the old ordeal of the bier flashed upon him, as he caught, with a +furtive glance, the tiny brand prickling and burning to fiery +incandescence above the waxen face. Was it a splash of his father's +blood impressed there, till the "solid flesh" would verily "melt"? Was +it his neighbourhood which brought out the ruddy spot, that, like the +scarlet streaks down Lady Macbeth's little hands, would not wash off? +Absurd folly! But he wished he had done with it. He wished old ladies +would confine themselves to their own concerns. He hoped fainting was +not heard of among the girls of the moors--that would be a talk! He +supposed he must say something commonplace and civil; he must task his +brains for that purpose. He coined a remark, and Joanna answered him +quietly and with simplicity. She must have possessed and exercised +great self-command. It struck Harry Jardine. It was a quality he valued +highly, possibly because he felt such difficulty in looking it up on his +own account. All through the few minutes' further conversation and +association between them, it impressed him, conjointly with the odd +recoiling sensations, which he had so rapidly shaken off, where her +sisters were concerned. + +Harry had the faults of his kind, not inveterately, for he spoke good +English to women; but as he indulged in his dear island slang to men, he +felt bound to use it to himself. "This poor little woman is thorough +game," he said to himself. "I can see that she is as tender as a little +bird, yet she has shown as much pluck as a six-foot grenadier? She has +not flinched at all. I can do justice to this spirit." He remembered it +all the time when Polly Musgrave was sounding him, and when he did not +choose to give her the slightest satisfaction. + +"I saw you with my cousin Joanna, Mr. Jardine; you'll find her in the +Spanish style." + +"Not in complexion certainly. Do you mean in name?" + +"Oh, no! Do you know so little about the south of Scotland after all? +You had better conceal this piece of ignorance. I am sure you understand +this much--a general acquaintance with the whole habitable globe would +not atone for a deficiency with regard to this one dear little spot of +earth. Joanna is as common a name in the south of Scotland as Dorothy is +in the north of England. Examine the register, and see if you have not +twenty Jardine cousins christened Joanna. I call Joanna in the Spanish +style, because, although she conceals it, and you cannot have found it +out yet, she is a vestige of romantic chivalry. Joanna is a Donna +Quixotina, an unworldly, unearthly sort of girl, with a dream of tilting +with the world and succouring the distressed. I term it a dream, +because, of course, she will never accomplish it, any more than the +knight of La Mancha, and she will be obliged to descend from her stilts +by-and-by. I call Susan in the beautiful style, and Lilias in the good +style, and Conny in the sweet sixteen style." + +"Miss Musgrave, I am not versed in ladies' styles, you must teach me;" +and Polly and he looked into each other's eyes, and laughed and felt +they were match for match. + +And Joanna had a little regret that Mr. Jardine should, like most men, +be caught with Polly Musgrave; not that Joanna did not admire Polly, +though she was her antithesis, and count her handsome and brilliant in +her way, like any sun-loving dahlia or hollyhock; but Joanna had no +enthusiasm in her admiration of Polly, and she had a little enthusiasm +in her estimation of Harry Jardine. + + +III.--"HE LAY DOWN TO SLEEP ON THE MOORLAND SO DREARY." + +Polly Musgrave was gone with flying colours. She had been indefatigable +in procuring her aunt, uncle, and cousins, parting gifts that would suit +their tastes; she had actually toiled herself in paying courtesy-calls +round the neighbourhood; and she had written half-a-dozen letters, and +evinced a considerable amount of successful management in procuring an +invitation for two of her cousins to join her during the week or weeks +of York's gaieties. She would have had Joanna also, but Joanna would not +leave home at the season when her father was liable to his worst +rheumatic twinges. Polly had shown herself really good-natured under her +ease and luxury, and Joanna had been a little penitent and vexed that +she did not like Polly any more than in a cousinly way. Whether Polly +was right in saying that Joanna was romantic or not, Polly had not a +particle of romance in her constitution, though much was flourishing, +fresh, and fragrant, in pure, commonplace, selfish, good-natured +worldliness, for it is a mistake to suppose that quality (without +hypocrisy) has not its attractive guise. Without knowing herself +romantic, Joanna was apt to quarrel in her own mind with cleverer girls, +accomplished girls, pleasant girls, even good girls, sensible women, +business women, nay religious women, until she feared she must be +fault-finding, satirical, sour--as her sisters protested at intervals. +Joanna, sour? Joanna, so charitable and sympathizing? Take comfort, +Joanna; the spirit is willing, though the flesh is weak. + +The Ewes was in its normal condition; the parish was in its normal +condition; the excitement of Harry Jardine's return to Whitethorn had +died out; he might shoot, as it was September, or fish still, or farm, +or ride, or read as he pleased. He retained his popularity. His father +had been a popular man, fully more popular than Mr. Crawfurd of the +Ewes. Harry was even more approved, for mingling with the world had +smoothed down in him the intolerance of temper which beset his father. +What did Joanna Crawfurd say to such compromising agreeability? Joanna +was disarmed in his case; she contradicted herself, as we all do. She +had the penetration to perceive that many externals went to raise Harry +Jardine's price in the eyes of the world; externals which had little to +do with the individual man,--youth, a good presence, a fair patrimony, +freedom from appropriating ties. Strip Harry of these, render him +middle-aged, time-worn or care-worn, reduce him to poverty, marry him, +furnish him with a clamorous circle of connections, land-lock him with +children! Would the difference not be startling? Would he need to be +condemned for the world's favour, then? Joanna trowed not. + +The Crawfurds met Mr. Jardine occasionally, but there was no probability +of the acquaintance ripening, since Mr. Crawfurd could not call for +Harry at Whitethorn, and Harry did not see the necessity of offering his +company at the Ewes. Mrs. Jardine had not visited much since the shock +of her widowhood, and she only now began to recur to her long-disused +visiting-list on Harry's account. Though a reasonable woman, it is +scarcely requisite to say that she did not propose to renew her +friendship with the family at the Ewes. The blow which rendered her +without control did not break her spirit, but it pressed out its +buoyance. Mrs. Jardine was a grave, occupied, resigned woman, no longer +a blithe one, very fond and proud of Harry, but grateful, not glad in +her fondness and pride. + +The frost had come early, strong, and stern on those Highlands of the +Lowlands, those moors of the south. The "lustre deep" at twilight and +dawn, the imperial Tyrian dye at noon, the glorious "orange and purple +and grey" at sunset and sunrise, which, once known and loved, man never +forgets, nor woman either--all would soon be swept away this year, and +Joanna regretted it. She liked the flower-garden, but, after all, the +garden was tame to the moor. The moor's seasons were, at best, +short--short the golden flush of its June; short the red gleam of its +September. Not that the lowland Moor has not its dead, frosted grace in +its winter winding-sheet, and its tender spring charm, when curlews +scream over it incessantly. But Joanna had never seen the autumn so +short as this year; and she had heard them tell, that in the Fall, when +poor Mr. Jardine was killed, the heather remained bright till November. + +Thinking of that date caused Joanna, when she strolled out on the moor +one morning, to go near the scene with its melancholy celebrity. + +It was quite early in the morning, a hail shower lying all around, +though the sky was a deep sapphire blue, with the wan ghost of the moon +lingering on the horizon, and the atmosphere bitter cold. The breakfast +was late at the Ewes, owing to Mr. Crawfurd's delicate health, and +because Mrs. Crawfurd had her fancies like Mrs. Primrose. Thus Joanna +was frequently abroad before breakfast, and, like most persons of +healthy organization, was rather tempted to court the stinging air as it +blew across the heather, bracing her whole frame, nipping her fingers +and toes, and sending blush-roses into her cheeks. + +Joanna was walking along, feeling cheerful, although she was in that +neighbourhood, and vaunting to herself that their moor was infinitely +superior to a park, when a grey object caught her eye, lying beyond +some whin bushes--a thing raised above the ground, but stretched still +and motionless. Joanna stopped with a strange thrill. No! it was not +on that piece of earth; but so must he have lain on that disastrous +morning, far removed from the abundance, and garnered goods, and +heartiness of harvest. + +Joanna stood a moment, then reproaching herself with cowardice, egotism, +inhumanity, she advanced, her heart fluttering wildly. Yes, it was a man +in tweed-coat, trousers, and cap; and stay! was that a gun by his side? +Joanna could not go a step further; she closed her eyes to hide the +blood which she felt must be oozing and stealing along the ground, or +else congealed among the heather and it was only after she had told +herself how far she was from home, and how long it would be ere she +could run back for assistance, that she opened them and approached the +figure. There was no blood that she could see; the man might not be +dead, but stupefied or insensible. Oh, dear! it was Harry Jardine of +Whitethorn; the hail-drops among his black curls, the sprigs of the +heather dinted into his brown cheek. + +It darted into Joanna's mind like inspiration how the chance had +occurred. She remembered Susan had said, yesterday, that she had met Mr. +Jardine going in shooting garb across the moor in the afternoon, and he +had stopped her and asked if she had seen a dog. He had taken out a new +dog and lost it, and was vexed at wasting half the morning in the +pursuit. She recalled, with a peculiar vividness of perception, that +somebody had observed, one day lately, that Mr. Jardine was not so +strong as he looked; that he had fever while abroad, just before he came +home, and that his mother was annoyed because he would not take care of +himself, and complained that he was constantly over-taxing his +unrecovered powers, and subjecting himself to fresh attacks of illness. +Joanna remembered, with a pang, that she had laughed at the remark, +mentally conjuring up Harry Jardine's athletic, sunburnt comeliness. + +Joanna freed herself more quickly from this phantom than from the last, +and, while she did so, called out his name, and stepped to his side, +stooping down and even touching him. He was breathing, though he was +very cold and stiff, and she did not rouse him. Oh, Joanna was very +thankful! But what should she do next? Life must be very faint, and +frozen in the muscular, active young man. He had loitered at his sport +till the dusk; he had been bewildered on the moor--strange to him as to +a foreigner; he had wandered here and there impatient and weary; but +still more angry with himself than alarmed. He had sat down in the +intense chill and dim darkness to recover himself; no way forewarned, +"simply because he was on Corncockle Moor, so near home," on a September +night. He had sunk down further and further, until the stealthy foe +sprang upon him and held him fast--the sleep from which there is so +tardy an awakening. + +Joanna dared not leave the faint, vital spark to smoulder down or leap +out. The moor was very unfrequented at this hour; at certain periods of +the day, portions of it, intersected by meandering tracks, were crossed +by men labouring in the adjacent fields or quarry; but till then it was +only the circumstance of alarm being excited on Harry's account, or her +protracted absence giving rise to surmise and search, that could bring +them companions. + +As a forlorn hope Joanna raised her voice and cried for assistance; fear +and distress choked the sound, and the freezing air caused it to fall on +the silence with a ringing quaver. She persevered, however, every now +and then varying the appeal, "Papa, Lilias, Sandy, do some of you come +to me; I want you here, for God's sake! here." + +She took his big hands and chafed them between her own little ones; she +lifted his head on her lap, her fingers getting entangled in his curly +hair, she prayed for him that he might be restored to them. + +He continued to breathe dully and heavily; his eyes never unclosed; she +felt tempted to raise the lashes, as she would lift up and peep under +the lids of a child. Ah! but she feared to see the balls sightless and +glazing over fast. The marked, lively face was placid as if it were set +in death, and the slight contraction between the brows, which she had +remarked the first night she saw him, was almost effaced. How dreadful +it would be if he died on her knees there, in the solitude of the moor! +The son at the daughter's feet, as his father at her father's. How would +his mother bear it? Her father would never survive this mournful +re-writing of the old letters traced in blood. It should be she rather +who should die; and Joanna in her piety, her goodness, her great love +for her father, her exquisite kindness for Harry Jardine, did ask God if +He sought a life, in His justice and mercy, to allow hers to pay for +Harry's, to substitute her in some way for Harry; and Joanna well +remembered that prayer afterwards. + +Joanna was beginning to cower and fail in her trial. Suddenly she shook +herself up, when she was lapsing into a heap nearly as passive as that +beside her; a suggestion darted across her brain; she detected in the +little pocket of her dress a bottle of a strong essence and perfume, +which Polly Musgrave had forced upon her the day she left. + +Joanna was quick and clear in following out a notion. With trembling +fingers she poured the hot, stimulating, subtle liquid into her hollow +hands, and bathed his forehead. She unloosed his cravat, and sent the +warm stream over his throat and chest, rubbing them with her free hand, +while she supported his head on the other arm; and inspired with fresh +courage and trust she called anew this time a shrill, echoing call, and +Harry Jardine shivered, sobbed, and stretched himself, and slowly opened +his sealed eyes, looking her first vaguely and then wonderingly in the +face, and her father's and Lilias's voices rose from opposite sides of +the heath, near and far in reply. "What is it, Joanna? What has kept +you? What has happened? We missed you; we were getting anxious; we are +coming, coming!" + + +IV.--MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE. + +Harry Jardine was taken to the Ewes some hours before his mother, who +had happily been deceived as to his return on the previous night, was +even apprised of his narrow escape. He received the greatest kindness +from the Crawfurds, and his mother herself found it incumbent on her to +write a little note to the Ewes, thanking the family for their humanity +and benevolence towards her son. It is possible, had Mrs. Jardine been +awakened to her son's danger a little sooner, and before its traces were +entirely blotted out, the expressions in the note might have been a few +shades less general and cold. + +Mr. Crawfurd excused her fully. He would not have expected Harry to come +back to the Ewes, though he rejoiced, from the bottom of his heart, that +Joanna had served the young fellow. How much his poor father would have +been delighted in him? Mr. Crawfurd rejoiced, although he was too +righteous and humble-minded to say to himself that God was appeased, or +that He had permitted this atonement as a sign in answer to his +life-long penance. + +Harry Jardine represented a different theory; he would be a dolt, a +brute, unpardonably vindictive, if he did not cherish all friendly +feelings to the Crawfurds; if he did not visit them openly and frankly. +He did visit at the Ewes, but he found the plainest opportunities ready +made for him during one fortnight at Hurlton, to come in contact with +Joanna Crawfurd. She had gone there to look after Conny, suborned by +Mrs. Maxwell, and laid up with a sore throat, and forlorn and wretched +if one of her sisters was not looking after her. + +This intercourse could scarcely fail to have one grand climax. Joanna, +the thoughtful, imaginative, true, tender woman--a fair woman besides, +with that one little blot which singularly appealed to him with a harsh +sweet voice--a sufficiently rare woman, to stand quite distinct from her +sisters and companions in the light of the practical, active, ardent, +honest heart--became the one mistress in the world for Harry Jardine, +coveted and craved by him as the best gift of God, without which the +others were comparatively worthless, and for which he could have been +willing to sacrifice them one and all. Harry himself, in after years, +confessed that since the moment he awakened from that leaden drowsiness +on the moor, the image of Joanna Crawfurd, tending him as a mother her +sick child, was constantly before him. + +Joanna had not precisely the same experience. From the moment that, with +the prescience of a woman where feelings are concerned, she saw the end, +she avoided Harry Jardine with all her power. Harry's generous +determination and daring, his fearlessness, confidence, and +steadfastness overpowered her. + +Mr. Crawfurd was dreadfully upset by Harry Jardine's application to him, +his claim for forbearance, his entreaty for grace, and his candid +confession that his mother was violently opposed to his suit. It was a +case which could neither be considered nor rejected without remorse. Oh, +bitterness, which spread like an infection through so many years, and +into such different relations, and spoilt even the young man's +fairness, good faith, free forgiveness, and the purity and earnestness +of his passion, the pearl of his manhood, which, if lost to him, would +be a loss indeed! How Harry implored Mr. Crawfurd to spare it to him, to +reflect that it was the greatest benefit which he asked at his hands, to +pause before he denied it to him solely because he had been the +unfortunate means of depriving him of his father! + +Harry had agitating scenes with his mother besides; these two had never +been placed against each other before, and the contest between them was +neither gracious nor good for either heart. + +"Harry, I am horrified at you; it is a dishonour to your poor father's +memory; it is shocking to think of it; and if you have been so lost to +duty as to fall into so unnatural an entanglement, it is surely the +least you owe to both parents to give it up." + +"Mother! I cannot see it as you do; my father fully exonerated Mr. +Crawfurd--you have told me so a hundred times. No one, not you, his +widow, mourned my father as Mr. Crawfurd mourned--nay, mourns him to +this day." + +"Harry, do you wish to see a bloody guest present at your wedding?" + +"Mother, that is a baseless, cruel horror. You would not wish me to +maintain a hereditary feud on the principle of my forefathers. I cannot +tell what the Christian religion teaches if it does not enjoin +forgiveness of injuries." + +"I hope I am a Christian, Harry, and I have tried to forgive my +enemies, but it is one thing to make every allowance for them and +entertain charitable feelings towards them, and another to ally myself +with them, and constitute them my closest friends. Harry, the whole +neighbourhood would shrink from the idea of what you contemplate." + +"If my principles and my heart said Yes, not the neighbourhood, but +the whole world might cry No, and I would not feel bound to listen to +the clamour." + +"A young man's improper boast, Harry, and since you force me to it, not +the world alone--I tell you nature objects to that girl--that girl of +them all; how can you look her in the face and think of love?" + +"Would you have me think of hate? Since you make the allusion, I declare +to you, mother, that mark appeals to you and me in another fashion. +Cain's brand! do they call it? And who set the brand, and when, on +Cain's brow? Sovereign clemency, after the wanderer's punishment was +more than he could bear, if the reflection of my father's blood was +transmitted to so innocent and noble a proxy, it must have been designed +to teach such as you and me New Testament lessons of perfect charity." + +"Harry, I have never been able to look that girl in the face." + +"Mother, I pray never to forget that face, although it remain like an +angel's face to me, because it is the fairest example of the human face +divine that I ever hope to behold." + +"Harry Jardine, you are mad, or worse; these are some of the sickening +French and German sentimentalities against which I have been warned. +There is such a thing as a wholesome sense of repulsion, an honest +manly recoil, a pure instinct of loathing, a thousand times to be +preferred to this morbid mixture of good and evil, friend and foe, life +and death, this defiance of decency and general opinion." + +"Very true, mother; but there are a thousand exceptional cases, and a +million points of ruthless prejudice. 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth +for a tooth,' sounded very righteous and respectable in the ears of the +Jews, yet I believe the sentence had its condemnation, and the amendment +was neither French nor German." + +"Harry, you are profane, and you forget what is due to yourself and me." + +The last saying was a hard one; his mother could be no judge of his +profanity, but he had been a good son, and it had not been without +a curb upon him that the strong man had accustomed himself to leave +so much of the power and authority of Whitethorn in the wilful +woman's hands. + +In the library at the Ewes Mr. Crawfurd was addressing Joanna +very gently. + +"My dear, I am very sorry it cannot be; of course Mrs. Jardine will +never consent, but it goes to my heart to grieve you." + +"Papa, I cannot help it." + +"And to grieve Harry Jardine." + +"Papa, that is worse; but do not think that anybody--that he +blames you." + +"We shall trust, my dear, that he will soon recover the +disappointment." + +"Of course--it is not a great loss." + +"My dear, pray don't smile when it hurts you, for I cannot bear it; it +is natural that this should be a heavy cross to you; but setting it +aside as unavoidable, is there no respect in which I can lighten it to +you? No indulgence which you could fancy that I could procure for you? +No old wish of his Joan's that papa could by an effort gratify? Surely I +cannot be so miserable, child." + +"Oh, no, papa! I mean you can please in a great many things; you always +could, and you always will. Women are not like men, their natures are +not so concentrated. They have so many tastes and whims, you know; I +possess them by the score, and I will never cease to relish their +fulfilment so long as you and I keep labouring together, papa. I am not +going to be a hypocrite, papa. This strange story has vexed me a good +deal, but I was aware from the first of its unsubstantial character. I +still want money to be charitable on my own account, like Lilias. I've a +notion to revive our old greenhouse; I've a longing to see a little of +the world with you, sir, in spring and summer; I've never been +indifferent to silks and muslins, though I think my chief weakness in +dress is the very finest of fine chintz prints, ever so dear a yard, +papa, which an artist might paint, and more of a Duchess's wear than +velvet. All these matters are acceptable to me, papa." + +"You are sure that you are my pet and darling." + +"Yes, papa; you have spoilt me." + +Joanna was gone to her own room; there she laid her head on her arm, and +asked her heart bitterly, "Have I succeeded in deceiving papa? Can he +believe for a moment that any poor precious treasure in the wide world +will make up to me for the want of Harry Jardine; that there is anything +left me but Heaven instead of Harry Jardine? But then there is papa, +dear papa, and I used to be papa's. What will not women do for their +children? I always thought I could attain as much for papa. I was proud +to prove my love to him, and I will drive out Harry's image for papa's +sake, though I should die in the struggle." + +Harry did not altogether admire this resolution. He was a good fellow, +an excellent fellow, and he had the true, ineffable devotion to Joanna +Crawfurd; but he was not free from jealousy and irritation, as well as +sorrow and fear, when he was compelled to part from her for a time, and +content himself with swearing fidelity on his own account, and seeing +her occasionally as an ordinary acquaintance, until their relative +positions should be changed, or his truth fail. + +The common world rolled on its course; the seasons succeeded each other, +although even they seemed to culminate in dull, monotonous vanity and +vexation of spirit. The frosty wind had swept "that lustre deep from +glen and brae," and the chill watery mosses alone looked green and fresh +when the snow melted. It was the cold under which Joanna Crawfurd +shivered and shrank; at least so she assured every friendly person who +remarked that she was thin, and paler than ever. Mrs. Jardine had looked +her in the face, nay, kept nervously glancing at her when she was +visible at church, on the loch where the curling match was played, or in +the concert-room at the county town. + +Of course the girl would get over it; yet Joanna bore a suspicious +likeness to Mrs. Jardine's sister Anne, who did not "get over" such a +cross. Mrs. Jardine remembered well her sister Anne's parting look, and +now, strive as she would, she could not resist the conviction that it +was hovering over Joanna Crawfurd's face. Mrs. Jardine, like the Laird +of the Ewes, could have cried, "Pray do not smile, girl; you do not know +how you look; we, the initiated, have not stony enough hearts to stand +that." Mrs. Jardine was surprised that Harry could be so foolish as to +redden and appear displeased at Joanna Crawfurd's gaiety. + +Mrs. Jardine almost complained against Providence that she was condemned +to punish her only child. Then she could not help speculating whether, +if by some unimaginable arrangement of events, she had been the +sufferer, and Harry's father had been spared to him, he would have +denied Harry his happiness in the name of her memory, and from a sense +of righteous animosity, whether, if she could have looked down purified +and peaceful from the spirit-world, she would have desired the +sacrifice, and whether she would not have pleaded against it for love +and mercy's sake? + +The winter was gone, the early spring was at hand, and all around the +outskirts of the moor, like an incense to spring and the Lord of the +spring, rose the smoke of the whin burnings which were to clear the +ground for the sweet young grass, to employ the nibbling teeth of +hundreds on hundreds of sheep and lambs. Joanna Crawfurd had never so +sighed for spring, never sat in such passive inertness (highly +provocative to Lilias), receiving and realizing what it brought to her. + +But the period of listlessness and inaction, life-long to some, was +nearly ended for this pair. With the last snowdrops of the garden in +February, and the first glinting gowans of the lea in March, came the +news to the country-side of the bankruptcy of one of the first of the +chain of banks, whose defalcations have accomplished more in causing +property to change hands than the lances of the moss-troopers. The young +Laird of Whitethorn held money in the shape of his father's shares in +one of those unlucky banks; and so it fell upon him one morning like a +clap of thunder that he was responsible for about as much as the acres +of Whitethorn would retrieve, besides the trifling morsel to whet his +appetite in the loss of his loose thousands. Harry Jardine was likely to +know himself as "landless, landless," as ever a proscribed Macgregor. + +Harry rose to the encounter. "I am sorry for you, mother, and I do not +pretend that I shall not regret the old moorland acres; but I shall do +very well, notwithstanding. I'm old to learn a profession; but how many +volunteers and retired lieutenants had to study and serve +apprenticeships after the long wars! I will stick in; I don't mind it on +my own account, and I will be proud to provide for you. I say, mother, +don't vex yourself; perhaps it is the best thing that can happen to me. +I don't think a fellow gets well seasoned unless he is knocked about at +some time: better late than never. I have been coveting change--any +change and occupation, an engrossing occupation--for the last few +months." He said that to reconcile her to what was an overwhelming blow +to her, and his words aroused her with a sharp pang. Had Harry become +so miserable and sick of his blessings that he was ready to welcome the +cold-bath of labour and poverty as a relief to his oppressive languor, +and a ground of hope for his fainting mind? + +But Harry came in to her with a troubled face, on another day--a mild +day--a subtle, penetrating, relaxing day, under whose balmy breath it is +doubly difficult to contend with encircling difficulties, and reject the +one clue suddenly vouchsafed to lead us out of the labyrinth. + +"I must tell you, mother, though, of course, it cannot be in the +circumstances--he does not see it--but there is no fatality to bind +me to his views. Mr. Crawfurd of the Ewes sent for me this morning, +and I went to him immediately; I could not tell what he might have +to say to me." + +"Without consulting your mother, Harry?" + +"Yes, mother," answered Harry, with unconscious sternness, "because it +might have been my own business, entirely my own affair, with which no +mortal, not even you, can be entitled to interfere. But it was only to +offer and urge upon me a loan of money to enable me to satisfy the +bank's claims, if they come to the worst, and retain Whitethorn, paying +him at my leisure. I assure you that it was delicately done; my father's +ghost may rest in peace. I beg your pardon, mother; I did not mean to +pain you. I am afraid I do speak queerly at times. Well, well; it was a +kind, confiding, neighbourly action, though I refused it decidedly, from +the man whose alliance is forbidden to us. I had no resource but to +respect myself, as I respected him; and it is no great matter that it +hurt me to cut up that gentle, inoffensive old man, endeavouring to show +his rue for having proved, twenty years ago, what my father was to at +least an equal degree, and what I have no assurance that I would not +have found myself, to a far greater extent than either of them--a slave +to a false code of honour." + +Harry sat down, haggard, dispirited, half-desperate. His mother made no +reply. All the rest of the day she walked about the house like a +restless spirit; half the night she paced up and down her chamber +softly, lest Harry should hear her, and come in again, and begin to +caress her; for she could not endure Harry's kisses now--they were like +Joanna Crawfurd's smiles. + +Was Harry quarrelling with his father's memory? It was a ghastly +sacrilege to her; yet might he not arrive at cursing in his heart, even +while he was grasping the devil within him by the throat? What had it +not cost him? First, his young love and the cream of his happiness; and +now his paternal acres, and his position among the independent, +influential gentlemen of his native county. He might not value the last +in his present fever and rashness, but he would weigh it more justly +hereafter. The moorland inheritance was not of great money purchase, but +it had descended to its possessors through long generations. It was +hallowed by venerable associations. The name and the property together +were of some importance in this nook of the south. Harry's father had a +family affection for his _place_, and, doubtless, Harry entertained it +also, undeveloped as yet, but to grow and acquire full maturity one day, +addressing him at every pensive interval with a vain craving and +yearning. And, again, in the confusion and distraction of Mrs. +Jardine's feelings, there was her sister Anne haunting her dreams, and +reproaching her with having forgotten her; and lastly, one verse in her +well-worn Bible was constantly standing out before her aching eyes in +letters of fire, and shining into her rebellious but scared heart, "I +will have mercy and not sacrifice." + +It is one thing to have been Christians all our lives, drawn along by a +current, only broken by comparatively trivial, every-day temptations, +contests and sacrifices, and another thing to wrestle with a decree that +all at once confronts and contradicts a master-passion, a deeply-founded +verdict, a strongly-rooted opinion whose overthrow will shake the entire +framework of our lives. + +Mrs. Jardine descended the stairs the next morning very pale and +exhausted, and for the first time (though she was a widow by a +peculiarly sorrowful visitation), with a certain wistful air which Harry +had observed in Mr. Crawfurd. It touched him--a fiery, dogged +man--extremely, in the one case as in the other. His mother, on the +announcement of his loss, had insisted on undertaking various domestic +examinations with respect to general retrenchment; he had humoured her, +under the impression that it diverted her mind, and broke the force of +what was a great calamity to her. He believed that she had over-exerted +herself, and he commenced to remonstrate in the imperious, reproachful, +affectionate tone, which the mother loves in her manly son. + +"Yes, Harry, I have undertaken too much, and therefore I have requested +the company of two friends, who will be willing to lighten our burden." + +"Strangers in the house at this time, mother?" exclaimed Harry, +bewildered. "Well, if you can bring yourself to suggest it, and wish it, +I need have no objection. Never mind me, mother. Besides, I shall be +from home. Yes, I do believe it will be a good plan." + +"I thought, Harry," said Mrs. Jardine, so tremulously that Harry felt +quite alarmed for his upright, obdurate mother, "as Mr. Crawfurd had +been so friendly in his intentions towards you--the only man who has +come forward with such a proposal and entreaty--isn't he, Harry?--that +two of the Miss Crawfurds might consent to pay us a visit at last. I +believe they would waive all ceremony, and their father would like it. +It would show that we were willing, at least, to be reconciled in our +evil day; that we appreciated their magnanimity; that we were not mean +as well as malicious, Harry." + +Harry stared, "Mother," he said slowly, colouring violently, "are you +prepared for the consequences of inviting the Miss Crawfurds here, or +what do you mean?" + +"I have counted the cost, Harry; I have written and sent away a note, +asking if Miss Joanna and one of her sisters will have so much +consideration for an old afflicted woman." + +Harry burst away from her, that she might not read the glow which was in +his eyes and searched through his whole being. + +Mrs. Jardine cried a little, as a woman might say, quietly and +comfortably; a strange thing for her, since she was one of those women +who shed vehement tears or none at all; then she dried her eyes and +folded her hands reverently, saying, "I have a strange sense of calm +and of Divine favour this morning. I am sure I am not mystical, but one +jogs along the beaten way, and gets stupified, and doubts whether one +can be a Christian or no, there is so little conviction of the fact in +what divines, from the Bible, call 'the inner man of the spirit;' but +when we conquer our wills, and obey one of His everlasting decrees, then +we do feel that we must belong to Him, and we have an assurance of His +presence, which is a great enough reward without the gratification of +earthly afflictions. Ah! I have had dear old Annie's voice ringing in my +ears all the morning; and I have heard George Jardine bidding me take +care of Harry, as he always did before he went from home, except the +last day when he dared not face me." + +The Crawfurds came to Whitethorn. Mr. Crawfurd sent them at once; he +would not listen to a single objection or obstacle, though Lilias and +Conny were with Polly Musgrave, and it was inconvenient to spare the +others on a moment's warning. Susan could not understand it--why they +should be bidden to Whitethorn now, when it had been so long debarred to +them; but Susan liked company, even company under a cloud; and she had a +curiosity to inspect Whitethorn, into which not one of them had put a +foot, except papa and mamma, long ago. Joanna made no demur, though, a +month before, nothing would have induced her to believe that she would +be staying with Susie this March at Whitethorn. Mr. Crawfurd walked with +his daughters to the great gate, and Joanna, looking back, saw him, on +his return, switching the thistle-heads in the hedge, as she had never +witnessed him attempt in her experience; she could almost fancy he was +whistling, as Harry Jardine went piping along before he fell in love +with her. + +It was a trial when Harry Jardine was introduced into the Crawfurds' +company; but Mrs. Jardine was very hospitable and kind, and Harry +rapidly recovered or assumed his usual ease and animation, and Susan +soon lost all peculiar consciousness, and Joanna fell back on the +woman's armour, dinted, but not broken, of her self-control. In a few +hours they did wonderfully well together. Susan was delighted with the +novelties of the old-fashioned country-house, and Harry was not +particularly downcast in his misfortunes; he was almost as amusing as +ever, and invented fun for her as if he had never heard the name of +bank, and, finally, he did not complain of the arrangement, of which +Susan highly approved, that she should be Harry's companion, and Joanna +should belong to Mrs. Jardine. Joanna was so sedate, and, although she +was not a business-woman like Lilias (how Susan would boast of the +ground she had gained when she wrote and amazed Lilias!) she was used to +associating with older people, and could suit herself to their ways and +be handy to them. + +Harry smiled blandly on the partition for three whole days. At the +close of the third day, when Susan and Joanna were brushing their hair +together, Susan started the proposal that they should return to the +Ewes whenever Mrs. Jardine's inventories, and settling and sorting of +accounts, were brought to an end; "because, Joanna, Harry is getting +cross; I am sure of it; he is not half so agreeable as he was the +first night. I think he is angry because his mother keeps you to +herself, and sends me to talk to him and give him music. When I come +to think of it, it is a very senseless plan of hers, and perhaps she +is spiteful though she is so attentive, and I am not frightened at her +any longer. She is a quick woman, but as pleasant as possible; but if +you please, Joanna, you can be shut up with her, and go out with her +till we leave, for I should not care for it very much, and I see no +call for it on my part; and I am certain we had better fix on going +home again as soon as we can manage it." + +"Very well, Susan; only you speak very fast; I can scarcely follow +you. It strikes me you are wrong on one point. I never noticed that +Harry Jardine was tired of being your host, or that he minded who sat +next him." + +"Not tired of me exactly, or careless of my enjoyment, because, to be +sure, Harry Jardine is courting all of us. Nonsense, Joanna, you need +not affect to be sage and precise and unconcerned. I am not so silly, +and it is very conceited of you, and I have no patience with you. Of +course I was not blind and deaf, and I have not lost my memory. Harry +Jardine is continually looking after you, whatever his mother persuades +herself. He never notices what I wear, and he remembered ribbons you +wore months since. I put on mine, and he looked at it and said, 'That is +like one of Joanna's; is it not?' Now I know very well he never calls +any of us by our Christian names to other people, and only you to one or +other of us, and he does it pointedly, as if to express, 'I mean to be +your brother-in-law one of these days, and I want to keep you in mind of +my intentions, so I take the liberty.'" + +"Why don't you say, 'Mr. Jardine, Joanna does not like a liberty taken +with her name'?" + +"I dare say! and have him reply, 'Did Joanna tell me so herself?' I +believe he would be only too glad to have you speak to him on any +subject, and I put him into such a fume about your appearance, Jack! Of +course, I intended no harm, the words came out somehow. You remember, +last night, his showing me an engraving he had bought. 'Tell me some one +that is like,' he said to me. It was the least in the world like you, or +like your mode of dressing your hair, but it flattered you, as these +chance likenesses always do. 'Is it a little like Joanna?' I asked +trying him; and I continued, 'Our Joanna would be rather a pretty girl +if it were not for the blemish;' and there I stopped short, for I +recollected that I should not have mentioned it to him. I wish you had +seen him, how hot and haughty he was, as if you were not my own sister, +and as if I had not more business with you than he had yet. 'I wonder +how any one who has any regard for Joanna can term that mark a defect: +it is very sacred and beautiful, otherwise Joanna is without spot'--and +there he caught himself and turned away--he was about to add, 'or +wrinkle or any such thing,' and I am afraid it was a quotation from the +Bible; but I fancy he felt that he was making a fool of himself, and +held his tongue. We ought to speak of going home." + +"Susie, dear, don't be unreasonable; you know what a claim this family +has upon ours; you know what papa desires." + +"I know nothing except that Harry Jardine wants me out of his way, and +you in his way. It is very disagreeable to me, and a great +responsibility to me. You are an interested party, you cannot be +expected to see things as you should." + +"Why not? I told you to correct him when he was wrong. But I thought you +were great friends; and poor Mrs. Jardine, Susan, I can be of use to her +in her adversity. I can do things for her as I do for--" + +"As you do for papa; there is a fine confession!" + +Joanna ensconced herself in silence. Susan had provocation, but Joanna +took great care next day not to support Harry Jardine in his levity and +discontent. All the morning she spent with Mrs. Jardine; she pinned +herself to her sleeve until, after luncheon, she was taken by the old +lady into her own room, with its bright fire and shining dogs, its +broad, easy couch, its table, with the handsome ponderous writing-desk, +flanking the handsome heavy dressing-case, and its look-out from the +warmly-curtained windows quite across the moor. + +"What a comfortable room, Mrs. Jardine!" Joanna could not help +exclaiming; "I never saw a more fresh, inspiriting view to my taste, and +such a stretch of sky,--you may sit and foretell all weathers here." + +"Yes, my dear, and I have foretold all weathers here. I'll talk to you a +little of my nice room, and why I am so sorry to think of leaving it." + +"We hope you will not leave it," Joanna ventured, timidly. + +"Ah! that rests with others now. But I came here a gay girl; I visited +at Whitethorn before my marriage, Joanna; I dwelt here a thoughtless, +happy young wife; and here I kept Harry, not quite so troublesome as +now; and here I lay a heart-stricken widow while they were bringing home +the corpse of my husband, who had left me a vigorous, determined man two +hours before." + +"It must have been dreadful! dreadful!" murmured Joanna faintly; but +lifting up her face to Mrs. Jardine with the earnest confiding eyes, the +blanched cheeks, and that seal on her brow--"Oh, how often papa and I +have thought of it, and pitied you and ourselves!" + +"My dear, it was one of those dispensations of Providence which one +never forgets to the end of a long life. But I was a sinner, I deserved +what I bore; we all deserve the sorest evil that can afflict us; and, +thank God, there is mercy mingled with the greatest misery. I do not +speak often of it, but I can do so to-day; and I find it is a relief to +talk to you of our misfortune, because you can sympathize with me; you +were a sufferer in it like myself; it cannot be to many other living +persons what it is to us two. I have had that brought home to me, my +love. I do not grieve or frighten you, Joanna?" + +"No, Mrs. Jardine, I have lamented it all my life. I am very grateful +that you should let me say that papa was very sorry; they sound very +little words, Mrs. Jardine, but you understand them, and papa will +never cease to be sorry in this world, and we have only wanted to +comfort you." + +"Poor fellow!" sighed Mrs. Jardine absently. "Crawfurd of the Ewes, an +accomplished, pleasant fellow--so broken a man!" + +They talked a little longer of the tragedy with composed but strong +mutual interest and commiseration; and Mrs. Jardine acknowledged that +such pity was not like the world's pity, but was delicate and tender as +the ministry of any Barnabas or son of consolation; and when she +finished, she kissed Joanna on the forehead, and said to herself, "Harry +was right. If this is the sign of George Jardine's blood, it was placed +there to pay her father's debt, and set her apart for us." + +"Now, the sun is shining out, Joanna--'a clear shining after +rain,'--don't you like the Bible words?--I know you do. You must have a +walk yet. Why, the violets will be out in another ten days. Hand me my +garden bonnet, and we will have a turn in the garden or shrubbery. I saw +Harry and your sister take the way there. My dear, you have the look of +a sister I was very fond of, and I think Mr. Jardine would have admired +you. Yonder they are, Joanna. I should like that you would send Miss +Crawfurd to me, and have a stroll with Harry yourself. You will injure +your health, child, if you do not attend more to yourself. And, Joanna, +if my son questions you as to what I said to you, for he is a curious +fellow, tell him I have been reading a text for myself this morning, and +for several mornings--'I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.' And +although I am an old woman, I have got it by heart. And bid him show you +the thorn walk." + +Joanna did not like to decline a commission of Mrs. Jardine's, but she +could no more have asked Harry to walk with her than if he had been a +duke. However, Harry was loitering and watching them, and came forward +at this moment, and Mrs. Jardine herself appropriated Susan, and +transferred Joanna to Harry. + +"I am very much obliged to you for your kindness to my mother," said +Harry formally--no Joanna this time, no name at all. "I never saw my +mother take so much to any one," he continued eagerly; "she is naturally +a self-reliant, reserved woman; but she has opened up to you?" + +"Yes," answered Joanna softly; "and do you know, she has been talking to +me of the past." + +Harry started. "What did she say, Joanna? She could not offend you. Pray +what did she say to you?" + +"She did not offend me--far from that--she was very good, and she gave +me a message to you, if you were inquisitive--she had been studying a +text, 'I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.'" + +"Ah! I am very happy to understand it." + +"It seems easily understood; and she advised us to walk in the thorn +walk. Is it near at hand? Shall we have time?" + +"We must take time, we cannot disappoint my mother. The thorn walk is a +favourite with her all the year round, although it is only in its beauty +in the month of May. Shall I explain to you why she has selected it +to-day?" + +"Yes, if you please." + +"My father lived here, when he was a young man, with his uncle the +laird. They had no near female relative. It was a dull house, as dull an +establishment as my mother and I maintain together." + +"Much duller, I should think." + +"No; for before a certain time he was not sensible of its deficiency; he +had no definite wishes or hopes for an increase to their circle, a +re-modelling of their housekeeping. My mother was distantly related to +him; she came on a visit to my grand-uncle with an elderly lady, who was +also a connexion; she was a lively young girl then. My father often told +her afterwards to what an incalculable degree her presence brightened +the old house and the two forlorn gentlemen; it would have been utter +darkness if she had left them again to their old hazy sunlessness; so my +father took the desperate step of leading her to the thorn walk. It was +the month of May then, and it was covered with blossoms, sending a white +shower on their bent heads from a whole line of trysting trees; but, +when I think of it, March, which is lightly esteemed, is preferable to +May, for March has all the promise of the year in prospect; and see, it +has cloth of gold and silver to step upon, in the shape of the bright, +commonplace, unjustly overlooked crocuses." + +"You have been reading the seedsman's tallies, Mr. Jardine." + +"Never mind; you agree with me?" + +"The world and the poets choose May. And you begin to be eccentric and +choose March." + +"My father conducted my mother here; she has told me the circumstances a +hundred times, though she is a quiet woman; and she wore such a cloth +gown as you wear to-day." + +"Mr. Jardine, you are talking nonsense; this is a new stuff, I assure +you it has not been half-a-dozen months out of the looms; and do you +suppose, sir, that I shall wear this dress in the month of May?" + +"That comes of confiding those details to men. I always thought it was a +gown like this one; and he asked her to abide at Whitethorn, and crown +his lairdship and gladden and sweeten his entire future career; and he +succeeded at last in winning her consent. And this is the thorn walk, +Joanna, and I am free to re-enact the old passage in two lives, and +plead with you not to desert Whitethorn if we are to retain it. I am +poorer by a few thousands since I first made the same prayer to you; but +your father puts no weight on the difference, or, in his rare +generosity, lets it tell in my favour; and I don't think we need break +our hearts about our little loss, if we look to our great gain. Here I +beg you, as the humblest and most sincere of your petitioners, to put +your life into my life, and cause the united life to bud and blossom +into the May of the heart." + +"And November and December would come to that year likewise." + +"Yes, they will; but they will tread hard upon the real new-year, the +veritable new year, that will + + "Ring out the false, ring in the true" + +of this hoary world. Will you travel to it with me, Joanna? Shall we +strive and pray, and help each other to reach it together? Shall we +begin it even here? Your father will bestow you solemnly and gladly; my +mother will accept you with a blessing." + +Joanna said, "Yes; God bless us, Harry," reverently; and, reverently, +God blessed them. + +Harry was energetic, and Joanna was prudent, and old Mrs. Jardine was +proud of the spirit with which they saved the swamped estate of +Whitethorn even from Mr. Crawfurd's bond; and having helped themselves, +they helped others, then and ever afterwards. + +Polly Musgrave applied to them in time. Polly had written on Joanna +Crawfurd's marriage a jeering, jibing letter. "So you have gone and done +as I prophesied, after all your wrath on the moor, and preciseness at +Hurlton. But, first, you were as silly as possible, and wanted to revive +the Middle Ages, which was quite in Don Quixote's tone; you to pine and +die, and he to shoot himself (as violent deaths are hereditary), or +addict himself to loose living and destruction. Then, when he loses his +money, and in common sense you may both think better of it, shake hands +and go your several ways; you make all up, post haste, and come together +with a flourish of trumpets, and poverty _will_ come in at the door, and +love fly out at the window. Fie! I am ashamed of you, after all!" + +But Polly wrote in a different strain a year or two later:--"DEAR +COUSIN JOANNA,--I am not so healthy and heartless as I used to be, +and I have been teased with a desire to come to Whitethorn, and perhaps +profit by your carriage in this world, as I never dreamt of once upon a +time. But I will say this for myself, I only wrote and crowed over you +when you were quite able to afford it. I was very glad of your +happiness, child (as our grandmother wrote, and one of our grandmothers +was the same person! think of that, Harry Jardine!). Is Harry Jardine as +promising as he used to be before you took him in hand; or is the +promise fulfilled in an upright, generous, gladsome (and because of that +last word you would insist on adding godly) man? He was a man of whom to +make a spoon or spoil a horn, and you were the woman to perform the +delectable feat." + +Polly had found her heart not a very lofty one, not a very sensitive +one--but an honest and kind heart in the main, which was permitted to +extricate itself from the slough of luxury and self-indulgence, and beat +warmly and faithfully throughout the rest of its course. + + + + +ON THE STAGE AND OFF THE STAGE. + + +I.--THE "BEAR" AT BATH. + +The Place was old Bath, in the days immediately succeeding those of +Alexander Pope and William Hogarth, and dovetailing into those of Horace +Walpole and the Wesleys. + +The Age was one of rackets and reaction from morning till night, and +Bath was the head-quarters of the first--the scene of the pump-room, the +raffle, the public breakfast, the junketing at mid-day, the ball at +midnight, the play, the ridotto. + +The Scene was a private room in the "Bear," when it was crowded with +peers, bullies, rooks, highwaymen, leaders of fashion, waiting-women, +and stage stars. The "Bear" was held by great Mrs. Price, a hostess +large, shining, portly--a friendly great woman, too magnificent to be +fussy, or mean, or spiteful. The "Bear" looked out on the Parade, with +its throngs of beaux--veritable beaux, with Beau Nash at their +head--wigged, caned, and snuff-boxed, and belles with trains borne by +black boys, cambric caps and aprons, and abundance of velvet patches. In +and out of its yawning doorway strutted fine gentlemen, chaplains, and +wits, while grooms, public and private, swarmed round the house. Its +broad stairs and low wide corridors, traversed by the more private +company, led to sitting rooms of all degrees, panelled with oak or lined +with cedar, with worked worsted wonders in the shape of chairs, and +China monsters by way of ornaments. + +The Person was a handsome woman, attired negligently in what was called +a sacque, with a mob-cap. She sat sipping a dish of tea, as sober women +will after fatigue or in anticipation of exertion, and making occasional +reference to some shabby, well-worn volumes and printed sheets piled up +beside her. Her attitude was studious, for days when a chapter of the +Bible, a cookery recipe, a paper by Addison or Dick Steele, or a copy of +verses, included all the knowledge after which the gentler sex aspired; +her retirement was remarkable at that gay era, and in that gadding +neighbourhood; and her morning dress, though it would not have offended +a Tabitha Tidy, looked plain among the silvered mazarines and the +tippets of pheasants' tails. + +She was a woman of about five-and-twenty; but her beauty, though still +in its prime, showed the wear and tear of years. Had it not been that +its chief power lay in the intellect and goodness which sat on the +capacious but not cloudy brow, and gleamed out of the cordial dark +blue eyes, and hovered round the somewhat wide and somewhat lined but +never sensual mouth--you would have said this was a faded queen whom +the world was mad to worship. As it was, she did look faded this +spring afternoon, and occasionally fretted audibly enough as she +turned over the leaves of her volumes, and sighed "heigho!" as she +looked at her repeater--not quite so common an appendage as the little +Geneva story-tellers, though a footpad carried always a goodly supply, +and a gentleman's gentleman of very fine prestige would wear a couple, +"one in each fob"--and sipped her tea; which, by the way, she drank, +not out of one of the diminutive China cups, but out of an old +battered, but very shining little silver tankard. + +Anon my lady rose and strolled to a back window. She looked across the +noisy, crowded stable-yard into the corner of a garden, where a lilac +bush was budding into dusty dim purple and a hoary apple-tree blossomed +white and pink like a blushing child, away over the green fields to a +farmhouse upon a hill, where russet and yellow stacks proved the +farmer's command of ready money, or caution in selling. From just such +another farmhouse as that on which our bright benevolent woman--even in +the dumps--was gazing wistfully, issued Caroline Inchbald, a beauty, and +a generous, virtuous woman under great temptations, a friend and rival +on equal terms with Amelia Opie. + +But hark! an arrival in the next room: fresh guests--country people of +consequence, for they were ushered in by Mrs. Price herself, who +received in person their orders for an incongruous meal, neither dinner +nor supper, to recruit them for some gala in which they had the prospect +of figuring, to judge from a torrent of exclamations which pierced +through a convenient cupboard in the partition. + +"Make haste, girls," in bass tones. + +"Eat away, Fiddy," in treble, mimicking the bass. + +"Uncle, don't attempt the game-pie. We'll be too late, as sure as our +heads. Didn't you hear Mrs. Price say there was a power of company +wanting seats; it would be too bad if we lost the sight after all." + +"What, Prissy, worse than Admiral Byng's defeat, or my spoilt medal?" + +"Oh! Uncle Rowland, how can you joke! Now, Fiddy, there's a dear +creature, don't have anything to say to the cream-tart. What although +we're as hungry as hawks, if we only get a good view to talk about at +the Vicarage and Larks' Hall." + +"There--Prissy, dear, then I've done. I'll just run and shake our myrtle +crapes and fresh pinch our stomachers." + +"Hold! no such thing, lasses. I'm not to be left here to feed in +solitude, and without e'er a portfolio or picture. You little geese, it +is two good hours to the exhibition. Are you to be frizzing, and +painting, and lacing, and mincing, and capering for two mortal hours, +and your poor country uncle left to spoil his digestion for want of +something else to do than eat? Is that your gratitude, when here have I +come against my will to introduce you to the wicked, gay world, and +spoil your Arcadian simplicity? Don't make faces, Prissy!" + +"Oh! Uncle Rowland; you are making base pretences." + +"Indeed, sir, I think you are as wild to see the wonders as we are." + +But the remonstrance had its effect, for the young ladies evidently sat +down again, and, by the clatter of knives and forks, one could judge +they condescended to do some justice to the good things provided for +their solace, while the conversation went on in more regular order. + +The lady in the Nankin sitting-room had decidedly the advantage in this +situation, as she did not soliloquize in private, and she heard through +the cupboard and the locked door of communication the chat of her +neighbours. They spoke no treason, and they ought to be more prudent if +they told secrets: it was a real benefit to a lonely wight, a little +irritated in nerve and temper, to be a party to their lively, +affectionate, simple intercourse; and, as the truth must be told, the +lady in the Nankin sitting-room crossed her hands with a motion of +indolent interest and turned her head with an air of listless pleasure, +nodding and beating her foot lightly on the floor now and then, in +interjection and commentary. She could figure the group perfectly. Two +rosy little girls brought into the town for a day and a night's shopping +and gadding, as they would call it, under the escort of an indulgent +uncle: a bachelor probably, else madam, his wife, would have been there +to keep them in order; and not so very elderly, for the good man was of +what is styled a sprightly turn, and though his nieces submitted to his +authority, there was a decidedly modified amount of reverence in the way +in which they insisted, + +"You must comb out your curls, Uncle Rowland." + +"And I'll tie your cravat for you, sir, and make you quite smart. We are +not to appear abroad with a country bumpkin or a fright of a student, +are we, Prissy?" + +And mutual jokes were bandied pretty freely. + +"Now, Prissy, are we to see the famous Traveller?" + +"No, sir, it is to be the Virtuoso, with the mock copper coins." + +"Bronze, child, bronze." + +"We're to have nobody in particular, only Lady Betty," chimed in the +more girlish voice. "The company, the other gentlefolks, will be quite +sufficient besides." + +"And Fiddy will scream when the blunderbusses are fired. Shall we +take the precaution of putting cotton in her ears beforehand?" +derided the man. + +Then the single lady fixed further, that Prissy (Mistress Priscilla, +doubtless, in company down in Somersetshire) was the cleverest and most +forward, and that Fiddy (Mistress Fidelia) was the shyest and, perhaps, +the prettiest, for she was clearly Uncle Rowland's favourite. But then, +for all her rosy cheeks, poor child! she was delicate, since there was a +constant cry from the conductor of the party, "Fiddy, you vain doll, +remember your mantle; Madam is not here to wrap you up, nor Granny." + +"Oh, sir! we've lots of scarfs and shawls, all for Fiddy; and she is to +tie on her Iris hood against the draughts." + +"What! one of the poppies and bluebells that Will Honeycomb admired? +She'll beat you, Prissy, out and out. I would sicken and bear her +company." + +"I wonder to hear you, sir. I can tell you, Granny would not coddle me +so. Granny is always preaching of hardening weakness." + +"Ah, the old mother is no milksop!" + +There, was she not right? Had she not full hints of the history of the +Vicarage and madam its mistress, the mother of these two little +girls; and of the parish priest her husband, their father--the younger +brother of the tolerably educated squire yonder, with his Larks' Hall; +and of Granny, who kept house there still for her elder son, where she +had once reigned queen paramount in the hearty days of her homely +goodman. It was a scroll fairly unfolded, and perfectly legible to the +experienced woman. + +"Uncle Rowland," prefaced the soft voice, more quietly, "do you really +think the gay world of the town so much more vicious than the sober +world of the country?" + +"Why, no, my dear," answered the manly voice, now graver, and with a +little sadness in its ring, "ignorance is not innocence, and depravity +is vastly more general than any mode. Nevertheless, there are customs of +which I would greatly prefer Prissy and Fiddy to remain unaware, like +their mother before them." + +"But Granny lived in the great world, and there is not one of us like +Granny." + +"The risk is too great, child; the fire is wondrous strong, though the +pure gold be sometimes refined in the process--as your father would +preach." + +"And, sir, this Mistress Lumley, or Lady Betty, as they called her +downstairs, is as virtuous as she is clever." + +"You may depend upon that, Miss, or you had not come to Bath to see her +play. They term the poor soul Lady Betty because she has turned on her +heel from the worthless London sparks, and taught them to keep their +distance." + +"Uncle Rowland, I don't think you heartily sympathize with charming Lady +Betty." + +"Tut! child, I have not seen her. You would not have me captivated ere I +ever set eyes on my enslaver? But, to speak honestly, little Fiddy, I +own I have no great leaning to actresses and authoresses. There are +perils enough in a woman's natural course, without her challenging the +extremes of a fictitious career. More than that, Fiddy, I have not much +faith in the passion that is ranted to the public; even if it were +always a creditable passion. Those who are sorely hurt don't bawl, +child: deep streams are still." + +"I will play to him," the lady of the Nankin sitting-room says to +herself, her lips parting with a slight smile, and her colour rising at +the same time. Your true woman is easily pained, and, the more fully +furnished, the more finely skilled, she is all the more susceptible to +blame as to praise, and so on that account the less qualified for public +life. There was many a strong enough argument against the stage and the +desk which Master Rowland might have used instead of his weak one. + +Lady Betty, in that bubbling, frothing, steaming London--Mistress Lumley +in the provinces--was a young actress of great repute and good +character, who had compelled success, like Mrs. Siddons after her, and +reigned for several seasons, and still her fame was paramount and her +respectability unquestioned. In those very dissipated days of Queen Anne +and the early Georges, the broad prejudices which darken the stage were +light in tint and slender in force. The great world was tumultuous, +giddy, reckless, with innumerable victims falling suddenly into its +yawning chasms, like the figures from the bridge in Mirza's vision; and +the theatre was not a more exposed sphere than many another, and that +made all the difference in the world. Very few save the strictest +Methodists condemned it, when Henry Brooke wrote for it, and Dr. Johnson +stood with his hands behind his back in the green room. + +Mrs. Betty Lumley, tall, comely, high-principled, warm-hearted, and +ingenuous, was come of yeomen ancestors. She did not see a play in a +barn and run away after the drama, like Caroline Inchbald; but on the +death of her father and mother, she went up with an elder sister and +young brother to London to seek for an employment and a livelihood. +Encountering some person of dramatic pursuits--manager, stage-painter, +ticket-taker, or the like, or the wife of one or other--she was +recommended to the stage. She was supported in the idea by all her +connections, for then no one questioned the perfect respectability of +the profession. She studied hard in new, though not uncongenial fields; +she ventured; she tried again and again, with the "modest but +indomitable pluck" of genius, and she at last won a position and a +prospect of independence. In all this nobody blamed her; on the +contrary, the magnates of the hour--kings, councillors, bishops--awarded +her great credit for her parts, her industry, her integrity, her honour. + +Not a lady of quality in London was more respected and admired, rightly +or wrongly, than Mistress Betty. At the same time it is possible that, +having reached the goal, could she have turned back and begun her walk +anew, she would have hesitated before following this thorny path. It was +a thorny path, for all its applause and success; nay, on account of +them; even with a good woman like Mistress Betty it required all her +sincerity, her sobriety, and, according to the prevailing standard, her +religion, to deliver her from imminent danger. Moreover, with the +attainment of the object, had come the bitter drops which qualified the +cup. Her plain, fond, innocent sister was in her grave; and so within +the two last years was the young brother, for whom her interest had +procured a post of some importance in the Colonies, whence he bequeathed +to Mistress Betty, his dear distinguished sister, his little savings. +She struggled to be resigned, and was not only weary, but tempted to +grasp at material rewards. This was the turning-point of her life. She +would be virtuous to the last. Her honest, clear character revolted at +vice; but she might harden, grow greedy of power, become imperious and +arrogant. For, remember, I do not say that Mistress Betty had contracted +no contamination. No, no; she had suffered from her selfish fits, her +vain fits, her malicious fits--she had experienced her hours of boldness +and levity--she had made her own way to eminence--she had struggled with +unscrupulous rivals--she had heard much which we would have wished her +not to have heard--she had been a member of that wild, ultra-fine, +coarse, scandalous society: but as we find saints in strange company +sometimes, so the cordial, faithful, generous woman remained with only a +slight coating of affectation and worldliness, thirst for praise, desire +after excitement, habit of command. + +"I'll play to this horrid country Justice," whispers Mistress Betty, +quite roused, and looking animated and brilliant already. "I hear by the +gentleness of his voice, when he speaks of the sins and sorrows of +mankind, and when he addresses his little girl, that the fellow has a +heart; but he gave me no quarter, and he shall receive none in return. +I'll conquer him. To come within sight and sound of the boards with his +muddy boots and his snarls, spoiling the enjoyment of the lasses!" + +Very true, Mistress Betty, it was neither very wise nor very gallant; +but you ought to remember that the most loyal prejudices are sometimes +as loyally abandoned. + + +II.