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diff --git a/21759-8.txt b/21759-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..89d7ef6 --- /dev/null +++ b/21759-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8149 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Kate Coventry, by G. J. Whyte-Melville + + +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: Kate Coventry + An Autobiography + + +Author: G. J. Whyte-Melville + + + +Release Date: June 7, 2007 [eBook #21759] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KATE COVENTRY*** + + +E-text prepared by Carlo Traverso and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +KATE COVENTRY + +An Autobiography + +Edited by + +G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Now began a battle in good earnest.] + + + +T. Nelson and Sons +1909 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + Chapter I 3 + Chapter II 15 + Chapter III 24 + Chapter IV 35 + Chapter V 46 + Chapter VI 58 + Chapter VII 66 + Chapter VIII 77 + Chapter IX 89 + Chapter X 103 + Chapter XI 114 + Chapter XII 125 + Chapter XIII 138 + Chapter XIV 151 + Chapter XV 163 + Chapter XVI 175 + Chapter XVII 188 + Chapter XVIII 201 + Chapter XIX 214 + Chapter XX 228 + Chapter XXI 241 + Chapter XXII 254 + Chapter XXIII 267 + Chapter XXIV 274 + + + +KATE COVENTRY. + +AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +"Kate," said Aunt Deborah to me as we sat with our feet on the fender +one rainy afternoon--or, as we were in London, I should say one rainy +morning--in June, "I think altogether, considering the weather and +what not, it would be as well for you to give up this Ascot +expedition, my dear." + +I own I felt more than half inclined to cry--most girls would have +cried--but Aunt Deborah says I am very unlike the generality of women; +and so, although I had ordered a peach-coloured mantle, and such a +bonnet as can only be seen at Ascot on the Cup Day, I kept back my +tears, and swallowed that horrid choking feeling in my throat, whilst +I replied, with the most careless manner I could assume, "Goodness, +aunt, it won't rain for ever: not that I care; but think what a +disappointment for John!" + +I must here be allowed the privilege of my sex, to enter on a slightly +discursive explanation as to who Aunt Deborah is and who I am, not +forgetting Cousin John, who is good-nature itself, and without whom I +cannot do the least bit. My earliest recollections of Aunt Deborah, +then, date from a period when I was a curly-headed little thing in a +white frock (not so very long ago, after all); and the first occasion +on which I can recollect her personality with any distinctness was on +a certain birthday, when poor grandfather said to me in his funny way, +"Kate, you romp, we must get you a rocking-horse." + +Aunt Deborah lifted up her hands and eyes in holy horror and +deprecation. "A rocking-horse, Mr. Coventry," said she; "what an +injudicious selection! (Aunt Deborah likes to round her periods, as +the book-people say.) The child is a sad tomboy already, and if you +are going to teach her to ride, _I_ won't answer for the consequences +in after-life, when the habits of our youth have become the second +nature of our maturity." + +Imagine such sentiments so expressed by a tall austere lady, with high +manly features, piercing dark eyes, a _front_ of jet-black hair coming +low down on a somewhat furrowed brow. Cousin John says all dark women +are inclined to be cross; and I own I think we _blondes_ have the best +of it as far as good temper is concerned. My aunt is not altered in +the slightest degree from what she was then. She dresses invariably in +gray silks of the most delicate shades and texture; carries spectacles +low down upon her nose, where they can be of no earthly use except for +inspection of the carpet; and wears lavender kid gloves at all hours +of the day and night--for Aunt Deborah is vain of her hand, and +preserves its whiteness as a mark of her birth and parentage. Most +families have a crotchet of some sort on which they plume themselves; +some will boast that their scions rejoice one and all in long noses; +others esteem the attenuated frames which they bequeath to their +descendants as the most precious of legacies; one would not part with +his family squint for the finest pair of eyes that ever adorned an +Andalusian maiden; another cherishes his hereditary gout as a +priceless patent of nobility; and even insanity is prized in +proportion to the tenacity with which it clings to a particular race. +So the Horsinghams never cease talking of the Horsingham hand; and if +I want to get anything out of Aunt Deborah, I have only to lend her a +pair of my gloves, and apologize to her for their being so _large_ +that she can get both her hands into one. + +Now the only thing we ever fall out about is what my aunt calls +_propriety_. I had a French governess once who left because I pinned +the tail of Cousin John's kite to her skirt, and put white mice in her +work-box; and she was always lecturing me about what she called "_les +convenances_." Aunt Deborah don't speak much French, though she says +she understands it perfectly, and she never lets me alone about +propriety. When I came home from church that rainy Sunday with Colonel +Bingham, under his umbrella (a cotton one), Aunt Deborah lectured me +on the impropriety of such a thing--though the Colonel is forty if he +is a day, and told me repeatedly he was a "safe old gentleman." I +didn't think him at all dangerous, I'm sure. I rode a race against Bob +Dashwood the other morning, once round the inner ring, down Rotten +Row, to finish in front of Apsley House, and beat him all to ribbons. +Wasn't it fun? And didn't I kick the dirt in his face? He looked like +a wall that's been fresh plastered when he pulled up. I don't know who +told Aunt Deborah. It wasn't the coachman, for he said he wouldn't; +but she heard of it somehow, and of course she said it was _improper_ +and unladylike, and even _unfeminine_--as if anything a woman does can +be unfeminine. I know Bob didn't think so, though he got the worst of +it every way. + +To be sure, we women are sadly kept down in this world, whatever we +shall be in the next. If they would only let us try, I think we could +beat the "lords of the creation," as they call themselves, at +everything they undertake. Dear me, they talk about our weakness and +vanity--why, they never know their own minds for two minutes together; +and as for vanity, only tell a man you think him good-looking, and he +falls in love with you directly; or if that is too great _a +bounce_--and indeed very few of them have the slightest pretensions to +beauty--you need only hint that he rides gallantly, or waltzes nicely, +or wears neat boots, and it will do quite as well. I recollect +perfectly that Cousin Emily made her great marriage--five thousand a +year and the chance of a baronetcy--by telling her partner in a +quadrille, quite innocently, that "she should know his figure +anywhere." The man had a hump, and one leg shorter than the other; but +he thought Emily was dying for him, and proposed within a fortnight. +Emily is an artless creature--"good, common-sense," Aunt Deborah calls +it--and so she threw over Harry Bloomfield and married the hump and +the legs that didn't match and the chance of the baronetcy forthwith; +and now they say he beats her, and I think it serves her right. + +But we women--gracious! if we only take the trouble we can turn the +whole male sex round our little fingers. Who ever saw half a dozen of +us hovering and watching and fussing round a masculine biped, thankful +even to be _snubbed_ rather than not noticed at all. Who ever saw us +fetch and carry like so many retrievers, and "sit up," so to speak, +for a withered rose-bud at the fag end of an over-blown bouquet. Not +that we don't love flowers in their proper places, and _keep_ them +too, sometimes long after their colour has faded and their perfume +gone; but we don't make a parade of such things, and have the grace to +be ashamed of ourselves when we are so foolish. + +But it's quite different with men. They give in to us about everything +if we only insist--and it's our own fault if we don't insist; for, of +course, if they find us complying and ready to oblige, why, there's no +end to their audacity. "Give 'em an inch, and they take an ell." +However, they do try to keep us down as much as they can. Now there's +that very exercise of riding that they are so proud of. They get us a +side-saddle, as they call it, of enormous weight and inconvenience, on +which they plant pommels enough to impale three women; they place us +in an attitude from which it is next to impossible to control a horse +should he be violent, and in a dress which ensures a horrible accident +should he fall; added to which, they constantly give us the worst +quadruped in the stable; and yet, with all these drawbacks, such is +our own innate talent and capacity, we ride many an impetuous steed in +safety and comfort that a man would find a dangerous and +incontrollable "mount." For my part, I only wish I had been born a +man--that's to say, if I could keep my own ideas and feelings. To be +sure, I should lose a good many personal adornments; not that I'm vain +enough to consider myself a beauty, but still one cannot help being +anxious about one's own appearance, particularly if one has a +full-length glass in one's bedroom. I need not be ashamed to own that +I know I've got bright eyes, and good teeth, and a fresh colour, and +loads of soft brown hair, and not a bad figure--so my dressmaker tells +me; though I think myself I look best in a riding-habit. Altogether +you can't call _that_ a perfect fright; but, nevertheless, I think if +I might I would change places with Cousin John. _He_ has no Aunt +Deborah to be continually preaching _propriety_ to _him_. He can go +out when he likes without being questioned, and come in without being +scolded. He can swagger about wherever he chooses without that most +odious of encumbrances called a chaperon; and though I shouldn't care +to smoke as many cigars as he does (much as I like the smell of them +in the open air), yet I confess it must be delightfully independent to +have a latchkey. + +I often wonder whether other people think Cousin John good-looking. I +have known him so long that I believe I can hardly be a fair judge. He +is fresh-coloured, to be sure, and square and rather fat, and when he +smiles and shows all his white teeth, he has a very pleasant +appearance; but I think I admire a man who looks rather more of a +_roué_--not like Colonel Bingham exactly, whose face is all wrinkles +and whiskers, but a little care-worn and jaded, as if he was +accustomed to difficulties, and had other things to occupy his +thoughts besides his horses and his dinner. I don't like a man that +stares at you; and I don't like a man that can't look you in the face. +He provokes me if he is all smiles, and I've no patience with him if +he's cross. I'm not sure I know exactly what does please me best, but +I _do_ know that I like Cousin John's constant good-humour, and the +pains he takes to give me a day's amusement whenever he can, or what +he calls "have Cousin Kate out for a lark." And this brings me back to +Aunt Deborah and the expedition to Ascot, a thing of all others I +fancied was so perfectly delightful. + +"My dear," said Aunt Deborah as she folded her lavender-gloved hands, +"if it wasn't for the weather and my rheumatism, I'd accompany you +myself; but I do consider that Ascot is hardly a place for _my_ niece +to be seen at without a chaperon, and with no other protector than +John Jones--John Jones," repeated the old lady reflectively--"an +excellent young man, doubtless (I heard him his Catechism when he was +_so_ high), but still hardly equal to so responsible a charge as that +of Miss Coventry." + +I knew this was what John calls a "back-hander" at me, but I can be +_so_ good-tempered when I've anything to gain; therefore I only +said,-- + +"Well, aunt, of course you're the best judge, and I don't care the +least about going; only when John calls this afternoon, you must +explain it all to him, for he's ordered the carriage and the luncheon +and everything, and he'll be so disappointed." + +I've long ago found out that if you want to do anything you should +never seem too anxious about it. + +Aunt Deborah is fonder of John than she likes to confess. I know why, +because I overheard my old nurse tell the housekeeper when I was quite +a little thing; and what I hear, especially if I'm not intended to +hear it, I never forget. There were three Miss Horsinghams, all with +white hands--poor mamma, Aunt Deborah, and Aunt Dorcas. Now Aunt +Deborah wanted to marry old David Jones (John's papa). I can just +remember him--a snuffy little man with a brown wig, but perhaps he +wasn't always so; and David Jones, who was frightened at Aunt +Deborah's black eyes, thought he would rather marry Aunt Dorcas. Why +the two sisters didn't toss up for him I can't think; but he _did_ +marry Aunt Dorcas, and Aunt Deborah has been an old maid ever since. +Sometimes even now she fixes her eyes on Cousin John, and then takes +them off with a great sigh. It seems ridiculous in an old lady, but I +don't know that it is so. That's the reason my cousin can do what he +likes with Aunt Deborah; and that's the reason why, when he called on +that rainy afternoon, he persuaded her to let me go down to Ascot with +him all alone by our two selves the following day. + +How pleasant it is to wake on the morning of a gala day, to hear the +carts and cabs rumbling and clattering in the streets, and to know +that you must get up early, and be off directly after breakfast, and +will have the whole livelong day to amuse yourself in. What a bright +sunshiny morning it was, and what fun I had going with John in a +hansom cab to Paddington--I like a hansom cab, it goes so fast--and +then down to Windsor by the train in a carriage full of such smart +people, some of whom I knew quite well by name, though not to speak +to. The slang aristocracy, as they are called, muster in great force +at Ascot. Nor could anything be more delightful than the drive through +Windsor Forest up to the Course--such a neat phaeton and pair, and +John and I like a regular Darby and Joan sitting side by side. Somehow +that drive through Windsor Forest made me think of a great many things +I never think of at other times. Though I was going to the races, and +fully prepared for a day of gaiety and amusement, a half-melancholy +feeling stole over me as we rolled along amongst those stately old +trees, and that lovely scenery, and those picturesque little places +set down in that abode of beauty. I thought how charming it would be +to saunter about here in the early summer mornings or the still summer +nights, and listen to the thrush and the blackbird and the nightingale +in the copse; and then I thought I would not care to wander here +_quite_ alone, and that a whisper might steal on my ear, sweeter than +the note of the thrush and the nightingale; and that there might be a +somebody without whom all that sylvan beauty would be a blank, but +with whom any place would become a fairyland. And then I fell to +wondering who that somebody would be; and I looked at Cousin John, and +felt a little cross--which was very ungrateful; and a little +disappointed--which was very unjust. + +"Here we are, Kate: that's the Grand Stand, and we'll have the +carriage right opposite; and the Queen's not come, and we're in heaps +of time; and there's Frank Lovell," exclaimed the unconscious John as +we drove on to the Course, and my daydreams were effectually dispelled +by the gay scene which spread itself before my eyes. + +As I took John's arm and walked into the enclosure in front of the +stand, I must confess that the first impression on my mind was +this--"Never in my life have I seen so many well-dressed people +collected together before;" and when the Queen drove up the Course +with her brilliant suite of carriages and outriders, and the mob of +gentlemen and ladies cheered her to the echo, I was such a goose that +I felt as if I could have cried. After a time I got a little more +composed, and looked about at the different toilettes that surrounded +me. I own I saw nothing much neater than my own; and I was pleased to +find it so, as nothing gives one greater confidence in a crowd than +the consciousness of being well dressed. But what I delighted in more +than all the bonnets and gowns in the universe were those dear horses, +with their little darlings of jockeys. If there is one thing I like +better than another, it is a thoroughbred horse. What a gentleman he +looks amongst the rest of his kind! How he walks down the Course, as +if he knew his own value--self-confident, but not vain--and goes +swinging along in his breathing-gallop as easily and as smoothly as if +I was riding him myself, and he was proud of his burthen! When +Colonist won the Cup, I felt again as if I could have cried. It was a +near race, and closely contested the whole way from the distance in. I +felt my blood creeping quite chill, and I could perfectly understand +then the infatuation men cherish about racing, and why they ruin their +wives and children at that pursuit. What a relief it was when the +number was up, and I could be quite satisfied that the dear bay horse +had won. As for the little jockey that rode him, I could and _would_ +have kissed him! Just then Cousin John came back to me, with his +sunny, laughing face, and I naturally asked him, "Had he won his +money?" John never bets; but he replied, "I'm just as pleased as if +I'd won a fortune; only think, Frank Lovell has landed twelve +hundred!" "Well," I replied, "I am glad of it--which is very good of +me, seeing that I don't know Mr. Lovell." "Don't know Frank Lovell!" +exclaimed John. "The greatest friend I have in the world." (Men's +friends always are the greatest in the world.) "I'll introduce him to +you; there he is--no he isn't. I saw him a moment ago." And forthwith +John launched into a long biography of his friend Frank Lovell--how +that gentleman was the nicest fellow and the finest rider and the best +shot in the universe; how he knew more about racing than any man of +his age, and had been in more difficulties, and got out of them +better, and robbed the public generally with a more plausible air; how +he sang a capital song, and was the pleasantest company, and had more +brains than the world gave him credit for (as indeed might easily be +the case); how he was very good-looking, and very agreeable, and met +with great success (whatever that means) in society; how Lady +Scapegrace was avowedly in love with him; and he had thrown over +pretty Miss Pinnifer because he wouldn't leave the army, and six +months afterwards was obliged to sell his commission, when Outsider +won the "Two Thousand;" together with various other details, which +lasted till it was time to have luncheon, and go back to Windsor to +catch the four o'clock train. Though evidently such a hero of John's, +I confess I didn't like what I heard of Frank Lovell at all. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +We've got such a sweet little house in Lowndes Street--to my mind the +very best situation in London. When I say _we_, of course I mean Aunt +Deborah and myself. We live together, as I hope we always shall do, as +Aunt Deborah says, till "one of us is married." And notwithstanding +the difference of our ages we get on as comfortably as any two forlorn +maidens can. Though a perfect fairy palace within, our stronghold is +guarded by no giant, griffin, dragon, or dwarf; nothing more frightful +than a policeman, whose measured tread may be heard at the midnight +hour pacing up and down beneath our windows. "It's a great comfort," +says Aunt Deborah, "to know that assistance is close at hand. I am a +lone woman, Kate, and I confess to feeling nervous when I lie awake." +I quite agree with my aunt, though I'm not nervous, but I must say I +like the idea of being watched over during the hours of sleep; and +there is something romantic in hearing the regular tramp of the +sentinel whilst one is curled up snug in bed. I don't much think it +always is the policeman--at least I know that one night when I got up +to peep if it was a constable, he was wrapped in a very loose cloak, +such as is by no means the uniform of the force, and was besides, +unquestionably, smoking a cigar, which I am given to understand is not +permitted by the regulations when on duty. I watched the glowing light +for at least ten minutes, and when I went to bed again, I could not +get to sleep for wondering who the amateur policeman could be. + +But the house is a perfect jewel of its kind. _Such_ a pretty +dining-room, _such_ a lovely drawing-room, opening into a +conservatory, with a fountain and gold-fish, to say nothing of flowers +(I am passionately fond of flowers), and _such_ a boudoir of my own, +where nobody ever intrudes except my special favourites--Cousin John, +for instance, when he is not in disgrace--and which I have fitted up +and furnished quite to my own taste. There's the "Amazon" in gilt +bronze, and a bas-relief from the Elgin marbles--not coloured like +those flaxen-haired abominations at Sydenham, but pure and simple as +the taste that created it; and an etching Landseer did for me himself +of my little Scotch terrier growling; and a veritable original sketch +of Horace Vernet--in which nothing is distinguishable save a phantom +charger rearing straight up amongst clouds of smoke. Then I've put up +a stand for my riding-whips, and a picture of my own thoroughbred +favourite horse over the chimney-piece; altogether, Aunt Deborah +describes the apartment exactly when she says to me, as she does about +once a week, "My dear, if you were a _man_, I should say your room was +fitted up in the most perfect taste; but as you happen to be a young +lady, I won't say what I think, because I know you won't agree with +me;" and I certainly do not agree with Aunt Deborah upon a great many +subjects. + +However, there's no situation like Lowndes Street. I'm not going to +tell the number, nor at which end of the street we live; for it's very +disagreeable to have people riding by and stopping to alter their +stirrup-leathers, and squinting up at one's drawing-room windows where +one sits working in peace, and then cantering off and trotting by +again, as if something had been forgotten. No; if curiosity is so very +anxious to know where I live, let it look in the _Court Guide_; for my +part, I say nothing, except that there are always flowers in the +balcony, and there's no great singularity about that. But there are +two great advantages connected with a "residence in Belgravia," which +I wonder are not inserted in the advertisements of all houses to let +in that locality. In the first place, a lady may walk about all the +forenoon quite alone, without being hampered by a maid or hunted by a +footman; and in the second, she is most conveniently situated for a +morning ride or walk in the Park; and those are about the two +pleasantest things one does in London. + +Well, the same conversation takes place nearly every morning at +breakfast between Aunt Deborah and myself (we breakfast early, never +after half-past nine, however late we may have been the night before). +Aunt Deborah begins,-- + +"My dear, I hope we shall have a quiet morning together; I've directed +the servants to deny me to all visitors; and if you'll get your work, +I will proceed with my readings from excellent Mrs. Hannah More." + +Kate.--"Thank you, aunt; Hannah More amuses me very much"--(I confess +that prim moralist does make me laugh). + +_Aunt Deborah_ (reprovingly).--"Instructive, Kate, not amusing; +certainly not ludicrous. If you'll shut the door we'll begin." + +_Kate_.--"Can't we put it off for an hour? I must get my ride, you +know, aunt. What's the use of horses if one don't ride?" + +_Aunt Deborah_.--"Kate, you ride too much; I don't object to the +afternoons with John Jones, but these morning scampers are really +quite uncalled for; they're spoiling your figure and complexion; it's +improper--more, it's unfeminine; but as you seem determined upon it, +go and get your ride, and come back a little sobered;" and +Kate--that's me--disappears into the boudoir, from which she emerges +in about five minutes with the neatest habit and the nicest hat, and +her hair done in two such killing plaits--John Jones says I never look +so well as when I've got my hair dressed for riding. + +I always go out for these morning excursions quite alone. Aunt Deborah +fought for a long time, and insisted on my taking the coachman; but he +is an old family servant, and I soon knocked him up completely. In the +first place, the ride is always soft, and I hate going _slow_, so he +used to get a dreadful stitch in his side trying to keep up with me on +one of the high-actioned coach-horses; then he didn't see the fun of +having two horses to clean when he got home instead of one; so when he +found he couldn't get another helper, we begged him off between us, +and I go out now unencumbered by that excellent and pursy old man. +After all, I ought to be able to take care of myself. I have ridden +ever since I was five years old; and if habit is second nature, as +Aunt Deborah says, I'm sure my habit ought to be natural enough to me. +I recollect as well as if it was yesterday, when poor papa put me on a +shaggy Shetland pony, and telling me not to be frightened, gave it a +thump, and started me off by myself. I wasn't the least bit afraid, I +know that. It was a new sensation, and delightful; round and round the +field we went, I shaking my reins with one hand, and holding on a +great flapping straw hat with the other; the pony grunting and +squeaking, with his mane and tail floating on the breeze, and papa +standing in the middle, waving his hat and applauding with all his +might. After that I was qualified to ride anything; and by the time I +was twelve, there wasn't a hunter in the stables that I wouldn't get +on at a moment's notice. I am ashamed to confess that I have even +caught the loose cart-horses in a field, and ridden them without +saddle or bridle. I never was beat but once, and that was at Uncle +Horsingham's when I was about fifteen. He had bought a mare at +Tattersall's for his daughter to ride, and brought her down to +Dangerfield, thinking she would conduct herself like the rest of her +species. How well I remember my governess's face when she gave me +leave to go to the stable with Sir Harry and look over the new +purchase. I was a great pet of Uncle Horsingham; and as Cousin Amelia +was not much of an equestrian, he proposed that I should get upon the +chestnut mare first, and try her paces and temper before his daughter +mounted her. As we neared the stables out came one of the grooms with +a sidesaddle on his head, and the longest face I ever beheld. + +"O Sir 'Arry," said he--I quote his exact words--"that new mare's a +wicious warmint; afore I was well into the stable, she ups and lets +out at me just above the knee: I do believe as my thigh's broke." + +"Nonsense, man," said my uncle; "put the saddle on and bring her out." +Presently the chestnut mare appeared; and I saw at once that she was +not in the best of humours. But I was young, full of spirits, and +fresh from lessons; so, fearing if one of the men should venture to +mount her she might show temper, and I should lose my ride, I made a +sign to the head-groom to give me a hand; and before my uncle had time +to exclaim, "For goodness sake, Kate!" I was seated, muslin dress and +all, on the back of the chestnut mare. What she did I never could +quite make out; it seemed to me that she crouched as if she was going +to lie down, and then bounded into the air, with all four legs off the +ground. I was as near gone as possible; but for the only time in my +life I caught hold of the pommel with my right hand, and that saved +me. In another instant she had broke from the groom's hold, and was +careering along the approach like a mad thing. If I had pulled at her +the least she would have run away with me. + +Luckily, the park was roomy, and the old trees far apart; so when we +got upon the grass I knew who would be mistress. I gave her a rousing +good gallop, shook my reins and patted her, to show her how confident +I was, and brought her back to my uncle as quiet as a lamb. +Unfortunately, however, the mare had taken a dislike to certain stone +pillars which supported the stable gates, and nothing would induce her +to pass them. Flushed with success, I borrowed my uncle's riding-whip +to punish her; and now began a battle in good earnest. She reared and +plunged, and wheeled round and round, and did all she knew to get rid +of me; whilst I flogged and jerked, and screamed at her (I didn't +swear, because I didn't know how), and vowed in my wicked little heart +I would be killed rather than give in. During the tussle we got nearer +and nearer to a certain large pond about a hundred yards from the +stable gates, at which the cattle used to water in the quiet summer +afternoons. I knew it wasn't very deep, for I had seen them standing +in it often. By the time we were close on the brink the whole +household had turned out to see "Miss Kate killed;" and just as I hit +the mare a finishing cut over the ears, I caught a glimpse of my +governess in an attitude of combined shame, horror, and disgust that I +shall never forget. The next moment we were overhead in the pond, the +mare having dashed blindly in, caught her fore-feet in the bridle, and +rolled completely over. What a ducking I got to be sure! But it was +nothing to the scolding I had to endure afterwards from all the +females of the family, including my governess; only Uncle Horsingham +stuck up for me, and from that time till the day of his death vowed he +had "never known but one plucky fellow in the world, and that was his +little niece Kate." + +No wonder I feel at home on Brilliant, who never did wrong in his +life, who will eat out of my hand, put his foot in my apron-pocket, +follow me about like a dog, and is, I am firmly persuaded, the very +best horse in England. He is quite thoroughbred, though he has never +been in training--and is as beautiful as he is good. Bright bay, with +such black legs, and such a silky mane and tail! I know lots of ladies +whose hair is coarser than Brilliant's. Fifteen hands three inches, +and Cousin John says well up to his weight--an honest fourteen stone. +With the smallest nose, and the leanest head, and the fullest dark +eye, and the widest, reddest nostril--his expression of countenance, +when a little blown, is the most beautiful I ever beheld; and not a +white mark about him except a tiny star in the very middle of his +forehead; I know it well, for I have kissed it often and often. The +picture over my chimney-piece does not half do him justice; but then, +to be sure, its _pendant_, painted by the same artist, and +representing my other horse, White Stockings, flatters that very plain +and excellent animal most unblushingly. + +Of all delights in the world give me my morning canter up the park on +Brilliant. Away we go, understanding each other perfectly; and I am +quite sure that he enjoys as much as I do the bright sunshine and the +morning breeze and the gleaming Serpentine, with its solitary swan, +and its hungry ducks, and its amphibious dogs continually swimming for +the inciting stick, only rescued to produce fresh exertions; and the +rosy children taking their morning walk; and, above all, the _liberty_ +of London before two o'clock in the day, when the real London begins. +I pat Brilliant's smooth, hard neck, and he shakes his head, and +strikes an imaginary butterfly with one black fore-leg, and I draw my +rein a thought tighter, and away we go, much to the admiration of that +good-looking man with moustachios who is leaning on his umbrella close +to the rails, and smoking the cigar of meditation as if the park was +his own. + +I often wondered who that man was. Morning after morning have I seen +him at the same place, always with an umbrella, and always with a +cigar. I quite missed him on the Derby day, when of course he was gone +to Epsom (by-the-bye, why don't we go to the Derby just as much as to +Ascot?); and yet it was rather a relief, too, for I had got almost shy +about passing him. It seemed so absurd to see the man every day and +never to speak; besides, I fancied, though of course it could only be +fancy, that he looked as if he was expecting me. At last I couldn't +help blushing, and I thought he saw it; for I'm sure he smiled, and +then I was so provoked with myself that I sent Brilliant up the ride +at a pace nothing short of a racehorse could have caught. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +I wonder whether any lady in England has a maid who, to use that +domestic's own expression, is capable of "giving satisfaction." If any +lady does rejoice in such an Abigail, I shall be too happy to "swap" +with her, and give anything else I possess except Brilliant into the +bargain. Mine is the greatest goose that ever stood upon two legs, and +how she can chatter as she does with her mouth full of pins is to me a +perfect miracle. Once or twice in the week I have to endure a certain +ordeal which, although a positive pleasure to some women, is to my +disposition intense martyrdom, termed dressing to go out; and I think +I never hated it more than the night of Lady Horsingham's ball. Lady +Horsingham is my poor uncle's widow; and as Aunt Deborah is extremely +punctilious on all matters relating to family connections, we +invariably attend these solemnities with a gravity befitting the +occasion. + +Now, I may be singular in my ideas; but I confess that it does appear +to me a strange way of enjoying oneself in the dog-days, to make one's +toilette at eleven p.m., for the purpose of sitting in a carriage till +twelve, and struggling on a staircase amongst a mob of one's +fellow-creatures till half-past. After fighting one's way literally +step by step, and gaining a landing by assault, one looks round and +takes breath, and what does one see? Panting girls looking in vain for +the right partner, who is probably not ten yards from them, but wedged +in between substantial dowagers, whom he is cursing in his heart, but +from whom there is no escape; or perhaps philosophically and +perfidiously making the best of his unavoidable situation, and +flirting shamefully with the one he likes _next_ best to the +imprisoned maiden on the staircase; or, the tables turned, young +fledglings pining madly for their respective enslavers, and picturing +to themselves how she may be even now whirling round to that pealing +waltz in the arms of some former adorer or delightfully new +acquaintance, little heeding him who is languishing in his white +neckcloth, actually within speaking distance, but separated as +effectually as if he were in another country. By-the-bye, it's fatal +when people begin to think of each other as hes and shes; the softest +proper name that ever was whispered is not half so dangerous as those +demonstrative pronouns. In one corner is a stout old gentleman, wedged +against the wall, wiping the drops from his bald head, and wondering +what Jane and Julia can see in these gatherings to make them wild +about going to every ball for which they can get an invitation. +Deluded father! both Jane and Julia have the best of reasons in this +very house. You grudge not to spend a broiling September day in the +pursuit of _your_ game; each of your fair daughters, sir, flatters +herself that she, too, has winged her bird. + +Swaying backwards and forwards in the mass, like some goodly +merchantman at anchor, pitching and rolling to a ground-swell, behold +the chaperon fulfilling her destiny, and skilfully playing that game +which to her is the business of life. Flushed and hot in person, she +is cool and composed in mind. Practice makes perfect; and the chaperon +is as much at home here as the stockbroker on 'Change, or the +betting-man in the ring, or the fisherman amidst the roar and turmoil +of the waves. With lynx eyes she notes how Lady Carmine's eldest girl +is "carrying on" with young Thriftless, and how Lord Looby's eyeglass +is fixed on her own youngest daughter; yet for all this she is not +absent or preoccupied, but can whisper to stupid Lady Dulwich the very +latest intelligence of a marriage, or listen, all attention, to the +freshest bit of scandal from Mrs. General Gabbler. But perhaps by this +time you have floated with the tide into the doorway, and received +from your hostess the cordial shake of the hand or formal bow which +makes you free of the place. So, with patience and perseverance you +work your way at last into the dancing-room, and you now see what +people come here for--dancing, of course. Each performer has about +eighteen inches of standing room, and on that space must be enacted in +hopeless pantomime the intricate evolutions of the quadrille, or the +rotatory struggles of the waltz. Sliding and smiling, and edging and +crushing, the conscientious dancers try to fulfil their duties, and +much confusion and begging of pardons are the natural results. + +However, it's a rare place for love-making. What with the music and +the crowd and the confusion, the difficulty is more to make out what +one's partner _does_ say than to prevent his being overheard by other +people; but, I must confess, if anybody had anything very particular +to say to _me_, I had rather hear it in the quiet country by +moonlight, or even coming home from Greenwich by water--or anywhere, +in short, rather than in the turmoil of a London ball. But that's all +nonsense; and I hope I have too much pride to allow any man to address +me in such a strain. Trust me for setting him down! + +It's no wonder, then, that I was cross when I was dressing for Lady +Horsingham's ball; and that silly Gertrude (that's my maid's name, and +what a name it is for a person in that class of life!) put me more and +more out of patience with her idiotic conversation, which she tries to +adapt to my tastes, and of which the following is a specimen:---- + +"Master John will be at her ladyship's ball, miss, I make no doubt;" +brushing away the while at my back hair, and pulling it unnecessarily +hard; no maid ever yet had a "light hand." + +No answer. What business is it of hers, and why should she call him +_Master John?_ Gertrude tries again: "You look pale to-night, miss; +you that generally has such a colour. I'm afraid you're tired with +your ride." + +"Not a bit of it--only sleepy. Why, it's time one was in bed." + +"Lor, miss, I shouldn't want to go to bed, not if I was going to a +ball. But I think you like 'orse exercise best; and to be sure, your +'orse is a real beauty, Miss Kate." + +The very name of Brilliant always puts me in good humour, so, of +course, I can but answer, "_That_ he is, Gertrude, and as good as he's +handsome;" on which my voluble handmaid goes off again at score. + +"That's what I say, miss, when I see him coming round to the door, +with his long black tail and his elegant shape and his thin legs." +_Thin legs!