--LADY BETTY ON THE STAGE. + +The principal theatre of the queen of watering-places in her palmy days +was filling fast, as it had done for the last two nights. Other +attractions lost their power. Ombre, basset, hazard, lansquenet, loo, +spread their cards and counters in vain for crafty or foolhardy fingers. +The master of the ceremonies found his services at a discount; no troops +of maidens, no hosts of squires, answered to his appeal; no double sets +were forming to the inspiring strains of "Nancy Dawson." The worthy, +charming, gifted Lady Betty had come down for three nights to improve, +entertain, and enrapture, and this being her last night the theatre +constituted the only orbit in which the planets would revolve. + +The world was here in full-blown variety; sublime, languid peers, needy +placemen, hilarious foxhunters, brave tradesmen, aspiring mechanics, +poor good-for-nothings; sober housewives, whose thoughts were still of +their husbands' shirt-fronts and their hasty-puddings, and who never +dreamt that they were impugning their sobriety by attending a play; and +above all, fine ladies armed with their fans and their essences. As a +whole, the audience was in a vastly respectful attitude--the gentlemen +tapping their snuff-boxes meditatively, and desisting in a great measure +from their loud laughter, their bets, their cursing and swearing; the +ladies only whispering behind their handkerchiefs, and moving to cause +their diamonds to sparkle, all in acknowledgment of the vicinity of the +fair and potent Lady Betty. + +The play was _Venice Preserved_, and Lady Betty entered in an early +scene. Truly a fine woman--not so lovely as Anne Oldfield, not so superb +as Sarah Siddons; but with a frank, fair, womanly presence--bright, +genial, quick, passionate through the distress of Belvidera, the +repudiated daughter and beggared wife. + +Dressed in the English fashion under the Georges, walked the maiden +reared in the air blowing off the lagoons within the shadow of the grim +lion of St. Mark, to such sentimental accompaniments as the dipping oar +and the gondolier, and finished off with the peculiar whims of Betty +Lumley. She wore a fair, flowered brocade, for which William Hogarth +might have designed the pattern and afterwards prosecuted for payment +the unconscionable weaver; a snow-white lace kerchief was crossed over +her bosom and reached even to her shapely chin, where it met the little +black velvet collar with its pearl sprig; her brown hair (which had +shown rather thin, rolled up beneath her mob-cap) was shaken out and +gathered in rich bows with other pearl sprigs on the top of her head; +her cheeks showed slightly hollow, but were so fresh, so modest, so +cool in their unpainted paleness, and on the smallest provocation +acquired the purest sea-shell pink which it would have been a sin and a +shame to eclipse with staring paint; the contour, a little sharper than +it had once been, was only rendered more delicate by the defect, and so +sweet yet--so very sweet; her beautiful arms were bare to the elbow, but +shaded with falls of cobweb lace; and in one hand, poised daintily +between two fingers, she held a natural flower, a bunch of common rural +cowslips. At this period of the year such an appendage under any other +touch would have been formal as the Miss Flamborough's oranges, but it +was graceful in this woman's slight clasp. + +"Enchanting creature!" "Fine woman!" "Otway's devoted wife to the life!" +murmured the company, in a flutter of genuine admiration--forgetting +themselves, these Sir Plumes and Belindas, once in a way. + +"I do hope the poor soul will not be deserted and undone--she's so +easy to serve--and all Bath, and, for that matter, Lon'on too, as I +believe, at her feet!" says Mrs. Price, emphatically, to young +Medlicot, whom she is patronizing for one night, because he knows +somewhat of plays and players; and who, in spite of his allegiance to +swimming, simpering Clarissa, would give a fortune to paint that pose. +Belvidera need fear no lolling, no sneering, no snapping at her little +peculiarities this night. + +As she came on, "kind, good, and tender," telling poor distracted, +misguided Jaffier, in his humiliation, that she joyed more in him than +did his mother, Lady Betty darted a sharp, searching glance through the +boxes. Ah! yonder they were! The little girls the parson's daughters, +with their uncle the squire, fault-finding, but honourable. Two +round-faced, eager, happy girls, intent upon the play, and the great +London star, beautiful, bewitching Lady Betty, who is now looking at +them--yes, actually staring them full in the face with her deep, +melting, blue eyes, while she reassures her cowardly husband. How dared +uncle Rowland disparage her? + +There was uncle Rowland, younger than Lady Betty had taken him for--not +more than five-and-forty--his coat trimmed with silver lace, a little +old-fashioned, and even a little shabby in such company, his Mechlin tie +rather out of date and already disordered, and his cocked-hat crushed +below his arm. His face is bluff and ruddy among his pinched and sallow +brethren: that of a big English gentleman, who hunted, shot, or fished, +or walked after his whistling ploughman every morning, and on occasions +daringly dashed in amongst the poachers by the palings of his park or +paddock on summer evenings; yet whose hands were reasonably white and +flexible, as if they handled other things than guns and fishing-rods, +and whose eyes, at once clear and meditative, had studied more than the +spire of his brother's church and the village street, more than quiet +country towns, and loud watering-places, and deep metropolises. + +Master Rowland had no family ties beyond the Vicarage; and was in no +hurry to marry or settle, as the phrase went; though he was settled long +ago, and might have married once a year without any impediment from old +madam, as Mistress Betty would have been swift to suppose. He perfectly +approved of Mr. Spectator's standard of virtue--"Miss Liddy can dance a +jig, raise a pasty, write a good hand, keep an account, give a +reasonable answer, and do as she is bid;" but then, it only made him +yawn. The man was sinking down into an active-bodied, half-learned, +half-facetious bachelor. He was mentally cropping dry and solid food +contentedly, and, at the same time, he was a bit of a humourist. He +loved his little Prissy and Fiddy, as dear god-daughters, whom he had +spoilt as children, and whom he was determined to present with portions +when he presided at their wedding dinners; but he had no mind to take +any of their fellows, for better for worse, as his companion, till death +did them part. + +Then Lady Betty stepped upon the stage at Bath, and before a multitude +of frivolous and simple, or gross and depraved spectators, incapable +of comprehending her, she played to the manly, modestly intellectual +squire. + +Master Rowland woke up, looked his fill, as open-mouthed as the rest, +and while he did so, his system received a shock. Lady Betty was +revenged to an extent she had not foreseen. + +The noble woman went with her whole soul into the sorrows of the +dark-eyed, brown-faced sister whom Titian might have painted, and made +them accord with her fair English love of justice, her blue-eyed +devotion to her husband, her Saxon fearlessness and faith in the hour of +danger: only she did look strange and foreign when, in place of lying +prostrate in submission and rising in chaste, meek patience to rear her +orphan son, she writhed, like a Constance in agony, and died more +speedily from her despair than Jaffier by the dagger which on the +scaffold freed Pierre. The assembly rose in whole rows, and sobbed and +swooned. Mrs. Prissy and Mrs. Fiddy cried in delicious abandonment; +Master Rowland sat motionless. + +"I declare I had forgotten the Justice," reflects Lady Betty, resting +behind the scenes. "I do believe I am that poor Belvidera for the last +half-hour. I meant to bring the man to tears. His blooming face was as +white as a sheet;--poor, dear, good man, I hope he's none the worse of +it." + +Master Rowland knows full well that she is Mistress Betty Lumley the +great London actress, not Belvidera the Venetian senator's daughter; but +he will never again turn from the chill of his stone-arched hall, where +his fingers have grown benumbed riveting a piece of armour or copying an +epitaph or an epigram, or linger under his mighty oak-tree, or advise +with his poor tenants, or worship in church, without the sickening sense +of a dull blank in his heart and home. + + +III.--MISTRESS BETTY BECOMES NURSE. + +Bath was sleeping as soundly as if it had been a quaker town: any sounds +of riot were scattered and subdued. The dowager did not count her gains +as she clutched them, while borne along the street by the glare of the +dropping flambeaux. Her son, who, like the young Duke of Marlborough and +his brother peer, carried no meaner change than golden guineas, did not +clink them as he tossed them to the chairmen fighting for the prize. +The "Bear" was reasonably still for a great public-house with twos and +threes of travellers departing at all hours, as waiters and ostlers +stirred on their behalf, horses trotted out from adjoining stables, and +circles of chariots suffered displacement--all in addition to the +distinct and fervent sensation of the night coach. + +Suddenly a noise and a flurry arose in the grey light and its general +repose. Accents of terror and anxiety are heard, and a movement of pity +and distress arises and grows in the establishment. A young girl is +attacked by violent illness--a life in its spring-time is threatened +with sudden extinction; friends at hand are seeking remedies and +bewailing the calamity--friends at a distance, all unconscious, are +mentioned with subdued voices and averted eyes. + +Mrs. Price was wiping her eyes and carrying up restoratives with her own +hands. "'Twas Mistress Fiddy, whom she had known from a child; the niece +of Master Rowland, who had always supported the house; and madam, her +mother, away at the Vicarage, and the dear child, so good and quiet." + +"I will come, my good Mrs. Price. My sister had these fainting fits; I'm +used to them. I'll revive the child: the poor child, I am sure she'll +not be offended at the liberty. Pooh! I can sit up as well as sleep +after playing. Dear! dear! Many a night I was happy to sit up with Deb," +pleaded an urgent, benevolent voice, waxing plaintive towards the +conclusion of the speech. + +"Indeed you are too gracious, my lady--I mean madam," protested the +perplexed, overwhelmed Mrs. Price; "but I dare not venture without +Master Rowland's consent: he will do everything himself, issue his +orders even, although Dr. Fulford's been upstairs lending his advice +these ten minutes." + +"A fudge for doctors when there's a helpful woman at hand, Mrs. Price? +Convey my message to the squire; inform him that I've had +experience--mind, experience--and am a full-grown, reasonable woman, and +not a fine lady. I know the poor little sister will be shaking like a +leaf, and frightening the darling; and you are stiff in the joints +yourself, Mrs. Price, and a little overcome. I'm just the person, so let +me in!" + +Master Rowland, without his coat (for though he had an orderly turn of +his own, he was not a methodical enough man to travel with a gown and +slippers in his valise), was labouring to recover his niece; Mistress +Prissy, with her cloak huddled round her, was making magnanimous +efforts to aid her uncle; while the poor little sufferer--guileless, +affectionate Mistress Fiddy--lay pale, faint, and chill, with life +flickering beneath her half-closed eyelids and in the gushes of her +fitful breath. Master Rowland's trouble rendered him outwardly cold +and hard, as it does some men; yet Mistress Fiddy's closing eyes +turned trustfully to him, and her weak fingers clung tightly to his +strong hand. + +"No, no; the fewer onlookers the better. What would a stranger do here, +Mrs. Price?" he inquired angrily, remembering, with a pang, that certain +new, unaccountable, engrossing emotions had quite banished Fiddy from +his thoughts and notice, when he might have detected the signs of +approaching illness, met them and vanquished them before their climax. + +"Bid him speak a word with me, Mrs. Price, a gentleman cannot refuse. I +have reasons which will excuse my importunity," reiterated that +sympathetic voice. + +He walked out doggedly, and never once lifted his eyes. "Madam, I am +your servant; but we do not need your help: my niece would be scared by +the presence of a stranger. Reserve your charity----" "for the poor" he +was about to add; but she put her frank hand upon his arm, and said, +"Your worship, I believe I could nurse the young lady better than +anybody: I have seen my dear sister afflicted, as I judge similarly. Do +not stand on ceremony, sir, and deprive a poor girl of a benefit which +Providence has sent her, if you would not regret it. I beg your pardon, +but do let me succour her." + +He looked up. There she stood in her white wrapping-gown and cap, ready +prepared for her patient; so appropriate-looking in dress and face, with +her broad forehead full of thought, and her cheek flushed with feeling; +an able tender woman in her prime, endeavouring to do Christian offices, +longing to pour balm into gaping, smarting wounds, imploring to be +allowed to fulfil her mission. He bowed, and stood aside; she curtsied, +and passed in. He heard her voice the next moment, low, but perfectly +audible, cheerful and pleasant, addressing Mistress Prissy. "My dear +madam, your uncle has permitted me to count myself a mature friend, like +madam your mother; and after this introduction you will excuse me for +taking care of you. Doctor, what drops do you favour? You have them +there; if you please, I'll offer them: I've administered them before." +She spoke to the doctor very courteously; perhaps remarking that he was +young and somewhat agitated. "Mayn't I chafe Mistress Fiddy's hands, +doctor? You're better, my dear?" + +Mistress Fiddy's head was on her arm; her eyes were raised to her +nurse's face wonderingly but complacently, and, though quite conscious, +Mistress Fiddy involuntarily sighed out "mother." Very motherly was the +elder woman's assurance: "Yes, my dear, I'll serve as madam your mother +in her absence, till madam herself comes; and she'll laugh at our +confusion and clumsiness, I warrant." + +Mistress Fiddy smiled a little smile herself. Nature was reacting in its +own redemption; the necessary stimulus was obtained, and the little lass +was in a fair way of recovery. + +But Mistress Betty did not leave off her cares; she elected herself +mistress of the sick room--for she reigned there as everywhere else. +She dismissed shivering, tearful, grateful Prissy with a hug, and a +whispered promise that her dear sister Fiddy would be as lively as a +grig in the morning; got rid of the doctor and Mrs. Price, and all +but routed Master Rowland, succeeding in driving him as far as the +next room. + +How light her foot was--light as her fingers were nimble; how cleverly +she shaded the sick girl from the light, without depriving her of air! +How resigned Fiddy was to be consigned to her! how quickly and entirely +the child had confided in her; she had hailed her as another mother! +Mistress Betty was putting the chamber to rights, in defiance of all +the chamber-maids of the "Bear;" she was concocting some refreshing +drink, for which Mrs. Price had supplied the materials, over the fire, +which she had ordered in case of mould and damp, even in the +well-seasoned "Bear." Once she began to sing softly what might have been +a cradle-song, but stopped short, as if fearing to disturb Fiddy, and +composed herself to perfect stillness. Then Master Rowland heard +Mistress Fiddy question Mistress Betty in her weak, timid voice, on +Fiddy's own concerns. "You said you had seen these fits before, madam? +May I be so bold as to ask, did the sufferer recover?" + +There was a moment's silence. "It was my sister, Fiddy: she was much +older than I. She had a complication of diseases, besides being liable +to swoons all her life. My dear, she died, as we must all die when our +time comes; and may we all be as well prepared as was Deb! In the +meantime we are in God's hands. I have been taken with fainting fits +myself, Fiddy, ere now. I think they are in my constitution, but they +are not called out yet, and I believe they will be kept under; as, I +fully trust, country air, and exercise, and early hours, will conquer +yours." + +"And you will take great care of yourself, and go into the country +sometimes, dear Mistress Betty," pleaded the girl fondly, forgetting +herself. + +Mistress Betty laughed, and turned the conversation, and finally read +her patient to sleep with the Morning Lesson, given softly and +reverently, as good Bishop Ken himself might have done it. + +The poor squire was a discomfited, disordered Sir Roger. He could not +cope with this fine woman; and then it came home to him imperatively +that he was precisely in that haggard, unbecoming state of looks and +costume significantly expressed in those days by the powder being out of +a man's hair and his frills rumpled. So he absented himself for an hour, +and returned freshened by a plunge in the river and a puff in his wig. +But, alas! he found that Mistress Betty, without quitting Mistress +Fiddy's bedchamber, and by the mere sleight of hand of tying on a worked +apron with vine clusters and leaves and tendrils all in purple and green +floss silks, pinning a pink bow under her mob-cap, and sticking in her +bosom a bunch of dewy ponceau polyanthuses, had beat him most +completely. + +Mistress Fiddy was, as Mistress Betty had predicted, so far +re-established that she could breakfast with the party and talk of +riding home later in the day; though wan yet, like one of those roses +with a faint colour and a fleeting odour in their earliest bud. And +Mistress Betty breakfasted with the Parnells, and was such company as +the little girls had never encountered before; nor, for that matter, +their uncle before them, though he kept his discovery a profound secret. +It was not so pleasant in one sense, and yet in another it made him feel +like a king. + +This was Mistress Betty's last day in Bath, and she was to travel up to +Town in the train of my Lord and Lady Salop, by easy stages and long +halts; otherwise she must have hired servants, or carried pistols, and +been prepared to use them, in the mail. Fortunately the Salops' chariots +and gigs did not start till the afternoon, so that Mistress Betty had +the morning to spend with her new friends, and she was delighted to +bestow it on them; though my Lord and Lady and their satellites were +perpetually sending lacqueys with compliments, conveniences, and little +offerings to court Mistress Betty,--the star in the plenitude of her +lustre, who might emulate Polly Peacham, and be led to the altar by +another enslaved Duke of Bolton. + +How pleasant Mistress Betty was with the girls! Upon the whole, she +slighted "the Justice," as she had dubbed him. She saw with her quick +eyes that he was something superior; but then she saw many men quite as +well-looking, well-endowed, well-mannered, and with as fair intellects, +and more highly cultivated than he. + +But she did not often find a pair of unsophisticated little girls won to +her by her frankness and kindness, and dazzled by her goodness and +greatness. How she awoke Fiddy's laugh with the Chit-Chat Club and the +Silence Stakes. What harmless, diverting stories she told them of high +life--how she had danced at Ranelagh, sailed upon the Thames, eaten her +bun at Chelsea, mounted one of the eight hundred favours which cost a +guinea a piece when Lady Die became a countess, and called upon Lady +Petersham, in her deepest mourning, when she sat in her state-bed +enveloped in crape, with her children and grandchildren in a row at her +feet! And then she told that she was born in a farmhouse like that on +the hill, and would like to know if they roasted groats and played at +shovelboard there still; and ended by showing them her little silver +tankard, which her godfather the jolly miller had given her, and out of +which her elder sister, who had never taken kindly to tea, had drunk +her ale and her aniseed water. And Fiddy and Prissy had each a draught +of milk out of it, to boast of for the rest of their lives, as if they +had sipped caudle out of the caudle-cup at a royal heir's christening. + +Mistress Betty made the girls talk, too,--of their garden, the old +parish clerk, the housekeeper at Larks' Hall, granny, madam, the vicar, +and, to his face, of Uncle Rowland, his horses and colts, his cows and +calves, his pictures and cabinets. They spoke also of Foxholes, of Letty +and Grizel, of Sedley and Bearwood, and Dick Ashbridge--at whose name +Prissy laughed saucily, and Fiddy bit her lips and frowned as fiercely +as she was able. With what penetration Mistress Betty read their +connections, and how blithely and tenderly she commented upon them! + +Mistress Betty promised to send her young friends sets of silk for their +embroidery (and kept her word); she presented Prissy with her enamel +snuff-box, bearing an exact representation of that ugly building of St. +James's; and Fiddy with her "equipage"--scissors, tablets, and all, +chased and wreathed with tiny pastorals, shepherds reclining and piping +on sylvan banks, and shepherds and shepherdesses dancing on velvet +lawns. + +Mistress Betty kissed the girls at parting, and wished them health, +peace, and good husbands; she held out her hand to Master Rowland, who +took it with a crimson cheek, and raised it to his lips: pshaw! she +never once looked at him. + +The poor bachelor squire drove off, but for his manhood, groaning +inwardly. Lady Betty had acted, and caught not only her share of Master +Rowland's ticket, to which she was fairly entitled, but the cream of his +fancy and the core of his heart; with which she had no manner of +business, any more than with the State Papers and the Coronation-jewels. + + +IV.--MASTER ROWLAND GOES UP TO LONDON. + +In the green-room of one of the great London theatres--David Garrick's, +perhaps--the stage company and their friends were waiting the call-boy +and the rising of the curtain. + +As strange boards as any--as broad contrasts. Here a king, with his +crown cast down; there a beggar, with his wallet laid aside. But kings +and beggars are not affording the glaring discrepancies of Hogarth's +"Olympus in a Barn," but suggesting and preserving the distinctions far +below the buskins, the breastplate, the sandals, the symars. Here are +heroes, with the heroism only skin deep; and peers, like their Graces of +Bolton and Wharton, with less of the lofty, self-denying graces and the +ancient chivalry, than the most grovelling of ploughmen. + +Among the crowd, Lady Betty is biding her time, very _nonchalant_, and a +little solitary in her state. Ladies who are independent, exclusive, and +inflexible, however admired and respected, are generally left to enjoy +their own opinions unmolested and at their leisure, whether behind the +stage curtain or elsewhere. + +Just then a country gentleman, whose murrey coat has a certain country +cut, while his complexion breathes of hay-fields and hedge sides, is +introduced, gazes round, and steps up to her. Mistress Betty cries out, +"La!"--an exclamation not a whit vulgar in her day--"the Justice!" And +she holds forth both her hands. "How are dear Mistress Prissy and +Mistress Fiddy? Have you come up to town for any time, sir? I wish +prosperity to your business." + +He has not held such kind, unaffected, friendly hands since they parted; +he has only once before held a hand that could have led a Jaffier to +confess his conspiracy--that could have clung to a crushed man, and +striven to raise him when calamity, like a whirlwind, cast him down. + +The squire is sensibly moved, and Mistress Betty vindicates her +womanliness by jumping at a conclusion and settling in her own mind that +his brain is addled with this great London--its politicians, its +mohawks, its beggars in Axe Lane, its rich tradesmen in Cranbourne +Alley, its people of quality, fashion, and taste in their villas at +Twickenham. + +He asks if she is on in Belvidera, and when he hears that it is another +actress's benefit, and that she has only consented to appear in a +secondary part in a comedy of Sir John's, who is now a great +castle-builder, he does not trouble himself to enter a box; at which she +is half flattered, half perplexed. He waits, hot and excited, until her +short service is over. He will not call upon her at her lodgings, +because, in his delicacy, he has so keen a remembrance of her exposed +position. + +In the corner behind the curtain, bounded by the refreshment table, and +filled with the prompter's monotonous drawl,--far, far from his barley +ripe for the mowing, his boxwood peacocks, his greyhaired Hal and his +buxom milkmaids; far from old madam, the pedantic, formal vicar, young +madam, brisk, hot, and genial, and his old charmers Prissy and +Fiddy,--the squire told his tale of true love. The man threw down the +costs and besought Mistress Betty Lumley, Lady Betty, to renounce the +stage, forsake fame, quit studies, rehearsals, opening-nights, and +concluding curtsies amidst the cheers of thousands, to go down with him +to rural Larks' Hall, to grow younger, happier, and better every day, +and die like Lady Loudon in her hundredth year, universally +regretted,--above all, to fill up the gulf which had yawned in the +market-place of his existence since that night at Bath. + +It was a primitive proceeding. Lady Betty was amazed at the man's +assurance, simplicity, and loyalty. He spoke plainly--almost +bluntly--but very forcibly. It was no slight or passing passion which +had brought the squire, a gentleman of a score and more of honourable +descents, to seek such an audience-chamber to sue a pasteboard queen. It +was no weak love which had dislodged him from his old resting-place, and +pitched him to this dreary distance. + +Mistress Betty was taken "all in a heap;" she had heard many a +love-tale, but never one with so manly a note. Shrewd, sensitive +Mistress Betty was bewildered and confounded, and in her hurry she +made a capital blunder. She dismissed him summarily, saw how white he +grew, and heard how he stopped to ask if there were no possible +alternative, no period of probation to endure, no achievement to be +performed by him. She waved him off the faster because she became +affrighted at his humility; and got away in her chair, and wrung her +hands, and wept all night in the long summer twilight, and sat +pensive and sick for many days. + +In time, Mistress Betty resumed her profession; but she was unusually +languid: she played to disappointed houses, and cherished always, with +more romance, the shade of the brave, trustful, Somersetshire squire and +antiquary. Suddenly she adopted the resolution of retiring from the +stage in the summer of her popularity, and living on her savings and her +poor young brother's bequest. Her tastes were simple; why should she +toil to provide herself with luxuries? She had no one now for whose old +age she could furnish ease, or for the aims and accidents of whose +rising station she need lay by welcome stores; she had not even a nephew +or niece to tease her. She would not wear out the talents a generous man +had admired on a mass of knaves and villains, coxcombs and butterflies; +she would not expose her poor mind and heart to further deterioration. +She would fly from the danger; she would retire, and board with her +cousin Ward, and help her with a little addition to her limited income, +and a spare hand in her small family; and she would jog-trot onwards for +the rest of her life, so that when she came to die, Mistress Prissy and +Mistress Fiddy would have no cause to be ashamed that so inoffensive, +inconspicuous, respectable a person had once been asked to stand to them +in the dignified relation of aunt. The public vehemently combated Mrs. +Betty's verdict, in vain; they were forced to lament during twice nine +days their vanished favourite, who had levanted so unceremoniously +beyond the reach of their good graces. + + +V.--MISTRESS BETTY TRAVELS DOWN INTO SOMERSETSHIRE. + +A formal but friendly letter came to Mistress Betty, when her life was +one of long dusty exertion, and her heart was very thirsty and parched. +The shabby-genteel world and the tradesman's life, unless in exceptional +cases of great wealth, were different things a hundred and fifty years +ago from what they are now. The villas at Twickenham, the rural +retreats, the gardens, the grottos, the books, the harpsichords, the +water-colour drawings, belonged to the quality, or to the literary +lions: to Lady Mary or Pope, Horace Walpole or his young friends the +Berrys. The half-pay officer's widow, the orphan of the bankrupt in the +South Sea business, the wife and family of the moderately flourishing +haberdasher, or coach-builder, or upholsterer--the tobacconist rose far +above the general level--were cooped up in the City dwellings, and +confined to gossip, fine clothes, and good eating if they could afford +them. A walk in the City gardens, a trip to Richmond Hill, and the +shows, were their pastimes, and Mr. Steele's 'Christian Hero,' 'An +Advice to a Daughter,' and De Foe's 'History of the Plague,' were their +mental delectation. + +But Mistress Betty had the soul of a martyr; she had resigned herself to +sinking down into the star of cousin Ward's set, who went on holidays to +the play--mostly honest, fat and fatuous, or jaunty and egotistical +folk, who admired the scenery and the dresses, but could no more have +made a play to themselves than they could have drawn the cartoons. She +helped cousin Ward, not only with her purse, but with a kinswoman's +concern in her and hers: she assisted to wash and dress the children of +a morning; she took a turn at cooking in the middle of the day; she +helped to detain Master Ward at the tea-table, and to keep his wig and +knee-buckles from too early an appearance and too thorough a soaking of +his self-conceit and wilfulness at his tavern; and she heard the lads +their lessons, while she darned their frills before supper. + +Then arrived the summons, over which Mistress Betty, a little worn by +voluntary adversity, shed "a power" of joyful tears. To travel down into +Somersetshire, and stroll among the grass in the meadows, and the gorse +on the commons, which she had not seen for twelve months; to feed the +calves, and milk the cows, and gather the eggs, and ride Dapple, and tie +up the woodbine, and eat syllabub in a bower; to present "great frieze +coats" and "riding-hoods" to a dozen of the poorest old men and women in +the parish; to hear prayers in a little grey church, through whose open +windows ivy nodded, and before whose doors trees arched in vistas; to +see her sweet little Prissy and Fiddy, who had taken such a fancy to +her, and the vicar, and madam, and granny, and find them all perfectly +agreeable, and not slighting her or doubting her because she had been a +woman of fashion and an actress; and Master Rowland well disposed of +elsewhere; Larks' Hall deserted by its master--the brave, generous, +enamoured squire--heigho! Mistress Betty, for all her candour, good +humour, and cordiality, had her decent pride, and would not have thrown +herself at any man's head. + +Somersetshire, in spite of Bath, was as antediluvian a hundred and fifty +years ago as the lanes and coombes of Devonshire. Larks' Hall, Foxholes, +Bearwood, the Vicarage of Mosely, and their outlying acquaintances, +their yeomen and their labourers, lived as old-fashioned and hearty a +life as if the battle of Sedgemoor had never been fought. + +Down in Somersetshire, among its orchards, nutteries, and blackberry +thickets, poor little Mistress Fiddy was drooping, as girls would pine +sometimes, even in the days of Will Shakspeare, ere cloth-yard shafts +were abolished from merry England, when there were still mayings among +the hyacinths, and milkmaids' dances under the thorns, and mummings when +the snow fell. And Dick Ashbridge shot and fished in the most +disconsolate abandonment, though the girl yet ran past him "like a +ghost" when the beetle and bat were abroad, and he was still mooning +about the vicarage meadows. + +Neither of them knew for certain, and nobody could predict exactly, that +she would live to wed Dick, bear him children, and leave him a sorrowful +widower, whose heart was chastened--not torn. No; nor could the good +folk in Somersetshire understand how closely Lady Betty and little Fiddy +were bound up together, and how little Fiddy was to return Lady Betty's +kindness, in the days when the little girl should be the teacher, and +the fine woman the scholar, and the lesson to be learnt came from +regions beyond the stars. + +In the meantime, Fiddy was a sick, capricious, caressed darling in a +cambric cap and silk shawl, on whom fond friends were waiting lovingly: +whom nobody in the world, not even the doctor, the parish clerk, or the +housekeeper at Larks' Hall, dreamt of subjecting to the wholesome +medicine of contradiction--unless it might be Granny, when she came in +with her staff in her hand. She would laugh at their excess of care, and +order them to leave off spoiling that child; but even Granny herself +would let fall a tear from her dim eyes when she read the register of +the child's age in the family Bible. + +"Ah!" sighs whimsical little Mistress Fiddy, "if only Lady Betty were +here--great, good, kind, clever, funny, beautiful Lady Betty--who cured +me that night at Bath, papa and mamma, I would be well again. She knows +the complaint; she has had it herself; and her face is so cheering, her +wit so enlivening, and she reads the lessons so solemnly and sweetly. O +mamma! send for Mistress Betty; she will come at once; she does not play +now; the prints say so. She will be the better of the country air too. +Send for Mistress Betty to Mosely." + +Madam was in a difficulty. An actress at the vicarage! And Master +Rowland had been so rash. He had dropped hints, which, along with his +hurried visit to London, had instilled dim, dark suspicions into the +minds of his appalled relations of the whirlpool he had just coasted, +they knew not how: they could not believe the only plain palpable +solution of the fact. And Granny had inveighed against women of fashion +and all public characters, ever since Uncle Rowland took that jaunt to +town, whence he returned so glum and dogged. But then, again, how could +the mother deny her ailing Fiddy? And this brilliant Mistress Betty +from the gay world might possess some talisman unguessed by the quiet +folks at home. Little Fiddy had no real disease, no settled pain: she +only wanted change, pleasant company, and diversion, and would be plump +and strong again in no time. And Mistress Betty had retired from the +stage now; she was no longer a marked person: she might pass anywhere as +Mistress Lumley, who had acted with success and celebrity, and withdrawn +at the proper moment, with the greatest dignity and discretion. And +Master Rowland was arranging his affairs to make the grand tour in the +prime of life: his absence would clear away a monstrous objection. What +would the Vicar say? What would Granny say? + +The Vicar ruled his parish, and lectured in the church; but in the +parsonage he thought very much as madam did, and was only posed when old +madam and young madam pulled him different ways. + +And Granny! Why, to madam's wonder, Granny required no wheedling, +but--apprised of the deliberation, by the little minx Prissy, who in +Fiddy's illness attended on Granny--she sent for madam before madam even +knew that the proposal had been so much as mooted to her, and struck her +stick on the ground in her determined way, and insisted that Mistress +Betty should be writ for forthwith and placed at the head of the child's +society. Granny, who had soundly rated fine ladies and literary women +not two days before! It was very extraordinary; but Granny must have her +way. The children paid her affectionate duty, young madam did her +half-grateful, half-vexed homage, the Vicar and Master Rowland deferred +to her in her widowhood and dependence, and with little less grace and +reverence than what she had taught them to practise when they were lads +under tutelage. She was, in fact, the fully accredited mistress of +Larks' Hall. + +And Granny, in reality, presided at the vicarage; not oppressively, for +she was one of those sagacious magnates who are satisfied with the +substance of power without loving its show. Notwithstanding, she +prevented the publication of more than two calf-skin volumes at a time +of the Vicar's sermons; she turned madam aside when she would have hung +the parlour with gilt leather, in imitation of Foxholes; and she +restricted the little girls to fresh ribbons once a month, and +stomachers of their own working. And so, when Granny decreed that +Mistress Betty was to be invited down to Mosely, there was no more +question of the propriety of the measure that there would have been of +an Act of Council given under the Tudors; the only things left to order +were the airing of the best bedroom, the dusting of the ebony furniture, +and the bleaching on the daisies of old madam's diamond quilt. + +Down to Somersetshire went Mistress Betty, consoling cousin Ward with +the gift of a bran-new mantua and a promise of a speedy return, and +braving those highwaymen who were for ever robbing King George's mail; +but the long, light midsummer nights were in their favour, and their +mounted escort had to encounter no paladins of the road in scarlet coats +and feathered hats. + +Mistress Betty's buoyant spirit rose with the fresh air, the green +fields, and the sunshine. She was so obliging and entertaining to an +invalid couple among her fellow-travellers, an orange nabob from +India and his splendid wife, that they declared she had done them more +good than they would derive from the Pump-room, the music, and the +cards, to which they were bound. They asked her address, and pressed +her to pay them a visit; when they would have certainly adopted her, +and bequeathed to her their plum. As it was, half-a-dozen years later, +when, to her remorse, she had clean forgotten their existence, they +astounded her by leaving her a handsome legacy; which, with the +consent of another party concerned--one who greatly relished the mere +name of the bequest, as a proof that nobody could ever resist Lady +Betty--she shared with a cross-grained grand-nephew whom the +autocratic pair had cut off with a shilling. + + +VI.--BETWEEN MOSELY AND LARKS' HALL. + +At Mosely Mistress Betty alighted at last, entered the wicket-gate, and +approached the small, weather-stained, brick house. She made her curtsy +to madam, asked the Vicar's blessing--though he was not twenty-five +years her senior and scarcely so wise--hugged the little girls, +particularly sick Fiddy, and showered upon them pretty tasteful town +treasures, which little country girls, sick or well, dearly love. +Fiddy's eyes were glancing already; but she did not leave off holding +Mistress Betty's hand in order to try on her mittens, or to turn the +handle of the musical box. And Mistress Betty finally learned, with some +panic and palpitation, which she was far too sensible and stately a +woman to betray, that the Justice was not gone--that Master Rowland, in +place of examining the newly-excavated Italian cities, or dabbling in +state treason in France, was no further off than Larks' Hall, confined +there with a sprained ankle: nobody being to blame, unless it were +Granny, who had detained Master Rowland to the last moment, or Uncle +Rowland himself, for riding his horse too near the edge of the sandpit, +and endangering his neck as well as his shin-bones. However, Mistress +Betty did not cry out that she had been deceived, or screech +distractedly, or swoon desperately (though the last was in her +constitution), neither did she seem to be brokenhearted by the accident. + +But Granny's reception of her was the great event of the day. Granny was +a picture, in her grey gown and "clean white hood nicely plaited," +seated in her wicker seat "fronting the south, and commanding the +washing-green." Here Granny was amusing herself picking +gooseberries--which the notable Prissy was to convert into +gooseberry-fool, one of the dishes projected to grace the town lady's +supper--when Mistress Betty was led towards her. + +It was always a trying moment when a stranger at Mosely was presented to +old Madam Parnell. The Parnells had agreed, for one thing, that it would +be most proper and judicious, as Mistress Betty had quitted the +stage--doubtless in some disappointment of its capabilities, or +condemnation of the mode in which it was conducted,--to be chary in +theatrical illusions, to drop the theatrical _sobriquet_ Lady Betty, and +hail their guest with the utmost ceremony and sincerity as Mistress +Lumley. But Granny turned upon her visitor a face still fresh, in its +small, fine-furrowed compass, hailed her as Lady Betty on the spot, and +emphatically expressed all the praise she had heard of her wonderful +powers; regretting that she had not been in the way of witnessing them, +and declaring that as they escaped the snares and resisted the +temptations of her high place, they did her the utmost honour, for they +served to prove that her merits and her parts were equal. Actually, +Granny behaved to Lady Betty as to a person of superior station, and +persisted in rising and making room for the purpose of sharing with her +the wicker seat; and there they sat, the old queen and the young. + +Young madam had been quite determined that, as Uncle Rowland was so +unfortunate as to be held by the foot at Larks' Hall from his tour, he +should not risk his speedy recovery by hobbling over to Mosely, when she +could go herself or send Prissy every morning to let him know how the +invalid was. But the very day after Mistress Betty's arrival old madam +secretly dispatched Tim, the message-boy, to desire the squire to order +out the old coach, and make a point of joining the family party either +at dinner or at supper. Young madam was sufficiently chagrined; but then +the actress and the squire met so coldly, and little Fiddy was flushing +up into a quiver of animation, and Mistress Betty was such delightful +company in the slumbrous country parsonage. + +It is pleasant to think of the doings of the Parnells, the witcheries of +Mistress Betty, and the despotism of old madam, during the next month. +Indeed, Mistress Betty was so reverent, so charitable, so kind, so +gentle as well as blithe under depressing influences, and so witty +under stagnation, that it would have been hard to have lived in the same +house with her and have been her enemy: she was so easily gratified, so +easily interested; she could suit herself to so many phases of this +marvellous human nature. She listened to the Vicar's "argument" with +edification, and hunted up his authorities with diligence. She scoured +young madam's lutestring, and made it up in the latest and most elegant +fashion of nightgowns, with fringes and buttons, such as our own little +girls could match. She made hay with Prissy and Fiddy, and not only +accomplished a finer cock than weak Fiddy and impatient Priss, but +surpassed the regular haymakers. And she looked, oh! so well in her +haymaker's jacket and straw hat--though young madam was always saying +that her shape was too large for the dress, and that the slight hollows +in her cheeks were exaggerated by the shade from the broad-brimmed +flapping straw. + +Of course Mistress Betty performed in the "Traveller" and "Cross +Purposes," and gave out riddles and sang songs round the hearth of a +rainy evening, or about the cherrywood table in the arbour, of a +cloudless twilight, much more pat than other people--that was to be +looked for; but then she also played at love after supper, loo and +cribbage for a penny the game--deeds in which she could have no original +superiority and supremacy--with quite as infectious an enthusiasm. + +To let you into a secret, young madam was in horror at one time that +Dick Ashbridge was wavering in his allegiance to her white rosebud, +Fiddy; so enthralling was this scarlet pomegranate, this purple vine. +But one evening Mrs. Betty turned suddenly upon the mad boy, to whom she +had been very soft, saying that he bore a great resemblance to her +cousin's second son Jack, and asked how old he was? and did he not think +of taking another turn at college? This restored the boy to his senses +in a trice, and she kissed Mistress Fiddy twice over when she bade her +good night. + +But old madam and Lady Betty were the chief pair of friends. Granny, +with her own sway in her day, and her own delicate discrimination, acute +intellect, and quick feelings, was a great enough woman not to be +jealous of a younger queen, but to enjoy her exceedingly. Madam Parnell +had seen the great world as well as Lady Betty, and never tired of +reviving old recollections, comparing experiences, and tracing the fates +of the children and grandchildren of the great men and women her +contemporaries. Prissy and Fiddy vowed over and over again, that the +stirring details were more entertaining than any story-book. For this +reason, Granny took a personal pride in Lady Betty's simplest feat, as +well as in her intellectual crown, and put her through every stage of +her own particular recipes for cream cheese and pickled walnuts. + +"The dickons!" cried a Somerset yeoman: "The Lon'on madam has opened the +five-barred gate that beat all the other women's fingers, and gathered +the finest elder-flowers, and caught the fattest chicken; and they tell +me she has repeated verses to poor crazed Isaac, till she has lulled him +into a fine sleep. 'Well done, Lon'on!' cries I; 'luck to the fine +lady:' I never thought to wish success to such a kind." Granny, too, +cried, "Well done, Lon'on! Luck to the fine lady!" If all Helens were +but as pure, and true, and tender as Lady Betty! + +Granny would have Lady Betty shown about among the neighbours, and +maintained triumphantly that she read them, Sedleys, Ashbridges, and +Harringtons, as if they were characters in a printed book--not that she +looked down on them, or disparaged them in any way; she was far more +tolerant than rash, inexperienced Prissy and Fiddy. And Granny ordered +Lady Betty to be carried sight-seeing to Larks' Hall, and made minute +arrangements for her to inspect Granny's old domain, from garret to +cellar, from the lofty usher-tree at the gate to the lowly + + "Plaintain ribbed that heals the reapers' wound" + +in the herb-bed. No cursory inspection would suffice her: the +pragmatical housekeeper and the rosy milkmaids had time to give up their +hearts to Lady Betty like the rest. Master Rowland, as in courtesy +bound, limped with the stranger over his helmets and gauntlets, his +wooden carvings, his black-letter distich; and, although she was not +overflowing in her praises, she had seen other family pictures by +Greuze, and she herself possessed a fan painted by Watteau, to which he +was vastly welcome if he cared for such a broken toy. + +She fancied the head of one of the Roman emperors to be like his Grace +of Montague; she had a very lively though garbled familiarity with the +histories of the veritable Brutus and Cassius, Coriolanus, Cato, +Alexander, and other mighty, picturesque, cobbled-up ancients, into +whose mouths she could put appropriate speeches; and she accepted a +loan of his 'Plutarch's Lives,' "to clear up her classics," as she said +merrily; altogether poor Squire Rowland felt that he had feasted at an +intellectual banquet. + +At last it was time to think of redeeming her pledge to cousin Ward; +and, to Mistress Betty's honour, the period came while Master Rowland +was still too lame to leave Larks' Hall, except in his old coach, and +while it yet wanted weeks to the softening, gladdening, overwhelming +bounty of the harvest-home. + +Then occurred the most singular episodes of perverseness and reiterated +instances of inconsistency of which Granny had been found guilty in the +memory of man, either as heiress of Larks' Hall or as old madam of the +vicarage. At first she would not hear of Mistress Betty's departure, and +asked her to be her companion, during her son's absence, in his house of +Larks' Hall, where all at once she announced that she meant to take up +her temporary residence. She did not approve of its being committed +entirely to the supervision of Mrs. Prue, her satellite, the +schoolmaster's daughter who used so many long words in cataloguing her +preserves and was so trustworthy: Mrs. Prue would feel lonesome; Mrs. +Prue would take to gadding like the chits Prissy and Fiddy. No, she +would remove herself for a year, and carry over her old man Morris along +with her, and see that poor Rowley's goods were not wasted or his +curiosities lost while he chose to tarry abroad. + +Master Rowland stared, but made no objection to this invasion; Mrs. +Betty, after much private rumination and great persuasion, consented to +the arrangement. Young madam was obliged to be ruefully acquiescent, +though secretly irate at so preposterous a scheme; the Vicar, good man, +to do him justice, was always ponderously anxious to abet his mother, +and had, besides, a sneaking kindness for Mistress Betty; the girls were +privately charmed, and saw no end to the new element of breadth, +brightness, and zest, in their little occupations and amusements. + +When again, of a sudden, after the day was fixed for Master Rowland's +departure, and the whole family were assembled in the vicarage +parlour--old madam fell a-crying and complaining that they were taking +_her_ son away from her--robbing her of him: she would never live to set +eyes on him again--a poor old body of her years and trials would not +survive another flitting. _She_ had been fain to gratify some of his +wishes; but see if they would not destroy them both, mother and son, by +their stupid narrow-mindedness and obstinacy. + +Such a thing had never happened before. Who had ever seen Granny +unreasonable and foolish? The Vicar slipped his hand to her wrist, in +expectation that he would detect signs of hay-fever, though it was a +full month too late for the complaint--there had been cases in the +village--and was shaken off with sufficient energy for his pains. + +"Mother," exclaimed Master Rowland, haughtily, "I understand you; but I +had a plain answer to a plain question months ago, and I will have no +reversal to please you. Pity craved by an old woman's weakness! favours +granted in answer to tears drawn from dim eyes! I am not such a slave!" + +The others were all clamouring round Granny, kissing her hand, kneeling +on her footstool, imploring her to tell them what she wanted, what she +would like best, what they could go and do for her; only the squire +spoke in indignant displeasure, and nobody attended to him but Mistress +Betty. + +It did appear that the squire had been too fast in repelling advances +which did not follow his mother's appeal. Mistress Betty gave no +token--she stood pulling the strings of her cap, and growing first very +red, and then ominously white, like any girl. + +Perhaps the squire suspected that he had been too hasty, that he had not +been grateful to his old mother, or generous to the woman who, however +fine, and courted, and caressed, was susceptible of a simple woman's +anguish at scorn or slight. Perhaps there flashed on his recollection a +certain paper in the 'Spectator,' wherein a young lady's secret +inclination towards a young gentleman is conclusively revealed, not by +her advances to save his pride, but by her silence, her blushes, her +disposition to swoon with distress when an opportunity is afforded her +of putting herself forward to attract his notice--nay, when she is even +urged to go so far as to solicit his regard. + +Master Rowland's brow lightened as if a cloud lowering there had +suddenly cleared away--Master Rowland began to look as if it were a much +more agreeable experience to contemplate Mistress Betty nervous and +glum, than Lady Betty armed at a hundred points, and all but +invulnerable--Master Rowland walked as alertly to her side as if there +were no such things as sprains in this world. "Madam, forgive me if I +have attributed to you a weak complacency to which you would never +condescend. Madam, if you have changed your mind, and can now tolerate +my suit, and accord it the slightest return, I am at your feet." + +Assuredly, the tall, vigorous, accomplished squire would have been +there, not figuratively but in his imposing person. Family explanations +were admissible a century and a half ago; public declarations were +sometimes a point of honour; bodily prostration was by no means +exploded; matter-of-fact squires knelt like romantic knights; Sir +Charles Grandison and Sir Roger de Coverley bent as low for their own +purposes as fantastic gauze and tinsel troubadours. + +But Mistress Betty prevented him. "I am not worth it, Master Rowland," +cried Mistress Betty, sobbing and covering her face with her hands; and, +as she could not have seen the obeisance, the gentleman intermitted it, +pulled down the hands, kissed Madam Betty oftener than the one fair +salute, and handed her across the room to receive Granny's blessing. +Granny sat up and composed herself, wished them joy (though she had the +grace to look a little ashamed of herself), very much as if she had +obtained her end. + +There is no use in denying that young madam took to bed for three days, +and was very pettish for a fortnight; but eventually gave in to the +match, and was not so much afflicted by it as she had expected, after +the first brunt. Granny, in her age, was so absurdly set on the +_mesalliance_, and so obliging and pleasant about everything else--the +Vicar and the little lasses were so provokingly careless of the wrong +done them and the injury to the family,--that she knew very well, when +her back was turned, they formed as nonsensically hilarious a bridal +party as if the wedding had concerned one of themselves and not the +bachelor uncle, the squire of Larks' Hall. And Mistress Betty ordered +down the smartest livery; and the highest gentry in Somersetshire would +have consented to grace the ceremony, had she cared for their presence, +such a prize was she in their country-houses when they could procure her +countenance during their brief sojourn among sparkling rills and +woodland shades. Altogether, young madam, in spite of her vanities and +humours, loved the children, the Vicar, Granny, the bridegroom, and even +(with a grudge) the bride, and was affected by the sweet summer season +and the happy marriage-tide, and was, in the main, too good to prove a +kill-joy. + +Master Rowland and Mistress Betty were married by Master Rowland's own +brother in the Vicar's own church, with Fiddy and Prissy and the Sedleys +for bridesmaids, and Dick Ashbridge for a groom's-man. Cousin Ward, +brought all the way from town to represent the bride's relations, was +crying as if she were about to lose an only daughter. For Granny, she +would not shed one bright, crystal tear on any account; besides, she was +ever in state at Larks' Hall to welcome home, the happy couple. Ah, +well, they were all happy couples in those days! + +At Larks' Hall Mistress Betty bloomed during many a year; for a fine +woman knows no decay; she only passes from one stage of beauty and +excellence to another, wearing, as her rightful possession, all +hearts--her sons', as their father's before them. And Master Rowland no +longer sat lonely in his hall, in the frosty winter dusk or under the +usher-oak in the balmy summer twilight, but walked through life briskly +and bravely, with a perfect mate; whom he had not failed to recognize as +a real diamond among the bits of glass before the footlights--a diamond +which his old mother had consented to set for him. + +Our squire and Lady Betty are relics of a former generation. We have +squires as many by thousands, as accomplished by tens of thousands; but +the inimitable union of simplicity and refinement, downrightness and +dignity, disappeared with the last faint reflection of Sir Roger de +Coverley. And charming Lady Betty departed also with early hours, +pillions, and cosmetics--that blending of nature and art, knowledge of +the corrupt world and abiding true-heartedness, which then existed--a +sort of marvel. + + + + +A CAST IN THE WAGGON. + + +I.--DULCIE'S START IN THE WAGGON FOR HER COMPANY. + +Old and young were clamouring hoarsely and shrilly by daybreak one +September morning round a little girl, one of a cloth-worker's numerous +family. She had been rather a tender lass, and change of air was thought +good for her full growth. Though she was still small, she was close on +her one-and-twentieth year, and her friends held it was high time for +her to see the world. It was seeing the world to go with a late mayor's +daughter, an orphan and an heiress, who had been visiting the +cloth-worker's family, and would have Dulcie to live with her for awhile +in a neighbouring town as a friend and companion. + +Mind those worthy warm-hearted relatives of Dulcie's had no idea of her +returning to her parents' nest in a hurry, though the two towns, Fairfax +and Redwater, were within a day's journey by waggon of each other. +Dulcie would see the world, and stay in her new abode in the next +country town, or lose her character for dignity and spirit; and girls +were fain to be thought discreet and decided a hundred years ago or so. +She might as lief marry as not, when she was away on her travels. Girls +married then with far less trouble than they accomplished such a +journey. They ran down to Richmond and married on a Sunday, to save a +talk and a show; they walked out of the opera where Handel might be +performing, and observant gentlemen took the cue, followed on their +heels, and had the knot tied by a priest, waiting in the house opposite +the first chair-stand. Indeed, they contracted alliances so +unceremoniously, that they went to Queen Caroline's or the Princesses' +drawing-room, without either themselves or the world appearing quite +sure whether they were maids or wives. Dear! dear! what did come of +these foolish impulsive matches? Did they fulfil the time out of mind +adage, "Happy's the wooing that's not long a-doing"? or that other old +proverb, "Marry in haste, and repent at leisure"? Which was the truth? + +It is a pity that you should see Dulcie, for the first time, in tears. +Dulcie, who only cried on great occasions, in great sorrow or great +joy--not above half-a-dozen times in her life. Dulcie, whom the +smallpox could not spoil, with her pretty forehead, cat's eyes, and +fine chin. Does that description give you an idea of Dulcie--Dulcie +Cowper, not yet Madam, but any day she liked Mistress Dulcie? It seems +expressive. An under-sized, slight-made girl, with a little face +clearly, very clearly cut, but round in all its lines as yet; an +intelligent face, an enthusiastic face, a face that could be very +shrewd and practical, and, at the same time, a face that could be +lavishly generous. The chief merit of her figure lay in this +particular, that she "bridled" well. Yes, it is true, we have almost +forgotten the old accomplishment of "bridling"--the head up and the +chin in, with the pliant knees bent in a low curtsey. Dulcie +"bridled," as she prattled, to perfection. She had light brown hair, +of the tint of a squirrel's fur, and the smoothness of a mouse's coat, +though it was twisted and twirled into a kind of soft willowy curls +when she was in high dress. Ah! no wonder that Kit Cowper, the +cloth-worker, groaned to see that bright face pass from his ninepin +alley; but it was the way of the world, or rather the will of +Providence to the cloth-worker, that the child should fulfil her +destiny. So Dulcie was launched on the sea of life, as far as +Redwater, to push her fortune. + +No wonder Dulcie was liked by Clarissa Gage. Clarissa was two years +younger than Dulcie, but she was half-a-dozen years older in knowledge +of the world, and therefore fell in love with Dulcie for the sake of +variety. Clarissa had the bones of a noble woman under her pedantry and +affectation; she was a peg above Dulcie in station, and a vast deal +before her in the world's estimation. She was indeed "a fortune;" and +you err egregiously if you suppose a fortune was not properly valued a +hundred years ago. Men went mad for fair faces and glib tongues, but +solidly and sensibly married fortunes, according to all the old +news-prints. But Clarissa was also a beauty, far more of a regular +beauty than Dulcie, with one of those inconceivably dazzling complexions +that blush on like a June rose to old age, and a stately height and +presence for her years. She had dark brown curls of the deep brown of +mountain waters, with the ripple of the same, hanging down in a wreath +of tendrils on the bend of the neck behind. With all her gifts, Mistress +Clary had the crowning bounty which does not always accompany so many +inferior endowments: she had sense under her airs, and she was good +enough to like Dulcie instinctively, and to think how nice it would be +to have Dulcie with her and Mistress Cambridge in their formal brick +house, with the stone coping and balcony, at Redwater. Besides, (credit +to her womanhood,) Clarissa did reflect what a fine thing it would be +for Dulcie Cowper getting up in years, really getting up in years, +however young in spirit, to have the variety, and the additional chance +of establishing herself in life. Certainly, Redwater was a town of more +consideration than Fairfax, and had its occasional assemblies and +performances of strolling players; and Clarissa, in right of her +father's family, visited the vicar and the squire, and could carry +Dulcie along with her, since the child's manners were quite genteel, and +her clothes perfectly presentable. + +It was a harmonious arrangement, in which not only Clarissa but Mistress +Cambridge agreed. Cambridge was one of those worthy, useful persons, +whom nobody in those strangely plain but decidedly aristocratic +days--not even Clarissa and Dulcie, though they sat with her, ate with +her, hugged her when they wanted to coax her--ever thought or spoke of +otherwise than "Cambridge, a good sort of woman in her own way." The +only temporary drawback to the contentment of the party was the shower +of tears which fell at Dulcie's forcible separation from her relatives. +It was forcible in the end; all the blessings had been given in the +house--don't sneer, they did her no harm, no harm, but a vast deal of +good--and only the kisses and tears were finished off in the street. + +After all this introduction, it is painful to describe how the company +travelled. It was in a stage waggon! But they could not help it. We +never stated that they were out-and-out quality; and not even all the +quality could travel in four coaches and six, with twelve horsemen +riding attendance, and an unpaid escort of butchers, bakers, and +apothecaries, whipping and spurring part of the way for the custom. What +could the poor Commons do? There were not stage coaches in every quarter +of the great roads; and really if they pocketed their gentility, the +huge brown waggons were of the two extinct conveyances the roomier, +airier, and safer both from overturns and highwaymen. The seats were +soft, the space was ample, and the three unprotected females were +considered in a manner incognito, which was about as modest a style as +they could travel in. Of course, they were not in their flowered silks, +their lutestrings, their mantuas. We are assured every respectable woman +travelled then in a habit and hat, and no more thought of hoops than of +hair powder. The only peculiarity was that beneath their hats they wore +mob-caps, tied soberly under the chin, and red or blue handkerchiefs +knotted over the hat, which gave them the air of Welsh market-women, or +marvellously clean and tidy gipsies. Clarissa was spelling out the words +in _Pharamond_--a French classic; Dulcie was looking disconsolately +straight before her through their sole outlet, the bow at the end of the +waggon, which circumscribed as pretty and fresh a circle of common and +cornfield, with crimson patches of wood and the blue sky above, as one +might wish to see. Occasionally the crack of a sportsman's gun was heard +to the right or left, followed by a pheasant or a string of partridges +darting across the opening of the canvas car; but as yet no claimant had +solicited the privilege and honour of sharing the waggon and the view +with our fair travellers. + + +II.--TWO LADS SEEK A CAST IN THE WAGGON. + +"Hullo, Joe! we want a lift," cries a brisk voice, and the couple of +great steeds--they might have been Flanders mares or Clydesdale horses, +so powerful were they over the shoulders, so mighty in the +flanks--almost swerved out of their direct line and their decorum. Two +fellows suddenly started up from a couch where they had lain at length +on a hay-stack, slid down the height, crashed over an intervening bit of +waste land, and arrested the waggoner in his smock-frock and clouted +shoes. + +"Get in, Will, and take possession. Ha! hum! here are ladies: where will +we stow our feet? I declare Will is on their skirts already, with more +green slime than is carried on the breast of a pond. I believe he thinks +them baggage--lay figures, as they've turned aside their heads. +Gentlefolks for a wager! duchesses in disguise! I must make up to them, +anyhow. Ladies, at your service; I humbly beg your pardon for having so +much as thought of incommoding you, but indeed I was not aware of your +presence. Come, Will, tumble out again instantly, and do not let us be +so rude as to plague the ladies." + +Poor Will! very stiff and tired, stared about him, disturbed and +discomforted, and prepared to perform the behest of his more energetic +companion. + +Dulcie did a little of her "bridling," but said never a word; Clarissa +lifted her large, rather languishing eyes, let them fall again on her +mittens, and remained dumb. They speak before they were spoken to? not +they, they knew better. At the same time, when Will stumbled as he +alighted on his weary feet, they were guilty of an inclination to +titter, though the accident was excusable, and the point of the joke +small. + +"You are very polite, sirs," protested Cambridge, making round eyes, and +reddening and blowing at being constituted the mouthpiece of the party +on any interest save that of victuals. "I vow it is very pretty +behaviour; but as it is a public carriage, I don't think we are at +liberty to deprive Joe of his money, and you, sirs, of your seats. What +say you, Mistress Clary?" + +"I decline to give an opinion," answered Clarissa with great dignity; in +which she broke down a little by adding hastily, in half audible +accents. "Be quiet, Dulcie!" for Dulcie's risible faculties had been +excited in a lively degree. She had been crying so lately that there was +a hysterical turn in her mirth, and having once given way to it she +could not restrain herself, but was making all sorts of ridiculous faces +and spasms in her throat without effect. You see, these were two +ordinary, happy young girls; and the stiff starch of their manners and +pretensions only brought out in a stronger light, and with a broader +contrast, their youthful frolicsomeness. + +"I think, sirs, you may come in--that is, if you keep your distance," +Mistress Cambridge decided, with solemn reservation. With a multitude of +apologies and thanks, the two young men, more considerate and courteous +in their forward and backward fashion than many a fine gentleman of the +time, clambered up, and coiled themselves into corners, leaving a +respectful void between them and the original occupants of the waggon. + +Tranquillity settled down on the travellers--a tranquillity only broken +by the drowsy rumble of the waggon-wheels, and the perennial whistle of +the stooping, grizzled waggoner. Dulcie was just thinking that they +might have been Turks, they were so silent, when Mistress Cambridge +stirred the still atmosphere by the inquiry-- + +"Pray, sirs, have you happened to fall in with any stubble chickens in +your walk; I think you said you had been walking hereabouts?" affording +Clarissa an opportunity of complaining afterwards, in the retirement of +the little inn's private room, that these young fellows would judge them +a set of gluttons or farmers' daughters abroad for a holiday, aping +gentlewomen, instead of being duchesses in disguise. + +Although the girls never lifted their eyes, yet, by a magic only known +to such philosophers, they had taken as complete an inventory of the +young men, beginning at their wardrobes, as if they had looked at them +coolly from head to foot for a whole half-hour. They were aware that +the fellows were in plain suits, though one of them was not without the +air of being fine on occasions. Their coats were cloth, not brocade or +velvet; their ruffles were cambric, not lace; their shoe-buckles were +only silver; their hats were trimmed with braid, and neither with gold +nor silver edging. They were not my lords; they were not in regimentals; +they did not rap out oaths; they had not the university air; they showed +no parson's bands; they were not plain country bumpkins--what were they? + +After all, it was scarcely worth inquiry whether the newcomers belonged +to law or physic; for the young women in their pride and petulance felt +bound not to consider the investigation worth the trouble. The lad who +was the leader, and who was unquestionably of gentle enough nurture, was +a plain little fellow, sallow and homely-featured, although a +good-natured person might suppose from his smiling sagacity that in +animated conversation it would be quite possible to forget his face in +his countenance. The other was ruddy, with a face as sharply cut as a +girl's, and delicate features not fitting his long limbs--clearly he was +no better than a nincompoop. Yes, the girls were perfectly justifiable +in whispering as the waggon stopped to bait at the "Nine Miles House," +and they got out to bait also-- + +"What a pair!" + +"Such a fright, the little fellow, Clary!" + +"Such a goose, the tall fellow, Dulcie!" + +It is a sad truth that foolish young women will judge by the exterior, +leap at conclusions, and be guilty of rude and cruel remarks. + +What would come of it if the silly, sensitive hearts were in earnest, or +if they did not reserve to themselves the indefeasible right of changing +their opinions? + +At the "Nine Miles House" the wayfarers rested, either in the sanded +parlour, or the common kitchen of the ale-house. Mistress Clarissa and +her party had the sanded parlour for themselves; the young men, with +their cramped legs, stumbled into the flitch-hung kitchen, the more +entertaining room of the two, and had plates of beans and bacon, a toast +and a tankard; for the day was in September, and the wind was already +bracing both to body and appetite. Mistress Clarissa carried her private +stores, and Cambridge laid out her slices of roasts and broils, plates +of buns and comforts, and cruets with white wines. But when did a +heroine remain in a sanded parlour in an inn, when she could stroll over +the country and lose her way, and get run at by wild cattle, and stared +at by naughty gentlemen? Clary was not so mean-spirited, though she was +physically lazier than Dulcie; she was eager to scamper across the +stubble fields (where Cambridge expected chickens to roam in flocks), +and to wander, book in hand, by yon brook with the bewitching pollards. + +Dulcie could not accompany her. Dulcie being a practical woman, a needle +in innocent sharpness, had peeped about the waggon to inspect their +luggage, and had found to her horror that one of her boxes had burst its +fastenings--that very box with her respected mother's watered tabby, and +her one lace head on the place of honour on the top. So she and +Cambridge had an earnest consultation on the accident, which resulted in +their proceeding to tuck up their skirts, empty the receptacle with the +greatest care and tenderness, and repack it with such skill that a rope +would replace its rent hinges. Dulcie was not for walking. + +Clarissa was thus forced to saunter alone, and after she had got to the +brook and the pollards, she sat down, and leant her arms on the bars of +an old farm gate. Soon tiring of looking about her, staring at the +minnows and the late orange coltsfoot and white wild ranunculus, and the +straw-coloured willow-leaves drooping into the water, she took out of +her pocket that little brown French classic, _Pharamond_, and started +again to accompany the French storyteller, advancing on the very tallest +of stilts that storyteller ever mounted. It was a wonder truly that +Clary on her mossy bank, and by a rustic stile, had not preferred the +voices of the winds and the waters, the last boom of the beetle, the +last screech of the martin, the last loud laugh of the field-workers +borne over a hedge or two on the breeze, to the click and patter of +these absurd Frenchmen's tongues. + +At last Clarissa bethought her of the hour, sprang up, carefully put +away her volume--volumes and verses were precious then--and began to +pick her steps homewards. Ah! there had been a wretch of a man looking +at her--actually drawing her in his portfolio--the ugly fellow in the +waggon. Thank goodness, he could not have recognized her as his +fellow-traveller; he had copied the old farm-gate from the other side, +and he could only have got a glimpse of her figure through the bars with +not so much as the crown of her hat above them. He had only put her in +faithfully by a line or two, and three dots, and he did not observe her +now as she passed behind him and scanned his performance ere she +scampered off. But what a risk she had run of having her likeness taken +without her knowledge or consent, and carried about the country by a +walking gentleman! + +It was quite an adventure; yet how could Clary think it so when an +earthquake and a whole town burnt to ashes were nothing in her French +novels! But, still true to the instinct of personality which causes us +to think a molehill in reference to our dear selves a world more +momentous and interesting than a mountain in reference to a princess of +the blood-royal, stately Clarissa flew off like a lapwing to tell Dulcie +that she had just had such an escape, and hit on such a discovery--she +had found out all about the two fellows; they were a couple of painters. +Marry! it was a marvel to see the one so hearty, and the other so rosy. +Doubtless they did not have an odd penny in their purse between them. + +Clarissa came too late; she encountered Dulcie running out to meet her, +all alive with the same news, only gathered in a more orthodox manner. +The fair, soft lad, whom they had reckoned a nincompoop, had shaken +himself up in his companion's absence, and had offered his landlady a +drawing for his share of the dinner, "if you will score the value off +the bill." And the landlady had repeated the story to Cambridge and +Dulcie when she showed the picture to them, and expressed her conviction +that the lad was far gone in the spleen--he seemed always in a brown +study; too quiet-like for a lad. She should have no peace in her mind +about him if she were in any way related to him. Bless her heart! he +would sell another for something much less than a crown. + +Dulcie, all in a glow, had actually been chaffering with the painter for +one of those wonderful groups of luscious peaches, mellow pears, July +flowers, and striped balsamine, singing birds and fluttering insects, +full of extravagant beauty. In the business, too, Dulcie had been by far +the more overcome of the two. The painter, roused to a job, had not +cheated her; on the contrary, he had been as usual a conscientious +spendthrift of his powers. He had conducted the negotiation in the +plainest, manliest spirit, looking the eager girl in the face with his +blue eyes, and receiving her crown-piece in his hand, which was nobler +than his face, inasmuch as it was seamed with the action of his paints +and tools, without a notion of anything unbecoming or degrading. + +The brother painter shook his head when he returned, and found what Will +had been about in his absence. + +"Man, man, didn't I bargain that I was to pay for your company, and +haven't I put you in the worst bed, and allowed you the burnt meat and +the sodden bread, and the valise to carry twice as often as I took it +myself, to satisfy your plaguy scruples? And yet you could go and +scurvily steal a march upon me the moment you were out of my sight! +But," brightening immeasurably, and bowing low, "you have certainly +contrived what I had not the face to attempt--an introduction to the +ladies--although, no doubt, it was very simply done, and you are a very +modest man, as I do not need to tell them. Ladies, I am Sam Winnington, +son of the late gallant Captain Winnington, though I should not call +him so; and this is Will Locke, the vagrant child of an excellent man, +engaged, I believe, in the bookselling and stationery trade. We are +painters, if it please you, on a tour in search of sketches and +commissions. I beg to assure you, that I do portraits on a great scale +as well as a small, and Will sometimes does lions in the jungle, as well +as larks in a tuft of grass." + +Cambridge was more posed than ever by the fresh advance included in this +merry speech; but the girls were quite of another mind, and took the +matter forthwith into their own hands, as is usual with the class, and +bore down caution and experience, particularly when it proceeded from +their housekeeper. They liked the young man's congenial sense and +spirit, they secretly hankered after his vivacity; they were, with their +dear woman's romance, all afire in three minutes about pictures, gods, +and goddesses, historic scenes, and even scratches in Indian ink. A true +woman and a painter are hand and glove at a moment's warning in any age. +Cambridge could but drop naturally into the background, and regard the +constant puzzle, "How girls can talk with fellows!" + +The chance companions were once more packed into the waggon, pleasantly +mixed together this time, and away they trundled yet many weary miles by +the sunset and the light of the moon. The boughs in the horses' collars +dangled brown, Cambridge and the waggoner nodded drowsily; but, divine +privilege of youth! the spirits of the lads and lasses only freshened as +the long day waned and they neared the goal. They were _dramatis +personae_ on a moving stage, jesting like country folks going to a fair. +Even Will Locke was roused and lively as he answered Dulcie's +pertinacious, pertinent questions about the animal and vegetable life he +loved so well; while Dulcie, furtively remembering the landlady's +suggestion, wondered, kind heart! if she could use the freedom to +mention to him that ground ivy was all but infallible in early stages of +the spleen, and that turnip broth might be relied on to check every +incipient cough. Clarissa was coquettish, Sam Winnington was gallant. +With all the girls' mock heroism, and all their arrogance and precision, +trust me, girls and lads formed a free and friendly company in the end. + + +III.--REDWATER HOSPITALITY. + +Clarissa and Dulcie did do the young men service in their calling. They +said it would be a shame not to help two such likely fellows (you know +they had undauntedly set the one down as a fright and the other as a +goose in the morning); they were sure they were industrious and worthy, +and they would give bail for their honesty. So they spoke right and left +to the few influential families who were at Redwater of the two young +painters, who by mere luck had come with them in the waggon, had put up +at the "Rod and Fly," and were waiting for commissions. Had the Warrens +or the Lorimers not heard of them? they would come bound they were a +couple of geniuses, from their conversation. + +The old world grinned, and said to the girls' faces that the lasses had +better not be too zealous for the lads; they were generally fit to +manage their own business, and something more into the bargain. Uncle +Barnet would not care to have his niece Clary fling herself away with +her tidy fortune on a walking gentleman, though he were a genius. + +The result was that Dulcie "bridled" in a twitter of wounded faith and +anger. Clarissa was superb and scornful. She ordered a full-length +portrait, and fixed the hour for the sitting within the week. Dulcie set +off alone with Master Will Locke--Dulcie, who knew no more of Redwater +than he should have done, if his wits had not been woolgathering--to +find the meadow which was beginning to purple over with the meadow +saffron. + +But for all the townspeople laughed at Mistress Clary's and Mistress +Dulcie's flights, they never dreamt of them as unbecoming or containing +a bit of harm. Fine girls like Clary and Dulcie, especially an +accomplished girl like Clary, who could read French and do japan, +besides working to a wish in cross-stitch and tent-sketch, were not +persons to be slighted. The inhabitants saw for themselves that the +painters had coats which were not out at elbows, and tongues, one of +which was always wagging, and the other generally at rest, but which +never said a word fairly out of joint. They needed no further +introduction; the gentlemen called for the young men, the ladies +curtsied to them in the bar of the "Rod and Fly," in the church-porch, +in the common shop, and began conversations with them while they were +chaffering at the same counter for the same red ribbons to tie up the +men and the women's hair alike; and they felt that their manners were +vastly polite and gracious, an opinion which was not far from the +truth. + +The Vicar lent the painters books. The Mayor invited them to supper. The +nearest Justice, who was a family man, with a notable wife, had them to +a domestic party, where they heard a little girl repeat a fable, and saw +the little coach which the Justice had presented to his son and heir, +then in long clothes, in which he was to be drawn along the smooth oak +boarded passages of the paternal mansion as soon as he could sit +upright. + +Lastly, Clarissa Gage, under the sufficient guardianship of Cambridge, +treated the strangers to a real piece of sport--a hop on the +washing-green, under her mulberry-tree. It commenced at four o'clock in +the afternoon, and ended with dusk and the bats, and a gipsy fire, and +roasting groats and potatoes in the hot ashes, in imitation of the +freakish oyster supper which Clary had attended in town. + +Clary took care to have her six couples well assorted, and not to be +severed till the merry-making was over; she did not mind uniting herself +to Master Sam Winnington, and Dulcie to Master Will Locke--mind! the +arrangement was a courteous compliment to the chief guests, and it gave +continual point to the entertainment. The company took a hilarious +pleasure in associating the four two-and-two, and commented openly on +the distribution: "Mistress Clary is mighty condescending to this +jackanapes." "Mistress Dulcie and t'other form a genteel pair." + +To be sure the two young men heard the remarks, which they might have +taken as broad hints, and the girls heard them too, uttered as they were +without disguise; but so healthy were our ancestors, that nobody was put +out--not even soft, mooning Will Locke. Nothing came of it that +evening, unless a way Dulcie had of pressing her red lips together, +throwing back her little brown head, shaking out the powder from her +curls, and shaking down the curls themselves, with a gleeful laugh, +which appeared to turn her own "bridling" into derision; and a high +assertion of Clary's that she was determined never to wed a man beneath +the rank of a county member or a peer. Now, really, after Clary had +danced fifteen dances, and was about to dance other five, without +stopping, with a portrait painter, of her own free will, this was +drawing a longish and very unnecessary bow. But then Sam Winnington did +not take it amiss or contradict her. He said she was right, and he had +no doubt she would keep her word, and there was a quick, half-comic, +half-serious gleam from the depths of his grey eyes which made Clarissa +Gage look more bashful and lovelier than any man had ever yet beheld +her. Pity the member or the peer could not have been that man! + +Imagine the party after Mistress Cambridge had provided them with some +of her favourite chickens, and more substantial Dutch beef, with wet +fruit and dry, cold Rhenish and sugar, and mulled wine against the dew +and damp feet, collecting merrily round the smoky fire, with little jets +of flame shooting up and flashing out on the six couples! Sam Winnington +in his silk stockings and points neatly trussed at the knee, was on +all-fours poking the blue and red potatoes into the glowing holes. +Another man with rough waggishness suddenly stirred the fire with an oak +branch, and sent a shower of sparks like rockets into the dark blue sky, +but so near that it caused the women to recoil, screaming and hiding +their faces on convenient shoulders, and lodged half-a-dozen instruments +of ignition and combustion in Sam Winnington's hair, singeing it and +scorching his ears. Had Sam not been the best-natured and most politic +fellow in the world, he would have dragged the aggressor by the collar +or the cuff over the smoking crackling wood, and made the ladies shriek +in greater earnest. + +There was the strange ruddy light now on this face, now on that--on Will +Locke's as he overturned a shovel of groats at Dulcie's feet, and on +Dulcie's, so eager to cover his blunder, that she quite forgot the +circumstances of the case, and never came to herself till she had burnt +all the five tips of her rosy fingers catching the miller's pearls. Then +Will Locke was so sorry, stroked the fingers so daintily, hung upon +Cambridge so beseechingly, imploring her to prepare a cool mash for +Mistress Dulcie's finger points, the moment they were all gone--that +Dulcie could have cried for his tenderness of heart, and quickness and +keenness of remorse. + +Conjure up the whole fourteen--the Vicar and Cambridge of the +number--when the fire had sunk white in ashes, when they could scarcely +see each other's faces, and only guess each other's garments, having a +round at "Puss in the corner," running here and rushing there, seizing +this shoulder-knot, holding tight like a child by that skirt, drawing +up, pulling back, whirling round all blowsy, all panting, all faint with +fun and laughter, and the roguish familiarity which yet thought no evil. +Very romping, was it not? very hoydenish? yes certainly. Very improper? +by no means. It was practised by dignitaries of the Church, still more +classic than the Vicar scuttling and ducking after Cambridge (you never +saw the like), and by the pink and pride of English womanhood. + +Redwater was hospitable to these painter lads, as we understand +hospitality, unquestionably, ungrudgingly hospitable; but it was more +than hospitable to them, it was profitable to them in a pecuniary sense, +without which great test of its merits they could not long have tarried +within its bounds. They were neither fools nor hypocrites to pretend to +be clean indifferent to the main chance. + +The Vicar fancied a likeness of himself in his surplice, which his +parishioners might buy and engrave, if they had a mind to preserve his +lineaments when he was no longer among them. The Justice took a notion +to have his big girls and his little girls, his boy and nurse, his +wife, and himself as the sheltering stem of the whole young growth, in +one canvas. + +But the great achievement was Sam Winnington's picture of Clarissa, "not +as a crazy Kate this time," she told him saucily, "but myself in my hair +and brocade, to show what a grand lady I can be." Thus Clarissa dressed +herself out in one of those magnificent toilettes all in the autumn +mornings, and sat there in state for hours, for the sole benefit of +posterity, unless Sam Winnington was to reap a passing advantage by the +process. Clarissa in her brocade, with the stiff body and the skirt +standing on end, her neckerchief drawn through the straps of her bodice, +her bouquet pinned, "French fashion," on her side; surely that picture +was a masterpiece. So speaking was the copy of her deep brown hair, her +soft, proud cheek, the wave of her ripe red lips, that a tame white +pigeon, accustomed to sit on her shoulder, flew into the window right at +the canvas, and, striking against the hard, flat surface, fell +fluttering and cooing in consternation to the ground. If that was not an +acknowledgment of the limner's fidelity, what could be? + +Clary, in person, played my lady very well, reclining in her father's +great chair. Her hall was roomy enough; it had its space for Sam +Winnington's easel as well as Clary's harpsichord, and, what was more +useful, her spinning-wheel, besides closets and cupboards without +number. Sam Winnington entertained Clarissa; he was famous in years to +come for keeping his sisters in good humour. He told her of the academy +and the president's parties, of the public gardens and the wild beast +shows; and how the Princesses had their trains borne as they crossed the +park. He asked her what quality in herself she valued the most; and +owned that he was hugely indebted to his coolness. When his colours were +not drying fast enough, he read her a page or two of grand heroic +reading from Pope's 'Homer' about Agamemnon and Achilles, Helen and +Andromache; when she tired of that he was back again to the sparkling +gossip of the town, for he was a brilliant fellow, with a clear +intellect and a fine taste; and he had stored up and arranged elegantly +on the shelves of his memory all the knowledge that was current, and a +little more besides. + +When he was gone, Clary would meditate what powers of conversation he +had, and consider rather glumly how she would miss the portrait painter +when he migrated to his native air, the town; how dull Redwater would +be; how another face would soon supplant hers on the canvas! He had +shown her others in his portfolio quite as blooming and dignified, +though he had tumbled them carelessly over; and so he would treat hers +when another's was fresh before him. Clary would be restless and cross +at her own suppositions; for where is the use of being a beauty and a +wit if one must submit to be either forgotten or beaten, even by a +portrait painter? + +In the meantime, the Vicar also wanted a _facsimile_ of his hayfield, as +it looked when the haymakers were among the tedded grass, or under the +Redwater ash-trees, to present him with a pleasant spectacle within, now +that the bleak autumn was coming on, and there would be nothing without +but soaked or battered ground, dark skies, and muddy or snowy ways. The +Mayor desired a pig-sty, with the most charming litter of little black +and white pigs, as nice as guinea-pigs, and their considerably coarser +grunting mamma, done to hand. He was a jolly, prosaic man, Master Mayor, +very proud of his prosaicness, as you rarely see a real man of his +poetry: he maintained, though Mrs. Mayor nearly swooned at the idea, +that he would sooner have a pig-sty than a batch of heroes. Perhaps the +heroes of Master Mayor's day had sometimes wallowed in the mire to +suggest the comparison. And Clarissa Gage would have her bower done--her +clematis bower before the leaves were brown and shrivelled and there +only remained the loving spindle-shanked stems clinging faithfully to +the half-rotten framework which they could no longer clothe with +verdure. + +What a bower Will Locke made of Clary's bower! as unique as Sam +Winnington's portrait of Clary herself. It was not the literal bower; +and it would not have suited Master Mayor or the Justice, though it +might have had a charm for the Vicar. We will go with the Vicar; +although he also had his bombast, and, when elevated by company and +cheer, denominated Cambridge a goddess, and raised in the poor woman's +breast expectations never to be realized. We don't altogether approve +that wonderful bit of work, but we like it. There never were such deep +damask roses as hung over the trellis, there never were such flaming +sunflowers, or pure white lilies as looked in at the sides. Squirrels +don't frequent garden bowers unless they are tamed and chained by the +leg. Our robin redbreasts are in the fields in summer, and do not perch +on boughs opposite speckled thrushes when they can get abundance of +worms and flies among the barley. We have not little green lizards at +large in England; the only one ever seen at Redwater was in the +apothecary's bottle. Still what a bower that is! What a blushing, +fluttering bower, trilling with song, glancing and glowing with the +bronze mail of beetles and the softened glory of purple emperors! What a +thing it was to examine; how you could look in and discover afresh, and +dwell for five minutes at a time on that hollow petal of a flower +steeped in honey, on that mote of a ladybird crawling to its couch of +olive moss. + +Dulcie was speechless with admiration before this vision of Clarissa's +bower. Heigho! it was an enchanted bower to Dulcie as to Will Locke. It +was veritably alive to him, and he could tell her the secrets of that +life. What perfume the rose was shedding--he smelt it about his palette; +what hour of the clock the half-closed sunflower was striking; whence +the robin and the thrush had come, and what bean fields they had flown +over, and what cottage doors they had passed; of what the lizard was +dreaming in south or east as he turned over on his slimy side--all were +plain to him. + +Ostensibly Dulcie was taking lessons from Will Locke in flower-painting, +for Dulcie had a delicate hand and a just eye for colours, and the +sweetest, natural fondness for this simple, common, beautiful world. And +Will Locke was a patient, indulgent teacher. He was the queerest mixture +of gentleness and stubbornness, shyness and confidence, reserve and +candour. He claimed little from other people, he exacted a great deal +from himself. He was the most retiring lad in society, backward and out +of place; he was free with Dulcie as a girl of her own stamp could be. +He had the most unhesitating faith in his own ability, he relied on it +as on an inspiration, he talked of it to Dulcie, he impressed it upon +her until he infected her with his own credulity until she believed him +to be one of the greatest painters under the sun. She credited his +strangest imagination, and that quiet lad had the fancy of a prince of +dreamers. + +In the end Dulcie was humble and almost awed in Will Locke's presence. +Now here comes the sign of Dulcie's innate beauty of character. Had +Dulcie been a commonplace, coarse girl, she would have been wearied, +aggrieved, fairly disgusted by Will Locke in three days. But Dulcie was +brimfull of reverence, she was generous to the ends of her hair, she +liked to feel her heart in her mouth with admiration. + +The truth of the matter was, Dulcie would have been fain to lift up Will +Locke's pencil as they pretend Caesar served Titian, to clean his +palette, gather flowers for him, busk them into a nosegay, preserve them +in pure water, and never steal the meanest for her own use. Will Locke +was her saint, Dulcie was quite ready to be absorbed in his beams. Well +for her if they did not scorch her, poor little moth! + +Oh! Dulcie, Dulcie, your friends could not have thought it of you--not +even Clary, tolerably misled on her own account, would have believed you +serious in your enamourment, though you had gone down on your knees and +sworn it to them. It was nothing but the obliging humour of Mistress +Dulcie and the single-heartedness of the youth; still even in this mild +view of the case, if their friends had paid proper attention to them, +they would have counselled Dulcie to abide more securely by her chair +covers, and my simple man to stick more closely to his card or his +ivory, his hedges or his hurdles. + +Sometimes, late as the season was, Will Locke and Dulcie went out +picking their steps in search of plants and animals, and it was +fortunate for Dulcie that she could pull her mohair gown through her +pocket-holes, and tuck her mob-cap under her chin beneath her hat, for +occasionally the boisterous wind lifted that trifling appendage right +into the air, and deposited it over a wall or a fence, and Will Locke +was not half so quick as Dulcie in tracing the region of its flight, +neither was he so active, however willing, in recovering the truant. +Why, Dulcie found his own hat for him, and put it on his head to boot +one day. He had deposited it on a stone, that he might the better look +in the face a dripping rock, shaded with plumes of fern and tufts of +grass, and formed into mosaic by tiny sprays of geranium faded into +crimson and gold. It was a characteristic of Will that while he was so +fanciful in his interpretation, the smallest, commonest text sufficed +him. The strolls of these short autumn days were never barren of +interest and advantage to him. The man carried his treasures within +himself; he only needed the slightest touchstone from the outside +world to draw them out. A fieldmouse's nest was nearly as good to him +as an eagle's eyrie, an ox-eyed daisy as a white rose, a red +hemp-nettle as a foxglove. He put down his hat and stood contemplating +the bit of rock, until every morsel of leaf told him its tale, and +then proceeded to fill his pockets and hands with what the poorest +country boy would have deemed the veriest weeds; and at last he would +have faced round, and marched home, unconscious that his fair hair, +bleached like a child's, was undefended from a pitiless shower +impending over his head. Dulcie lingered dutifully behind, picked up +that three-cornered hat timidly, called his attention to his +negligence, and while he stooped with the greatest ease in life, she, +bashfully turning her eyes another way, finally clapped the covering +on his crown, as a mother bonnets her child. + + +IV.--OTHER CASTS FOLLOWING THE CAST IN THE WAGGON. + +Clary and Dulcie were slightly censured for their officiousness in the +affairs of these painter fellows: but it is in the nature of women not +to take well with contradiction: it is in the nature of good women to +fly furiously in the face of whatever crosses their generosity, or +thwarts their magnanimity. + +The crisis came about in this way: Will Locke had finished his work long +before Sam; not that Will was more industrious, but he had not got half +the commissions at only half the price, and that was about the usual +division of labour between them. The two men were born to it. Sam's art +took the lucrative shape of portrait-painting; Will's the side of flower +and fruit and landscape painting, which was vilely unremunerative then, +and allegorical painting, which no one will be at the pains to +understand, or, what is more to the purpose, to buy, in this enlightened +nineteenth century. Sam, who was thriving already, fell in love with +Clarissa Gage, with her six thousand pounds fortune: there was no +premeditation, or expediency, or cunning, in the matter; it was the luck +of the man. But Will Locke could never have done it: he, who could never +make a clear subsistence for himself, must attach himself to a +penniless, cheery, quick little girl like Dulcie; and where he could not +well maintain one, must provide for two at the lowest estimate. Will +Locke was going, and there was no talk of his return; Dulcie was +helping him to put up his sketches with her orderly, ready, and +respectful hands. + +"When we are parted for good, I shall miss you," he said, simply. + +Her tender heart throbbed with gratitude, but she only answered, "Are we +to be parted for good? Will you never come back to Redwater?" + +"I cannot come back like Sam," he affirmed, sadly, not bitterly; "I am +not a rising man, Dulcie, though I may paint for future ages." + +A bright thought struck Dulcie, softening and warming her girlish +face, till it was like one of those faces which look out of Fra +Angelico's pictures, and express what we are fond of talking +about--adoration and beneficence: "Could I paint for the potteries, +Master Locke?" For, in his noble thriftless way, he had initiated her +into some of the very secrets of his tinting, and Dulcie was made bold +by the feats she had achieved. + +"What should set you labouring on paltry porringers?--you are provided +with your bit and sup, Mistress Dulcie." + +"I thought it might be fine to help a great painter like you," confessed +the gentle lass; very gently, with reluctance and pain, for it was wrung +by compulsion from her maidenliness. + +"Do you think so? I love you for thinking it," he said directly: but he +would never have done so, brave as he was in his fantasies, without her +drawing him on. + +However, after that speech, there was no further talk of their parting +for good: indeed, Dulcie would do her part; and slave at these "mugs and +pigs" to any extent; and all for a look of his painting before he +quitted the easel of nights; a walk, hanging upon his arm, up Primrose +Hill; a seat by his side on the Sundays in the city church where he +worshipped. Dulcie did not care to trouble her friends at home with the +matter: instead, she had a proud vision of surprising them with the +sight of--her husband. "They would be for waiting till they could spare +money to buy more clothes, or perhaps a chest of drawers; they could not +afford it; no more could Will find means to fly up and down the country. +Father dear will be pleased to see him so temperate: he cannot drink +more than a glass of orange-wine, or a sip of cherry-brandy; he says it +makes his head ache: he prefers the clear, cold water, or at most a dish +of chocolate. Mother may jeer at him as unmanly; she has a fine spirit, +mother: and she may think I might have done better; but mother has grown +a little mercenary, and forgotten that she was once young herself, and +would have liked to have served a great genius with such a loving heart +and such blue eyes as Will's. Ah! the girls will all envy me, when they +get a glance from Will's blue eyes: and let them, for he is too good a +fellow to look at anybody but his poor ordinary silly wife, and if he +did, the odds are that he would not see them: could not see whether +their hair were black or red. Ah me! I am not sure whether Will always +sees me--poor me--and not one of his angels from paradise." + +But Dulcie did mean to tell Clary, and to ask her what she would +advise her to wear for her wedding-gown, and whether she and Sam +Winnington would be best maid and best man. But Clary put her foot +through the plan neatly. Clary was in one of her vapourish moods when +she inquired one night, "Is Will Locke coming down again, Dulcie? Oh! +what ever is he seeking here? What more can we do for him? Nobody +wants any more sheep or goats (were they sheep or goats, Dulcie?), or +strawberries and currants, unless as mutton, and kid, and preserves. +And, Dulcie, you must not stand in your own light, and throw away any +more notice upon him; it is wasting your time, and the word of him may +keep away others. A match with him would be purely preposterous: even +Sam Winnington, who is a great deal more of a scamp, my dear, treats +him as a sublime simpleton." + +What induced Clary to attempt to lock the stable after the steed was +stolen? What drove her off all of a sudden on this dreadfully candid and +prudent tack? She only knew. Possibly it was to ease her own troubled +conscience: but with Sam Winnington constantly dangling about her +skirts, and receiving sufficient encouragement, too, it was hard for +Dulcie to bear. She was in a fine passion; she would not tell Clary, +after that round of advice; no, not a word. How did she know what Clary +would do next? Perhaps forbid Will the house, when he came back from +London with the licence, lock her into a room, and write an evil report +to her friends? No, Dulcie could keep her own counsel: she was sorry to +live in Clary's house, and eat the bread of deceit, but she would not +risk Will's happiness as well as her own. + +Will Locke reappeared on the scene within a fortnight. The lad did not +tell Dulcie, though, that he had walked the most of the way, and that +he had rendered himself footsore, in order to be able to count out +Dulcie's modest expenses up to town, and perhaps a month's +housekeeping beforehand: for that was the extent of his outlook. Will +Locke appointed the Vicar to meet him and a young woman in Redwater +church, the very morning after his return: there was no use in delay, +except to melt down the first money he had hoarded; and Will and +Dulcie were like two children, eager to have the business over and +done with, and not to do again by the same parties. The Vicar was +quite accustomed to these sudden calls, and he submitted to them with +a little groan. He did not know who the young woman might be, and he +did not care; it might be Mistress Cambridge, it might be Mistress +Clarissa herself, it might be the still-room maid, or the barmaid at +the "Rod and Fly;" it was all one to him. As for the young painter +fellow, the quiet lads were as likely to slip into these scrapes as +the rattles; indeed, the chances were rather against them: the Vicar +was inclined to cry, "Catch Mr. Sam Winnington in such a corner." But +the Vicar was in no way responsible for a youth who was not even his +own parishioner; he was not accountable for his not having worldly +goods wherewith to endow the young woman whom he was to lead to the +altar. Oddly enough, though worldly goods are undoubtedly introduced +into the service, there are no accompanying awkward questions: such +as, "What are your worldly goods, M.?" or, "Have you any worldly +goods, M.?" The Vicar did not care at all, except for his incipient +yawns, and his disordered appetite; he was a rebuke to gossips. + +When the hour came, Dulcie was distressed: not about wrongdoing, for the +girl had no more idea that she was doing wrong than you have when you +write a letter on your own responsibility, and at your own dictation; +not at the absence of friends, for in Dulcie's day friends were +considered very much in the way on such occasions. Indeed, the best +accredited and most popular couples would take a start away from their +companions and acquaintances, and ride ten miles or so to be married +privately, and so escape all ceremony. Dulcie was troubled by the want +of a wedding-gown; yes, a wedding-gown, whether it is to wear well or +not, is to a woman what a wig is to a barrister, what a uniform is to a +soldier. Dulcia's had no existence, not even in a snip; no one could +call a half-worn sacque a wedding-gown, and not even her mother's tabby +could be brought out for fear of observation. Only think! a scoured +silk: how could Dulcie "bridle" becomingly in a scoured silk? There +would have been a certain inappropriateness in its shabbiness in the +case of one who had done with the vanities of this world: but a scoured +silk beside bridal blushes!--alas, poor Dulcie! + +In every other respect, there appears something touching as well as +humorous in that primitive marriage-party on the grey October morning, +with the autumn sunbeams, silver not golden, faintly brightening the +yellowing vine, over the sexton's house, and the orange and grey +lichens, the only ornaments outside the solid old church, with its low, +heavy Saxon arches. The Vicar bowed with ceremony, and with a dignified +and deliberate air, as he recognised Mistress Dulcie; the old clerk and +his wrinkled wife stumbled into an apprehension that it was Mistress +Clarissa Gage's friend who was to have the knot tied all by herself so +early: but it was nothing to them either--nothing in comparison with the +Christmas dole. The lad and lass so trustful, so isolated, making such a +tremendous venture, deserved to have the cheery sunshine on their lot, +if only for their faith and firmness. + +When it was over, Dulcie plucked Will's sleeve, to turn him into the +vestry. One must be the guide if not the other, and "it's main often the +woman," the old clerk would tell you, with a toothless grin. + +Then Dulcie went with Will straight to the "Rod and Fly;" for such was +the established rule. These occurrences were so frequent, that they had +their etiquette cut out for them. From the "Rod and Fly" Will and Dulcie +sent the coolest and most composed, the most perfectly reasonable and +polite of messages, to say they had got married together that morning, +and that Mistress Cambridge need not have the trouble of keeping +breakfast for Mistress Dulcie. A separate apology was sent from Dulcie +for not having procured the watercresses which she was to have sought +for Cambridge. Further, Mr. and Mrs. Will Locke would expect all of +their friends who approved of the step they had taken to come to the +"Rod and Fly," and offer their congratulations and drink their healths +that morning without fail; as the young couple had to start by the very +waggon in which they had first set eyes on each other. "Think of that, +Will!" Dulcie had exclaimed, breathlessly, as if she was calling his +notice to a natural phenomenon. They had now to ask and receive +Dulcie's parents' blessing before they began housekeeping in Will's +lodgings in London, on the strength of a month's prices with future +orders and outwork from the potteries. Oh! these old easy beginnings! +What have we gained by complicating them? + +Will Locke and Dulcie had cast the die, and, on the first brush of the +affair, their friends at Redwater took it as ill as possible: Clarissa +was hysterical, Sam Winnington was as sulky as a bear. If this treatment +were to be regarded as a foreshadowing of what the behaviour of the +authorities at Fairfax would prove, then the actors in the little drama +might shake in their shoes. But Will Locke placidly stood the storm they +had brewed, only remembering in years to come some words which Dulcie +did not retain for a sun-down. Dulcie was now affronted and hurt, now +steady as a stepping-stone and erect as a sweet-pea, when either of the +two assailants dared to blame Will, or to imply that he should have +refrained from this mischief. Why, what could Will have done? What could +she have done without him? She was not ashamed to ask that, the moment +they reflected upon Will Locke, though she had not borne his name an +hour. Oh! child, child! + +Notwithstanding, it was very trying to Dulcie when Clary protested +that she never would have believed that Dulcie could have stolen such +a march upon her; never. Dulcie to deceive her! Dulcie to betray her! +Poor Clary! Whom could she turn to for affection and integrity, in the +days that might remain to her in this wicked world? She had walked all +along the street with its four or five windows in every gable turned +to the thoroughfare, with her handkerchief at her eyes, while the +whole town was up, and each window full. She was so spent now, with +her exertions and her righteous indignation, that she sat fanning +herself in the bar: for Will and Dulcie could not even afford a +private room to receive their wedding company so summarily assembled. +Never was such a business, in Clary's opinion; not that she had not +often heard of its like--but to happen to a kind, silly, credulous +pair, such as Dulcie and Will Locke! Clary sat fanning herself, and +casting knots on her pocket-handkerchief, and glancing quickly at Sam +Winnington's gloomy, dogged face, so different from the little man's +wonted bland, animated countenance. What on earth could make Sam +Winnington take the wilful deed so much to heart? Hear him rating +Will, whom he had been used to patronize in a careless, gracious +style, but upon whom he now turned in strong resentment. These +reproaches were not unprovoked, but they were surely out of bounds; +and their matter and manner rankled in the breasts of both these men +many a day after they had crossed the Rubicon, and travelled far into +the country on whose borders they were still pressing. + +"You have disgraced yourself and me, sir! You have gone far to ruin the +two of us! People will credit us of the same stock: a pair of needy and +reckless adventurers!" + +"Master Winnington, I was willing: I could do what I liked with myself +without your leave; and I suppose Will Locke was equally independent," +fired up Dulcie. + +"We'll never be mistaken for the same grain, Sam Winnington," declared +Will Locke, with something like disdain. "I always knew that we were +clean different: and the real substance of the wood will come out more +and more distinctly, now that the mere bark is rubbed off." + +Clary was modified at last; she kissed and sobbed over Dulcie, wished +her joy sincerely, half promised to visit her in town, and slipped a +posy ring from her own hand to the bride's, on the very finger where +Will Locke had the face to put the marriage-ring which wedded a comely, +sprightly, affectionate young woman to struggles and disappointments, +and a mad contest between spirit and matter. But Sam Winnington would +not so much as shake hands with Will; though he did not bear any malice +against Dulcie, and would have kissed her fingers if she would have +allowed it: and the young men, erstwhile comrades, looked so glumly and +grimly at each other, that it was a universal relief when the great +waggon drew up at the inn door. + +Dulcie, in another character now, and that even before the fall of +the russet leaves--half ashamed but very proud, the little goose! of +the quick transformation--stepped into the waggon; the same boxes +were piled beside her; Will leapt in after her, and away they +rolled. There was nothing more for Dulcie to do but to wave her hand +to Clary and Cambridge, and the women of the inn (already fathoms +deep in her interest), and to realize that she was now a married +woman, and had young Will Locke the great painter, in his chrysalis +state, to look after. + +But why was Sam Winnington so irate? He had never looked sweet on Dulcie +for half a second. Was it not rather that a blundering dreamer like Will +Locke had anticipated him, marred his tactics, and fatally injured his +scientific game? Sam came dropping down upon Redwater whenever he could +find leisure, when the snow was on the ground, or when the peaches were +plump and juicy, for the next two or three years. If he had not been +coming on finely in his profession, heightening his charges five guineas +at a time, and if Clary had not possessed that six thousand pounds' +fortune, they would have done off the matter in a trice, like Will Locke +and Dulcie Cowper. Poor Sam! poor Clary!--what an expenditure of hours +and days and emotions, they contrived for themselves! They were often +wretched! and they shook each other's faith: it is doubtful if they ever +quite recovered it. They were so low occasionally that it must have been +dreadfully difficult for them to get up again; they were so bitter that +how they became altogether sweet once more, without any lingering +remains of the acrid flavour in their mouths, is scarcely to be +imagined. They were good and true in their inmost hearts; but it does +appear that some of the tricks of which they were guilty left them less +honest human creatures. There was a strong dash of satire in Sam's fun +afterwards; there was a sharpness in Clary's temper, and a despotism in +her dignity. To be sure, Clary always liked Sam's irony a thousand times +better than another man's charity, and Sam ever thought Clary's +impatient, imperious ways far before the cooing of any turtle-dove in +the wood; but that was only an indication that the real metal was +there, not that it was not smirched and corroded with rust. + +The first effect of Will and Dulcie's exploit was extremely prejudicial +to the second case on the books. Uncle Barnet, a flourishing London +barrister, a man with strong lines about his mouth, a wart on his +forehead, and great laced flaps at his coat pockets, and who was +supposed to be vehemently irresistible in the courts, hurried down to +Redwater on purpose to overhaul Clary. What sort of doings were those +she presided over in her maiden house at Redwater? Not the runaway +marriage of a companion; that occurred every day in the most polite +circles; Clary could not fairly be called to account for such a trifle; +besides, a girl without a penny might do as she chose. But there was +something a vast deal more scandalous lurking in the background: there +was word of another fellow of the same kidney buzzing about Clary--Clary +with her six thousand pounds' fortune, her Uncle Barnet, her youth, her +handsome person, her what not? Now, as sure as Uncle Barnet's name was +Barnet, as he wore a wig, as there was justice in the country, he would +have the law of the fellow. Don't tell him the man was advancing rapidly +in his profession. What was a painter's profession?--or the son of a +gallant Captain Winnington? If a gallant Captain Winnington could do +nothing more than gallant, he did not deserve the name; it was a piece +of fudge to cheat foolish women with. Yes; he would have the law of the +fellow if he buzzed about his niece; he would have the law of Clary if +she encouraged him. + +What could Clary do? she had been taught to look up to Uncle Barnet; +she had seen polite society under his wife's wing; she had obeyed him at +once as her Mentor and her Maecenas--as her father and prime-minister. +She cried and kissed his hand, and promised not to forget her position, +and to be a good girl; and as she was not engaged to Sam Winnington, and +did not know for certain that he would return to Redwater for the +grass-mowing or the hop-gathering, she thought she might be free to +promise also that she would not see him again with her will. Of course, +she meant to keep her word if she might; but there are two at a +bargain-making: and observe, she said "with her will;" she made no +reference to Sam Winnington's pleasure. And yet, arrogant as Clary could +be on her worst side, she had found her own intentions and purposes +knocked down by Sam Winnington's determinations before now. + +When Sam Winnington did come down next, Clary had such honour and +spirit, that she ordered the door to be shut in his face; but then she +cried far more bitterly than she had done to Uncle Barnet, in the same +hall where Sam had painted her and jested with her; and somehow her +affliction reached Sam's ears, living in a little place like Redwater at +the "Rod and Fly" for several days on end. + +At last another spice entered into the dish; another puppet appeared on +the boards, and increased the disorder of the former puppets. The county +member did turn up. Clary was a prophet: he came on a visit to his +cousin the Justice, and was struck with tall, red and white, and +large-eyed Clary; he furbished up an introduction, and offered her the +most marked attention. + +Mistress Clarissa was in ecstasy, so her gossips declared, and so she +almost persuaded herself, even after she had certain drawbacks to her +pleasure, and certain cares intruding upon her exultation; after she was +again harassed and pestered with the inconvenient resuscitation of that +incorrigible little plain, vain portrait painter, Sam Winnington. He was +plain--he had not the county member's Roman nose; and he was vain--Clary +had already mimicked the fling of his cravat, and the wave of his white +hands. Clever, smart fellows, like Sam Winnington, are generally +coxcombs. Oh, Sam! where, in order to serve your own turn now, be your +purple shadows, your creamy whites, your marvellous reading of people's +characters, and writing of the same on their faces, their backs, their +very hands and feet, which should leave the world your delighted debtor +long after it had forgotten yon member's mighty services? + +Clarissa had never danced so many dances with one evening's partner as +with the smitten member, at the assembly given on the spur of the +moment in his honour, whereat Sam Winnington, standing with his hat +under his arm, and leaning against the carved door, was an observant +spectator. He was not sullen as when Will Locke and Dulcie tumbled +headlong into the pit of matrimony! he was smiling and civil; but his +lips were white and his eyes sunken, as if the energetic young painter +did not sleep of nights. + +Clary was not sincere; she gave that infatuated, tolerably heavy, +red-faced, fox-hunting member, own cousin to the Justice, every reason +to suppose that she would lend him the most favourable ear, when he +chose to pay her his addresses, and then afforded him the amplest +provocation to cry, "Caprice--thy name is woman." She had just sung +"Tantivy" to him after supper, when she sailed up to Sam Winnington, and +addressed him demurely:-- + +"I have come to wish you good-night, sir." + +"And I to wish you farewell, madam." + +"Farewell is a hard word, Master Winnington," returned Clary, with a +great tide of colour rushing into her face, and a gasp as for breath, +and tracing figures nervously on the floor with her little shoe and its +brave paste-buckle. + +"It shall be said though, and that without further delay, unless three +very different words be put in its place." + +"Sir, you are tyrannous," protested Clary, in a tremulous voice. + +"No, Mistress Clarissa, I have had too good cause to know who has been +the tyrant in this business," declared Sam Winnington, speaking out +roundly, as a woman loves to hear a man, though it be to her own +condemnation, "You have used me cruelly, Clarissa Gage; you have abused +my faith, wasted the best years of my life, and deceived my affections." + +"What were the three words," asked Clary, faint and low. + +"'Yours, Sam Winnington;' or else, 'Farewell, Clarissa Gage?'" + +"Yours, Sam Winnington." + +He caught her so sharp up by the arm at that sentence, that some persons +said Mistress Clarissa had staggered and was about to swoon; others, +that the vulgar fellow of a painter had behaved like a brute, pulled her +to his side as she was marching past him, and accused her of perjury +before the whole ball-room. Bold men were apt at that time to seize +aggravating women (especially if they were the wives of their bosoms) by +the hairs of their heads, so that a trifling rudeness was little thought +of. The county member, however, pricked up his long ears, flushed, +fiercely stamped to the particular corner, and had a constable in his +eye to arrest the beggarly offender; but before he could get at the +disputants, he had the mortification to see them retreat amicably into a +side room, and the next thing announced to him was, that Mistress +Clarissa had evanished home, before anybody could get rightly at the +bottom of the mystery. + +Very fortunately, the county member ascertained the following day, +before he had compromised his pride another hair's-breadth, that the +fickle damsel had accepted the painter's escort the previous evening, +and had admitted the painter at an incredibly early hour the subsequent +morning. After such indiscretion, the great man would have nothing more +to say to Mistress Clarissa, but departed in great dudgeon, and would +never so much as set his foot within Redwater again; not even at the +following election. + +Uncle Barnet was forced to come round and acknowledge, with a very bad +grace, that legislation in heiresses' marriages--in any marriage--is out +of the question. No man knew how a marriage would turn out; you might as +well pledge yourself for the weather next morning; certainly there were +signs for the wise; but were weather almanacs deceptive institutions or +were they not? The innocent old theory of marriages being made in heaven +was the best. Clary was not such a mighty catch after all: a six +thousand pounds' fortune was not inexhaustible, and the county member +might never have come the length of asking its owner's price. People did +talk of a foolish engagement in his youth to one of his yeomen's +daughters, and of a wealthy old aunt who ruled the roast; though her +well-grown nephew, not being returned for a rotten borough, voted with +dignity for so many thousands of his fellow-subjects in the Commons. +Uncle Barnet, with a peculiarly wry face, did reluctantly what he did +not often advise his clients to do, unless in desperate +circumstances--he compromised. + +Clary was made a wife in the height of summer, with all the rites and +ceremonies of the Church, with all the damasks, and laces, and leadings +by the tips of the fingers, and lavishings of larkspurs, lupins, and +tiger-lilies proper for the occasion, which Dulcie had lost. Nay, the +supper came off at the very "Rod and Fly," with the tap open to the +roaring, jubilant public; a score of healths were drunk upstairs with +all the honours, the bride and bridegroom being king and queen of the +company: even Uncle Barnet owned that Sam Winnington was very +complaisant--rather exceed in his complaisance, he supplemented +scornfully; but surely Sam might mend that fault with others in the +bright days to come. It is only the modern English who act Hamlet +_minus_ the Prince of Denmark; sitting at the bridal feast without bride +or bridegroom. They say hearts are often caught on the rebound, and if +all ill-treated suitors spoke out warmly yet sternly like Sam +Winnington, and did not merely fence about and either sneer or whine, +more young fools might be saved, even when at touch-and-go with their +folly, after the merciful fate of Clary and to the benefit of themselves +and of society. + + +V.