_--I can't stand that; to hear my beautiful Brilliant's +great strong legs called _thin_, as if he were made of paper. I feel I +am getting savage again, so I cut Gertrude short, and bid her "finish +my hair," and hasten my dressing, for Aunt Deborah don't take long, +and we shall be late for the ball. At the mention of the word "ball," +off goes Gertrude again. + +"What a grand ball it'll be, miss, as all her ladyship's is; and I +know there'll be no young lady there as will be better dressed than my +young lady, nor better looking neither; and I'm sure, to see you and +Master John stand up together, as you did last Christmas when we was +all at Dangerfield! and I says to the steward, 'Mr. Musty,' says I, 'a +handsomer couple than them two I never clapped eyes on. Master John, +he looks so fresh, and so healthy and portly, as becomes a gentleman.' +And he says, 'No doubt,' says he; 'and Miss Kate, she steps away like +a real good one, with her merry eyes and her trim waist, as blooming,' +says he, 'as a beanfield, and as saucy as----'" + +"There, that will do, Gertrude; now my pocket-handkerchief and some +scent, and my gloves and my fan. Good-night, Gertrude." + +"Good-night, miss; I do humbly hope you'll enjoy your ball." + +Enjoy my ball, indeed! How little does the girl know what I enjoy, and +what I don't enjoy! Lady Horsingham will be as stiff as the poker, and +about as communicative. Cousin Amelia will look at everything I've got +on, and say the most disagreeable things she can think of, because she +never can forgive me for being born two years later than herself. I +shall know very few people, and those I do know I shall not like. I +shall have a headache before I have been half an hour in the room. If +I dance I shall be hot, and if I don't dance I shall be bored. Enjoy +my ball, indeed! I'd much rather be going hay-making. + +Up went the steps, bang went the door, and ere long we were safely +consigned to the "string" of carriages bound for the same destination +as ourselves. After much "cutting-in," and shaving of wheels, and +lashing of coach-horses, with not a little blasphemy, "Miss +Horsingham" and "Miss Coventry" were announced in a stentorian voice, +and we were struggling in a mass of silks and satins, blonde and +broadcloth, up the swarming staircase. Everything happened exactly as +I had predicted; Lady Horsingham accosted Aunt Deborah with the most +affectionate cordiality, and lent me two fingers of her left hand, to +be returned without delay. Cousin Amelia looked me well over from head +to foot, and asked after my own health and Brilliant's with a +supercilious smile. How that girl hates me! And I honestly confess to +returning the feeling with some cordiality. As far as appearance goes, +I think without vanity I may say I have the best of it, Cousin Amelia +being very short and pale, with a "turn-up" nose and long ringlets. +Why does a little woman with a turn-up nose always wear her hair in +ringlets? Is it that she wishes to resemble a King Charles's spaniel? +And why are our sex so apt to cherish feelings of animosity towards +those who are younger and better-looking than themselves? While I ask +myself these questions I was suddenly accosted by a lady who had been +some time in conversation with my chaperon, and from whom, I saw by +Aunt Deborah's countenance, she was anxious to make her escape. Poor +old soul! What could she do? A double rank of dowagers hemmed her in +in front; on one side of her was her unwelcome acquaintance and the +banisters--on the other, myself and three demure young ladies +(sisters), who looked frightened and uncomfortable--whilst her rear +was guarded by a tall cavalry officer with enormous moustachios, +heading an impervious column of dandies worse than himself. Aunt +Deborah was like a needle in a bottle of hay. Taking advantage of her +position, the lady before mentioned seized me by both hands, and vowed +she should have known me anywhere by my likeness to my poor mamma. "I +must make your acquaintance, my dear Miss Coventry--your uncle, Sir +Harry, was one of my oldest friends. I see you so often in the park, +and you ride the nicest horse in London, a bay with a white star." Of +course I bowed an affirmative, and shook my new friend by the hand +with a cordiality equal to her own. A conversation begun in so +promising a manner as by a reference to my favourite was sure to go on +swimmingly; besides, we could not have got away from each other if we +would; and ere long I found Mrs. Lumley--for that was the lady's +name--a most amusing and satirical personage, with a variety of +anecdotes about all her friends and acquaintances, and a sort of +flippant charm of manner that was quite irresistible. + +Besides all this, she was doubtless a very pretty woman--less striking +perhaps than winning. At the first glance you hardly remarked her--at +the second you observed she was very well dressed--at the third it +occurred to you all of a sudden that she was far better-looking than +half the regular red-and-white beauties of the season; and after five +minutes' conversation all the men were over head and ears in love with +her. She was neither dark nor fair, neither pale nor ruddy, neither +short nor tall. I never could succeed in making out the colour of her +eyes, but she had wonderfully long thick eyelashes with a curl in them +(I wish mine had been cut when I was a baby), and a beautiful +healthy-looking skin, and such good teeth. After all, I think her +great attraction was her nose. It had more expression in its straight, +well-cut bridge and little, sharp point than all the rest of her +features put together. I believe it was her nose that conquered +everything, and that her small feet and pretty figure and white hands, +and dashing ways and _piquante_ conversation had much less to answer +for than one saucy little feature. How she rattled on: "You don't know +Lady Scapegrace, Miss Coventry, do you? There, that bold-looking woman +in yellow. Beautiful black hair, hasn't she?--false, every bit of it! +She'll bow to me to-night, because she sees me with your good aunt; +there, I told you so! Since she and Sir Guy are living together again +she sets up for being respectable--such stories, my dear! but I don't +believe half of 'em. However, I've seen her with my own eyes do _the +oddest_ things--at best, I'm afraid she's a shocking flirt! There's +your cousin, Mr. Jones--you see I know everybody. How black he +looks--he don't like me--a great many people don't--but I return good +for evil--I like everybody--it's never worth while to be cross;" and +as she said so she smiled with such a sunny, merry expression that I +liked her better and better. + +Cousin John certainly did look very cross. "Who introduced you to that +horrid woman, Kate?" said he as soon as a fresh convulsion in the +crowd had stranded us a few steps higher up, and we were separated +from Mrs. Lumley and her attractions. + +"My aunt, sir," I replied demurely, telling a "_white_ one" for the +sake of teasing him. "Why? Have you any objections?" + +"Oh, of course, if my aunt did, it's all right," replied he. "I don't +know a great deal of her, and what I do know I don't much like. But, +Kate, there's a friend of mine wishes to be presented to you. You've +often heard me mention Frank Lovell--well, there he is; do you see +him?--turning round now to speak to Lady Scapegrace." + +Good heavens! it was the man I had seen in the park so often, if +possible better-looking with his hat off than I had thought him in his +morning costume, with the eternal cigar in his mouth. I have a sort of +dim recollection of his making his bow to my aunt, who received him, +as she does all good-looking young men, with a patronizing smile, and +a vision of John "doing the polite," and laughing as he ceremoniously +introduced "Captain Lovell" and "Miss Coventry," and something said +about "the honour of the next waltz;" and although I am not easily +discomposed, I confess I felt a little shy and uncomfortable till I +found myself hanging on Captain Lovell's arm, and elbowing our way to +a place amongst the dancers. + +I must say he wasn't the least what I expected--not at all forward, +and never alluded to our previous meeting, or to Brilliant, till we +went to have an ice in the tea-room, when Captain Lovell began to +enlarge upon the charm of those morning rides, and the fresh air, and +the beautiful scenery of Hyde Park; and though I never told him +exactly, he managed to find out that I rode every day at the same +early hour, "_even_ after a ball!" and that I was as likely to be +there to-morrow as any day in the week; and so we had another turn at +"the Colombetta" waltz, and he took me back to my aunt, half-inclined +to be pleased with _him_, and more than half-inclined to be angry with +_myself_. I am afraid I couldn't help watching him as he loitered +about amongst the crowd, now deep in conversation with Lady +Scapegrace, now laughing with my new friend, Mrs. Lumley. He looked so +like a gentleman, even amongst all the high-bred men there; and though +so handsome, he didn't appear the least conceited. I began to wonder +whether all could be true that I had heard of him, and to think that a +man who liked such early walks could not possibly be the _roué_ and +"good-for-nothing" they made him out. I was roused out of a brown +study by Cousin John's voice in my ear, "Now then, Kate, for _our_ +waltz. The room's a little clearer, so we can go the 'pace' if you +like." And away we went to "the Odalisque" faster than any other +couple in the room. Somehow it wasn't half such a pretty air as the +Colombetta, and John, though he has a very good ear, didn't seem to +waltz quite so well as usual; perhaps I was getting a little tired. I +know I wasn't at all sorry when my aunt ordered the carriage; and I +thought the dawn never looked so beautiful as it did when we emerged +from those hot, lighted rooms into the pure, fragrant summer air. I +confess I do love the dawn, even in London. I like to see the "gates +of morning" open with that clear, light-green tinge that art has never +yet been able to imitate; and if I could do as I liked, which none of +us can, I should always be up and dressed by sunrise. + +As we drove down Grosvenor Place I saw Captain Lovell walking home, +smoking a cigar. I think he caught a glimpse of my face at the +carriage-window, for I am almost sure he bowed, but I shrunk back into +the corner, and pretended to go to sleep; and when we arrived in +Lowndes Street I was not at all sorry to wish Aunt Deborah good-night, +and go upstairs to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +"Now then, Kate, late as usual; my phaeton's at the door, and we've +only an hour and five minutes to do the twelve miles," said Cousin +John's cheery voice as he accosted me on the following morning, +running upstairs to change my dress after my early ride. Yes, +notwithstanding the ball the night before, I was not going to +disappoint Brilliant of his gallop; besides, these things are all +habit; if you once get accustomed to early hours nothing is so easy as +to keep to them. Why, even Captain Lovell was in the park as usual +with his cigar--he seems regular enough about _that_, at all +events--and he took his hat off so gracefully when he spied me +cantering up the Ride that I hadn't the heart to pass without stopping +just to say, "How d'ye do?" but of course I didn't shake hands with +him. + +"Come, Kate, bustle, bustle," exclaimed that fidget John; and in less +time than my lady-readers would believe, I had put on my pink bonnet +and my white dress, and was bowling down to Richmond by the side of my +cousin, behind a roan and a chestnut that stepped away in a style that +it did one good to see. + +"What a clipper that off-horse is, John," said I as we cleared London, +and got to the level road by Kew Gardens; "let me take the reins for +five minutes--they're going so pleasantly." But John don't like me to +drive anything more sporting than a pony-carriage, and he refused +point blank, which, to say the least of it, was brutal on his part. If +I hadn't thought it would make me sick, I should have liked to smoke, +on purpose to provoke him. We did the distance with three minutes to +spare, and as we pulled up in front of the Castle Hotel, I was proud +to hear the admiration our _tout ensemble_ elicited from a knot of +idlers lounging round the door. "'Ere's a spicy set-out, Bill," said +one. "Crickey! vot a pretty gal!" said another. "Vouldn't I like to be +Vilikins with she for a Dinah!" exclaimed the dirtiest of the +conclave; and although I appreciated the compliment, I was forced to +turn my back on my unwashed admirer, and reply to the greetings of the +picnic party we had come down to join. + +There was Mrs. Molasses and her two daughters to begin with, people of +unheard-of wealth, of which they seemed to carry a large portion on +their persons. The mamma, ample, black-eyed, fresh-coloured, and +brocaded, with an extremely natural wig. The eldest daughter, Mary, +with whom I had afterwards reason to be better acquainted, pale, +languid, very quiet, and low-toned, with fine eyes, and soft dark +hair, and what people call an _interesting_ look. She took the +sentimental line--was all feeling and poetry, and milk and water, and +as easily frightened as she was reassured again. The younger girl, +Jane, was the very reverse of her sister--short and dark and +energetic, rather blue, and I thought a little impudent; however, I +liked her the best of the two. Then came Sir Guy and Lady Scapegrace. +The Baronet, a stout, square, elderly man, with enormous dyed whiskers +and hair to match, combining as much as possible the manners of the +coachman with the morals of the _roué_. A tremendous dandy of the +Four-in-hand Club school--high neckcloth, huge pins, gorgeous +patterns, enormous buttons, and a flower in his mouth. His lady as +handsome as a star, though a little hollow-eyed and _passée_. She +looked like a tragedy queen, with her magnificent figure, and long +black hair, and fierce flashing eyes, and woe-begone expression, and +the black velvet ribbon with its diamond cross, which she always wore +round her neck. Ah me! what stories that diamond-cross could tell, if +all be true that we hear of Lady Scapegrace! A girl sold for money, to +become a rebellious wife to an unfeeling husband. A handsome young +cousin, who cut his own throat in despair--they brought it in +temporary insanity, of course. An elopement with a gallant Major to +the south of France, and a duel there, in which the Major was shot, +but not by Sir Guy; an English lady of rank travelling on the +Continent, independent and alone, breaking banks in all directions +with her luck and hearts with her beauty; a reconciliation, entirely +for money considerations, which drove another far less erring woman +into a madhouse (but that was Sir Guy's fault); and a darker tale +still of a certain potion prepared by her hand, which the Baronet was +prevented from swallowing only by his invariable habit of +contradicting his wife on all points, and which the lady herself had +the effrontery to boast "would have settled all accounts." Not a word +of truth in any of these stories probably; but still, such is the +character the world's good nature affixes to that dark handsome woman +at whom Cousin John seems so very much alarmed. + +Then there was an elderly Miss Minnows, who was horribly afraid of +catching cold, but in whose character I could perceive no other very +salient point; and a fair-haired young gentleman, whose name I did not +distinctly catch, and who looked as if he ought to have been at +school, where, indeed, I think he would have been much happier; and +sundry regular stereotyped London men and women, well bred and well +dressed, and cool and composed, and altogether thoroughly respectable +and stupid; and a famous author, who drank a great deal of wine, and +never opened his lips to speak; and I think that was all--no, +by-the-bye, there was Captain Lovell, who came very late, and we went +soberly into Richmond Park, and dined under a tree. + +I do not think I quite like a picnic. It is all very well, like most +other arrangements, if everything goes right; but I sat between Sir Guy +Scapegrace and the light-haired young gentleman, and although I could +hear lots of fun going on at the other end of the tablecloth, where +Cousin John and Mary Molasses and Captain Lovell had got together, I +was too far off to partake of it, and my _vis-à-vis_, Lady Scapegrace, +scowled at me so from under her black eyebrows, though I believe +utterly unconsciously, that she made me feel quite nervous. Then it was +not reassuring to have that odious Sir Guy pressing me to eat +everything, and looking right under my bonnet, and asking me to drink +champagne at least four times; and if I turned to my other neighbour, +and ventured to address him on the most commonplace subject, he blushed +so painfully that I began to think he was quite as much afraid of me as +I was of Sir Guy. Altogether I was rather glad when the things were +cleared away and put back into the hampers, and the gentlemen asked +leave to light their cigars, and we broke up our circle, and lounged +about and enjoyed ourselves in the shade of those fine trees on that +dry velvet sward. We were rather put to it though for amusement, and +had to propose games of forfeits and other pastimes; and Cousin John, +quite unwittingly, got me into a sad scrape by boasting about his +horses. "Not such another pair out of London to-day," expatiated John +to the company in general. "We came down in seven minutes under the +hour from my aunt's door in Lowndes Street; didn't we, Kate? And never +turned a hair; did we, Kate? Why, they went so smooth Kate couldn't +keep her hands off the reins; could you, Kate? And there are few better +judges, let me tell you, than Miss Coventry." I saw the ladies look at +me, and then at each other; and I knew by that indescribable glance, +which none but a woman can thoroughly appreciate, how from that moment +they had vowed, one and all, to hate me eternally in their hearts. The +offence had been committed; the sentence had gone forth. I had been +tried for being _fast_, and found guilty _nem. com._, from sneering +Lady Scapegrace to unmeaning Miss Minnows; each stared at me for about +two seconds, and so made up her mind. I cannot think why it is that +this should be so great a crime in the eyes of my own sex. Next to +being attractive to the other half of creation--and that I can easily +understand is totally unpardonable--there is nothing makes a woman so +angry with her sister as high spirits, natural courage, and above all a +love for a horse. It is very hard upon us that we should be debarred +from all out-of-door exercises and amusements by the prejudices of +those very individuals who ought to back us up in our efforts to +enlarge the circle of our amusements. I cannot see why it follows that +because I do not mind "weather," I must, therefore, be utterly +regardless of morality; nor how my knack of breaking in a horse should +imply an infraction of all the commandments. Are men the only bipeds +that can be at the same time brave and virtuous? Must pluck and piety +be for ever divorced in the female character? Shall I never be able to +keep the straight path in life because I can turn an awkward corner +with four horses at a trot? Female voices answer volubly in the +negative, and I give in. + +But odious Sir Guy thinks none the worse of me for my coaching +predilections. "Fond of driving, Miss Coventry?" says he, leering at +me from over his great choking neckcloth. "Seen _my_ team--three greys +and a piebald? If you like going _fast_ I can accommodate you. Proud +to take you back on my drag. What? Go on the box. _Drive_, if you +like. Hey!" + +I confess for one instant, much as I hated the old reprobate, I should +have liked to go, if it was only to make all the women so angry; but +just then I caught Captain Lovell's eye fixed upon me with a strange, +earnest expression, and all at once I felt that nothing should induce +me to trust myself with Sir Guy. I couldn't help blushing though as I +declined, more particularly when my would-be charioteer swore he +considered it "an engagement, hey?--only put off to another time--get +the coach new painted--begad, Miss Coventry's favourite colour!" And +the old monster grinned in my face till I could have boxed his ears. + +The author by this time was fast asleep, with a handkerchief over his +face, Miss Minnows searching in vain for a fabulous pair of clogs, as +she imagined the dew must be falling--it was about six p.m., and hot +June weather. Sir Guy was off to the hampers in search of "brandy and +soda," and the rest of the party lounging about in twos and threes, +when Captain Lovell proposed we should stroll down to the river and +have a row in the cool of the evening. Mary Molasses voted it +"charming;" Lady Scapegrace was willing to go anywhere away from Sir +Guy; John, of course, all alive for a lark; and though Mrs. Molasses +preferred remaining on dry land, she had no objection to trusting her +girls with us. So we mustered a strong party for embarkation on Father +Thames. Our two cavaliers ran forward to get the boat ready, Captain +Lovell bounding over the fences and stiles almost as actively as +Brilliant could have done; and John, who is no mean proficient at such +exercises, following him; whilst we ladies paced along soberly in the +rear. + +"Can you row, Miss Coventry?" asked Lady Scapegrace, who seemed to +have taken rather a fancy to me, probably out of contradiction to the +other women. "I can. I rowed four miles once on the Lake of Geneva," +she added in her deep, melancholy voice, "and we were caught in one of +those squalls and nearly lost. If it hadn't been for poor Alphonse, +not one of us could have escaped. I wonder if drowning's a painful +death, Miss Coventry; the water always looks so inviting." + +"Goodness, Lady Scapegrace!" exclaimed I; "don't take this opportunity +of finding out. None of us can swim but John; and if he saves anybody, +he's solemnly engaged to save _me_." + +"I quite agree with you, Lady Scapegrace," said the romantic Miss +Molasses. "It looks so peaceful, and gives one such an idea of repose. +I for one have not the slightest fear of death, or indeed of any mere +bodily changes----Gracious goodness! the bull! the bull!" + +What a rout it was! The courageous young lady who thus gave us the +first intimation of danger leading the flight with a speed and +activity of which I should have thought her languid frame totally +incapable; Lady Scapegrace making use of her long legs with an utter +forgetfulness of her usually grave and tragic demeanour; and the rest +of the party seeking safety helter-skelter. + +It was indeed a situation of some peril. Our course to the riverside +had led us through a long narrow strip of meadow-land, bounded by high +impervious thorn fences, such as I knew would be _bullfinches_ in the +winter, and which now, in all the luxuriance of summer foliage, +presented a mass of thorns and fragrance that no mortal could expect +to get through. At either end of the field was a high hog-backed +stile, such as ladies usually make considerable difficulties about +surmounting, but which are by no means so impossible of transit when +an infuriated bull is bringing up the rear. We were already a quarter +of the way across the field, when Miss Mary's exclamation made us +aware of our enemy, who had been quietly cropping the grass in a +corner behind us, but who now, roused by our gaudy dresses and the +piercing screams of some of our party, was lashing himself into a +rage, and looking sufficiently mischievous to be a very unpleasant +acquaintance. It was impossible to turn round and make for the stile +we had just left, as the bull now occupied a position exactly between +us and that place of safety; it was hopeless, particularly in our +light muslin gowns, to attempt the hedge on either side; there was +nothing for it but a fair run to the other end of the meadow, about a +quarter of a mile, and _sauve qui peut_ was now the order of the day. + +I will not allow that I am deficient in courage; on the contrary, as +Cousin John says, "I am rather proud of my pluck;" but there is +nothing so contagious as a panic, and I too ran for my very life. The +bull came galloping after us, tossing his head and rolling his great +body about as if he quite enjoyed the fun; nor do I know how the +adventure would have ended, for he must have overtaken some of us +before we could reach our haven, had not Lady Scapegrace caught her +foot in the long grass, and, falling prostrate, buried her face in her +hands, and giving herself up, as she afterwards assured me, to the +prospect of a horrible and violent death. I could not leave her in +such a situation. By an impulse for which I cannot account I stopped +short, turned round, got between the pursuer and his fallen foe, and +with a beating heart and my knees knocking together, faced the great +mischievous brute with no other weapon, offensive or defensive, than a +laced pocket handkerchief. I believe he was a well-meaning bull after +all; for instead of crashing in upon me, as I half expected he would, +and immolating me on the spot, he too stopped short, stared, bellowed, +and began sniffing the grass, and pawing up the turf, and whisking his +tail about, just as Brilliant does when he is going to lie down. I +don't think he had ever seen a young lady, certainly not a French +bonnet before, and he didn't seem to know what to make of the +combination; so there we stood, he and I staring each other out of +countenance, but without proceeding to any further extremities. I know +I have plenty of courage, for after the first minute I wasn't the +least bit afraid; I felt just as I do when I ride at a large fence--as +I get nearer and nearer I feel something rising and rising within me +that enables me to face anything; and so when I had confronted the +bull for a little time I felt inclined to carry the war into the +enemy's country, and advance upon him. But of course all this is very +indelicate and unfeminine; and it would have been far more virtuous +and lady-like to have run shrieking away like Miss Molasses, or laid +down and given in at once like poor Lady Scapegrace, who was quite +resigned to being tossed and trampled upon, and only gave vent every +now and then to a stifled moan. + +Well, at last I did advance a few steps, and the bull gave ground in +the same proportion. I began to think I should beat him after all, +when to my great relief, I must allow, I heard a voice behind me +exclaim, "By Jove, what a plucky girl!" and I thought I heard +something muttered that sounded very like "darling," but of course +that couldn't be meant for me; and Captain Lovell, hot, handsome, and +breathless, made his appearance, and soon drove our enemy into the +farthest corner of the field. As soon as the coast was clear we raised +poor Lady Scapegrace, who kissed me with tears in her eyes as she +thanked me for what she called "saving her life." I had no idea the +woman had so much feeling. Captain Lovell gave each of us an arm as we +walked on to join our party, and he explained how the screams of Miss +Molasses had reached him even at the riverside, and how he had turned +and hastened back immediately, "Fortunately in time to be of some use. +But I never saw a finer thing done, Miss Coventry; if I live to a +hundred I shall never forget it;" and he looked as if he would have +added, "or you either." + +Many were the exclamations, and much the conversation created by our +adventure. The ladies who had run away so gallantly were of course too +much agitated for the proposed boating excursion; so after sundry +restoratives at the hotel we ordered the carriages to return to town. +Cousin John gave "Frank" (as he calls him) a place in the back seat of +his phaeton, and he leaned over and talked to me the whole way home. +What a pleasant drive it was in the moonlight, and how happy I felt! I +was really sorry when we got back to London. Frank seemed quite +anxious to make Aunt Deborah's acquaintance; and I thought I shouldn't +wonder if he was to call in Lowndes Street very soon. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +When Aunt Deborah is laid up with one of _her_ colds she always has a +wonderful accession of "propriety" accompanying the disorder; and that +which would appear to her at the worst a harmless _escapade_ when in +her usual health and spirits becomes a crime of the blackest dye when +seen through the medium of barley-broth and water-gruel--these being +Aunt Deborah's infallible remedies for a catarrh. Now, the cold in +question had lasted its victim over the Ascot meeting, over our picnic +to Richmond, and bade fair to give her employment during the greater +part of the summer, so obstinate was the enemy when he had once +possessed himself of the citadel; and under these circumstances I +confess it appeared to me quite hopeless to ask her permission to +accompany Cousin John on a long-promised expedition to Hampton Races. +I did not dare make the request myself; and I own I had great +misgivings, even when I overheard from my boudoir the all-powerful +John preferring his petition, which he did with a sort of abrupt good +humour peculiarly his own. + +"Going to take Kate out for another lark, aunt, if you have no +objection," says John, plumping down into an armchair, and forthwith +proceeding to entangle Aunt Deborah's knitting into the most hopeless +confusion. "Only some quiet races near town; all amongst ourselves, +you know--gentlemen riders, and that sort of thing." + +Aunt Deborah, who is a good deal behindhand in all matters connected +with the turf, and who has set her face into a determined refusal when +she hears the word "racing," rather relaxes at the mention of +"_gentlemen_ riders," and replies gravely, "John, I want to talk to +you about Kate. The girl's wild after horses and hounds and all such +unfeminine pursuits. I wonder you like to see it yourself, my dear. +Now, don't you think it would be far better to encourage her in +domestic tastes and amusements? I give you my word, she hasn't done a +bit of worsted-work for a fortnight." + +John's face must have been good at this piece of intelligence; if +there is one thing he hates more than another it is "cross-stitch." +But he replied with exemplary gravity that "Cousin Kate never was +strong, you know, aunt, and she is ordered to be a good deal in the +open air, with plenty of horse exercise; and this is delightful +weather for riding." + +"Well, John," says Aunt Deborah, "of course, if you don't mind it, I +needn't; you'll be the sufferer, my dear, not I" (I wonder what she +meant by that?); "and I must let her go if you choose to take her, +John. How like your father you're growing, my handsome boy!" and Aunt +Deborah kissed Cousin John on the forehead, with tears in her eyes; +and they called to me to get ready, and the horses came round, and in +less than ten minutes we were up and away. + +It was very gratifying to overhear the complimentary remarks made upon +the general appearance of White Stockings, whom I had ridden down to +save Brilliant, and who, despite his ugliness, is a very +hunting-looking horse. + +"Looks a game 'un, don't he, squire?" remarked a jolly-looking Surrey +farmer in top-boots to a dilapidated friend in a white neckcloth. +"Shouldn't wonder if he couldn't kick the dirt in some of their faces, +with that tight lass to keep his head straight." The friend was a +melancholy man, and nodded his silent affirmative with a sigh. I +think, early as it was, they had both been drinking. + +"Look at that chestnut horse!" exclaimed a good-looking boy of some +twenty summers, who had coached his own drag down, like a second +Phaethon, only as yet with better luck, and was now smoking a huge +cigar on its roof. "Isn't he the image of old Paleface? Who's the +woman, eh? Does nobody know her? I'll ask her to come and sit up here. +She looks like a lady, too," he added, checking himself. "Never mind, +here goes!" And he was jumping off the coach, to tender me, I presume, +his polite invitation in person, when his arm was caught by the man +next him, who was no other than John's friend, Captain Lovell. + +"Charley, stop!" exclaimed Frank, flushing all over his handsome face +and temples. "I know her, I tell you. Have a care; it's Miss +Coventry." And in another instant he had bounded to the earth, +accosted my _chaperon_ with a hearty "Jack, how goes it?" and was deep +in conversation with my humble self, with his hand on my horse's +neck--Frank always wears such good gloves--and his pleasant +countenance beaming with delight at our chance interview. I liked the +races better after this, and should have spent a happier day, perhaps, +without the society of Mrs. Lumley, who appeared likewise on +horseback, quite unexpectedly, and was riding the most beautiful brown +mare I ever saw in my life. I quite wished I had brought down +Brilliant, if only to have met her on more equal terms. As we were the +only two ladies on horseback, of course we were obliged to fraternize +(if the weaker sex may use such an expression), as, indeed, we must +have done had we been the bitterest foes on earth, instead of merely +hating each other with common civility. Mrs. Lumley seemed on +particularly good terms with Frank Lovell--I do not know that I liked +her any the better for that--and expressed her sentiments and opinions +to the world in general with a vivacity and freedom peculiarly her +own. + +"I am out on 'the sly,' you know," she observed with an arch smile. "I +have a good, quiet aunt who lives down at Richmond, and I do penance +there for a time, whenever I have been more than usually wicked; but +to-day I could not resist the fine weather and the crowd and the fun, +and above all the bad company, which amuses me more than all the rest +put together, though I do not include you, Miss Coventry, nor yet Mr. +Jones, but I am afraid I must Captain Lovell. Come, let's ride amongst +the carriages and see the ninnies." + +So Mrs. Lumley and I plunged into the crowd, leaving Frank to return +to his drag and his betting-book, and Cousin John somewhat +discontentedly to bring up the rear. + +"After all, I don't see much harm in Hampton," said my lively guide as +we threaded our way between the carriages, "though, to be sure, there +are some very queer-looking people on the course. I could tell you +strange stories of most of them, Miss Coventry, only you wouldn't +believe me. Do you see that old, plainish woman, with such black hair +and eyebrows--something like Lady Scapegrace, only not so handsome as +my favourite enemy? Would you believe it, she might marry three +coronets at this moment if she chose, and she won't have any one of +them. She is not good-looking, you can see; she can scarcely write her +own name. She has no conversation, I happen to know, for I met her +once at dinner, and she cannot by any chance put an 'H' into its right +place. Yet men see something in her that is totally inexplicable to +us, and she seems to have a mysterious influence over all ages and all +sorts. One of these infatuated noblemen is decrepit and twaddling; the +other a stern, reserved man that up to forty years of age was supposed +to be the very impersonation of common sense; and the third, young, +clever, and handsome, a man that might marry half the nicest women in +England if he liked. And why, do you think, she won't pick and choose +from such a trio? Why, forsooth, because she has set her stupid heart +on a drunken stockbroker, who won't have a word to say to her, and +would have been here to-day, I have no doubt, if he hadn't been afraid +of meeting _her_. Well, there's a stranger story than _that_ about the +girl with long fair hair in the next carriage. You can see her now, in +a pink bonnet, drinking sherry and soda water. It is supposed that she +is old Goldfinch's daughter, and that he won't give her a farthing; +but I know somebody who knows his lawyer, and that girl _will_ have +half a million, if she don't drink herself to death before old +Goldfinch takes his departure from this wicked world. She is beautiful +and clever and accomplished, and all the young men are in love with +her; but she cannot keep sober, and in three years' time she will have +lost her youth and her health and her faculties, and in all +probability will finish in a madhouse. There's Frank Lovell making +fierce love to her now." + +And as Mrs. Lumley concluded with this amiable remark, I looked round +for Cousin John, and rode away from her in disgust at her flippancy, +and sick at heart to think of such a man as Captain Lovell wasting his +smiles on such a creature. To be sure, he only said three words to +her, for when I looked round again at the carriage he was gone. There +is something very amusing to me in the bustle of a racecourse; and +yet, after talking to Mrs. Lumley, the gloss seemed to be only on the +surface. She had told me enough of the company to make me fancy there +must be some strange history belonging to each. Like the man that saw +through the roofs of the houses in Madrid, thanks to the agency of his +familiar, I thought that my demon on a side-saddle had taught me to +see into the very hearts and secrets of the motley assemblage. + +There was a handsome girl, with beautiful teeth and neatly-braided +hair and such a brilliant smile, attracting a crowd round her as she +sang piquant songs in a sweet, deep-toned voice that ought to have +made her fortune on the stage if it had been properly cultivated--sang +them, too, with a look and manner that I have seen seldom rivalled by +the cleverest actresses; and I thought what a face and form were +wasted here to make profit for one knave and sport for some fifty +fools. As she accompanied herself on the harp, and touched its strings +with a grace and expression which made amends for a certain want of +tuition, I could not help fancying her in a drawing-room, surrounded +by admirers, making many a heart ache with her arch smile and winning +ways. Without being _positively_ beautiful, she had the knack so few +women possess of looking charming in every attitude and with every +expression of countenance; and although her songs were of a somewhat +florid school, yet I could not help thinking that, with those natural +gifts and a plaintive old ballad, English or Scotch, such as "Annie +Laurie" or "The Nut-brown Maid" to bring them out, in a pretty +drawing-room, with the assistance of a good dressmaker--dear! she +might marry a duke if she liked. + +And yet all this belonged to a dark, close-shaved ruffian, with silver +rings and a yellow handkerchief, who scowled and prowled about her, +and looked as if he was likely enough to beat her when they got home. +But she hands up an ivory bowl for contributions amongst the young +dandies on the roof of a neighbouring coach, who have been listening +open-mouthed to the siren, and shillings and half-crowns, and a bit of +gold from the one last out of the Bench, pour into it; and she moves +off, to make way for three French glee-maidens with a monkey and a +tambourine, and the swells return to their cigars and their betting, +and we are all attention for the next event on the card, because it is +a gentlemen-riders' race; and the performances will consequently be as +different as possible from what we have just seen. + +"We'll secure a good place for this, Kate," says Cousin John, edging +his horse in as near the judges' stand as he can get. "Frank Lovell +has a mare to run, and I have backed her for a sovereign." + +"Dear, I hope she'll win!" is my ardent rejoinder. + +"Thank you, Kate," says kind Cousin John, who concludes I take an +unusual interest in his speculations; and forthwith we proceed to +criticize the three animals brought to the post, and to agree that +Captain Lovell's Parachute is far the best-looking of the lot; or, as +Sir Guy Scapegrace says to the well-pleased owner, "If make and shape +go for anything, Frank, she ought to beat them, as far as they can +see." + +Sir Guy is _chaperoning_ a strange-looking party of men and women, who +have been very noisy since luncheon-time. He is attired in a +close-shaved hat (which he had the effrontery to take off to me, but I +looked the other way), a white coat, and a red neckcloth, the usual +flower in his mouth being replaced for the occasion by a large cigar. +Captain Lovell hopes "I admire his mare--she has a look of Brilliant +from here, Miss Coventry. 'Baby Larkins' of the Lancers is to ride; +and The Baby will do her justice if any one can. He's far the best of +the young ones now." + +"Do you mean his name is 'Baby'?" said I, much amused, "or that you +call him so because he is such a child? He looks as if he ought to be +with mamma still." "We always call him 'Baby' in the Lancers," +explained Frank, "because he joined us so very _young_. He is +nineteen, though you would guess him about twelve; but he's got the +brains of a man of sixty and the nerves of a giant. Ah! Parachute, you +may kick, old girl, but you won't get rid of _that_ child!" + +And sure enough "The Baby" sat like a rock, with a grim smile, and +preserving throughout a silence and _sang froid_ which nothing seemed +able to overcome. Two more seedy-looking animals made up the entry. +The lamer one of the two was ridden by a stout major with a redundancy +of moustaches, the other by a lanky cornet of Heavy Dragoons, who +seemed not to know where on earth to dispose of his arms and legs, +besides finding his cap somewhat in his way, and being much +embarrassed with his whip. They gallop up and down before starting, +till I wonder how any galloping can be left for the race; and after a +futile attempt or two they get away, The Baby making strong running, +the stout Major waiting closely upon his infantine antagonist, while +the long cornet, looming like a windmill in the distance, brings up +the rear. + +"Parachute still making running," says John, standing erect in his +stirrups, his honest face beaming with excitement. "Woa, horse!--Stand +still, White-Stockings--now they reach the turn, and The Baby takes a +pull--Gad, old Ganymede's coming up. Well done, Major--no, the old +one's flogging. Parachute wins. Now, Baby!--now Major--the horse!--the +mare!