--DULCIE AND WILL, AT HOME IN ST. MARTIN'S LANE. + +While Sam and Clarissa were fighting the battles of vanity and the +affections down in the southern shire in quite a rural district, among +mills and ash-trees, and houses with gardens and garden bowers, William +and Dulcie were combating real flesh-and-blood woes--woes that would not +so much set your teeth on edge, as soften and melt your tough, dry +heart--among the bricks and mortar of London. These several years were +not light sunshiny years to the young couple. It is of no use saying +that a man may prosper if he will, and that he has only to cultivate +potatoes and cabbages in place of jessamine and passion flowers; no use +making examples of Sir Joshua and Vandyke, and telling triumphantly that +they knew their business and did it simply--only pretending to get a +livelihood and satisfy the public to the best of their ability, but +ending in becoming great painters. One man's meat is another man's +poison; one man's duty is not his neighbour's. When shall we apprehend +or apply that little axiom? The Duchess of Portland killed three +thousand snails in order that she might complete the shell-work for +which she received so much credit; Dulcie would not have put her foot +voluntarily on a single snail for a pension. + +It was Will Locke's fate to vibrate between drudgery and dreaming; +always tending more inevitably towards the latter, and lapsing into more +distant, absorbing trances, till he became more and more fantastic and +unearthly, with his thin light hair, his half-transparent cheek, and his +strained eyes. To prophesy on cardboard and canvas, in flower and +figure, with monster and star, crescent and triangle, in emerald green +and ruby red and sea blue, in dyes that, like those of the Bassani, +resembled the clear shining of a handful of jewels, to prophesy in high +art, to be half pitied, half derided, and to starve: was that Will +Locke's duty? + +Will thought so, in the most artless, unblemished, unswerving style; and +he was a devout fellow as well as a gifted one. He bowed to revelation, +and read nature's secrets well before he forsook her for heaven, or +rather Hades. He devoted himself to the sacrifice; he did not grudge his +lust of the eye, his lust of the flesh, his pride of life. He devoted +Dulcie, not without pangs; and he devoted his little sickly children +pining and dying in St. Martin's Lane. He must follow his calling, he +must fulfil his destiny. + +Dulcie was not quite such an enthusiast; she did love, honour, and obey +Will Locke, but she was sometimes almost mad to see him such a wreck. It +had been a sent evil, and she had looked down into the gulf; but she had +missed the depths. She had never seen its gloomy, dark, dreary nooks, +poor lass! in her youthful boldness and lavishness; and our little +feminine Curtius in the scoured silk, with the powdered brown curls, had +not merely to penetrate them in one plunge, but had to descend, +stumbling and groping her way, and starting back at the sense of +confinement, the damp and the darkness. Who will blame her that she +sometimes turned her head and looked back, and stretched up her arms +from the desert to the flesh-pots of Egypt? She would have borne +anything for her husband; and she did work marvels: she learned to +engrave for him, coloured constantly with her light, pliant fingers, and +drew and painted from old fresh memories those articles of stoneware for +the potteries. She clothed herself in the cheapest and most lasting of +printed linen sacques and mob caps, and hoods and aprons, fed herself +and him and the children on morsels wellnigh miraculously. She even +swallowed down the sight of Clary in her cut velvet and her own coach, +whose panel Sam Winnington himself had not thought it beneath him to +touch up for Clary's delectation and glory. If Will would only have +tarried longer about his flowers and bees, and groves and rattlesnakes: +if he had even stopped short at faces like those of Socrates, Caesar, +Cleopatra, Fair Rosamond--what people could understand with help--and +not slid off faster and more fatally into that dim delirium of good and +evil, angels and archangels, the devil of temptation and the goblin of +the flesh, the red fiend of war, and the pale spirit of peace! + +The difference which originated at Will and Dulcie's marriage had +ended in alienation. Dulcie thought that Sam Winnington would have +bridged it over at one time, if Will would have made any sign of +meeting his overtures, or acknowledged Sam's talents and fortune: nay, +even if Will had refrained from betraying his churlish doubts of Sam's +perfect deserts. + +But no, this Will would not deign to do. The gentle, patient painter, +contented with his own estimation of his endowments, and resigned to +be misjudged and neglected by the world, had his own indomitable +doggedness. He would never flatter the world's low taste for +commonplace, and its miserable short-sightedness; he would never pay +homage to Sam Winnington which he did not deserve--a man very far from +his equal--a mere clever portrait-painter, little better than a +skilled stonemason. Thus Sam Winnington and Will Locke took to +flushing when each other's names were mentioned--sitting bolt upright +and declining to comment on each other's works, or else dismissing +each other's efforts in a few supremely contemptuous words. Certainly +the poor man rejected the rich not one whit less decidedly than the +rich man rejected the poor, and the Mordecais have always the best of +it. If we and our neighbours will pick out each other's eyes, commend +us to the part of brave little Jack, rather than that of the +belligerent Giant, even when they are only eyeing each other previous +to sitting down to the ominous banquet. + +But this was a difficulty to Dulcie, as it is to most women. No one +thinks of men's never showing a malign influence in this world; it is +only good women who are expected to prove angels outright here below. +But it does seem that there is something more touching in their having +to stifle lawful instincts, and in their being forced to oppose and +overcome unlawful passions--covetousness, jealousy, wrath, "hatred, +malice, and all uncharitableness." + +Dulcie, with the sharpness of her little face, divested of all its +counterbalancing roundness--a keen, worn little face since the day it +had smiled so confusedly but generously out of the scurvy silk in the +church at Redwater--was a sweet-looking woman under her care-laden air. +Some women retain sweetness under nought but skin and bone; they will +not pinch into meanness and spite; they have still faith and charity. +One would not wonder though Dulcie afforded more vivid glimpses of _il +Beato's_ angels after the contour of her face was completely spoilt. + +You can fancy the family room in St. Martin's Lane, some five or six +years after Will Locke and Dulcie were wed, with its strange litter of +acids and aquafortis, graving tools and steel plates. Will and Dulcie +might have been some of the abounding false coiners, had it not been for +the colours, the canvas, and the vessels from the potteries, all huddled +together without attention to effect. Yet these were not without order, +for they were too busy people to be able to afford to be purely +disorderly. They could not have had the curtain less scant, for the +daylight was precious to them; they had not space for more furniture +than might have sufficed a poor tradesman or better sort of mechanic; +only there were traces of gentle birth and breeding in the casts, the +prints and portfolios, the Dutch clock, and the great hulk of a +state-bed hung with the perpetual dusky yellow damask, which served as a +nursery for the poor listless little children. + +Presently Dulcie looked after the sops, and surreptitiously awarded Will +the Benjamite's portion, and Will ate it absently with the only appetite +there; though he, too, was a consumptive-looking man--a good deal more +so than when he attracted the pity of the good wife at the "Nine Miles +Inn." Then Dulcie crooned to the children of the milk-porridge she would +give them next night, and sang to them as she lulled them to sleep, her +old breezy, bountiful English songs, "Young Roger came tapping at +Dolly's window," and "I met my lad at the garden gate," and brushed +their faces into laughter with the primroses and hyacinths she had +bought for Will in Covent Garden Market. Will asked to see them in the +spring twilight, and described the banks where they grew, with some +revival of his early lore, and added a tale of the fairies who made them +their round tables and galleries, which caused the eldest child (the +only one who walked with Dulcie in his little coat to the church where +he was christened) to open his heavy eyes, and clap his hot hands, and +cry, "More, father, more." Will and Dulcie looked gladly into each +other's eyes at his animation, and boasted what a stamping, thundering +man he would yet live to be--that midge, that sprite, with Dulcie's +small skeleton bones, and Will's dry, lustreless, fair hair! + +Anon while Dulcie was still rocking one of these weary children moaning +in its sleep, Will must needs strike a light to resume his beloved +labours; but first he directed his candle to his canvas, and called on +Dulcie to contemplate and comprehend, while he murmured and raved to her +of the group of fallen men and women crouching in the den--of the wind +of horror raising their hair,--of the dawn of hope bursting in the +eastern sky, and high above them the fiendish crew, and the captains of +the Blessed still swaying to and fro in the burdened air, and striking +deadly blows for supremacy. And Dulcie, open-eyed and open-mouthed as of +old, looked at the captives, as if listening to the strife that was to +come, and wellnigh heard the thunder of the captains and the shouting, +while her eye was always eagerly pointed to that pearly streak which was +to herald the one long, cool, calm, bright day of humanity. No wonder +Dulcie was as demented as Will, and thought it would be a very little +matter though the milk-porridge were sour on the morrow, or if the +carrier did not come with the price in his pocket for these sweet pots, +and bowls, and pipkins: she believed her poor babies were well at rest +from the impending dust, and din, and danger; and smiled deep, quiet +smiles at Clary--poor Clary, with her cut velvet, her coach, and her +black boy. Verily Will and Dulcie could afford to refer not only +pleasantly but mercifully, to Sam Winnington and Clary that night. + +"It is contemptible to lose sight of the sublimity of life even to enjoy +perfect ease and happiness." That is a very grand saying; but, oh dear! +we are poor creatures; and though Dulcie is an infinitely nobler being +now than then, the tears are fit to start into our eyes when we remember +the little brown head which "bridled finely," the little feet which +pranced lightly, and the little tongue which wagged, free from care, in +the stage waggon on the country road yon clear September day. + + +VI.--SAM AND CLARISSA IN COMPANY IN LEICESTER SQUARE. + +Sam and Clarissa were worshipful people now. Uncle Barnet no longer +invited them to his second-rate parties; Uncle Barnet was really proud +to visit them in their own home. Sam Winnington was a discerning +mortal; he had a faculty for discovering genius, especially that +work-a-day genius which is in rising men; and he certainly had +bird-lime wherewith he could fix their feet under his hospitable +table. The best of the sages and wits of the day were to be met in Sam +Winnington's house; the best of the sages and wits of the day thought +Clary a fine woman, though a little lofty, and Sam a good fellow, an +honest chum, a delightful companion, and at the same time the prince +of portrait-painters. What an eye he had! what a touch! How much +perception of individual character, and at the same time, what sober +judgment and elegant taste to preserve his sitters, ladies and +gentlemen, as well as men and women! Cavaliers would have it, the +ladies and gentlemen, like Sam's condescension at his wedding-feast, +overtopped the mark; but it was erring on the safe side. Who would not +sink the man in the gentleman? After all, perhaps the sages and wits +were not altogether disinterested: almost every one of them filled Sam +Winnington's famous sitter's chair, and depended on Sam's tasteful +pencil handing down their precious noses and chins to posterity. + +Sam and Clary were going abroad, in that coach, which had made Dulcie +Locke look longingly after it, and ponder what it would be for one of +her frail children to have "a ride" on the box as far as Kensington. +They were bound for the house of one of the lordly patrons of arts and +letters. They were bound for my Lord Burlington's, or the Earl of +Mulgrave's, or Sir William Beechey's--for a destination where they were +a couple of mark and distinction, to be received with the utmost +consideration. Sam reared smartly his round but not ill-proportioned +person in his rich brocade coat, and Clary towered in the corner with +her white throat, and her filmy ivory-coloured laces. + +We won't see many more distinguished men and women than the members of +the set who frequented the old London tea-parties; and Sam Winnington +and Clary were in it and of it, while Will Locke and Dulcie were +poverty-stricken and alone with their bantlings in the garret in St. +Martin's Lane. What becomes of the doctrine of happiness being equally +divided in this world, as so many comfortable persons love to opine? +Possibly we don't stand up for it; or we may have our loophole, by which +we may let ourselves out and drag it in. Was that illustrious voyage all +plain sailing? Sam Winnington used to draw a long sigh, and lay back his +head and close his eyes in his coach, after the rout was over. He was +not conscious of acting; he was not acting, and one might dare another, +if that other were not a cynic, to say that the motive was unworthy. He +wanted to put his sitters on a good footing with themselves; he wanted +to put the world on a good footing with itself; it was the man's nature. +He did not go very far down; he was not without his piques, and like +other good-natured men--like Will Locke, for that matter--when he was +once offended he was apt to be vindictive; but he was buoyant, and that +little man must have had a great fund of charity about him somewhere to +be drawn upon at first sight. Still this popularity was no joke. There +were other rubs. The keen love of approbation in the little man, which +was at the bottom of his suavity, was galled by the least condemnation +of his work and credit; he was too manly to enact the old man and the +ass, but successful Sam Winnington was about as soon pricked as a man +who wears a fold of silk on his breast instead of the old plate armour. + +Clary had her own aggravations: with all her airs Clary was not a match +for the indomitable, unhesitating, brazen (with a golden brazenness) +women of fashion. Poor Clary had been the beauty at Redwater, the most +modish, the best informed woman there; and here, in this world of +London, to which Sam had got her an introduction, she was a nobody; +scarcely to be detected among the host of ordinary fine women, except by +Sam's reflected glory. This was a doubtful boon, an unsatisfactory rise +in the social scale. Then Clary had nobody beyond Sam to look to, and +hope and pray for: she had not even sickly children to nurse, like +Dulcie. Sam would only live to future generations in his paintings. Ah, +well! it was fortunate that Sam was a man of genius. + +You may believe, for all the grand company, the coach, the cut velvet, +the laces, and the black boy, that this world was but a mighty sorry, +uneasy place to Sam and Clarissa as they rolled home over the pavement, +while Will and Dulcie slept with little betwixt them and the stars. + + +VII.--STRIPS SOME OF THE THORNS FROM THE HEDGE AND THE GARDEN ROSES. + +Will Locke lay dying. One would have thought, from his tranquillity, +confidence, and love of work, even along with spare diet, that he would +have lived long. But dreamland cannot be a healthy region for a man in +the body to inhabit. Will was going where his visions would be as nought +to the realities. He was still one of the most peaceful, the happiest of +fellows, as he had been all his life. He babbled of the pictures he +would paint in another region, as if he were conscious that he had +painted in a former state. It seemed, too, that the poor fellow's +spiritual life, apart from his artist career, took sounder, cheerier +substance and form, as the other life grew dimmer and wilder. Dulcie was +almost reconciled to let Will go; for he would be more at home in the +spirit-world than here, and she had seen sore trouble, which taught her +to acquiesce, when there were a Father and a Friend seen glimmeringly +but hopefully beyond the gulf. Dulcie moved about, with her child +holding by her skirts, resigned and helpful in her sorrow. + +The most clouded faces in the old room in St. Martin's Lane--with its +old litter, so grievous to-day, of brushes, and colours, and graving +tools, and wild pictures which the painter would never touch more--were +those of Sam Winnington and Clary. Will had bidden Sam and Clary be sent +for to his deathbed; and, offended as they had been, and widely severed +as they were now, they rose and came trembling to obey the summons. +Clary gave one look, put her handkerchief quickly to her eyes, and then +turned and softly covered the tools, lifted the boiling pot to the side +of the grate, and took Dulcie's fretful, wondering child in her lap. She +was not a fine lady now, but a woman in distress. Sam stood immoveable +and uncertain, with a man's awkwardness, but a face working with +suppressed emotion. + +Will felt no restraint; he sat up in his faded coat with his cravat open +to give him air, and turning his wan face with its dark shadow towards +Sam Winnington in his velvet coat, with a diamond ring sparkling on his +splashed hand, and his colour, which had grown rosy of late years, +heightened with emotion, addressed his old friend. + +"I wanted to see you, Sam; I had something on my mind, and I could not +depart with full satisfaction without saying it to you; I have done +you wrong." + +Sam raised his head, startled, and stared at the sick man: poor Will +Locke; were his wits utterly gone? they had always been somewhat to +seek: though he had been a wonderful fellow, too, in his own +way--wonderful at flowers, and birds, and beasts, if he had but been +content with them. + +"I called you a mere portrait-painter, Sam," continued the dying man; "I +refused to acknowledge your inspiration, and I knew better: I saw that +to you was granted the discernment to read the human face and the soul +behind it, as to me it was given to hold converse with nature and the +subtle essence of good and evil. Most painters before you have painted +masks; but yours are the clothings of immortals: and your flesh is +wonderful, Sam--how you have perfected it! And it is not true what they +tell you of your draperies: you are the only man alive who can render +them picturesque and not absurd, refined and not stinted. You were a +genteel fellow, too, from the beginning, and would no more do a dirty +action when you had only silver coins to jingle in your pockets, than +now when they are stuffed with gold moidores." + +"Oh, Will, Will!" cried Sam, desperately bowing his head; "I have done +little for you." + +"Man!" cried Will, with a kingly incredulity, "what could you do for me? +I wanted nothing. I was withdrawn somewhat from my proper field, to +mould and colour for daily bread; but Dulcie saved me many a wasted +hour, and I could occupy the period of a mechanical job in +conceiving--no, in marshalling my visions. Mine was a different, an +altogether higher line than yours, Sam; you will forgive me if I have +told you too abruptly," and the poverty-stricken painter, at his last +gasp, looked deprecatingly at his old honoured associate. + +But he was too far gone for ceremony; he was too near release for pain. +He had even shaken hands with the few family cares he was capable of +experiencing, and had commended Dulcie to Sam Winnington without a +single doubt. He felt, like Gainsborough, that they were all going to +heaven, and Vandyke was in the company. Where was the room for +misunderstanding now! Here was the end of strife, and the conclusion of +the whole matter. Some other sentences Will spoke before his parting +breath; and when his hearers heard him murmuring the word "garment," +they fancied he still raved of his calling--on to the end. But his mind +had turned and taken refuge in another calling, and it was in reference +to it that he quoted the fragment of a verse, "And besought him that +they might touch if it were but the border of his garment; and as many +as touched him were made whole." "Sam, have you put forth your hand?" + +Thus Will Locke departed rejoicing. Dulcie, a thin forlorn widow woman, +talked with a lingering echo of his elevation, of her Will's being +beyond lamentation, and of herself and her boy's being well off with +their faith in the future. Dulcie had a proud, constant presentiment in +the recesses of her woman's heart that the husband and father's good +name and merited reputation would surely find his memory out in this +world yet. She had no material possessions save a few of his gorgeous, +gruesome, hieroglyphical pictures, and what she had borrowed or +inherited of his lower cunning in tinting, a more marketable commodity +in the present mind of society. + +Dulcie disposed of Will's paintings, reluctantly, realizing an +astonishing amount; astonishing, unless you take into account the fact +that his companions and contemporaries were not sure that he was a mere +madman now that he had gone from their ranks. They wished to atone for +their dislike to his vagaries by preserving some relics of the curious +handling, the grotesque imagination, the delicate taste, and the finely +accurate knowledge of vegetable and animal forms which had passed away. + +Then Dulcie went back in the waggon to her old friends at Fairfax, +and, by so doing, probably saved her sole remaining child. Dulcie did +not know whether to be glad or sorry when she found that Will's boy +had no more of his father's genius than might have been derived from +her own quick talents, and neat, nice fingers. And she was comforted: +not in the sense of marrying again--oh dear, no! she cherished the +memory of her Will as a sacred thing, and through all her returning +plumpness and rosiness--for she was still a young woman--never forgot +the honour she had borne in being a great painter's wife and companion +for half-a-dozen years. Perhaps, good as she was, she grew rather to +brandish this credit in the faces of the cloth-workers and their +wives; to speak a little bigly of the galleries and the Academy, of +chiaroscuro and perspective, of which the poor ignoramuses knew +nothing: to be obstinate on her dignity, and stand out on her +gentility far before that of the attorneys' and the doctors' +wives;--and all this though she had been, as you may remember, the +least assuming of girls, the least exacting of wives. But women have +many sides to their nature, and remain puzzles--puzzles in their +virtues as in their vices; and if Dulcie were ever guilty of +ostentation, you have not to dive deep to discover that it was out of +respect to her Will--to her great, simple, single-hearted painter. + +No, Will Locke's was not a life wrecked on the rocks of adversity, any +more than Sam Winnington's was stranded on the sandbanks of prosperity. +The one did a little to mellow the other before the scenes closed, and +Will Locke was less obliged to Sam Winnington than Sam to Will in the +end. Will's nature and career were scarcely within the scope of Sam's +genial material philosophy; but the thought of them did grow to cross +Sam's mind during his long work-hours; and good painters' hours are +mostly stoutly, steadily, indefatigably long. He pondered them even when +he was jesting playfully with the affable aristocrat under his pencil; +he spoke of them often to Clary when he was sketching at her work-table +of an evening; and she, knitting beside him, would stop her work and +respond freely. Then Sam would rise, and, with his hands behind his +back, go and look at that lush, yet delicate picture of the Redwater +Bower which he had got routed out, framed, and hung in Clary's +drawing-room. He would contemplate it for many minutes at a study, and +he would repeat the study scores and scores of times with always the +same result--the conviction of the ease and security resulting from +spiritualizing matter, and the difficulty and hopelessness of +materializing spirit. And after these long looks into the past, Sam +would be more forbearing in pronouncing verdicts on his brethren, +worsted in the effort to express what was inherent in their minds; would +not decide quite so dogmatically, that all a man had to do was to be +sound and diligent, and keep himself far apart from high-flown rubbish, +like a common-sense, sober-minded Englishman. And Sam came to be less +feverishly anxious about his own monopoly of public esteem; less nettled +at art-criticism; perhaps less vivacious in his talents and well-doing, +but more manly and serene in his triumph, as Will Locke had been manly +and serene in his failure. + +Will Locke's life and death, so devoid of pomp and renown, might be +beyond lamentation, after all. + + + + +ADAM HOME'S REPENTANCE. + + +I.--WILD, WITTY NELLY CARNEGIE. + +"A bonny bride's sune buskit; eh, Nanny Swinton?" + +"But ye're no bonny, Miss Nelly; na, na, ye cannot fill the shoon o' yer +leddy mother; ye're snod, and ye may shak yer tails at the Assembly, but +ye're far ahint Lady Carnegie." + +"An' I've but to dance my set with young Berwickshire Home, I care not +though I bide at home after all." + +But Nelly Carnegie would have little liked that resource, though she now +flung the powder out of her nut-brown hair, and tapped her little mirror +with her fan. + +In a low dark closet, up a steep stair, in a narrow, confined, +dark-browed house in the Canongate of Edinburgh, one of the belles of +17--made her toilette. Her chamber woman, in curch and tartan screen, +was old nurse and sole domestic of the high-headed, strong-minded, +stately widow of a wild north-country laird, whose son now ruled alone +in the rugged family mansion among the grand, misty mountains of +Lochaber. Nelly Carnegie was no beauty; not fair as a red-and-white +rose, like Lady Eglinton, or any one of her six daughters; not dainty, +like poor imprisoned Lady Lovat; she was more like desperate Lady +Primrose, flying shrieking from her mad husband's sword and pistols, or +fierce Lady Grange, swearing her bootless revenge on the wily, +treacherous, scared Lord of Session. She was but wild, witty Nelly +Carnegie, whom no precise, stern mother could tame, no hard life at her +embroidery or her spinet could subdue. She was brown as a gipsy, skin, +eyes, and hair--the last a rich, ruddy chestnut brown--with nothing to +distinguish her figure but its diminutiveness and the nimbleness of the +shapely hands and feet; while her mother's lace lappets were higher by +half a foot than the crown of many a manikin on whom she looked down, +and her back that never bent or leant for a second on rail or cushion, +was straight as an arrow, as well as long. But Nelly, in her absurd, +magnificent brocade, and her hoop, that made her small figure like a +little russet cask, and with busk and breast-knot and top-knot, was +admired, as odd people will choose what is irregular, strange, and racy, +in preference to what is harmonious, orderly, and insipid. + +Nelly had a cavalier to walk by her sedan, as her mother and she +traversed the rough streets. He handed her out at the old Assembly door, +but she flung away his hand, and followed her mother alone within the +dignified precincts, leaving a gloom and a storm on a lowering brow, +unshaded by the cocked hat, then carried under the wearer's arm. + +The old Assembly Rooms where potent Jacky Murray presided, where urbane +Duncan Forbes won all hearts, where a gentle laird wooed in sweet +numbers--and in vain--the Annie Laurie of that well-known old song, are +now almost forgotten. Other things have passed away in company with the +wigs and ruffles, the patches and snuff. The grace may remain, and the +refinement be thorough where then it was superficial, but the +courtliness of conscious superiority, the picturesque contrarieties and +broken natural land that lay below the heaths and craters, exist but as +the black gloom and red glare of the past. + +There the grave responsible Lord of Session, sober in mien as Scotchmen +are wont to be, sat at midnight and roared over his claret in the mad +orgies of the Hell-fire Club; here the pawky, penetrating lawyer, shrewd +both from calling and character, played the reckless game of a +correspondence with the stage Court of St. Germains; yonder mettle +beauty sailed along on her high-heeled shoes to finish the night's +triumph at an oyster supper in a den behind the Luckenbooths. And there +again walked an imperial dowager, who still span her own linen and +struck her serving-man with her ivory cane. Truly the old Edinburgh +Assembly Rooms had their secrets, and contained exciting enough elements +under their formal French polish. + +The regular balls at the Assembly Rooms were eras in Nelly Carnegie's +life, and yet she met always the same company. She knew every face and +name, and what was worse, danced nightly with the same partner. The +select society was constituted at the commencement of the season, and +when once the individual fan was drawn from the cocked-hat of fate, +there was no respite, no room for change. Young Home of Staneholme had +knowledge of the filigree circle through which Nelly was wont to insert +her restless fingers, and Lady Carnegie furthered his advances; so that +although Nelly hated him as she did the gloomy Nor' Loch, she received +his escort to and from the Assembly Rooms, and walked with him her +single minuet, as inevitably as she lilted Allan Ramsay's songs, or +scalded her mouth with her morning's porridge. + +Nelly's suitor was not ill to look upon, so far as flesh and blood went. +He was a well-made, robust fellow, whose laced coat and deep vest showed +the comely, vigorous proportions of youth. The face was manly, too, in +spite of its beardless one-and-twenty, but the broad eyebrows sank, +either in study or sullenness, and the jaw was hard and fixed. + +Yet to see how Nelly strained her bonds, how she gecked and flouted and +looked above him, and curtsied past him, and dropped his hand as if it +were live coals, while the heavy brow grew darker, until it showed like +a thunderstorm over the burning red of the passion-flushed cheek. + +"Tak tent, Nelly," whispered a sedate companion, sensible, cautious, and +canny, whose flaxen hair over its roll had the dead greyness of age, +though the face below was round and dimpled; "young Staneholme drew his +sword last night on the President's son because he speered if he had +skill to tame a goshawk." + +"Tak tent, yerself, Janet Erskine," Nelly responded wrathfully; "think +twice ere you wed auld Auchtershiel." + +Janet shrank, and her bright blue eye blinked uneasily, but no +additional colour came into her cheek, nor did her voice shake, though +it fell. "It must be, Nelly; I daurna deny my father, and mony mair +drink forby Auchtershiel; and if he cursed his last wife out and in, and +drove her son across the sea, they were thrawn and cankered, and he was +their richtfu' head. I'll speak him fair, and his green haughs are a +braw jointure. But, Nelly, do ye believe that the auld Laird--the auld +ane before Auchtershiel himself, he that shot the Covenanter as he hung +by the saugh over the Spinkie-water, and blasphemed when he +prayed--walks at night on the burn bank?" + +"I dinna ken; if I did not fear a livin' sorrow, I would daur a dead +ane," Nelly protested, with a shade of scorn in her levity; "and ye can +bide in the house on the soft summer nights. The Lady of Auchtershiel +need not daunder by the burn side; she can be countin' her house purse +in the still room; but if I were her, I would rather beg my bread." + +"Whisht, for shame, Nelly Carnegie," was returned with a shrillness in +the measured tones; "you would not; and ye'll learn yer own task, and +say Yes to sour, dour Staneholme." + +"I never will; I'll let myself be starved to death, I'll throttle myself +with my own hands first," cried Nelly Carnegie, fire flashing in her +large eyes and on her dark cheeks; and looking up in her defiance she +met the glow for glow of Staneholme's star. Time-serving Janet Erskine +moved off in unconcealed trepidation, and Nelly stood her ground alone, +stamping her foot upon the boards, and struggling in vain against the +cruel influence which she could not control, and to which she would not +bend. + +"He need not gloom and look at me; hearkeners never hear good of +themselves," Nelly thought, with passionate vehemence; but her sparkling +eyes fell slowly, and her proud panting heart quailed with a long throb. + + +II.--A GALLANT REBUFFED.--NELLY'S PUNISHMENT. + +The next time Nelly saw Adam Home was by the landing in the Canongate, +in whose shelter lay the draw-well wherein the proud, gently-born +laird's daughter every afternoon dipped the Dutch porcelain jug which +carried the fresh spring-water wherewith to infuse her mother's +cherished, tiny cup of tea. Young Home was passing, and he stepped +aside, and offered to take the little vessel from her hand, and stoop +and fill it. He did this with a silent salutation and glance that, +retaining its wonted downward aim, yet suddenly lightened as if it loved +to rest upon the little girlish figure, in its homely tucked-up gown, +the crimson hood drawn over the chestnut hair that turned back in a +crisp wave from the bold, frank, innocent face. But she waved him off, +and balancing her foot upon the edge-stone, saw herself reflected in the +steel-like water. Then he begged with rare softness in a voice that was +rough and gruff, unless it deepened with strong feeling-- + +"Will you suffer me, Nelly Carnegie? I would give my hand to pluck but a +flower to serve you." + +Had he tried that tone at first, before she was more than chilled by his +sombre and imperious gravity, before her mother supported him +unrelentingly and galled and exasperated her by persecution, he might +have attracted, fascinated, conquered. As it was, she jeered at him. + +"Serve me! he could do me no better service than 'mount and go.' A posy! +it would be the stinging-nettle and dank dock if he gathered it." + +The revenge he took was rude enough, but it was not unheard of in those +days. He caught her by the wrist, and under the shadow of the abutting +gable he kissed the knitted brow and curling lips, holding her the while +with a grasp so tight that it gave her pain. When she wrung herself from +him, she shook her little hand with a rage that quivered through every +nerve, and had more of hate than of romping folly or momentary pique in +its passion. + +"Nelly Carnegie," said her mother, as she carefully pulled out the edge +of a coil of yellow point-lace, which rested on her inlaid foreign +work-table, and contrasted with her black mode cloak and white skinny +fingers, and looking with her keen, cold, grey eyes on the rebellious +daughter standing before her, went on, "I have word that Staneholme goes +south in ten days." + +Nelly could have said, "And welcome," but she knew the consequences, and +forbore. + +"He's willin' to take you with him, Nelly, and he shows his good blood +when he holds that a Carnegie needs no tocher." + +Still Nelly did not answer, though she started so violently that her +loosely-crossed hands fell apart; and Nanny Swinton, who was about her +housewifery in the cupboard off the lady's parlour, heard every word, +and trembled at the pause. + +"Your providing is not to buy," continued the mistress of the +aristocratic family, whose attendance was so scanty and their wants so +ill supplied that even in necessaries they were sometimes pinched; +"we've but to bid the minister and them that are allied to us in the +town, and Nanny will scour the posset dish, and bring out the big Indian +bowl, and heap fresh rose-leaves in the sweet-pots. You'll wear my +mother's white brocade that she first donned when she became a Leslie, +sib to Rothes--no a bit housewife of a south-country laird. She was a +noble woman, and you're but a heather lintie of a lass to come of a good +kind. So God bless you, bairn; ye'll tak the blast of wind and +gang." + +As if the benediction had loosened the arrested tongue, Nelly burst +out--"Oh, mother, mother! no." + +Lady Carnegie, in her own person, had looked upon death with unblenching +front, and had disowned her only son because, in what appeared to others +a trifle, he had opposed her law. Nor did a muscle of her marked face +now relax; her occupation went on without a check; she did not deign to +show surprise or displeasure, although her voice rose in harsh, ironical +emphasis-- + +"Nelly Carnegie, what's your will?" + +"Not that man, mother; not that fearsome man!" pleaded Nelly, with +streaming eyes and beseeching tones, her high spirit for the moment +broken; her contempt gone, only her aversion and terror urging a +hearing--"The lad that's blate and dull till he's braggit by his +fellows, and then starker than ony carle, wild like a north-country +cateran; even the haill bench o' judges would not stand to conter him." + +"He'll need his stiff temper; I couldna thole a man but had a mind of +his own, my dear," ejaculated Lady Carnegie in unexpected, clear, cherry +accents, as if her daughter's extremity was diversion to her. + +"Oh, spare me, spare me, mother," Nelly began again. + +"Hooly and fairly, Nelly Carnegie," interrupted the mother, still +lightly and mockingly, "who are you that ye should pick and choose? What +better man will speer your price? or think ye that I've groats laid by +to buy a puggy or a puss baudrons for my maiden lady?" + +"I'll work my fingers to the bone, mother; my brother Hugh will not see +me want." + +"Eat bite or sup of his victuals, or mint a Carnegie's working to me +again, Nelly, and never see my face more." + +The lady had lapsed into wrath, that burned a white heat on her wrinkled +brow, and was doubly formidable because expressed by no hasty word or +gesture. + +"Leave my presence, and learn your duty, belyve, for before the turn of +the moon Staneholme's wife ye sall be." + +Do not think that Nelly Carnegie was beaten, because she uttered no +further remonstrance. She did not sob, and beg and pray beyond a few +minutes, but she opposed to the tyrannical mandate that disposed of her +so summarily the dead weight of passive resistance. She would give no +token of submission; would make no preparation; she would neither stir +hand nor foot in the matter. A hundred years ago, however, the head of a +family was paramount, and household discipline was wielded without +mercy. Lady Carnegie acted like a sovereign: she wasted no time on +arguments, threats or entreaties. She locked her wilful charge into a +dark sleeping-closet, and fed her on bread and water until she should +consent to her fate. Sometimes Nelly shook the door until its hinges +cracked, and sometimes she flung back the prisoner's fare doled out to +her; and then her mother came with a firm, slow, step, and in her hard, +haughty manner commanded her to cease, or she would tie her hand and +foot, and pour meat and drink down her throat in spite of her. Then +Nelly would lie down on the rough boards, and stretch out her hands as +if to push the world from her and die in her despair. But the young life +was fresh and strong within her. She panted for one breath of the breeze +that blew round craggy Arthur's Seat, and one drink of St. Anthony's +Well, and one look, if it were the last, of the golden sunshine, no +beams of which could penetrate her high, little window. She would fain +have gone again up the busy street, and watched the crowds of +passengers, and listened to the bustling traffic, and greeted her +friends and acquaintances. Silence and solitude, and the close air that +oppressed her, were things very foreign to her nature. In the dark +night, when her distempered imagination conjured up horrible dreams, +Nanny Swinton stole to her door, and bemoaned her bird, her lamb, +whispering hoarsely, "Do her biddin', Miss Nelly; she's yer leddy +mother; neither man nor God will acquit you; your burden may be lichter +than ye trow." And Nelly was weary, and had sinful, mad thoughts of +living to punish her enemies more by the fulfilment of their desire than +by the terrors of her early death. So the next time her mother tapped on +the pannel with her undaunted, unwearied "Ay or no, Nelly Carnegie? Gin +the bridal be not this week, I'll bid him tarry another; and gin he +weary and ride awa', I'll keep ye steekit here till I'm carried out a +corp before ye, and I'll leave ye my curse to be coal and candle, and +sops and wine, for the lave o' yer ill days." + +Nelly gasped out a husky, wailing "Ay," and her probation was at an end. + + +III.--A MOURNFUL MARRIAGE EVE. + +There was brief space now for Nelly's buying pearlins and pinners, and +sacques and mantles, and all a young matron's bravery, or for decorating +a guest chamber for the ceremony. But Lady Carnegie was not to be balked +for trifles. Nanny Swinton stitched night and day, with salt tears from +aged eyes moistening her thread; and Nelly did not swerve from her +compact, but acted mechanically with the others as she was told. With a +strange pallor on the olive of her cheek, and swollen, burning lids, +drooping over sunk violent lines beneath the hot eyeballs, and cold, +trembling hands, she bore Staneholme's stated presence in these long, +bleak March afternoons. He never addressed her particularly, although he +took many a long, sore look. Few and formal then were the lover's +devoirs expected or permitted. + +The evening was raw and rainy; elderly gentlemen would have needed +"their lass with a lantern," to escort them from their chambers. The +old city guard sputtered their Gaelic, and stamped up and down for +warmth. The chairmen drank their last fee to keep out the cold--and +in and out of the low doorways moved middle-aged women barefooted, +and in curch and short gown, who, when snooded maidens, had gazed on +the white cockade, and the march of Prince Charlie Stuart and his +Highlandmen. Down the narrow way, in the drizzly dusk, ran a slight +figure, entirely muffled up. Fleet of foot was the runner, and blindly +she held her course. Twice she came in contact with intervening +obstacles--water-stoups on a threshold, gay ribbons fluttering from a +booth. She was flying from worse than death, with dim projects of +begging her way to the North, to the brother she had parted from when a +child; and ghastly suggestions, too, like lightning flashes, of seizing +a knife from the first butcher's block and ending her misery. + +Hasty steps were treading fast upon her track. She distinguished them +with morbid acuteness through the speed of her own flight. They were +mingled steps--a feeble hurrying footfall, and an iron tread. She +threaded a group of bystanders, and, weak and helpless as she was, +prepared to dive into a mirk close. Not that black opening, Nelly +Carnegie, it is doomed to bear for generations a foul stain--the scene +of a mystery no Scottish law-court could clear--the Begbie murder. But +it was no seafaring man, with Cain's red right hand, that rushed after +trembling, fainting Nelly Carnegie. The tender arms in which she had +lain as an infant clutched her dress; and a kindly tongue faltered its +faithful, distressed petition-- + +"Come back, come back, Miss Nelly, afore the Leddy finds out; ye hae nae +refuge, an' ye're traced already by mair than me." + +But in a moment strong hands were upon her, holding her like a +fluttering moth, or a wild panting leveret, or a bird beating its wings; +doing her no violence, however, for who would brush off the down, or +tear the soft fur, or break the ruffled feathers? She struggled so +frantically that poor old Nanny interposed-- + +"Na, sir; let her be; she'll gae hame wi' me, her ain born +serving-woman. And oh, Staneholme, be not hard, it's her last nicht." + +That was Nelly Carnegie's marriage eve. + +On the morrow the marriage was celebrated. The bridegroom might pass, in +his manly prime and his scarlet coat, although a dowf gallant; but who +would have thought that Nelly Carnegie in the white brocade which was +her grandmother's the day that made her sib to Rothes--Nelly Carnegie +who flouted at love and lovers, and sported a free, light, brave heart, +would have made so dowie a bride? The company consisted only of Lady +Carnegie's starched cousins, with their husbands and their daughters, +who yet hoped to outrival Nelly with her gloomy Lauderdale laird. + +The hurried ceremony excused the customary festivities. The family party +could keep counsel, and preserve a discreet blindness when the ring +dropped from the bride's fingers, and the wine stood untasted before +her, while Lady Carnegie did the honours as if lonely age and narrow +circumstances did not exist. + + +IV.--NELLY CARNEGIE IN HER NEW HOME. + +The March sun shone clear and cold on grey Staneholme, standing on the +verge of a wide moor, with the troubled German Ocean for a background, +and the piping east wind rattling each casement. There was haste and +hurry in Staneholme, from the Laird's mother down through her buxom +merry daughters to the bareheaded servant-lasses, and the substitutes +for groom and lacquey, in coarse homespun, and honest, broad blue +bonnets. There was bustle in the little dining-room with its high +windows, which the sea-foam sometimes dimmed, and its spindle-legged +chairs and smoked pictures. There was blithe work in the cheerful hall, +in whose broad chimney great seacoal fires blazed--at whose humming +wheels the young Mays of Staneholme, as well as its dependants, still +took their morning turn. There was willing toil in the sleeping-rooms, +with their black cabinets and heavy worsted curtains. And there was a +thronged _melee_ in the court formed by the outhouses, over whose walls +the small-leaved ivy of the coast clustered untreasured. Staneholme's +favourite horse was rubbing down; and Staneholme's dogs were airing in +couples. Even the tenantry of the never-failing pigeon-house at the +corner of the old garden were in turmoil, for half-a-score of their +number had been transferred to the kitchen this morning to fill the +goodly pasties which were to anticipate the blackberry tarts and sweet +puddings, freezing in rich cream. But the sun had sunk behind the moor +where the broom was only budding, and the last sea-mew had flown to its +scaur, and the smouldering whins had leaped up into the first yellow +flame of the bonfires, and the more shifting, fantastic, brilliant +banners of the aurora borealis shot across the frosty sky, before the +first faint shout announced that Staneholme and his lady had come home. +With his wife behind him on his bay, with pistols at his saddle-bow, and +"Jock" on "the long-tailed yad" at his back, with tenant retainers and +veteran domestics pressing round--and ringing shouts and homely huzzas +and good wishes filling the air, already heavy with the smoke of good +cheer--Staneholme rode in. He lifted down an unresisting burden, took in +his a damp, passive hand, and throwing over his shoulder brief, broken +thanks, hurried up the flight of stairs, through the rambling, crooked +passages into the hall. + +Staneholme was always a man of few words. He was taken up, as was right, +with the little lady, whose habit trailed behind her, and who never +raised her modest eyes. "Well-a-day! the Laird's bargain was of sma' +buik," thought the retainers, but "Hurrah" for the fat brose and lumps +of corned beef, and the ale and the whisky, with which they are now to +be regaled! + +In the hall stood Joan and Madge and Mysie, panting to see their grand +Edinburgh sister. They were only hindered from running down into the +yard by the deposed mistress of Staneholme, whose hair was as white as +snow, and who wore no mode mantle nor furbelows nor laces, like proud +Lady Carnegie. She was dressed in a warm plaiden gown and a close mob +cap, with huge keys and huswife balancing each other at either +pocket-hole, and her cracked voice was very sweet as she reiterated +"Bide till he bring her here, my bairns," and her kindly smile was +motherly to the whole world. But think you poor vanquished Nelly +Carnegie's crushed heart leapt up to meet these Homes--that her eyes +glanced cordially at Joan, and Madge, and Mysie--that her cheek was +bent gratefully to receive old Lady Staneholme's caress? No, no; Nelly +was too wretched to cry, but she stood there like a marble statue, and +with no more feeling, or show of feeling. Was this colourless, +motionless young girl, in her dusty, disarranged habit, and the feather +of her hat ruffled by the wind, the gay Edinburgh beauty who had won +Staneholme! What glamour of perverse fashion had she cast into his eyes! + +"Wae's me, will dule never end in this weary warld? Adam lad, Adam, what +doom have you dragged doon on yoursel'?" cried Lady Staneholme; and +while the thoughtless, self-absorbed girls drew back in disappointment, +she met her son's proud eyes, and stepping past him, let her hand press +lightly for a second on his shoulder as she took in hers Nelly's +lifeless fingers. She said simply to the bride, "You are cold and weary, +my dear, and supper is served, and we'll no bide making compliments, but +you're welcome hame to your ain gudeman's house and folk; and so I'll +lead you to your chamber in Staneholme, and then to the table-head, your +future place." And on the way she explained first with noble humility +that she did not wait for a rejoinder, because she had been deaf ever +since Staneholme rode post haste from Edinburgh from the last sitting of +the Parliament; and that since she was growing old, although it was +pleasant to her to serve the bairns, yet she would be glad to relinquish +her cares, and retire to the chimney-corner to her wheel and her book; +and she blessed the Lord that she had lived to see the young mistress of +Staneholme who would guide the household when she was at her rest. +Nelly heard not, did not care to recognise that the Lady of Staneholme, +in her looks, words, and actions, was beautiful with the rare beauty of +a meek, quiet, loving spirit which in those troublous days had budded +and bloomed and been mellowed by time and trial. Nor did Nelly pause to +consider that had she chosen, she whose own mother's heart had never +melted towards her, might have been nestled in that bosom as in an ark +of peace. + +When Lady Staneholme conducted Nelly down the wide staircase into the +chill dining-room, and to the chair opposite the claret-jug of the +master of the house, Nelly drew back with sullen determination. + +"Na, but, my bairn, I'm blithe for you to fill my place; Staneholme's +mither may well make room for Staneholme's wife," urged the lady, +gently. + +But Nelly remained childishly rooted in her refusal to preside at his +board, unless compelled; and her brow, knit at the remembrance of her +fall, was set to meet the further encounter. Joan and Madge and Mysie, +with their blooming cheeks, and their kissing-strings new for the +occasion, stared as if their strange sister was but half endowed with +mother wit; and Lady Staneholme hesitated until Adam Home uttered his +short, emphatic "As she pleases, mother," while the flush flew to his +forehead, and his firm lip shook. + +Staneholme had resolved never to control the wife he had forced into his +arms, beyond the cold, daily intercourse which men will interchange with +a deadly foe, as well as with a trusty frere; never to approach her +side, nor attempt to assuage her malice nor court her frozen lips into +a smile. This was his purpose, and he abode by it. He farmed his land, +he hunted, and speared salmon, was rocked in his fishing-boat as far as +St. Abbs, read political pamphlets, and sat late over his wine, and +sometimes abetted the bold smuggling, much like his contemporaries. But +no pursuit which he followed with fitful excess seemed to satisfy him as +it did others, and he never sought to supplement it by courting his +alien wife. + +Lady Staneholme would fain have made her town-bred daughter-in-law +enamoured with the duties of a country life, and cheered the strange +joylessness of her honeymoon. Failing in this attempt, she, with a +covert sigh, half-pain, half-pleasure, resumed the old oversight of +larder and dairy. Such care was then the delight of many an +unsophisticated laird's helpmate; and, to the contented Lady of +Staneholme, it had quite made up for the partial deprivation of social +intercourse to which her infirmity had subjected her. Joan, Madge, and +Mysie, wearied of haughty Nelly after they had grown accustomed to the +grand attire she wore, denied that they had ever been dazzled with it, +and ceased to believe that she had danced minuets in the Assembly Rooms +before Miss Jacky Murray. They had their own company and their own +stories, into which they had no temptation to drag an interloper. + +Nelly, in her desolation standing apart in the centre of the wholesome, +happy family circle, grew to have her peculiar habits and occupations, +her self-contained life into which none of the others could penetrate. + + +V.--NELLY'S NEW PASTIMES. + +The sea-pink and the rock saxifrage were making the rugged rocks gay, +the bluebell was nodding on the moor, and Nelly had not died, as she +foolishly fancied she should. She had learned to wander out along the +shore or over the trackless moor for hours and hours, and often returned +footsore and exhausted. She who had been accustomed only to the +Canongate and High Street of Edinburgh, the tall houses with their +occasional armorial bearings, the convenient huckster shops--their +irregular line intersected by the strait closes, the traffic and gossip; +or to the forsaken royal palace, and the cowslips of the King's +Park--could now watch the red sunset burnishing miles on miles of waving +heather, and the full moon hanging above the restless tide. She could +listen to the surf in the storm, and the ripple in the calm, to the cry +of the gull and the wh-r-r of the moorcock; pull wild thyme, and pick up +rose-tinted shells and perforated stones; and watch shyly her hardy +cottar servants cutting peats and tying up flax, and even caught +snatches of their rude Border lore of raid and foray under doughty +Homes, who wore steel cap and breastplate. + +The coast-line at Staneholme was high and bold, but in place of +descending sheerly and precipitately to the yellow sands, it sloped in a +green bank, broken by gullies, where the long sea-grass grew in tangled +tufts, interspersed with the yellow leaves of the fern, and in whose +sheltered recesses Nelly Carnegie so often lingered, that she left them +to future generations as "Lady Staneholme's Walks." + +There she could see the London smacks and foreign luggers beating up to +ride at the pier of Leith. There she could sit for hours, half-hidden, +and protected from the sea blast, mechanically pulling to pieces the +dried, blackened seaweed blown up among the small, prickly blush roses. +In her green quilted petticoat and spencer she might have been one of +the "good people's changelings," only the hue of her cheek was more like +that of a brownie of the wold; and, truly, to her remote world there was +an impenetrable mystery about the young mistress of Staneholme, in her +estrangement and mournfulness. Some said that she had favoured another +lover, whom Staneholme had slain in a duel or a night-brawl; some that +the old Staneholmes had sold themselves to the Devil, and a curse was on +their remotest descendants; for was not the young laird _fey_ at times, +and would not the blithe sisters pass into care-worn wives and matrons? + +There sat Nelly, looking at the sea, musing dreamily and drearily on Old +Edinburgh, or pondering with sluggish curiosity over the Homes, and +what, from casual looks and words, she could not help gathering of their +history. The Lairds of Staneholme had wild moss-trooper blood in their +veins, and they had vindicated it to the last generation by unsettled +lives, reckless intermeddling with public affairs, and inveterate feuds +with their brother lairds. + +Adam Home's was a hot heart, constant in its impetuosity, buried beneath +an icy crust which he strove to preserve, but which hissed and crackled +when outward motives failed, or when opposition fanned the inner glow. +With the elements of a despot but half tamed, and like many another +tyrant, unchallenged master of his surroundings, Staneholme wielded his +authority with fair result. Tenant and servant, hanger-on and sprig of +the central tree, bore regard as well as fear for the young laird--all +save Staneholme's whilom love and wedded wife. + +Nelly did not wish to understand this repressed, ardent nature, although +its developments sometimes forced themselves upon her. She had heard +Staneholme hound on a refractory tyke till he shouted himself hoarse, +and yet turn aside before the badger was unearthed; she had seen him +climb the scaurs, and hang dizzily in mid-air over the black water, to +secure the wildfowl he had shot, and it was but carrion; and once, Joan +and Madge, to whom he was wont to be indulgent in a condescending, +superior way, trembled before the stamp of his foot and the kindling +flash of his eye. Some affair abroad had disturbed him and he came into +the hall, when his sisters' voices were raised giddily as they played +off an idle, ill-thought-of jest on grave, cold Nelly. "Queans and +fools," he termed them, and bade them "end their steer" so harshly, that +the free, thoughtful girls did not think of pouting or crying, but +shrank back in affright. Nelly Carnegie, whom he had humbled to the +dust, was below his anger. + +When the grey mansion of Staneholme basked in the autumn sun, an +auspicious event gladdened its chambers. Joan was matched with a gay, +gallant young cousin from Teviotdale, and from the commencement of the +short wooing to the indefatigable dance which the young bride herself +led off right willingly, all was celebrated with smiles and blessings, +and harvest-home fulness of joy and gratitude. But a dark shadow moved +among the merrymakers. A young heart robbed of its rights, like an +upbraiding ghost, regarded the simple, loving, trusting pair, and +compared their consecrated vows with the mockery of a rite into which it +had been driven. + +The only change time brought to Nelly, was the progress of an +unacknowledged bond between her and good old Lady Staneholme. The +obstacle to any interchange of ideas and positive confidence between +them, was the inducement to the tacit companionship adopted by the sick, +wayward heart, with its malady of wrong and grief. Influenced by an +instinctive, inexplicable attraction, Nelly's uncertain footsteps +followed Lady Staneholme, and kept pace with her soft tread, when she +overlooked her spinners and knitters, gave out her linen and spices, +turned over her herbs, and visited her sick and aged. There they were +seen--the smiling, deaf old lady, fair in her wrinkles, and her mute, +dark, sad daughter whom in patient ignorance she folded in her mantle of +universal charity. + + +VI.--THE LAIRD CONSCIENCE-SMITTEN. + +Under a pale February sun Nelly was out on the sea-braes, where the +sprays of the briar-roses were swept in circles, streaming far and wide. +She lingered in the hollow, and strayed to the utmost limit of her path. +As she was returning, her eye fell on the folds of an object fluttering +among the tedded grass. It was Staneholme's plaid. This was the first +time he had intruded upon her solitary refuge. When Nelly climbed the +ascent, and saw the mansion house, with its encumbered court, she could +distinguish the sharp sound of a horse's hoof. Its rider was already out +of sight on the bridle-road. Michael Armstrong, the laird's man, was +mounting his own nag; Wat Pringle, the grieve, and other farm folk, +stood looking after the vanished traveller; Liddel, the Tweedside +retriever, paced discontentedly up and down; and old Lady Staneholme met +her on the threshold, and as on the night of her arrival at Staneholme, +led her up the staircase and into her sleeping-chamber. Nelly marked, +with dim dread, the tear-stains on the pallid cheeks of placid age, and +the trembling of the feeble hand that guided her. She had nothing to +fear; but what was the news for which there was such solemn preparation? + +"My puir bairn," Lady Staneholme began brokenly, "I've had an interview +with my son, and I've learnt, late, some passages in the past; and I +wonder not, but I maun lament, for I am a widow mother, Nelly, and my +only son Adam who did you wrong and showed you no pity, has got his +orders to serve with the soldiers in the Low Countries. He has not +stayed to think; he has left without one farewell: he is off and away, +to wash out the sins of him and his in his young blood. I will never see +his face more: but you are a free woman; and, as the last duty he will +receive at your hand, he bids you read his words." + +Nelly's hand closed tightly over its enclosure. "Who says I told he did +me wrang?" she said, proudly, her dilated eyes lifted up to the +deprecating ones that did not avoid her gaze. + +"Na, na, ye never stoopit to blame him. Weary fa' him! Nelly +Carnegie," ejaculated honest Lady Staneholme, "although he is my ain +that made you his, sair, sair against your woman's will, and so binged +up blacker guilt at his doorstane, as if the lightest heritage o' sin +werena' hard to step ower. But, God forgive me! It's old Staneholme +risen up to enter afresh upon his straits, and may He send him pardon +and peace in His ain time." + +"Nelly" (Staneholme's letter said),--"for _my_ Nelly you'll never be, +though the law has given me body and estate,--what garred me love you +like life or death? I've seen bonnier, and you're no so good as my +mother, or you would have forgiven me long syne. Why did you laugh, and +mock, and scorn me, when I first made up to you among your fine +Edinburgh folks? Had you turned your shoulder upon me with still +steadfastness, I might have been driven to the wall--I would have +believed you. When you said that you would lie in the grave sooner than +in my arms, you roused the evil temper within me; and though I had +mounted the Grassmarket, I swore I would make you my wife. What call or +title had you, a young lass, to thwart your lady mother and the Laird of +Staneholme? And when I had gone thus far--oh! Nelly, pity me--there was +no room to repent or turn back. I dared not leave you to dree alane your +mother's wrath: there was less risk in your wild heart beating itself to +death against the other, that would have gladly shed its last drop for +its captive's sake. But Heaven punished me. I found, Nelly, that the +hand that had dealt the blow could not heal it. How could I approach you +with soft words, that had good right to shed tears of blood for my +deeds? So, as I cannot put my hand on my breast and die like my father, +I'll quit my moors and haughs and my country; I'll cross the sea and +bear the musquetoon, and never return--in part to atone to you, for you +sall have the choice to rule with my mother in the routh and goodwill of +Staneholme, or to take the fee for the dowager lands of Eweford, and +dwell in state in the centre of the stone and lime, and reek, and lords +and ladies of Edinburgh; in part because I can hold out no longer, nor +bide another day in Tantalus, which is the book name for an ill place of +fruitless longing and blighted hope. I'll no be near you in your danger, +because when other wives cry for the strong, grieved faces of their +gudemen, you will ban the day your een first fell upon me. Nelly +Carnegie, why did my love bring no return; no ae sweet kiss; never yet a +kind blink of your brown een, that ance looked at me in gay defiance, +and now heavily and darkly, till they close on this world?" + +Something more Staneholme raved of this undeserved, unwon love, whose +possession had become an exaggerated good which he had continued to +crave without word or sign, with a boy's frenzy and a man's stanchness. +Nelly lost her power of will: she sat with the paper in her hand as if +she had ceased to comprehend its contents--as if its release from +bondage came too late. + +"Dinna ye ken, Nelly woman, his presence will vex you no longer? you're +at liberty to go your own gate, and be as you have been--that was his +propine," whispered Lady Staneholme, in sorrowful perplexity, but +without rousing Nelly from her stupor. They lifted her on her bed, and +watched her until her trial took hold of her. No stand did Nelly make +against pain and anguish. She was sinking fast into that dreamless sleep +where the weary are at rest, when Lady Staneholme stood by her bed and +laid an heir by her side, bidding her rejoice, in tones that fell off +into a faint quivering sob of tenderness and woe; but Nelly's crushed, +stunned heart had still some hidden spring among its withered verdure, +and her Benoni called her back from the land of forgetfulness. + + +VII.--BLESSING AND AFFLICTION--ADAM HOME'S RETURN. + +Nelly recovered, at first slowly but cheeringly, latterly with a doubt +and apprehension creeping over her brightening prospect--until, all too +certainly and hopelessly, her noon, that had been disturbed with +thunder-claps and dashing rain, was shrouded in grey twilight. + +Nelly would live, but her limbs would never more obey her active spirit, +for she had been attacked by a relentless malady. The little feet that +had slid in courtly measure, and twinkled in blithe strathspeys, and +wandered restlessly over moor and brae, were stretched out in leaden +helplessness. When she was young, she "had girded herself and gone +whither she would;" but now, ere she was old, while there was not one +silver thread in those chestnut locks, "another would gird her and carry +her whither she would not." And oh! to think how the young mother's +heart, ready to bud and bloom anew, was doomed to drag out a protracted +existence, linked to the corpse-like frame of threescore and ten, until +the angel of death freed it from its tabernacle of clay. + +Nelly never spoke of her affliction--never parted from her baby. +Travelling with difficulty, she removed to Edinburgh, to the aspiring +tenement in the busy Canongate, which she had quitted in her +distraction. Lady Carnegie, in her rustling silk and with her clicking +ivory shuttle, received her into her little household, but did not care +to conceal that she did so on account of the aliment Staneholme had +secured to his forsaken wife and heir. She did not endure the occasional +sight of her daughter's infirmities without beshrewing them, as a +reflection on her own dignity. She even sneered and scoffed at them, +until Nanny Swinton began to fear that the judgment of God might strike +her lady--a venerable grandame still without one weakness of bodily +decay or human affection. + +And did Nelly fret and moan over the invalid condition for which there +was neither palliation nor remedy? Nay, a blessing upon her at last; she +began to witness a good testimony to the original mettle and bravery of +her nature. She accepted the tangible evil direct from God's hand, +sighingly, submissively, and with a noble meekness of resignation. She +rose above her hapless lot--the old Nelly Carnegie, though subdued and +chastened, was in a degree restored. + +"Nanny! Nanny Swinton!" called Nelly from her couch, as she managed to +hold up, almost exultingly, the big crowing baby, in its quaintest of +mantles and caps, "Staneholme's son's a braw bairn, well worthy Lady +Carnegie's coral and bells." + +"'Deed is he," Nanny assented. "He'll grow up a stately man like his +grandsire;" and recurring naturally to forbidden memories, she went on: +"He'll be the marrow of Master Hugh. Ye dinna mind Master Hugh, Lady +Staneholme?--the picture o' auld Lady Carnegie. That I sud call her +auld!" + +Nelly's brow contracted with something of its old indignation. "There's +never a look of the Carnegies in my son; he has his father's brow and +lip and hair, and you're but a gowk, Nanny Swinton!" and Nelly lay back +and closed her eyes, and after a season opened them again, to tell Nanny +Swinton that "she had been dreaming of a strange foreign city, full of +pictures and carved woodwork, and of a high-road traversing a rich +plain, shaded by apple and chestnut trees, and of something winding and +glittering through the branches," leaving Nanny, who could not stand the +sight of two magpies, or of a cuckoo, of a morning before she had broken +her fast, sorely troubled to account for the vision. + +The gloaming of a night in June was on the Canongate and the silent +palace of the gallant, gentle King James. Lady Carnegie was gracing some +rout or drum; Nanny Swinton was in her kitchen, burnishing her +superannuated treasures, and crooning to herself as she worked; Nelly, +in her solitary, shadowy room, lay plaiting and pinching the cambric and +muslin gear whose manufacture was her daily occupation, with her child's +clumsy cradle drawn within reach of her hand. Through the dim light, she +distinguished a man's figure at the door. Nelly knew full well those +lineaments, with their mingled fire and gloom. They did not exasperate +her as they had once done; they appalled her with great shuddering; and +sinking back, Nelly gasped-- + +"Are you dead and gone, Staneholme? Do you walk to seek my love that ye +prigget for, but which canna gladden you now? Gae back to the bottom of +the sea, or the bloody battle-field, and in the Lord's name rest there." + +The figure stepped nearer; and Nelly, even in her blinding terror, +distinguished that it was no shadowy apparition, but mortal like +herself. The curdling blood rushed back to Nelly's face, flooding the +colourless cheek, and firing her with a new impulse. She snatched her +child from its slumber, and clasped it to her breast with her thin +transparent hands. + +"Have you come back to claim your son, Adam Home? But you'll have to +tear him from me with your man's strength, for he's mine as well as +yours; and he's my last, my only jewel." + +And Nelly sat bolt upright, her rosy burden contrasting with her young, +faded face, and her large eyes beginning to flame like those of a wild +beast about to be robbed of its young. + +"Oh no, Nelly, no," groaned Staneholme, covering his face; "I heard of +your distress, and I came but to speer of your welfare." And he made a +motion to withdraw. + +But Nelly's heart smote her for the wrong her rash words had done him--a +wayworn, conscience-smitten man--and she recalled him relentingly. + +"Ye may have meant well. I bear you no ill-will; I am stricken myself. +Take a look at your laddie, Adam Home, before ye gang." + +He advanced when she bade him, and received the child from her arms; but +with such pause and hesitation that it might have seemed he thought more +of his hands again meeting poor Nelly Carnegie's, and of her breath +fanning his cheek, than of the precious load she magnanimously intrusted +to him. He did look at the infant in his awkward grasp, but it was with +a stifled sigh of disappointment. + +"He may be a braw bairn, Nelly--I know not--but he has no look of +yours." + +"Na, he's a Home every inch of him, my bonny boy!" Nelly assented, +eagerly. After a moment she turned her head, and added peevishly, "I'm a +sick woman, and ye needna mind what I say; I'm no fit for company. Good +day; but mind, I've forgotten and forgiven, and wish my bairn's father +well." + +"Nanny Swinton," called Nelly to her faithful nurse, as she lay awake on +her bed, deep in the sober dimness of the summer night, "think you that +Staneholme will be booted and spurred with the sun, riding through the +Loudons to Lauderdale?" + +"It's like, Lady Staneholme," answered Nanny, drowsily. "The keep o' man +and beast is heavy in the town, and he'll be tain to look on his ain +house, and greet the folk at home after these mony months beyond the +seas. Preserve him and ilka kindly Scot from fell Popish notions rife +yonder!" + +"A miserable comforter are you, Nanny Swinton," muttered her mistress, +as she hushed her child, and pressed her fevered lips to each tiny +feature. + + +VIII.--THE RECONCILIATION AND RETURN TO STANEHOLME. + +But Staneholme came again in broad light, the next day--the next--and +the next, with half excuses and vague talk of business. Lady Carnegie +did not interdict his visits, or blame his weakness and inconsistency, +for they were seemly in the eyes of the world--which she honoured, after +herself, although she washed her hands of the further concerns of these +fools. + +And Nelly talked to him with a grave friendliness, like one restored +from madness or risen from another world. "Staneholme, you've never +kissed the wean, and it's an ill omen," she said, suddenly, watching him +intently as he dandled the child; and as if jealous of any omission +regarding it, she appeared satisfied when he complied with her fancy. + +"The curtain is drawn, and the shadow is on you; but is that a scar on +your brow, Staneholme, and where did you get it?" + +"A clour from a French pistol;" it was but skin deep--he was off his +camp-bed in a few days. + +He stooped forward, as he spoke slightingly, and pushed back the hair +that half obscured the faint blue seam. + +"Whisht!" said Nelly, reprovingly, "dinna scorn sickness; that bit +stroke might have cost Lady Staneholme her son and my bairn his father;" +and she bent towards him in her turn, and passed her fingers curiously +and pityingly over the healed wound, ignorant how it burned and throbbed +under her touch. "When the bairn is grown, and can rin his lane, +Staneholme," Nelly informed him in her new-found freedom of speech, "I +will send him for a summer to Staneholme; I'll be lonesome without him, +but Michael Armstrong will teach him to ride, and he'll stand by Lady +Staneholme's knee." Staneholme expressed no gratitude for the offer, he +was fastening the buckle of his beaver. The next time he came he twisted +a rose in his hand, and Nelly felt that it must indeed be Beltane: she +looked at the flower wistfully, and wondered "would the breezes be +shaking the bear and the briar roses on the sea-braes at Staneholme, or +were the grapes of southern vines bonnier than they?" He flung down the +flower, and strode to her side. + +"Come hame, Nelly," he prayed passionately; "byganes may be byganes now. +I've deserted the campaign, I've left its honours and its dangers--and I +could have liked them well--to free men, and am here to take you hame." + +Nelly was thunderstruck. "Hame!" she said, at last, slowly, "where you +compelled me to travel, where I gloomed on you day and night, as I +vowed; I, who would not be a charge and an oppression to the +farthest-off cousin that bears your name. Are you demented?" + +"And this is the end," groaned Staneholme, in bitterness; "I dreamt that +I would win at last. I did not love you for your health and strength, or +your youth and beauty. I declare to you, Nelly Carnegie, your face is +fairer to me, lying lily white on your pillow there, than when it was +fresh like that rose; and when others deserted you and left you forlorn, +I thought I might try again, and wha kent but the ill would be blotted +out for the very sake of the strong love that wrought it?" + +A dimness came across Nelly's eyes, and a faintness over her choking +heart; but she pressed her hands upon her breast, and strove against it +for the sake of her womanhood. + +"And I dreamed," she answered slowly and tremulously, "that it bude to +be true, true love, however it had sinned, that neither slight nor +hate, nor absence nor fell decay could uproot; and that could tempt me +to break my plighted word, and lay my infirmity on the man that +bargained for me like gear, and that I swore--Heaven absolve me!--I +would gar rue his success till his deein' day. Adam Home, what are you +seekin' at my hands?" + +"Nae mair than you'll grant, Nelly Carnegie--pardon and peace, and my +young gudewife, the desire o' my eyes. I'll be feet to you, Nelly, as +long's I'm to the fore." + +"Big tramping feet, Staneholme," said Nelly, trying to jest, and pushing +him back; "dinna promise ower fair. Na, Adam Home, you'll wauken the +bairn!" + +So Staneholme bought the grand new family coach of which the Homes had +talked for the last generation; and Lady Carnegie curtsied her +supercilious adieus, and hoped her son and daughter would be better +keepers at home for the future. And Nanny Swinton wore her new gown +and cockernonie, and blessed her bairn and her bairn's bairn, through +tears that were now no more than a sunny shower, the silver mist of +the past storm. + +There was brooding heat on the moors and a glory on the sea when +Staneholme rode by his lady's coach, within sight of home. + +"There will be no great gathering to-night, Staneholme; no shots or +cheers; no lunt in the blue sky; only doubt and amaze about an old man +and wife: but there will be two happy hearts that were heavy as stane +before. Well-a-day! to think I should be fain to return this way!" + +Staneholme laughed, and retorted something perhaps neither quite modest +nor wise; but the ready tongue that had learnt so speedily to pour +itself out to his greedy ears did not now scold and contradict him, but +sighed-- + +"Ah, Adam Home, you do not have the best of it; it is sweet to be beat; +I didna ken--I never guessed that." + +Gladly astounded were the retainers of Staneholme at their young laird's +unannounced return, safe and sound, from the wars; but greater and more +agreeable was their friendly surprise to find that his sick wife, who +came back with him unstrengthened in body, was healed and hearty in +spirit. Well might good old Lady Staneholme rejoice, and hush her bold +grandson, for the change was not evanescent or its effects uncertain. As +Staneholme drove out his ailing wife, or constructed a seat for her on +the fresh moor, or looked at her stitching his frilled shirts as +intently as the child's falling collars, and talked to her of his duties +and his sports, his wildness was controlled and dignified. And when he +sat, the head and protector of his deaf old mother, and his little +frolicsome, fearless child, and his Nelly Carnegie, whose spirit had +come again, but whose body remained but a sear relic of her blooming +youth, his fitful melancholy melted into the sober tenderness of a +penitent, believing man, who dares not complain, but who must praise God +and be thankful, so long as life's greatest boons are spared to him. + + + + +HECTOR GARRET OF OTTER. + + +I.--THE FIRE. + +A calm, pure summer moonlight fell upon the Ayrshire mosses and deans, +but did not silver, as far as we are concerned, the Carrick Castle of +Bruce, nor Cameron's lair amidst the heather, nor landward Tintock, nor +even seagirt Ailsa Craig, but only the rolling waves of the Atlantic and +a grey turreted mansion-house built on a promontory running abruptly +into the water. The dim ivory light illuminated a gay company met in the +dwelling with little thought of stillness or solemnity, but with their +own sense of effect, grouped carelessly, yet not ungracefully, in an +old-fashioned, though not unsuitable drawing-room. + +They needed relief, these brilliant supple figures; they demanded the +background of grey hangings, scant carpet, spindle-legged chairs, and +hard sombre prints. To these very cultivated, very artificial and +picturesque personages, a family sitting-room was but a stage, where +lively, capricious, yet calculating actors were engaged in playing +their parts. + +The party were mostly French, from the mass of gallant, dauntless +emigrants, many of whom were thus entertained with grateful, +commiserating hospitality in households whose members had but lately +basked in the sparkling geniality of the southern atmosphere, now lurid +and surcharged with thunder. + +There was a Marquise, worldly, light, and vain, whom adversity had not +broken, and could not sour; an Abbe, bland and double, but gentle and +kindly in his way; a soldier, volatile, hot-headed, brave as a lion, +simple as a child; an older man, sad, sneering, indifferent to this +world and the next, but with the wrecks of a noble head, and, God help +him, a noble heart. + +Of the three individuals present of a different nation and creed, two +closely resembled the others with only that vague, impalpable, but +perceptible distinction of those whose rearing affords a superficial +growth which overspreads but does not annihilate the original plant. The +one was a young man, buoyant, flippant, and reckless as the French +soldier, but with a bold defiance in his tone which was all his own; the +other a young girl, coquettish and vivacious as the Marquise, but with a +deep consciousness under her feigning, an undercurrent of watchful pride +and passion, of which her model was destitute. The last of the circle +was a fair-haired, broad-shouldered lad, who stood apart from the +others, big, shy, silent:--but he was earnest amid their shallowness, +noble amid their hollowness, and devoted amid their fickleness. How he +gazed on the arch, haughty girl, with her lilies and roses, her +pencilled brows, her magnificent hair magnificently arranged, with her +rich silk and airy lace, and muslin folded and gathered and falling +into lines which were the very poetry of attire, unless where a piquant +provoking frill, band, or peak, reminded the gazer that the princess was +a woman, a mocking mischievous woman, as well as a radiant lady! How he +listened to her contradictory words, witty and liquid even in their most +worthless accents! how he drank in her songs, the notes of her harp, the +rustle of her dress, the fall of her foot! how he started if she moved! +how he saw her, though his eyes were on the ground, and though his head +was in his hands, while she marked him ceaselessly, half with cruel +triumph, half with a flutter and faintness which she angrily and +scornfully resisted and denied. + +A few more gay _bons mots_ and repartees, a last epigram from the Abbe, +a court anecdote from the Marquise which might have figured in one of +those letters of Madame de Sevigne where the freshness of the haymaker +of Les Rochers survives the glare and the terrible staleness of the +Versailles of Louis XV., a blunt camp jest from the soldier, a sarcasm +from the philosopher, a joyous barcarole, strangely succeeded by a +snatch from that lament of woe wrung forth by the fatal field of +Flodden, and the company dispersed. The horse's hoofs of the single +stranger of the evening rung on the causeway, as he made for the smooth +sands of the bay, the lights one by one leaping out, and the pale moon +remaining mistress of Earlscraig as when the warder on yon tower peered +out over the waters for the boats of the savage Irish kern, or lit the +bale-fire that summoned Montgomery and Muir to ride and run for the love +or the fear of Boswell of Earlscraig. + +Had these old-world times returned by magic? had a crazed serving-man +revived the vanished duties of his warlike predecessor? was the wraith +of seneschal or man-at-arms conjuring up a ghostly beacon to stream into +the soft air? was an evil spirit about to bewilder and mislead a fated +ship to meet its doom on the jagged rocks beneath the dead calm of that +glassy sea? So dense was the vapour that suddenly gathered over +Earlscraig, till like an electric flash, a jet of flame sprang from a +high casement and lit up the gathering obscurity. No horn blew, no bugle +sounded, no tramp of horse or hurrying feet broke the silence; the house +lay in profound rest, and the sleepers slept on, though truly that was +no phantom glare, no marsh gleam, but the near presence of an awful foe. + +And the smoke burst forth in thicker, more suffocating volume; the red +streamers shot up again and again, and the burning embers fell like +thickest swarms of fire-flies, before a single hasty step roused an echo +already lost in the roar and crackle of fire. A scared, half-dressed +servant ran out into the court, flung up his hands as he looked around +him, then hurried back, and suddenly the great bell pealed out its +faithful alarum. "Good folk, good folk, danger is at the door! For +Jesu's sake and your dear lives, up and flee! The angels hold out their +hands, Sodom is around you--away, away!" + +The summons was not in vain. Within a few seconds clamorous outcries, +shrieks of dismay, the dashing open of doors and windows, answered the +proclamation. A horror-struck crowd assembled rapidly in the court; but +notwithstanding that the Abbe's wan face and shaven crown appeared +speedily, and the soldier shouted, "Who is in danger? _mes camarades, +suivez-moi!_" the philosopher instinctively elected himself commander; +he rose, tall and erect, over the heads of his fellows; his face flushed +and brightened; and he spoke words of wisdom and resolution whose spirit +men recognised through the veil of his frozen tongue; while cravens +shrank back, brave men rallied round him! + +"Where is Boswell? _Mon Dieu!_ the house is burning and the master is +not found! Adolphe, _sauve la Marquise, cet escalier n'est pas perdu_. +But where is Boswell? Show his room to me--the nearest way--quick, or he +perishes. _Ah, le voila!_" + +Down a flight of side steps stumbled the butler and a favourite groom, +bearing between them the young laird, motionless, senseless, his dress +dishevelled, but unscathed by flame, and unstained by blood; still +breathing, but his marked imperious features were unconscious, heavy, +and lethargic. + +The Abbe and his elder friend exchanged glances. The brow of the latter +contracted in disgust and gloom. + +"Adolphe and he played billiards against my desire, as if he were not +_bete_ enough already," he said in an undertone. "Lay him here, my +friends," to the servants, "and listen to me. If you love the Seigneur, +let him never know that thus it happened this night. Cover him with a +mantle; he will awake to see his chateau a ruin. _Mais, n'importe_, we +will do our best. Carry out what is most precious; bring up buckets of +water. _Ma foi!_ there is enough at hand." + +Yes; at their feet, but by a few fathoms unavailable, lay the broad +sea, sufficient to extinguish the conflagration of a thousand cities, +while the house above was rent with fierce heat, which reddened the sea +like blood. + +The Marquise was rescued sobbing and shivering, but she shared her +blanket with one of the poor servant-girls. Even the old bed-ridden +nurse, so blind and stupid with age that none could satisfy her of the +cause of the tumult and din, was carried out, and placed on the grass +terrace beside the master; where no sooner did she apprehend intuitively +the neighbourhood of her proudly cherished nursling, than she left off +her weak wailing, and began to croon over him as fondly and contentedly +as when he lay an innocent babe in his cradle: + +"Are you weary, Earlscraig? Have you come back sorely tired from the +hunt or the race? Weary fa' the men folk that let you lie down with the +dew-draps on your bonny curls--bonnier than Miss Alice's, for a' their +fleechin'--as if it were high noon. No but noontide has its ills, too; +but you would never heed a bonnet, neither for sun nor wind. A wild +laddie, a wild laddie, Earlscraig!" + +Eager but ignorant hands were piling up heaps of miscellaneous +goods--pictures, feather-beds, old armour, plate, mirrors, harness, +carpets, and wearing apparel. All were tossed together in wild +confusion. The moon was hidden; air, earth, and water were lurid; a +hot blast blew in men's faces, which alone remained white and haggard, +when a murmur and question, a doubt and frenzy, first stirred and fast +convulsed the mass. "Where is Miss Alice?" Ay, where was Miss Alice? +Who had seen her? Speak, in God's name!--shout her name until her +voice replies, and men's shuddering souls are freed from this ghastly +nightmare. + +Miss Alice! Alice Boswell! are you safe, lamenting unseen the home of +your fathers? Or are you within that turret whose foundation rock +descends sheer into the sea--that turret close by which the demon began +his work, where his forked tongue is now licking each loophole and +outlet, where beams are bursting and the yawning jaws of hell are about +to swallow up the rapid wreck--forgotten, forsaken--the queen of hearts, +the wooed and worshipped beauty; fair and sweet, ripe and rare, the sole +daughter of the race; the charm and delight of its grey heads? + +Oh, Father, thou art terrible in thy decrees! Oh, men, ye are miserable +fools! She is there by the blazing framework of the window of her +chamber, which she has never quitted; her hair loose, some portion of +her dress cast about her, her eyes wide open and glazing with terror, +but strangely beautiful--with a glory behind and about her; an unearthly +brightness upon brow and cheek, and white arms stretched out +imploringly, despairingly for help in her utmost need. + +They pressed forward; they looked up in anguish; old men who had +followed her when a fairy child, friends of long standing, acquaintances +of yesterday. Again and again the gallant soldier penetrated the low +doorway; again and again he swerved and recoiled from the furnace fumes +that met him--a more fearful encounter than the fury of the +sans-culottes and the reeking pools beneath the guillotine. + +"_Courage, soldats! Vive la mort, pour la femme et pour la gloire!_" and +with a shout half-exulting, half-maddened, the Gallic blood again fired +to the desperate feat. Then there was a diversion--a rush to the +opposite side of the building--a ladder might be of use there. A notion +of forcing open a closed-up and disused gallery of communication, seized +hold of these agitated minds, and this afforded a vent to the pent-up +sympathy and distress. New energy supplanted stupor; and through the +deep hush of the fire could be distinguished the blows of axe and +hammer, wielded lustily by stalwart and devoted arms, eager to clear a +way of life and liberty for the captive. + +But this was a work of time, and louder crackled and hissed the flames. +A fiercer blaze filled the sky, and glittered back from the waves; the +serpent tongues drew together, and shot up through the room in a yellow +pyramid. In vain! in vain! The zealous labourers panted in the sickness +of horror and the chill of great awe. + +"A boat! a boat!" called a voice from the outer circle. The thinker, the +scorner, stood on the verge of the rocks above the illuminated sea, his +head bare, his coat stripped off. "Let Mademoiselle cast herself from +the casement instantly; it is her only hope. I can swim; I will hold her +up until a boat is launched. _Courage, Mademoiselle!_ trust in God and +in me." + +"Yes, Marquise," he whispered for a second to his countrywoman near him; +"I have lost God for many a day; I have found him again in this hour. A +_Te Deum_ for my requiem!" and looking aghast upon his face in the great +light, the Marquise crossed herself, and averred ever afterwards that +it was transformed like unto that of his patron saint, St. Francis. The +next moment he plunged into the midnight sea. Those who witnessed the +action declared that the reflection of the burning was so strong that he +seemed to sink into a lake of fire, where he rose again presently, and +breasted the waters stoutly. + +The girl saw the design; she comprehended it, and the hoarse murmur of +encouragement that hailed its presence of mind. The concentration of the +flames, which threatened every moment to bring down a portion of the +ponderous roof in one destroying crash, left a freer passage. She +advanced quickly--she put her foot on the smouldering sill; she paused, +hesitated. It was a fearful alternative. + +"Leap down, leap down, Miss Alice; a drowning man has two lives, a +burning man but one. Down, down, or you are lost!" + +But another cry mingled with the vehement appeal--a piercing, confident +cry, that would have vibrated on the dull ear of the dying, though it +said only, "I am coming. Alice Boswell: I am coming!" + +He was there, on his panting, foam-flecked horse: he flung himself from +his saddle; he heard her answer, "Hector Garret, save me, save me!" + +He broke the circle as Samson burst the green withes: he paralysed all +remonstrance; he vanished into the abyss which the great staircase +presented. He must have borne a charmed life to reach thus far--when a +mightier roar, a perfect column of fire, a thundering avalanche of +glowing timber and huge stones descended with a shock of an earthquake, +and rebounded into the sea, engulfing for ever the fair slight form +within. + +By daring and magnanimous effort and main force, other arms bore back +Hector Garret from the tottering walls and shaken foundation: and the +boat rowed out and delivered the heroic Frenchman. The sinking in of the +turret roof satiated the destroyer, so that the further wing of the +house was preserved. Its master lived unharmed, to rouse himself from +his portentous slumber and face his calamity, while the lover lay +writhing and raging in the clutch of wild fever. + +But the summer sun shining down on the sea, once more blue and clear as +heaven, fell on black yawning gaps and mounds of ashes; on shivered +glass and strewn relics of former luxury; on the very grass of the +promontory, brown and withered, and trodden into the earth for many a +yard; on the horrible grave of the maiden who had watched her own image +in the crystal pools, lilted her siren songs to the break of the waves, +woven at once chains for her adorers and the web of that destiny which +buried her there, unshrouded and uncoffined. + + +II.--THE OFFER. + +The Clyde was forded by man and horse where ships now ride at anchor; +but the rush of trade, not quite so deep and rapid fifty years since as +now, yet strong and swift, the growth of centuries, was hurrying, +jostling, trampling onward in Jamaica Street and Buchanan Street and +their busy thoroughfares. Within our quarter, however, were stillness +and dimness, the cold, lofty, classic repose of the noble college to +which a professor's house was in immediate vicinity. + +The room, large, low-roofed, with small, peaked windows, had not been +built in modern times. The furniture was almost in keeping: roomy +settees, broad, plain, ribbed-back chairs, with faded worked covers, +the task of fingers crumbled into dust, heavy bookcases loaded with +proportionably ponderous or curiously quaint volumes, and mirrors, +with their frames like coffins covered with black velvet and relieved +by gilding. + +The only fresh and fragrant thing in the room--ay, or in the house, +where master and mistress and servants were old and withered--was a +young girl seated on a window-seat, her hands lightly crossed, watching +the white clouds in the July sky, white, though nothing else is so in +Glasgow, where the air is heavy with perpetual smoke and vapour. + +That girl, too broad-browed and large-eyed for mere youthful beauty, but +with such an arch, delicate, girlish mouth and chin as betokened her a +frank, unsophisticated, merry child after all, was Leslie Bower, the +young daughter and only child of an erudite and venerated professor. + +Leslie had no brothers and no sisters, and in a sense she had neither +father nor mother, for Professor Bower was the son, husband, and father +of his books, and he had so mighty a family of these, ancient and +modern, that he had very little time or attention to spare for ties of +the flesh. He was a mild, absent, engrossed old man, flashing into +energy and genius in his own field of learning, but in the world of +ordinary humanity a body without a soul. + +Professor Bower married late in life a timid, shrinking English wife, +who, removed from all early ties, and never mingling in Glasgow society, +lapsed into a stillness as profound as his own. + +Dr. Bower took little notice of his child; what with duties and studies, +he had no leisure; he read in his slippered morning gown, he read at +meals, he read by his evening lamp; probably, if Mrs. Bower would have +confessed it, he kept a volume under his pillow. No wonder he was a +blear-eyed, poking, muttering old man, for he was much more interested +in Hannibal than in Bonaparte, and regarded Leslie, like the house, the +yearly income, the rector, the students, the janitors, as one of many +abstract facts with which he troubled himself as little as possible. + +Mrs. Bower cared for Leslie's health and comfort with scrupulous nervous +exactness, but she was incapable of any other demonstration of regard. +She was as shy and egotistical as poor Louis XVI., and perhaps it would +have demanded as tragic a domestic revolution to have stirred her up to +lively tenderness. Leslie might have been as dubious as Marie Antoinette +of the amount of love entertained for her by her nearest kin, but +curiously, though affectionate and passionate enough to have been the +pure and innocent child of some fiery Jocobin, she had not vexed herself +about this mystery. One sees every day lush purple and rose-flowered +plants growing in unaccountable shade; true, their associates are pale +and drooping, and the growth of the hardier is treacherous, and may +distil poison, but the evil principle is gradual, and after conditions +have been confirmed and matured. + +The stronger portion of Leslie's nature, which required abundant and +invigorating food, was slow of development; the lighter side flourished +in the silent, dull house, where nothing else courted the sunbeam. In +her childhood and girlhood, Leslie had gone out to school, and although +always somewhat marked and individual in character, she had companions, +friends, sufficient sympathy and intercourse for an independent, buoyant +nature at the most plastic period of its existence. This stage of life +was but lately left behind; Leslie had not long learnt that now she was +removed from classes and masters, and must in a great measure confine +her acquaintances to those who returned her visits at her father's +house; and as visitors put mamma and papa about, and did not suit their +habits, she must resign her little world, and be almost as quiet and +solitary as her elders. Leslie had just begun to sigh a little for the +old thronged, bustling class-rooms which she had lightly esteemed, and +was active by fits and starts in numerous self-adopted occupations which +could put former ones out of her head, and fill up the great blanks in +her time and thoughts, for she was not inclined to sit down under a +difficulty, and instinctively battled with it in a thousand ways. + +Thus Leslie had her flower-painting--few natural flowers she saw, poor +girl--card boxes, worsted vases, eggshell baskets, embroidery pieces, +canary bird, and books--the last greedily devoured. She did not assist +her mother, because although their household was limited, Mrs. Bower's +quiet, methodical plans were perfect, and she gently declined all +interference with her daily round. Neither did Leslie work for her +father, because the professor would as soon have employed her canary +bird. She was not thoughtful and painstaking for the poor, because, +though accustomed to a species of almsgiving, she heard nothing, saw +nothing of nearer or higher association with her neighbours. Yet there +was capacity enough in that heart and brain for good or for evil. + +So Leslie sat there, pausing in her sewing, and gazing idly at the sky, +with a girl's quick pensiveness and thick-coming fancies, as she mused. + +How blue it was yonder! What glorious clouds! yet the world below was +rather stupid and tiresome, and it was hard to say what people toiled so +arduously for. There were other lands and other people: should she ever +see them? Surely, for she was quite young. She wished they could go in +summer 'down the water,' out of this din and dust, to some coast village +or lonely loch between lofty purple mountains, such as she had seen when +with Mrs. Elliot; papa might spare a few weeks, people no richer did; +they had no holidays, and it was so hot and close, and always the same. +But she supposed she must be contented, and would go away to cool and +compose herself in the crypt of their own cathedral. How grand it was; +how solemn the aisles and arches on every side, like forest trees; and +then the monuments--what stories she invented for them! St. Mungo's +Well! St. Mungo, austere, yet beneficent; with bare feet, cowled head, +scarred back, and hardest of all, swept and garnished heart, with his +fruitful blessing, 'Let Glasgow flourish.' What would St. Mungo think +now of the city of the tree, the fish, and the bell? + +This hoar, venerable, beautiful feat of art was to the imprisoned +Glasgow girl as St. Paul's to such another isolated imaginative nature. + +There was a knock at the street-door; a very decided application of the +queer, twisted knocker. Leslie roused herself: not a beggar's tap that; +none of the janitors; and this was not Dr. Murdoch's or Dr. Ware's hour: +the girl was accurate in taps and footsteps. Some one was shown in; a +man's voice was heard greeting "Dr. Bower," before the study door was +closed. Leslie started up with pleased surprise,--"Hector Garret of +Otter! he will come upstairs to see us; he will tell us how the country +is looking; he will bring news from Ferndean," and for the next hour she +sat in happy, patient expectation. + +Mrs. Bower, a fair, faded, grave woman, came into the room, and sat down +with her needlework in the other window. + +"Mamma," exclaimed Leslie, "do you know that Hector Garret of Otter is +downstairs with papa?" + +"Yes, Leslie." + +"He never fails to ask for us; don't you think we'll see him here +by-and-by?" + +"I do not know; it depends upon his engagements." + +"I wonder what brings him to Glasgow just now; he must find it so much +more agreeable at home," with a little sigh. + +"Leslie, I don't think you have anything to do with that." + +"No, certainly; Hector Garret and I are two very different persons." + +"Leslie!" + +"Well, mamma." + +"I wish you would not say Hector Garret; it does not sound proper in a +girl like you." + +"I suppose it does not. He must have been a grown-up man when I was a +child. I have caught the habit from papa, but I have not the least +inclination to use the name to his face." + +"I should think not, Leslie;" and the conversation dropped. + +Presently the stranger entered deliberately; a tall, fair, handsome man +of eight-and-thirty or forty, with one of those cold, intellectual, +statuesque faces in which there is a chill harmony, and which are types +of a calm temperament, or an extinct volcano. Perhaps it was that cast +of countenance which recommended him to the Bowers; yet Leslie was dark, +bright, and variable. + +The visitor brought a gift in his hand--a basket of flowers and summer +fruit, of which Leslie relieved him, while she struggled in vain to look +politely obliged, and not irrationally elated. + +"So kind of you to trouble yourself! Such a beautiful flower--wild roses +and hawthorn too--I like so much to have them, though they wither very +soon. I dare say they grew where + + 'Fairies light + On Cassilis Downans dance.' + +(Burns was becoming famous, and Leslie had picked up the lines +somewhere.) And the strawberries, oh, they must be from Ferndean." + +The bearer nodded and smiled. + +"I knew it by instinct," and Leslie began eating them like a tempted +child, and stained her pretty lips. "Those old rows on each side of the +summer-house where papa first learnt his lessons--I wonder if there are +jackdaws there still: won't you have some?" + +"No, thank you. What a memory you have, Miss Bower!" + +"Ferndean is my Highland hill. When papa is very stiff and helpless from +rheumatism, he talks of it sometimes. It is so long ago; he was so +different then." + +Mr. Garret and Mrs. Bower exchanged a few civil words on his journey, +the spring weather, the state of the war, like two taciturn people who +force their speeches; then he became Leslie's property, sat down beside +her, watched her arranging her flowers, helped her a little, and spoke +now and then in answer to her questions, and that was sufficient. + +Hector Garret was particularly struck this evening with the incongruity +of Leslie's presence in the Professor's dry, silent, scholastic home, +and with her monotonous, shaded existence, and her want of natural +associations and fitting companionship. He pondered upon her future; he +was well acquainted with her prospects; he knew much better than she did +that the money with which his father had bought up the mortgages on +Ferndean, and finally the estate itself, was drained and scattered long +ago, and that the miserable annuity upon which the Professor rested +peacefully as a provision for his widow and child, died with the former. +It was scarcely credible that a man should be so regardless of his own +family, but the echo of the mystic, sublime discourses of the Greek +porches, the faint but sacred trace of the march of vast armies, and the +fall of nations, caused Leslie to dwindle into a mere speck in the +creation. Of course she would be provided for somehow: marry, or make +her own livelihood. Socrates did not plague himself much about the fate +of Xantippe: Seneca wrote from his exile to console his mother, but the +epistles were for the benefit of the world at large, and destined to +descend to future generations of barbarians. + +What a frank, single-hearted young girl she seemed to Hector +Garret--intelligent, capable of comprehending him in a degree, amusing +him with her similes and suggestions; pretty, too, as one of those wild +roses or pinks that she prized so highly, though she wore a sober, +green, flowered silk dress. He should like to see her in a white gown. +He supposed that was not a convenient town wear. Pope had unmasked +women, but he could not help thinking that a fresh, simple, kind young +girl would be rather a pleasant object of daily encounter. She would +grow older, of course. That was a pity; but still she would be +progressing into an unsophisticated, cordial, contented woman, whom +servants would obey heartily--to whom children would cling. Even men had +a gush of tenderness for these smiling, unobtrusive, humble mothers; and +best so in the strain and burden of this life. + +Leslie knew nothing of these meditations. She only understood Hector +Garret as a considerate friend, distinguished personally, and gifted +mentally--for her father set great store upon him--but, unlike the gruff +or eager servants to whom she was accustomed, condescending to her +youth and ignorance, and with a courtesy the nearest to high-breeding +she had ever met. She was glad to see Hector Garret, even if he did not +bring a breath of the country with him. She parted from him with a sense +of loss--a passing sadness that hung upon her for an hour or two, like +the vapour on the river, which misses the green boughs and waving woods, +and sighs sluggishly past wharfs and warehouses. + +It was a still greater surprise to Leslie when Hector Garret came again +the next evening. He had never been with them on two successive days +before. She supposed he had gone back to Ayrshire, although he had not +distinctly referred to his speedy return. But he was here, and Leslie +entertained him as usual. + +"Should you not like to see Ferndean?" inquired Hector Garret. + +"Don't speak of it," Leslie cautioned him, soberly; "it would be far too +great happiness for this world." + +"Why, what sort of dismal place do you think the world?" + +"Too good a place for you and me," Leslie answered evasively, and with a +touch of fun. + +"But this is the very season for Ferndean and Otter, when the pasture is +gay as a garden, and you can have boating every day in the creeks, more +sheltered than the moorland lochs." + +The tears came into Leslie's eyes. + +"I think it is unkind of you, Mr. Garret, to tempt me with such +pictures," she answered, half pettishly. + +"I mean to be kind," he responded quickly. "I may err, but I can take +refuge in my intentions. You may see Ferndean and Otter, if you can +consent to go there, and dwell there as a grave man's friend and wife." + +Leslie started violently, and the blood rushed over her face. + +"I beg your pardon, Sir, but you don't mean it?" + +"I do mean it, Leslie, as being the best for both of us; and I ask you +plainly and directly to marry me: if you agree, I hope and trust that +you will never regret it." + +Leslie trembled very much. She said afterwards that she pinched her arm +to satisfy herself that she was awake, but she was not quite overcome. + +"I was never addressed so before. I do not know what to say. You are +very good, but I am not fit." + +He interrupted her--not with vows and protestations, but resolutely and +convincingly. + +"I am the best judge of your fitness,--but you must judge for yourself +also. I am certain of your father's and mother's acquiescence, so I do +not mention them. But do not hurry; take time, consult your own heart; +consider the whole matter. I will not press for your decision. I will +wait days, weeks. I will go down to Otter in the meantime, if you prefer +it. But if you do say yes, remember, dear Leslie, you confer upon me the +greatest boon that a woman can bestow on a man, and I think I am capable +of appreciating it." + +He spoke with singular impartiality, but without reassuring his hearer. +Leslie looked helplessly up to him, excited and distressed. + +He smiled a little, and sighed a brief sigh. + +"You are not satisfied. You are too candid and generous. You wish me to +take my refusal at once. You feel that I am too old, too dull to +presume--" + +"Oh, no, no," Leslie exclaimed, seeing herself convicted of terrible +selfishness and conceit, while her heart was throbbing even painfully +with humility and gratitude. "You have done me a great honour, and if +you would not be disappointed--if you would bear with me--if you are not +deceiving yourself in your nobleness--I should be so happy to go to +Ferndean." + +He thanked her eloquently, and talked to her a little longer, kindly and +affectionately, and then he offered to seek her father; and left her to +her agitated reflections. What a fine, dignified man he looked! Could it +be possible that this was her lot in life? And the very sun which had +risen upon her planning a walk with Mary Elliot next week, was yet +streaming upon her poor pots of geraniums on the dusty window-sill. She +quitted her seat, and began to walk quickly up and down. + +"Leslie, you are shaking the room." Mamma had been in the further window +with her sewing all the time. + +Leslie stole behind the brown window-curtain, fluttering her hand among +the folds. + +"Leslie, you are pulling that curtain awry." + +"I cannot help it, mamma." + +"Why not, child? Are you ill?" + +"Yes--no, mamma. I don't know what to think--I can't think. But Hector +Garret has asked me to be his wife." + +Mrs. Bower's needle dropped from her fingers. She stared at her +daughter. She rose slowly. + +"Impossible, Leslie," she observed. + +Leslie laughed hysterically. + +"Yes, indeed. It was very strange, but I heard every word." + +"Are you certain you are not mistaken?" + +Mrs. Bower had never so cross-examined her daughter in her life; but +Leslie was not disturbed or vexed by her incredulity. + +"Quite certain. I know it was only yesterday that you scolded me for +taking liberties with his name; but he was perfectly serious, and he +has gone to tell papa." + +Mrs. Bower gazed wistfully on Leslie, and a faint red colour rose in +her cheek, while she interlaced her fingers nervously. + +"Leslie," she asked again, in a shaking voice, "do you know what you +are doing?" + +Leslie looked frightened. + +"Is it so very terrible, mamma? I should possibly have married some +day--most girls mean to do it; and only think of Ferndean and Otter. +Besides, there is nobody I could like so well as Hector Garret, I am +quite sure, although I little guessed he cared so much for me;" and +Leslie's eye's fell, and a sunny, rosy glow mantled over her whole face, +rendering it very soft and fair. + +"I see it is to be, Leslie. May it be for your welfare, my dear;" and +her mother stooped abruptly, and kissed the young, averted cheek. + +Leslie was awed. She dreaded that her father would be equally moved, +and then she did not know how she could stand it. But she might have +spared herself the apprehension; for when the Professor shuffled in he +sat down as usual, fumbled for his spectacles, looked round with the +most unconscious eye, observed that "Ware" had that day exceeded in his +lecture by twenty minutes--"a bad practice," (Dr. Bower was himself +notoriously unpunctual,) and took not the slightest notice of any event +of greater importance, until Leslie's suspense had been so long on the +rack that it began to subside into dismay, when glancing up for a +moment, he observed parenthetically, as he turned a page--"Child! you +have my approval of a union with Hector Garret--an odd fancy, but that +is no business of ours,"--dropped his eyes again on his volume, and made +no further allusion to the subject for the rest of the evening--no, nor +ever again, of his own free will. Hector Garret assailed him on +preliminaries, his wife patiently waylaid and besieged him for the +necessary funds, acquaintances congratulated him--he was by compulsion +drawn more than once from roots and aesthetics; but left to himself, he +would have assuredly forgotten his daughter's wedding-day, as he had +done that of her baptism. + +Leslie recovered from the stunning suddenness of her fate, and awoke +fully to its brightness. To go down to Ayrshire and dwell there among +hills and streams, and pure heather-scented air, like any shepherdess; +to be the nearest and dearest to Hector Garret:--already the +imaginative, warm-hearted girl began to raise him into a divinity. + +Leslie was supremely content, she was gay and giddy even with present +excitement; with the pretty bustle of being so important and so +occupied--she whose whole time lately had been vacant and idle--so +willing to admire her new possessions, so openly elated with their +superiority, and not insensible to the fact that all these prominent +obtrusive cares were but little superfluous notes of the great symphony +upon which she had entered, and whose infinitely deeper, fuller, higher +tones she would learn well, by-and-by. + +Leslie Bower was the personification of joy, and no one meddled with her +visions. Hector Garret was making his preparations at Otter; and when +Leslie sang as she stitched, and ran lightly up and down, only the +servants in the kitchen laid their heads together, and confided to each +other that "never did they see so daffin' a bride; Miss Leslie should +ken that a greetin' bride's a happy bride!" But no one told Leslie--no +one taught her the tender meaning of the wise old proverb--no one warned +her of the realities of life, so much sadder, so much holier, purer, +more peaceful than any illusion. Her mother had relapsed into her +ordinary calmness, rather wounding Leslie's perceptions when she allowed +herself to think of it, for she did not read the lingering assiduity +that was so intent it might have been employed upon her shroud. And +there was no one else--no; Leslie was quite unaware that her gladness +was ominous. + +Only the shadow of a warning crossed Leslie's path of roses, and she +disregarded it. Her confidence in Hector Garret and in life remained +unbounded. + +Leslie had gone to the best known of her early companions, her cup +brimming over in the gracious privilege of begging Mary Elliot to be +her bridesmaid. The Elliots had been kind to her, and had once taken her +to their cheerful country-house; and now Mary was to witness the +ceremony, and Hector Garret had said that she might, if she pleased, pay +Leslie a long visit at Otter. + +Mary Elliot was a little older, a little more experienced in womanly +knowledge than Leslie. + +"How strange it sounds that you should be married so soon, Leslie, from +your old house, where we thought you buried. We believed that you must +lead a single life, unless your father made a pet of one of his +students: and then you must have waited until he left college." + +"It is the reverse. I have no time to lose," nodded Leslie; "only +Hector Garret is not old-looking. I don't believe that he has a +grey hair in his head. He is a far handsomer man than Susan Cheyne's +sister's husband." + +"I know it; he was pointed out to me in the street. Is he very fond of +you, Leslie?" + +"I suppose--a little, or he would not have me." + +"Does he flatter you, pretend that you are a queen, say all manner of +fine things to you? I should like to be enlightened." + +"No, no, Mary; real men are not like men in books--and he is not +foolish." + +"But it is not foolish in a lover. They are all out of their +senses--blinded by admiration and passion." + +"Perhaps; but Hector Garret is a clever man, only he speaks when he is +spoken to, and does not forget you when out of sight. And do you know, +I have been used to clever people, and decidedly prefer to look up to +a man?" + +"What does he call you, Leslie?" + +"Why, Leslie, to be sure, or Miss Bower. You would not have him say Mrs. +Garret yet?" And Leslie covered her face and laughed again, and reddened +to the tips of her fingers. + +"Not 'Bonnie Leslie,' 'Jewel,' 'Angel,'" jested Mary, thrilling at the +echo of a certain low, fluttered voice, that had sounded in her own ears +and would wilfully repeat, "Winsome Mary," "Little Woman," "Witch!" + +"No," Leslie replied, with honest frankness, "that would be speaking +nonsense; and if Hector Garret thinks nonsense that is bad enough." + +"Do you remember how we talked sometimes of our husbands?" + +"Yes, I do. They were all to be heroes." + +"And you were to be courted on bended knees. Yes, Leslie, solicited +again and again; and when you yielded at last, it should be such an act +of grace that the poor fellow would be half mad with delight." + +"I was mad myself. I was full of some song or bit of poetry. I tell you +again, Mary, if you have not found it out for yourself, real life is not +like a book. Hector Garret is not the man to beg and implore, and wait +patiently for a score of years. I wish you saw how he manages his strong +horse. He sits, and does not yield a hair's breadth. Though it paws and +rears, he just holds its head tight and pats its neck. Now, I want him +to check and guide me. I have been left a great deal to myself. Papa and +mamma are not young, and it appears to me that a single child is not +enough to draw out the sympathies of a staid, silent couple. They have +been very kind to me all my life, and I ought to be glad that they will +not miss me much. But although it was wrong, I have often felt a little +forlorn, and been tempted to have bad, discontented thoughts all by +myself. However, that is over, and I hope I'm going to be a good and +sensible woman now. And, Mary, I am so anxious to have your opinion upon +my crimson pelisse, because mamma does not profess to be a judge; and I +cannot be certain that it is proper merely on a mantua-maker's word and +my own taste. I would like to do Hector Garret credit; not that I can +really do so in any eyes but his own." + + +III.--THE NEW HOME. + +Hector Garret had his girl wife at Otter, and very sunny her existence +was for the lustrum of that honeymoon. It was almost sufficient for her +to be at liberty, fairly installed in her castle in the air, a country +home. And its lord and master was generous and indulgent, and wasted, he +did not care to say how many days, in displaying to her the green +ruinousness of Ferndean--in climbing the hills and hunting out the +widest views for her--in taking her out in his boat, and rowing her in +sunshine and shade, enjoying her wonder and exultation most +benevolently. In a short time he left her to herself, for he had much +property, to whose numerous details he attended with rigid +conscientiousness, and he had been a student from his youth, and sat +almost as much as Dr. Bower in his library, although it was an airier +and more heterogeneously fitted-up sanctuary. Leslie was perfectly +satisfied; in fact, while the novelty around her was fresh, she +preferred to wander about at her leisure, and find out places for +herself, because Hector Garret was always hurrying her, and she was +trying so hard to be clever, active, and amiable. Ah, that slight strain +already perceptible, that growth of ignorance, misconception, and +extravagant reverence--what fruit would it bear? + +Otter was a rambling white house in a green meadow opening to the sea. +Its salient points were its size and age. The slowest-growing shrubs in +its pleasance were tough, seamed, branched and bowed with time. There +were few trees in the neighbourhood except at forsaken Ferndean; but +there were slow swelling hills crowned with heather closing in the +valley over which Otter presided with the dignified paternal character +of the great house of strath, or glen. Leslie smiled when she first +heard the natives of the district term the grey or glittering track that +bounded the western horizon, "The Otter Sea," but very soon she fell +into the use of the same name, and was conscious of feeling far more +interest in the boats and ships that crossed that limited space, than in +those which she saw from the hilltops spread far and wide over a great +expanse broken only by the misty Irish coast-line. Indeed, Hector Garret +explained to her that he had seignorial claims over that strip of +waves--that the seaweed, and, after certain restrictions, the fragments +of wreck cast upon its sands, were his property, quite as much as if he +had waved his banner over it, like the gallant Spaniard, in the name of +his Most Catholic Majesty. + +Leslie had variety in her locality; the beach, with its huge boulders +and inspiring music; the fields and "uplands airy," with their hedge +wealth of vetch, briar, and bramble; the garden, the ancient walled +garden, at whose antiquities Hector Garret laughed. + +Leslie played sad pranks in the early season of her disenthralment. She +wandered far and near, and soiled her white gowns, to the despair of the +Otter servant who did up the master's shirts and managed the mistress's +clear-starching, but who never dreamt, in those days of frills, robes, +and flounces, of styling herself a laundress. Leslie filled her apron +with mosses and lichens: she stole out after the reapers had left the +patch of oats which was not within sight of the house, and gathered +among the sheaves like a Ruth. She grew stout and hardy, and, in spite +of her gipsy bonnet, as brown as a berry under this out-of-door life, +until no one would have known the waxen-faced city girl; and many a time +when Hector Garret left his study in the dusk and found his way to the +drawing-room, he discovered her asleep from very weariness, with her +head laid down on her spindle-legged work-table, and the white moonbeams +trying to steal under her long eyelashes. He would tread softly, and +stand, and gaze, but he never stooped and kissed her cheek in merry +frolic, never in yearning tenderness. + +Such was Leslie's holiday; let her have it--it ended, certainly. The +black October winds began to whistle in the chimneys and lash the Otter +sea into foam; the morning mists were white and dense on the hills, and +sometimes the curtain never rose the whole day; the burns were hoarse +and muddy, the sheep in fold, the little birds silent. Leslie loved the +prospect still, even the wild grey clouds rent and whirled across the +sky, the watery sun, and the ragged, wan, dripping verdure; but it made +her shiver too, and turn to her fireside, where she would doze and yawn, +work and get weary in her long solitary hours. Hector Garret was patient +and good-humoured; he took the trouble to teach her any knowledge to +which she aspired; but he was so far beyond her, so hopelessly superior, +that she was vexed and ashamed to confess to him her ignorance, and it +was clear that when he came up to her domain in the evening he liked +best to rest himself, or to play with her in a fondling, toying way. +After the first interminable rainy day which she had spent by herself at +Otter, when he entered and proceeded in his cool, rather lazy fashion to +tap her under the chin, to inquire if she had been counting the rain +drops, to bid her try his cigar, she felt something swelling in her +throat, and answered him shortly and crossly; but when she found that he +treated her offended air as the whim of a spoilt child, and was rather +the more amused by it, she determined that he should not be entertained +by her humours. Perilous entertainment as it was, Leslie could not have +afforded it; her wilderness tamed her so that she welcomed Hector Garret +eagerly, submitted to be treated as a child, exerted herself to prattle +away gaily and foolishly when her heart was a little heavy and her +spirits languid. + +Leslie saw so little of her husband--perhaps it was the case with all +wives; her father and mother were as much apart--but Leslie did not +understand the necessity. She did not like her life to be selfish, +smooth, and aimless, except for her own fancies, as it had been from +the first. She wanted to share Hector Garret's cares and his work which +he transacted so faithfully. She wished he thought her half as worth +consulting as his steward. She had faith in woman's wit. She had a +notion that she herself was quick and could become painstaking. She +tried entering his room once or twice uninvited, but he always looked so +discontented, and when she withdrew so relieved, that she could not +persevere in the attempt. + +When Hector Garret went shooting or fishing, Leslie would have +accompanied him gladly, would have delighted in his trophies, and +carried his bag or his basket, like any gillie or callant of the +Highlands or Lowlands, if he would have allowed it; but his excursions +were too remote and fatiguing, and beyond the strength that was supposed +consistent with her sex and nurture. + +Little fool! to assail another's responsibilities and avocations when +her own were embarrassing her sufficiently. Her household web had got +warped and entangled in her careless, inexperienced hands, and vexed and +mortified her with a sense of incapacity and failure--an oppression +which she could not own to Hector Garret, because there was no common +ground, and no mutual understanding between them. When Leslie came to +Otter she found the housekeeping in the hands of an Irish follower of +the Garrets--themselves of Irish origin; and Hector Garret presented +Bridget Kennedy to his wife as his faithful and honoured servant, whom +he recommended to a high place in her regard. Bridget Kennedy displayed +more marked traces of race than her master, but it was the Celtic +nature under its least attractive aspect to strangers, proud, +passionate, fanciful, and vindictive. She was devoted to her master, and +capable of consideration for Leslie on his account--though jealous of +her entrance upon the stage of Otter; but she evinced this reflected +interest by encroachments and tyranny, a general determination to adhere +doggedly to her own ways, and to impose them upon her mistress. + +Leslie began by admiring Bridget, as she did everything else at Otter. +Leslie would have propitiated the mayor of the palace with kind words +and attentions, but when she was snapped up in her efforts, she drew +back with a girl's aptness to be affronted and repelled. Next Leslie +began to angrily resist Bridget's unbecoming interference with her +movements, and design of exercising authority and control over the child +whom the master had chosen to set over his house; but her fitful +impulses were met and overruled by stubborn and slenderly veiled +fierceness. Leslie was not weak, but she was undisciplined; and she who +had been the young Hotspur of the most orderly and pacific of families, +learnt to tremble at the sound of Bridget's crutch in the lobbies, and +her shrill voice rating the servants who flew to do her bidding. + +In proportion as Leslie cowered at her subordinate, the subordinate was +tempted to despise her and lord it over her. + +Hector Garret was blind to this contention. For his own part, he +humoured Bridget or smiled at her asperities, as suited him; and it is +probable that if he had been appealed to, he would have adopted his old +favourite's side, and censured Leslie as touchy, inconsiderate, perhaps +a little spiteful. But he never was made umpire, for Leslie had all the +disadvantage of a noble temper in an unseemly struggle. Bridget plagued +Leslie, but Leslie would not injure Bridget,--no, not for the world. The +imperious old woman was Hector Garret's friend; he had said that he had +known no firmer friend than Bridget Kennedy. She had closed his father's +eyes, she had stood by himself in sickness and sorrow (for all his +strength and self-command, Hector had known sickness and sorrow--that +was a marvel to Leslie)--Bridget might clutch her rights to the end, +what did it signify? only a little pique and bitterness to an +interloper. + +Leslie had ceased to credit that she would ever become the wise, helpful +woman that she had once warmly desired to see herself. Her own defects +were now familiar and sorely disheartening to her, and she had grown +aware that she could not by inspiration set and preserve in smooth, +swift motion the various wheels of Otter, not even if--unlooked for and +undesired sequel!--she received express permission to dance upon the +head of old Bridget. + +Leslie had fancied once, when Hector Garret told her how few neighbours +lived within visiting distance, that she should not want society: but +the solitude was matter of regret, especially when it proved that of the +few families who exchanged rare intercourse, some of better birth than +breeding scarcely held the daughter of the disinherited laird and +Glasgow scholar as their equal in social rank, or a spouse worthy of the +master of Otter, or indeed entitled to their special esteem. + +The only house without any pretension within sight of Otter was situated +at the other extremity of the bay, on a peninsula projecting far into +the sea. It had been built in the days when each mansion was a +fortalice, and when safety from enemies was of more moment than the +convenience of friends. + +This Earlscraig was now little more than a grim, grey turret, seldom +occupied; the companion body of the building had been destroyed nearly a +score of years before by a fire--the tragedy of the country-side, as it +consummated the ruin of an old family--and in its horrors a lady of the +house perished miserably. So the sight of its cold cluster of chimneys, +wind-rocked walls, and scorched and crumbling vestiges of sudden +destruction, far from adding to the cheerfulness of the landscape, was a +blot on its rural prosperity. + +The homes of humbler friends were foreign thresholds to Leslie; the +reserved, engrossed, dignified master of Otter crossed them with a freer +step. Leslie could but address her servants, and venture to intermeddle +bashfully with their most obvious concerns. She had neither tongue nor +eye for more distant and difficult dependants. + +But Leslie was not dying of ennui or spleen, or miserable and with a +nameless fathomless misery. She was only disenchanted--conscious of +feeling a great deal older than she had done six months since. How could +she have been so credulous, so vain! Verily, every path of roses has its +panoply of thorns. + + +IV.