--Best race I ever saw in my life--a dead heat--Ha! ha! ha!" The +latter explosion of mirth is due to the procrastinated arrival of the +long cornet, who flogs and works as religiously home as if he had a +hundred more behind him, and who reaches the weighing enclosure in +time to ascertain with his own eyes that Ganymede has won, the lame +plater who rejoices in that classical appellation having struggled +home first by a head, "notwithstanding," as the sporting papers +afterwards expressed themselves, "the judicious riding and beautiful +finish of that promising young jockey, Mr. B. Larkins." The Baby +himself, however, is unmoved as usual, nodding to Parachute's +disappointed owner without moving a muscle of his countenance. He +merely remarks, "Short of work, Frank. Told you so afore I got up," +and putting on a tiny white overcoat like a plaything, disappears, and +is seen no more. + +What a confusion there is in getting away! Sir Guy Scapegrace has a +yearly bet with young Phaethon, who wanted to invite me on his box, as +to which shall get first to Kensington on their way back to town. You +would suppose Sir Guy was very happy at home by his anxiety to be off. +The two drags are soon bumping and rolling and rattling along the +sward. The narrow lane through which they must make their way is +completely blocked up with spring-vans, and tax-carts, and open +carriages, and shut carriages, and broughams, and landaus, and every +description of vehicle that ever came out of Long Acre; whilst more +four-horse coaches, with fast teams and still faster loads, are +thundering in the rear. Slang reigns supreme; and John Gilpin's +friend, who had a "ready wit," would here meet with his match. Nor are +jest and repartee (what John calls "chaff") the only missiles bandied +about. Toys, knocked off "the sticks" for the purpose, darken the air +as they fly from one vehicle to another, and the broadside from a +well-supplied coach is like that of a seventy-four. Fun and +good-humour abound, but confusion gets worse confounded. Young +Phaethon's wheel is locked with a market-gardener's, who is +accompanied by two sisters-in-law and the suitors of those nowise +disconcerted damsels, all more or less intoxicated. Thriftless has his +near leader in the back-seat of a pony-carriage, and Sir Guy's +off-wheeler is over the pole. John and I agree to make a detour, have +a pleasant ride in the country, never mind about dinner, and so get +back to London by moonlight. As we reach a quiet, sequestered lane, +and inhale the pleasant fragrance of the hawthorn--always sweetest +towards nightfall--we hear a horse's tramp behind us, and are joined +by Frank Lovell, who explains with unnecessary distinctness that "he +always makes a practice of _riding back_ from Hampton to avoid the +crowd, and always comes _that_ way." If so, he must be in the habit of +taking a considerable detour. But he joins our party, and we ride home +together. + +How beautifully the moon shone upon the river as we crossed Kew Bridge +that calm, silent, summer night! How it flickered through their +branches and silvered over the old trees, and what a peaceful, lovely +landscape it was! I thought Frank's low, sweet voice quite in keeping +with the time and the scene. As we rode together, John lagging a good +deal behind (that bay horse of John's never _could_ walk with White +Stockings), I could not help thinking how much I had misunderstood +Captain Lovell's character. What a deal of feeling--almost of +romance--there was under that conventional exterior which he wore +before the world! I liked him so much more now I came to know him +better. I was quite sorry when we had to wish him "good-night" and +John and I rode thoughtfully home through the quiet streets. I thought +my cousin's manner was altered too, though I scarce knew how. His +farewell sounded more constrained, more polite than usual, when he +left me at Aunt Deborah's door. And whilst I was undressing I +reflected on all the proceedings of the day, and tried to remember +what I had done that could possibly have displeased good-natured John. +The more I went over it, backwards and forwards, the less could I make +of it. "Can it be possible," I thought at last; "can it be possible +that Cousin John----" And here I popped out my candle and jumped into +bed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +I really had not courage to take my usual canter the morning after +Hampton Races. I did not feel as if I could face the umbrella and the +cigar at the rails in "the Ride," and yet I rang the bell once for my +maid to help me on with my habit, and had my hand on it more than once +to order my horse; but I thought better of it. Poor Aunt Deborah's +cold was still bad, though she was downstairs; so I determined to take +care of her, in common gratitude, and give her the advantage of my +agreeable society. I am very fond of Aunt Deborah in my own way, and I +know there is nothing she likes so much as a "quiet morning with +Kate." + +The hours passed off rather slowly till luncheon-time. I did forty-two +stitches of worsted-work--I never do more than fifty at a time, unless +it's "grounding"--and I got off Hannah More because Aunt Deborah was +too hoarse to read to _me_, and I really cannot read that excellent +work to _her_ without laughing; but I thought luncheon never would be +ready, and when it did come I couldn't eat any. However, I went +upstairs afterwards, and smoothed my hair and set my collar straight, +and was glad to hear Aunt Deborah give her usual order that she was +"at home" with her usual solemnity. I had not been ten minutes in the +drawing-room before a knock at the door brought my heart into my +mouth, and our tragic footman announced "Captain Lovell" in his most +tragic voice. In marched Frank, who had never set eyes on my aunt in +his life, and shook hands with _me_, and made _her_ a very low bow, +with a degree of effrontery that nothing but a _man_ could ever have +been capable of assuming. Aunt Deborah drew herself up--and she really +is very formidable when she gets on her _high horse_--and looked first +at me, and then at Frank, and then at me again; and I blushed like a +fool, and hesitated, and introduced "Captain Lovell" to "My aunt, Miss +Horsingham!" and I didn't the least know what to do next, and had a +great mind to make a bolt for it and run upstairs. But our visitor +seemed to have no misgivings whatever, and smoothed his hat and talked +about the weather as if he had known us all from childhood. I have +often remarked that if you only deprive a man of the free use of his +hands there is no difficulty which he is unable to face. Give him +something to handle and keep fidgeting at, and he seems immediately to +be in his element, never mind what it is--a paper-knife and a book to +open, or a flower to pull in pieces, or a pair of scissors and a bit +of thread to snip, or even the end of a stick to suck--and he draws +inspiration, and what is more to the purpose, _conversation_, from any +and all of these sources. + +But let him have his hands entirely to himself, give him nothing to +"lay hold of," and he is completely dumbfoundered on the spot. Here +was Frank brushing and smoothing away at his hat till it shone like +black satin, and facing my aunt with a gallantry and steadiness beyond +all praise; but I believe if I could have snatched it away from him +and hid it under the sofa, he would have been routed at once, and must +have fled in utter bewilderment and dismay. After my aunt had replied +courteously enough to a few commonplace observations, she gave one of +her ominous coughs, and I trembled for the result. + +"Captain _Beville_," said my aunt. "I think I once knew a family of +your name in Hampshire--the New Forest, if I remember rightly." + +"Excuse me," said Frank, nowise disconcerted, and with a sly glance at +me, "my name is Lovell." + +"Oh," replied my aunt, with a considerable assumption of stateliness, +"then--ahem!--Captain _Greville_, I don't think I have ever had the +pleasure of meeting you before." + +And my aunt looked as if she didn't care whether she ever met him +again. This would have been a "poser" to most people; but Frank +applied himself diligently to his hat, and opened the trenches in his +own way. + +"The fact is, Miss Horsingham," said he, "that I have taken advantage +of my intimacy with your nephew to call upon you without a previous +introduction, in hopes of ascertaining what has become of an old +brother officer of mine, a namesake of yours, and consequently, I +should conclude, a relative. There is, I believe, only one family in +England of your name. Excuse me, Miss Horsingham, for so personal a +remark, but I am convinced he must have been a near connection from a +peculiarity which every one who knows anything about our old English +families is aware belongs to yours: my poor friend Charlie had a +beautiful 'hand.' _You_, madame, I perceive, own the same advantage; +therefore I am convinced you must be a near connection of my old +comrade. You may think me impertinent, but there is no mistaking 'the +Horsingham hand.'" + +Aunt Deborah gave in at once. + +"I cannot call to mind at this moment any relative of mine who is +likely to have served with you" (nor was this to be wondered at, the +warrior _aux blanches mains_ being a fabulous creation of wicked +Frank); "but I have no doubt, Captain Lovell, that you are correct. I +have great pleasure in making your acquaintance, particularly as you +seem well acquainted with our belongings. Do you stay any length of +time in town?" + +"I seldom remain till the end of the season; but this year I think I +shall. By the way, Miss Horsingham, I saw a curious old picture the +other day in the West of England, purporting to be a portrait of the +celebrated 'Ysonde of Brittany, with the White Hand,' in which I +traced a strong resemblance to some of the Horsinghams, with whom I am +acquainted. Yours is, I believe, an old Norman family; and as I am a +bit of an antiquary" (O Frank, Frank!), "I consulted my friend Sir J. +Burke on the subject, who assures me that the 'Le Montants'--Godfrey +le Montant, if you remember, distinguished himself highly in the +second crusade--that the Le Montants claimed direct descent from the +old Dukes of Brittany, and consequently from the very lady of whom we +are speaking. Roger le Montant came over with the Conqueror, and +although strangely omitted from the Roll of Battle Abbey, doubtless +received large grants of land in Hampshire from William; and two +generations later we can trace his descendant, Hugo, in the same +locality, under the Anglicized name of Horsengem, now corrupted to +Horsingham, of which illustrious family you are, of course, aware +yours is a younger branch. It is curious that the distinguishing mark +of the race should have been preserved in all its shapely beauty," +added Frank, with the gravest face possible, and glancing at the +lavender kids, "through so many changes and so many successive +generations." + +Aunt Deborah was delighted. "Such a clever young man, my dear!" she +said to me afterwards. "Such manners! such a voice! _quite_ one of the +old school--evidently well-bred, and with that respect for good blood +which in these days, I regret to say, is fast becoming obsolete. Kate, +I like him vastly!" + +In the meantime she entered freely into conversation with our visitor; +and before he went away--by which time his hat looked as if it had +been ironed--"she hoped he would call again; she was always at home +till two o'clock, and trusted to have the pleasure of his company at +dinner as soon as she was well enough to get anybody to meet him." + +So Frank went off to ride in the Park on the neatest possible brown +hack; for I saw him quite plainly trot round the corner as I went into +the balcony to water my poor geraniums. + +Well, I waited and waited, and John never came for me, as was his +usual habit; and I began to think I must lose my ride, for I am not +allowed to go by myself in the afternoons; and at last I was obliged +to coax Aunt Deborah to take me out in the open carriage, for it was a +beautiful day, and it would be just the thing for her cold. So we went +dowagering about, and shopped in Bond Street, and looked at some lace +in Regent Street, and left cards for Lady Horsingham, as in duty +bound, after helping her to "make a good ball;" and then we went into +the Ring, and I looked and looked everywhere, but I could not see +anything like Frank or his brown hack. To be sure the Ride was as +crowded as a fair. But I _did_ see Cousin John, and I _must_ say it +was too bad of him to keep me waiting and watching all the afternoon, +and then never to take the trouble of sending a note or a message, but +to start off by himself and escort Miss Molasses, as if he was her +brother _at least_, if not a nearer relation. Miss Molasses, forsooth, +with her lackadaisical ways and her sentimental nonsense; and that +goose John taking it all in open-mouthed, as if she was an angel upon +earth. Well, at all events she don't _ride_ like me. Such a figure _I_ +never saw on a horse!--all on one side, like the handle of a teapot, +bumping when she trots and wobbling when she canters, with braiding +all over her habit, and a _white_ feather in her hat, and gauntlet +gloves (_of course_ one may wear gauntlet gloves for hunting, but +_that's_ not London), and her sallow face. People call her +interesting, but _I_ call her _bilious_. And a wretched long-legged +Rosinante, with _round_ reins and tassels, and a netting over its +ears, and a head like a fiddle-case, and no more action than a +camp-stool. Such a couple I never beheld. I wonder John wasn't ashamed +to be seen with her, instead of leaning his hand upon her horse's +neck, and looking up in her face with his broad, honest smile, and +taking no more notice of her sister Jane, who is a clever girl, with +something in her, than if she had been the groom. I was provoked with +him beyond all patience. Had it been Mrs. Lumley, for instance, I +could have understood it; for she certainly is a chatty, amusing +woman, though dreadfully _bold_, and it is a pleasure to see her +canter up the Park in her close-fitting habit and her neat hat, with +her beautiful round figure swaying gracefully to every motion of her +horse, yet so imperceptibly that you could fancy she might balance a +glassful of water on her head without spilling a drop. To say nothing +of the brown mare, the only animal in London I covet, who is herself a +picture. Such action! such a mouth! and such a shape! I coaxed Aunt +Deborah to wait near Apsley House, on purpose that we might see her +before we left the Park. And sure enough we did see her, as usual +surrounded by a swarm of admirers; and next to her--positively next to +her--Frank Lovell, on the very brown hack that had been standing an +hour at our door. He saw me too, and took his hat off; and she said +something to him, and they both laughed! + +I asked Aunt Deborah to go home, for it was getting late, and the +evening air was not very good for her poor cold. I did not feel well +myself somehow; and when dear aunty told me I looked pale, I was +forced to confess to a slight headache. I am not subject to low +spirits generally--I have no patience with a woman that is--but of +course one is sometimes a "little out of sorts;" and I confess I did +not feel quite up to the mark that evening, I cannot tell why. If John +flatters himself it was because he behaved so brutally in +disappointing me, he is very much mistaken; and as for Captain Lovell, +I am sure he may ride with anybody he likes for what I care. I wonder, +with all his cleverness, he can't see how that woman is only laughing +at him. However, it's no business of mine. So I went into my boudoir, +drank some tea, and then locked myself in and had a "good cry." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +It is wonderful how soon the London season comes to an end; and, in +fact, it is difficult to say when its tide is really at the flood. +Single men--and they are necessary ingredients for gaiety wherever +there are young ladies--single men seldom go to town much before the +Derby. Then comes Ascot, for which meeting they leave the metropolis, +and enjoy some quiet retreat in the neighbourhood of Windsor, taking +with them many potables and what _they_ call a "dog cook." After Ascot +people begin to think about going away, and before you know where you +are three more weeks have elapsed, and it is July. Dear, what a +scatter there is then!--some off to Norway, some to Cowes, some to +Caithness, and some to Galway. Those that remain for Goodwood are sure +to go to Newmarket; and the man who sticks religiously to the +pavement, and resists the allurements of all the above-mentioned +resorts, only does so because he is meditating a trip to California, +Kamtschatka, or the Rocky Mountains, and is so preoccupied with +portable soup, patent saddle-bags, bowie-knives, and revolvers that he +might just as well be at his ultimate destination in person for all +the benefit one gets from his society. I confess I don't like the end +of the season. You keep on trying to be gay, whilst your friends are +dropping off and disappearing one by one. Like the survivor in some +horrid pestilence, you know your time must come too; but you shut your +eyes to the certainty, and greet every fresh departure with a gaiety +more forced and a smile more and more hopeless. + +Well, _my_ London season too was drawing to its close, and I confess I +had enjoyed it very much. What with my morning gallops and afternoon +saunters (for John had returned to his allegiance, and came to take me +out regularly, although he always joined Miss Molasses' party when he +got into the Park); what with Aunt Deborah's tiresome cold, which +obliged me to go about a good deal by myself, and the agreeable +society of Frank Lovell, who never missed an opportunity of being with +us, I had been very happy, and I was quite sorry to think it was all +so soon to come to an end. John was already talking of a fishing +excursion to Norway, and actually proposed that I should accompany +him; an arrangement which Aunt Deborah declared "was totally +impracticable," and which I confess I do not myself think would have +been a very good plan. I had made several pleasant acquaintances, +amongst whom I may number Lady Scapegrace--that much-maligned dame +having taken a great fancy to me ever after the affair of the bull, +and proving, when I came to know her better, a very different person +from what the world gave her credit for being. With all her +faults--the chief of which were an uncontrollable temper and much too +strong feelings for the nineteenth century--she had a warm, +affectionate heart, and was altogether an energetic, straightforward +woman, very much in earnest, whether for good or evil. But there was +one thing that vexed me considerably amongst all my regrets for past +pleasures and castles in the air for the future, and this was the +conduct of Captain Lovell. What did he mean? I couldn't make him out +at all. One day calling on my aunt at eleven in the morning, and +staying to luncheon, and making himself so agreeable to _her_, and +bringing bouquets of the loveliest flowers (which I know came from +Harding's or else direct from Covent Garden) to _me_; and then going +away as if he had fifty more things to say, and lingering over his +farewell as if he was on the eve of departure for China instead of +Mayfair, and joining me again in the Park, and asking me if I was +going to the Opera, and finding out all my engagements and intentions, +as if he couldn't possibly live five minutes out of my sight; and +then, perhaps, never coming near us for days together, till even my +aunt "wondered what had become of that pleasant Captain Lovell;" and +when he met me in the Park, taking off his hat with a civil bow, as if +he had only been introduced the night before. All this I couldn't make +out, and I didn't half like, as I told Lady Scapegrace one hot +morning, sitting with her in her boudoir. I was a good deal at Lady +Scapegrace's now, and the more so because that was the place of all +others at which I was least likely to meet Sir Guy. "Men are so +uncertain, my dear," said her ladyship, sitting in a morning +deshabille, with her long black hair combed straight out over her +shoulders and reaching nearly to her knees. "If you ask me candidly +whether he _means_ anything, I tell you I think Frank Lovell a +shocking flirt." "_Flirt!_" I replied, half crying with vexation. +"It's time enough for him to _flirt_ with me when I give him any +encouragement. But I don't, Lady Scapegrace, and I never will. I hope +I'm too proud for that. Only when a man is always in _one's pocket_ +wherever one goes; when he sends one bouquets, and rides out in the +rain to get one's bracelet mended, and watches one from a corner of +the room if one happens to be dancing with anybody else, and looks +pleased when one is dull and cross when one laughs--why, he either +does prefer, or ought to prefer, one's society to that of Miss +Molasses and Mrs. Lumley, and that is why I tell you I can't quite +make out Captain Lovell." + +"Don't talk of that odious woman," exclaimed Lady Scapegrace, between +whom and Mrs. Lumley there was a polite feud of some years' standing. +"She is ready and willing to jump down Frank Lovell's throat, or any +one else's for the matter of that, so bold as she is, and so utterly +regardless--such stories, my dear. But take my advice, Kate: play that +cheerful cousin of yours against Master Frank. I never knew it fail +yet if you only go the right way to work. Men are not only very vain, +but very jealous. Don't let him think you are going _to marry_ your +cousin, or he may consider it a capital arrangement and a sort of +matter-of-course affair, which is all in his favour. Men like Frank +always prefer other people's property, and I have no doubt he would be +over head and ears in love with you if you were not single. So don't +be going to marry Mr. Jones, but just appeal to him about every +earthly thing you do or say, look after him when he leaves the room, +as if you couldn't bear him out of your sight. Get Frank to abuse him +if you can, and then fight his battles fiercely; and directly the +latter thinks there is a rival in the field he will be down on his +knees, you mark my words, in two days' time at the furthest. I think I +ought to know what men are, my dear" (and to do Lady Scapegrace +justice, she had studied that variety of the creation to some purpose, +or she was much maligned). "I know that they can't, any of them, see +three yards before their noses, and that you can turn and twist them +which way you will if you only go upon this principle--that they are +full of vanity and self-conceit, and totally deficient in brains." + +"But I'm sure Captain Lovell's a clever man," said I, not disposed to +come to quite such sweeping conclusions as those of my monitress; +"and--and--I don't mean to say that I _care_ about him, Lady +Scapegrace, but still it mightn't answer with _him_, and--and--I +shouldn't like to lose him altogether." + +"Pooh! Lose him! Fiddlestick!" rejoined her ladyship. "You'll see. He +is to join our party at Greenwich this afternoon. By the way, when Sir +Guy heard you were coming, he proposed to drive us all down on that +horrid coach. But I told him we should be taken for the people that +_usually_ occupy it, and nothing should induce me to go; so that plan +was given up. But you and I will go down in the barouche, and I'll +call for you, and we'll take Mr. Jones with us. And mind you're very +civil to him, and only notice the other in a quiet, good-humoured +way--for he mustn't think you do it out of pique--and before the +whitebait is on the table you'll see he'll be a different man. But now +you must go--there's a dear. I'll call for you at five. It's too bad +to turn you out; but I'm never at home to any one between three and +half-past four. Good-bye, dear, good-bye." + +And Lady Scapegrace kissed me most affectionately, and promised to +call for me punctually at five, till which hour I cannot make out why +her time was always engaged. + +As I tripped downstairs, hoping to make my escape without being +attended by the whole establishment to open the house-door, whom +should I come across but odious Sir Guy, in a sort of scarlet fancy +dress, which I concluded was his morning "demi-toilette." He actually +had the effrontery to propose that I should accompany him to the +stable, and that he should then "show me _his_ boudoir--hey? You look +like a rose this morning, Miss Coventry. Should like to transplant +you. What?" And whilst he stood dodging and grinning on the stairs, I +managed to slip by him and get safe into the street. I wonder _when_ +men think they are beginning to grow old! I am sure Sir Guy fancies he +is still in the flower of his youth, and so charming that nobody can +resist him. + +What a pleasant day we had! Only we four--Lady Scapegrace, Cousin +John, Captain Lovell, and I. We went down in Lady Scapegrace's +barouche, and walked in Greenwich Park, and adjourned to a nice room +with a bay window, and such a lookout over the river, blushing rose +colour in the evening sun. And the whitebait was so good, and the +champagne-cup so nice; and we were all in such spirits, and Frank was +so kind and attentive and agreeable I couldn't find it in my heart to +be cross to him. So it ended in our making up any little imaginary +differences we may have had and becoming better friends than ever. As +we sat in the balcony over the river--the two gentlemen smoking their +after-dinner cigars, and we ladies sipping our coffee--I thought I had +never enjoyed an evening so much; and even John, who was generally +dreadfully afraid of Lady Scapegrace, became quite lively and gallant +(for him), and they laughed and talked and joked about all sorts of +things; while Frank leant over my shoulder and conversed more gravely +than was his habit; and I listened, and thought him pleasanter even +than usual. By the way, that lilac bonnet never quite lost the odour +of tobacco afterwards. + +"How quick the time passes!" said Frank, with almost a sigh. "Can't we +_do_ anything to put off horrid London and home and bed? Let's all go +to Vauxhall." + +"What do _you_ say, Mr. Jones?" inquired Lady Scapegrace, who was +always ready for a lark; "you're our _chaperon_, you know. Do you +think you can be responsible?" + +"Oh yes, John!" I exclaimed. "You promised to take me once before the +end of the season. We shall never have such another chance." + +"This is a capital night to go," remarked Frank, "because there is a +new riding-woman; and you can take a lesson, Miss Coventry, in case +you should wish to perform in public." Cousin John could not possibly +hold out against all three; and although I think in his heart he did +not entirely approve, the carriage was ordered, the bill paid, and we +were rolling along through the cool summer night _en route_ for +Vauxhall. + +"My dear," said Lady Scapegrace to me as we sidled through the +entrance of that place of amusement, and the gentlemen remained behind +to pay, "you are doing anything but what I told you; scarcely three +words have you spoken to your cousin, who, by the way, is very +pleasant. _I_ think I shall _take him up_ and improve him on my own +account; but as for you, my dear, I can see plainly it's all over with +you." + +"And you _really_ leave town to-morrow?" said Frank as we walked arm +in arm up one of those shaded alleys which lead to the "Hermit," or +the "Gipsy," or some other excuse for a _tête-à-tête_ not too much +under the lamps. By the way, why is it that a party never can keep +together at Vauxhall? Lady Scapegrace and I had particularly +stipulated that we were not to separate under any circumstances. +"Whatever happens, do let us keep together," we mutually implored at +least ten times during the first five minutes, and yet no sooner did +we pair off arm in arm than the distance began gradually to increase, +till we found ourselves in "couples," totally independent of each +other's proceedings. In this manner we saw the horsemanship, and the +acrobats, and the man with the globe, and all the other eccentricities +of the circus. I really think I could have ridden quite as nicely as +Madame Rose d'Amour had I been mounted on an equally well-broken +animal with the one which curvetted and caracoled under that +much-rouged and widely-smiling dame. They do look pretty too at a +little distance those histrionic horsewomen, with their trappings and +their spangles and their costume of Francis I. I often wonder whether +people really rode out hawking, got up so entirely regardless of +expense, in the days of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. From the +horsemanship we went to see the people dance, which they did with a +degree of vigour and hilarity such as might be introduced in a +modified form with great advantage into good society; and here we came +across Cousin John and Lady Scapegrace just in time to witness a short +and abrupt interview between the latter and Sir Guy. Yes, there was +Sir Guy, with the flower in his mouth and all, dancing, actually +_dancing_--and he can't be much less than sixty--with a little smart +lady, wearing the most brilliant colour and the blackest eyelashes and +the reddest lips and the lightest eyes I ever saw upon a human being. +The little lady, whose hair, moreover, was dressed _à l'Impératrice_, +thereby imparting additional boldness to a countenance not remarkable +for modesty, frisked and whisked round Sir Guy with a vivacity that +must have been of Parisian growth; whilst the Baronet laboured +ponderously along with true British determination, like a man who +habitually wears very thick shoes and is used to take his own time. In +the course of his evolutions he brought his foot down heavily on the +skirt of a lady's dress, and turning round to apologize found himself +face to face with his wife! To do him justice he was not the least +taken aback--anger rather than confusion seemed to be his dominant +feeling; and although he tried to smother a rising oath in a laugh, or +rather a grin, it was such a muscular contraction of the mouth as does +not give me the idea of a smile. + +"Come out for a lark too, my lady, hey?" said the Baronet, studiously +interposing his large person between "my lady" and his partner. +"Reminds one of Paris; dance with anybody, whether one knows them or +not." And Sir Guy tried to look as if he was telling the truth with +indifferent success. But Lady Scapegrace's face was a perfect study; I +never saw a countenance so expressive of scorn--intense scorn--and +yet, as it seemed to me, not so much of him as of herself. + +"I am glad you amuse yourself, Sir Guy," she said very quietly; but +her lip was as white as ashes while she spoke. "I should think this +place must suit you exactly. Mr. Jones, we shall be late for the +fireworks." And she swept on, taking no further notice of the +discomfited Sir Guy, whilst Frank and I followed in her wake, feeling +rather awkward even at witnessing this ill-timed _rencontre_. + +"And so you leave town to-morrow, Miss Coventry?" said Frank; and I +thought his voice shook a little whilst he spoke. "I shall ride down +Lowndes Street every day, and think how deserted it looks. No more +walks in the morning for _me_, no more pleasant rides in the +afternoons; I shall send my hacks home and sulk by myself, for I shall +be miserable when my friends are gone. Do you know, Miss Coventry"--I +listened, all attention; how could I tell what he might _not_ be going +to say?--"do you know that I have never had courage to ask you +something till to-night?" (Goodness! I thought, _now_ it's coming, and +my heart beat as it does when I'm going out hunting.) "I want you to +give me" (a lock of my hair, thinks I. Well, I don't know; perhaps I +may)--"I want you to give me--Miss Horsingham's receipt for making +barley-water; but I know it's a long business to write out, and I'm +afraid of being troublesome." So that was all, was it? I felt half +inclined to laugh, and more than half inclined to cry; but turning +round I was somewhat consoled to find Lady Scapegrace and her cavalier +close behind us; and I do confess I rather attributed Frank's +extremely moderate request to their immediate vicinity; there was no +opportunity, however, of renewing the subject. John had said all he +_had_ to say to his companion. John soon gets high and dry with these +smart ladies, and they seem mutually tired of each other; so we got +the carriage and took our departure, Frank pressing my hand as he bade +me farewell, and whispering, "_Au revoir_, Miss Coventry; something +tells me it won't be very long before we meet again." What _could_ he +mean? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +It was a melancholy work to glide out of London by the last train, and +to think that one's gaieties were over for that summer, and that there +was nothing to look forward to till the hunting season but Dangerfield +and Lady Horsingham, and the wearisome monotony of a regular +country-house life. Aunt Deborah and I settled ourselves comfortably +in a roomy first-class carriage, she with her knitting and I with the +last _Punch_--in which, by the way, was the portrait of a dandy, the +very image of Frank Lovell--and prepared for our journey, as ladies +generally do, by arranging multifarious outworks of smelling-bottles, +shawls, reticules, parasols, etc., without which paraphernalia no +well-bred woman can possibly travel a hundred yards. I confess I +dreaded the trip. I was too well aware by experience that a railway +always makes Aunt Deborah rather cross and me very sleepy; so I knew +what was coming, and I was not disappointed. Before we had fairly left +the outskirts of London I saw by the way in which my aunt laid down +her knitting and the ominous cough or two in which she indulged that I +was in for a lecture; and sure enough, just as we emerged on the open +fields and began to smell the fresh country air, it began. + +"Kate," said my aunt, "as we are going to a very regular and +well-conducted establishment, I think it is a good opportunity for me +to say a few words to you as regards your past conduct." + +"Good gracious, aunt!" I replied, quite frightened, "what have I +done?" + +"My dear," said my aunt, "I have seen a great deal going on lately +that I have taken no notice of; but it don't follow that I should +approve of it any more than John." + +"And what has John got to do with it, I should like to know?" I +rejoined, firing up on the instant, for such a chance of carrying the +war into the enemy's country was not to be neglected. "John, indeed! +I'm sure, aunt, John encourages me in all my _unfeminine_ pursuits, as +you call them; and if he has been telling tales or setting you against +me, I'll soon let him know what I think of such conduct. I'll soon +tell him that I'm not going to be accountable to him; indeed, that I'm +not going to----" + +"Hush, my dear," said Aunt Deborah; "there is no occasion for all this +animosity against John. After all, it is very natural, poor fellow, +that he should feel aggrieved and annoyed. There's that Captain +Lovell: I don't mean to say that he's not an agreeable, well-informed +young man, but there he is coming to see you at all hours, riding with +you in the Park, whispering to you at the Opera, bringing you new +music and _old_ china and fresh flowers, and conducting himself +altogether as if he was either your accepted suitor or mine--and I +don't think the latter very likely, Kate--whereas, you know, John----" +My aunt stopped short. The ringing of the bell and loud exclamations +of "Trotter's Heath! Trotter's Heath! All out for Sheepshanks, +Fleecyfold, and Market Muddlebury!" announced that we had arrived at +the Muddlebury Junction; and the opportune entrance into the carriage +of a stranger, who seemed extremely anxious concerning the safety of a +brace of pointers that accompanied him, effectually prevented my aunt +from proceeding with her discourse; while the dead silence which +followed the renewed puffing of the engine, and the vibration of the +train, gave me an opportunity of studying attentively the person and +features of our new fellow-traveller. + +I don't think I ever saw a man so freckled in my life. Even the backs +of his hands (for he wore no gloves--I should think didn't even know +_his number_!) were studded with spots till you could have hardly put +a pin's point on a place free from this horrid disfigurement. His +face, too, was like a plum-pudding on which the fruit had been +showered with a most liberal hand; but the features were good, and had +it not been for his red hair, a little grizzled, and his stiff red +whiskers, the bright-blue eyes and white teeth would almost have +entitled him to be considered "handsome." He had a strong, stiff-built +figure, about the middle size, well made for everything but dancing, +and large, _useful_ feet encased in the stoutest double-soled shooting +shoes. The latter articles of costume proved him at once to be a +country gentleman. Every one must have remarked this peculiarity in +that enviable class. Their attire, particularly as regards the lower +man, is invariably of a nature to defy the utmost inclemency of the +weather, and is worn totally irrespective of the season or the pursuit +in which the owner may chance to be engaged at the time. But even +independent of these tell-tales the stranger's social position was +easily enough discerned by the deference with which he was treated +"along the line," and the title of "Squire," which greeted him from +guards, porters, and book-keepers at every station we passed. + +So humane a master of dumb animals, or one so fidgety as to their +welfare, I never came across; and this, I confess, prepossessed me in +his favour. Every time the train stopped out jumped our +fellow-traveller, and off he went to a certain van containing his +treasures, from which he emerged with a very red face and a +constantly-repeated apology for disturbing me on his return to his +seat. Despite of his thick shoes and his freckles, I could see the man +was a gentleman; but, dear me, what a contrast to the smart gentlemen +I had lately been accustomed to meet! Beyond a "Beg your pardon; I +fear I'm very much in your way," accompanied by such a vivid blush as +can be performed only by a red-haired man, the Squire did not venture +on any communication either with me or my aunt; and with the latter's +lecture fresh in my mind I did not, as may be supposed, dare to take +the initiative by dropping my gloves, or pretending I couldn't pull up +the window, or any other little lady-like manoeuvre which lays the +foundation of a temporary intimacy, and often furnishes one with an +agreeable hour's conversation. I can _not_ see why one should sit +"mum" opposite the same person for miles, merely because one has never +been introduced. + +When we arrived at length at the Dangerfield Station, where Lady +Horsingham's emblazoned coach and fat horses were in waiting for us, +"the Squire," who was here treated with a deference bordering on +idolatry, got out too. He made an involuntary motion with his hand, as +though he would have taken his hat off, and wished us "good-morning;" +but his shyness got the better of him, and he disappeared from the +platform, entangled amongst his dumb favourites, with a blush that was +visible even at the back of his head, where the tips of his ears met +the rim of his white hat. As we toiled up the sandy lane leading from +Dangerfield Station to Dangerfield Park, we were overtaken by a smart, +high dogcart, drawn by a clever, raking-looking bay mare, and driven +by the owner of the freckles, the pointers, and the white hat. + +"Bachelor, my dear," said Aunt Deborah as he whisked by, "and not at +all a bad-looking man either." + +"How do you know he's a bachelor, aunt?" I naturally inquired. + +"Common-sense, my dear," replied Aunt Deborah sententiously. "I judge +of people by their belongings. No lady could get into that dogcart +without dirtying her dress against the wheel; and if he had a wife, +that handsome bay horse would go with another in her carriage instead +of his. Besides, he wouldn't be so fond of his pointers if he had +anything else to care for; and above all, Kate," added my aunt +conclusively, "his silk handkerchief wasn't hemmed, and he'd a button +wanting in the front of his shirt." + +All my life I have had a sinking at my heart when I have heard the +ring at that great Dangerfield front door bell. It was better in my +poor uncle's time, for he would have made any place lively; but since +his death the Park has relapsed into its natural solemnity, and I am +quite sure that if ever I _do_ go into a convent my sensations will be +exactly like those which I have always experienced when visiting Aunt +Horsingham. The moat alone is enough to give one the "blues;" but in +addition to that, the thick horse-chestnuts grow up to the very +windows, and dark Scotch firs shed a gloom all over the Park. +Dangerfield is one of those places that seem always to be in the +shade. How the strawberries ever ripen, or the flowers ever bloom, or +the birds ever sing there is to me a mystery. Outside there are dark +walls and yew hedges and cypresses, and here and there a copper beech, +with lawns that are never mown and copses that are never thinned, to +say nothing of that stagnant moat, with its sombre and prolific +vegetation; whilst within, black oak wainscoting, and heavy tapestry, +and winding staircases, and small, deep-set windows, and oddly-shaped +rooms, with steps at the door like going down into a bath, and doors +considerably up and down hill, and queer recesses that frighten one +out of one's wits to go into, form altogether a domicile that would +tame the wildest Merry-Andrew in a fortnight into as staid and sober +and stupid a personage as the veriest Lady Superior could desire. Aunt +Horsingham received us as usual with a freezing smile. + +"How do you do, Kate?" said she, putting two of her cold bony fingers +into my hand. "I'm afraid you will find it rather dull here after +London; but it is _wholesome_ for young people to be occasionally +sobered a little." + +Aunt Horsingham is tall and thin, with a turn-up nose, rather red at +the point, a back that never stoops, and a grim smile that never +varies. She dresses in bright colours, affecting strange and startling +contrasts, both of hues and material. Her hands are always cold and +seldom clean; and she has sundry uncomfortable notions about damping +the spirits of youth and checking the exuberance of its gaiety which +render her a perfect terror and bugbear to the rising generation. When +I was a little thing, laughing, prattling, and giggling, as children +will, an admonishing look from my aunt, with a gaunt finger held +aloft, and a cold "Kate, don't be silly, my dear," was always +sufficient to make me dull and gloomy for the rest of the day. + +I should like to know indeed why children are not to be "_silly_." Are +grown-up people always so rational in their amusements or +irreproachable in their demeanour? "Let the child alone," poor Uncle +Harry used to say; and once I overheard him mutter, "I've more +patience with a _young_ fool than an _old_ one." Such training has not +had a good effect on Cousin Amelia. She has been so constantly tutored +to conceal her emotions and to adopt the carriage and manners of an +automaton that the girl is now a complete hypocrite. It is quite +impossible to make her out. If you tickled her, I don't believe you +could get her to laugh; and if you struck her, I very much doubt +whether she would cry. My aunt calls it "self-command;" I call it +"imbecility." She shook hands with me in her provokingly patronizing +manner--"hoped I had brought my horses with me" (as if I was coming to +spend months at Dangerfield without Brilliant!); "supposed I had my +side-saddle in the cap-box;" and showed me my room without so much as +a single kind