--THE PAGES OF THE PAST. + +One winter night Leslie, in her deep chair, observed Hector Garret +turning over the leaves of an old pocket-book. Hector; catching her eye, +offered it to her with a "See, Leslie, how my father chronicled the +fashions"--he never did suppose her susceptible of very grave interests. + +In the dearth of other amusements Leslie pored over the ancient diary, +and found more suggestive paragraphs than the entry indicated: "Abel +Furness has sent me a waistcoat an inch and a half shorter, and a pair +of clouded silk hose for the black ditto, ordered." There were--"Three +pounds English to my boy Hector, to keep his pocket during his stay at +Ardhope." "A crown to Hector as fee for fishing out the black stot that +broke its neck over the rocks." "A letter from Utrecht from my son +Hector; a fair hand and a sensible diction." "Forty pounds over and +above paid to please Hector on the bond over the flax-fields of +Ferndean." "A small stipend secured to my thriftless kinsman, Willie +Hamilton, by the advice and with the aid of my son Hector." "To +Earlscraig with Hector:" this notice was repeated many times, until the +record closed abruptly with the tremulous thanksgiving--"My dear son and +heir, Hector, recovered of his malady by the blessing of God." + +Very plainly lay the life-clue of that silent heart, traced in the faded +ink of those yellowing pages. How old men cherished their offspring! +What did Hector Garret think of those mute but potent witnesses of a +regard that he could know no more on earth? She knew he prized the book, +for she had seen it carefully deposited in one of the private drawers in +his study. She opened it at the beginning, and slipping her fingers into +its gilded pockets, discovered a folded paper. It contained merely a +sprig of heather, and written on the enclosure--"From my dear wife, +Isobel; her first gift." Two dates were subjoined, with thirty years' +interval--that of the receipt of the token, and that of the inscription +of the memorandum. + +With flushing cheeks Leslie sat, and spread out the crushed, brittle +spikes, so fondly won, so dearly held. She was sure Hector had not one +leaf, riband, or ring which she had given him. Once when he was gayer +than his wont, and plagued her with his jesting petting, she took up the +scissors and cut off a lock of his hair. He did not notice the theft +till it was accomplished, and then he stood half-thoughtful, +half-contemptuous. He had not a hair of hers, but of course the whole +head was his; his father had judged otherwise. + +This earlier Hector Garret--she had heard Bridget enlarge upon his +merits. "A fine man, like the master, but frank and light of heart until +he lost the lady--ay, a real lady! grand and gladsome--the old lady of +Otter." Leslie longed for a vision of those old occupants of her place +and her husband's; to have a vivid experience of how they looked, spoke, +and lived; to see them in spirit--in their morning good wishes, their +noonday cares, their evening cheer, their nightly prayers? Was their +union only apparent? were they severed by a dim, shapeless, +insurmountable barrier, for ever together, yet for ever apart? + +These shades lingered and abode with Leslie in her lonely vigils, ere +she distinguished whether their language was that of warning or +reproach. She studied their material likenesses--the last save one in +the picture-gallery--honest faces, bright with wholesome vigour; their +son Hector's was a finer physiognomy, but the light had left lip and +eye, and Leslie missed it as she gazed wistfully at these shadows, and +compared them with their living representative. + +A stranger came to Otter: that was an unfrequent event, even when the +spring was advancing, and the boats which had been drawn up for the +winter were again launched in the cove, and the brown nets hung anew to +dry on the budding whins and gowans--the April gowans converting the +haugh into a "lily lea." Their nearest neighbour, only an occasional +resident among them, lounged over with his whip, dog-call, and dogs, and +entered the drawing-room at Otter, to be introduced for the first time +to its mistress. Leslie's instincts were hospitable, and they were by no +means strained by exercise; but she did not like this guest; she felt an +involuntary repugnance to him, although he was very courteous to +her--with an elaborate, ostentatious homage that astonished and confused +her. He was a man of Hector Garret's age, but, even in his rough coat, +with marked remains of youthful foppishness and pretension. He was a +tall man, with beard and moustache slightly silvered; his aquiline +features were sharpened and drawn; his bold searching eyes sunken. He +was a gentleman, even an accomplished and refined gentleman in manner +and accent--and yet there was about him a nameless coarseness, the +brutishness of self-indulgence and low aims and ends, which no polish +could efface or conceal. + +Leslie, notwithstanding her slight knowledge of life, apprehended this, +and shrank from the man; but he addressed Hector Garret with the ease of +an intimate associate--and Hector Garret, with his pride and +scrupulousness, suffered the near approach, and only winced when the +stranger accosted Leslie, complimented Leslie, put himself coolly on the +footing of future friendship with the lady of the house. + +The day wore on, and still the visitor remained, entertaining himself, +and discoursing widely, but for the most part on practices and motives +strange at Otter. + +"So you've married, after all, Hector," he said, suddenly, as they sat +together in the twilight: "well, I excuse you," with a laugh and a touch +on the shoulder. + +The words were simple enough, but they tingled in Leslie's ears like +insolence, and Hector Garret, so hard to rouse, bit his lips while he +answered indifferently--"And when does your time come, Nigel? Are the +shadows not declining with you?" + +"Faith, they're so low, that there's not light left for the experiment; +besides, French life spoils one for matrimony here, at least so poor +Alice used to say--'no galling bonds on this side of the Channel'--the +peaceful _couvent grille_, or a light _mariage de convenance_ among the +pleasant southerns;--not that they are so pleasant as they were formerly +either." + +Hector Garret got up and walked to one of the window recesses, his brow +knit, his teeth set. + +Leslie rose to steal from the room. + +"Nay, stay, madam," urged the bland, brazen intruder; "don't rob us so +soon of a fair, living apology for _fades souvenirs_." + +But "Go, Leslie, we will not detain you," Hector Garret exclaimed, +impatiently; and Leslie hurried to her own chamber in a tumult of +surprise and indignation, and vexed suspicion. Mysteries had not ceased; +and what was this mystery to which Hector Garret deigned to lend himself +in disparaging company with a sorry fine gentleman? + +Bridget Kennedy was there before her, making a pretence of fumbling in +the wardrobe, her head shaking, her lips working, her eyes blazing with +repressed rage and malice. + +"Is he there, madam, still?" she demanded, impetuously. "Is he torturing +and maddening Master Hector with his tones and gestures? He!--he that +ought to crouch among the bent grass and fern sooner than pass the other +on the high road. Borrowing and begging, to lavish on his evil courses: +he who could not pay us--not in red gold, but with his heart's +blood--the woe he wrought. They had guileful, stony hearts, the +Boswells, before they ever took to foreign lightness and wickedness: and +evil to him who trafficked with them in life or death." + +"Who is he, Bridget? I do not know him; I cannot understand," gasped +Leslie. + +"Don't ask me, madam--you, least of all." + +"Tell me, Bridget, tell me," implored the girl, frightened, yet +exasperated, catching the old woman's withered hands, and holding +them fast. + +"Don't ask me, madam," reiterated Bridget, sternly. "Better not." + +"I will know; what do you mean? Oh, you hurt me, you hurt me! I will ask +Hector Garret himself. I cannot bear this suspense!" + +"Child, do you choose what you can bear? Beware!" menaced the nurse; +then, as Leslie would have broken from her-- + +"Have it, then! He is the brother of that Alice Boswell who perished in +the burning of Earlscraig nigh twenty years ago." + +"Poor lady, Bridget," Leslie said, with a bewildered, excited sob. "Poor +unhappy lady; but what has that to do with him, with me? I understand no +better. Help me, Bridget Kennedy--a woman, like myself. I will not let +you go." + +"Madam, what good will it serve? It is small matter now:" then half +reluctantly, half with that possession with which truth fills its +keeper, slowly and sadly she unfolded the closed story. "What had Master +Hector to do with Alice Boswell? He had to do with her as a man has to +do with his heart's desire, his snare, his pitfall." + +"He loved her, Bridget; he would have wedded her. I might never have +been his--that is all." + +"Love, marriage!" scornfully; "I know not that he spoke the words, but +he lay at her feet. Proud as Master Hector was, she might have trodden +on his neck; cool as Master Hector seems to others, he was fire to her. +I have seen him come in from watching her shadow, long hours below her +window, in the wind and rain, and salt spray. I have known him when he +valued her glove in his bosom more than a king's crown--blest, blest if +he had but a word or a glance. But it is long gone by, madam. Master +Hector has gained wisdom and gravity, and is the head of the house; and +for fair Miss Alice, she has gone to her place. Yes, she was a beauty, +Miss Alice; she could play on stringed instruments like the heavenly +harpers, and speak many tongues, and work till the flowers grew beneath +her fingers. She learnt to wile men's souls from their bodies, if +nothing more, in the outlandish parts where she was bred." + +"So fair, so gifted--did she care for him in return, Bridget? Did she +love him as he loved her?" asked a faint voice. + +"What need you mind, madam?" sharply. "It is ill speaking harsh words of +the dead. Did I not say she had gone to her place? God defend you from +such a passage. Let her rest. Sure she cared for him, as she cared for +aught else save herself. She scattered smiles and favours on scores. He +knew at last what she took, and what she gave, if he did not guess it +always." + +"Why did he not save her, Bridget? die with her!" + +"Madam," bitterly, "he did what man could do. They say he was more like +a spirit than a mortal; but if he was to lose his love, how could even +Master Hector fight against his Maker? He was fain to follow her; he +dallied with death for weeks and months. Those were fell days at Otter, +but the Lord restored him, and now he is himself again, and no woman +will ever move Master Hector more." + +There was silence in the room for a space. At last Bridget broke it: "Do +you want anything more with me, madam, or shall I go?" + +Haughty as Bridget Kennedy was, she spoke hesitatingly, almost +pitifully. She had stabbed that young thing, sitting pale and cold +before her; and no sooner was the deed done than her strong, deep nature +yearned over her victim as it had never done to Hector Garret's girl +wife, in the first rosy flush of her thoughtless gladness. + +"Nothing more." The words were low and heavy, and when Bridget left her, +Leslie raised her hands and linked them together, and stretched them out +in impotence of relief. + +What was this news that had come to her as from a far country?--this +blinding light, this burst of knowledge that had to do with the very +springs of a man's nature, this fountain so full to some, so empty to +others? She had been deceived, robbed. Hector Garret was Alice +Boswell's--in life and death, Alice Boswell's. + +This love, which she had known so slightly, measured so carelessly--oh, +light, shallow heart!--had been rooted in his very vitals, had +constrained him as a conqueror his captive, had been the very essence of +the man until it spent itself on Alice Boswell's wild grave. He had come +to her with a lie in his right hand, for he was bound and fettered in +heart, or else but the blue, stiff corpse of a man dead within; he had +betrayed her woman's right, her best, dearest, truest right, her call +to love and be loved. Another might have wooed her as he had wooed Alice +Boswell; to another she might have been the first, the only one! she +knew now why she was no helpmeet, no friend for him; why his hand did +not raise her to his eminence, his soul's breath did not blow upon hers, +and create vigour, goodness, and grace to match his own. Deep had not +cried unto deep: heart had not spoken to heart: the dry bones, the +vacant form, the empty craving, were her portion; and out of such +unnatural hollowness have arisen, once and again, deadly lust and sin. + +Why had none stepped in between her and this cruel mockery and +temptation? "Mother, mother, how could you be false to your trust? Were +you, too, cheated and bereft of your due? left a cold, shrinking woman, +withering, not suddenly, but for a whole lifetime?" + +Leslie sat long weighing her burden, until a tap at the door and Bridget +Kennedy's voice disturbed her. "Earlscraig is gone, madam; Master Hector +is sitting alone with his thoughts in your room. May be, he is missing +his cup of tea, or, if you please, madam, his lady's company that he is +used to at this hour." + +Leslie rose mechanically, walked out, and entered her drawing-room. What +did he there, his eyes fixed on the broken turret of Earlscraig, defined +clearly on the limited horizon, his memory hovering over the fate of +fair Alice Boswell? + +Was it horrible to be jealous of a dead woman? to wish herself in that +ever-present grave, sacred to him as the holiest, though no priest +blessed it, no house of God threw over it the shadow of the finger +pointed to heaven--the cross that bore a world's Saviour? But that swift +and glowing passage from life and light and love, such as his to +darkness, forgetfulness--eternity. How could she have faced it? Bridget, +her old enemy, had prayed she might be delivered from it, whatever her +trials. + +"Nigel Boswell is gone at last; he was an old playfellow, and fortune +and he have been playing a losing game ever since," he said, in +unsuspecting explanation, as he joined her where she sat in her +favourite window. + +She did not answer him; she was stunned, and sat gazing abstractedly on +the wallflowers rendering golden the mossy court wall, or far away on +the misty Otter sea. She thought he had relapsed into his reveries, was +with the past, the spring-tide of his life, the passion of his early +manhood, while she was a little school-girl tripping demurely and safely +along the crowded Glasgow streets. If she had looked up at him she would +have seen that he was observing her curiously--wondering where his young +wife had acquired that serious brow, those fixed eyes. + +"What are you thinking of, Leslie?" + +"Nothing; I cannot tell," hastily and resolutely. + +"That sounds suspicious." He put his hand on her head, as he had a habit +of doing, but she recoiled from him. + +"A shy little brain that dreads a finger of mine on its soft covering +must discover its secrets. Are they treasures, Leslie?" + +Oh, blind, absent, reckless man, what treasure-keeper kept such ward! + +Lightly won, was lightly held. + +Leslie struggled with her oppression for several dull feverish days; +then, driven by her own goading thoughts, her sense of injury, her +thirst for justice and revenge, she left the house and wandered out on +the beach to breathe free air, to forget herself in exertion, fatigue, +stupor. It was evening, dark with vapour--gloomy, with a rising gale, +and the sea was beginning to mutter and growl. Leslie sat shivering by +the water's edge, fascinated by the sympathy of nature with her bitter +hopelessness. A voice on the banks and meadows, even in the chill night +air, whispered of spring advancing rapidly, with buds and flowers, with +sap, fragrance, and warmth, and the tender grace of its flood of green; +but here, by the waves, a passing thunder-cloud, a stealthy mist, a +whistling breeze, darkened the scene, and restored barren, dismal winter +in a single hour. The night drooped down without moon or star, and still +Leslie sat listless, drowsy with sorrow, until as she rose she sank back +sick and giddy; and then the idea of premature death, of passing away +without a sign, of hiding her pain under the silent earth that has +covered so many sins and sorrows, first laid hold of her. + +The notion was not fairly welcome: she was young; her heart had been +recently wrung; she had been listless and disappointed--but she had +loved her few isolated engagements, her country life, her household +dignity, the protection of her husband. She could not divest herself +of these feelings at once. She feared the great unknown into which +she should enter; but still death did not appal her as it might have +done: it was something to be scanned, waited for, and submitted to, +as a true sovereign. + +The cold wind pierced her through and through; the rain fell; she could +not drag herself from the shelving rock, though the tide was rising. She +felt frozen, her limbs were like lead, and her mind was wandering, or +lapsing into unconsciousness. + +She did not hear a call, an approaching foot; but her sinking pulses +leapt up with sudden power and passion when Hector Garret stooped over +her, and endeavoured to raise her. + +"Here, Bridget, she is found! Leslie, why have you remained out so late? +You have been sleeping; you have made yourself ill. How can you be so +rash, so imprudent? It is childish--wrong. You have made us +anxious--distressed us. Poor old Bridget has stumbled further in search +of you, this squally night, than she has ventured on the sunniest +morning for many a year." + +He was excited, aggrieved; he upbraided her. He had sympathy for old +Bridget's infirmities; he knew nothing of his wife's misery. + +Leslie resisted him as she had done since that day, slipped from his +clasp, strove to steady herself, and to walk alone in her weakness. +Bridget put her feeble arm around her. + +"Lean on me, madam, and I will lean on you, for I am frail, and the road +is rough, and the wind is blowing fresh, besides the darkness." "I knew +that would quiet her," she muttered. "Poor old Bridget indeed! said +Master Hector. Poor colleen! misled, misguided. Cruel makes cruel. St. +Patrick could not save himself from the hard necessity." + +Hector Garret was content since he saw Leslie safe; he accused her of +captiousness and nervousness, but it was the waywardness and perversity +of illness. He had tried her simple nature with too much alienation from +her kind; she had grown morbid on the baneful diet, tutored though she +had been to self-dependence. He had been to blame; but her merry temper +would come back, and the rose to her cheek, and the spring to her foot, +with other ties, other occupations--dearer, more sufficient. + + +V.--THE MOTHER AND CHILD. + +"How is the poor child, Bridget Kennedy? Does she fare as she should +do?" + +"The child is as fine a child, Master Hector, as if she had been a boy, +and a Garret, on both sides of the house, and will thrive if her mother +will let her. There are mothers that would hinder their bairns in the +death-rattle, and there are others that so watch their little ones that +the angels of God are displaced from their cradles; and the weary human +care haunts and harasses the infant, and stops its growth." + +"I am not learned in these matters, Bridget. You brought me up; I trust +you to rear my children." + +"None shall rear them but their mother, Master Hector; none shall come +between her and them. I have ruled long at Otter, but I dare not dispute +with her there." + +"Settle it as you like. I did not mean them--I was not thinking of them +at all. I asked for their mother. You have experience. Is she +well--happy as she should be?" + +"I wish you would not provoke such mistakes, Master Hector," said +Bridget, pettishly; "I wish you would find some other name for your +wife. You should know best, but is it suitable to term the nursling and +the parent by the same title? I am a foolish old woman, but it seems +strange to me. Your father did not confound them." + +"Ah! I dare say not. We will find a Christian name for the new comer, +and end the Comedy of Errors, since you dislike it, and Leslie too, +doubtless; for women are nice on these points." + + * * * * * + +"Leslie, what shall we call the baby?" inquired Hector Garret the next +time he stood by his wife's side, wishing to divert her by a pleasant +difficulty, and to vary the expression of those large eyes--larger now +than ever--which, he knew not why, fascinated him by the intensity of +their gaze. "I cause Bridget to blunder oddly between you two; so set +her at rest by fixing as soon as you can the momentous question." + +"I have fixed," answered Leslie, quietly. + +"I commend your foresight; a man, now, would have left the alternative +open to the last." + +"Mrs. Garret's first daughter must be named after Mrs. Garret's mother," +declared Bridget, authoritatively. + +"No," said Leslie, hastily; "I have named her after myself--if you do +not object," she added, with a flush, half shame, half pride. + +"I? Oh, no; do as you will. It will not solve Bridget's puzzle; but I am +content. Leslie is a bonnie name." + +Leslie compressed her lip. + +"My mother's name is bonnier," she said, abruptly; "my mother's name is +Alice." + +He started, and gazed at her keenly while she continued, falteringly, +but with a stubborn will in her speech:-- + +"I wish my baby to be mine in everything, particularly as she is a +girl. I am neither wise nor clever, nor strong now. I fear I am often +peevish; but you will excuse me, because I am a weak, ignorant woman. +Such defects are not fatal in a mother; hundreds have overcome them +for their children. I trust that I will be, if not what a better woman +might have been, at least more to my child than any other can be. Her +mother!--so holy a tie must confer some peculiar fitness. Yes; my baby +is mine, and must lie on my knees, and learn to laugh in my poor face. +And so I wish her to have my name also, that there may be a complete +union between us." + +Hector Garret knew now what intelligence had reached his wife, and while +the old wound burnt afresh, the shyness of his still but sensitive +nature, the pride of the grave strong man, were offended and injured. +But with regard to his wife he was only conscious of the petulant, +unreasonable, unkind surface; he did not sound her deep resentment and +jealousy; he did not dream of the anguish of the secret cry whose +outward expression struck upon his vexed ears; he did not hear her inner +protest: "I will not have my baby bear his love's name, recall her to +him, be a memorial of her--be addressed with fondness as much for the +sake of old times as for her own, the innocent!--be brought up to +resemble Alice, trained to follow in her footsteps, until, if I died, +my child would be more Alice Boswell's than mine. Never, never!" + +Hector Garret little knew Leslie Bower; slowly he arrived at the +discovery. First a troubled suspicion, then a dire certainty. Not the +transparent, light-hearted, humble girl, whom a safe, prosperous country +home, an honourable position, a kindly regard, left more than +satisfied--happy: but the visionary, enthusiastic woman, confiding, but +claiming confidence for confidence; tender and true, but demanding like +sincerity, constancy, purity, and power of devotion. Had he but known +her the first! But a man's fate lies in one woman. Had he but left her +in her girlish sweetness and gaiety; had he never approached her with +his cold overtures--his barren, artificial expediency and benevolence! +She erred in ignorance and inexperience; but he against the bitter fruit +of knowledge, in wilful tampering with truth--reluctantly, +misgivingly--selfishly cozening his conscience, hardening himself in +unbelief, applying salve to the old vital stab to his independence. He +had erred with an egotistical and presumptuous conceit of protecting and +defending the young full life which would have found for itself an +outlet, and flown on rapid, free, and rejoicing, had he only refrained +from diverting its current into a dull, dark, long-drained channel, +where it was dammed up, or oozed out sluggishly, gloomily, +despairingly--without natural spring-time, sunshine, abundance, +gladness, until lost in the great sea. + +He had viewed but the soft silken bud, whose deep cup was drunk with +dew,--its subtle, spicy fragrance pervading, lingering after the leaves +were drooping and the bloom fled, but its rich, royal hues were yet to +come. In his blind coarse blundering, he had mistaken the bud for the +flower, the portal for the church; he had entered with heedless, profane +foot, and blighted the blossom and rifled the altar. For the leaves had +been unclosed, the gates unbarred under his neglect; and Leslie, with a +noble woman's frankness, generosity, and meekness--that true meekness +which oftenest cleaves and melts the ringing metal of a high +spirit--Leslie had begun to love him, to fix her heart upon him, to grow +to him--stolid, sardonic statue that he was!--until that shock exposed +his flaws and wrenched her from her hold. Better to be thus rudely +dissevered, perhaps, than to waste her womanliness, puny and pale from +its vague bald nourishment, on a fraud and a farce. + +Hector Garret awoke from his delusion, from his scholarly reveries, his +active enterprise. "He that provideth not for his own house is worse +than an infidel." So he watched Leslie: he saw her rise up with her +thoughtful face, very individual it appeared now, and go up and down +carrying her baby. He was aware that she was appropriating it as her +treasure; that she was saying to herself some such words--"Silver and +gold have I none, but this is my pearl beyond price; she will be enough +for me; she must be so; I will make her so. She and I will waste no more +silly tears on hard, changeable men. They are not like us, little +daughter; they pass us by, or they love us once with fierce desire; and +when satiated or balked, they turn to us again to please their eye, +flatter their ear, vary their leisure; to anatomize and torture like +other favourites of an hour. We will have none of them, save to do our +duty. We will live for each other." + +Not that she deprived him of his rights as a father; she was too +magnanimous to be unjust, and she would not have balked that puppet, to +whose service she consecrated herself, of one privilege which any pangs +of hers could purchase. + +She presented their child to him with a serious stateliness, as if it +was so very solemn a ceremony that its performance emancipated her from +ordinary emotion; she came and consulted him on the small questions that +concerned its welfare with the same absorbing care. If he came near her +when she bore the child in her arms, she offered it to him immediately: +she was righteous as well as valiant--yes, very valiant. He contemplated +her stedfastness with wonder. After the blow which overcame her, when a +compensation was given her--a blessing to atone for the gall in her cup, +she accepted it and cherished it, and set herself to be grateful for it +and worthy of it immediately. The fortitude which, after the +involuntary, inevitable rebellion, would permit no more idle repining, +the decent pride that hid its own disease and bore it bravely, even the +sternness that set its teeth against reaction--he recognised them all; +it was studying the reflection of his own lofty features in the fragile, +quivering flesh of a girl. + +What is often proposed, rarely practised, Leslie did. She changed her +ways: with what travail of spirit, what heart-sickness she alone could +tell. It is no common slight or safe influence that causes a revulsion +in the whole bodily system; it is no skin-deep puncture that bleeds +inwardly; it is no easy lesson that the disciple lays to heart; but +Leslie surmounted and survived it. She had escaped her responsibilities, +and slumbered at her post. She would do so no longer. She belonged now, +after little Leslie, to her household, and its members might yet be the +better for her, and Hector Garret should respect--not pity her. She +vindicated her matronhood suddenly and straightforwardly, but with a +sedateness and firmness that was conclusive of her future power; she had +much to acquire, but she would gain something every day and every hour, +until Otter should own no abler mistress. Then for her child, she would +teach herself that she might instruct her daughter, so that if she +proved inquiring and meditative like her father, she need not soon weary +of her simple mother, and turn altogether to a more enlightened and +profound instructor. Surely there was some knowledge that a woman could +best store up and dispense, some gift wherein the vigorous and +well-trained man did not bear the universal palm? Leslie strove to +cultivate her talents; for these, in her position, there was scarcely a +choice of fields, but she had eminently the power of observation, and +her sharpened motives supplied the defects of her early education. +Leslie became a naturalist--the most original and untrammelled of +naturalists, for she proceeded upon that foundation of anecdotal and +experimental acquaintance with herb and tree, insect, bird, and beast, +and even atmospheric phenomena, whose unalloyed riches are peculiar to +rustic and isolated genius. + +Hector Garret observed this growing taste, and appreciated it. Leslie +had ceased to apologize for her stupidity, and to be shy of his +scrutiny. When he found her procuring and preserving this or that +specimen, or noting down a primitive fact, if he asked an explanation he +had one directly. + +"This pale flower, and that with the green flowers and the great leaves, +are lady's-smock and lady's-mantle; they say they are named after the +Virgin, but I think Adam must have named them in the Garden.--Bridget +tells me that the Irish believe the fairies sleep in these bells.--This +is the plant of whose root cats are so fond that they burrow about it +and nibble it, and as it does not hurt them, I have dug up a bit for our +puss--little Leslie looks after her already.--I have been writing down +the day when the swallows twittered at the window, to compare with their +arrival next summer. Peggy Barbour saw a double nest with one hole last +year; it must have been an old pair and a young maintaining a joint +roof-tree.--Yes, of course, these are jay's feathers." + +Another resource which Leslie found within Hector Garret's perception +was that of music. She had been endowed with a flexible, melodious +voice, and as soon as she had use for them, she gathered by magic a +host of ditties, blithe or sad, stirring or soothing, from the +romantic fervour of 'Charlie, he's my darling,' to the pathos of +'Drummossie Moor,' or the homely, biting humour of 'Tibbie Fowler,' to +carol to the accompaniment of the ancient spinet, in order to cheer or +lull the child. + +Hector Garret would move to his study-window, and open it softly, in the +gloaming hour when the purple sunset was on the sea, and the bats +abroad from the old chimneys, to listen to his wife in the room above +singing to her child. He did not hear her music otherwise: if he had +solicited it, she would have complied, with a little surprise, but he +did not seek the indulgence. + +The alteration in Leslie which matured her unexpectedly from a girl to a +woman affected powerfully both the arbiters of her destiny. Bridget +Kennedy, from a tyrant, was fairly transformed into her warmest and most +faithful adherent. There was something high and great in the wild old +woman, that could thus at once confess her error, admit greatness in any +form in another, and succumb to it reverently. Truly, Bridget Kennedy +was like fire to the weak and foolish, a scourge and a grizzly phantom; +to the brave and capable, a minister fearless, fond, and untiring to her +last breath. + +It was very strange to Hector Garret to be sensible of Bridget's lapse +from his side,--to hear the present mistress, the subdued diligent +woman, canonized to the level of the grand, glad lady of Otter to whom +Bridget had been so long fanatically loyal. He said to himself that the +child had helped to effect it, the precious descendant, the doted-on +third generation; but he was uncertain. He himself was so impressed with +the patient woman he had formed out of the lively girl, so tortured by a +conviction that he had gagged and fettered her--that her limbs were +cramped and benumbed, her atmosphere oppressive, her life +self-denying--that he could bear it no longer. + +"God forgive me, Leslie, for the wrong I have done you!" he confessed +one night with a haggard, remorseful face, when she stood, constrained +and pensive, on his joyless hearth. + +She looked up quickly, and laughed a dry laugh. "You are dreaming," she +replied. "How much larger Otter is than the Glasgow house! it was a mere +cupboard in comparison. How much pleasanter the fields and hills and +sands than the grimy, noisy streets where my head ached and my eyes were +weary. And little Leslie is a thousand times dearer than my own people, +or any companions that I ever possessed. Hush! hush! I hear her cry; +don't detain me, unless for anything I can do for you--because nothing +keeps me from Leslie." + +The coals of fire were heaped upon his head: there could be no +reparation. + +Why was Hector Garret not resigned? It was a cruel mistake, but it might +have been worse, for hearts are deceitful, and what is false and baneful +is apt to prove an edge-tool. Here was permanent estrangement, +comfortless formality, cold, compulsory esteem; but there was no +treachery in the household, no malignant hate, no base revenge. + +But Hector Garret would not rest: he had far less or far more energy +than his wife; he walked his lands a moody, harassed man. The turmoil +and distraction of his youth seemed recalled; he lost his equanimity; +his regular habits faded from him. Leslie could no longer count on his +prolonged absence, his short stated visits; he would be with her at any +time within doors or without--to exchange a word or look, and go as he +came, to return as unaccountably and inconsistently. It vexed Leslie; +she tried not to see it; it made her curious, anxious; and what had she +to do with Hector Garret's flushed cheek and shining eye? Some +anniversary, some combination of present associations and past +recollections--a tendency to fly from himself, besetting at times the +most self-controlled--might have caused this change in his appearance. +Ah! better twist and untwist the rings of little Leslie's fair hair, and +dress and undress her as she had done her doll; better examine the shell +cracked by the yellow-hammer, and count the spots on the broad, brown +leaf of the plane, than perplex herself with so uncongenial a +difficulty. But the difficulty pursued her nevertheless, and baffled and +bewitched her as it has done wiser people. + +The master and mistress of Otter were spectators of the harvest home, +the plentiful feast, the merry dance in the spacious barn where their +share of the fruits of the earth was about to be garnered. Leslie stood +in her complimentary, gay gala ribbons, with her fingers meeting upon +her wedding-ring, looking composedly and with interest on the buxom +women and stalwart men, the loving lads and lasses, the cordial husbands +and wives. Hector Garret, however, scarcely tarried to reply to his +health and prosperity drunk in a flowing bumper, but broke from the +scene as if its good was his evil, its blessing his curse. + +In the parish church where Leslie had exhibited her bridal finery she +now listened to the clergyman, and bent her head in penitence and +worship, and was disturbed by Hector Garret's gesture of restlessness +and attitude of care. + +When the new moon was rising in the sky, Leslie would bid the little one +look up and clap her hands, while Hector paced up and down unquiet and +dissatisfied. Then she would carry the child off to her cradle pillow, +and coming back would stand and look at the moon, while he was close to +her, murmuring "Leslie! Leslie!" But she would turn upon him pale and +cold as the moon above her, and would address him, "See, yonder is a +ship doubling Earlscraig point and steering into the Otter sea." + + +VI.--THE STORM. + +The October winds, tossing the late oats and the frosted heather, were +lashing the Otter sea into heaving waves and flakes of foam. That +western sea has its annals and its trophies, as well as den and moor. +Edward Bruce crossed it to give to Ireland as dauntless a king as he +whom a woman crowned, and who found a nameless grave; and there, in the +glassy calm of a summer night, the vessel, with its passengers lulled in +fatal security and slumber, sank like lead, fathoms beyond the aid of +modern science with its myriads of inventions and its hardy +self-confidence. + +The few fishers of Otter were exposed to the swell rolling from New +England and Labrador to Galloway and Argyle; many a lamp stood day and +night in cottage windows, many an anxious woman forsook her brood, and +under her sheltering plaid ran here and there, dizzy and desperate, to +beg for counsel, and for tidings of the husband and father whose boat +was due, and who was still exposed to the pitiless fury of the tempest. + +Hector Garret was early summoned to marshal his men in order to succour +those who were within his reach; to think, plan, and act to the last +for those who were amissing, but might yet be rescued. He had been upon +the beach all day; he had been handling rope and line; he had been ready +at any moment to launch his own boat among the breakers. + +Leslie, too, had been abroad. She had been in several houses, especially +in those whose young children were of the same age as Leslie. In all she +met the same abandonment; whether the heads of the families chanced to +be young or old, worthy or unworthy, mattered not; they were now the +sole thought, the object of racking anxiety, lamented over beforehand +with sore lamentation. If they were safe, all was well; if they were +lost, these wives and mothers were bereaved indeed. The Sabine women did +not cling to their rough masters with more touching fidelity. The men +were in trouble--their imprudence, their intemperance, their violence +were blotted out. + +Leslie went home in disturbance and pain. She, too, placed a light in +her window; she, too, left her infant untended, and strained her eyes to +pierce the storm. Hector Garret must have descried her figure as he +approached the house, for he came straight to her room, and stood a +moment with his dripping clothes and a glow on his face. + +"Don't go, Leslie; I'll be back presently." + +She put a restraint upon herself, and became busied with the +refreshments laid out for him. He came in immediately, and advanced +towards her with the same eager phrase, "Don't go, Leslie," and he +grasped her gown lightly. She sat down while he ate and drank. + +"I'll have a cup of tea, Leslie; pour me out my tea as you used to do." +She had always poured out tea for him, but not always with him close by, +and his detaining hand upon her dress. + +"This is like old times. They were very foolish--those old times, but +they have their sweetness to look back upon them." + +She interrupted him--"They are all safe, are they not?" + +"Every man of them, thank God." + +He was spent with his exertions; he was fevered and incoherent; she let +him speak on, detailing the minutest particulars. She even said with +animation, and the tears in her eyes-- + +"Their protector and deliverer! God will bless you for this, Hector +Garret." + +He bent his head, but he held out his arms: "Will you bless me, Leslie?" + +His voice was thick and hoarse; it petrified her, so still was she--so +dumb; and at that moment the knocker sounded, and importunate voices +were demanding the Laird of Otter. + +He obeyed the summons, spoke with his servants a little time, and +returned to find Leslie in the same arrested posture, with the same +blanched face. He had resumed his seaman's coat, and carried his cap in +his hand. He was calm now, and smiling, but with a face wan and shadowed +with an inexpressible cloud. + +"It may not be, Leslie," he said, soft and low; "Nigel Boswell's boat is +in sight, struggling to make Earlscraig; he was always rash and +unskilled, though seaward born and bred. If he is not forestalled, his +boat will be bottom upmost, or crushed like glass within the hour. I +trust I will save him; but if there be peril and death in my path, then +listen to what I say, and remember it. Whatever has gone before, at this +moment I am yours; you may doubt it, deny it--I swear it, Leslie. +Despise me, reject me if you will; I cannot perish misinterpreted and +misjudged. I loved Alice Boswell. My love is ashes with its object. I +did not love you once; I love you now. I love a living woman truer, +higher, holier than the dead; and for my love's sake, not for my +vows--the first for love, if it be the last." + +He had her in his arms; his lingering kisses were on her eyes, her hair, +her hands. He was gone, and still she remained rooted to the ground. Was +it amazement, anger, terror?--or was it a wild throb of exultation for +that, the real moment of their union? or because she had won him, and +was his who had slighted her, sinned against her--but who was still +Hector Garret, manly, wise, and noble--the hero of her girlhood. + +She was roused reluctantly by the entrance of Bridget Kennedy, shaking +in every limb. + +"Madam, why did you let Master Hector go?--he has had the look of a +doomed man this many a day. It is thus that men are called, as plain as +when the Banshee cries. Madam, say your prayers for Master Hector while +he is still in life." + +"I must go to him, Bridget; I must follow him. Don't try to keep me. He +is my husband, too. The poor women were crowding on the beach this +morning. Let me go!" + +She understood that he was exposing himself for another--that his life +hung on the turning of a straw. She ran upstairs, but she did not seek +her child, and when she descended, Bridget had still to fetch her mantle +and bonnet. The old woman did not seek to detain her, but ejaculated +through her chattering teeth, as she peered out after her and wrung her +hands, "She will bring the Master back, if anything can; nought will +harm her. I, poor miserable wretch, would but clog her swiftness. Ay, he +will hearken to her voice; he has been waiting for the sound weeks and +months. Who would have said that Master Hector, like Samson, would twice +be given a prey to a woman! He will hear her above the winds and waves; +body or soul, he will obey her, as he did Alice Boswell twenty years ago +in fire and ruin." + +Leslie hurried on in the darkness, her little feet tripping, her slight +form borne back by the blast. Not thus had she wandered on those sunny, +summer days when she first knew Otter; but there was that within, in the +midst of her distress, that she would not have resigned for that light +life twice over. + +She reached the beach; the roar of the surf and the shriek of the wind +were in her ears, but no human presence was visible. There flashed back +upon her the vision of her hopelessness and helplessness on such another +blustering, raging night--but the recollection brought no comfort. She +paused in dismay, with nothing but the mist and the driving rain before +her. Stay! obscurely, and at intervals, she caught sight of a light, now +borne on the crest of these giant waves, now sunk and lost. Hark! a +pistol-shot! that must be Boswell's appeal for aid; and yonder lay +Earlscraig--yonder also was Hector toiling to rescue his ancient friend +and persistent foe. She should be there too. At Earlscraig their destiny +would be wrought out. + +Leslie sped along in the tumult of earth and sky; the road was more than +a mile, and at such a season and in such weather very toilsome and +dangerous--but what deeds have not tender women achieved, strung by +love, or hate! + +When Leslie gained the promontory, she found the old house deserted--the +few servants were on the shore, aiding or watching Hector Garret and his +men in their efforts to save the last of his line, cast away within the +shadow of his own rocks and towers. + +Leslie shrank from descending among the spectators; she remained spent +and breathless, but resolute still, where she could spy the first +wayfarer, hear the first shout of triumph, and steal away in the +darkness, fleeing home unmarked and undetained. + +It was the first occasion on which she had been close to Earlscraig. The +situation, at all times exposed, was now utterly forlorn. The spray was +rising over the land, the waves were sapping its old foundation, the +weird winds were tearing at the coping of the shattered house; and on +the side where Alice Boswell's turret had stood, stones were rumbling, +and wild weeds streaming. The scene was very dismal and eerie, but +Leslie did not shudder or faint; her senses were bent on one aim, she +was impervious to all else. She sank down in a kneeling position, +staring with unwinking eyes, praying with her whole heart in an agony. +The light which had beguiled her, passed beyond her sight after tossing +for some time to and fro. She could not regain it, she could only +continue ready to seize the first signal of bliss, or woe. + +It did not come. The storm raged more madly; the desolation grew more +appalling; Leslie's brain began to whirl; the solitude was rife with +shapes and voices. + +Above all stood fair Alice Boswell, wreathed in white flames--from the +wavering cloudy mass of forms the gallant exile plunged anew into the +flood, now seething and rushing to meet its prey. + +"Oh woman--Alice Boswell--I did not steal your lover! you kept him from +me long after God and man had given him to me. There are no vows and +caresses in the grave. We have had but one meeting and parting; but one! +Oh, stranger, he is spending his life for her brother, as you were ready +to fling down yours for her. Will none of you be appeased? Then take us +both; in mercy leave not the other! In death let us not be divided!" + +The pang was over; Leslie passed into insensibility. When she recovered +herself, the spectres of that horrible dream still flitted around her, +for did she not distinguish through the surge and the blast Hector +Garret's foot speeding to receive his doom? + +But "Leslie," not "Alice," was his cry. Beneath the very arches of +Earlscraig, where fair Alice Boswell, her rich hair decked for one, her +bright eyes sparkling for another, her sandal buckled for a third, had +stood, and waved to him her hand--"Leslie! Leslie!" was his cry, +uttered with such aching longing, such utter despair. It was the wail of +no mocking ghost, but the human cry of a breaking heart. + +Leslie's tongue clove to the roof of her mouth; but there was no need +of speech to indicate to him his weak, fluttering treasure. Found once +more! Found for ever! raised and borne away swiftly and securely. No +word of explanation, no reproach for folly and desperation, no recital +of his labours, no information regarding others, but--strange from +Hector Garret's stern lips, and sweet as strange--murmurs of fondness +and devotion: "Sweet Leslie! mine only--mine always!" Scoutings at +weariness, cheery reckonings of their way, his heart beating against +hers, her cheek to his; and it was only when Bridget Kennedy opened +the door, and he asked her whether she had yet a chamber for this +truant, that Leslie was aware how well Hector Garret had performed his +part, and how many guests the hospitable walls of Otter sheltered that +eventful night. + +Bridget was solemnly praising heaven, whose arm had been about them, and +restored them both in the flower of their days, to Otter, and to their +bairn. + +"We have come back for more than Otter and the bairn, Leslie. Bridget +and all the men of Ayr could not have held her here, my faithful wife +that needs must be my love, she has proved herself so true!" + +He was throwing off her drenched cloak, and chafing her cold hands. One +of them was clenched on its contents. He opened the stiffened finger, +and found a lock of hair. + +"It was all belonging to you that I had, Hector," she whispered; "I took +it long ago, with your knowledge but without your consent. I would not +look at it, or touch it; I kept it for little Leslie. But you said that +you were mine, and it was something of yours to hold; you were mine, and +it was part of you." + + * * * * * + +"Better for Scotland that weans greet than bearded men," averred the +Lord of Glammis; but he did not say, better for the men, or better for +those who plight hand and heart with them, that the keen, clear eye melt +not, either with ruth or tenderness. Nay, the plants of household faith +and love, scathed by some lightning flash, pinched by some poverty of +soil, will lift their heads and thrive apace when once they have been +watered with this heavenly rain--and like the tree of the Psalmist +growing by the river, will flourish pleasantly, and bear much goodly +fruit thenceforth, and fade not at all, but instead, be transplanted +into "the land that is far away." + + + + +THE OLD YEOMANRY WEEKS. + + +I.--THE YEOMEN'S ADVENT.--PRIORTON SPRUCES ITSELF UP. + +Time changes both defences and amusements. Now we have volunteer reviews +in place of old yeomanry weeks. But it is worth while looking back on +what was so hearty, quaint, humorous, and stirring in times bygone. + +Beasts as well as men had their day in the past. The tramp of horses, +their brisk neigh, and the flourish of their long tails added to the +general attraction. The coats of the Yeomen, too, were of the most +sanguinary red. And there were other charms. The calling out of the +troop for ten days involved a muster from all the county for twelve or +fifteen miles round. There was thus an inroad of country friends. The +genial system of billeting was in vogue, too, so that every bed was +full. And allies and satellites called in, in happy succession, to share +the bustle and glee. A company of respectable theatrical stars, +patronized both by officers and privates, visited the town; and a +wonderfully brilliant yeomanry ball, attended alike by gentle and +simple, wound up the successful interlude in ordinary life. + +The little town of Priorton spruced itself up for its yeomanry weeks, +and was all agog, as it never was at any other time. The campaign +commenced by the arrival on horseback of a host of country gentlemen and +farmers, in plain clothes as yet. But they carried at their saddle-bows, +packages containing their cherished ensigns and symbols--in their case +the very glory of the affair. Along with these in many cases came +judicious presents of poultry and game. + +There were such hand-shakings in the usually quiet streets, such +groomings of horses at stables behind old-fashioned little taverns, such +pipe-claying of belts and polishing of helmets, and, above all, such +joyous anticipatory parties in private houses! + +The season was always the height of the summer, not perhaps in every +respect the best for such a muster. Stout Yeomen had even been known to +faint while at drill; the combined influences of the fatigue, the heat, +and last night's hilarity being too much for them. But farmers and +farming lairds could well quit their lands unless in the beginning of +July, when the June hoeing of turnips and beans had been got through, +the first grass cut, and while there was still a good three weeks before +barley-harvest. Trees were then dusky in their green, and gooseberries +and currants tinted the Priorton gardens with rich amber and crimson. +Roses redder than the yeomen's coats were in full flower for every +waistcoat and waistband. The streets and roads were dusty, under blue +skies or black thunderclouds; but the meadows were comparatively cool +and fresh, and now white with the summer snow of daisies. The bustle of +the Yeomen, like the trillings of wandering musicians, was heard only in +the brooding heat of summer afternoons, or the rosy flush of summer +sunset, the prime of the year lending a crowning charm to their advent. + +It was a delightful start, that first reveillee of the bugle at five of +the clock on a July morning. Youngsters whom nought else could have +tempted out of bed so early darted up at the summons. They envied papas +and uncles, brothers and cousins in the ranks of the Yeomen. Comely +blooming young faces joined the watch at the windows. Cloaks were +loosely cast about rounded shoulders, and caps were hastily snatched up +to hide dishevelled hair; while little bare pink feet would sometimes +show themselves. But the young ladies only peeped out behind the window +curtains, in the background of the noisy demonstrative band of +youngsters. + +Distant voices, excited and impatient, were soon heard; then the jingle +of spurs, and the clank of swords, as half-bashful Yeomen descended the +stairs for their _debut_ in the street. At last appeared important +familiar persons, now strikingly transformed by their martial dress, but +terribly uncomfortable and self-conscious. + +The horses were led to the doors, and to the women who stayed at home +the mounts were the exquisitely comic incidents of the day. The return +of the members of the troop, now broken to their work, and detached into +groups of threes and fours, and chatting and laughing at their ease, was +quite tame in comparison. The country gentlemen and farmers were, of +course, generally well used to the saddle, and could get upon their +Bucephaluses without difficulty, and ride cavalierly, or prick briskly +out of sight, as they were in good time or too late. But here and there +a solicitor or banker, or wealthy shopkeeper, ambitious of being among +the Yeomen, would meet with unhappy enough adventures. He might be seen +issuing from his doorway with pretended unconcern, but with anxious +clearings of the throat and ominously long breaths, while his nag, +strange to him as John Gilpin's, was brought up to the mounting-place. +The worthy man would plant his foot in the stirrup next him, but, not +throwing himself round decidedly enough, the horse would swerve and +rear, while he looked on beseechingly and helpless. Then he would try +the other side, still failing to swing himself into the saddle. He would +grow more and more flustered. His wife, in her clean muslin cap and +spotless calico wrapper, with her little lads and lasses--one, two, +three--would then step out on the pavement to give cautious advice. The +would-be Yeoman would become more and more nervous, while his comrades +rode by with jeering glances, and the passengers stood still. Little +boys would begin to whoop and hurrah, and a crowd, even at this early +hour, would gather round to enjoy the experiment. "Hey, Nancy! get me a +kitchen chair," the town-bred Yeoman at last would say in desperation to +his elderly commiserating maid-servant in the distance; and from that +steady halfway stand he would climb into the saddle with a groan, settle +himself sack fashion, and, working the bridle laboriously with his arms, +trot off, to return very saddle-sick. + +Then some stubborn young fellow, possessed with the notion of showing +off a dashing horse, would insist on riding a vicious, almost dangerous +animal, which would on no account endure the sight of his flaming +regimentals on the occasions of his mountings and dismountings. Once in +the saddle, he would master it thoroughly, and pay it back in kind with +whip and spur, compelling the furious beast to face a whole line of red +coats, and wheel, march, charge, and halt, with perfect correctness. But +the horse would have its moment of revenge as its rider leapt to and +from the saddle. If it encountered the scarlet and the glitter of brass +and steel, at that instant it would get quite wild, paw the air, fling +out its hoofs, snort and dart off wildly, to the danger of its own and +its master's life. But the young soldier would not be beat. Day after +day the contest would be renewed. At length he would resort to a +compromise, and his groom would bring out the animal with its head +ignominiously muffled in a sack; and now the Yeoman would mount with +comparative safety. + +But the bugle is sounding to drill in the early summer morning. +Tra-li-la! the clear music suits with the songs of the birds and the dew +on the grass. The last lagging Yeoman is off, gone to receive a public +reprimand from his strict commanding officer, but sure to have the +affront rubbed out next morning by a similar fault, and a similar +experience, on the part of a comrade. + +The drill ends at the common breakfast hour, when the Yeoman may be +supposed to return and feast sumptuously. Then "civil" work commences. +Yeomen who had offices or shops, attended them with slight relics of +their uniform. A stranger might have been pardoned had he imagined an +invasion was daily expected, or that an intestine war was on the point +of breaking out. In consideration of the hot weather, undress uniform +was permitted on all save field days, and thus the toiling Yeomen +enjoyed a little cool in their white ducks and jackets, though the red +mark, the helmet's line, was still to be traced on their sun-browned +foreheads. + +There was an afternoon's drill. It was a little of a fag, being in fact +rather like a dish heated up a second time, as a duty twice done mostly +always is. But the evening was particularly gay. Then the Yeomen were +supposed to be enjoying themselves. Pleasant, if they had always enjoyed +themselves in an innocent fashion. That many of them did so, it is only +charitable to believe. And while the fast and foolish, the gross and +wicked were swilling and roystering in evil localities, the generous, +manly, gentle souls gratified the matrons with whom they were billeted +by walking with them and their daughters through the streets, or into +the nearest meadow; or perhaps they treated them to the play. + +I have only heard of those days. But I should have liked to have seen +the bluff kind faces above the stiff stocks and scarlet coats, and the +joyous smiles which shone upon them. I should have liked to have heard +the quiet town ringing with such blithe laughter. Little jokes would +cause the people to laugh, as little accidents would cause them to shake +their heads. Sandy Hope's horse, for instance, lost a shoe while at the +gallop, stumbled, and threw its rider, dislocating his shoulder, and +breaking his arm. What a sensation the news created! It could scarcely +have been greater even though Sandy's brains had been dashed out. Not +only Sandy himself, but Sandy's kindred to the remotest degree, were +deeply commiserated. The commanding officer sent his compliments every +morning with inquiries after him. The troop doctor was besieged by +anxious acquaintances. Sandy's comrades never ceased calling upon him, +and sat for hours drinking beer at his open window. Delicious messes and +refreshing drinks a thousand times better than beer, were sent to Sandy. +Then the nosegays, the books he got! Sandy received a perfect ovation. +It was even proposed that the ball should be put off because Sandy was +lying in pain; and it was certain that no fewer than three reputed +sweethearts of Sandy's stayed at home on the ball night. Yet the stupid +fellow was so slightly hurt, that within the fortnight he was walking +the streets of Priorton more briskly than ever! + +Priorton was kindly in its gaiety, and each had an interest in the +other. I should have liked to have known the old town when it was thus +given up for ten days, half to military exercises, half to fraternity +and feasting. I should have been sorry when the feasting was +intemperate, but I would no more have condemned the general feasting +because of that circumstance, than I would condemn the gift of speech +because some of us are so left to ourselves as to tell lies or say bad +words. + + +II.--A MATCH-MAKER'S SCHEME. + +It was a well-known and accredited fact that in consequence of these +festivities of the Yeomen more matches were made up in this brief +interval than during any other period of the year. Match-making +individuals seriously counted on the yeomanry weeks; and probably +far-seeing young ladies had fitting matches in their eye, as well as the +fireworks and the introductory gaiety, when they came in troops to +Priorton to entertain the lucky Yeomen. + +"My dear," said Mrs. Spottiswoode, the wife of the chief magistrate, who +was likewise banker of Priorton, to her spouse, "your cousin, Bourhope, +has asked his billet with us: I must have my sister Corrie in to meet +him." + +Mrs. Spottiswoode was a showy, smart, good-humoured woman, but not +over-scrupulous. She was very ready at adapting herself to +circumstances, even when the circumstances were against her. For that +reason she was considered very clever as well as very affable, among the +matrons of Priorton. Mr. Spottiswoode was "slow and sure:" it was +because of the happy alliance of these qualities in him that the people +of Priorton had elected him chief magistrate. + +"My dear," deliberately observed long, lanky Mr. Spottiswoode, "would it +not be rather barefaced to have Bourhope and Corrie here together?" + +"Oh, I'll take care of that," answered the lady, with a laugh and a toss +of her ribbons; "I shall have some other girl of my acquaintance to bear +Corrie company;--some worthy, out-of-the-way girl, to whom the visit +will be like entering another world," continued Mrs. Spottiswoode, with +a twinkle of her black eyes. "What do you think of Corrie and my cousin +Chrissy Hunter, of Blackfaulds? The Hunters have had such a deal of +distress, and so much fighting with embarrassment--though I believe they +are getting clearer now--that the poor lassie has had no amusement but +her books, and has seen absolutely nothing." + +Mr. Spottiswoode had no inclination to contradict his wife for +contradiction's sake, and as he could rely on her prudence as on her +other good qualities, he said, "Well, Agnes, I have no objection; Hunter +of Blackfaulds is an honest man though he is poor, and he is righting +himself now." + +The invitations were dispatched, and accepted gratefully. The guests +arrived before Bourhope occupied his quarters; ostensibly they came so +soon to prepare for him. Corrie had nothing Roman about her except her +name, Cornelia. She was a tall, well-made, fair-faced, serene beauty; +the sole remaining maiden daughter of a Scotchman who had returned from +the Indies with a fortune, as so many returned then. He had already +endowed Mrs. Spottiswoode with a handsome "tocher," and since his +marriage had settled within five miles of Priorton. Chrissy, again, was +one of a large, struggling family; a small girl, a very little crooked +in figure, and with irregular features, and a brown complexion. If she +had not possessed a bright, intelligent expression, she would certainly +have been plain--as indeed she was to those who did not heed expression. +It was a delightful chance to Chrissy, this brief transplanting into +the flourishing, cheerful town-house, amid the glowing gaiety of the +yeomanry weeks. Accordingly she was constantly engaged in checking off +every little detail on the finger-points of her active mind, in order +that she might be able to describe them to her secluded sisters and her +sick mother at home. She was determined not to miss one item of +interest; never to sleep-in so as to lose the mount; never to stray in +her walks and fail to be in the house for the return of the afternoon +drill. She would pace the meadows among the gay promenaders, even when +the evening was cloudy, and would not care though she walked alone. She +would enjoy the play when Mrs. Spottiswoode chose to take her, and not +even object to a squeeze in the box. The squeeze was really part of the +fun! But she did not care to have her attention distracted from the +stage, even by the proffers of fruit from the Yeomen. As to the ball, +she did not allow herself to think much of that. Who would ever have +dreamt of Chrissy figuring at a fine yeomanry ball! She would not +trouble herself because she wore an old worked white frock of her +mother's, taken up by tucks to suit her, and yellowed by frequent +washing and long keeping. She would not fret because she could not spend +money upon a hair-dresser. She must dress her own hair--which was +scanty, like every other outward adornment of hers. This was little +matter, she reflected, for it would not dress under the most skilful +artist into those enormous bows on the crown of the head which everybody +then wore--it would only go into comb-curls like little hair turrets on +each side of her round, full forehead, which was by no means scanty. She +had no ornaments in the way of jewellery, save a coral necklace; while +Corrie had a set of amethysts--real amethysts--ear-rings, brooch, and +necklace, and a gold cross and a gold watch, which she rarely wound up, +and which was therefore, as Chrissy said, "a dead-alive affair." But +Corrie was a beauty and an heiress, and ornaments became her person and +position; while on Chrissy, as she herself admitted with great good +sense, they would only have been thrown away. And what did Chrissy care +for her appearance so long as her dress was modest and neat? She could +walk about and listen to the ravishing music, and study the characters +she saw, from Corrie up to the Countess, wife of the one earl who came +to Priorton, and who was Colonel of the yeomanry. The day or two before +the Yeomanry arrived was spent by the two girls in walking about, +shopping and making calls. Corrie, though a beauty, proved herself a +very dull companion for another girl to walk with. Very pretty to look +at was Corrie in a fair, still, swan-like style of beauty; and she had a +great many pretty dresses, over which she became a little more animated +when Chrissy, as a last resource and for their relief, would ask her to +turn them over and show them again. Corrie, of course, never dreamt of +offering poor Chrissy a loan of any of those worked pelerines or aprons, +which would have fitted either equally well. But Chrissy did not want +them, and she got a use out of them as they were brought out one by one +and spread before her. Ere the Yeomanry came, Chrissy knew the stock by +heart, and could have drawn them, and cut out patterns and shapes of +them, and probably did so, the little jade, when she got home. + +Bourhope came with his fellows, and was more specially introduced to +Corrie and Chrissy. He had had some general acquaintance with both of +them before. He gallantly expressed his pleasure at the prospect of +having their society during his stay at Priorton. He was a farmer whose +father had made money at war prices. He had bought his own farm, and +thus constituted his son a small laird. He had an independent bearing, +as well as an independent portion of the world's goods; he was really a +manly fellow in his brown, ruddy, curly, strapping comeliness. But +better still, Bourhope was an intelligent fellow, who read other things +than the newspapers, and relished them. He was a little conceited, no +doubt, in consequence of comparing himself with others, but he had a +good heart. Corrie and Chrissy both regarded him with scarcely concealed +interest and admiration. Chrissy wished that the lads at home would grow +up to be as comely and manly; Corrie made up her mind to have just such +a husband as Bourhope. + +It was evident the very first night that Bourhope was taken with Corrie. +He stared and stared at her, admiring her waxen complexion, the bend of +her white throat, and the slope of her white shoulders; and even changed +his seat at one time, as it seemed, in order to see her better. He +quickly claimed her as his partner at loo, and engaged her to walk out +with him to hear the band practising next evening. Chrissy thought it +all very natural, and all the more enjoyable. But she caught herself +fancying Bourhope and Corrie married, and rebuked herself for carrying +her speculations so far. Only she could not help thinking how Bourhope +would weary after the marriage--say when there was a snow-storm, or a +three days' fall of rain at the farmhouse. But that was Bourhope's +affair; if he was pleased, what business was it of hers? Bourhope had +this in common with Chrissy: he could entertain himself. + +During the first three days of the week, Bourhope was zealous in looking +at, and attaching himself to, Corrie. But a sharp observer might have +remarked that after that he flagged a little, taking more as a matter of +course and politeness the association he had established between her and +him at tea, loo, and the evening promenade. He would even stifle a yawn +while in Corrie's company, though he was a mettlesome and not a listless +fellow. But that was only like men, to prize less what they had coveted +when it was half won. + +So for a short time matters stood. Corrie, fair and swan-like, Bourhope +reasonably impressionable, Mr. and Mrs. Spottiswoode decidedly +favourable, Chrissy Hunter harmless, if not even helpful. Mrs. +Spottiswoode knew that those who dally with a suggestion are in great +danger of acting on it, and had very little doubt that the next ten +days' work, with the crowning performance of the ball, would issue in +deciding the desirable match between Bourhope and Corrie. + + +III.--A MORNING MEETING AND AN EVENING'S READING. + +At this juncture it struck Bourhope, riding home from the morning +drill, to ask himself what could possibly take Chrissy Hunter out so +early every morning. He had already seen her once or twice, keeping +out of the way of him and his companions, and returning again from +the opposite end of Priorton, which was flanked by the doctor's house. +Corrie, he noticed, was never with her. Indeed, Bourhope had a strong +suspicion that Corrie retreated to her pillow again after showing him +her lovely face--lovely even in the pink curl-papers. But Chrissy +certainly dressed immediately, and took a morning walk, by which her +complexion at least did not profit. Not being a very strong little +woman, her brown face was apt to look jaded and streaky, when +Bourhope, resting from the fatigues of his drill, lounged with the +girls in the early forenoon in Mrs. Spottiswoode's drawing-room. So it +was worth while, he thought, to spur up to Chrissy, and inquire what +took her abroad at such an untimely hour. + +When Bourhope caught a nearer glimpse of Chrissy he was rather dismayed +to see that she had been crying. Bourhope hated to see girls crying, +particularly girls like Chrissy, to whom it was not becoming. He had no +particular fancy for Cinderellas or other beggar-maids. He would have +hated to find that his kinsfolk and friendly host and hostess, for whom +he had a considerable regard, were mean enough and base enough to +maltreat a poor little guest of their own invitation. Notwithstanding +these demurs, Tom Spottiswoode of Bourhope rode so fast up to Chrissy as +to cause her to give a violent start when she turned. + +"Hallo! Do you go to market, Miss Chrissy? or what on earth takes you +out in the town before the shutters are down?" pointing with his +sheathed sword to a closed shop. + +Chrissy was taken aback, and there was something slightly hysterical in +her laugh, but she answered frankly enough, "I go to Dr. Stark's, Mr. +Spottiswoode. Dr. Stark attends my mother, and is at Blackfaulds every +day. I wait in his laboratory till he comes there before setting out; he +goes his rounds early, you know. He lets me know how mother was +yesterday, and as he is a kind man, he carries our letters,--Maggie and +Arabella and I are great writers, and postage comes to be expensive--a +great deal too expensive for us at Blackfaulds; but the doctor is a kind +man, and he 'favours' our letters. And Mr. Spottiswoode," she said, +warming with her subject and impelled to a bit of confidence, "do you +know, Dr. Stark thinks my mother will be about again in a few months. +You are aware her knee-joint has been affected. We were even afraid she +would never put down her foot again. It would have been a dreadful trial +for all of us." Chrissy spoke simply, in a rather moved voice. + +Bourhope was slightly moved, too. He had never heard much about Mrs. +Hunter, of Blackfaulds, except that she was a woman who had been long +ailing; and also occasional remarks about the consequences of her being +lost or spared to her family. + +Chrissy was grateful for his evident sympathy, and gratified by it; but, +as if half ashamed of having elicited it, she at once began to prattle +to him on other subjects. Bourhope had leapt from his horse, and was +doing Chrissy the honour of walking at her side, his beast's bridle over +his arm, and his spurs ringing on the pavement. A sparkling prattle that +was of Chrissy's about the fine morning, the town, and the +yeomanry--few topics, but well handled and brilliantly illustrated. +Bourhope had dared to confess to himself how sorry he was when he +reached Mr. Spottiswoode's door. + +[Illustration] + +Next morning Bourhope detached himself from his comrades when he +approached the town, and looked narrowly for Chrissy. It would be but +civil to inquire for poor Mrs. Hunter. So bent was he on being thus +civil, that though Chrissy was far in advance, he knew her by the pink +gingham trimming of her morning bonnet, fluttering like rose-leaves in +the morning sun. He came up to her, and politely asked after her mother. +Chrissy was a little confused, but she answered pleasantly enough. She +was not nearly so talkative, however, as on the preceding morning, +though Bourhope made witty comments on the letter she held in her hand, +and pertinaciously insisted on her telling him whether she mentioned him +in her return letters! He reminded her that they were cousins in a way. +This was the first time Chrissy had known of any one hunting up a +relationship with her; and though pleased in her humility--Chrissy was +no fool in that humility of hers--Bourhope, she knew, was destined for +her cousin Corrie. He was out of Corrie's way just now, and was only +courteous and cordial to her as living for a time under the same roof. +She liked the ruddy, curly, independent, clever fellow of a farmer +laird, who, out of the riches of his kindness, could be courteous and +cordial to a poor plain girl. Bourhope could never overtake Chrissy +coming from Dr. Stark's again. He spied and peeped and threw out hints, +and hurried or loitered on the way to no purpose. Chrissy took care +that people should not notice the fact of her being escorted home in the +early morning by Bourhope. + +A chance conversation between Mrs. Spottiswoode and Corrie was +overheard one day by Bourhope, when they imagined him deep in +"Blackwood;" for it was the days of the "Noctes." Mr. Hunter, of +Redcraigs, Corrie's father, had not been well one day, and a message +had been sent to that effect to her. But Corrie was philosophic, and +not unduly alarmed. "Papa makes such a work about himself," she said +candidly to Mrs. Spottiswoode. "Very likely he has only taken lobster +at supper, or his Jamaica rum has not agreed with him, and he is +bilious this morning. I think I will send out a box of colocynth, and +a bit of nice tender veal, to put him in good humour again. You know, +Agnes, if I were to drive out, I would not get back in time for the +evening walk in the meadows. Besides, I was to see Miss Aikin about +the change in the running on of my frills. It would overturn all my +plans to go, and my head gets so hot, and I look so blowsy, when my +plans are disarranged," Corrie concluded, almost piteously. + +"Yes, but Corrie," hesitated Mrs. Spottiswoode, "you know Dr. Stark is +not easy about papa just now. I think I had better go out myself. It is +unlucky that Spottiswoode is to have several other yeomen who do +business at the Bank, at dinner to-day with Bourhope; but I dare say +Mary will manage that, as Chrissy will mix the pudding for her. So I +will go myself to Redcraigs; all things considered, it would be a pity +for you not to be in your best looks----" + +Bourhope at this point fell into a fit of coughing, and lost the rest of +the dialogue; but perhaps his occasional snort of disapprobation was +called forth as much by this interlude as by the audacious judgments of +the Shepherd and Tickler. + +The day unluckily turned out very rainy, and the drill was gone through +in a dense white mist, which caused every horse to loom large as an +elephant, and every rider to look a Gog or Magog. The young ladies, so +fond of a change of costume at this time in Priorton, could do no +shopping; the walk in the meadows at sunset with the lounging yeomen had +to be given up. The green meadows were not inviting, the grass was +dripping, the flowers closed and heavy, the river red and drumly. All +was disappointing; for the meadows were beautiful at this season with +their summer snow of daisies--not dead-white snow either, for it was +broken by patches of yellow buttercups, crow's-foot, lady's-finger, and +vetch, and by the crimson clover flowers and the rusty red of sorrel, +and the black pert heads of the nib-wort plaintain, whose black upon the +white of ox-eye daisies has the rich tone of ermine. + +Instead of walks, there were gatherings round shining tables; and +bottles and glasses clinked cheerily in many a parlour. But Mr. +Spottiswoode was sober by inclination. The impressiveness of office, +which had quite the contrary effect on many provosts of his era, only +added to his characteristic caution. The yeomen, too, knew well where +hilarity ended and excess began. So there was little fear of excess in +Mr. Spottiswoode's house. Mrs. Spottiswoode, a genius in her own line, +had a cheerful fire in her drawing-room, and sat by the hearth with her +children tumbling round her, while Corrie, fairer than ever in the +blinking fire-light, and Chrissy, brown and merry, sat on either side of +her. She invited the farmer laird to enter that charmed ring, which, of +course, he could not help contrasting with the loneliness and +comfortlessness of Bourhope. But though Bourhope sat next Corrie, a +certain coldness crept over the well-arranged party. He caught himself +glancing curiously at the book Chrissy Hunter had been almost burning +her face in reading by the fire-light before he came in. Mrs. +Spottiswoode did not much care for reading aloud, but she took the hint +in good part, and called on Chrissy to tell what her book was about, and +so divert Bourhope without wholly monopolizing his attention. + +Chrissy was rather shy at first. She never told stories freely away +from home; but she was now pressed to do it. After a little, however, +she put her own sympathetic humour and pathos into the wondrous +narrative, till she literally held her listeners spell-bound. And no +wonder. Those were the days of Scott's early novels, when they were +greatly run after, and the price of a night's reading was high. +Chrissy's cousin "Rob" was a bookseller's apprentice, and his master, +for the purpose of enabling Robbie to share his enthusiasm, would lend +the apprentice an uncut copy. Robbie brought it out to Blackfaulds, +and then all would sit up, sick mother among the rest, to hear them +read aloud, till far into the small hours. + +Who can tell what that cordial of pure, healthful intellectual diversion +may have been, even to the burdened father and sick mother at +Blackfaulds! To Chrissy--the very speaking of it made her clasp her +hands over her knee, and her grey eyes to shine out like stars--as +Bourhope thought to himself. + +How suggestively Chrissy discoursed of Glendearg, and the widow Elspeth +Glendinning, her two lads, and Martin and Tib Tacket, and the gentle +lady and Mary Avenel. With what breadth, yet precision, she reproduced +pursy Abbot Boniface, devoted Prior Eustace, wild Christie of the +Clinthill, buxom Mysie Hopper, exquisite Sir Percy Shafton, and even +tried her hand to some purpose on the ethereal White Lady. Perhaps +Chrissy enjoyed the reading as much as the great enchanter did the +writing. Like great actors, she had an instinctive consciousness of the +effect she produced. Bourhope shouted with laughter when the +incorrigible Sir Percy, in the disguise of the dairywoman, described his +routing charge as "the milky mothers of the herd." Corrie actually +glanced in affright at the steaming windows and the door ajar, and +pinched Chrissy's arm when she repeated for the last time the words of +the spell:-- + + "Thrice to the holly brake-- + Thrice to the well;-- + Wake thee, O wake, + White Maid of Avenel." + +The assembly paid Chrissy the highest compliment an assembly can pay a +speaker. They forgot their schemes, their anxieties, themselves even, to +fasten their eyes and hearts on the brown girl--the book dropping from +her hand, but the story written so graphically on her memory. Corrie +was the first to recover herself. "Oh dear!" she cried, "I have forgot I +was to take down my hair for Miss Lothian to point it at eight o'clock," +and hurried out of the room. + +Mrs. Spottiswoode roused herself next, and spoke a few words of +acknowledgment to Chrissy. "Upon my word, Chrissy, your recital has been +quite as good as the play. We are much obliged to you. I am afraid your +throat must be sore; but stay, I have some of the theatre oranges here. +No, bairns, you are not to have any; it is far too late for you to be +up. Dear me; I believe you have been listening to Chrissy's story like +the rest of us!" But Mrs. Spottiswoode was not under any apprehension +about the success of Chrissy's reading. Mrs. Spottiswoode proved this by +immediately leaving Chrissy _tete-a-tete_ with Bourhope while she went +to put the children to bed, and see if Mr. Spottiswoode, who was doing a +quiet turn of business in his office, would have a game of cards before +supper. She had really never heard of a girl being married simply for +her tongue's sake! She perhaps knew the line in the song too-- + + "Very few marry for talking," + +and had found its truth in her own experience, for she was a shrewd, +observant woman. + +Bourhope, it should be understood, was longest subjected to the +influence of Chrissy's story-telling power. Indeed, when he did somewhat +recover from it, his fancy created fine visions of what it would be to +have such a storyteller at Bourhope during the long, dark nights of +winter and the endless days of summer. Bourhope was no ignoramus. He had +some acquaintance with "Winter's Tales" and summer pastorals, but his +reading was bald and tame to this inspiration. He thought to himself it +would really be as good as a company of players purely for his own +behoof, without any of the disadvantages. He stammered a little in +expressing the debt he owed to Chrissy, and she could only eagerly reply +by saying, "Not to me, not to me the praise, Mr. Spottiswoode, but to +the great unknown. Oh! I would like to know him." + +Bourhope was stimulated to do at once what he was sure to do ultimately: +he presented his hospitable entertainers with a box at the play. No +doubt it was a great delight to Chrissy; for it was in the days when +actors were respectable artists and play-going was still universal. +Chrissy in her freshness enjoyed the provincials as well as if they had +been first-rate--took the good and left the bad, and sat quite +entranced. + +Bourhope, although he was decidedly intellectual for his calling, +watched Chrissy rather than the stage. He read the feeling of the moment +reflected in her sagacious yet sensitive face. Once he turned round and +tried the same experiment with Corrie. He might as well have expected to +borrow a living soul from well-moulded stucco or marble. He now realized +in a more lively manner than ever, that geese may look fair and white +and soft and shapely as swans till they expose their waddling. He tried +in church the process he had learned at the play, and, it must be +confessed, not without effect--Chrissy's expression giving a fair +notion of the good Priorton minister's earnestness and eloquence. + +But at length Chrissy, aware of the liberty Bourhope took in thus +making her his study, got restless and troubled in her sound head and +warm heart. She was no fool in her simplicity. She knew that Bourhope +did not in any sense belong to Mrs. Spottiswoode and Corrie, and she +had shrewdly suspected of late that their anticipated arrangements +would not be carried out. She could not help occasionally turning over +in her mind the circumstance that Cecilia was very plain, but that +depressed Mortimer Delville nevertheless bestowed his heart on her, +though the gift, like her fortune, was disastrous to Cecilia for many +a long day. Chrissy thought that if Bourhope were independent and +original enough to like her--to love her--he was his own master; there +was nothing between him and his inclination save her inclination and +her father and mother's will. And there was little doubt about father +and mother's will with respect to a man so worthy, so unexceptionable, +and so well endowed as Bourhope. + +Nor was there anything like duty to the Spottiswoodes to stand between +Bourhope and Chrissy. But still Chrissy's nice sense of honour was +disturbed, for had she not a guess that a very different result had been +expected? Nay, she had even a half-comical notion that she herself had +been expressly selected as a companion to Corrie Hunter during the +gaieties of the yeomanry weeks, because she would also prove a sort of +harmless foil. + +A dream of love was a grand shock to Chrissy's quiet life, making wild +yet plaintive music, like all nature's true harmonies, within her, and +filling her mind with tremulous light which glorified every object, and +was fain even to dazzle herself. It was not unnatural that Bourhope +should excite such a dream. But Chrissy was not completely dazzled. It +was only a dream as yet, and she would be the mistress of her dream; it +should not be the mistress of her. So she resolved, showing herself a +reasonable, thoughtful, conscientious woman, as well as a loving, fairly +proportioned, and lovely human spirit. + +Chrissy retained all her sober senses. She recollected what was due both +to the hero and to the others concerned. She was neither a weak victim, +nor a headstrong, arrogant, malicious conqueror. Like all genuine women, +she struggled against yielding herself without her due--without a +certainty that there was no irreversible mistake in the matter. She was +not a girl to get love-sick at the first bout, nor one to run even at a +worthy lover's beckoning, though she would sacrifice much, and do it +proudly, joyously, for true affection, when once it had confessed +itself. So she shrank from Bourhope, slipped away from, and managed to +avoid him. He was puzzled and vexed, and almost exasperated by doubts as +to whether she cared for or wished to accept his notice and regards. +Little brown Chrissy taught the bold Yeoman a lesson in her own quiet +way. She slowly forced upon him the conviction that any gifts or +attainments of his--the prosperous, cultivated farmer laird--were as +dross compared with the genius and acquirements of Chrissy Hunter, whom +many short-sighted men called insignificant and plain amid the poverty +and cares of Blackfaulds. Bourhope was not radically mercenary: he had +no certainty that his superiority in worldly estate would secure the +strange good upon which he set his heart, and he was at once stimulated +and incensed by her indifference to his advances. So he had no +communication with Chrissy, apart from a demure interchange of words in +general conversation, for three days before the grand review and the +ball, except in a single incident of the pipe-claying of his belts. + +The gentlemen of the old yeomanry who had not servants to do it for +them, did their own pipe-claying, and might generally be seen doing it +very indifferently to the accompaniment of private whistling or social +bawling to each other over adjacent walls in the back courts and greens +of Priorton. Bourhope was one day doing his rather gloomily in the back +court, and succeeding very ill, when Chrissy, who saw him from a window, +could endure it no longer. Chrissy was not what most intellectual women +are described as being--an abstracted, scared being, with two left +hands. The exigency of her situation as eldest daughter at Blackfaulds +had rendered her as handy as other girls, and only unlike them in being +a great deal more fertile in resource. How could such a woman stand and +see Bourhope destroying his accoutrements, and in danger of smearing +himself from head to foot with pipe-clay? Chrissy came tripping out, and +addressed him with some sharpness--"That is not right, Mr. Spottiswoode; +you will never whiten your belt in that way, you will only soil the rest +of your clothes. I watched the old sergeant doing it next-door for Major +Christison. Look here:" and she took the article out of his hands, and +proceeded smartly to clean it. Poor Bourhope bowed to her empire, +though he would much rather their positions had been reversed: he would +rather a thousand times have brushed Chrissy's shoes than that she +should clean his belt. She was gone again the moment she had directed +him. A portion of his belt was now as white as snow; but nothing would +have induced her to stay. + +Bourhope was new to the humiliations as well as the triumphs of +love--that extreme ordeal through which even tolerably wise and sincere +spirits must pass before they can unite in a strictness of union +deserving the name. He was not exactly grateful for the good suggestion; +indeed, he had a little fight against Chrissy in his own breast just +then. He told himself it was all a whim, he did not really care for the +girl--one of a large family in embarrassed circumstances. No, it would +be absurd to fall in love with a little coffee-coloured girl whose one +shoulder was a fraction of an inch further out than the other. He was +not compelled to marry either Corrie or Chrissy--not he! Poeh! he was +not yet half through with his bachelor days. He would look about a +little longer, enjoy himself a little more. At the word enjoyment +Bourhope stopped short, as if he had caught himself tripping. If Chrissy +Hunter was ugly, she was an ugly fairy. She was his fate, indeed; he +would never see her like again, and he would be a lost and wrecked man +without her. + + +IV.--THE BALL, AND WHAT CAME OF IT. + +The review and the ball were still in store. Bourhope would not be +beaten with that double shot in reserve. It would go hard with the +brown, curly, independent laird if he were beaten, for already he was +shaken more in his pride and confidence than he ever thought to be. + +The review, for which all the drilling had been undertaken, went off +without serious effect on the contesting parties. The only thing was, +that Bourhope was so disturbed and so distracted in his mind that he +could not attend to orders, and lost his character as a yeoman, and all +chance of being future fugleman to his corps. And this, although the +Major had said, when the drills began, that there was not a finer man or +more promising dragoon than Bourhope in the regiment. + +Chrissy's bright, tranquil satisfaction in contemplating, from the box +of Mrs. Spottiswoode's phaeton, the stand of county ladies, with their +gorgeousness and grace, was decidedly impaired. The review, with its +tramping and halting, its squares and files, its shouting leaders, +galloping aides-de-camp, flashing swords and waving plumes, was +certainly very fine. All the rest of Priorton said so and proved so, for +they stood or sat for a whole day witnessing it, under a scorching sun, +on foot, and in every description of vehicle from a corn-cart to a +coroneted carriage. Yes, the review was very fine to the mass; but it +was only a confused, hollow, agitating play to Chrissy as to Bourhope. +Still she lost sight of the grand general rank and file, by +concentrating her regard on one little scarlet dot. It was to her a play +with its heart a-wanting, and yet the whirl and movement were welcome +for a moment as substitutes for that heart. + +The ball remained, and Bourhope was resolute it should settle the +question for him. It was the commendable fashion at Priorton that no +young lady should refuse to dance with an acquaintance without the +excuse of a previous engagement, under the penalty of having to sit the +rest of the night. Bourhope would get Chrissy to himself that night +(balls were of some use, after all, he thought), and have an opportunity +of hearing a terribly decisive word, and of getting a reason for that +word too, should it prove unfavourable. In short, he would storm the +fortress, and beat down its faltering guard then or never. + +Others besides Bourhope had determined on making the ball a theatre of +explanations. Mrs. Spottiswoode was not pleased with the aspect of +things as between Bourhope and Corrie. Their affair made no advance, and +the ball was the conclusion of the yeomanry weeks. The yeomen were +already to all intents and purposes disbanded, and about to return, like +Cincinnatus, to their reaping-hooks. Corrie was evidently not contented. +She was listless and a little peevish, unless when in the company of +other yeomen than Bourhope--a rare thing with Corrie, who was really a +very harmless girl. But she looked elegant in her ball dress, and had +always a train of admirers on such occasions. And then, of course, many +men needed the spur of jealousy to induce them to take the bold leap of +matrimony. Chrissy, too, had her own fears and doubts about this ball. +Bourhope hitherto had only pursued her, if he had pursued her, in rather +a secret manner. She would now see how he would treat her on a public +occasion. His conduct would then be marked and conspicuous, and even +Mrs. Spottiswoode's and Corrie's eyes would be opened to it. Then, +again, he would have an opportunity of contrasting her personally with +all the girls about Priorton. Chrissy gazed wistfully into the glass as +she fastened her yellow scrimp old white frock, and sighed. But she did +not look so much amiss as she supposed: she was young, slight, and full +of subtle character. And with her scarlet coral beads twisted among her +dark little turret curls and bows, there was piquancy and attraction in +Chrissy. But her first purely disinterested and unbounded pleasure in +the gaiety was grievously chequered, and it was to be feared the account +she would carry home of her first ball to expectant Blackfaulds would be +disappointing. + +There were only two chaises in repair in Priorton, to convey the whole +townspeople in rotation to the ball. It was thus unavoidable that some +should be very early, as well as some very late. Mr. Spottiswoode, as +Provost, was of course among the first after the Colonel and his lady, +old country people, who stood arm-in-arm, bluff and bland, under the +evergreens over the door, and shook hands with everybody, great and +small--a family of pretty girls meanwhile laughing behind them. + +Mrs. Spottiswoode wore a splendid bunch of white feathers tipped with +straw-colour in her blue gauze turban. Even Chrissy's dazed eyes noticed +that, as well as the white ribbon in Provost Spottiswoode's bottle-green +coat, which pointed him out an honorary steward. But how handsome brown +curly Bourhope looked in his red coat! + +A strange thought came over Chrissy. She did not wish Corrie, in her +white crape and French ribbons, and so tall and straight and fair, to +be blighted in her beauty--no, not for a moment. But Chrissy was cruel +enough to cherish a passing wish that, by some instantaneous +transformation, Bourhope might be pitted with smallpox, or scarred with +gunpowder, or have premature age brought upon him as with the wave of a +wand--the soul within being left unchanged, however. + +Mrs. Spottiswoode, unlike Chrissy, was quite alive to the practical. She +remarked everything with keen eyes, and determined now to be at the +bottom of the business. She should either go in and win triumphantly, or +take a sudden tack and sail away with flying colours, as if she had +never entertained the most distant intention of coming to close +quarters, and thus give the impression that she never had any intention +of promoting a match between Bourhope and Corrie. + +Mrs. Spottiswoode thought Bourhope looked as if he were going to do +something desperate. His first blunder had been to hand, or rather lift, +Chrissy into the chaise instead of Corrie, at starting from their own +door. He repeated the unaccountable blunder at the County Rooms, which +compelled him to take Chrissy into the ball-room; and while Chrissy was +still gazing in bewilderment and admiration at the evergreens and +chalked floors, and talking, laughing couples, Mrs. Spottiswoode could +scarcely believe her ears when she distinctly heard Bourhope ask +Chrissy's hand for the first dance, saying that he would have engaged it +before if he had got the opportunity. + +Now Mrs. Spottiswoode had no doubt that Bourhope would solicit her +sister Corrie for this dance, and therefore she had peremptorily +forbidden Corrie to engage herself in any other quarter, even when +Corrie had demurred at the certainty of the arrangement. It was very odd +of Bourhope, unless he thought Chrissy would have no chance of any other +partner, and wanted to spare a plain little girl's mortification at the +very commencement of the evening. "That must be it," Mrs. Spottiswoode +said to herself, and was consoled by Corrie's hand being immediately +requested for the Colonel's nephew. + +The Colonel's wife opened the ball with the most popular and oldest +private for partner, and, of course, Chrissy and Bourhope stood below +Corrie and the Colonel's nephew. But Bourhope and Chrissy did not mind +Corrie's precedence, and were talking to each other quite intimately. +Bourhope was forgetting the figure and bending across to Chrissy, though +he was saying nothing particular, and speaking out quite loud. But he +looked engrossed and excited. If it had been any other girl but Chrissy, +Mrs. Spottiswoode would have called it a flirtation, and more than a +flirtation. Chrissy looked well in her shabby dress, almost pretty +indeed, in the new atmosphere. Mrs. Spottiswoode was aggrieved, +disgusted in the first instance, but she would not just yet believe such +an incredible contradiction to her well-laid scheme. Match-making +involves so many parties, there are such wheels within wheels of +calculation and resource. She glanced at Corrie, who was dancing very +complacently with the Colonel's nephew, and exchanging passing words +with yeomen who tried to get speech with her. In her white crape, and +teeth as white, and her dimples, she was safe, heart-whole and +prosperous--a beauty who might pick and choose a suitable husband, +even though Bourhope, infatuated, threw himself away. + +Mrs. Spottiswoode gave a sigh of relief. Failure now would only be +comparative. + +The dance being over, Bourhope sat down beside Chrissy. No, she turned +her head the other way, and he rose up and strolled through the room. +But he was soon back in his old place. + +He wanted to dance with Chrissy again. She hesitated, grew nervous, and +cast her eyes on Mrs. Spottiswoode. He went straight to their hostess, +and said, "Mrs. Spottiswoode, you have no objection that I dance this +dance again with Miss Chrissy Hunter?" + +"None in the world, Bourhope," said Mrs. Spottiswoode, with a spasmodic +smile, "why should I?" + +"Why, indeed?" he returned, "or every dance? May I tell her so?" + +"That is as she and you may agree. You are aware that would appear +something serious," she said, trying to laugh. + +"I will take the consequences," he significantly assured her, and went +back and told Chrissy so, and then he drove her to her inmost citadel, +and beat her there. + +Other eyes than Mrs. Spottiswoode's were attracted to the pair. +Half-a-dozen matrons' heads went wagging significantly; girls +whispered and tittered; gentlemen opened their eyes, shaped their +mouths as if about to whistle, strolled up and took their observations +of the pre-occupied, unconscious couple quite coolly, and then +speculated and gossiped. + +Mrs. Spottiswoode read these comments as well as what had gone before, +and was ready with her magnanimity. It was this which constituted her a +truly able tactician. She shifted her tack before the shout of malicious +exultation and ridicule could have been raised at her discomfiture. By a +dexterous sleight of hand, she shuffled her cards and altered her suit. +In a moment Mrs. Spottiswoode was winking and nodding with the matrons +interested in the news of the night. She arrested a good-humoured +yeoman, and crossed the room on his arm, to express and receive +congratulations. "You have found out the secret? Foolish fellow, +Bourhope; he cannot conceal his feelings, though their display is +premature. I must scold him for exposing himself and her. Poor dear! she +is not accustomed to this sort of thing. But I am so delighted--so nice, +isn't it? Such an excellent marriage for my cousin Chrissy--a good girl, +a very clever girl--such a fortunate beginning for the Blackfaulds +family. I often say the first marriage makes or mars a family of girls. +It is so lucky that I invited Chrissy for the yeomanry weeks this +summer. It is a great deal better than if it had been Corrie, because +Corrie can wait," with a careless wave of her hand in the direction in +which Corrie moved, deliberately followed by her train. "Corrie has too +many admirers to make up her mind speedily, yet she takes it all very +quietly. But this is so appropriate--Mr. Spottiswoode's cousin and my +cousin--nobody could have planned it better." + +She turned round, and heard a blunt booby of a farmer speaking out his +mind. She at once took him up--"You would not have thought it? You +cannot comprehend what has come over Bourhope, or what he sees in that +thin, yellow mite, Miss Hunter of Blackfaulds, even though she were as +good as a saint, and as wise as the Queen of Sheba? Oh! come, Balquin, +you do not allow sufficient latitude to goodness and cleverness. I tell +you, Bourhope has neither eyes nor ears for anybody but that mite; he +counts his colourless daisy far before the gayest painted face. He knows +that we are remarking on them now, and he is holding his head as high as +if he had sought and won a queen. He is right; she will prove a +sensible, cheerful wife to him. Bourhope will have the cleverest, best +wife in the county, for all your swaggering. And that is something, when +a man comes to be old and has an old wife like me. Not old, Balquin? +away with you. I wish the Provost heard you. Do you think to flatter me +because I am in spirits about my cousin's match? No, it is not lost that +a friend gets, Balquin." + +The public of Priorton did not know whether most to admire Mrs. +Spottiswoode's diplomacy, or this rare instance of poetic justice. + + + + +DIANA. + + +I.--AN UNDERTAKING. + +"He will not last ten years' time, Die; and then you will be rich and +independent--the lady of Ashpound." + +"Don't mention it, sir, unless you mean to tempt me to commit murder +next." + +The speakers in the old drawing-room of Newton-le-Moor, in the south +country, thirty years ago, were Mr. Baring and his daughter Diana. He +was a worn and dissipated-looking man, with a half-arrogant, half-base +air--implying a whole old man of the world of a bad day gone by. He was +flawless in his carving, his card-dealing, his frock-coat and tie: +corrupt to the core in almost everything else. She was a tall, +full-formed woman, in her flower and prime, with a fine carriage and +gait, which rendered it a matter of indifference that she wore as plain +and simple a muslin gown as a lady could wear. Her hair was of the pale, +delicate, neutral tint which the French call _blond-cendre_, a little +too ashen-hued for most complexions. It was not wavy hair, but very soft +and pure, as if no atmosphere of turmoil and taint had ruffled or +soiled it. It made Miss Baring's fresh, clear complexion a shade too +bright in the carmine, which took off the greyness of the flaxen hue and +relieved the cold and steel-like gleam in her grey-blue eyes. The +features of the face were fine and regular, like Mr. Baring's; but +instead of the handsome, aristocratic, relentless aquiline nose, which +was the most striking feature in the gentleman's face, the lady's was a +modified Greek nose, broad enough at the base slightly to spoil its +beauty but largely to increase its intellectual significance. + +The "he" of the conversation, who was not to last ten years, was Gervase +Norgate of Ashpound--a poor, impulsive, weak-willed, fast-living young +neighbouring squire. Unluckily for himself, he had been early left his +own master, and had ridden post-haste to the dogs ever since. Suddenly +he had taken it into his muddled head to pull up in his career, and, if +need be, to chain and padlock, hedge and barricade himself with a wife +and family, before Ashpound should be swallowed up by hungry creditors, +and he had hurried himself into a forlorn grave. + +Mr. Baring was willing to let him off as a pigeon to be plucked, and to +use him instead as an unconscious decoy-duck in getting rid of Die; not +that Mr. Baring had an unnatural aversion to his daughter, but that she +was a drag upon him both for the present and the future. But Die, after +one night's reflection, accepted Gervase Norgate to escape worse evil, +having neither brother nor sister nor friend who would aid her. What Die +did on that night; whether she merely "slept on the proposal," like a +wise, well-in-hand, self-controlled woman; whether she outwatched the +moon, plying herself with arguments, forcing herself to overcome her +deadly sick loathing at the leap, nobody knows. If Die had learned +anything worth retaining, in the shifts and shams of her life, it was +perfect reticence. The result was that Gervase Norgate was coming to woo +as an accepted wooer at Newton-le-Moor on the evening of the summer day +when Mr. Baring confidentially assured the bride that the bridegroom +would not last ten years. + +Newton-le-Moor was what its name suggested, an estate won from the +southern moors by other and worthier adventurers than John Fitzwilliam +Baring. In his hands the place was drifting back to the original +moorland. Everything, except the stables and kennels, had been suffered +to go to wreck. The house was of weather-streaked white stone, in part +staring and pretentious, in part prodigal and vagabondish. The +drawing-room of Newton-le-Moor, like most drawing-rooms, was a +commentary--more or less complete--on the life and character of its +owner. If it did not represent all his practices and pursuits--his +repudiation of just claims and obligations; his sleeping till noon and +waking till morning, and faring sumptuously at his neighbours' expense; +his fleecing of every victim who crossed his false door by borrowing, +bill-discounting, horse-dealing, betting, billiards, long and short +whist, and brandy-drinking--at least it painted one little peculiarity +of John Fitzwilliam Baring very fairly. Not one accessory which could +contribute to his comfort and enjoyment was wanting, from the +exceedingly easy chair for his back, to the alabaster lamp for his +eyes, and the silver pastile-burner for his nose. On the other hand, +there was scarcely an article that had no special reference to John +Fitzwilliam Baring which was not in the last stages of decay. + +On this evening, before Gervase Norgate came up with her father from the +dining-room, where he might sit too long, considering who was waiting +him, Diana had her tea-table arranged, and sat down behind it as if to +do its honours. She showed no symptoms of discomposure, unless that her +rose-colour flickered and flushed in a manner that was not natural to +it; yet she had so entrenched herself, that when Gervase Norgate +entered, with an irregular, unsteady step, although as nearly sober as +he ever was, she could not be touched except at arm's length, and by the +tips of the fingers, over which he bowed. + +Mr. Norgate was not in his flower and prime. He was not above a year or +two Miss Baring's senior; but his whole being had suffered eclipse +before it reached maturity, though he still showed some remains of what +might have been worth preserving. His physique had been what no word +interprets so fitly as the Scotch word "braw,"--not huge and unwieldy in +size and strength, but manly and comely. His shoulders were still broad, +though they slouched. His hand and arm were still a model, somewhat +wasted and shaken, of what in muscular power and lightness a hand and +arm should be. His dark brown hair, dry and scanty at five-and-twenty, +still fell in waves. His eyes, dulled and dimmed, were still the kindly, +magnanimous, forgiving blue eyes. His mouth had always been a heavy +mouth (better at all events than a mean mouth); it was coarse now, but +with strange lines of gentleness breaking in upon its tendency to +violence. But his carriage, though he was pre-eminently a well-made man, +was the attribute most spoilt about him. He had the blustering yet +shuffling bearing of a man who is fully convinced that he has gone to +the dogs, and it did not alter its expression that he was making an +effort to quit his canine associates. Perhaps the effort required to be +confirmed before its effects could be seen; perhaps he was not setting +about the right way of redeeming himself, after all. + +Mr. Baring was pompous in his high breeding--the first gentleman in +Europe was pompous also. Mr. Baring brought forward his intended +son-in-law as his young friend, and alluded pointedly to the summer +evening and its event as an "auspicious occasion." But he was cut short +by a frosty glance from Die, and a brief remark that she was not sure +that this evening and its party were more auspicious than usual. + +Although Miss Baring was a person of very little consequence in her +father's house, she acted on Mr. Baring as a drag. Her cold looks +inadvertently damped him; and she had a way, which he could not account +for in his daughter, of making blunt speeches, like that on the +auspicious occasion and on her being left a rich young widow, if Gervase +Norgate did for himself smartly. This was discomfiting even to a man who +piqued himself on his resources in conversation. Die had uttered twice +as many of these abrupt, unamiable, unanswerable rejoinders within +these twenty-four hours, since she had accepted Gervase Norgate's hand. + +Whatever Mr. Baring thought of the rebuff, he was above exhibiting any +sign of his feelings, and no one could have refused him the tribute of +consideration for the position of his companions, as he blandly +announced that he had the day's 'Chronicle' to read, and begged to be +excused for accomplishing the task before post-time. He retired to sip +his tea and disappear behind the folds of his newspaper. It was the +first evening for a dozen years that he had not handled cue or +fingered cards. + +Gervase Norgate, assuming his character of a man about to amend his +ways, marry, and settle, sat by Die Baring. He noted and summed up the +girl's good points, as no man in love ever yet did. She was a +finer-looking woman than he had supposed,--one to be proud of as he +presented her to his friends as his wife; pity that he had so few +creditable friends left now! He could think of none at that moment +except his strong-minded old Aunt Tabby, who had some sneaking kindness +for him in the middle of her scorn, and his old man, Miles. Die Baring +would not tolerate his boon companions--not that he wanted her to +tolerate them; she would not suit for his mistress and manager if she +did; though where she got her niceness--seeing what her father was up to +in cool, barefaced scampishness, in horse-flesh, bones, and +pasteboard--he could not tell.--She was a capable woman he was certain, +if she got a fair field for her capability. She was clever: anybody with +half an eye or an ear might recognize that. And she would want all her +cleverness--ay, and her will and temper--for what she would have to do. +But she had undertaken the task, and it was not much to the purpose that +if she had not been the daughter of a disreputable spendthrift she would +doubtless as lief have touched live coals as have submitted to be his +wife. Ah, well, it was his luck in his last toss-up, and he had never +been lucky before; yet he had never felt so great a reluctance to +conclude his engagement of twenty-four hours, and clinch his repentance, +as he did at this moment. It was good for him that he stood committed. +But why had he not sought out some humble, meek lass, who would still +have looked up to him and reckoned him not quite such a reprobate, but +believed that there was some good left in him, and liked him a little +for himself--not married him to suit her own book and save him for her +own sake, if it were possible? Why had he not chosen a simple pet lamb, +in place of a proud heifer who scarcely took the trouble to conceal from +him how it galled her neck to put it into his yoke? Psha! he would break +any poor heart with his incorrigible wildness and beastly sottishness in +a month's time. A woman without a heart; a good, hard-mouthed, +strong-pulling, well-wearing woman,--honest, and a lady; a handsome, +superior woman, and far beyond his deserts, was the wife for him. + +Gervase pursued this line of thought; but he spoke to Miss Baring, +after a little introductory flourish about the weather, his ride +from Ashpound, and the embroidery which she had taken up, in a +different strain. + +"You have shown a great, I must say an unmerited, trust in me, Miss +Baring--Diana: but I mean--I swear I mean to do the best I can for you +and myself. I have thought better of the life I have been leading; I +shall turn over a new leaf, and be another man if you will help me." + +The confession was fatally facile, like most confessions, but it was +sincere, and not without its touching element, which, however, did not +reach her. + +She replied, without being greatly moved, and corrected what might be a +slight misconception on his part: "I am quite aware, Mr. Norgate, that +you have been rather wild; but since you mean to do better, I am willing +to try you and to be your wife." + +Diana's candid acquiescence had the same disconcerting influence upon +Gervase that her speeches had on her father, unlike as the men were: it +struck him dumb when he should have overwhelmed her with thanks. After a +while he recovered himself, took heart of grace, and blundered out that +he was grateful,--a happy man; would she not say Gervase, when she was +having him altogether? + +"I suppose I may," acceded Diana, with a hard smile. "There, Gervase--it +is not hard to say," as if she were humouring him. + +He did not ask for any more favours or rights, but maundered a little on +nobody calling him Gervase for many a day except his aunt Tabby, and she +contracted it to Jarvie, which had a stage-coach flavour. + +"Tell me something about your aunt Tabby. Do you know, I have not +visited an aunt since I was a little girl of ten?" This afforded him an +opening more naturally and pleasantly, and the two went off on Aunt +Tabby instead of accomplishing more courtship, and got on a little +better. Diverging from Aunt Tabby to her place, and from her place to +Ashpound, they went on with mention of Gervase's factotum, Miles, and +discussed capabilities and future arrangements with wonderful common +sense. + +Mr. Baring swallowed his last gape over his 'Chronicle,' concluded +that the couple had surely had their swing of private conversation for +one night, and resolved to curtail the courtship to the shortest +decorous bounds. So Mr. Baring looked at his watch, and said quite +lovingly to Gervase: "My boy, when I do act the family man, I do the +thing thoroughly, by supping in my dressing-room at eleven. What! you +are off? A pleasant ride to you. You will receive your orders from +Die, I fancy, when to report yourself in attendance. To-morrow is it, +or next day? Make yourself at home, my dear fellow. Happy to think +that you are going to be one of us--a son for me to be proud of. +Good-night. God bless you." + +Thus the preliminaries to the alliance ended with Gervase bowing again +over the tips of Die's fingers. He had not the smallest inclination to +raise them to his lips. + +"I will do my duty by him," said Diana to herself, when she was in the +sanctuary of her own bare room. And what a poor sanctuary it had been! +"It may be bad in me to have him, but what can I do? and what can he do, +for that matter? If I do my duty by him, surely some good will come of +it." Perhaps her imagination was haunted by a garbled version of the +text about him who turns a sinner from the error of his ways and covers +a multitude of sin. + + +II.--THE FULFILMENT. + +"She's a fine woman the mistress, a rare fine woman; but she's going +the wrong way. It's the cart before the horse, and I tell you it's not +conformable; and the master, God help him, poor fellow, will never be +brought to go at the tail of the cart--never." So ruminated Gervase +Norgate's old servant, Miles, pushing back the tufts of ragged red +hair on his long head ruefully, as he sat "promiscuous" in what he was +pleased to call his pantry at Ashpound, while he contemplated with the +eye of the body his chamois skin for what he proudly denominated his +silver, and with the eye of the mind the new regime and its ruling +spirit. + +"She's a fine woman," remarked also of her new niece, Miss Tabitha +Norgate, of Redwells. "She's a fine woman, a great deal too good for +him; but she oughtn't to have gone and married Jarvie, or to have +married anybody, there's the long and the short of it. She ought to have +remained single, like me. She was made to stand alone, while he wanted a +woman and as many children as she could muster to hang round his +neck--the liker a millstone the better,--he won't drown: he could not +take the straight road without a weight to ballast him and keep him +steady. If he had consulted me, I would have advised him to marry that +dawdling, whimpering Susie Lefroy, the widowed daughter of the Vicar, +with her unprovided-for orphans. Jarvie might have stepped into a young +family at once, and he would have been a kind stepfather--he might have +righted himself then. To go and marry a clever, active, handsome, +well-born woman like Die Baring. Oh! dear, dear, what folly!" + +In spite of her critics, Mrs. Gervase Norgate spared no pains to acquit +herself of her obligation, and to discharge her debt at Ashpound. +Ashpound was a much more exhilarating residence than Newton-le-Moor. At +Newton-le-Moor the desolation of prodigality and immorality was +objective and deductive. At Ashpound the desolation was subjective and +inductive, a plague-spot within; and although the flush of decay was +visible, Gervase would struggle against it to the last. He would make an +effort to preserve the pleasant, rambling, mellow brick house, most of +it one-storied and draped with jessamine and clematis as old as the +building; the belt of ash-trees round the ferny dells of the little +park; and the whitewashed offices, in excellent repair; the well cared +for cattle and poultry-yard; the amply-stocked, flourishing gardens; the +pretty gardener's house and lodge--the prettiest things about the place, +as his father had left them to him. To the last Gervase would aim at +keeping up the place, to his mother's drawing-room, his father's study, +Miles's pantry and cellar, even the modern housekeeper's room, and the +maids' gallery, in comfort and pleasantness. Only his own +rooms--dining-room, smoking-room, bedroom--had been suffered to show +traces of many a brawl and fray. It was as if he had deemed anything +good enough for a scapegrace and beast like him, and thought to pay the +whole price in his own person. It would not be with his will if any +other person, high or low, contributed to his heavy forfeits. And +Gervase Norgate's servants, new as well as old, had a pitiful liking +for him, a remorseful regard for his interests, even when these clashed +with their own. So when Gervase had removed the traces, repaired the +damages, and taken the decisive step of forbidding the inroads of his +evil associates, Mrs. Gervase Norgate found a peaceful, +prosperous-seeming, as well as fair, country home awaiting her. + +Neither did Mrs. Gervase Norgate droop or mope; she was alive to every +advantage, alert to improve every opportunity. Frankly she praised the +house at Ashpound, which she had formerly known at the distance of +common acquaintanceship, but now knew in the nearness of home, from +garret to cellar. "What a well-seasoned, kindly dwelling you have here, +Gervase. How I like the windows opening down to the floors, the creeping +plants, the hall window-seats, and the attics with their pigeon-hole +bureaux." She made herself familiar with its details, and she flattered +its old occupants with the extent of her intimacy and appreciation. She +did not let the grass grow beneath her feet in learning and acquiring +its owner's habits. Early rising had been one of the good old country +habits which had stuck to Gervase. And not a dairymaid at Ashpound was +up and abroad at so primitive an hour as its mistress, ready to walk +with the Squire to his horses' stalls and paddocks, his cattle sheds, +his game preserves, his workpeople in the fields; anywhere but to the +sign of the 'Spreading Ash-tree,' in the village of Ash-cum-thorpe, for +his morning draught. + +"Well-a-day," cried Dolly; "I would not be the mistress, to rise and go +to her work afore the stroke of six, and she a fine lady born and bred, +for all the hats and feathers, table heads, and carriage-seats in this +here world. If I ever have a word to say to Luke Jobling, I know it will +be with an eye to a good long lie in the morning when he has gone to his +mowing or his reaping. How Madam does it without ever drooping an +eyelid, none of us can tell; but they do say the gentlefolks are as +strong as steel when they like to put out their strength; happen it is +the high living as gives it to them. I know Madam puts us to our mettle +here. And lawk! the Squire, he's as restless and lost like as a new +weaned calf. Eh! I had liefer have the holding-in of a senseless calf, +though I had not Luke to help me with the bars of the gates, than the +holding in of a full-grown, whole-witted man. But the poor +mistress--them as don't know the rights of a thing calls her +saucy--young lady though she be, she do work hard for her place and +living, she do, since she has got Master Gervase and Ashpound." + +Anticipating her husband's commands, Diana was ever ready to bear him +company, to share his engagements and amusements, walking, riding, +shooting, fishing, playing billiards, cribbage, bowls, racket, +backgammon, draughts, for hours on a stretch; to go abroad attending the +market and doing banking business at Market Hesketh, dining out with the +Vicar or with any country host save Mr. Baring--Mrs. Gervase Norgate +setting her face against the paternal hospitalities--dancing at the +county balls as one of the leaders. She did not seem to know what +weariness meant. She would trudge whole half-days with him and the +keepers, after luncheon, beating the plantations and pacing the +turnip-fields to start and bring down birds, and she would be sauntering +with him on the terrace and in the park after dinner all the same. She +would be in the saddle ten hours during a long day's hunt, as the autumn +advanced and the meets assembled, and within an hour of alighting at the +door of Ashpound, she would have exchanged muddy bottle-green or +Waterloo blue cloth for glistening white satin, and be stepping into the +carriage with Gervase to be present at one of their wedding parties. + +There was something positively great in the intentness with which +the woman pursued her end of the man's salvation; the vigilance with +which she ever kept sight of the wounded quarry she was to rescue +and to restore. The neighbourhood watched the struggle with +interest, admiration, hostile criticism, not very delicate +diversion. Only to John Fitzwilliam Baring the struggle was a +matter of indifference--rather of repugnance. He would have liked +Die to be more feminine and more helpless. + +Would Die slacken in her energy and devotion? Would Gervase be able to +bear his cure much longer? + +Beyond the honeymoon, and with the feeling decidedly growing, Gervase +Norgate was gratified by his wife's sacrifice of herself in every +respect, and long before he grew accustomed to it and felt easy under +it, he was touched by it. He liked her company too, for he was fond of +society, and had been lonely since his father and mother died. She was +an observant, intelligent woman, high-minded and pure-hearted, and +vastly superior to his late satellites. She was eager to suit herself to +him, and made herself as free with him as she could be, as far as he +knew, with any one. At this season Gervase Norgate was attracted to +something warmer, sweeter, more intimate in their intercourse. He +enjoyed her quick remarks and shrewd conclusions. He was pleased with, +and proud of the new blossoming of her beauty under the combined +influences of an open-air life, constant occupation, and a powerful +object. He was willing to wait till more tender feelings should awaken +between them. It looked as if Gervase Norgate had turned over a new +leaf: his cheek lost its dull, engrained red, or its pallor; his lips +grew firmer; his eyes clearer and cooler; he raised his head, and threw +off something of the slouch of his shoulders and the swing and +uncertainty of his walk. + +"How well you look in that pretty dress, Diana!" he would say; "I +declare you are as brave a figure as any in my Lord's picture-gallery. +Let me fetch you a cluster of monthly roses, though I am not fit to hold +the candle to you." Or, "Come, Die, let us have a stroll and a smoke in +the garden." Or, "Sit still for another game, will you? My hand is just +in and my luck beginning. I know you are never tired. Mrs. Gervase, you +are a trump--the ace of trumps." + +Ignorant spectators might have set them down for a good, happy, well-met +young couple, with regard to whom it would be simply and equally +appropriate to wish "God bless them." + + +III.