word of welcome or a cousinly caress. It was quite a +relief to help dear Aunt Deborah to unpack her dressing-case, and kiss +her pleasant face, and give her the warm cup of tea without which Aunt +Deborah never dreams of dressing for dinner. + +Oh, those solemn, heavy, silent, stupid dinners, with the massive +plate and the dark oak wainscoting, and the servants gliding about +like ghosts at a festival in Acheron! What a relief it would have been +even to have had a clownish footman spill soup over one's dress, or +ice-cream down one's back, or anything to break the monotony of the +entertainment! But, no; there we sat, Aunt Horsingham remarking that +the "weather was dull" and the "crops looking very unpromising;" Aunt +Deborah with her eyes fixed on a portrait of the late Mr. David Jones +as a boy, opposite which she invariably took her place, and on which, +though representing an insignificant urchin in a high frill and blue +jacket, she gazed intently during the whole repast; Cousin Amelia +looking at herself in the silver dish-covers, and when those were +removed relapsing into a state of irritable torpor; and as for poor +me, all I could do was to think over the pleasures of the past season, +and dwell rather more than I should otherwise have done on the image +of Frank Lovell, and the very agreeable acquisition he would have been +to such a party. And then the evenings were, if possible, worse than +the dinners--work, work, work--mum, mum, mum--till tea. And after tea +Aunt Horsingham would read to us, in her dry harsh voice, long +passages from the _Spectator_, very excellent articles from the +_Rambler_, highly interesting in their day no doubt, but which lose +some of their point after an interval of nearly a century; or, worse +than all, Pope's "Homer" or Cowper's "Task," running the lines into +each other, so as to avoid what she called "the sing-song of the +rhymes," till the poet's effusions sounded like the most extraordinary +prose, cut into lengths, as we ladies should say, for no earthly +purpose but to make nonsense of the whole thing. Her ladyship never +went to bed till eleven; so there, having dined at half-past six to a +minute, we were forced to sit three mortal hours and a half, +swallowing yawns and repressing that inexplicable disorder termed the +"fidgets" till the welcome bed-candles arrived. No wonder men drink +and smoke and commit all sort of enormities to fill up those dreadful +hours after dinner. I think if ever I take to tobacco it will be at +Dangerfield. + +Then of course the Hall was haunted; and of course _my_ passage was +the one which the ghost particularly affected. It was a sad story that +of "the Dangerfield ghost." I have got it all out of Aunt Deborah at +different times; and though I don't exactly believe in the spectre, I +can't help sometimes crying over the incidents. The fact is, the +Horsinghams were quite as proud of their ghost as they were of their +hand; and although not a very creditable tale to any of the family, +Aunt Deborah would never forgive me if I were not to relate the +tragedy which conferred on Dangerfield the honour of being a haunted +house. + +In the reign of George II, the head of the house, Sir Hugh Horsingham, +married a young wife, and brought her home to Dangerfield with the +usual demonstrations and rejoicings peculiar to such an event. Sir +Hugh was a dark, morose man, considerably older than his bride; stern +and forbidding in his manners, but possessing deep feelings under a +reserved exterior, and a courage and determination not to be daunted +or subdued. Such a man was capable of great things for good or for +evil; and such was the very nature on which a woman's influence might +have produced the most beneficial results. But, unfortunately, young +Lady Horsingham had but one feeling for her lord, and that was intense +terror of his anger. She never sought to win his confidence; she never +entered into his political schemes, his deeper studies, or even his +country amusements and pursuits. All she thought of was how to avoid +offending Sir Hugh; and ere long this one idea grew to such a pitch +that she quite trembled in his presence, could scarcely answer +distinctly when he spoke to her, and seemed hardly to draw breath in +freedom save when out of his sight. Such a state of things could have +but one ending--distrust and suspicion on one side, unqualified +aversion on the other. A marriage, never of inclination, as indeed in +those days amongst great families few marriages were, became an +insupportable slavery ere the first year of wedded life had elapsed; +and by the time an heir was born to the house of Horsingham, probably +there was no unhappier couple within fifty miles of Dangerfield than +dark Sir Hugh and his pretty, fair-haired, gentle wife. No; she ought +never to have married him at all. It was but the night before her +wedding that she walked in the garden of her father's old manor-house +with a bright, open-hearted, handsome youth, whose brow wore that +expression of acute agony which it is so pitiable to witness on a +young countenance--that look almost of _physical_ pain, which betokens +how the iron has indeed "entered the sufferer's soul." "Ah, you may +plead, 'Cousin Edward;' but we women are of a strange mixture, and +_the weakest_ of us may possess _obstinacy_ such as no earthly +consideration can overcome." "Lucy! Lucy! for _the last_ time, think +of it; for the love of Heaven, do not drive me mad; think of it once +more; it is the last, _last_ chance!" The speaker was white as a +sheet, and his hollow voice came in hoarse, inarticulate whispers as +he looked almost fiercely into that dear face to read his doom. Too +well he knew the set, fixed expression of her delicate profile. She +did not dare turn towards him; she could not have looked him in the +face and persevered; but she kept her eyes fastened on the horizon, as +though she saw her future in the fading sunset; and whilst her heart +seemed turning to very stone she kept her lips firmly closed; she +repressed the tears that would have choked her, and so for _that_ time +she conquered. + +Lucy had a great idea of duty; hers was no high-principled love of +duty from the noblest motives, but a morbid dread of self-reproach. +She had not _character_ enough to do anything out of her own notions +of the beaten track. She had promised her father she would marry Sir +Hugh Horsingham--not that he had the slightest right to exact such a +promise--and she felt bound to fulfil it. She never remembered the +injury she was doing "Cousin Edward," the _right_ which such devotion +as _his_ ought to have given him. She _knew_ she loved him better than +any one in the world; she knew she was about to commit an act of the +greatest injustice towards Sir Hugh; but she had "promised papa," and +though she would have given worlds to avoid fulfilling her compact, +she had not strength of mind to break the chain and be free. + +Cousin Edward! Cousin Edward! you should have carried her off then and +there; she would have been truly grateful for the rest of her life, +but she would have died sooner than open her lips. He was +hurt--reckless--almost savage. He thought her sullen. "Once more, +Lucy," he said, and his eye glared fiercely in the waning light--"once +more, _will_ you give me one word, or _never_ set eyes on me again?" +Her lip never moved. "I give you till we pass that tree"--he looked +dangerous now--"and then"--he swore a great oath--"I leave you for +ever!" Lucy thought the tree looked strange and ghastly in the rising +moon, she even remarked a knot upon its smooth white stem; but she +held out whilst one might have counted ten; and when she turned round, +poor girl, Cousin Edward was gone! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +So the bells rung merrily at Dangerfield, and the rustics huzzaed for +their landlord and the comely village maidens envied the bride; and +Lucy was Lady Horsingham now, with new duties and a high position, and +a large, fine, gloomy house, and jewels in her hair, and an aching +heart in her bosom. Nevertheless, she determined to do her duty as a +wife; and every hour of the day she resolved _not_ to think of Cousin +Edward. + +Years elapsed, and pretty Lucy became a gentle, handsome +woman--kindly, courteous, and beloved by all, timid, and shrinking +only with Sir Hugh. Her husband, wearied and discontented, mixed +himself fiercely in all the intrigues of the day--became a staunch +partisan of the House of Stuart, and sought for excitement abroad in +proportion as he missed congeniality of feeling at home. It was an +unhappy household. Their one child was the mother's sole consolation; +she scarcely ever let it out of her presence. They were a pretty +sight, that loving couple, as they basked in the sun of a fine +summer's morning on the terrace in front of the manor-house. The boy, +with his mother's blue eyes and his own golden curls and the arch, +merry smile that he never got from stern Sir Hugh; and the fair, +graceful woman, with her low, white brow and her soft brown hair and +her quiet gestures and gentle sorrowing face--that face that haunts +poor Cousin Edward still. + +"Mamma!" says the urchin, pouting his rosy lips, "why don't you play +with me?--what are you thinking of?" and a shade passes over that kind +face, and she blushes, though there is no one with her but the child, +and catches him up and smothers him in kisses, and says "_You_, my +darling;" but, nevertheless, I do not think at that moment she was +thinking either of her boy or Sir Hugh. + +And where was Cousin Edward all the time? Why, at that particular +instant, sword-point to sword-point with Colonel Bludyer of the +Dragoons, slightly wounded in two places--cool and wary, and seeming +to enjoy, with a sort of fierce pleasure, such a safety-valve for +excitement as a duel with one of the best fencers in Europe. + +Cousin Edward was an altered man since he stood with the future Lady +Horsingham in the moonlight. "An evil counsellor is despair;" and he had +hugged that grim adviser to his heart. He had grown handsomer, indeed, +than ever; but the wild eye, the haggard brow, and the deep lines about +his mouth spoke of days spent in fierce excitement--nights passed in +reckless dissipation. He had never forgotten Lucy through it all, but +even her image only goaded him to fresh extravagances--anything to deaden +the sting of remembrance--anything to efface the maddening past. So +Cousin Edward too became a Jacobite; and was there a daring scheme to be +executed, a foolhardy exploit to be performed--life and limb to be risked +without a question--who so ready and so reckless as "handsome Ned +Meredith"? + +In the course of their secret meetings and cabals he became slightly +acquainted with Sir Hugh Horsingham; and, with the inexplicable +infatuation peculiar to a man in love, he look a pleasure in being +near one so closely connected with Lucy, although that one was the +very person who had deprived him of all he valued on earth. So it fell +out that Sir Hugh Horsingham and Ned Meredith were supping at the Rose +and Thistle in close alliance, the table adjoining them being occupied +by those staunch Hanoverians, Colonel Bludyer and Mr. Thornton. + +"Here's 'The Blackbird,'"* said Cousin Edward, tossing off a huge +goblet of Bordeaux, and looking round the room with an air of defiance +as he proposed so well-known a toast. Sir Hugh was a man of a certain +grim humour, and as he drained his goblet and nodded to his companion, +he added, "May the rats dance to his whistle, and the devil--that's +_you_, Ned--take the hindmost!" + + * One of the many passwords by which the adherents of the Chevalier + distinguished that ill-fated Prince. + +Colonel Bludyer rose from his chair, placed his cocked hat on his +head, and turned the buckle of his sword-belt in front. "The King!" he +shouted, raising his hat with one hand and filling a bumper with the +other. "The King!" he repeated, scowling fiercely at his two +neighbours. + +"Over the water!" roared Ned Meredith; and the Colonel, turning +rapidly round and mistaking his man, flung his cocked hat right in Sir +Hugh Horsingham's face. + +Swords were out in a second--thrust, parry, and return passed like +lightning, but the bystanders separated the combatants; and Meredith, +determining for the sake of Lucy that Sir Hugh should encounter no +unnecessary danger, took the whole quarrel on himself, and arranged a +meeting for the following morning with the redoubtable Colonel +Bludyer. Thus it was that while Lucy and her boy were basking in the +summer sunshine, Cousin Edward was exhausting all his knowledge of +swordsmanship in vain endeavours to get within that iron Colonel's +guard. The duel was fought on the ground now occupied by Leicester +Square, Sir Hugh and Mr. Thornton officiating as seconds, though, the +latter being disabled from the effects of a recent encounter, they did +not, as was usual in those days, fight to the death, merely "_pour se +désennuyer_." Stripped to their shirts--in breeches and silk +stockings, with no shoes--the antagonists lunged and glared and +panted, and twice paused for breath by mutual consent, with no further +damage than two slight wounds in Ned's sword-arm. + +"Very pretty practice," said Mr. Thornton, coolly taking a pinch of +snuff, and offering his box to Sir Hugh. "I'm in despair at not being +able to oblige you this fine morning." + +"Some other time," replied Sir Hugh with a grim smile; "d----ation," +he added, "Ned's down!" + +Sure enough Cousin Edward was on the grass, striving in vain to raise +himself, and gasping out that he "wasn't the least hurt." He had got +it just between the ribs, and was trying to stanch the blood with a +delicate laced handkerchief, in a corner of which, had he examined it +closely, Sir Hugh would have found embroidered the well-known name of +"Lucy." Poor Cousin Edward! it was all he had belonging to his lost +love, and he would have been unwilling to die without that fragment of +lace in his hand. + +"A very promising fencer," remarked Colonel Bludyer, as he wiped his +rapier on the grass. "If he ever gets over it, he won't forget that +"_plongeant_" thrust in tierce. I never knew it fail, Thornton--never, +with a man under thirty." So the Colonel put his coat on, and drove +off to breakfast; while Sir Hugh took charge of Ned Meredith, and as +soon as he was recovered--for his wound was not mortal--carried him +down with him to get thoroughly well at Dangerfield Hall. + +It is an old, old story. Love, outraged and set at defiance, bides his +time, and takes his revenge. Dangerfield looked like a different place +now, so thought Lucy; and her spirits rose, and the colour came back +to her cheek, and she even summoned courage to speak without +hesitating to Sir Hugh. When Cousin Edward was strong enough to limp +about the house, it seemed that glimpses of sunshine brightened those +dark oak rooms; and ere he was able to take the air, once more leaning +on Lucy's arm, alas! alas! he had become even dearer to the +impassioned, thoughtful woman than he ever was to the timid, +vacillating girl. There was an addition now to the party on the +terrace in the bright autumn mornings, but the little boy needed no +longer to ask mamma "what she was thinking of;" and the three would +have seemed to a careless observer a happy family party--husband, +wife, and child. Oh that it could but have been so! + +In the meantime Sir Hugh was again as usual busied with his state +intrigues and party politics, and absented himself for weeks together +from the Hall; riding post to London night and day, returning at all +sorts of unexpected hours, leaving again at a moment's notice, and +otherwise comporting himself in his usual mysterious reserved manner. +Yet those who knew him best opined there was something wrong about Sir +Hugh. He was restless and preoccupied; his temper less easily excited +about trifles than was his wont, but perfectly ungovernable when once +he gave way to it. No man dared to question him. He had not a friend +in the world who would have ventured to offer him a word of advice or +consolation; but it was evident to his servants and his intimates that +Sir Hugh was ill at ease. Who can tell the struggles that rent that +strong, proud heart? Who could see beneath that cold surface, and read +the intense feelings of love, hatred, jealousy, or revenge that +smouldered below, stifled and kept down by the iron will, the +stubborn, indomitable pride? There is a deep meaning in the legend of +that Spartan boy who suffered the stolen fox to gnaw his very vitals, +the while he covered him with his tunic and preserved on his brave +face a smile of unconcern. Most of us have a stolen fox somewhere; but +the weak nature writhes and moans, and is delivered from its torment, +while the bold, unflinching spirit preserves a gallant bearing before +the world, and scorns to be relieved from the fangs that are draining +its very life away. + +Whatever Sir Hugh saw or suspected, he said not a word to Lucy, nor +was it until surmise had become certainty that he forbade "Cousin +Edward" the house. To him he would not condescend to explain his +motives; he simply wrote to him to say that on his return he should +expect to find that his guest had departed, and that he had sufficient +reasons for requesting his visits might not be repeated. With his wife +he was, if possible, more austere and morose than ever; so once more +the Hall resumed its old aspect of cheerlessness and desolation, and +its mistress went moping about, more than ever miserable and +broken-hearted. Such a state of things could not long go on; the +visits forbidden openly took place by stealth; and the climax rapidly +approached which was to result in the celebrated Dangerfield tragedy. + +At this period there was set on foot another of those determined plots +which during the first two reigns of the house of Hanover so +constantly harassed that dynasty. Sir Hugh of course was a prime mover +of the conspiracy, and was much in London and elsewhere gathering +intelligence, raising funds, and making converts to his opinions. Ned +Meredith, having, it is to be presumed, all his energies occupied in +his own private intrigues, had somewhat withdrawn of late from the +Jacobite party; and Sir Hugh heard, with his grim, unmoved smile, many +a jest and innuendo levelled at the absentee. + +One stormy winter's evening the baronet, well armed, cloaked, and booted, +left his own house for the metropolis, accompanied by one trusty servant. +He was bearing papers of importance, and was hurrying on to lay them with +the greatest dispatch before his fellow-conspirators. As night was +drawing on, Sir Hugh's horse shied away from a wild figure, looming like +some spectre in the fading light; and ere he had forced the animal back +into the path, his bridle was caught by a half-naked lad, whom the rider +at once recognized as an emissary he had often before employed to be the +bearer of secret intelligence, and who, under an affectation of being +half-witted, concealed much shrewdness of observation and unimpeachable +fidelity to the cause. + +"Whip and spur, Sir Hugh--whip and spur," said the lad, who seemed +flustered and confused with drink; "you may burst your best horse +betwixt this and London, and all to get there before you're wanted. A +dollar to drink, Sir Hugh, like handsome Ned gave me this morning--a +dollar to drink, and I'll save you a journey for the sake of the +'Bonny White Rose' and the 'Bird with the Yellow Bill.'" + +Sir Hugh scrutinized the lad with a piercing eye, flung him a crown +from his purse, and bid him "out with what he had to say, for that he +himself was hurried, and must push on to further the good cause." The +lad was sobered in an instant. + +"Look ye here, Sir Hugh," he said eagerly; "handsome Ned went down the +road at a gallop this morning. There's something brewing in London, +you may trust me, Sir Hugh, and I tried to stop him to learn his +errand; but he tossed me a crown and galloped on. He took the Hill +road, Sir Hugh, and you came up the Vale; but he's bound for +Dangerfield, I know, and mayhap he's got papers that will save your +journey to London. No offence, Sir Hugh," added the lad, for the +baronet's face was black as midnight. + +"None, my good boy," was the reply in a hoarse, thick voice. "Hold, +there's another crown for you--drink it every farthing, you villain! +or I never give you a sixpence again;" and Sir Hugh rode on as though +bound for London, but stopped a mile farther forward, at a place where +two roads met; and entrusting his papers to his servant, bade him +hasten on with them, whilst he galloped back through the darkness in +the direction of his home. + +Home, indeed! Had it ever been home to Sir Hugh? Would it be home +to-night? When he got back there, and skulked into his own house like +a midnight thief--what would he do?--why was he galloping so fast? Sir +Hugh set his teeth tight, and holding his powerful horse hard by the +head urged him on faster than before. The lights are all out in the +little village of which he is sole master, and his horse's hoofs +clattering through the street rouse the sleepy inmates for an instant +ere they return to their peaceful rest. Sir Hugh is not sleepy; he +feels as if he never should want to sleep again. + +How dark it is in the Park under those huge old trees! He fastens his +horse to one of the drooping branches, and after removing his pistols +from their holsters spreads his cloak over the heaving flanks of the +heated animal. Habit is second nature, and he does not forget the good +horse. He strides through the shrubberies and across Lucy's garden, +crushing with his heavy boot-heel the last flower that had lingered on +into the winter. There is a light streaming from one of the windows in +the gallery. Ha!--he _may_ be right--he may not have returned in vain. +For an instant a feeling of sickness comes over him, and he learns for +the first time that he _had_ cherished a hope he might be deceived. + +He can let himself in by the garden-gate with his own pass-key. Ere he +is aware, he is tramping up the corridor in his heavy horseman's +boots--his hand is on the door--there is a woman's shriek--and Sir +Hugh's tall, dark figure fills the doorway of Lucy's sitting-room, +where, alas! she is not alone, for the stern, angry husband is +confronted by Ned Meredith! + +Lucy cowers down in a corner of the room with her face buried in her +hands. Cousin Edward draws himself up to his full height, and looks +his antagonist steadily in the face, but with an expression of calm +despair that seems to say fate has now done her worst. Sir Hugh is +cool, collected, and polite; nay, he can even smile, but he speaks +strangely, almost in a whisper, and hisses through his set teeth. He +has double-locked the door behind him, and turns to Cousin Edward with +a grave, courteous bow. + +"You have done me the honour of an unexpected visit, Mr. Meredith," he +says. "I trust Lady Horsingham has entertained you hospitably! Pray do +not stir, madam. Mr. Meredith, we are now quits; you saved my life +when you encountered Colonel Bludyer; I forbore from taking yours when +I had proofs that it was my right. We have now entered on a fresh +account, but the game shall be fairly played. Mr. Meredith, you are a +man of honour--yes, it shall be fairly played." Ned's lip quivered, +but he bowed and stood perfectly still. "Lady Horsingham," continued +Sir Hugh, "be good enough to hand me those tables; they contain a +dice-box.--Nay, Mr. Meredith," seeing Ned about to assist the +helpless, frightened woman; "when _present_, at least, I expect my +wife to obey me." Lucy was forced to rise, and, trembling in every +limb, to present the tables to her lord. Sir Hugh placed the dice-box +on the table, laid his pistols beside it, and, taking a seat, motioned +to Cousin Edward to do the same. "You are a man of honour, Mr. +Meredith," he repeated; "we will throw three times, and the highest +caster shall blow the other's brains out." Lucy shrieked and rushed to +the door; it was fast, and her husband forced her to sit down and +watch the ghastly game. + +"Good God, Sir Hugh!" exclaimed Cousin Edward, "this is too +horrible--for your wife's sake--any reparation I can make, I will; but +this is murder, deliberate murder!" + +"You are a man of honour, Mr. Meredith," reiterated Sir Hugh. "I ask +for no reparation but this--the chances are equal if the stakes are +high. You are my guest, or rather, I should say, _Lady Horsingham's +guest_. Begin." Cousin Edward's face turned ghastly pale. He took the +box, shook it, hesitated; but the immovable eye was fixed on him, the +stern lips repeated once more, "You are a man of honour," and he +threw--"Four." It was now Sir Hugh's turn. With a courteous bow he +received the box, and threw--"Seven." Again the adversaries cast, the +one a six, the other a three; and now they were even in the ghastly +match. Once more Cousin Edward shook the box, and the leaping dice +turned up--"Eleven." Lucy's white face stood out in the lamplight, as +she watched with stony eyes that seemed to have lost the very power of +sight. + +"For God's sake, forego this frightful determination, Sir Hugh," +pleaded Cousin Edward; "take my life in a fair field. I will offer no +resistance; but you can hardly expect to outdo my throw, and nothing +shall induce me to take advantage of it. Think better of it, Sir Hugh, +I entreat you." + +"You are a man of honour, Mr. Meredith, and so am I," was the only +reply, as Sir Hugh brandished the box aloft, and thundered it down on +the table--"Sixes!" "Good casting," he remarked; and at the same +instant cocking the pistol nearest to him, discharged it full into his +antagonist's bosom. The bullet sped through a delicate lace +handkerchief, which he always wore there, straight and true into +Cousin Edward's heart. As he fell forward across the table, a dark +stream flowed slowly along the carpet, till it dyed the border of +Lucy's white dress with a crimson stain. She was on her knees, +apparently insensible; but one small hand felt the cold, wet contact, +and she looked at it, and saw that it was blood. Once more she uttered +a shriek that rang through those vast buildings, and rushed again to +the door to find it locked. In sheer despair she made for the window, +threw open the casement, and ere Sir Hugh could seize or stop her +flung herself headlong into the court below. When the horrified +husband looked down into the darkness, a wisp of white garments, a +bruised and lifeless body, was all that remained of Lady Horsingham. + +That night one half of Dangerfield Hall was consumed by fire. Its +mistress was said to have perished in the flames. The good neighbours, +the honest country people, pitied poor Sir Hugh, galloping back from +London, to find his house in ruins and his wife a corpse. His gay +companions missed "Ned Meredith" from his usual haunts; but it was +generally supposed he had obtained a mission to the court of St. +Germains, and there was a rumour that he had perished in a duel with a +French marquis. A certain half-witted lad, who had followed Sir Hugh +back to Dangerfield on that fearful night, might have elucidated the +mystery; but he had been kidnapped, and sent to the plantations. After +many years he returned to England, and on his deathbed left a written +statement, implicating Sir Hugh in the double crime of arson and +murder. But long ere this the culprit had appeared before a tribunal +which admits of no prevarication, and the pretty boy with the golden +curls had become lord of Dangerfield Hall. The long corridor had been +but partially destroyed. It was repaired and refurnished by successive +generations; but guests and servants alike refused to sleep again in +that dreary wing after the first trial. Every night, so surely as the +clock tolled out the hour of twelve, a rush of feet was heard along +the passage--a window looking into the court was thrown open--a +piercing scream from a woman's voice rang through the building--and +those who were bold enough to look out averred that they beheld a +white figure leap wildly into the air and disappear. Some even went so +far as to affirm that drops of blood, freshly sprinkled, were found +every morning on the pavement of the court. But no one ever doubted +the Dangerfield ghost to be the nightly apparition of Lucy, Lady +Horsingham. At length, in my grandfather's time, certain boards being +lifted to admit of fresh repairs in the accursed corridor, the +silver-mounted guard of a rapier, the stock and barrel of a pistol, +with a shred of lace, on which the letter "L" was yet visible, were +discovered by the workmen. They are in existence still. Whatever other +remains accompanied them turned to dust immediately on exposure to the +air. That dust was, however, religiously collected and buried in a +mausoleum appropriated to the Horsinghams. Since then the ghost has +been less troublesome; but most of the family have seen or heard it at +least once in their lives. I confess that if ever I lie awake at +Dangerfield till the clock strikes twelve I invariably stop my ears +and bury my head under the bedclothes for at least a quarter of an +hour. By these means I have hitherto avoided any personal acquaintance +with the spectre; but nothing on earth would induce me to walk down +that corridor at midnight and risk a private interview with the +Dangerfield ghost! + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +As for spending a whole morning in the drawing-room with the ladies it +is what I cannot and will not submit to. Working and scandal, scandal +and working, from half-past ten till two is more than I can stand, so +the very first morning I was at Dangerfield I resolved to break the +chain at once, and do as I always meant to do for the future. +Accordingly, immediately after breakfast I popped my bonnet on--the +lavender one, that had done a good deal of London work, but was still +quite good enough for the country--and started off for a walk by +myself, confiding my intentions to no one; as I well knew if I did I +should have Aunt Deborah's "Kate, _pray_ don't overheat yourself, my +dear. Do wrap yourself up, and take care not to catch cold;" and Lady +Horsingham's sarcastic smile, and "In _my_ time, Miss Coventry, young +ladies were not in the habit of trailing all over the country by +themselves; but I expect soon to hear of their farming and fishing and +shooting, I shouldn't wonder--not worse than _hunting_, at any rate. +However, I say nothing;" and Cousin Amelia with her lackadaisical +sneer, and her avowal that "she was not _equal_ to walking," and her +offer to "go as far as the garden with me in the afternoon." So I +tripped down the back staircase and away to the stables with a bit of +sugar for Brilliant, who had arrived safely by the train in company +with White Stockings, and on through the kitchen-garden and the +home-farm up to the free, fresh, breezy down. + +I do enjoy a walk by myself, and it was the last chance I should have +of one; for Cousin John was expected that very day, and when Cousin +John and I are anywhere, of course we are inseparable. But I am sure +an occasional stroll quite by oneself does one more good than +anything. I think of such quantities of things that never occur to me +at other times--fairies, brigands, knights, and damsels, and all sorts +of wild adventures; and I feel so brave and determined, as if I could +face anything in a right cause, and so _good_, and I make such +excellent resolutions, and walk faster and faster, and get more and +more romantic, like a goose, as I know I am. + +Well, it was a beautiful morning, early in autumn--blue sky, light +fleecy clouds, a sharp, clear air from the north, the low country +studded with corn-ricks, and alive with reapers and cart-teams and +cattle. A green valley below me, rich in fine old timber, and clothed +with high, thick hedgerows, concealing the sluggish river that stole +softly away, and only gleamed out here and there to light up the +distance; whilst above and around me stretched far and wide the vast +expanse of down, cutting sharply against the sky, and dwarfing to mere +shrubs the clumps of old fir trees that relieved its magnificent +monotony. I was deep in a daydream and an imaginary conversation with +Frank Lovell--in which I was running over with much mental eloquence +what _I_ should say, and what _he_ would say, and what _I_ should +reply to _that_--when a shrill whistle caused me to start and turn +suddenly round; whilst at the same instant a great black retriever +bounced up against my legs, and two handsome pointers raced by me as +if just emancipated from the kennel. The consequence of all this was +that I stepped hastily on a loose stone, turned my foot the wrong way +under me, and came down with a slightly-sprained ankle, and the black +retriever, an animal of exceedingly noisome breath, affectionately +licking my face. + +"Down, Juno!--I beg your pardon a million times; get down, you bitch! +How shall I ever apologize? Confound you, get down," said an agitated +voice above me; and looking up I espied the red-haired stranger of the +railway, dressed in a most conspicuous shooting-costume, white hat and +all, whose dogs had been the means of bringing me thus suddenly to the +earth, and on whom I was now dependent for succour and support till I +should be able to reach home. + +In such an emergency my new friend was not half so confused and shy as +I should have expected. He seemed to summon all his energies to +consider what was best to be done; and as my foot pained me +considerably when I tried to walk (particularly down hill), he made no +more ado, but lifted me carefully in his arms, and proceeded +incontinently to carry me off in the direction of Dangerfield Hall, +where he seemed intuitively to know I was at present residing. + +It was, to say the least of it, an unusual situation. A man I had +never seen but once before in my life--and here was I lying in his +arms (precious weight he must have found me!) and looking up in his +face like a child in its nurse's, and the usages of society making it +incumbent on us both to attempt a sort of indifferent conversation +about the weather and the country and the beauty of the scenery, which +the juxtaposition of our respective faces rendered ludicrous in the +extreme. + +"A tempting day for a walk, Miss--ah--ah" (he didn't know my name--how +should he?--and was now beginning to get very red, partly from the +return of his constitutional shyness and partly from the severity of +his exertions). "I hope your foot does not pain you quite so much; be +good enough to lean a little more this way." Poor man, how his arms +must have ached! Whilst I replied somewhat in this fashion, "Thank +you, I'm better; I shall soon be able to walk, I think; this is indeed +a lovely country. Don't you find me very heavy?" "I think I could +carry you a good many miles," he said quietly; and then seemed so +shocked at such an avowal that he hardly opened his lips again, and +put me down the very first time I asked him, and offered me his arm +with an accession of confusion that made me feel quite awkward myself. +Truth to tell, my ankle was not sprained, only _twisted_; and when the +immediate pain wore off I was pretty sound again, and managed, with +the assistance of my new acquaintance's arm, to make a very good walk +of it. So we plodded on quite sociably towards the Hall, and my friend +took leave of me at the farm with a polite bow and a sort of +hesitating manner that most shy men possess, and which would lead one +to infer they have always got something more to say that never is +said. I knew I should be well scolded if I avowed my accident to any +of the family; besides, I did not quite fancy facing all the inquiries +as to how I got home, and Cousin Amelia's sneers about errant damsels +and wandering knights; so I stole quietly up to my room, bathed my +foot in eau-de-Cologne, and remained _perdue_ till dinner-time, in +despite of repeated messages from my aunts and the arrival of Cousin +John. + +People may talk about country pleasures and country duties and all the +charms of country life; but it appears to me that a good many things are +done under the titles of pleasure and duty which belong in reality to +neither; and that those who live entirely in the country inflict on +themselves a great variety of unnecessary disagreeables, as they lose a +great many of its chief delights. Of all receipts for weariness commend +me to a dinner-party of country neighbours by _daylight_--people who know +each other just well enough to have opposite interests and secret +jealousies--who arrive ill at ease in their smart dresses, to sit through +a protracted meal with hot servants and forced conversation, till one +young lady on her promotion being victimized at the pianoforte enables +them to yawn unobserved; and welcome ten o'clock brings round the +carriage and tipsy coachman, in order that they may enter on their long, +dark, dreary drive home through lanes and by-ways, which is only +endurable from the consideration that the annual ordeal has been +accomplished, and that they need not do it again till this time next +year. + +There was a dinner-party at Dangerfield regularly once a month, and +this was the day. Aunt Horsingham was great on these occasions, +astonishing the neighbours as much with her London dresses as did +Cousin Amelia with her London manners. We all assembled a few minutes +earlier than usual in the drawing-room, so as to be ready to receive +our guests, and great was the infliction on poor Aunt Deborah and my +humble self. How they trooped in, one after another! Sir Brian and +Lady Banneret and Master Banneret and two Misses Banneret; these were +the great cards of the party; so Lady Horsingham kissed Lady Banneret +and the young ladies, and opined Master Banneret was _grown_, much to +the indignation of that young gentleman, who, being an Oxonian, of +course considered himself _a man_. Sir Brian was a good-humoured jolly +old boy, with a loud laugh, and stood with his coat-tails lifted and +his back to the empty fireplace in perfect ease and contentment. Not +so his lady; first she scrutinized everything Lady Horsingham had got +on, then she took a review of the furniture, and specially marked one +faded place in the carpet. Lastly, she turned a curious and +disappointed glance on myself. I accounted for the latter mark of +displeasure by the becoming shade of my gown; I knew it was a pretty +one, and would meet with feminine censure accordingly. The Bannerets +were soon followed by Mr. and Mrs. Plumridge, a newly-married couple, +who were _fêted_ accordingly. Mr. Plumridge was a light-haired, +unmeaning-looking individual, partially bald, with a blue coat and +white satin neckcloth; his bride a lively, sarcastic, black-eyed +little woman, who must have married him for her own convenience--they +said afterwards she was once a governess; but at all events she held +her own handsomely when alone with the ladies after dinner, and partly +from good-humour, partly from an exceedingly off-hand natural manner, +forced even Lady Banneret to be civil to her. Then came the Marmadukes +and the Marygolds, and old Miss Finch in a sedan-chair from the +adjoining village, and a goodish-looking man whose name I never made +out, and Mr. Sprigges the curate; and lastly, in a white heat and a +state of utter confusion, my shy acquaintance of the railway and the +pointers, who was ushered in by Lady Horsingham's pompous butler under +the style and title of Mr. Haycock. He appeared to be a great friend +of the family; and, much to his own discomfiture, was immediately laid +violent hands on by my aunt and cousin--the former not thinking it +necessary to present him to me, till he offered me his arm to take me +in to dinner, when her face of reproval, on his stammering out he "had +met Miss Coventry before," was worth anything, expressive as it was of +shocked propriety and puzzled astonishment. + +When you have a secret only known to your two selves, even with a shy +man, it is wonderful how it brings him on. Before the soup was off the +table Squire Haycock and I had become wonderfully good friends. He had +hoped "my ankle did not pain me," and I had trusted "his arms did not +ache." He had even gone the length of "vowing" that he would have shot +his clumsy retriever for being the cause of the accident, only he let +him off because "if it hadn't been for the dog----" and here, seeing +Cousin Amelia's eye fixed upon us, my companion stopped dead short, +and concealed his blushes in a glass of champagne. Taking courage from +that well-iced stimulant, he reverted to our railway journey in +company. + +"I knew you again this morning, Miss Coventry, I assure you, a long +way off; in fact, I was going the other way, only, seeing you walking +in that lonely part of the down, I feared you might be frightened" (he +was getting bright scarlet again), "and I determined to watch you at a +little distance, and be ready to assist you if you were alarmed by +tramps or sheep-dogs or----" + +I thought he was getting on too fast, so I stopped him at once by +replying,-- + +"I am well able to take care of myself, Mr. Haycock, I assure you, and +I like best walking _quite_ alone;" after which I turned my shoulder a +little towards him, and completely discomfited him for the rest of +dinner. One great advantage of diffidence in a man is that one can so +easily reduce him to the lowest depths of despondency; but then, on +the other hand, he is apt to think one means to be more cruel than one +does, and one is obliged to be kind in proportion to previous +coldness, or the stupid creature breaks away altogether. When the +ladies got up to leave the dining-room, I dropped my handkerchief well +under the table, and when it was returned to me by the Squire, I gave +him such a look of gratitude as I knew would bring him back to me in +the evening. Nobody hates flirting so much as myself, but what is one +to do shut up in a country-house, with no earthly thing to occupy or +amuse one? + +Tea and coffee served but little to produce cordiality amongst the +female portion of the guests after their flight to the drawing-room. +Lady Horsingham and Lady Banneret talked apart on a sofa; they were +deep in the merits of their respective preachers and the failings of +their respective maids. Mrs. Marmaduke and Mrs. Marygold, having had a +"Book-Club" feud, did not speak to each other, but communicated +through the medium of Miss Finch, whose deafness rendered this a +somewhat unsatisfactory process. Aunt Deborah went to sleep as usual; +and I tried the two Miss Bannerets consecutively, but ascertained that +neither would open her lips, at least in the presence of mamma. At +last I found a vacant place by the side of Mrs. Plumridge, and +discovered immediately, with the peculiar freemasonry which I believe +men do not possess, that she was _one of my sort_. She liked walking, +riding, driving, dancing--all that I liked, in short; and she hated +scandal-gossiping, _sensible_ women, morning visits, and worsted-work, +for all of which I confess to an unqualified aversion. We were getting +fast friends when the gentlemen came in from their wine, honest Sir +Brian's voice sounding long before he entered the room, and the worthy +gentleman himself rolling in with an unsteady step, partly from +incipient gout, and partly, I fancy, from a good deal of port wine. He +took a vacant seat by me almost immediately, chiefly, I think, because +it was the nearest seat; and avowing openly his great regard and +admiration for my neighbour, Mrs. Plumridge, proceeded to make himself +agreeable to both of us in his own way--though I am concerned to state +that he trod heavily on my _sprained_ foot, and spilt the greater part +of a cup of coffee over _her_ satin gown. The Squire, whose nerves for +the present were strung above blushing pitch, soon joined our little +party; and whilst the two Miss Bannerets performed an endless duet on +Aunt Horsingham's luckless pianoforte, and their brother, choking in +his stiff white neckcloth, turned over the leaves, Sir Brian bantered +Mr. Haycock gracefully on his abstemiousness after dinner, an effort +of self-denial of which no one could accuse him, and vowed, with much +laughter, that "Haycock must be in love! in love, Miss Coventry, don't +you think so? A man that always used to take his two bottles as +regularly as myself--I am a foe to excess, ladies, but Haycock's an +anchorite, d---- me--a monk! Haycock! monks mustn't marry, you +know!--wouldn't he look well with his feet shaved, Miss Coventry, and +his head bare and a rope round his neck?" Sir Brian was getting +confused, and had slightly transposed the clerical costume to which he +alluded; but was quite satisfied that his little badinage was witty +and amusing in the extreme. Indeed, Mrs. Plumridge and I couldn't help +laughing; but poor Squire Haycock's embarrassment was so intense that +he ordered his carriage immediately, and took leave, venturing, +however, at the very last, to shake me by the hand, and braving once +again the banter of the inebriated Baronet. + +"Stole away," said Sir Brian; "a shy man, Miss Coventry--a shy, +diffident man, my friend Haycock, but true as steel--not a better +landlord in the county--excellent neighbour--useful magistrate--good +house--beautiful garden--lots of poultry, and a glass beehive--wants +nothing but a wife--order the carriage, my lady.--Mrs. Plumridge, you +must come and see us at Slopperly, and don't forget to bring +Plumridge.--Miss Coventry, you're a charming young lady; mind you come +too." So jolly Sir Brian wished us both a most affectionate +good-night, and, shaking Aunt Horsingham violently by both hands, +packed himself into his carriage in a state of high good-humour and +confusion. I have since heard that on his arrival at Slopperly he +stoutly refused to get out, declaring that he preferred to "sit in the +carriage whilst they changed horses," and avowing, much to his old +butler's astonishment, his resolution to go "at least one more stage +that night." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +I must despair of being able in simple narrative to convey the +remotest idea of the dullness of Dangerfield Hall; but as during my +residence there I beguiled the weary hours by keeping a diary (bound +in blue velvet, with brass clasps and a Bramah lock), I have it in my +power, by transcribing a few of its pages, to present to my readers my +own impressions of life in that well-regulated establishment. I put +things down just as they happened, with my own reflections, more or +less philosophical, on the events of each day. My literary labours +were invariably carried on after the family had retired for the night; +and I may observe that a loose white dressing-gown, trimmed with +Mechlin lace and pink ribbons--one's hair, of course, being "taken +down"--is a costume extremely well adapted to the efforts of +composition. I take a day from the diary at random. + +_Thursday_.--Up at half-past seven; peeped in the glass the instant I +was out of bed, and wondered how Cousin Amelia looks when she wakes. +Yellowish, I should think, and by no means captivating, particularly +if she wears a nightcap. I don't care how ugly a woman is, she has no +right to look anything but _fresh_ in the morning; and yet how few +possess this advantage! Nothing like open air and plenty of exercise; +_saving_ one's complexion is undoubtedly the very way to spoil it. Saw +Brilliant and White Stockings going to exercise in the Park. What +coddles they look on these fine autumn mornings, covered with +clothing! Felt very _keen_ about hunting; the same feeling always +comes on at the fall of the leaf; shouldn't wonder if I could jump a +gate, with my present nerves. Should like once in my life to _plant_ a +field of horsemen, and show these gentlemen how a woman _can_ ride. +Interrupted in my daydreams by Lady Horsingham's bell, and huddled on +my things in a tremendous hurry; forced to wash my hands in _cold_ +water, which made the tips of my fingers as red as radishes for the +rest of the day. Got down to prayers by half-past eight, and took Aunt +Deborah her tea and toast from the breakfast-table at nine. + +Breakfast dull, and most of the party cross: Aunt Horsingham is +generally out of humour at breakfast-time, particularly on Sundays. +Cousin Amelia suggested my towels were too coarse: "they had rubbed a +colour into my cheeks like a dairymaid's." John said I looked like a +rose--a tea-rose, he added, as I handed him his cup. Cousin John is +getting quite poetical, and decidedly improved since he left London. I +wonder whom he got that letter from that was lying on his plate when +he came down. I am _not_ curious, but I just glanced at the direction, +and I am certain it was in a lady's hand. Not that it's any business +of mine; only I should think Miss Molasses would hardly have the face +to _write_ to him. I wonder whether there is anything between John and +Miss Molasses. I asked him, half spitefully, the other day how he +could bear to be parted from her now the season was over; and he +seemed so pleased at my taking an interest in the thing at all that I +had no patience to go on with my cross-questioning. I don't think +she's good enough for John, I must confess; but he is easily imposed +on by young ladies--as indeed, for that matter, are the rest of his +great thick-headed sex. When breakfast was over and Cousin Amelia went +off as usual to practise her music for an hour or two, I thought I +might steal away for a visit to my favourites in the stable; indeed I +saw John at the front door in a hideous wide-awake, with a long cigar +in his mouth. But I was waylaid by Aunt Horsingham; and as these +visits to the stable are strictly forbidden, I was obliged to follow +her into the drawing-room, and resign myself for the whole morning to +that dreadful worsted-work, more especially as it was coming on a +drizzling mist, and there was no pretext for my usual walk. + +"I am glad to see you getting more sociable, Kate," said Lady +Horsingham, in her dry, harsh voice, as I took a seat beside her and +opened my work-basket. "It is never advisable for any young lady to +affect singularity, and I have observed with some concern that your +demeanour on many occasions is very unlike that of the rest of your +sex." + +I never give in to Aunt Horsingham--after all she's not _my own_ +aunt--so I answered as pertly as ever I could: + +"No: you mean I don't spend the morning in looking in the glass and +talking evil of my neighbours; I don't scream when I see a beetle, or +go into convulsions because there's a mouse in the room. I've got two +legs, very good legs, Aunt Horsingham--shall I show you them?--and I +like to use them, and to be out of doors amongst the trees and the +grass and the daisies, instead of counting stitches for work that +nobody wants or writing letters that nobody reads. I had rather give +Brilliant a good 'bucketing' (Aunt Horsingham shuddered; I knew she +would, and used the word on purpose) over an open heath or a line of +grass than go bodkin in a chariot, seven miles an hour, and both +windows up. Thank you, Aunt Horsingham; you would like to make a fine +lady of me--a useless, sickly, lackadaisical being instead of a +healthy, active, light-hearted woman. Much obliged to you; I had +rather stay as I am." + +"Miss Coventry," said my aunt, who was completely posed by my +volubility, and apparently shocked beyond the power of expression at +my opinions--"Miss Coventry," she repeated, "if these are indeed your +sentiments, I must beg--nay, I must insist--on your keeping them to +yourself whilst under _this_ roof.--Amelia, my dear" (to my cousin, +who was gliding quietly into the room)--"Amelia, go back to your music +for ten minutes.--I must insist, Miss Coventry, that you do not +inoculate _my_ daughter with these pernicious doctrines--this mistaken +view of the whole duties and essentials of your sex. Do you think +_men_ appreciate a woman who, if she had but a beard, would be exactly +like one of themselves? Do you think they like to see their ideal hot +and dishevelled, plastered with mud, and draggled with wet? Do you +think they wish her to be strong and independent of them, and perhaps +their superior at those very sports and exercises on which they plume +themselves? Do you think they are to be taken by storm, and, so to +speak, bullied into admiration? You're wrong, Kate, you're wrong; and +I believe I am equally wrong to talk to you in this strain, inasmuch +as the admiration of the other sex ought to be the last thing coveted +or thought of by a young person of yours." + +"I'm sure, aunt, I don't want the men to admire me," I replied; "but I +would not give much for the admiration of one who could be jealous of +me for so paltry a cause as my riding better than himself; and as for +ideals, I don't know much about such things, but I think a man's ideal +may do pretty well what she likes, and he is sure to think everything +she _does_ do is perfect. Besides, I don't see why I should _bully_ +him into liking me because I'm fond of the beautiful 'out of doors' +instead of the fireside. And courageous women, like courageous men, +are generally a deal more gentle than the timid ones. I've known +ladies who would not venture into a carriage or a boat who could wage +a war of words bitterer than the veriest trooper would have at his +command; and I've heard Cousin John say that there is scarcely an +instance of a veritable heroine in history, from Joan of Arc +downwards, who was not in her private life as sweet, as gentle, and as +womanly as she was high-couraged and undaunted when the moment came +that summoned her energies to the encounter. Unselfishness is the +cause in both cases, you may depend. People that are always so +dreadfully afraid something is going to happen to them think a great +deal more of self than anything else; and the same cause which makes +them tremble at imaginary danger for their own sakes will make them +forgetful of real sufferings in which they themselves have no share. I +had rather be a hoyden, Aunt Horsingham, and go on in my own way. I +have much more enjoyment; and, upon my word, I don't think I'm one bit +a worse member of society than if I was the most delicate fine lady +that ever fainted away at the overpowering smell of a rose leaf or the +merry peal of a noisy child's laugh." + +My aunt lifted up her hands and gave in, for the return of Cousin +Amelia from the music-room effectually prevented further discussion; +and we beguiled the time till luncheon by alternate fits of scandal +and work, running through the characters of most of the neighbours +within twenty miles, and completely demolishing the reputation of _my_ +friend, as they called her--lively, sarcastic little Mrs. Plumridge. +John was off rabbit-shooting, so of course he did not appear at that +meal so essential to ladies; and after Cousin Amelia, by way of being +delicate, had got through two cutlets, the best part of a chicken, a +plateful of rice-pudding, and a large glass of sherry, I ventured to +propose to her that if the afternoon held up we should have a walk. + +"I'm not equal to much fatigue," said she, with a languid air and a +heavy look about her eyes which I attributed to the luncheon; "but if +you like we'll go to the garden and the hothouses, and be back in time +for a cup of tea at five o'clock." + +"Anything to get out of the house," was my reply, and forthwith I +rushed upstairs, two steps at a time, to put on my things; whilst my +aunt whispered to her daughter, loud enough for me to hear, "She +really ought to have been a man, Emmy; did you ever see such a hoyden +in your life?" + +It was pleasant to get out even into that formal garden. The day was +soft and misty, such as one often finds it towards the close of +autumn--dark without being chill--and the withered leaves strewed the +earth in all the beauty of wholesome natural decay. Autumn makes some +people miserable; I confess it is the time of year that I like best. +Spring makes me cross if it's bad weather, and melancholy if it's +fine. Summer is very enjoyable certainly, but it has a luxuriance of +splendour that weighs down my spirits; and in those glorious hot, +dreamy haymaking days I seem unable to identify myself sufficiently +with all the beauty around me, and to pine for I don't exactly know +what. Winter is charming when it don't freeze, with its early +candle-light and long evenings; but autumn combines everything that to +me is most delightful--the joys of reality and the pleasures of +anticipation. Cousin Amelia don't think so at all. + +"A nasty raw day, Kate," she remarked as we emerged from the hothouse +into the moist, heavy air. "How I hate the country! except whilst the +strawberries are ripe. Let's go back to the house, and read with our +feet on the fender till tea-time." + +"Not yet, Emmy," I pleaded, for I really pined for a good walk; "let's +go on the highroad as far as the milestone--it's market day at +Muddlebury, and we shall see the tipsy farmers riding home and the +carriers' carts with their queer-looking loads; besides, think what a +colour you'll have for dinner. Come on, there's a dear!" + +The last argument was unanswerable; and Cousin Amelia putting her best +foot foremost, we soon cleared the garden and the approach, and +emerged on the highroad three miles from Muddlebury, and well out of +the sight of the windows of Dangerfield Hall. As we rose the hill, on +the top of which is perched the well-known milestone, and my cousin +began already to complain of fatigue, the sound of hoofs behind us +caused us both to stop and look round. + +"It's cavalry," said Amelia, who jumps rather rapidly to conclusions, +and is no judge of a horse. + +"It's a stud," was my reply; "somebody coming to hunt with 'the +Heavy-top.' Let's stand in this gateway and see them pass." We took up +a position accordingly; and if I felt keen about the commencement of +the season previously, how much more so did I become to watch the +string of gallant well-bred horses now jogging quietly towards us with +all the paraphernalia and accessories of the chase! + +Two, four, six, and a hack, all clothed and hooded, and packed for +travelling. Such a chestnut in the van, with a minute boy on him, who +cannot have weighed four stone; strong, flat, sinewy legs (the +chestnut's, not the boy's), hocks and thighs clean, full, and muscular +as Brilliant's, only twice the size; a long, square tail, and a wicked +eye. How I _should_ like to ride that chestnut! Then a brown and two +bays, one of the latter scarcely big enough for a hunter, to my fancy, +but apparently as thoroughbred as Eclipse; then a gray, who seemed to +have a strong objection to being led, and who held back and dragged at +his rein in a most provoking manner; and lastly, by the side of a +brown hack that I fancied I had seen before, a beautiful black horse, +the very impersonation of strength, symmetry, courage, speed, and all +that a horse should be. + +"Ask the groom whose they are," whispered Amelia as he went by. "I +don't quite like to speak to him; he looks an impudent fellow with +those dark whiskers." + +I should like to see the whiskers that would frighten _me_; so I +stepped boldly out into the road, and accosted him at once. + +"Whose horses are those, my man?" I asked, with my most commanding +air. + +"Captain Lovell's, miss," was the reply. My heart jumped into my +mouth, and you might have knocked me down with a feather. + +"Captain Lovell's!" exclaimed Amelia; "why, that's your old flirt, +Kate. I see it all now." But I hardly heard her, and when I looked up +the horses were a mile off, and we were retracing our steps towards +Dangerfield Hall. + +What a happy day this has been, and how unpromising was its beginning! +And yet I don't know why I should have been so happy. After all, there +is nothing extraordinary in Captain Lovell's sending down a stud of +horses to hunt with so favourite a pack as "the Heavy-top" hounds. I +wish I had summoned courage to ask the man when his master was coming +and where he was going to stay; but I really couldn't do it--no, not +if my life depended on it. All the way home Cousin Amelia laughed and +sneered and chattered, and once she acknowledged I was "the +best-tempered girl in the world;" but I am sure I have not an idea why +I deserve this character. Her words fell perfectly unheeded on my ear. +I was glad to get to the solitude of my own room, when it was time to +dress for dinner, that I might have the luxury, if it was only for +five minutes, of _thinking_ undisturbed. But there was Aunt Deborah to +be attended to; for poor Aunt Deborah, I am sorry to say, is by no +means well. And Gertrude came in "to do my hair;" and then the +dinner-bell rang, and the wearisome meal, and the long evening dragged +on in their accustomed monotony. But I did not find it as dull as +usual, though I was more rejoiced than ever when the hand-candles came +and we were dismissed to go to bed. + +And now they are all fast asleep, and I can sit at my open window and +think, think, think as much as I like. What a lovely night it is! The +mist has cleared off, and the moat is glistening in the moonlight, and +the old trees are silvered over and blackened alternately by its +beams; the church tower stands out massively against the sky. How dark +the old belfry looks on such a night as this, contrasting with the +white tombstones in the churchyard, and the slated roof shimmering +above the aisle! There is a faint breeze sighing amongst the few +remaining leaves, now rising into a pleading whisper, now dying away +with a sad, unearthly moan. The deer are moving restlessly about the +Park, now standing out in bold relief on some open space brightened by +the moonlight, now flitting like spectres athwart the shade. +Everything breathes of romance and illusion; and I do believe it is +very bad for one to be watching here, dreaming wide awake, instead of +snoring healthily in bed. I wonder what he is about at this moment. +Perhaps smoking a cigar out of doors, and enjoying this beautiful +night. I wonder what he is thinking of. Perhaps, after all, he's +stewed up in some lamplit drawing-room talking nonsense to Lady +Scapegrace and Mrs. Lumley, or playing that odious whist at his club. +Well, I suppose I may as well go to bed. One more look into the night, +and then--hark! what is it? how beautiful, how charming! Distant music +from the wood at the low end of the Park. The deer are all listening, +and now they troop down towards the noise in scores. How softly it +dies away and rises again! 'Tis a cornet-à-piston, I think, and though +not very skilfully played it sounds heavenly by moonlight. I never +thought that old air of "You'll Remember Me" half so beautiful before. +Who can it be? I have never heard it since I came here. It can't be +Captain Lovell's groom; it's not quite impossible it might be Captain +Lovell himself. Ah, if I thought that! Well, it has ceased now. I may +as well go to bed. What a happy day this has been, and what dreams I +shall have! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +_Friday._--This has been an eventful day. I thought somehow it would +be so; at all events, the first day's hunting is always an era to +me--so when I came down to breakfast in my riding-habit, and braved +the cold glances of my aunt and the sarcasms of my cousin, I was +prepared for a certain amount of excitement, although, I confess, I +did not bargain for quite so much as I got. + +"You'll enjoy yourself to-day, I trust, Miss Coventry," said Aunt +Horsingham, looking as black as thunder. + +"Mind you don't get a fall," observed Cousin Amelia with a sneer; but +I cared little for their remarks and remonstrances. White Stockings +was at the door, Cousin John ready to lift me into my saddle, and I +envied no mortal woman on earth, no not our gracious Queen upon the +throne, when I found myself fairly mounted, and jogging gently down +the park in all the delightful anticipation of a good day's sport. I +think I would rather have ridden Brilliant of the two, but John +suggested that the country was cramped and sticky, with small fields +and blind fences. Now, White Stockings is an animal of great +circumspection, and allows no earthly consideration to hurry him. He +is, moreover, as strong as a dray-horse, and as handy, so John +declares, "as a fiddle." To him, therefore, was entrusted the honour +of carrying me on my first appearance with the Heavy-top hounds. The +meet was at no great distance from Dangerfield Hall, and being the +beginning of the season, and a favourite place, there was a +considerable muster of the _élite_ of the county, and a goodly show of +very respectable horses to grace the covert side. As we rode up to the +mounted assemblage, I perceived, by the glance of curiosity, not to +say admiration, directed at myself and White Stockings, that ladies +were unusual visitors in that field, and that the Heavy-top gentlemen +were not prepared to be cut _down_, at all events by _a woman_. Cousin +John seems to know them all and to be a universal favourite. + +"Who's the lady, John, my boy?" whispered a fat squire in a purple +garment, with a face to match; "good seat on a horse, eh? rides like a +bird, I'll warrant her." I did not catch John's answer; but the +corpulent sportsman nodded, and smiled, and winked, and wheezed out, +"Lucky dog--pretty cousin--double harness." + +I don't know what he meant; but that it was something intensely +ludicrous I gather from his nearly choking with laughter at his own +concluding observation, though John blushed and looked rather like a +fool. + +"Who's that girl on the chestnut?" I again heard asked by a +slang-looking man with red whiskers meeting under his chin; "looks +like a larker--I must get introduced to her," added the conceited +brute. How I hated him! If he had ventured to speak to me, I really +think I could have struck him over the face with my riding-whip. + +"I told you it would not be long before we met, Miss Coventry," said a +well-known voice beside me; and turning round, I shook hands with +Captain Lovell; and I am ashamed to confess, shook all over into the +bargain. I am always a little nervous the first day of the season. How +well he looked in his red coat and neat appointments, with his +graceful seat upon a horse, and so high-bred, amongst all the country +squires and jolly yeomen that surrounded us! He had more colour too +than when in London, and altogether I thought I had never seen him +looking so handsome. The chestnut with the wicked eye, showing off his +fine shape, now divested of clothing, curvetted and bent to his +rider's hand as if he thoroughly enjoyed that light restraining touch: +the pair looked what the gentlemen call "all over like going," and I +am sure one of them thought so too. + +"I saw your horses on their way to Muddlebury yesterday," I at length +found courage to say. "Are you going to hunt all the season with the +Heavy-top?" + +"How long do you stay at Dangerfield?" was the counter question from +Frank; "you see I know the name of the place already; I believe I +could find my way now about the Park; very picturesque it is too by +night, Miss Coventry. Do you like music by moonlight?" + +"Not if it's played out of tune," I answered with a laugh and a blush; +but just then Squire Haycock, whom I scarcely knew in his hunting +costume, rode up to us, and begged as a personal favour to himself +that we would accompany him to a particular point, from which he could +ensure us a good start if the fox went away--his face becoming scarlet +as he expressed a hope "Miss Coventry would not allow her fondness for +the chase to lead her into unnecessary danger;" whilst Frank looked at +him with a half-amused, half-puzzled expression that seemed to say, +"What a queer creature you are; and what the deuce can that matter to +you?" + +I wonder why people always want to oblige you when you don't want to +be obliged; "too civil by half" is much more in the way than "not half +civil enough." So we rode on with Squire Haycock, and took up a +position at the end of the wood that commanded a view of the whole +proceedings, and, as Frank whispered to me, was "the likeliest place +in the world if we wanted to head the fox." + +The Heavy-top hounds are an establishment such as, I am given to +understand, is not usually kept in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, +and other so-called "flying counties." I like to gain all the +information I can--Cousin John calls this thirst for knowledge, +"female curiosity"--and gather from him that the Heavy-top consists of +twenty-two couples of hunting hounds, and that the whole twenty-two +come out three times a week during the season. I don't see why they +shouldn't, I'm sure; they look very fat, and remind me of the otter +hounds poor Uncle Horace used to keep when I was a child. He (that's +my oracle, Cousin John) further adds that they are remarkably +"steady"--which is more than can be said of their huntsman, who is +constantly drunk--and that they consume a vast quantity of "flesh," +which, far from being a meritorious, appears to me a disgusting +tendency. They are capital "line-hunters," so says John; a +"line-hunter," I imagine, is a hound that keeps snuffing about under +the horses' feet, and must be a most useful auxiliary, when, as is +often the case, the sportsmen are standing on the identical spot where +the fox has crossed. He considers them a very "killing" pack, not in +manners or appearance certainly, but in perseverance and undying +determination. Their huntsman is what is called "one of the old sort." +If this is a correct description, I can only say that "the old sort" +must have worn the brownest and shabbiest of boots, the oldest of +coats, and the greasiest of caps; must have smelt of brandy on all +occasions, and lived in a besotted state of general confusion, +vibrating between "delirium audacious" and "delirium tremens." They +have, however, a certain whip called "Will," who appears to me to do +all the work, and to keep everything right. When old Tippler drinks +himself to death (a casualty which must shortly happen), Will is +pretty sure to succeed him--an event which I fancy will greatly add to +the efficiency of the Heavy-top hounds. To crown all, Frank Lovell +dubs the whole thing "slow;" but I have remarked gentlemen make use of +this epithet to convey their disapproval of that which they cannot +find any positive fault with--just as we ladies call a woman "bad +style" when we have nothing else to say in her disparagement. + +"Gone away!" exclaims Squire Haycock, lifting his cap high above his +red head; "yonder he goes! Don't you see him, Miss Coventry, now +whisking under the gate?" + +"Forward, forward!" holloas Frank, giving vent to his excitement in +one of those prolonged screams that proclaim how the astonished +sportsman has actually seen the fox with his own eyes. The next +instant he is through the hand-gate at the end of the ride, and rising +in his stirrups, with the wicked chestnut held hard by the head, is +speeding away over the adjoining pasture, alongside of the two or +three couples of leading hounds that have just emerged from the +covert. Ah! we are all forgotten now; women, children, everything is +lost in that first delirious five minutes when the hounds are really +away. Frank was gazing at me a minute ago as if his very life was at +my disposal, and now he is speeding away a field ahead of me, and +don't care whether I break my neck following him or not. But this is +no time for such thoughts as these; the drunken huntsman is sounding +his horn in our rear. Will, the whip, cap in hand, is bringing up the +body of the pack. Squire Haycock holds the gate open for me to pass, +Cousin John goes by me like a flash of lightning; White Stockings with +a loose rein, submits to be kicked along at any pace I like to ask +him. The fence at the end of the field is nothing; I shall go exactly +where Frank did. My blood thrills with ecstasy in my veins: moment of +moments! I have got a capital start, and we are in for a run. + +As I sit here in my armchair and dressing-gown, I see the whole +panorama of to-day passing once more before my eyes. I see that dark, +wet, ploughed field, with the white hounds slipping noiselessly over +its furrowed surface. I can almost perceive the fresh, wholesome smell +of the newly-turned earth. I see the ragged, overgrown, straggling +fence at the far end, glistening with morning dew, and green with +formidable briers. I see Frank Lovell's chestnut rising at the weakest +place, the rider sitting well back, his spurs and stirrup-irons +shining in the sun; I see Squire Haycock's square scarlet back, as he +diverges to a well-known corner for some friendly egress; I hear +Cousin John's voice shouting, "Give him his head, Kate!" As White +Stockings and I rapidly approach the leap, my horse relapses of his +own accord into a trot, points his small ears, crashes into the very +middle of the fence, and just as I give myself up for lost, makes a +second bound that settles me once more in the saddle, and lands +gallantly in the adjoining field, Frank looking back over his shoulder +in evident anxiety and admiration, whilst John's cheery voice, with +its "Bravo, Kate!" rings in my delighted ears. We three are now +nearest the hounds, a long strip of rushy meadow-land before us, the +pack streaming along the side of a high, thick hedge that bounds it on +our left; the south wind fans my face and lifts my hair as I slacken +my horse's rein and urge him to his speed. I am alongside of Frank. I +could ride anywhere now, or do anything. I pass him with a smile and a +jest. I am the foremost with the chase. What is ten years of common +life, one's feet upon the fender, compared to five such golden minutes +as these? The hounds stop suddenly, and after scattering and spreading +themselves into the form of an open fan, look up in my face with an +air of mute bewilderment. The huntsman and the field come up, the +gentlemen in a high state of delight and confusion; but Mr. Tippler in +the worst of humours, and muttering as he trots off to a corner of the +meadow with the pack about his horse's heels,-- + +"Rode 'em slap off the scent--drove 'em to a check--wish she was at +home and abed and asleep, and be d----d to her!" + +A grim old lady who has but one eye, and answers to the name of +"Jezebel," has threaded the fence, and proclaims in anything but a +sweet voice to her comrades, that she has discovered the line of our +fox. They join her in an instant, down go their heads in concert, and +away we all speed again, through an open gate, across a wide common, +into a strip of plantation, over a stile and foot-board that leads out +of it, and I find myself once more following Captain Lovell with +Cousin John alongside of me, and all the rest far, far behind. This is +indeed glorious. I should like it to go on till dinnertime. How I hope +we shan't kill the fox! + +"Take hold of his head, Kate," says my cousin, whose horse has just +blundered on to his nose through a gap. "Even White Stockings won't +last for ever, and this is going to be something out of the common." + +"Forward!" is my reply as I point with my whip towards the lessening +pack, now a whole field ahead of us. "Forward!" If we hadn't been +going such a pace I could have sung for joy. + +There is a line of pollarded willow trees down in that hollow, and the +hounds have already left these behind them; they are rising the +opposite ground. Again Frank Lovell looks anxiously back at me, but +makes no sign. + +"We _must_ have it, Kate!" says John; "there's your best place, under +the tree; send him at it as hard as he can lay legs to the ground." + +I ply my whip and loosen my reins in vain. White Stockings stops dead +short, and lowers his nose to the water, as if he wanted to drink; all +of a sudden the stream is behind me, and with a flounder and a +struggle we are safe over the brook. Not so Cousin John; I see him on +his legs on the bank, with his horse's head lying helplessly between +his feet, the rest of that valuable animal being completely submerged. + +"Go along, Kate!" he shouts encouragingly, and again I speed after +Frank Lovell, who is by this time nearly a quarter of a mile ahead of +me, and at least that distance behind the hounds. White Stockings is +going very pleasantly, but the ground is now entirely on the rise, and +he indulges occasionally in a trot without any hint on my part; the +fences fortunately get weaker and weaker; the fields are covered with +stones, and are light, good galloping enough, but the rise gets +steeper every yard; round hills are closing in about us; we are now on +the Downs, and the pack is still fleeting ahead, like a body of hounds +in a dream, every moment increasing their distance from us, and making +them more and more indistinct. Frank Lovell disappears over the brow +of that hill, and I urge White Stockings to overtake my only +companion. He don't seem to go much faster for all that. I strike him +once or twice with my light riding-whip; I shake my reins, and he +comes back into a trot; I rise in my stirrup and rouse his energies in +every way I can think of. I am afraid he must be ill, the trot +degenerates to a jog, a walk; he carries his head further out from him +than is his wont, and treats curb and snaffle with a like disregard +and callousness of mouth. Now he stops altogether, and catching a side +view of his head his eye appears to me more prominent than usual, and +the whole animal seems changed, till I can hardly fancy it is my own +horse. I get a little frightened now, and look round for assistance. I +am quite alone. Hounds, horsemen, all have disappeared; the wide, +dreary, solitary Downs stretch around me, and I begin to have +misgivings as to how I am to get back to Dangerfield Hall. Cousin John +has explained it all to me since. + +"Nothing could be simpler, Kate," said he this evening when I handed +him his tea; "you _stopped your horse_. If ladies _will_ go in front +with a loose rein for five-and-forty minutes, 'riding jealous' of such +a first-rate performer as Frank Lovell, it is not an unlikely thing to +happen. If you could have lasted ten minutes longer, you would have +seen them kill their fox. Frank was the only one there, but he assures +me he could not have gone another hundred yards. Never mind, Kate, +better luck next time!" + +Well, to return to my day. After a while White Stockings began to +recover himself. I'm sure I didn't know what to do with him. I got +off, and loosened his girths as well as I could, and turned his head +to the wind, and wiped his poor nose with my pocket-handkerchief. I +hadn't any eau-de-Cologne, and if I had it might not have done him +much good. At last he got better, and I got on again (all my life I've +been used to mounting and dismounting without assistance). Thinking +downhill must be the way home, downhill I turned him, and proceeded +slowly on, now running over in my own mind the glorious hour I had +just spent, now wondering whether I should be lost and have to sleep +amongst the Downs; and anon coming back to the old subject, and +resolving that hunting was the only thing to live for, and that for +the future I would devote my whole time and energies to that pursuit. +At last I got into a steep chalky lane, and at a turn a little farther +on espied to my great relief a red-coated back jogging leisurely home. +White Stockings pricked his ears and mended his pace, so I soon +overtook the returning sportsman, who proved to be no other than +Squire Haycock, thrown out like the rest of the Heavy-top gentlemen, +and only too happy to take care of me, and show me the shortest way +(eleven miles as the crow flies) back to Dangerfield Hall. + +We jogged on amicably enough, the Squire complimenting me much on my +prowess, and not half so shy as usual--very often the case with a +diffident man when on horseback. We were forced to go very slow, both +our horses being pretty well tired; and to make matters better, we +were caught in a tremendous hailstorm about two miles from home, just +as it was getting dark, and close to the spot where our respective +roads diverged. I could not possibly miss mine, as it was perfectly +straight. Ah! that hailstorm has a deal to answer for. We were forced +to turn through a hand-gate, and take shelter in a friendly wood. What +a ridiculous position, pitch dark, pelting with rain, an elderly +gentleman and a young lady on horseback under a fir tree. The Squire +had been getting more incoherent for some time; I couldn't think what +he was driving at. + +"You like our country, Miss Coventry; fine climate, excellent soil, +nice and dry for ladies?" + +I willingly subscribed to all these advantages. + +"Good neighbourhood," added the Squire; "capital hunting, charming +rides, wonderful scenery for sketching. Do you think you could live in +this part of the world?" + +I thought I could if I was to try. + +"You expressed your approbation of my house, Miss Coventry," the +Squire proceeded, with his hand on my horse's neck; "do you think--I +mean--should you consider--or rather I should say, is there any +alteration you would suggest--anything in my power--if you would +condescend to ride over any afternoon; may I consider you will so far +favour me?" + +I said "I should be delighted, but that it had left off raining, and +it was time for us to get home." + +"One word, Miss Coventry," pleaded the Squire with a shaking voice. +"Have I your permission to call upon Lady Horsingham to-morrow?" + +I said I thought my aunt would be at home, and expressed my conviction +that she would be delighted to see him, and I wished him good-bye. + +"Good-bye, Miss Coventry, good-bye," said the Squire, shaking hands +with a squeeze that crushed my favourite ring into my prettiest +finger; "you have made me _the happiest of men_--good-bye!" + +I saw it all in an instant, just as I see it now. The Squire means to +propose for me to-morrow, and he thinks I have accepted him. What +_shall_ I do? _Mrs. Haycock_--Kate Haycock--Catherine Haycock. No, I +can't make it look well, write it how I will; and then, to vow never +to think of any one else; I suppose I mightn't even _speak_ to Frank. +Never, no, never; but what a scrape I have got into, and how I wish +to-morrow was over! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +My diary continued,-- + +_Saturday._--Well, it is over at last; and upon my word I begin to +think I am capable of anything after all I have got through to-day +since breakfast. Scarcely had I finished the slice of toast and single +cup of tea that constitute my morning meal, before I heard the tramp +of a horse on the gravel in front of the house, followed by the +ominous sound of the door-bell. I have remarked that in all country +families a ring at the door-bell brings everybody's heart into +everybody's mouth. Aunt Horsingham, brooding over the teapot as usual, +had been in her worst of humours ever since she came down, and tried +to look as if no bell that ever was cast had power to move her grim +resolve. + +"A message by electric telegraph," exclaimed Cousin Amelia, who is +always anticipating some catastrophe; "no visitor would ever call at +such a time." + +"Unless he came to propose for one of us," suggested John, who was +carving a ham at the side-table. + +"Some one on business for _me_, probably," remarked Aunt Horsingham, +drawing herself up and looking more stately than usual. + +"Mr. Haycock!" announced the butler, throwing open the door with a +flourish; and while all our untimely visitor's preparations, such as +wiping his shoes, arranging his dress, etc., were distinctly audible +outside, we looked at each other in mute astonishment, and I own I +_did_ feel the guilty one amongst the party. + +The Squire made his entrance in a state of intense trepidation. Having +been forcibly deprived of his white hat in the hall, he had nothing +but natural means to resort to for concealment of his confusion. Had +it not been for an enormous silk handkerchief (white spots on a yellow +ground) with which he blew his nose and wiped his brow at short and +startling intervals his condition would have been pitiable in the +extreme. The "Squire's" dress too was of a more florid style than is +usual in these days of sad-coloured attire. A bright blue neckcloth, +well starched, and of great depth and volume; a buff waistcoat, with +massive gilt buttons; a grass-green riding-coat of peculiar shape and +somewhat scanty material; white cord trousers, York tan gaiters, and +enormous double-soled shooting-shoes, pierced and strapped, and +clamped and hobnailed, completing a _tout ensemble_ that almost upset +my aunt's gravity, and made me, nervous as I felt, stuff my +pocket-handkerchief into my mouth that I might not laugh outright. + +"Fine morning, Lady Horsingham," observed the Squire, as if he had +come all that distance at this early hour on purpose to impart so +valuable a piece of information--"fine morning, but cold," he +repeated, rubbing his hands together though the perspiration stood on +his brow. "I don't recollect a much finer morning at this time of +year," he resumed, addressing Cousin John after a pause, during which +he had ceremoniously shaken hands with each of us in succession. + +"Will you have some breakfast?" asked Lady Horsingham, whose cold and +formal demeanour contrasted strangely with the nervous excitement of +her visitor. + +"No, thank you--if you please," answered the Squire in a breath. "I +breakfasted before I left home. Early hours, Lady Horsingham--I think +your ladyship approves of early hours--but I'll ask for a cup of tea, +if you please." So he sat down to a weak cup of lukewarm tea with much +assumed gusto and satisfaction. + +It was now time for Cousin Amelia to turn her battery on the Squire; +so she presently attacked him about his poultry and his garden and his +farm, the honest gentleman's absent and inconsequent replies causing +my aunt and John to regard him with silent astonishment, as one who +was rapidly taking leave of his senses; whilst I who knew, or at least +guessed, the cause of his extraordinary behaviour began heartily to +wish myself back in Lowndes Street, and to wonder how this absurd +scene was going to end. + +"Your dahlias must have suffered dreadfully from these early frosts," +said Cousin Amelia, shaking her ringlets at the poor man in what she +fancies her most bewitching style. + +"Beautifully," was the bewildered reply, "particularly the +shorthorns." + +"You never sent us over the Alderney calf you promised, Mr. Haycock," +pursued the lady, now adroitly changing her ground. "I begin to think +you are not to be depended on." + +"You do me injustice, Miss Horsingham; indeed you do," broke out the +Squire in a white heat and with a deprecating glance at me. "I assure +you I sent over a very fine cutting, with a pot and everything, +directions for matting it in winter and transplanting after a year. If +you never got it I'll discharge my gardener; I will, upon my word." + +"I have got such a Cochin China to show you," persisted his tormentor, +determined to renew the charge. "When you've finished breakfast I'll +take you to the poultry-yard if you like." + +"Delighted," replied the Squire, looking ruefully around him as if he +meditated instant flight--"delighted, I'm sure; but they haven't +flowered well this year. I'll teach you how to bud them if you like; +but you're aware, Miss Horsingham, that they've no smell." + +John could stand it no longer, and was forced to bolt out of the room. +My aunt too rose from the table with something approaching a smile; +and the Squire, screwing his courage to the sticking-place, was +following her into the drawing-room, evidently for a private +interview, when Cousin Amelia, who seemed to have made up her mind to +take bodily possession of him, hurried the visitor off to the +billiard-room, there to engage in a match which would probably last +till luncheon-time. I never saw anything so hopeless as the expression +of the victim's countenance whilst suffering himself to be thus led +into captivity. He did summon courage to entreat "Miss Coventry to +come and mark"--a favour which, notwithstanding my cousin's black +looks, I really had not the heart to refuse him. + +Game after game they played, the gentleman apparently abandoning +himself to his fate. Sprawling over the table, making the most +ridiculous blunders in counting, missing the most palpable of cannons, +and failing to effect the easiest of hazards; the lady brandishing her +mace in the most becoming attitudes, drooping her long hair over the +cushions, and displaying the whiteness of her hand and slender +symmetry of her fingers, as she requested her astonished adversary to +teach her "how to make a bridge," or "pocket the red," or "screw it +off the white," and lisped out "how hard it was to be disappointed by +that provoking kiss!" The Squire made one or two futile attempts to +engage me in a game, but Cousin Amelia was determined to have him all +to herself; and as it was getting near the time at which I take Aunt +Deborah her broth--for poor Aunt Deborah, I am sorry to say, is very +ill in bed--I made my escape, and as I ran upstairs heard the +billiard-room bell ring, and Squire Haycock summon up courage to "know +if Lady Horsingham was at leisure, as he wished to see her for five +minutes alone in the drawing-room." + +People may say what they like about superstition and credulity and old +women's tales, but I _have_ faith in presentiments. Didn't I get up +from my work and walk to the window at least a dozen times to watch +for Cousin John coming home that wet day two years ago when he broke +his leg with the harriers, and yet he had only gone out for a +morning's canter on the best horse he ever had in his life? Didn't I +feel for eight-and-forty hours as if something too delightful was +going to happen to me the week that Brilliant was bought and sent +home, looking like an angel in a horse's skin? That reminds me I never +go to see him now; I hope I am not inconstant to my old friends. And +what was it but a presentiment that made my heart beat and my knees +knock together when I entered my own room to-day before luncheon and +saw a brown paper parcel on the table, addressed, evidently by the +shop people, to "Miss Coventry, Dangerfield Hall"? How my fingers +trembled as I untied the thread and unfolded the paper; after all, it +was nothing but a packet of worsteds! To be sure, I hadn't ordered any +worsteds, but there might possibly be a note to explain; so I shook +every skein carefully, and turned the covering inside out, that the +document, if there should be one, might not escape my vigilance. How +could my presentiments deceive me? Of course there was a note--after +all, where was the harm? Captain Lovell had most politely sent me all +these worsteds for a cushion I had once talked about working, and very +naturally had enclosed a note to say so; and nothing to my mind could +be kinder or more welcome than the contents. I am not going to say +what they are, of course; though for that matter I easily could, since +I have got the note by me at this moment, and have read it over to-day +besides more than once. After all, there is nothing like a letter. Who +does not remember the first letter received in one's childish days, +written in a fair round text for childish eyes, or perhaps even +_printed_ by the kind and painstaking correspondent for the little +dunce of a recipient. Who has not slept with such a letter carefully +hoarded away under the pillow, that morning's first light might give +positive assurance of the actual existence of our treasure. Nor is the +little urchin the only glad supporter of our admirable postal +institutions. Manly eyes moisten with tears of joy over those faint +delicate lines traced by _her_ hand whose gentle influence has found +the _one_ soft place. Woman hides away in her bosom, close to her +loving heart, the precious scrap which assures her, visibly, tangibly, +unerringly, that he is hers and hers alone. Words may deceive, scenes +of bliss pass away like a dream. Though ever present to the mind it +requires an effort to disentangle the realities of memory from the +illusions of imagination; but a letter is proof positive; there it is +in black and white. You may read it again and again; you may kiss it +as often as you please; you may prize it and study it and pore over +it, and find a new meaning in every fresh perusal, a hidden +interpretation for every magic word. Nothing can unsay it, nothing can +deprive you of it; only don't forget to lock it up carefully, and mind +you don't go leaving about your keys. + +I had hardly read my note over a second time before Cousin Amelia +bounced into the room without knocking. I should have locked the door +had I known she was coming; as it was, I had only time to pop the note +into my dress (the seal made a great scratch just below my neck) +before she was upon me, and throwing herself into my arms with a most +unusual excess of affections exclaimed,-- + +"Give me joy, Kate--give me joy--he's gone to mamma--he's in the +drawing-room with her now--O Kate, what shall I do?" + +"My dear Amelia," I exclaimed, as the delightful thought flashed +across me that, after all, the Squire's visit might have been for my +cousin, though I must say I wondered at his taste, "am I to +congratulate you on being Mrs. Haycock? I do indeed from my heart. I +am sure he is an excellent, amiable man, and will make you a capital +husband." + +"That he will!" exclaimed Cousin Amelia; "and such a nice place and +gardens, and a very good fortune too. Upon my word, Kate, I begin to +think I'm a lucky girl, though to be sure with my advantages I might +expect to make a good match. He's not so old, Kate, after all; at +least not so old as he looks; and he's very good-tempered, I know, +because his servants say so. I shall alter that tumble-down house of +his, and new-furnish the drawing-room. Of course he'll take me to +London for two or three months every year in the season. I wonder if +he knows about Mr. Johnson--not that I ever _cared_ for _him_--and, of +course, a poor curate like that one couldn't think of it. Do you know, +Kate, I thought his manner was very _odd_ the other day when he dined +here; though he sat next _you_ he kept looking at _me_, and I remarked +once that he coloured up, oh! so red. Poor fellow, I see it all now. +Kate, you shall be one of my bridesmaids--perhaps it will be _your_ +turn to be a bride some of these days; who knows!" + +Just then Gertrude tapped at the door. + +"Miss Coventry, if you please, her ladyship wishes to see you in the +drawing-room." + +My cousin's face fell several inches. + +"Some mistake, Gertrude," she exclaimed. "It's me isn't it, that mamma +wants?" + +"Her ladyship bid me tell Miss Kate she wished to see her +_immediately_," was my maid's reply; so I tripped downstairs with a +beating heart, and crossed the hall just in time to see Squire Haycock +riding leisurely away from the house (though it was bitter cold and a +hard frost, the first of the season), and looking up at the window, +doubtless in hopes of an encouraging wave from the white handkerchief +of his _fiancée_ presumptive. + +Short as was the interval between my own door and that of the +drawing-room I had time to run over in my mind the whole advantages +and disadvantages of the flattering proposal which I was now convinced +had been made on my behalf. If I became Mrs. Haycock (and I saw +clearly that I had not mistaken the Squire's meaning on our return +from hunting), I should be at the head of a handsome establishment, +should have a good-tempered, easy-going, pleasant husband, who would +let me do just what I liked and hunt to my heart's content; should +live in the country, and look after the poor, and feed hens and +chickens, and sink down comfortably into a contented old age. I need +not separate from Aunt Deborah, who would never be able to do without +me; and I might, I am sure, turn the Squire with the greatest ease +round my little finger. But then there certainly were great +objections. I could have got over the colour of his hair, though a red +head opposite me every morning would undoubtedly be a trial; but the +freckles! No, I do not think I could do my duty as a wife by a man so +dreadfully freckled. I'm certain I couldn't love him; and if I didn't +love him I oughtn't to marry him, and I thought of the sad, sad tale +of Lucy, Lady Horsingham, whose ghost was now in the nightly habit of +haunting Dangerfield Hall. The struggles that poor thing must have +gone through, the leaden hours of dull, torpid misery, the agonizing +moments of acute remorse, the perpetual spirit-wearing conflict +between duty and inclination, much to the discomfiture of the former; +and the haunting face of Cousin Edward continually rising on that +heated imagination, pleading, reproaching, suing till she loved him, +if possibly more madly in his absence than when he was by her side. I +too was beginning to have a "Cousin Edward" of my own; Frank Lovell's +image was far too often present in my mind. I did not choose to +confess to myself how much I liked him; but the more I reflected on +Mr. Haycock's proposal the more I felt how impossible it would be +never to _think_ of Frank any more. + +"No!" I said inwardly, with my hand on the drawing-room door, "I will +_not_ give him up. I have his note even now in my bosom; _he_ cares +for _me_, at any rate. I am happier to-day than I have been for +months, and I will _not_ go and destroy it all with my own hand." I +opened the door, and found myself in the formidable presence of Aunt +Horsingham. + +Her ladyship looked colder and more reserved, if possible, than ever. +She motioned me stiffly to take a chair, and plunged at once into the +subject in her dry, measured tones. + +"Before I congratulate you, Kate," she began, "on such an unlooked-for +piece of good fortune as has just come to my knowledge, I am bound to +confess, much to my astonishment----" + +"Thank you, aunt," I put in; "that's complimentary, at any rate." + +"I should wish to say a few words," proceeded my aunt, without heeding +the interruption, "on the duties which will now devolve upon you, and +the line of conduct which I should advise you to pursue in your new +sphere. These hoydenish manners, these ridiculous expeditions, these +scampers all over the country, must be renounced forthwith. Unbecoming +as they are in a young unmarried female, a much stricter sense of +decorum, a vastly different repose and reserve of manner, are +absolutely essential in a wife; and it is as a _wife_, Kate, that I am +now addressing you." + +"A wife, aunt!" I exclaimed; "whose, I should like to know?" + +"This is an ill-chosen time for jesting, Kate," said my aunt with a +frown. "I cannot congratulate you on your good taste in turning so +important a subject into ridicule. Mr. Haycock has proposed to you; +you have accepted him. Whilst poor Deborah is so ill I am your natural +guardian, and he has with great propriety requested my consent; +although, in the agitation very natural to a man so circumstanced," +added my aunt, smothering a smile, "it was with some difficulty that I +made out exactly what he meant." + +"He _never_ proposed to me; I _never_ accepted him," I broke in, +breathless with agitation. "I never _will_ be his wife, aunt; you had +no right to tell him so. Write to him immediately--send a man off on +horseback to overtake him. I'll put my bonnet on this instant, and +walk every mile of the way myself. He's a true-hearted gentleman, and +I won't have him made a fool of." I walked up and down the room--I +looked Aunt Horsingham full in the face; she was quite cowed by my +vehemence. I felt I was mistress now, while the excitement lasted, and +she gave in; she even wrote a note to the Squire at my dictation--she +dispatched it by a special messenger--she did everything I told her, +and never so much as ventured on remonstrance or reproach; but she +will never forgive me to her dying hour. There is no victory so +complete as that which one obtains over a person who is always +accustomed to meet with fear and obedience. Aunt Horsingham rules her +household with a rod of iron; nobody ever ventures to disagree with +her, or so much as to hint an opinion contrary to those which she is +known to hold. Such a person is so astonished at resistance as to be +incapable of quelling it; the very hardihood of the rebellion ensures +its success. When I walked out of the drawing-room to-day I felt that +for once I had obtained the victory in a contest with my aunt; that in +future I should no longer be the "wild, troublesome Kate," the "black +sheep" of the family, the scapegoat on whom were laid the faults and +misdemeanours of all, but the master-spirit, the bold, resolute woman, +whose value others were able to appreciate, and who was ready and +willing to assert her own independence. In the meantime poor Aunt +Deborah had to be informed of what had taken place, and Cousin Amelia +to be undeceived in her groundless expectations. That the latter would +never forgive me I was well enough acquainted with my own sex to be +assured; but the task required to be done, notwithstanding. Flushed +with my triumph, with heightened colour and flashing eyes, I stalked +off towards my chamber and met Cousin John in the hall. + +"Good heavens, Kate, what is the matter? What has happened?" exclaimed +John in obvious perturbation. + +"A piece of news!" was my reply; "a conquest, John! What do you think? +Mr. Haycock has just been here, and _proposed_ for me!" + +He flushed up all over his face and temples, and then turned deadly +pale; even his lips were quite white and wide apart. How they quivered +as he tried to speak unconcernedly! And after all he got out nothing +but, "Well, Kate?" + +"And I have refused him, John," I said quietly, but in a tone that +showed him there was no mistake about it. + +"God bless you, Kate!" was all he replied, and turned away muttering +something about "wet things" and his "dressing-room;" but he was going +to the wrong door, and had to turn back, though he took care not to +let me see his face again. + +I can't make John out. At dinner he was just as if nothing had +happened; but at all events I'm glad I've refused Mr. Haycock; so I +shall read Frank's note over once more and then go to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +I need quote no more from my diary, as the next few days offered no +incident worthy of recording to break the monotony of our life at +Dangerfield Hall. Drearier than ever it was, and more especially to +me; for I felt that, although undeclared, there was "war to the knife" +between myself, my aunt, and cousin. The latter scarcely spoke to me +at all; and my aunt, whose defeat was rankling bitterly in her heart, +merely took such sullen notice of me as was absolutely necessitated by +the laws of hospitality and the usages of society. Poor Aunt Deborah +required to be kept very quiet and free from all worries and +annoyances. "The more she slept," the doctor said, "the sooner she +would get well enough to move to London for further advice;" so I had +not even her to talk to--there was no hunting--the frost got harder +and harder--that obstinate weather-cock over the stables kept veering +from north to north-east--the grooms went to exercise wrapped up in +greatcoats and shawl handkerchiefs, and stayed out as short a time as +was compatible with the mildest stable discipline; there would be no +change of the moon for a week, and it was obvious that I should have +but little use for Brilliant and White Stockings before our return to +town. + +Oh! the hopelessness of a real bitter black frost coming on early in +the season, especially when you are not at your own home and your time +is limited; to get up morning after morning with the faint hope that +the change may have come at last; to see the dry slates and the clear +horizon and the iron-bound earth, and to ascertain in your own proper +person that the water gets colder and colder every day. You puzzle +over the almanac till your eyes ache, and study the thermometer till +you get a crick in your neck. You watch the smoke from every farmhouse +and cottage within your ken, and still, after curling high up into the +pure, rarefied atmosphere, it floats hopelessly away to the southward +and corroborates the odious dog-vane that you fondly imagined might +have got stuck in its northerly direction. You walk out and ask every +labourer you meet whether he "does not think we are going to have a +change?" The man looks up from his work, wonders at your solicitude, +opines "the gentry folk have queer ways," but answers honestly enough, +according to his convictions, in the negative--perhaps giving some +local reasons for his opinion, which, if an old man, he will tell you +he has never known to fail. Lastly, you quarrel with every one of your +non-hunting friends, whose unfeeling observations on "fine seasonable +weather" and "healthy, bracing frosts" you feel to be brutal in the +extreme. + +How I hated the frost at Dangerfield! My only chance of meeting with +Frank Lovell was out hunting. I had written him an answer to his note +(I have often heard Aunt Horsingham say that nothing is so inexcusable +as not to answer a letter), and I had no possible means of delivering +it. I could not put it in the bag, for my aunt keeps the key. I did +not like to entrust it to any of the servants, and my own maid is the +last person in whose power I should choose to place myself. I did once +think of asking Cousin John to give it to Frank, and throwing myself +on kind, good John's generosity, and confessing everything to him, and +asking for his advice; but somehow I could not bring myself to it. If +he had been my brother, nothing would have been easier; but John is +only a cousin, and one or two little things of late had made me +suspect that he liked me even better than cousins generally do; so +altogether I thought I would leave it alone--besides, John was going +off to shoot pheasants in Wales. The third morning of the frost he +came down to breakfast in a suit of wondrous apparel that I knew meant +a move in some direction, and I attacked him accordingly. + +"Is that killing 'get-up' entirely for our benefit, John?" I asked; +"or are you bound on some expedition that requires more fascinations +than common?" + +John coloured--he has taken to blushing lately. "I'm going down to +Wales for a few days' shooting, Kate," was his reply. "I shall come +back again when the frost breaks up if Lady Horsingham will be good +enough to receive me." Aunt Horsingham is always very civil to John, +and so is Cousin Amelia. People generally are to young bachelors. I +wonder why men ever marry; they are so much more in request without +wives and children. + +"Always happy to see _you_," said Aunt Horsingham, with an emphasis on +the pronoun. "By-the-way, what is your address in Wales, that I may +forward your letters?" + +John looked rather guilty as he handed an envelope to my aunt and +begged her to copy it exactly. + +"I can't pronounce the name of my friend Lloyd's place," he said, "but +you'll find it written there in seven consonants and one vowel." + +"Lloyd!" said I--"Lloyd! Wasn't there a pretty Miss Lloyd you used to +dance with last season in London? John! John! I've found you out at +last. Now I can account for the splendour of your attire. Now I can +see why you post off to Wales in such a hurry, leaving your horses and +your hunting and your cousin, sir, for the _beaux yeux_ of Miss +Fanny--isn't that her name? Well, John, I give you joy; she is a +pretty girl, even in London, and Aunt Deborah says she's a fortune." + +John looked so distressed I didn't like to pursue the subject. I +couldn't think what had come over him--he never spoke another word to +me till he jumped into his dog-cart to be off, and then he only +muttered "Goodbye, Kate" in a hoarse whisper, but he wrung my hand +very hard, and I even thought there were tears in his eyes! He is a +good fellow, John; I was sorry to think I might have said anything to +hurt his feelings. + +After he went away it was drearier than ever. What could I do but +think of Frank Lovell, and wonder when I should see him again? Where +could he be? Perhaps at the inn at Muddlebury. I could see the smoke +of the town from the breakfast-room windows, and used to watch it with +a painful interest. Every time a servant came into the room I thought +something impossible was going to happen. If a carriage drove up to +the house--if a horse's tramp was heard in the approach--if the +door-bell rung, I fancied it must be Captain Lovell coming to +call--perhaps to explain everything--possibly to request an interview +with my aunt, such as Squire Haycock had undergone, "but," as I said +to myself with a beating heart, "to have a very different result." If +the dwelling solely on one idea be a species of madness, then was I +undoubtedly mad--nothing was so wild and extravagant as to appear +impossible to my heated fancy. I was always expecting and always +disappointed. + +The fourth morning I got a letter from Mrs. Lumley, which did not add +much to my composure or comfort. Why is it ladies have such a knack of +making each other miserable equally by letter as by word of mouth? I +give the epistle of Mrs. Lumley verbatim, omitting only the dashes and +notes of admiration with which it was studded:-- + + "MY DEAREST DEAR KATE,--Here we are settled at Brighton, much to + the benefit of my poor, dear husband, whom you have never seen, but + who knows you well by name, and have everything, even the weather, + all we can wish. The only drawback to me is the loss of your + charming society and the absence of your dear, merry face. + + "I am leading a highly virtuous and praiseworthy life, and have not + done the least bit of mischief since I came here, except making the + Dean's wife jealous, which I can hardly call a crime, as she is a + vulgar little woman with a red nose and a yellow bonnet--the Dean + is a fat, good-natured man, and calls here nearly every day. His + wife abuses me in all societies, and tries to pass me without + speaking. You know how I always return good for evil, so I go up and + shake hands with her, and ask after her dear children, and patronize + her till I make her so angry she don't know which way to look--it's + rather good fun in such a slow place as this. My time is fully + occupied nursing 'my old man,' who was very ill before we came here, + and can only go out in a pony-carriage for an hour or two at a time; + so I have brought the ponies down and drive him myself. + + "The only chance the brown mare has of a gallop is in the mornings, + though next week I mean to have a day with the harriers; indeed, + they have appointed them at a good place on purpose for me. I + inspected the regiment of Dragoons quartered here yesterday morning; + they were at exercise on the Downs, and as the Gitana (my brown + mare) always behaves well with troops, which my enemies would affirm + is more than can be said of her mistress, I am able to report upon + their general appearance and efficiency. Such a set of 'gigs,' my + dear, I never saw in my life; large underbred horses, and not a + good-looking man amongst them. The officers are, if possible, more + hideous than the privates; and they never give balls or theatricals + or anything, so we need waste no more words upon them. + + "I am improving my mind, though, vastly, picking up shells for my + little cousins, and perfecting my education besides by learning to + swim. I wish you were here--what fun we would have enacting the + part of mermaids! though I fear the cold will now put a stop to my + aquatic exploits. The other morning I swam nearly two hundred yards + on a stretch; and the tide having taken me out of my reckoning, I + brought up, as the sailors say, opposite the gentlemen's + bathing-machines. What could I do? It was as impossible to walk + along the beach as to fight back against the current. Presence of + mind, Kate, is the salient point of the heroic character; the door + of a machine was open, and I popped in. My dear, there were all his + clothes, his hair-brush, his button-hook, his wig, and, would you + believe it? an instrument for curling his whiskers! I put everything + on except the wig, crowned myself with his broad-brimmed white hat, + felt in his pockets, which were full of gold and silver, and, to my + credit be it said, only selected one shilling, with which I paid the + bathing-man, and walked off undiscovered to my own machine. The fat + old she-triton laughed till she cried. I dressed in my proper + costume leisurely enough, and was amused to hear afterwards of the + luckless plight in which a stout gentleman had found himself by the + temporary loss of all his apparel whilst he was disporting in 'the + briny.' + + "Other adventures I have had none; and the contrast is, as you may + believe, somewhat striking after the last two or three weeks of the + London season--always, to my mind, the pleasantest part of the + year. I was sorry you left town when you did; we had such a number + of charming little dinners and expeditions in our own set. Dear + Frank Lovell was the life and soul of us all. I never knew him in + such spirits--quite like a boy out of school; and there were few + days that we did not meet either at Greenwich or Richmond, or + Windsor or Vauxhall; and of course wherever _he_ went there was Lady + Scapegrace. I must say that, although nobody can accuse me of being + a prude, the way she goes on with Frank is rather too brazen-faced + even for _her_--taking him everywhere in her carriage, setting him + down at his club after the opera, walking with him in Kensington + Gardens, his cab always at the door, and her ladyship 'not at home' + even to me. To be sure, he is almost as bad, if it is true, as + everybody says it is, that he is to marry Miss Molasses. + + "Poor Frank! he must get hold of somebody with money, or he will + soon be in the Bench. He is rather a friend of yours, my dear, so I + ought not to abuse him; but he is _very wild_, and though extremely + agreeable, I am afraid utterly unprincipled. I do not believe, + however, that he cares one snap of the fingers for Lady Scapegrace, + or Miss Molasses either, for the matter of that. I meant to have + written you a long letter; but my stupid servants have let the Dean + in, and I hear his cough at this moment on the stairs--he is sadly + out of wind before he reaches the first landing. I think even my + poor 'old man' would beat him at even weights a hundred yards along + the beach. As I shall not get rid of him under an hour, and the post + will by that time be gone out, I must wish you good-bye.--Ever my + dearest Kate's most affectionate + + "M. L." + +I threw the letter on the floor, and stamped upon it with my feet. And +was this the end of all? To have brooded and pined, and made myself +miserable and well-nigh broken my heart day by day for a man that was +to prove so utterly unworthy as this! To have been thrown over for a +Lady Scapegrace! or, worse still, to have allowed even to myself that +I cared for one who was ready and willing to be sold to a Miss +Molasses. + +"Too degrading!" I thought. "No, I'll never care for him again; the +dream is over. What a fool I've been! And yet--why did he send his +horses down to Muddlebury? Why did he serenade me that night from the +Park? Why is he not now with his dear Lady Scapegrace at Scamperly, +where I see by the _Morning Post_ Sir Guy is 'entertaining a party of +fashionables during the frost'? No! I will not give him up quite yet." + +On reading her letter over again, which I did many times during the +day, I found a ray of comfort in my voluble correspondent's own +opinion that Frank did not himself care a pin for either of the +ladies, to both of whom the world gave him so unhesitatingly. Well, +that was something, at any rate. As for his wildness and his debts, +and his recklessness and many escapades, I liked him none the worse +for these--what woman ever did? I thought it all over during the whole +day, and by the time that I opened my window for my usual lookout into +the night before going to bed, I am afraid I felt more inclined than +ever to forgive him all that had gone before, and more determined to +find some means of forwarding him the answer I had written to his +note, and which I had been so many times on the point of burning +during the day. + +What a bitter cold night it was!--yet the keen north wind felt +pleasant and refreshing on my fevered forehead. There had been a +sprinkling of snow too since sunset, and the open surface of the Park +was completely whitened over--how cheerless and desolate it looked! I +hadn't the heart to stay very long at the window; it reminded me too +much of the pleasant evenings one short week ago. I felt weary and +desponding, and drowsy with uncertainty and unhappiness, so I was in +the act of shutting down the window, when I saw a dark figure moving +rapidly across the snow in the direction of the house. Not for an +instant did I mistake it for a deer, or a gamekeeper, or a poacher, or +a housebreaker. From the moment I set eyes on it, something told me it +must be Frank Lovell; and though I shrunk back that he might not see +me, I watched him with painful anxiety and a beating heart. He seemed +to know his way quite well. He came straight to the moat, felt his way +cautiously for a step or two, and finding the ice would bear him, +crossed at once, and took up a position under my window, not twenty +feet from where I was standing. + +He must have seen my shadow across the candle-light, for he whispered +my name. + +"Miss Coventry--Kate! Only one word." What could I do? Poor fellow! he +had walked all that distance in the cold and the snow only for one +word--and this was the man I had been doubting and misjudging all day! +Why, of course, though I know it was very wrong and very improper and +all that, of course I spoke to him, and listened to what he had to +say, and carried on a long conversation, the effect of which was +somewhat ludicrous, in consequence of the distance between the +parties, question and answer requiring to be _shouted_, as it were, in +a whisper. The night too was clouding over, more snow was falling, and +it was getting so dark I could not see Frank, even at the distance of +twelve or fourteen feet, and it could not have been much more between +my bedroom window and the ground. + +"Did you get my note?" said he with sundry complimentary expressions. + +"Here's the answer," was my practical reply, as I dropped my own +missive into the darkness. + +I know he caught it, because--because--_I heard him kiss it_. At that +moment I was aware of a step in the passage, a hand on my door. Down +went my window in a twinkling, out went my candles--the wick of the +second one would keep glimmering like a light far off at sea--and in +came Aunt Horsingham, clad in flannel attire, with a wondrous +head-dress, the like of which I have never beheld before or since, +just as I popped into bed, and buried myself beneath the clothes as if +I had been asleep for hours. + +"Where can it be, Kate?" said my aunt. "I have been in every room +along the passage to find out where the light comes from. I saw it +distinctly from my own room, streaming across the moat; there might be +thieves in the house," added my aunt, looking valiant even in flannel, +"or some of the men-servants carousing, but I have been in every room +on the ground floor myself; and then I thought perhaps you might be +sitting up reading." + +"Reading, aunt? Oh dear, no! I assure you I wasn't reading," I +answered, every nerve racked with suspense, lest Frank should get +impatient and wonder what had become of me--perhaps throw a snowball +up at the window to attract my attention. + +"What o'clock is it?" I added with a feigned yawn. "I think I must +have been asleep for hours." + +As if to punish me for this gratuitous perversion of the truth, the +words were hardly out of my mouth when I heard a loud crack on the +ice, and a splash as of the sudden immersion of some daring +adventurer; then all was still--the snow-flakes fell softly against +the window panes. My aunt, shading her candle with her long hand, +talked drowsily on; and finally persisted in my coming to sleep with +her in her own room, as she said I was "the only person in the house +that had the nerves of a hen." I would have given all I was worth in +the world to have one more look out of the open window, though even +then it might be too late. I would willingly have walked barefoot in +the snow all the way to Muddlebury, only to know he was safe back at +the inn. For a moment I thought of confessing everything and alarming +the house, but I had _not_ courage; so I followed my aunt to her room, +and lay awake that livelong night in such a state of agony and +suspense as I hope I may never have to endure again. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +It may easily be believed that I took an early walk next morning +before breakfast. No sooner had I made my escape from Aunt +Horsingham's room, than, in utter defiance of the cold thaw just +commencing, I put my bonnet on and made the best of my way to the +moat. Sure enough, large fragments of ice were floating about where +the surface had been broken, close to the side farthest from the Hall. +There were footprints on the snow though, leading away through the +Park in the direction of Muddlebury, and I came back to breakfast with +a heart lightened of at least half its load. We were to return to +London immediately. Aunt Deborah, pale and reduced, but undoubtedly +better, was able to appear at breakfast, and Lady Horsingham, now that +we were really about to take leave of her, seemed to value our +society, and to be sorry to part with us. + +"My dear Deborah, I trust you are well wrapped up for this cold raw +day," said our hostess, pressing on her departing guest all kinds of +provision for the journey. "I have ordered them to put up a paper of +sandwiches and some sherry, and a few biscuits and a bottle of +peppermint-water." + +"And, Aunt Deborah," put in Cousin Amelia, "here's a comforter I've +made you myself, and a box of cayenne lozenges for your throat; and +don't forget the stone jug of hot water for your poor feet; and mind +you write directly you arrive--you or Kate," she added, turning to +address me almost for the first time since the memorable mistake about +Squire Haycock. + +Aunt Deborah was completely overpowered by so much kindness. + +"You'd better have the carriage all to yourself--you and your maid," +persisted Lady Horsingham. "I'll drive Kate as far as the station in +the pony-carriage.