--HAZARD. + +Diana did not slacken in her devotion, but there came a limit to the +endurance of Gervase. The gleam of success was but the gleam before +the overcast. + +First, Gervase was conscious of being nettled by the distance which +existed between him and Diana. And certainly, to be sensible of his arm +being arrested by an unseen obstacle when he thought to put it round his +own wife's waist, to collapse in the mere idea of asking her to give him +a kiss, never to have felt so fully the dissipated, degraded fool he had +been, as he felt then, was not a pleasant sensation. It may sound +immoral, but it seemed as if, had Gervase been more depraved, there +would have been more hope for him, since he would have appreciated the +gulf between him and his guardian less. + +Then the old craving returned like a death thirst. The old, wild, +worthless, low companions, were cognisant, as if by instinct, of a +relapse. Eager to hail its signs, and profit by them, they waylaid him +at the 'Spreading Ash,' with "Hey, don't you dare to swallow a single +glass in your own village, to give custom to your villager, man?" They +waylaid and gathered round him in the market-place of Market Hesketh, +with "Well met, Mr. Gervase Norgate. Lord! are you alive still? for we +had doubted it. Don't speak to him to detain him, you fellows; don't you +see Mrs. Gervase has her eye upon him, and is craning her neck to +discover what is keeping him? Off with you, sir, since you are a +husband, a reformed rake, and a church-goer. If you had gone and joined +the Methodists, you might have been a preacher yourself by this time. +Oh! we don't want to spoil sport and balk your good intentions; but, by +George, Gervase, we never thought you would have been the man to be +tied so tight to a woman's apron-string. You must spare us one more +carouse for old friendship's sake, my boy, just to try what it is like +again, and hear all the news. Ah! your teeth are watering; come along; +Madam is not to swallow you up entirely." + +They got him away from his wife, and made him leave her sitting an +hour in the carriage, with a pair of young horses pawing and rearing +and endangering her very life in the yard of the 'Crown.' They made +him send her home without him, and kept him till they had nothing more +to say than "Heave the poor devil into a gig, and drive him up to his +own door and put him down there. It is the best you can do for +him,--the fool was always so easily upset; and it will do for her at +the same time--give her something to hold her cursed high white head +in the air and turn up her nose for; serve her impudence right for +taking it upon her to act as private policeman to Jarvie." They sent +him home to her, a beast who had been with wild beasts. They did it +for the most part heedlessly, in jollity and jeering; but they did it +not the less effectually. The wild beast of sensuality had him again; +not one devil, but seven, had entered into him; and reigning king over +the others, an insensate devil of cruel jealousy of his wife, of his +gaoler, resenting her efforts, defying her pains. + +Diana did not take Gervase Norgate's backsliding to her very heart, was +not wounded to death by it as if she had loved him. But she did not give +him up. She was a tenacious woman, and Gervase Norgate's salvation was +her one chance of moral redemption from the base barter of her +marriage. She did not reproach him: she was too proud a woman, too cold +to him, to goad and sting him by reproaches. They might have served her +end better than the terrible aggravation of her silence. She was just +too, and she did not accuse him unduly. She said to herself, "He is a +poor, misguided fellow, a brute where drink is concerned: when I married +him, that was as clear as day. I have no right to complain, though he +resume his bad courses." Still she left no stone unturned; she was +prepared, as before, to ride and walk and play with him at all hours; +she ignored his frequent absences and the condition in which he came +back, as far as possible. She abetted old Miles in clearing away, +silently and swiftly, the miserable evidences of mischief. She smuggled +out of sight, and huddled into oblivion, battered hats, broken pipes and +sticks, stopperless flasks, cracked, smoky lanterns--concealing them +with a decent, decorous, sacred duplicity even from Aunt Tabby, who +trotted across the country on her father's old trotting mare, took her +observations, and departed, shaking her head and moralizing on the text, +"Cast not your pearls before swine." + +Diana sat at her forlorn post in the billiard-room, or by the +cribbage-board, or at the piano which Gervase had got for her. She had +some small skill to play and sing to him, and was indefatigable in +learning the simple tunes and songs he liked. And night after night she +was left alone, unapproached, uncalled for; or else Gervase stumbled in +from the dining-room or from an adjournment to the village tavern, where +he was the acknowledged king and emperor, bemussed, befumed, giddy, +hilarious, piteously maudlin, or deliriously furious. She stooped to +smile and answer his random ravings and to comply with his demands. If +she escaped actual outrage and injury in his house and hers, it was not +because she did not provoke him, for there was nothing in his wife which +Gervase hated so heartily, resented so keenly, as her refraining from +contradicting him. But below the grossness and sin of the poor lout and +caitiff there was a fund of sullen, latent manliness and kindness, which +held him back from insulting the defenceless woman--for all her pride +and purity--who was his wife, just as it had held him back from dallying +with and caressing her as his mistress. + +The neighbourhood which had furnished both a dress-circle and a pit to +witness Diana's spectacle, was not astonished at the fate of the +adventure. Its success would have been little short of a miracle, and +these were not the days of faith in miracles; so the neighbourhood did +not pity Mrs. Gervase Norgate, for she had been foolhardy at the best, +and her fortune or misfortune had only been what ought to have been +expected. For that matter Mrs. Gervase Norgate would not have thanked +the world for its pity, though it had been lavishly vouchsafed. + +There was one point on which Diana did not hesitate to contradict +Gervase, and persisted in contradicting him. She would not suffer him, +if she could help it, to frequent Newton-le-Moor, or to consort with Mr. +Baring. For to go to Newton-le-Moor was to go among the Philistines; and +lawless as Gervase was in his own person, it should never be with his +wife's consent that he should go and be plundered by her own flesh and +blood--his errors rendering him but a safer and a surer prey. + +Gervase was standing restless and indignant by the low bow-window of his +wife's drawing-room, opening on the flower-garden, which had been laid +out in their honeymoon, and in which she continued to take pleasure, +though the wealth of glowing autumn geraniums and verbenas had given +place to the few frosted winter chrysanthemums. It was but the middle of +the day, and he had risen and had his cup of tea laced with brandy and +crowned with brandy, so that the jaded man was comparatively fresh, but +irritable to the last nerve, each jarring nerve twanging like +harpstrings, sending electric thrills of vexation and rage over his +whole body at the cross of every straw. + +Diana, who had been up and busy for hours, was sitting at her desk; her +brow, whatever cares lurked behind it, unruffled and white; a seemly, +reasonable, refined woman, aggrieved every day she lived, but scorning +to betray a knowledge of the grievance. + +"Don't go to Newton, above all by yourself, Gervase," the wife was +entreating, gravely and earnestly. "I am afraid my father may take the +opportunity of trying to get money from you. He has entered horses for +the Thorpe stakes: he will seek to make you enter them, and you told +me yourself May and Highflyer were not fit to run this year. Or he +will seek to lead you into some other transaction in horse-flesh, or +have you into the house to play billiards and remain to dinner and +cards all night, and there is always high play at Newton. My father is +a needy man, and needy men are tempted to be unscrupulous; at least +his code implies few scruples, where the letter of the laws of honour +is complied with." + +"It comes ill off your hand to say so," observed Gervase harshly. +Undoubtedly he spoke no more than the truth, and such a life as Gervase +Norgate's was not a school for magnanimity. + +Die winced a little; and she was a woman whose fair cheek so rarely +blushed, that her blushing was like another woman's crying. Die never +cried; Gervase Norgate had never wrung a tear from her, or seen her +shed a tear. + +"Well, it was hard for me to say it," she admitted, with an accent of +reproach in her equable tones; "but there the wrong and the shame are, +and I owe it to myself and to you to warn you." + +"I wonder how much I owe your being here to Newton-le-Moor being +little better than a not very reputable gambling-house," exclaimed +Gervase rudely. + +She looked at him with her wide-open eyes, as if she had been struck, +but did not care to own the blow. + +"It was not to much profit where you were concerned," he continued, in +an infatuation of brutality; "it did not get you so much as a +pocket-handkerchief, or a flower-garden like that down there, or," +glancing round him, "trumpery hangings and mirrors, and a new gown or +two, or any other of the miserable trash for which women sell +themselves." + +She neither spoke nor stirred. + +He had worked himself into a blindness of rage, in which he could see +nothing before him but the possibility of moving her, of breaking down +and destroying her calm front. + +"And I wonder how much you owe your being here to my being a prodigal +clutching at any respite? You may well come down lightly on my faults, +Madam; they have made you the mistress of Ashpound in the present, and +won for you its widow's jointure in the future. If I had known all +beforehand, I might not have encumbered myself in vain. As it is, I +do not think it becomes you to lecture me on keeping company with your +own father." + +She got up and left the room. + +It was time, when all was lost, even honour. If he had not been himself, +she might have passed over his taunts with simple shame and disgust; but +given, as they were, when she held that he knew what he was saying--as a +proof that he had not a particle of respect and regard for her after +their months of wedlock, they were a certain indication of his ruin and +her reward. + + +IV.--THE LAST THROW. + +"Poor Mrs. Gervase Norgate, she must have been so put about to have to +go away with her husband last night. How the scamp got into the +drawing-room I cannot tell; but he could do nothing but lean against the +wall: he could not have bitten his fingers to save his life. She did not +show her mortification unless by going away immediately. A wonderful +amount of countenance has that poor young woman; but I take it she will +not go out with him again if she can help it--and she need not, she need +not, Lady Metcalfe. I can tell you he shall not be asked within my doors +again; but I shall be very glad if you will always remember to send her +a card, poor thing: she can go out without him, it must come to that +eventually. It is not a mere kindness; she is really a credit and an +ornament to your parties, to the county set altogether. But the sooner +she learns to go out without him, and keep him in the background, the +better for all parties. She has the command of a good income still, with +a very tolerable jointure behind it, and Ashpound is a pretty place; not +a fine place, like my lord's, but a very pretty place for a sensible +woman's management and enjoyment." + +One of Gervase Norgate's oldest neighbours, a fussy but good-natured, +middle-aged baronet, pronounced this judgment. + +There was nothing left for Diana but to resign Gervase to his fate, and +gather up the gains which were left her. The most impartial authorities +decided so. The gains would have sufficed for many a woman. Mrs. Gervase +Norgate had comparative riches, after the cash scramble in which she had +been brought up. Gervase had not succeeded in wasting above one-third of +his fortune, and would doubtless end his career before he made away with +the whole. Mrs. Gervase was the mistress of Ashpound, and most people +would have valued it as what newspapers describe as a most desirable +residence, a most eligible investment. If she ever had a child--a son, +though she shuddered at the idea,--he would be the young Squire, the +heir of Ashpound. In the meantime, Gervase Norgate was not a churl: he +did not dream of stinting his wife in her perquisites, though he was not +fond of her, and they now no longer lived comfortably together. She +might have out his mother's carriage every day, or she might have +another built for her, and drive it with a pair of ponies if she chose; +she had a well-bred, fine-mounted, thin-legged, glossy-coated +saddle-horse kept for her sole use, and she might have a second bred and +broken for her any year she liked. She could even employ her own +discretion in the income to be spent in the housekeeping. Ready money +was becoming short with him; but his sense of her rights, and his faith +in her prudence, had not failed. She had only to draw on his banker or +agent to have her draught honoured. Whatever sums she might devote to +her personal pleasures, her prodigal husband would not call in question. +She might indulge in fine clothes, recherche jewellery, embellishments +and ornaments for her rooms; she might take up art or literature, or +heaths, or melons, or poultry, or flannel petticoating and soup-making +for the poor (Sunday-schools and district visiting were hardly in +fashion), and pursue one, or other, or all, for occupation and +amusement, without impairing her resources; and she claimed a very +respectable circle of friends as Mrs. Gervase Norgate, though she had +been friendless, and getting always more friendless, as Miss Baring. The +world had put its veto on the risk of her marriage with Gervase Norgate, +in so far as its excusable element--the reformation of Gervase +Norgate--was concerned; but with commendable elasticity it had allowed +itself to be considerably influenced by the advantages which the +marriage had obtained and secured for Diana, as well as by her conduct +in their possession, and had awarded her the diploma of its esteem. A +handsome, ladylike, sensible, well-disposed, sufficiently-agreeable, +though quiet young matron, almost too wise and forbearing for her years, +was its verdict. It was wonderful how well she had turned out, +considering how she had been exposed; for every one knew John +Fitzwilliam Baring, and how little fitted he was for the care of a +motherless daughter. The more tender-hearted and sentimental world began +to look upon Mrs. Gervase Norgate's bad husband, whom she had married in +the face of his offence, as one of her merits,--a chief merit, to make +of her a popular victim and martyr, no matter that she was not naturally +constituted for the _role_, was not frank enough for popularity, not +meek enough for martyrdom. + +Even Miss Tabitha, who had still a friendly feeling for the culprit, had +nothing to say against Mrs. Gervase, except that she was too good for +him. Poor Miles listened wistfully for his master's reeling step, and +went out in the night air, risking his rheumatism, for which Mr. Gervase +had always cared, making sure that the old boy had a screen to his +pantry, and shutters to his garret. He watched lest his master should +make his bed of the cold ground and catch a deadly chill; caring for the +besotted man, when he found him, with reverence and tenderness, as for +the chubby boy who had bidden so fair to be a good and happy man, worthy +of all honour, when Miles had first known him as his young master. Miles +resented feebly the perishing of the forlorn hope of a rescue, and +muttered fatuously the cart had been put before the horse, and the reins +taken out of the whip hand, and that'd never do. What could come of the +unnatural process but a crashing spill? + +Diana could not accept the solution. Nineteen women out of twenty, who +had acted as she had done, would have taken the compensations, perhaps +been content with the indemnifications of her lot; but Diana was the +twentieth. Whether the cost of his mercenary marriage was far beyond +what she had estimated it, she lost heart and hope and heed of the +world's opinion, and was on the high road to loss of conscience, from +the moment she was convinced that Gervase Norgate was lost. + +Diana gave up going into the society which was so willing to welcome +her, which thought so well of her. She relinquished all pride in +personal dignity and propriety, as she had never done when she had +locked her doors to shut out the jingling rattle of the bones, and, +occasionally, the curses, not loud but deep, which broke in upon the +repose of the long nights at Newton-le-Moor. She ceased to exert herself +to regulate the expenditure of the house, to preserve its +respectability, to wipe out the signs of its master's ruin. Old Miles +might strive to keep up appearances, but his mistress no longer aided +and abetted him. It had become a matter of indifference to Mrs. Gervase +whether the dragged carpet, the wrenched-down curtain, the shattered +chair, were removed or repaired, or not: she took no notice. + +By the time Ashpound was budding in spring, Mrs. Gervase Norgate had +fallen away, and changed rapidly for the worse, to the disappointment +and with the condemnation of her acquaintances. She lay in bed half the +morning, dawdled over her breakfast, and trailed her way from place to +place, ageing too, with marvellous celerity. + +Sunk in the mire as Gervase was, he noted the transformation in his wife +with discomposure and vexation. It fretted him always, and infuriated +him at times, to discover that she was likely to justify his contempt by +proving a poor wife after all. Her rule ended, her energy exhausted, +given over to an unprincipled, destructive listlessness and, +carelessness, such a prospect did not make Gervase amend the error of +his ways: but it caused his road to ruin to be harder to tread, it +caused the fruits of his vice to be more bitter between his teeth, it +drove him at times to reflect when it was madness to reflect. She would +not take the luxuries which she had bought dearly, which he wanted her +to take. Her person, drawing-room, flower-garden were fast showing +neglect and cheerlessness, in spite of him, or to spite him, as he vowed +savagely. Here was his sin cropping out and meeting him in the life of +another, and that other a woman. She was going to ruin with him as truly +and faithfully as if they had been a pair of fond lovers. The shy +goodwill of Gervase Norgate's early married life had waned into +discontent and dislike, and was fast settling into rooted hatred. + +"Lawk!" Dolly the dairymaid reflected indignantly, "Madam is become as +careless and trolloping-like as master is wild. If we don't take care, +no one will continue to call on us and hinvite us with our equals. For +that matter, the mistress has denied herself to every morning caller +this spring, and it is my opingen she never so much as sends hapologies +to them dinner cards as she twists into matches. If it were me, now, +wouldn't I cut a dash of myself? She didn't care a bit of cheese-curd +for him, folks say, when she had him to begin with, so why she should +pine for his misdeeds now, is more than I can compass." + +It was on a clear, fragrant evening in June, when the world was all in +flower, that a whispering, and pulling of skirts and sleeves, and +throwing up of hands and eyes, arose among the servants at Ashpound, at +a sight that was seen there. The servants' hall were gathered secretly +at a side-door and a lobby-window, and were watching Mrs. Gervase +Norgate feeling her way, like a blind woman, her tall figure bent down, +crouched together, swaying, along the pleached alley from the garden. + +One or two of the more sensitive of the women covered their faces and +wrung their hands. Old Miles tugged at his tufts of red hair and smote +his hands together distractedly. The new shame was too open for +concealment; he could only cry, "God ha' mercy; there is not one to mend +another; what will we do?" + +As living among men and women given up to delusions begets delusions in +rational minds with a dire infectiousness, so living with Gervase +Norgate, and day by day regarding the evil which could not be stayed, +Diana had caught the fell disease. + +A whisper of the culminating misfortunes of Ashpound spread abroad like +wild-fire, soon ceased to be a whisper, and became a loud scandal; and +Diana lost her credit as summarily as she had acquired it. It was--"That +wretched Mrs. Gervase Norgate came of an evil stock, though drinking was +not Mr. Baring's vice. They were an ill-fated race, these Barings, with +a curse--the curse of ruined men--upon them. Who knew, indeed, but if +poor Gervase Norgate, come of honest people at least, had gone into +another family--one which he could have respected, which could have +shown him a good example and remonstrated with him with authority--he +might have been reclaimed?" + +About the middle of summer there came a seasonably rainy period, such as +frequently precedes a fine harvest. But Gervase Norgate was so ailing +that he could not go out and look at his fields, where the corn in the +ear was filling rarely, and the growth of second clover was knee-deep. +He was forced to keep the house. He loathed food, and his sleep had +become a horror to him. He had fits of deadly sickness and of shaking +like an aspen. His only resource, all the life that was left to him, was +to be found in his cellar; and even Miles, seeing his master's +extremity, brought out and piteously pressed the brandy upon him. + +Gervase's cronies had never come about his house since his marriage. +There had been something in Diana which had held them at arm's length; +and although they had heard and scoffed at her fall, they had not the +wit to discern that it clean removed the obstacle to their harbouring +about the place as they had done before her reign and abdication. They +might come and go now by day and night without feeling themselves too +much for Mrs. Gervase Norgate, or being compelled to regard her as a +being apart from them. But they did not comprehend the bearing of the +common degradation, and they had not returned to their haunt as they +might have done. + +Gervase had declined into such a state of fractiousness and sullenness, +that he was very poor company even for illiterate country-bred men like +himself. He was something of a ghastly spectacle, as he sat there, with +his glass three-fourths empty, and part of its contents spilt around +him, trying to smoke, trying to warm himself, with the soles of his +boots burnt from being pressed on the top of the wood fire, his teeth +chattering, at intervals, notwithstanding, as he cast furtive, dark +glances behind him. + +Gervase was alone. Mrs. Gervase was dozing on a drawing-room couch, not +troubling to order a fire, though the room was on the ground-floor,--a +pleasant room in sunshine, but looking dull and dismal in wet and gloom. +She had lain there all the evening, with her hair, tumbled by the +posture, fallen down and straying in dim tresses on her shoulders. + +Overcome by illness, Gervase at last defied his shrinking from his room +and bed, and retired for the night. His uneven footsteps and the closing +of his door had not long sounded through the house, which might have +been so cheery and was so dreary and silent, when Mrs. Gervase, cold and +comfortless, rose and proceeded to the study. She was drawn by the fire +and the light, but she was drawn more irresistibly by the subtle, potent +odour in the air. She came on like a sleep-walker. She sank down in the +chair which her husband had occupied, and stretched out her fine white +hand to the decanters which Miles had not removed. She had raised one, +and was about to pour its contents into a glass, when a noise at the +door startled her, and caused her to hold her arm suspended. Gervase, +returning for the bottle she grasped, stood in the doorway. + +Ruined husband and ruined wife confronted each other on their stained +hearthstone. His weakness, replaced by failing strength, gathered up and +increased tenfold by horror and rage. Her eyes glared defiance, and her +presence there, in her white dress, with the crimson spots on each +cheek, and the fair hair scattered around her, was a presence of ominous +beauty, the hectic beauty of the fall. A feather's weight might have +turned the scale whether Gervase should totter forward and deal Diana a +deadly blow which should finish the misfortunes of that generation at +Ashpound, and brand Ashpound itself with the inhuman mark of an awful +crime; or whether he should melt in his misery, weep a man's scalding +tears, and bemoan their misery together. Diana's words were the +feather's weight: she broke God's unbearable silence, and by God's power +and mercy saved both. She cried out, not so much in self-defence, for +she was a daring, intrepid woman, as in righteous accusation, "You dare +not blame me, for you taught me, you brought me to it." + +Through his undone condition he owned the truth of the accusation, and +the old spring of manliness in him welled up to protect the woman who +spoke the truth and impeached him justly of her ruin as well as his own. + +"No, I dare not blame you. We are two miserable sinners, Die." And he +let his arms fall on the table and bowed his head over them. + +He had spared her, he had not taunted her, and he had not called her Die +for many a day before. She put down the decanter and cowered back with +a sense of guilt which made her glowing beauty pale, fade, wither, like +the sere leaf washed by the heavy tears of a November night's rain. + +When Gervase Norgate lifted up his bent head again, all the generosity +that had ever looked out of his comely face reappeared in its changed +features for a moment. "I have smitten you when you came and tried to +cure me, Die. And I cannot cure myself. I believe, before God, if I can +get no more drink, I shall go to-night; but I shall go soon, anyhow, no +mistake, and I ought to do something to save you, when I brought you to +it. So, do you see, Die? here go the drink and me together." And with +that he took up the decanters and dashed them, one after the other, on +the hearthstone, the wine and brandy running like life-blood in bubbling +red streams across the floor. He summoned Miles, and demanded his +keys--all the keys of closet and cellar in the house. And when the old +man, flustered and scared, did not venture to dispute his will, he +caught up the keys, cast them into the white core of the wood-fire, +piled the blazing logs upon them, and stamped them down, sending showers +flying up the wide chimney. + +Then the blaze of passion died away from Gervase's brow, the force of +self-devotion ebbed out of him, his unfastened vest and shirt collar did +not allow him air enough, and he fell back, gasping and quaking and +calling the devils were upon him. + +Old Miles wrung his hands, and shouted "Help," and cried the Master was +dying, was dead. + +But Diana pushed the old servant aside, put her arms round Gervase, and +raised him on her breast, telling him, "Do not think of dying for me, +Gervase; I am not worthy. You must not die, I will not have you die. Oh, +God! spare him till I kneel at his feet and beg him to forgive all my +disdainful pity, and we repent together." + +Gervase Norgate did not die that night: it might have been easier for +him if he had, for he lay, sat, walked in the sunshine deadly sick for +months. When men like him are saved, it is only as by fire, by letting a +part of the penal fire pass over them, and enduring, as David did, the +pains of hell. + +But all the time Die did not leave him. Night and day she stood by him, +renouncing her own sin for ever. She shared vicariously its revolting +anguish and agonizing fruits, in his pangs. And the woman learned to +love the man as she would have learned to love a child whom she had +tended every hour for what looked like a lifetime, whom she had brought +back from a horrible disease and from the brink of the grave, to whose +recovery she had given herself body and soul, in a way she had never +dreamt of when she first undertook the task. She had lulled him to sleep +as with cradle songs, she had fed him with her hands, ministered to him +with her spirit. She learned to love him exceedingly. + +Other summer suns shone on Ashpound. Gervase and Diana had come back +from a lengthened sojourn abroad. Gervase, going on a visit to his +faithful old Aunt Tabby, looked behind him, to say, half-shamefacedly, +half-yearningly, "I wish you would come with me, Die; I do not think I +can pay the visit without you." And she exclaimed, with a little laugh, +beneath which ran an undercurrent of feeling, still and deep, "Ah! you +see you cannot do without me, sir." And he rejoined, laughing too, but a +little wistfully, "I wish I could flatter myself that you could not do +without me, madam." + +She assured him, with a sudden sedateness which hid itself shyly on his +breast, "Of course I could not do without you to save me from being a +pillar of salt, to make me a loving, happy woman." + +"God help you, happy Die!" + +"Yes, Gervase; it is those who have been tried that can be trusted, and +I have been in the deep pit, and all clogged with the mire along with +you, and He who brought us out will not suffer us to fall back and be +lost after all." + +The neighbours about Ashpound were slow to discover, as erring men and +women are always slow to discover, that God is more merciful than they, +and that he can bring good out of evil, light out of darkness; but they +discovered it at last, and, after a probation, took Mr. and Mrs. Gervase +Norgate back into society and its esteem and regard, and the family at +Ashpound became eventually as well considered, and as much sought after +in friendship and marriage, as any family among the southern moors, long +after John Fitzwilliam Baring had dressed for dinner, and taken a fit +with a cue in his hand. + +As for Aunt Tabby and old Miles, they said, "All's well that ends well." +But old Miles stood out stubbornly, "That it is not a many carts afore +the horses as comes in at the journey's end, and it ain't dootiful-like +in them when they does do it, though I'm content." And Aunt Tabby +argued, "It is shockingly against morality to conclude that her +fall--and who'd have thought a strong woman like her would fall?--has +been for his rising again." + + + + +MISS WEST'S CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE. + + +I. + +"Miss West, I will thank you to see that the school-books and the +school-work are in their proper places, and the school-room locked for +the holidays." + +The speaker, Miss Sandys, was the proprietor of Carter Hill School, and +Miss West was the governess. The season was Christmas, and the children, +without an exception, had departed rejoicing. + +With a sense of liberty as keen as the children's, but with a glee of a +decidedly soberer kind, Miss West executed the commission, and then took +her place beside her superior at the parlour-fire. + +Miss Sandys was quite an elderly woman. She was over fifty, and had +grown grey in the service. Her features, even in her prime, had been +gaunt, like the rest of her person. But she had mellowed with age, and +had become what the Germans call _charakteristisch_, and what we may +term original and sagacious. She dressed well--that is, soberly and +substantially--in soft wools or strong silks, as she possibly did not +find it easy to do in her youth. She was stately, if somewhat stiff, in +her deportment. At present she felt intoxicated at the prospect of +enjoying for ten days the irresponsibility of private life. + +Miss West had not by any means attained the Indian summer of Miss +Sandys; she was still in the more trying transition stage. In spite of +the shady hollows in the cheeks, and the haggard lines about the +mouth, she was a young woman yet. Indeed, had it not been for those +hollows and lines, she would have been pretty--as she was when the +clear cheeks had no wanness in their paleness, but were round and +soft; when the straight mouth pouted ever so little, and the sharp +eyes were bright, and the fine dark hair was profuse instead of +scanty. But she laid no claim to prettiness now, and dressed as +plainly as feminine propriety would allow. + +As she sat in the linen and drugget-covered parlour, which was a +drawing-room when in full-dress, she could not help a half-conscious +restraint creeping over her. But this was not because Miss Sandys was an +ogress, rather because she herself had grown semi-professional even in +holiday trim. She looked into the compressed fire in the high, +old-fashioned grate, and wondered how she would pass the coming idle +week. She had spent a good many idle weeks at Carter Hill before; but +they always came upon her afresh with a sense of strangeness, bringing +at the same time a tide of old associations. + +Miss Sandys was a blunt woman by nature, and it was only by great effort +that she had become fine-edged. So she said to Miss West, with a sort +of naive abruptness, "I'll tell you what, Miss West, we'll have cake to +tea, because there are only you and I, and it is the first night of the +holidays; and we'll have a strong cup, since we have all the teapot to +ourselves. I think I shall try my hand this week at some of my old +tea-cakes and pies and things which my mother taught me to bake. I am +going to have my cousin Jamie and his wife here. He is a rough sailor, +and his conversation does not suit before the girls. She was only a +small farmer's daughter, and cannot behave prettily at all. But they are +worthy people, and are the nearest relations I have left in the world. +Perhaps I'll take you to see them in the summer, Miss West. Ah, dear! it +is liberty-hall at my cousin Jamie's little place. Peggy's Haven, he +calls it, after his old ship and his old wife. But it is a fine change +for me, though it would not do for the young people to hear about +it--you understand, Miss West." + +Miss West understood, and she readily acquiesced in the prospect of +meeting Captain and Mrs. Berwick. She was even flattered by it. The +right chord of genuine nobility was in her, though she was reported to +be satirical. It was true that she was slightly disposed to make abrupt, +ironical speeches, the practice being one of her few small privileges. +But she felt that Miss Sandys' confidence was honourable alike to giver +and receiver, and that the terms on which she lived with her employer +did no discredit to either. The fact was that Miss West returned thanks +for these same terms in the middle of her confession of errors every day +of her life. + +Accordingly Miss West drank the strong tea, and did her best to relish +the little blocks of cake, though they were slightly stale; and not the +less did she enjoy them that she settled in her private mind to propose +buttered toast next time, and to prepare it herself. She listened and +replied to Miss Sandys' conversation, which did not now run so much on +school incidents as on affairs in general. Miss Sandys' talk was shrewd +and sensible at all times, and not without interest and amusement, +especially when it diverged, at this point and that, to her own +experience, and to the customs and opinions of her youth, when faded +Miss West was a baby. + +Christmas brought holidays to Miss Sandys' school, but Christmas Eve +was, in other respects, very unmarked. It would have been dull, almost +grim, to English notions. There was no Christmas tree, no waits, no +decorating of the church for the morrow. Still, it was the end of the +year--the period, by universal consent, dedicated to goodwill and +rejoicing all over the world--the old "daft days" even of sober, austere +Scotland. Jenny and Menie, in the kitchen, were looking forward to that +Handsel Monday which is the Whit Monday of country servants, and the +family gathering of the peasantry in Scotland. First footing and New +Year's gifts were lighting up the servant girls' imaginations. The +former may be safely looked upon as over with Miss Sandys and Miss West, +but they were not without visions of New Year's gifts--the useful, +considerate New Year's gifts of mature years. Miss West was at this +moment knitting an exquisitely fine, yet warm, veil which she had begun +two months ago, and which she had good hopes of completing within the +next few days. Miss Sandys had a guess that this veil was for her velvet +bonnet, and looked at it admiringly as a grand panacea for her spring +face-ache. + +In the course of the evening Miss Sandys, after a fit of absence of +mind, suddenly asked Miss West's name. + +On the spur of the moment, she answered, with surprise, "Why, Miss West, +to be sure. What do you mean, Miss Sandys?" Then she reflected, laughed, +and owned that she had almost forgotten that she had a Christian name. +But she had certainly got one, and it was Magdalene, or Madge, or +Maddie; once it was Mad; and as she said Mad she laughed a second time, +to conceal a break in her voice. + +Miss Sandys smiled awkwardly and guiltily, and observed quickly, "My +Christian name is Christian. Did you know that, Miss West? Oh, I forgot; +you must have seen it marked on the table and bed linen." + +"Mine is to be read on my pocket-handkerchiefs. Our Christian names +preserved on table-cloths and pocket-handkerchiefs!--droll, isn't it, +Miss Sandys?" + +"Of course they are in our books and letters," corrected matter-of-fact +Miss Sandys. "I dare say they are in a couple of family Bibles, too (at +least, I can speak for one), and in the records of births and baptisms +in session books, if these are not destroyed by damp and rats; and since +names are recorded in heaven," Miss Sandys was drawn on to ramble, +"surely our Christian names are there, my dear." + +Miss West knew as well as if she had been told it, that Miss Sandys was +about to bestow on her a present with which her Christian name was to be +connected. Miss Sandys' eyes had failed through long looking over +lessons, and she no longer did any handiwork, save coarse knitting, +hemming, and darning. But she had a fuller purse than her companion, and +shops, even metropolitan shops, were to be reached by letter from Carter +Hill. + +In addition to the strong tea and the cake, Miss Sandys further treated +Miss West to a supper of such dainties as toasted cheese and Edinburgh +ale. There were prayers--they seemed quite family prayers--with only the +four worshippers to join in them. Then there was a shake of the hands, +and Miss West lit her candle, retired, and shut herself up in her own +little room. Its daily aspect was so unchanged, that it appeared when +she entered it as though the holidays had not come, and that it must +still be the ordinary bustling school life. + +She sat down, though there was no fire, and thought a little, till she +fell on her knees and prayed in low murmurs that God would enable her to +bear this season, which made her heavy, sick, and faint with +associations, and that He would render her contented with many +undeserved blessings, and resigned to many natural penalties which He +ordained. Next, with strange inconsistency to all but the Hearer of +prayer and the Framer of the wayward human heart, she besought to be +forgiven and delivered from levity and folly--to be kept humble and +mindful of death. "It is ill tearing up weeds by the roots," she said to +herself plainly, when she had risen from her knees, "and I am vain and +volatile, and I like to mystify and tease my neighbour to this day." + + +II. + +Christmas Day rose with a clear, frosty blue sky. Miss Sandys and Miss +West both felt the unwonted stillness of the house; and they could not +help a lurking suspicion that time without public occupation might hang +a dead weight on their hands. The two ladies went through the ceremony +of wishing each other a merry Christmas, Scotland though it was. Miss +Sandys went off to put into execution her holiday cooking practice--for +it was refreshing to her to have a bowl instead of a book in her +grasp--and to make her preparations for welcoming her primitive cousins. +Miss West sat down to write her letters and to work at her veil and at +her other New Year's gifts. + +She wished she could work with her mind as well as her fingers, so that +it might not run on picturing what this day was in tens of thousands of +homes throughout Christendom. It had always been an unruly member this +fancy of hers, and it was particularly busy at this season. Yesterday +the roads had resounded with the blithe tramp of eager feet hieing +homewards. To-day the air was ringing with the pleasant echo of voices +round hearths, the fires of which flashed like the sun, and where age +and youth met in the perfect confidence and sweet fearlessness of family +affection. In her mind's eye, she had yesterday seen railways and +coaches disgorging their cheerful loads; she had witnessed the meetings +at lodge gates, in halls, and on the thresholds of parlour and cottage +kitchens; she had looked on the bountiful boards, where cherished guests +crowned the festival, of which Miss Sandys' rasping tea and stale cake +was a half-pathetic, half-comic version. To-day she was in spirit with +the multitude walking in close groups to holly-wreathed churches, +sharing in the light-hearted thoughtlessness of many an acknowledgment, +and in the deep gratitude of many a thanksgiving. She strove to put +herself aside altogether in her meditations, and simply to rejoice with +those who rejoiced; but she had not attained this degree of +unselfishness; she could not help believing sometimes that she had +plucked all the thorns and none of the roses of life. But if you suppose +that she betrayed this yearning and pining to the world at large, you +are very much mistaken. As has been told, she had the right chord of +genuine nobility and generosity in her, and she laboured to fit her +cross to her own back, so that it might not overshadow and crush others. +Her fingers went nimbly about her gifts--trifling things, only enough to +gladden simple hearts. She gratified Miss Sandys by praising her rusty +accomplishments in cookery; she uttered a jest or two for the benefit of +Jenny and Menie, who had a liking for her, though they called her +"scornful;" and she brought in holly and box from the garden to decorate +the sitting-rooms. The last move, however, proved nearly a failure, for +there was one little pink and white blossom of laurustinus, which had +ventured out in a sheltered nook, though half of its leaves were +blanched ashen grey. It somehow or other raised such a tide of sentiment +in her as all but overcame her. + +Miss West desired work for this season, and she got work, and tolerably +hard work too, for besides completing her New Year's gifts, she had to +help to entertain Captain and Mrs. Berwick. + +The visitors were so vulgar, according to fine people, that they were +not even sensible of their own vulgarity. And so good-natured were they, +that they were not offended because cousin Sandys did not invite them +with any of the genteel parents of her pupils. They took this reserved +hospitality as a complimentary admission of their kinsmanship. But they +were not intrinsically more coarse-minded than many dukes and duchesses. +Captain Berwick, it is true, was nautical in his tone, and talked shop, +but that is permitted to sea captains in novels, nay, enjoined upon +them. He was apt to be broad in his jokes, and to use unwarrantable +expressions, for which he bent his shock head in penitent apology the +moment after he had used them. "It is the effect of bad habits, Kirsten +and Peggy," he would cry: "you women know nothing of bad habits any more +than of bad words." + +Mrs. Berwick was a particularly round-eyed woman, and was plump and +ruddy where the Captain was battered and weather-beaten. She placed the +scene of most of her narratives in the kitchens of her acquaintances, +and scrambled with her _dramatis personae_ through the strong situations +of a servant's history. + +Nevertheless the manner of the Berwicks was not without the refreshing +influence of common, rude fresh air. They were not exceptionally +coarse-minded, but unluckily they were neither strong nor fine minded. +They were ponderous, clumsy beings, and although genuine and +warm-hearted, were destitute of internal resources. They expected to be +constantly eating and drinking, or to be constantly entertained. If they +were not entertained, they showed their weariness without restraint, by +yawning outrageously. The entertaining of Captain and Mrs. Berwick was +therefore no sinecure. But Miss West was loyal. She walked with the +Captain, so that he might have more than his one smoke a day, and +perseveringly copied and sang Braham's songs for him. She designed and +cut out patterns for Mrs. Berwick, who, as the Captain had saved money, +did not make her own dresses, but nevertheless loved to accumulate +patterns of sleeves, capes, and flounces. She listened to her tales, and +helped her to as much more kitchiana as she could produce on short +notice. She told how Betsy had worn feathers and been taken to prison on +suspicion of theft; and how Marianne her sister had hoarded her wages in +order to secure legal advice for Betsy, and had captivated and married +an officer of the court in which Betsy had been tried, and how it had +all happened in a family where Miss West had lived. + + +III. + +Captain and Mrs. Berwick were gone. The holidays at Carter Hill were all +but ended--"all but ended," Miss Sandys repeated with a little sigh of +relief, and an inclination to moralize on that weariness which is the +result of pleasure. When Miss West came down in the morning the kettle +was steaming on the hob, the teapot under its cosie, and the couple of +rolls and the dish of sausages were set in their places. Miss +Sandys--her working apron lying ready to take up on the side-table +behind her--was bent to the last on buns and pork pies, though she +frankly admitted they were vanity. But the girls must be broken from +their home dainties by degrees, and Jenny and Menie must have "cakes" to +carry to their homes on their Handsel Monday. + +Miss West found a letter on her plate. It caused her complexion to +change, and her sharp eyes to fasten on it fixedly. No wonder her head +swam and her ears rang. She was going through the uncomfortable process +of turning back some ten or twelve years in her life. It was a strange +letter to come to her--a large letter, which had been charged double +postage; a letter with the elements of mortification in it, as well as +other elements, both to sender and receiver. It was written in a big, +scampering hand. + + "Dear Mad," it began, "it is so queer to be addressing you again. I + remember when I used to say 'Mad' to a white-faced, dark-eyed girl. + Was she pretty, I wonder? Some people said so, but I don't know, + only I have never seen a face quite equal to hers since--never. Mad + and I were great friends when I used to visit her elder brother; + great friends, indeed, in a bantering, biting way. But it was Mad + who bantered and bit; certainly I did not banter and bite again, + rarely even so much as gave a gentle pinch, for I would not have + hurt Mad for the world, and Mad did not hurt me. At least she never + meant it seriously, and she was always so piteously penitent when + she thought she had wounded my feelings. Oh, dear, quizzing Mad! she + had such a soft heart in its bristling shell, and I hurt it. I hurt + Mad--yes, I know; I know to my sorrow and shame. + + "Mad, do you remember how you went every day to meet a timid little + brother coming from school along a lonely moorland road, where there + were broomy braes in June and heathery braes in September? What a + convenient custom it was for me, since the little brother, unlike + little monsters of the same kind, had neither eyes nor ears but for + his own avocations, and trotted on obediently in front of us. The + sight of my own little Bill's satchel gives me a turn, and makes me + feel spoony to this day. Do you remember your great dog, Mad? (what + a child you were for pets!)--and who it was used to go to the kennel + to feed it with you? If that dog had been a true Bevis, it would + have torn that hulking fellow where he stood, yet he meant no harm; + nay, he had a strong persuasion that he was doing something + meritorious (how he hit it I can't tell) in not committing himself + and binding you when he had no more than a clerk's paltry income. + But I have heard that trees, stripped of leaves in flowery May, + revenge themselves by bursting out green, if the frosts will let + them, in foggy November. So the prudence of twenty-five may be the + folly of thirty-five. It was rank mean-spiritedness in me not to go + through thick and thin, through flood and fire, for Mad. What in the + world was worth striving for if she was not worth it? Ah, I lost my + chance when I might have taken it, and trusted the rest to + Providence! But I did not know, though I fancied I did, the value of + the jewel, the price of which, in stern self-restraint, I refused to + pay. I might have been another man if I had not been so prudent, + for, as I have said, not another face has been to me quite (no, not + by a long chalk) what Mad's once was. It was only yesterday that I + heard by chance--and the story has haunted me since--that Mad is + still a single woman, her family all dispersed, and she a teacher in + a school--my quizzing, affectionate Mad a drudging, lonely teacher! + + "After being so prudent, it is not wonderful to record that I was + fickle, though circumstances, and not my will, separated Mad and me + at first. I could not get down to the old place so regularly as I + was wont to do, which annoyed me, and I did my best to get rid of + the obstacles. When I did get down, Mad was not at home, and I had + no right to follow her. We met seldomer; we grew stiffer and + stranger to each other. You are acquainted with the process, Miss + West, though perhaps not fully with my share in it. The impression + which Mad had made on me, unique as it was, faded and was overlaid + by others. I met another girl, whom I liked too, and whom it + appeared so much simpler--more expedient and advantageous--for me to + love and to marry. I married her, breaking no vows, not writing + myself faithless, far less treacherous, but only fickle. Yet I had + once known, if ever man knew, that I had made Mad's strong heart--I + think it was strong, although it was soft to me--beat in tune with + mine. I had done all I could, short of saying the words, to impress + Mad with what were my wishes and intentions, I had preferred her in + every company, followed her when I was down at the old place, like + her shadow (her shadow, indeed!). I had elected her my confidante + and adviser, and poured all my precious opinions and plans--my very + scrapes--into her curious, patient ears. Mad, have you forgotten + how once, like an old-fashioned, grandiloquent muff, I showed you + the picture of a perfect woman in a book of poetry--'Paradise Lost' + it might have been, and 'Eve' for any special appropriateness in the + picture--and broadly hinted my private idea that the perfect woman + was fulfilled in Mad!--lively, faulty Mad! Your sisters were very + anxious to read the passage which I had selected for your study, and + from which I was evidently pointing a moral; but you closed the book + abruptly in the old seat behind the round tea-table with the brass + rim. I suppose the sisters don't know the passage to this day? + + "Having been fickle, I was a great deal better off in my wife than I + deserved. Remember, Mad, my wife and the mother of my children was a + good woman; I was reasonably happy with her, and I trust I bore her + tender reverence. She died and left me with our children two winters + ago. When we meet again, it will be where there is neither marrying + nor giving in marriage. Now, when I can do her no wrong, I think of + another to whom I did wrong; than whom there was never another to me + the same--no, nothing like it. Learning that Mad has been true--oh! + Mad, _you_ could never have been anything else but true--I have + wondered whether I might not be allowed to do something to atone, + whether I was not worth having still, and whether I could not--a + bold phrase, but it will out--make it up to Mad, a solitary single + woman, a teacher in a school. Oh! Mad, I say again, what a hard fate + for you! + + "I cannot offer an immense inducement. I am not a merchant prince, + though I am richer than I was in the old days; yet somehow I do not + care to boast of my riches to Mad, and I am a widower with two small + children--not models. I dare not send you my _carte_, and I don't + want yours. You are always the same Mad to me that you have been + through all those years, and will be to the end of the chapter, + whether you answer me yes or no. You will answer yes. You were + always great for magnanimity, and flamed up on it, dark eyes, white + cheeks, and all, when you were a wild lassie. Don't tell me you are + less magnanimous as a brave, hard-working woman, or you will sap my + faith in womankind. + + "Mad, how this Christmas season stirs me with the far-off murmurs of + another Christmas, when you and I pulled the holly and the other + thing--the thing with the tiny, fair, frost-bitten clusters of + blossom--some sort of laurel wasn't it? That old Christmas, who can + describe? What glamour over the prosaic family dinner and carpet + dance to see the old year out and the new year in? Say the word, + Mad, and before the first full moon of this new year has waned to + half a cheese she will shine down upon us, anew, with the old + shining. I swear it on the part of your old friend, + + BILL NAIRNE." + +What Miss West said when she read the letter was, "Make it up, indeed! +Redeem me from such degradation! Crown me with such honour! Intolerable +arrogance! How could he take it upon him? But it is like Bill; conceited +fellow!" + +Miss West was properly indignant. The letter was so unsuitable in every +respect. All her life she had been famous as a woman of spirit--the +spirit which will cause a woman to decline an obligation as long as +independence is possible, and which will not have for pity what it +cannot have for love. She would prove to Bill Nairne that it was no such +hard fate as he supposed to teach a school under Miss Sandys, no such +promotion, as he fondly imagined, to be placed at the head of the +household of a pompous widower with a pair of spoilt children. She would +convince him that a woman of her age is more difficult to please than a +girl, and is not to be led off her feet by a few impertinently recalled +reminiscences, nor to be won by the tardy wag of a finger. She would +teach Bill Nairne a lesson undreamt of in his philosophy--that all the +nonsense about old maids, their humiliations, their forlorn condition, +and their desperate welcoming of late offers was wholly false. + +She selected the smallest sheet of note-paper from the packet lying +beside the exercises in her desk, and wrote:-- + + + "Dear Sir,--I am glad to be able to tell you that, on the whole, + teaching in a school is not so hard a fate as you think. Miss + Sandys is an excellent woman, a reliable friend, and an agreeable + companion. The girls and their antecedents exhibit life to me + under considerable variety of characters and circumstances, and as + pupils they are mostly affectionate as well as interesting. I must + remain indebted for your good opinion, and you have my best wishes + for your future welfare, but I beg to decline your--gratuitous" + (Miss West had written the word, but she changed it into--not + gracious, but) "generous offer. Without offence to you, old times + do not come again. + + "Believe me, yours very sincerely, M. WEST." + +Miss West read her letter, and considered it was, perhaps, too brief. +She did not want to part with him in an unfriendly fashion. Her last +words to Bill Nairne must be such as she herself could think of without +pain. So she rummaged among her Christmas gifts, and found a dancing +Dervish and a brightly-embroidered ball. These she wrapped up with the +letter, and made a small parcel of the whole, after she had added this +postscript: "Please give the enclosed toys as cheap New Year's +playthings to the children. Tell them, if you choose, that they come +from an old friend of papa's, whose name was--Mad." + + +IV. + +Miss West took the letter to the post-office herself after dinner, as +she was going to inquire for a pupil who lived near Carter Hill, and who +was sick--unhappy child!--from holiday junketing. Miss West could not +recover her equanimity till that letter was out of the house. It had +shaken her, satirical and discreet though she was. It had also given her +a guilty sensation towards Miss Sandys. She could not endure that even +the servants should read the address:--"W. Nairne, Esq., Waterloo Lodge, +Bridgeton, Strokeshire," though W. Nairne, Esq., might have stood for +her brother-in-law, her uncle by marriage, or her maternal grandfather +for aught they could tell. She held her hand over the superscription as +if to hide it from herself as she walked along under the newly-risen +moon, as it cast its light on a crisp sprinkling of snow. It was true +Christmas weather at last, and this was something like a Christmas +adventure for her. But not the less did she wish the Christmas ended, +and the moon replaced by gas jets of the smallest size. "A pretty story +for the girls if they should get hold of it," she thought, and +shuddered. She did not recover altogether till she had posted her +packet, and walked half a mile further on. At length she passed through +a creaking gate and a shrubbery, and was shown up to a smart +drawing-room. She was there to ask for the health of Miss Victoria +Middlemass, the daughter of a gentleman who led a country gentleman's +life on the proceeds of a sleeping partnership in a mercantile house in +a large town at some distance. + +Mrs. Middlemass came in hurriedly. She had only time to wish Miss West a +merry Christmas and a good New Year, and to announce that Vicky was +quite herself again, except that the bun fever had left her rather pale, +and she had not got back all her appetite. She could not, however, make +the same complaint of Mr. Middlemass, who had just come in ravenously +hungry from the train. He had been accompanied by another gentleman, who +had been introduced to him before he left the north, and whom Mr. +Middlemass would not allow to go over to the inn at Stoneham, where he +was to spend a few days with a friend. Mr. Middlemass and his new +acquaintance were still at dinner. + +Miss West was hurrying away after having discharged her commission, in +order not to detain Mrs. Middlemass from her husband and his guest, and +not to impose on master or servant the trouble of seeing her home. + +But as they were exchanging smothered good-byes near the open +dining-room door, Mr. Middlemass, who was frank and hospitable, broke +through the clatter of knives and forks, and called out unceremoniously, +"My dear, who is that you are taking leave of?" + +"It is only Miss West, my dear," his wife replied softly to quiet him. + +"Miss West!" and he banged from his seat and bounced to the door. "Miss +West! the very woman in the nick of time. Stay, Miss West, and thank +your stars; here's an old friend come a long way to see you." + +Miss West turned, and there, behind the cordial face of the master of +the house, who suspected nothing, and was only happy to be helpful to a +brother merchant, were the perfectly recognizable lineaments of that old +personable fellow, Bill Nairne. + +Miss West for a second fancied that the letter she had posted to him ten +minutes before had sped like a telegram to its destination, and that he +had sped back on the telegraphic wires to remonstrate with her and +expose her. The next instant she was sensible that the accident of his +being there in person must be a result of a previous change of mind on +his part. + +Bill Nairne had stared, and stammered in mechanical accents, after Mr. +Middlemass supplied him with the keynote, "Miss West, the very person, +let us thank our stars!" But he soon recovered himself, and then shook +her hand warmly, and declared, in his old, off-hand manner, "I shall see +you home, Miss West;" for Miss West had no sooner recovered her breath +and her small share of colour, than she combated Mr. Middlemass's +pressing invitation to remain and spend the evening with them. No; Miss +Sandys was expecting her; she thanked him and Mrs. Middlemass, but she +could not stay on any account, so that there would be no use in sending +over a message or a note to Carter Hill. Neither was it on Miss West's +cards that Bill Nairne should escort her to Carter Hill, or, indeed, +that she should have any escort at all. "Do not think of such a thing; I +could not allow it." Mrs. Middlemass came to Miss West's aid, and +alleged in her ignorance, "There is no occasion for it, Mr. Nairne; it +is only a step to Carter Hill, and Miss West is accustomed to walk +across after dinner, when Miss Sandys has a message for us. Remember, we +are very quiet people here compared to what you are in the north. +Besides, if Miss West is timid, I can manage to send a servant, or," she +went on with greater hesitation, "Mr. Middlemass will be delighted to +go, he knows the way; but you must not put yourself about on any +consideration." + +Miss West rather indignantly denied being timid, timidity being out of +her _role_, and then she judged prematurely that the matter was settled. +She had got so accustomed to order about girls that she had fallen into +the bad habit of expecting that her will should be law to all the world, +with the exception of Miss Sandys. As for Mr. and Mrs. Middlemass, they +at least knew that she could take care of herself. + +It was another shock to Miss West, another tumultuous, inopportune +return to the experience of half a score years back, to find that she +could no more dictate to Bill Nairne on this small matter than she could +have done it as Mad of the old days. + +"Say no more about it, Miss West. I'll go home with you, of course." +Bill thus put her down with an intrepidity, if anything, increased with +his increased weight physically and commercially. + +This completely confounded Miss West, and made a greater muddle of her +former and her present identities than had yet been effected. + +"I'll see Miss West home, and we'll have a talk together of our old +friendship as we walk along," Bill maintained with the confident +coolness of power, towards the self-contained, self-sustained teacher. + +It was something unprecedented for Miss West to be walking to Carter +Hill on a man's arm, an old friend's arm. She felt an odd sensation +stealing over her as if she were no longer able to take care of herself, +as if she were no longer herself, her late self, at all; and the moon +helped the illusion. + +Silence descended on Miss West and Bill Nairne, after the first forced +commonplaces. He glanced furtively at her, and lost his confidence and +coolness, and hung his head--the respectable prosperous merchant!--but +not at what _he_ saw. What did she see? Nothing but that the sword had +worn the scabbard. Mad had been true to herself. Mad could not have been +otherwise than true, as he had written. But the consciousness of what +Mad would see when she lifted up her eyes and looked him in the face +made him droop his head. He had got a glimpse of it that morning, when, +as the thought of Mad grew more and more vivid in his mind, he saw +something reflected in the glass which did not necessarily belong to +bodily maturity. The conviction returned to him with fresh, poignant +regret, in the peaceful hush and subdued splendour of the winter night. +There were lines in his face which Mad should never have seen there, +without which he would have been nearer heaven. There were hard, +unbelieving lines, supercilious lines, self-indulgent lines, lines of +the earth, earthy, corresponding to hard and gross lines in the spirit +within. The respectable, prosperous merchant, had fallen from his +original level. He had not attained to the chivalrous, Christian manhood +which he had the prospect of when he was Mad's promising lover. He had +lowered his standard, forsaken his principles, lost his faith a few +times since then. The gulf between Mad and him was wider now. He felt +this walking on the moonlight December night by Mad's side again. + +It was in a somewhat different tone from that of his letter that Bill +Nairne said at last, "Mad, will you have the worst of me? Will you do +something for me and mine after all? I might have been another man if I +had got you long ago, Mad." + +"Would you have been a better and a happier man, Bill? Could I do +anything for you yet? Answer me truly," she said, hurriedly heaping the +self-forgetful, quivering sentences one upon another. + +"Anything!" exclaimed big Bill Nairne with intense conviction and +hyperbole, more excusable than his old prudence and fickleness, +"Anything! Mad, you could do everything with me, and with little Bill +and Bob. We should no longer be egotistical and frivolous, with you to +keep us right, you good, single-hearted Mad." + + * * * * * + +Miss Sandys was entitled to say, "You have come out this Christmas, Miss +West. I shan't allow my assistant to be taken off her satirical staid +feet another Christmas. I'll lock the next one up for the holidays. It +is all those holidays; you would never have thought of such foolish +things had you been busy teaching. I'll lock the next one up, or I'll +send her to her friends, who will live, I trust, in some peaceful +valley, where there are no old acquaintances, or for that matter, men of +any kind. I shall, indeed, Miss West, for I hate changes." Miss Sandys +had not to dread changes much longer. A sister of Miss West came and +supplied her place, and lived so long with Miss Sandys that she closed +her superior's eyes like a dutiful daughter, and succeeded to the +goodwill of Carter Hill School. + + * * * * * + +PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LONDON. + + * * * * * + + Transcriber's Notes + Page 21 "everyday" changed to "every-day" + Page 30 "common-place" changed to "commonplace" + Page 45 "lifelong" changed to "life-long" + Page 62 duplicate "it" removed + Page 77 "face was white" changed to "face was as white" + Page 81 "confided in her; the" changed to "confided in her; she" + Page 85 "Fox-holes" changed to Foxholes + Page 110 "she "bridled" well," changed to "she "bridled" well." + Page 112 "company travelled," changed to "company travelled." + Page 152 "It had been a sen" changed to "It had been a sent" + Page 186 "sea-weed" changed to "seaweed" + Page 186 "careworn" changed to "care-worn" + Page 201 "praise God and he" changed to "praise God and be" + Page 215 "canary bird," changed to "canary bird." + Page 222 "selfishnesss" changed to "selfishness" + Page 241 "suspense?" changed to "suspense!" + Page 247 "powr" changed to "power" + Page 248 "their mother," changed to "their mother." + Page 255 "to the pathos" changed to "to the pathos of" + Page 293 "circnmstances" changed to "circumstances" + Page 297 "small-pox" changed to "smallpox" + Page 307 "horseflesh" changed to "horse-flesh" + Page 342 duplicate "a" removed + Page 344 "New-Year's" changed to "New Year's" + Page 348 "themsevles" changed to "themselves" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Girlhood and Womanhood, by Sarah Tytler + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLHOOD AND WOMANHOOD *** + +***** This file should be named 19140.txt or 19140.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/1/4/19140/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jacqueline Jeremy and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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