--Kate, you're not afraid to trust yourself with me +in the pony-carriage?" + +"Not I, indeed, aunt," was my reply, "nor with anybody else, for that +matter. I've pretty good nerves--there are few things that I am afraid +of." + +"Indeed, Kate, I fear it is so," was my aunt's reply. "I own I should +like to see you a little more of a coward." + +So it was settled that Aunt Deborah and Gertrude being safely packed +up in the close carriage, I should accompany Lady Horsingham, who was +rather proud of her charioteering skill, and drove stiff and upright, +as if she had swallowed the poker--never looking to the right or left, +or allowing her attention to wander for an instant from the ponies she +had undertaken to control. + +Now, these said ponies had been doing nothing during the frost except +consuming their three feeds a day with vigorous appetite and a +considerable accession of high spirits. Consequently they were, what +is termed in stable language, very much "above themselves"--a state of +self-exaltation which they demonstrated by sundry unbecoming squeaks +and gambols as soon as they found themselves fairly started on their +journey. Tiny, the youngest and handsomest, would persist in shying, +plunging, and swerving against the pole, much to the demoralization of +his comrade, Mouse, a stiff-built little fellow with a thick neck, who +was ordinarily extremely well-behaved, but apt on occasions like the +present to lower his rebellious little head and defy all control. + +Lady Horsingham was tolerably courageous, but totally destitute of +what is termed "hand," a quality as necessary in driving as in riding, +particularly with fractious or high-spirited horses. The seat of a +pony-carriage, besides, is not a position from which a Jehu has much +command over the animals in front of him; and although, as I have +repeatedly said, I am not nervous, I had earned sufficient experience +in the ways of the equine race to know that we might easily be placed +in a position of some peril should anything occur to excite the +mischievous propensities of either of the specimens now gambolling +before us. More accidents have happened out of pony-carriages than all +other descriptions of vehicle put together. + +It is said that in the olden and golden days of the road the usual +death of a "long coachman" was to be pitched out of a gig; and +doubtless that two-wheeled conveniency, particularly when going at any +pace, is capable of arriving at a large proportion of grief. But even +a gig, if properly constructed, admits of the driver having a certain +amount of control over his horse; he is well above the animal, and can +get a good purchase to pull him up from, when the acceleration is +becoming dangerous, or there is a tendency to the grosser +insubordination of a "kicking match." Not so in a pony-carriage: low +down upon the ground, even under their very heels, you are completely +at the mercy of your team; and the facility of egress in the event of +a runaway only tempts you to the fatal expedient of jumping +out--another form of expression for "certain death." + +To be sure, if people will but sit still, there is no reason why they +should be much alarmed, as an "upset" from so low an elevation need +not necessarily produce any very serious results. But they never +_will_ sit still--at least they won't in nine cases out of ten, and +the consequence is that whilst newspaper columns are filled with +"horrid accidents" and "frightful occurrences," based on the fact of +the "unfortunate sufferer taking an airing in his or her +pony-carriage," many an elderly lady and cautious gentleman is not to +be persuaded into entering one of these little conveyances, but +prefers the slow and sure travelling of his or her own respectable +feet. + +Well, Lady Horsingham seemed rather uncomfortable on her driving-seat, +although far too proud to acknowledge so derogatory a feeling. We had +no servant with us; and when I suggested that we might as well take +one of the stablemen to open the gates, my proposal was met with +derision and contempt. + +"I should have thought such a masculine lady as yourself, Kate, would +have been above requiring any assistance. I am always in the habit of +driving these ponies quite by myself; but of course, if _you're +afraid_, I'll have a groom to go with us immediately." + +_Afraid_, indeed! I scouted the idea: my blood was up, and I almost +hoped something would happen, that I might fling the word in my aunt's +teeth, and ask her, "Who's _afraid_ now?" It came sooner than I +bargained for. + +The ponies were pulling hard, and had got their mouths so thoroughly +set against my aunt's iron hand, that she might as well have been +driving with a pair of halters for any power she had over them, when a +rush of colts in an adjoining paddock on one side of the lane, and a +covey of partridges "whirring up" out of a turnip-field on the other, +started them both at the same moment. My aunt gave a slight scream, +clutched at her reins with a jerk; down went the ponies' heads, and we +were off, as hard as ever they could lay legs to the ground, along a +deep-rutted narrow lane, with innumerable twistings and turnings in +front of us, for a certainty, and the off-chance of a wagon and bell +team blocking up the whole passage before we could emerge upon the +high road. + +"Lay hold, Kate!" vociferated my aunt, pulling for her very life, with +the veins on her bare wrists swelling up like whipcord. "Gracious +goodness! can't you stop 'em? There's a gravel-pit not half a mile +farther on! I'll jump out! I'll jump out!" + +My aunt began kicking her feet clear of the sundry wraps and shawls, +and the leather apron that kept our knees warm, though I must do her +the justice to say that she still tugged hard at the reins. I saw such +an expedient would be certain death, and I wound one arm round her +waist, and held her forcibly down in her seat, while with the other I +endeavoured to assist her in the hopeless task of stopping the runaway +ponies. Everything was against us: the ground was slightly on the +decline; the thaw had not yet reached the sheltered road we were +travelling, and the wheels rung against its frozen surface as they +spun round with a velocity that seemed to add to the excitement of our +flying steeds. Ever and anon we bounded and bumped over some rut or +inequality that was deeper than usual. Twice we were within an inch of +the ditch; once, for an awful hundred yards, we were balancing on two +wheels; and still we went faster and faster than ever. The trees and +hedges wheeled by us; the gravel road streamed away behind us. I began +to get giddy and to lose my strength. I could hardly hope to hold my +aunt in much longer, and now she began to struggle frightfully, for we +were nearing the gravel-pit turn! Ahead of us was a comfortable fat +farmer, jogging drowsily to market in his gig. I can see his broad, +well-to-do back now. What would I have given to be seated, I had +almost said _enthroned_, by his side? What a smash if we had touched +him! I pulled frantically at the off-rein, and we just cleared his +wheel. He said something; I could not make out what. I was nearly +exhausted, and shut my eyes, resigning myself to my fate, but still +clinging to my aunt. I think that if ever that austere woman was near +fainting it was on this occasion. I just caught a glimpse of her +white, stony face and fixed eyes; her terror even gave me a certain +confidence. A figure in front of us commenced gesticulating and +shouting and waving its hat. The ponies slackened their pace, and my +courage began to revive. + +"Sit still," I exclaimed to my aunt as I indulged them with a good +strong "give-and-take" pull. + +The gravel-pit corner was close at hand, but the figure had seized the +refractory little steeds by their heads, and though I shook all over, +and felt really frightened now the danger was past, I knew that we +were safe, and that we owed our safety to a tall, ragged cripple with +a crutch and a bandage over one eye. + +My aunt jumped out in a twinkling, and the instant she touched _terra +firma_ put her hand to her side, and began to sob and gasp and pant, +as ladies will previous to an attack of what the doctors call +"hysteria." She leant upon the cripple's shoulder, and I observed a +strange, roguish sparkle in his unbandaged eye. Moreover, I remarked +that his hands were white and clean, and his figure, if he hadn't been +such a cripple, would have been tall and active. + +"What shall I do?" gasped my aunt. "I won't get in; nothing shall +induce me to get in again. Kate, give this good man half a crown. What +a providential escape! He ought to have a sovereign. Perhaps ten +shillings will be enough. How am I to get back? I'll walk all the way +rather than get in." + +"But, aunt," I suggested, "at any rate I must get to the station. Aunt +Deborah is sure to think something has happened, and she ought not to +be frightened till she gets stronger. How far is it to the station? I +think I should not mind driving the ponies on." + +In the meantime the fat farmer whom we had passed so rapidly had +arrived at the scene of action, his anxiety not having induced him in +the slightest degree to increase the jog-trot pace at which all his +ideas seemed to travel. He knew Lady Horsingham quite well, and now +sat in his gig with his hat off, wiping his fat face, and expatiating +on the narrow escape her ladyship had made, but without offering the +slightest suggestion or assistance whatever. + +At this juncture the cripple showed himself a man of energy. + +"Your ladyship had best go home with this gentleman," said he, +indicating the fat farmer, "if the young lady is not afraid to go on. +I can take care of her as far as the railway, if it's not too great a +liberty, and bring the ponies back to the Hall afterwards, my lady?" +with an interrogative snatch at his ragged hat. + +It seemed the best thing to be done under the circumstances. My aunt, +after much demurring and another incipient attack of the hysterics, +consented to entrust herself to the fat farmer's guidance, not, +however, until she was assured that his horse was both blind and +broken-winded. I put Mouse's bridle down on the lower bar instead of +the cheek, on which he had previously been driven. My aunt climbed +into the gig; I mounted the pony-carriage, the cripple took his seat +deferentially by my side, and away we went on our respective journeys; +certainly in a mode which we had little anticipated when we left the +front door at Dangerfield Hall. + +My preserver sat half in and half out of the carriage, leaning his +white, well-shaped hand upon the splashboard. The bandaged side of his +face was towards me. The ponies went quietly enough; they had enjoyed +their gallop, and were, I think, a little blown. I had leisure to take +a good survey of my companion. When we had thus travelled for a +quarter of a mile in silence he turned his face towards me. We looked +at each other for about half a minute, and then both burst out +laughing. + +"You didn't know me, Miss Coventry! not the least in the world," +exclaimed the cripple, pulling the bandage off his face, and showing +another eye quite as handsome as the one that had previously been +uncovered. + +"How could you do so, Captain Lovell?" was all I could reply. +"Conceive if my aunt had found you out, or even if any one should +recognize you now. What would people think of _me_? But how did you +know we were going to London to-day, and how could you tell the ponies +would run away?" + +"Never mind how I knew your movements, Miss Coventry," was the reply. +"Kate! may I call you Kate? it's such a soft, sweet name," he added, +now sitting altogether _inside_ the carriage, which certainly was a +small one for two people. "You don't know how I've watched for you, +and waited and prowled about, during the last few days. You don't know +how anxious I've been only for one word--even one look. I've spent +hours out on the Down just to see the flutter of your white dress as +you went through the shrubbery--even at that distance it was something +to gaze at you and know you were there. Last night I crossed the ice +under your window." + +"You did indeed!" I replied with a laugh; "and what a ducking you must +have got!" + +Frank laughed too, and resumed. "I was sadly afraid that your aunt +might have found out you were holding a parley with the enemy outside +the walls. I knew you were to go to London to-day. I thought very +likely you might be annoyed, and put under surveillance on my account, +and I was resolved to see you, if only for one moment; so I borrowed +these ragged garments of a professional beggar, who I believe is a +great deal better off in reality than myself, and I determined to +watch for your carriage and trust to chance for a word, or even a +glance of recognition. She has befriended me more than I could expect. +At first, when I saw 'Aunt Deborah' alone in the chariot, it flashed +across me that perhaps you were to stay _en penitence_ at Dangerfield. +But I knew Lady Horsingham had a pony-carriage. I also knew--or what +would be the use of servants?--that it was ordered this morning; so I +stumped gaily along the road, thinking that at all events I might have +an opportunity of saying three words to you at the station whilst the +servants were putting the luggage on, and the dear aunts, who I +presume cherish a mutual hatred, were wishing each other a tender +farewell. But that such a chance as this runaway should befriend me +was more than I ever dared to hope for, and that I should be sitting +next _you_, Kate (and _so close_, I'm sure he might have added), in +Lady Horsingham's pony-phaeton is a piece of good luck that in my +wildest moments I never so much as dreamt of. We scarcely ever meet +now. There--you needn't drive so fast; the up-train don't go by till +the half-hour, and every minute is precious, at least to _me_. We are +kept sadly apart, Kate. If you can bear it, I can't. I should like to +be near you always--always to watch over you and worship you. Confound +that pony! he's off again." + +Sure enough, Tiny was indulging in more vagaries, as if he meditated a +second fit of rebellion; and what with holding him and humouring +Mouse, and keeping my head down so as to hide my face from Frank, for +I didn't want him to see how I was blushing, I am sure I had enough to +do. + +"Kate, you must really have pity on me," pursued Frank. "You don't +know how miserable I am sometimes (I wonder what he wanted me to +say?), or how happy you have it in your power to make me. Here we are +at that cursed station, and my dream is over. I must be the cripple +and the beggar once more--a beggar I am indeed, Kate, without your +affection. When shall we meet again, and where?" + +"In London," was all I could answer. + +"And you won't forget me, Kate?" pleaded poor Frank, looking so +handsome, poor fellow. + +"_Never_," I replied, and before I knew how it was, I found myself +standing on the platform with Aunt Deborah and the servants and the +luggage. The great green engine was panting and gasping in front of +me, but ponies and pony-carriage and cripple had all vanished like a +dream. + +As we steamed on to London I sometimes thought it _was_ a dream, not +altogether a pleasant one, nor yet exactly the reverse. I should have +liked my admirer to have been a little more explicit. It is all very +well to talk of being miserable and desperate, and to ring the changes +of meeting and parting, and looks and sighs, and all that; but after +all the real question is, "Will you?" or "Won't you?" and I don't +think a man is acting very fairly towards a girl who don't put the +case in that way at once before he allows himself to run into +rhapsodies about his feelings and his sufferings and such matters, +which, after all, lead to nothing, or at least to nothing +satisfactory. To be sure, men are strange creatures, and upon my word +I sometimes think they are more troubled with shyness than our own +sex. Perhaps it's their diffidence that makes them hesitate so, and, +as it were, "beat about the bush," when they have only got to "flush +the bird" and shoot it at once and put it in the game-bag. Perhaps +it's their pride for fear of being refused. Now, I think it's far more +creditable to a man to wear the willow, and take to _men dinners_ and +brandy-and-water for a month or six weeks, than to break a girl's +heart for a whole year; and I know it takes nearly that time for a +well-brought-up young lady to get over a _real_ matrimonial +disappointment. However, shy or not shy, they certainly ought to be +explicit. It's too bad to miss a chance because we cannot interpret +the metaphor in which some bashful swain thinks it decorous to couch +his proposals; and I once knew a young lady who, happening to dislike +needlework, and replying in the negative to the insidious question, +"Can you sew a button?" never knew for months that she had actually +declined a man she was really fond of, with large black whiskers, and +two-and-twenty hundred a year. Women can't be too cautious. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +I was not sorry to be once again fairly settled in Lowndes Street. +Even in the winter London has its charms. People don't watch +everything you do or carp at everything you say. If there is more +apparent constraint, there is more real liberty than in the country. +Besides, you have so much society, and everybody is so much pleasanter +in the metropolis during December than July. The frost had set in +again harder than ever. Brilliant and White Stockings, like +"Speir-Adam's steeds," were compelled to "bide in stall." John was +lingering at the Lloyds or elsewhere in the Principality, though +expected back every day. Aunt Deborah was still weak, and had only +just sufficient energy to forbid Captain Lovell the house, and insist +on my never speaking to him. I can't think what she had found out or +what Aunt Horsingham had told her; but this I know, that if ever I +have a daughter, and I don't want her to like Mr. Dash, or to be +continually thinking about him, I shall not forbid her to speak to +him; nor shall I take every opportunity of impressing on her that he +is wild, unprincipled, reckless, and dissipated, and that the only +redeeming points about him are his agreeable conversation and his good +looks. Altogether, I should have been somewhat dull had it not been +for Mrs. Lumley; but of that vivacious lady I saw a good deal, and I +confess took a far greater pleasure in her society than on our first +acquaintance I should have esteemed possible. When I am ill at ease +with myself, not thoroughly satisfied with my own conduct, I always +like the society of _fast_ people; their liberality of sentiment and +general carelessness of demeanour convey no tacit reproach on my own +want of restraint, and I feel more at home with them than with such +severe moralists as Aunt Horsingham or hypocritical Cousin Amelia. So +I drove and shopped and visited with Mrs. Lumley--nay, I was even +permitted as a great favour to dine with her on one or two occasions, +Aunt Deborah only stipulating that there should be no male addition to +the party except Mr. Lumley himself, or, as the lady of the house +termed him, "her old man." + +I confess I liked the "old man," and so I think in her own way did his +wife. Why she married him I cannot think, more particularly as he had +not then succeeded to the comfortable fortune they now enjoy: he was +little, old, ugly, decrepit, and an invalid, but he was good nature +and contentment personified. I believe he had great talents--for all +his want of physical beauty he had a fine head--but these talents were +wholly and unsparingly devoted to one pursuit: he was an entomologist. +With a black beetle and a microscope he was happy for the day. Piles +upon piles of manuscripts had he written upon the forms and +classification of the bluebottle fly. He could tell you how many legs +are flourished by the house-spider, and was thoroughly versed in the +anatomy of the common gnat. This pursuit, or science as he called it, +engrossed his whole attention. It was fortunate he had such an +absorbing occupation, inasmuch as his general debility prevented his +entering into any amusement out of doors. His wife and he seemed to +understand each other perfectly. + +"My dear," he would say when listening to some escapade that it would +have been scarcely prudent to trust to most husbands' ears, "I never +interfere with your butterflies, and you never trouble yourself about +mine. I must, however, do myself the justice to observe that you get +tired of your insects infinitely the soonest of the two." + +He never inquired where she went or what she did, but late or early +always received her with the same quiet welcome, the same sly, +good-humoured smile. I firmly believe that with all her levity, +whatever scandal might say, she was a good wife to him. He trusted her +implicitly; and I think she felt his confidence deserved to be +respected. Such was not the opinion of the world, I am well aware; but +we all know the charitable construction it is so eager to put on a +fair face with a loud laugh and a good set of teeth. Dear me! if he +looked for a lady that had never been _talked about_, Cæsar might have +searched London for a wife in vain. Good Mr. Lumley professed a great +affection for me, and would occasionally favour me with long and +technical dissertations on the interior economy of the flea, for +example; and once in the fullness of his heart confided to his wife +that "Miss Coventry was really a _dear_ girl; it's my belief, Madge, +that if she'd been a man she'd have been a naturalist." These little +dinners were indeed vastly agreeable. Nobody had such a comfortable +house or such a good cook or so many pretty things as Mrs. Lumley. Her +"old man" seemed to enjoy the relaxation of ladies' society after his +morning labours and researches. With me he was good-humoured and full +of fun; at his wife's jokes and stories, most of them somewhat +scandalous, he would laugh till he cried. + +"I'm responsible for you, Miss Coventry," he would say with a sly +laugh. "You're not fit to be trusted with Madge; upon my life, I +believe she is the wildest of the two. If you won't have the carriage, +I must walk back with you myself.--How far is it, Madge? Do you think +I can _stay the distance_, as you sporting people term it in your +inexplicable jargon?" + +"Why, you know you can't get a hundred yards, you foolish old man," +laughed his wife. "A nice chaperon you'd make for Kate. Why, she'd +have to carry you, and you know you'd tumble off even then. No, no; +you and I will stay comfortably here by the fire, and I'll give you +your tea and put you tidily to bed. I shan't be home any other night +this week. Kate has a convoy coming for her;--haven't you, Kate?--_Le +beau cousin_ will take the best possible care of us; and even prim +Aunt Deborah won't object to our walking back with _him_. I believe he +came up from Wales on purpose. What would somebody else give to take +the charge off his hands?--You needn't blush, Kate; I can see through +a millstone as far as my neighbours. I'm not quite such a fool as I +look;--am I, 'old man'?--There's the doorbell.--John, ask Mr. Jones if +he won't step up and have some tea." We were sitting by a blazing fire +in the boudoir, a snug and beautiful little room, to which no one was +admitted but the lady's especial favourites; even the "old man" never +entered it during the day. + +"Mr. Jones's compliments, and he hopes you'll excuse him, ma'am," was +the footman's answer on his return; "but it's very late, and he +promised to bring Miss Coventry back by eleven." + +"Well, I'm sure," said Mrs. Lumley, "if I was you, Kate, I shouldn't +stand his anticipating his authority in this way. Never mind; be a +good girl, and do as you're bid--pop your bonnet on. Shall I lend you +an extra shawl? There, you may give my 'old man' a kiss, if you like. +Bless him! he's gone fast asleep. Good-night, Kate; mind you come to +luncheon to-morrow, there's a dear." So saying, Mrs. Lumley bid me a +most affectionate farewell; and I found myself leaning on John's arm, +to walk home through the clear frosty night. + +I do like perambulating London streets by gaslight--of course with a +gentleman to take care of one. It is so much pleasanter than being +stewed up in a brougham. How I wish it was the fashion for people to +take their bonnets out to dinner with them, and walk back in the cool +fresh air! If it is delightful even in winter, how much more so in the +hot summer nights of the season! Your spirits rise and your nerves +brace themselves as you inhale the midnight air, with all its smoky +particles, pure by comparison with that which has just been poisoning +you in a crowded drawing-room. Your cavalier asks leave to indulge in +his "weed," and you enjoy its fragrance at second-hand as he puffs +contentedly away and chats on in that prosy, confidential sort of +manner which no _man_ ever succeeds in assuming, save with a cigar in +his mouth. John lit his, of course, but was less communicative, to my +fancy, than usual. After asking me if I had "enjoyed a pleasant +evening," and whether "I _preferred_ walking," he relapsed into a +somewhat constrained silence. I too walked on without speaking. Much +as I love the night, it always makes me rather melancholy; and I dare +say we should have got to Lowndes Street without exchanging a +syllable, had not some imp of mischief prompted me to cross-examine my +cousin a little upon his _séjour_ in Wales, and to quiz him half +spitefully on his supposed _penchant_ for pretty Fanny Lloyd. John +_rose_ freely in a moment. + +"I know where you pick up all this nonsense, Kate," he burst out quite +savagely; "I know where half the scandal and half the mischief in +London originates! With that odious woman whose house we have just +quitted, whose tongue cannot be still for a single moment; who never +by any chance speaks a word of truth, and who is seldom so happy as +when she is making mischief. I pity that poor decrepit husband of +hers, though he ought to keep her in better order; yet it _is_ a hard +case upon any man to be tied to such a Jezebel as _that_." + +"The Jezebel, as you call her, John," I interposed quietly, "is my +most intimate friend." + +"That's exactly what I complain of," urged my cousin; "that's my great +objection to her, Kate; that's one of the things that I do believe are +driving me out of my senses day by day. You know I don't wish you to +associate with her; you know that I object extremely to your being +seen everywhere in her company. But you don't care: the more I +expostulate the more obstinate and wilful you seem to become." + +It is my turn to be angry now. + +"Obstinate and wilful indeed!" I repeated, drawing myself up. "I +should like to know what right you have to apply such terms to _me_! +Who gave _you_ authority to choose my society for me, or to determine +where I shall go or what I shall do? You presume on your relationship, +John; you take an ungenerous advantage of the regard and affection +which I have always entertained for you." + +John was mollified in an instant. + +"_Do_ you entertain regard and affection for me, Kate?" said he; "do +you value my good opinion and consider me as your dearest and best +friend?" + +"Of course I do, John," was my reply. "Haven't we known each other +from childhood, and are you not like a brother to me?" + +John's face fell a little and his voice shook as he spoke. "Am I never +to be more than a brother to you--never to obtain a greater interest +in you, a larger share of your regard than I have now? Listen to me, +Kate; I have something to tell you, and I can put it off no longer. +This delay, this uncertainty day by day, I do believe will drive me +mad. Kate, I promised Aunt Deborah faithfully that I would never enter +on this subject till you came of age, and you know by your father's +will you don't come of age till you're five-and-twenty. 'By that time, +John,' said my aunt, 'Kate will have seen plenty of others, and be old +enough to know her own mind. If she takes you then, she takes you with +her eyes open, and she won't get tired of you and find out she likes +some one else better. Promise me, John, that you'll wait till then.' +And I did promise, Kate; but I can't keep my word--I can't wait in +this state of anxiety and uncertainty, and perhaps lose you after all. +It's too great a stake to play for if one is to be kept so long in +suspense, and I have resolved to be put out of my pain one way or the +other." + +John paused. I had never seen him so excited before. He was quite hot, +though the night was keen and frosty; his arm trembled as mine leant +upon it; and though his cigar was gone out, he kept puffing away, +utterly unconscious of the fact. He seemed to expect an answer. I +hesitated; I did not know what to reply. I had got so accustomed to +Cousin John that I never looked upon him in any other light than that +of a favourite brother, a constant companion and friend. Moreover, I +was not prepared to take any such decisive step as that to which he +now seemed to be urging me. There is a great difference between +_liking_ people and giving them power of life and death over one for +the rest of one's days. I will not say that the image of another did +not rise before me in all its winning beauty as I had seen it last, +scarcely one short week ago. Altogether I did not know what to say; so +I wisely said nothing, but walked on, looking straight before me, with +an uncomfortable feeling that I was driven into a corner, and should +ere long be compelled to do that which is always distasteful to our +liberty-loving sex--namely, to "make up my mind." + +John too walked on for a few paces in silence. We were at the corner +of Lowndes Street. There was not a soul to be seen but our two selves. +All at once he stopped short under the light of a lamp and looked me +full in the face. + +"Kate," said he, in a grave, deliberate voice, "you know what I +mean--Yes or No?" + +I shook like a leaf. What would I have given to have been able to take +counsel of one of my own sex--Mrs. Lumley, Aunt Deborah, or even cold, +pitiless Lady Horsingham! But I had to choose for myself. I felt that +the turning-point of my destiny had arrived--that the game was in my +own hand, and that now I ought to decide one way or the other. I +shrank from the responsibility. Like a very woman, I adopted a middle +course. + +"Give me time, John," I pleaded--"give me time to weigh matters over +in my own mind. This is an affair that equally concerns the happiness +of each of us. Do not let us decide in a hurry. Aunt Deborah was quite +right: her wishes ought to be my law. When I am five-and-twenty it +will be soon enough to enter on this subject again. In the interval, +believe me, John, I have the greatest regard and esteem for you." + +"Nothing more, Kate," said John, looking as if he didn't know whether +he was pleased or annoyed--"nothing but _esteem_?" + +"Well, I mustn't say any more," was my reply; "but you know you have +_that_." + +John's face brightened considerably. "And in the meantime, Kate," he +urged, "you won't allow yourself to be entangled with any one else?" + +"Of course not," was my vigorous disclaimer; and by this time we had +arrived at my aunt's door, and it was time to say good-night. + +"What's the matter, Kate?" exclaimed Mrs. Lumley, when I called to +lunch with her the following day, according to promise. "You look pale +and worried. For goodness' sake tell me what has happened. Have you +found out _the rover_ transferring his adoration to Miss Molasses? or +did _mon cousin_ take advantage of the hour and the opportunity to +lecture us last night on our love of admiration and general levity of +conduct? Tell me all about it, dear. We shan't be disturbed. I'm not +'at home' to a soul; and my old man is busy dissecting an earwig, so +he's quite safe till dinner-time. Sit you down on the sofa, out with +your pocket-handkerchief, and make a clean breast of it!" + +I told her the whole of my conversation with my cousin the previous +night, only suppressing the unflattering opinions he had thought fit +to express of my present _confidante_. "And oh, Mrs. Lumley," I +exclaimed as I concluded, "how could I sleep a wink last night, with +all this to harass and reproach me? No wonder I'm pale and worried and +perfectly miserable. I feel I'm behaving shamefully to John, and not +at all rightly towards Captain Lovell. I know I ought to come to an +understanding with my cousin, and that Frank ought to be more explicit +with me. I couldn't have given a decided answer last night if my life +had depended on it. I can't give up the one without knowing exactly +whether he means honestly (if I thought he did, Mrs. Lumley, nothing +should induce me to throw him over); and I don't like to make the +other miserable, which I am sure I should do if I refused him +point-blank; nor do I think I could do at all well without him, +accustomed as I have been to depend upon him for everything from +childhood. So I have wavered and prevaricated, and behaved +disingenuously, almost falsely; and what must he think of me now?" + +"Think of you, my dear?" replied my worldly friend; "why, of course, +he thinks of you more than ever. There is nothing like uncertainty, +Kate, to keep them well up to the collar. You should always treat men +like the beasts of the field. If you want to retain the upper hand of +him, ride an adorer as you do Brilliant, my dear--a light hand, with +just enough liberty to make him fancy he is going quite at his ease; +and then, when he is getting a little careless and least expects it, +give him such a jerk as makes his fine mouth smart again. He'll wince +with the pain, and very likely rear straight on end; but he'll be all +on his haunches well under control, and go on much the pleasanter +during the rest of the day. Never mind how much they suffer; it's very +good for them, and they will like you all the better for it." + +"That may answer very well with some," I replied, "but I should be +afraid to try the experiment too often. I am sure Brilliant would +break away altogether if I used _him_ so. And I think the very man +that minds it most would be the least likely to stand a repetition of +such treatment. No, Mrs. Lumley; I fear I must now choose between +Frank and my cousin. The latter has behaved honourably, considerately, +and kindly, and like a thorough gentleman. The former seems to think I +am to be at his beck and call, indeed, whenever he chooses. He has +never been to see me during the whole of this past week. At +Dangerfield he was as little careful of my reputation as he was of his +own limbs. Did I tell you how nearly drowned he was, crossing the +moat? How you would have laughed, you wicked, unfeeling woman, if you +had heard the splash that cold, snowy night! And then to disguise +himself like a tramp, and stop those runaway ponies at the risk of his +life, that he might speak three words to me before I went away. I will +say for him that he is afraid of nothing; but I cannot conceal from +myself which has behaved best towards _me_. And yet, Mrs. Lumley," I +concluded, rising and walking off to the window, "I would rather have +Frank for a lover than Cousin John for a husband." + +"Many people would suggest there was no impossibility in your having +both; but I don't give such bad advice as that," replied Mrs. Lumley. +"However, Kate, do nothing in a hurry--that's my counsel. I grant you, +I think Master Frank a very slippery gentleman. I do know some +_curious_ stories about him; but I never tell tales out of school. In +the meantime you are, after all, only suffering from an _embarras de +richesses_; it's far better to have too many suitors than none at all. +Come, I'll take you out shopping with me till five; then we'll have +some tea, and you can go home quietly to dinner and ask Aunt Deborah's +leave to join me at the French play. I've got a capital box, and I'll +send the carriage for you. Wait half a second, whilst I put on my +bonnet." + +So we went off shopping, and we had our tea, and I found no objections +from Aunt Deborah to my going out again in the evening; and I was so +restless I did not the least grudge the trouble of dressing, or +anything to take me away from my own thoughts. But all the afternoon +and all the evening I made up my mind that I would give up Frank +Lovell. A little resolution was all that was needed. It was plain he +did not _really_ care for me. Why, he wasn't even in London, though he +knew quite well I had been there more than a week. Very likely I +shouldn't see him all the winter, and my heart sank as I thought how +much easier this would make my sacrifice. At all events, I determined, +when I did see him, to be cold, and demure, and unmoved--to show him +unmistakably that I belonged to another; in which Spartan frame of +mind I betook myself to the French play. + +Alas, alas! Well may the bard complain,-- + + "Woman's vows are writ in water; + Woman's faith is traced in sand." + +Who should be in the back of the box but Frank Lovell himself! +Mischievous Mrs. Lumley, was this your doing? Before I went away I had +promised to meet him next morning in the park, and he was to _explain +all_. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +I hope I have as much command of countenance as falls to the lot of +any lady who don't paint; but when I returned from my walk in the Park +the following morning I must have looked flushed or excited, or in +some way different from usual. I met John at the corner of Lowndes +Street, and he stopped short, and looked me piercingly in the face. + +"Where have you been, Kate?" said he, without waiting to bid me +"good-morning" or anything. + +"A little stroll in the Park, John," was my reply. + +"By yourself?" he asked, and his face looked pale and grave. + +I cannot tell a story, so I hesitated and stammered,-- + +"No, not exactly--at least I met an acquaintance near the Serpentine." + +"Have you any objection to telling me who it was?" said John, and his +voice sounded very strange. + +"Good gracious! what's the matter?" I asked, in my turn. "Has anything +happened? Are you ill, John? you look quite upset." + +"I insist upon knowing," answered he, without taking the slightest +notice of my tender inquiries after his health. + +"Did you or did you not meet Captain Lovel this morning in Hyde Park?" + +"Yes, I certainly _did_ meet him," I replied. + +"Accidentally?" exclaimed my cousin. + +"Why--no--not entirely," was my answer; "but the fact is----" + +"Enough!" burst out John, breaking in upon my explanations with a +rudeness I had never before seen him exhibit. "Kate, I have been +deceived in you. I thought at least you were candid and +straightforward: I find you faithless, ungrateful, ungenerous! But I +will not reproach you," he added, checking himself by a strong effort: +"it is only natural, I conclude, for a woman to be false. I thought +you were different from the rest, and I was a fool for my pains. Kate, +let us understand each other at once. I offered you last night all +that man could give. I had a right to expect an answer then and there. +I _thought_ I had a favourable one, and I have spent twelve hours of +happiness. I now see that I have deceived myself. Perhaps I value my +own worth too highly; I own I feel sore and aggrieved, but _you_ shall +not be the sufferer. Kate, I am only 'Cousin John' once more. Give me +a few days to get over a natural disappointment, and you and I will be +friends and playfellows as we used to be. Shake hands, Kate: I spoke +harshly, in a moment of anger; it is over now. God bless you, dear!" + +And with these words John walked away, and left me standing on that +eventful doorstep which seemed to witness all the changes and chances +of my life. How stately was his walk as he strode down the street! I +watched him all the way to the corner, but he never once looked back. +John was grown much handsomer of late; he used to be too ruddy and +prosperous-looking and boyish, but his countenance had altered +considerably in the last two or three months--only, seeing him every +day, I did not remark the change. Lady Scapegrace had found it out the +first. I perfectly remember her saying to me, on the day of our +Greenwich dinner,-- + +"My dear, your cousin has a great deal in him, if one did but know how +to get it _out_. You have no idea what a good-looking man he would be, +if you could only succeed in making him ill and unhappy." + +Poor John! I am afraid I had made him unhappy, even now. It struck me +he had a nobler bearing than Captain Lovell himself; although, of +course, I could not think him so graceful, or so handsome, or half so +charming as my dear Frank. I rushed into the house and locked myself +in my boudoir, to think over and dwell upon the many events of that +most eventful morning--my happy walk, my delightful companion, whose +soft voice was still whispering in my ear, whose every look and +gesture I could recall, even to the wind freshening his handsome brow +and waving his clustering locks. How happy and contented I felt by his +side! And yet, there was a something. I was not satisfied; I was not +thoroughly at ease; my cousin's face would intrude itself upon my +thoughts. I could not get out of my head the tone of manly kindness +and regret in which he had last addressed me. I reflected on his +sincerity, his generosity, his undeviating fidelity and good-humour, +till my heart smote me to think of all he suffered for my sake; and I +began to wonder whether I was worthy of being so much cared for, and +whether I was justified in throwing all this faith and truth away. + +Reader, have you ever lived for weeks and weeks in a place which bored +you to death? Have you learned to loathe every tree and shrub and +hedge-row in the dreary landscape? Have you shivered up and down the +melancholy walks, and yawned through the dull, dark rooms, till you +began to think the hour never would arrive that was to restore you +once again to liberty and light? And then, when the hour _has_ come at +last, have you been able to take your departure without some +half-reproachful feeling akin to melancholy--without some slight shade +of regret to think that much as you have hated it, you look upon it +all now for the _last_ time? Perhaps the sun breaks out and shines +upon the old place as you catch your last glimpse. Ah! it never used +to shine like that when you could see it from those windows every day; +you almost wish your departure had been put off till the morrow; you +think if you were back again, the walks would not be so very +melancholy, the rooms no longer so dull and gloomy. You sigh because +you are leaving it, and wonder at yourself for doing so. It is the +same thing with friends, and more especially with those who would fain +assume a tenderer title: we never know their value but by their loss. + +"If it wasn't for Frank," I began to think, "I really believe I might +have been very happy with Cousin John. Of course, it's impossible now; +and, as he says himself, he'll never be anything but a cousin to me. +Poor John! he's a noble, true-hearted, unselfish, generous fellow." + +But to return to my walk. When a lady and gentleman meet each other by +appointment, either at the edge of the Serpentine or elsewhere, their +conversation is not generally of a nature to be related in detail, nor +is it to be presumed that their colloquy would prove as interesting to +the general public as to themselves. What I learnt of Frank's private +history, his views, feelings, and intentions, on that morning, I may +as well give in my own words, suppressing divers interruptions, +protestations, and interjections, which, much as they added to its +zest, necessarily rather impeded the course of the narrative, and +postponed its completion till long after I ought to have been back at +luncheon. + +Frank had been an only child, and spoiled as only children are in nine +cases out of ten. His father was a peer's second son, and married a +wealthy cotton-spinner's niece for the sake of her money, which money +lasted him about as long as his own constitution. When he died, the +widow was left with ten thousand pounds and the handsome, curly-pated, +mischievous boy. She soon followed her husband. Poor thing, she was +very fond of him, and he had neglected her shamefully. The boy went to +his uncle--the peer, not to his uncle the mill-owner--to be brought +up. Frank was consequently what the world calls a "well-bred one;" his +name was in the _Peerage_, though he had a first cousin once removed +who was but an industrious weaver. The peer, of course, sent him to +Eton. + +"Ten thousand pounds," said that judicious relative, "will buy him his +commission. The lad's handsome and clever; he can play whist now +better than my boy's private tutor. By the time his ten thousand's +gone, we'll pick up an heiress for him. 'Gad! how like my poor brother +he is about the eyes!" + +So Frank was started in life with a commission in the Light Dragoons, +an extremely good opinion of himself, and as much of his ten thousand +pounds as he had not already anticipated during the one term he spent +at Oxford before he was rusticated. By the way, so many of my +partners, and other young gentlemen with whom I am acquainted, have +gone through this process, that it was many years before I understood +the meaning of the term. For long I understood _rustication_ to be +merely a playful form of expression for "taking a degree;" and I was +the more confirmed in this impression from observing that those who +had experienced this treatment were spoken of with high respect and +approbation by their fellow-collegians. + +What odd creatures young men are! I can understand their admiring +prowess in field-sports and athletic pursuits, just as I could +understand one's admiring a statesman, an author, an artist, or a +successful man in any pursuit of life; but why they should think it +creditable to get drunk, to run into debt, to set at defiance all the +rules and regulations enacted for their own benefit, and to conduct +themselves in unswerving opposition to the wishes of their nearest and +dearest friends, and all to do themselves as much harm as possible, is +more than I can comprehend. Girls are not wrong-headed like this. +Where the son is the source of all the annoyance, and ill-humour, and +retrenchment in a family, the daughter is generally the mainstay, and +comfort, and sunshine of the whole house. When shall we poor women be +done justice to? But to return to Frank. By his own account he was a +gambler, of course. A man turned loose upon the world, with such an +education as most English gentlemen deem befitting their sons, and +without means to indulge the tastes that education has led him to +acquire, is very likely to become so. + +As a boy, the example of his elders teaches him to look upon frivolous +distinction as a great end and aim of life, whilst that of his +comrades leads him to neglect all study as dry, to despise all +application as "slow." At home he hears some good-looking, grown-up +cousin, or agreeable military uncle, admired and commented on for +being "such a capital shot," "such a good cricket-player," "such an +undeniable rider to hounds," what wonder the boy grows up thinking +that these accomplishments alone are the very essentials of a +gentleman? At school, if he makes an effort at distinction in +school-hours, he is stigmatized by his comrades as a "sap," and +derided for his pursuit of the very object it is natural to suppose he +has been sent there to attain. What wonder he hugs idleness as his +bosom-friend, and loses all his powers of application in their disuse. + +Then come the realities of manhood, for which he is so ill prepared. +In the absence of all _useful_ knowledge and practical pursuits, +_amusement_ becomes the business of life. Human nature cannot be idle, +and if not doing good, is pretty sure to be doing harm. Pleasure, +excitement, and fashionable dissipation must be purchased, and paid +for pretty dearly, in hard coin of the realm. The younger son, with +his ten thousand pounds, must soar in the same flight, must "go as +fast" as his elder brother with ten thousand a year. How is it to be +done? Why, _of course_, he must _make_ money, if he can, by betting +and play. So it goes on smoothly enough for a time. The Arch-croupier +below, they say, arranges these matters for beginners; but the luck +turns at last. The capital is eaten into; the Jews are called in; and +the young gentleman is ruined. Frank, I think, at this time was in a +fair way of arriving pretty rapidly at the customary catastrophe. He +had gone through the whole educational process I have described above, +had been regularly and systematically "spoilt," was a habitual +gambler, and a confirmed "dandy." The ladies all liked him much, and I +confess I don't wonder at it. Always good-humoured, never sentimental +(I hate a sentimental man), invariably well dressed, with a very good +opinion of his own attractions, Frank could make himself agreeable in +all societies. He had never been troubled with shyness as a boy, and +in his manhood was as "cool a hand" as one would meet with often, even +in London. Then he had plenty of courage, which made the men respect +him; and, above all, was very good-looking--an advantage which, +doubtless, has a certain weight even with _our_ far-sighted and +reflective sex. + +I never quite made out the rights of his _liaison_, or whatever people +call it, with Lady Scapegrace; nor do I think his own account entirely +satisfactory. He assured me that he met her first of all at a masked +ball in Paris, that she mistook him for some one else, and confided a +great deal to his ears which she would not have entrusted to any one +save the individual she supposed him to be; that when she discovered +her mistake she was in despair, and that his discretion and respect +for her feelings had made her his fast friend for life. I cannot tell +how this may be, but that they were great friends I have had reason to +know too well. He declared, however, that he looked upon her "quite as +a sister." I do not think, though she is always very kind to me, that +I should exactly like her for a _sister-in-law_. I certainly have +known Lady Scapegrace do most extraordinary things--such things as no +other woman would be permitted to do without drawing down the abuse of +the world. If she had been fair, and rosy, and pleasing, people would +have scouted her; but she was dark, and stern, and commanding. The +world was afraid of her, and it is very true that "in the world one +had better be feared than loved." Scandal did not _dare_ say all it +thought of Lady Scapegrace; and if she brought Frank Lovell home in +her carriage, or went to the opera alone with Count Coquin, or was +seen, day after day, perambulating Kensington Gardens arm in arm with +young Greenfinch of the Life Guards, instead of shouting and hissing, +and, so to speak, _pelting_ her off the stage, the world lifted its +fingers to its lips, shrugged up its worldly shoulders, and merely +remarked,-- + +"Always _was_ very odd, poor woman! Hers has been a curious +history--little cracked, I think, now--but what a handsome creature +she was years ago, when I left school, before _you_ were born, my +boy!" + +Whatever may have been her carelessness of appearances and levity of +manner, I think it was never for an instant supposed that she liked +any human being half so much as she hated Sir Guy. Then, again, Sir +Guy and Frank were fast friends, almost inseparable. They say Frank +kept things right between the ill-assorted pair, and that his good +offices had many a time interposed to prevent scenes of abuse and +violence such as must have ended in a separation at least. I was not +quite clear that Frank's regard for the coach-driving baronet was +alone at the bottom of all this friendship. I cannot conceive two men +much worse suited to each other; but Frank vowed, when I +cross-questioned him on the subject, which I thought I had a right to +do, that he was under the greatest possible obligations to Sir Guy, +that the latter had even lent him money, and stood by him when such +assistance was most valuable; and that he looked upon _him_ as _a +brother_, just as he looked upon her ladyship as a sister. It seems to +have been quite a family party altogether. Frank warmed with the +topic. + +"You will hear me talked about with all sorts of people, Kate," said +he, as we took about our twentieth turn, each of which I had protested +should be _the last_; "but the world is so officious and +mischief-making, you must never believe a word it says. They know I am +ruined, and they choose to decide that I must be making up to some +wealthy young lady. As if _I_ was a man to marry for money; as if I +cared for anything on earth but _one_ person, and _that_ for the sake +of her own dear self alone! You ask _me_ about Miss Molasses; you +declare I am continually riding with her, and dancing with her, and +what you ladies call 'paying her attention'--that yellow lackadaisical +miss! Do you think I would marry her if she had half a million? Do you +think I could stand those sentimental airs, that smattering of +learning, and affectation of being poetical, and romantic, and +blue--I, who have only lately learned what a woman should be, and what +a treasure such a woman is? No, no; I have known the whole family from +a child; I can't quite stand the lady part of it, but old Molasses is +a right good fellow, and one must be civil to them all. No, no, Kate; +with my many faults, I am a very different person from what you seem +to think. I have my hopes and wishes, certainly, but----" + +I can't possibly go on to relate the conclusion of Frank's rhapsody, +but he took great pains to convince me that if there was ever a +high-principled, pure-minded, much-injured individual, that exemplary +character was the gentleman now walking by my side; and I was +convinced, but at the same time not exactly satisfied. In thinking +over the whole of our conversation, I could gather nothing very +definite, nothing that led to any particular result, from it. + +One thing was clear to my mind, and that was at all events a +gratifying reflection. Frank did not seem to be aware that I had any +worldly prospects whatever: it was evident that if he liked me he +liked me entirely for myself. I confess I should not wish to be a +great heiress; I should always be fancying that it was the "fine eyes +of my casket," as the French say, which attracted my admirers, and I +could not stand that. No, Frank was not mercenary, I was sure, and if +even--why the competency I should be possessed of would be an +agreeable surprise. If, indeed! Nothing was clear, nothing was +settled. What a fool I was to dwell so upon an uncertainty, to anchor +my hopes upon a dream! I was not at all comfortable that afternoon: +the more I thought, the more I walked about my boudoir in a state of +high fidget and restlessness. One thing, however, was consolatory--the +frost was breaking. Already in London it was a decided thaw, and I +went to pay Brilliant a visit in the stable. + +Now I dare say I shall be considered very bold and unladylike, and +_unfeminine_--that's the word--for owning that I do indeed enjoy +paying my favourites a visit in their comfortable quarters. It's worth +a good deal to see Brilliant's reception of me when I approach his +stable. From the instant I enter his abode and he hears my voice, he +begins to move restlessly to and fro, whisking his dear tail, cocking +his ears, and pawing up his "litter," till indeed that word alone +describes the state to which he reduces his bed; then when I go up to +him he lays back his ears with sheer delight, and gives a jump, as if +he was going to kick me, and whisks that thin tail about more than +ever. I lay my cheek to his smooth soft skin, and he nestles his +beautiful head in my arms, and pokes his pretty muzzle into my +pockets, and seems to ask for bits of bread and sugar and other +delicacies, all of which are conferred upon him forthwith. I am sure +he has more sense than a dog, and a great deal more affection than +most men. I don't care how _slang_ and "bad style" people may think +me, but I feel every one of those strong flat black legs, and look +into his hoofs, hind-feet and all, and turn his rug up to see that he +has been properly cleaned and treated as he deserves; for I _love_ +Brilliant, and Brilliant loves me. It has sometimes been my lot to +have an aching heart, as I conclude it is the lot of all here below. +Like the rest of my fellow-creatures, I have been stung by +ingratitude, lacerated by indifference where I had a right to expect +attachment; or, worst of all, forced to confess myself deceived where +I had bestowed regard and esteem. When I feel sore and unhappy on any +or all of these points, nothing consoles and softens me so much as the +affection of a dumb animal, more particularly a horse. His honest +grave face seems to sympathize in one's grief, without obtruding the +impertinence of curiosity or the mockery of consolation. He gives +freely the affection one has been disappointed in finding elsewhere, +and seems to stand by one in his brute vigour and generous unreasoning +nature like a true friend. I always feel inclined to pour my griefs +into poor Brilliant's unintelligent ears, and many a tear have I shed +nestling close to my favourite, with my arms round him like a child's +round its nurse's neck. That very afternoon, when I had made sure +there was no one else in the stable, I leaned my head against +Brilliant's firm warm neck, and sobbed, like a fool as I was. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Gentlemen think it right to affect a contempt for stag-hunting, and +many a battle have I had with Cousin John when he has provoked me by +"pooh-poohing" that exhilarating amusement. I generally get the best +of the argument. I put a few pertinent questions to him which he +cannot answer satisfactorily. I ask him, "What is your principal +object in going out hunting? Is it to learn the habits of the wild +animal, or to watch the instinct of the hound that pursues him? Do you +enjoy seeing a fox _walked_ to death, as you call it, on a cold +scenting day--or do you care for the finest hunting run that ever was +seen in a woodland country? Have I not heard you say a hundred times, +when questioned as to your morning sport, 'Oh, wretched! hounds never +went any pace!--couldn't shake off the crowd--yes, we killed our fox; +but the whole thing was dead slow?' or else exclaim, with a face of +delight, 'The fastest thing I have seen for years! Eighteen minutes +_up wind_, extra pace! not a soul but myself in the same field with +them when they threw their heads up. Fox was _back_, of course, and we +never recovered him, but it was by far the best gallop of the season?' +It is evident to me that what you _like_ is riding a good hunter fast +over a stiff country--going a turn better than your neighbours, and +giving your own skill that credit which is due to the superiority of +your horse. You only consider the hounds as a fleeting object at which +to ride; the fox as a necessary evil, without which all this 'rasping' +and 'bruising' and 'cutting down,' as you call it in your ridiculous +jargon, cannot be attained. Why, then, do you waste so much energy, +and money, and civility, and 'soft-sawder,' to preserve the vulpine +race? Why don't you all hunt with stag-hounds, or, better still, +devote yourselves to a drag, when you may gallop and jump and bustle +about, and upset your horses, and break your own necks to your heart's +content?" To all of which John answers, as men invariably do when they +are worsted, that "women can't enter into these things, and I am +talking great nonsense about what I don't understand." + +However, let him despise "the calf," as he termed it, as much as he +liked, I was not going to be stewed up in London, with the wind at +south-west, the thermometer 45°, and the mud over one's ankles, whilst +Brilliant and White Stockings were eating their heads off in the +stable, so I took advantage of John's good nature to exact a promise +that he would take me down and show me her Majesty's stag-hounds in +the field; and on the express stipulation that Mrs. Lumley should join +our party, and that we should confine ourselves religiously to the +lanes, I was promised the enjoyment of a day's hunting. John did +everything I asked him now; he was even kinder than he used to be; but +it was a different sort of kindness, and it cut me to the heart. + +Still, the idea was enchanting: the Great Western made a delightful +cover-hack. We sent our horses on by the early train. The place of +meeting was scarcely three miles from the station, so we had time to +settle ourselves comfortably in the saddle, and to avoid the fuss and +parade of two ladies in their habits stepping out of a first-class +carriage into the midst of a metropolitan field. I ran my eye +jealously over the brown mare as Mrs. Lumley jogged quietly along by +my side, and I confess I had my misgivings whilst contemplating the +easy pliant seat and firm graceful figure of her mistress, the strong +lengthy frame and beautiful proportions of the mare herself; but then +Brilliant felt so light and elastic under me, the day was so soft and +fresh, the country air so fragrant, and the dewdrops sparkling so +brilliantly on the leafless hedges, that my courage rose with my +spirits, and I felt as if I could ride anywhere or do anything in +sheer gladness of heart. + +"Mr. Jones is very strict," said my companion, taking the brown mare +lightly on the curb, and putting her into a canter along a level piece +of sward by the roadside; "he declares he only takes charge of us +under the solemn promise that there is to be no _jumping_. For my +part, I never do what I am told, Kate; do you?" + +"I always do as I like with John," said I; "but then I always _like_ +to do what he wishes." + +My cousin's sorrowful smile almost brought the tears into my eyes. + +"I dare say he's quite right," rejoined Mrs. Lumley. "For my part, +I've no nerves left now. If you'll promise not to jump, I'll promise +too. What say you, Kate--is it a bargain?" + +"Agreed," I replied; and just then a turn in the lane brought us into +full view of the meet of her Majesty's stag-hounds. + +What a motley assemblage it was! At first I could not catch a glimpse +of the hounds themselves, or even the servants, for the crowd, mostly +of foot-people, that surrounded them. Where did these queer-looking +pedestrians come from? They were not agricultural labourers; they were +not townspeople, nor operatives, nor mechanics; they were the sort of +people that one never sees except on such an occasion as this. I +believe if I was in the habit of attending low pigeon matches, dog +fights, or steeplechases, in the "Harrow County," I should recognize +most of them enjoying the spectacle of such diversions. One +peculiarity I remarked amongst them, with scarcely an exception. +Although in the last stage of shabbiness, their clothes had all been +once of fashionable texture and good material; but they entirely +neglected the "unities" in their personal apparel. A broadcloth coat, +much the worse for wear, was invariably surmounted by a greasy cap; +whilst he who rejoiced in a beaver, usually battered in at the crown +and encircled by a tag of threadbare crape, was safe to have discarded +his upper garment, and to appear in his waistcoat and shirt-sleeves. A +wiry sweep, in the full uniform of his profession, was by far the most +respectable-looking personage of the lot. They clustered round the +pack, and seemed to make remarks, more or less sarcastic, amongst +themselves. As they opened out a little, I observed a very +aristocratic-looking old man, clad in most gorgeous apparel of scarlet +and gold, and seated on a remarkably handsome, powerful horse, long +and low, with great strength in small compass, and to all appearance +quite thoroughbred. + +"That's the huntsman," said Mrs. Lumley, who kindly undertook to be my +cicerone, for she often enjoyed "a day with the Queen's," and was +quite at home here; "he'll be so glad to see me. We're great friends. +If you like, Kate, I'll introduce you." + +I declined the honour as rather too public. "But," said I, "do tell me +who is in that green carriage with its back to us. Is it Prince +Albert?" Mrs. Lumley laughed. + +"Not exactly, my dear," she replied; "that's the calf! Come a little +this way; and when they open the door we shall see him bounce out." So +we edged our horses off to a spot at which the foot-people were +already beginning to congregate, and sat there quietly anticipating +the "enlargement of the deer." + +"What are we waiting for now?" I asked at length, when my patience was +nearly worn out. "Why don't we begin?" + +"The Master of the Buck hounds, of course," replied my cicerone. "He's +not come yet. You know, Kate, it's a political appointment, and they +generally give it to somebody who hates hunting, and particularly +stag-hunting, more than anything; so, of course, he wisely comes as +late and goes home as early as he can. But this man is a good +sportsman and a thorough gentleman, and very fond of it too, so we +shall not have to wait much longer." + +In fact, the words were hardly out of her mouth before a +carriage-and-four drove up containing three very gentleman-like, +good-looking men, "got up" to the utmost extent of hunting splendour, +and looking the very personification of that dandyism which +Melton engrafted upon London would be likely to produce. When they +were mounted, I am obliged to confess that those magnificent animals +made Brilliant himself look small. By this time there was great +excitement amongst the foot-people; and an official in gold lace, a +sort of mounted beadle, riding up with a heavy-thonged whip, cleared a +lane at the back of the cart which I had so erroneously imagined to +contain the Prince Consort. The doors flew open, and I was all eyes to +witness the magnificent sight of "the monarch of the waste" leaping +forth into the sunshine, exulting in his freedom. Shall I confess that +I was somewhat disappointed? + +A neutral-coloured beast, something like a donkey, bundled out in a +clumsy, unwilling sort of manner, and on his egress commenced cropping +the grass with the utmost _sang froid_ and placidity. My friend the +sweep threw his cap at him. He raised his head, shorn of its branching +honours, and, after staring about him, trotted quietly off amongst the +spectators, closely followed by two well-mounted officials, termed, I +believe, "flappers" by disrespectful sportsmen, but whose duty, it +appears, is to keep the chase in view till it either beats them off +for pace, or leaves them "planted" at some large awkward impediment, +the latter obstacle generally presenting itself in about three fields. +On this occasion I saw the deer trot quite composedly up to a high +thorn fence of at least six feet, and clear it without an effort; +whereon its pursuers, looking blandly around for gate or gap, and +finding none, prudently returned to their fellow-officials in scarlet +and gold lace--I conclude, to report upon their own inefficiency. In +the meantime nobody seemed to be in a hurry; there was, indeed, some +slight stir among the equestrians; but there was no throwing away of +cigars, no drawing of girths and taking up of curb-chains--none of the +bustle and confusion created by the departure of a wild fox over a +grass country. On the contrary, every one here seemed to know exactly +how much time he had to spare. We ladies were naturally the most +impatient of the throng. Presently the huntsman looked at his watch, +and said something to the noble master, who looked at his, and +replied, "I think we may begin." + +There was a slight bustle among the "knowing ones;" two or three +officers of the Life Guards stole forward a few paces; one of the +officials cracked his whip; and ere I knew exactly what had happened, +the hounds were streaming away over an adjoining field, "heads up and +sterns down," running perfectly mute, but at a pace which would have +astonished my old friends of the Heavytop country to no small extent. +Several desperate speculators were making frightful efforts for a +start. Two of the Life Guardsmen were settled with the hounds, and the +third _would_ have been, had he not been "turned over" by an +uncompromising flight of rails. Four London dealers and a young +Berkshire farmer were flourishing about, determined to show their +horses whilst they were fresh; the noble Master and his aristocratic +friends were pounding down a lane running parallel to the line of +chase. Mrs. Lumley was getting excited, and the Gitana reared straight +on end. Brilliant was fighting most disagreeably with his bridle, and +John nervously endeavouring to quiet our horses, and prevail on +ourselves to submit to his guidance. We _did_ follow him into the +lane; but here what a scene of confusion it was! Mild equestrians, +much at the mercy of their infuriated steeds; hot foot-people, +springing out of the way of the charging squadrons, and revenging +themselves for threatened annihilation by sarcastic jeers, not +altogether undeserved. + +"Give me a lead, sir!" implored a good-looking light-weight--who was +evidently not in his usual place, and most anxious to get out of the +lane--to a fat, jolly old sportsman in a green coat and brass buttons +on a stiff bay horse. + +"Certainly, sir," said the good-natured man; and turned his horse +short at the fence, closely followed by the gentleman he was so ready +to oblige. The bank was rotten and the bay horse unwilling. As might +have been expected, the green coat kissed mother earth, whilst his own +horse and his pursuer and his pursuer's horse rolled about on the top +of him in a most complicated game of all-fours. As they picked each +other up, I heard the fat man in green, much to my astonishment, +apologizing for the accident with the greatest _empressement_. + +"A thousand pardons, my dear sir! How could I be so clumsy? It might +have been a most serious accident!" All of which excuses the +aggressor, as was to be expected, received with boundless affability +and good-humour. In the meantime we had a beautiful view of the run. +The hounds were still streaming away, two fields in front of every +one; the huntsman and the two officers going gallantly abreast in +their wake. One of them reminded me a little of Frank Lovell. The +noble Master, too, had cut in, and was striding along over every +obstacle; the London dealers had dropped somewhat in the rear, and the +farmer's horse was already completely sobered by the pace. The hounds +turned towards us. John entreated us to stop. They crossed the lane +under our horses' heads, and taking up the scent in the adjoining +pasture, went off again at score--not a soul _really_ with them. + +"Flesh and blood can't stand this!" exclaimed Mrs. Lumley as, turning +the Gitana short round at a high stile with a foot-board, she landed +lightly in the field. "Don't attempt it, Kate!" she screamed out to +me, half turning in her saddle. I heard John's voice too, raised in +expostulation, but it was too late. I was already in the air. I +thought Brilliant never would come to the ground; and when he did +touch it, he was so excited with his previous restraint and his +present position, that he broke clean away with me. I was a little +frightened, but I never lost my nerve. I flew past Mrs. Lumley like an +arrow; and though she put the Gitana to her speed, and made my horse +more violent still as she thundered close upon his quarters, I was too +proud to ask her to give me a pull, and a wicked, jealous feeling rose +in my heart that was an excellent substitute for true courage at the +time. My horse was almost frantic; but fortunately he knew my voice, +and by speaking to him I was able to steady him before we reached the +fence. He bounded over it like a deer, and went quite quietly, now +that he had nothing before him but the hounds. I had never known till +now what it was to ride for myself. Hitherto I had always followed a +leader, but henceforth I resolved to enjoy the true pleasure of +finding my own way. I looked back. I was positively _first_, but Mrs. +Lumley was not fifty yards behind me, and coming up rapidly. + +"Well done, Kate!" said she as we flew our third fence side by side. +Still the hounds fleeted on, and I never took my eye off them, but +urged my horse in their wake, taking every turn they did, and swerving +from nothing. Fortunately, Brilliant was thoroughbred and the fences +light, or, even with my weight, such a style of riding must soon have +produced fatal results. I shall never go again as well as I did that +day; but do what I would I could not shake off Mrs. Lumley. If I lost +sight of her for an instant, she was sure to gain a turn upon me, and +on one or two occasions she was actually in my front. I felt I could +have ridden into a chalk pit, and _dared_ her to follow me with the +greatest satisfaction. At last the hounds checked; we stood alone with +them; I felt almost delirious with the excitement. + +"What an example we have made of _the gentlemen_, Kate," said Mrs. +Lumley, turning the Gitana's head to the wind. "I had no idea _you_ +could ride like this." + +I did not answer, but I thought "Wait a little, and I'll show you." I +felt I _hated_ her, though she _was_ my friend. Again the hounds +stooped to the scent; they crossed a deep narrow lane, up which I saw +the crowd advancing. I put my horse into his pace. + +"You can't go there, Kate," vociferated Mrs. Lumley. "This way; here's +a gate in this corner." + +I clenched my teeth, and rode straight for the fence. It looked dark +and forbidding. I did not see _how_ it was to be done, but I trusted +to Brilliant, and Brilliant nearly did it--but _not quite_. There was +a loud crash; one of my pommels gave me an awkward dig in the side. I +saw the white star on my horse's forehead shoot below me; and the +muddy, gravelly lane seemed to rise in my face and rasp my hands and +smear my habit, and get conglomerated with my hair. The horsemen were +all round me when I got up. I did not care for my accident; I did not +care for being bruised--in fact, I did not know whether I was hurt or +not--but my prevailing feeling was one of burning shame and horror as +I thought of my dress. To have had a fall amongst all those men! I +could have sunk into the earth and thanked it for covering me. But +there was no lack of sympathy and assistance. The huntsman pulled up; +the noble Master offered me his carriage to go back to London; +everybody stopped to tender advice and condolences. + +"The lady's had a fall."--"Give the lady some sherry."--"Catch the +lady's horse."--"Can we render the lady any assistance?" John, of +course, was much distressed and annoyed, but glad to find I was not +seriously hurt. Mrs. Lumley only stood aloof and sneered. "I told you +not to ride there, Kate," said she; "and what a fall you've +had--amongst all these people, too!" She very nearly made me an enemy +for life. + +I was too much hurt to go on. The stag was taken, as usual, in a large +pond about a mile from where I met with my accident; but our party had +had enough of hunting for one day. I am sure I had; and I think the +Gitana was nearly beat, though her mistress would not confess it. We +soon got back to the station, where I washed my face and put myself to +rights. After all, I was very little the worse, and everybody said I +had "gone like a bird." As we returned to London by the fast train, +and I sat in that comfortable, well-cushioned carriage, enjoying the +delightful languor of rest after fatigue, I half resolved to devote my +whole life to a sport which was capable of affording such thrilling +excitement as that which I had so recently enjoyed. I had never been +so happy, I thought, in my existence as whilst I was leading the field +on my dear Brilliant. It was a pure, wholesome, legitimate excitement; +there were no harassing doubts and fears, no wounded feelings and +bitter thoughts, no hours and days of suspense and misery to atone for +a few short moments of delight. If I was disappointed in other things, +could I not devote myself wholly to hunting, and so lead a happy and +harmless life? If I had been a man, I should have answered in the +affirmative; but I am a woman, and gradually softer thoughts stole +over me. A distant vision of a happy home, with home-interests and +home-pleasures--others to love, others to care for, besides +myself--all a woman's duties, and all a woman's best delights. I shut +my eyes and tried to realize the picture. When I opened them again, +Mrs. Lumley had gone fast to sleep; but John was watching me with a +look of painful attention. He certainly had acquired a very earnest, +keen look of late, such as he never used to wear. I do not know what +prompted the question, but I could not forbear asking him, in a sort +of half-laughing way, "John, if I had broken my neck to-day, what on +earth should you have done?" + +"Mourned for you _as a sister_, Kate," he replied gravely, even +severely. I did not speak another word the whole way home. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +"I shall miss you sadly, Kate; but if you enjoy your visit I shall be +quite satisfied." + +It was Aunt Deborah who spoke. Dear Aunt Deborah! I felt as if I had +not been half attentive enough to her lately. I had selfishly been so +taken up with my own thoughts and my own schemes that I had neglected +my poor suffering relative, and now my heart smote me for my want of +consideration. Aunt Deborah had not left the house since our return +from Dangerfield. She looked worn and old, but had the same kind +smile, the same measured accents as ever. Though she endured a good +deal of pain and was kept in close confinement, she never complained: +patient and quiet, she had a kind word for every one; and even her +maid avowed that "missus's" temper was that of an angel. "Hangel," the +maid called it, but it was perfectly true. Aunt Deborah must have had +something very satisfactory to look forward to, or she never would +have been so light-hearted. One thing I remarked, she was fonder of +John than ever. + +"I won't go, my dear aunt," was my reply, for my conscience smote me +hard. "I won't go; I don't care about it; I had much rather stay and +nurse you here." + +But Aunt Deborah wouldn't hear of it. + +"No, no," said she, "my dear; you are at the right age to enjoy +yourself. I don't know much about Scamperley, and I have a far more +charitable opinion of Lady Scapegrace than the world in general; but I +dare say you will have a pleasant party, and I can trust you anywhere +with John." + +There it was, John again--always John--and I knew exactly what John +thought of me; and it made me thoroughly despise myself. I reflected +that if I were John, I should have a very poor opinion of my cousin; I +should consider her silly, vacillating, easily deceived, and by no +means to be depended upon; more than woman in her weaknesses, and less +than woman in her affections. "What a character! and what a contempt +he must have for me!" + +My cousin called to take me to the railway, and to accompany me as a +chaperon on a visit to Sir Guy and Lady Scapegrace, who were, as +usual, "entertaining a distinguished party of fashionables at their +residence, Scamperley." By the way, what an odd phrase that same +"entertaining" always sounds to my ear. When I learn that the Marquis +of Mopes has been "entertaining" his friends, the Duke of Drearyshire, +Count and Countess Crotchet, Viscount Inane, Sir Simon and Lady +Sulkes, the Honourable Hercules Heavyhead, etc., etc., at his splendid +seat, Boudoir Castle, I cannot refrain from picturing to myself the +dignified host standing on his bald head for the amusement of his +immovable visitors, or otherwise, forgetful of his usual staid +demeanour, performing ludicrous antics, projecting disrespectful +"larks," to woo a smile from those stolid countenances in vain! Sir +Guy might be "entertaining," too, in this way, but hardly in any +other. What a disagreeable man he was! although I could not help +acknowledging his good nature in coming to fetch us from the station +himself. + +As we emerged from the railway carriage, the first object that greeted +my eyes was Sir Guy's great gaudy drag, with its three piebalds and a +roan. The first tones that smote on my ear were those of his hoarse +harsh voice (how it jarred upon my nerves!) in loud obstreperous +welcome. + +"Thought you'd come by this train, Miss Coventry," shouted Sir Guy +from the box, without making the slightest demonstration of +descending; "laid Frank five to two on the event.--Done him again, +hey, Frank--_I knew_ what you'd be up to; brought the drag over on +purpose. Now then, give us your hand; one foot on the box, one on the +roller-bolt, and now you're landed. Jones, my boy, get up behind. I've +sent the van for servants and luggage. 'Gad! what a pretty maid you've +got. Let 'em go, and sit tight!" + +So we rolled smoothly out, the piebalds shaking their harness and +trotting merrily along, the roan placed on the off-side, for the +purpose of sustaining whatever amount of punishment our charioteer +thought fit to inflict. + +Behold me, then, seated on the box of Sir Guy Scapegrace's drag! a +pretty position for a young lady who, during the last month or two, +had been making daily resolutions of amendment as to _slang_ conduct +and general levity of demeanour. How I hated myself, and loathed the +very sight of _him_, as I looked at my companion. Sir Guy was redder +and fatter than when I had seen him last; his voice was more +dissonant, his neckcloth more alarming, his jewellery more prominent, +his hat closer shaved and the flower in his mouth less like a flower +than ever. How came I there? Why, because I was piqued, and hurt, and +reckless. I was capable of almost any enormity. John's manner to me in +the train had well-nigh driven me mad. So quiet, so composed, so cold, +so kind and considerate, but a kindness and consideration such as that +with which one treats a child. He seemed to feel he was my superior; +he seemed even to soothe and pity me. I would have given worlds to +have spoken frankly _out_ to him, to have asked him what I had done to +offend him, even to have brought him back to that topic upon which I +felt he would never enter more. But it was impossible. I dared not +wound that kind, generous heart again--I dared not trust _myself_. No, +he was only "Cousin John" now; he had said so himself. Surely he need +not have given me up quite so easily; surely I was worthy of an effort +at least: yet I _knew_ it had been my own fault--though I would not +allow it even to myself--and this I believe it was that rankled and +gnawed at my heart till I could hardly bear my own identity. It was a +relief to do everything I could think of to annoy him. To heap +self-contempt on my wicked head, to show him I was reckless of his +good opinion as of my own, to lay up a store of agonizing reproaches +for the future, to gnash my teeth, as it were, and nerve myself into a +savage indifference for the present. Nay, there was even a diabolical +_pleasure_ in it. Frank Lovell occupied the seat behind me: at another +time I might have been gratified at his near neighbourhood, and +annoyed to think he should have been paying so long a visit to +Scamperley. I was startled to find how little I cared. He leaned over +and whispered to me occasionally, and seemed pleased with the marked +encouragement I gave him. After all, I could not help liking Frank +very much; and was not my cousin at the back of the coach, to witness +all that took place? But Sir Guy would not allow me to be +"monopolized," as he called it. + +"You've lost your roses sadly in London, Miss Coventry," said he, +poking his odious face almost under my bonnet, and double-thonging the +off-wheeler most unmercifully. "Never mind; I think a woman looks best +when she is pale. Egad, you've more colour now, though. Don't be +angry, it's only my way; you know I'm your slave." + +"Sir Guy don't _mean_ to be rude," whispered Frank, for I confess I +was beginning to get indignant; and the Baronet went on,-- + +"Do you remember our picnic at Richmond, Miss Coventry, and my promise +that if ever you honoured me by taking a place on my coach you should +_drive_? Take hold of 'em now, there's a good girl; you ought to know +something about the ribbons, and the next four miles is quite +straight, and a dead flat." + +I was in that state of mind that I should not have had the least +scruple in upsetting the coach and risking the lives of all upon it, +my own included; but I know not what imp of evil prompted me to turn +round and call to my cousin at the back,-- + +"John, do you think I could drive four horses?" + +"Pray don't," whispered Frank Lovell, who seemed to disapprove of the +whole proceeding; but I did not heed him, for my cousin never answered +till I asked him again. + +"Do as you like, Kate," was his reply, "only I shouldn't advise you to +try;" but he looked very grave, and seriously hurt and annoyed. + +This was enough for me. I laughed aloud. I was determined to provoke +him, and I changed places with Sir Guy. He showed me how to part and +hold the reins; he lectured me on the art of putting horses together; +he got into a state of high good-humour, and smiled, and swore, and +patronized me, and had the effrontery to call me a "d--d fine girl," +and I never boxed his ears, though I confess to having been once or +twice sorely tempted. In short, I flirted with him shamefully, and +even Frank got grave and out of sorts. At last Sir Guy removed the +flower from his mouth, and pulled out his cigar-case. + +"Have a weed, Miss Coventry!" said he, with his detestable leer. "Of +course you smoke; any one who can tool 'em along as you do _must_ be +able to smoke. Mine are very mild, let me choose one for you." + +I accepted his offer, though I had considerable misgivings as to +whether it would not make me sick. I looked round to see how my cousin +approved of all these goings on, and particularly this last cigar +movement. He was sitting with his back to us, reading the morning +newspaper, apparently totally indifferent to my proceedings. That +decided me. I would have smoked now if there had been a barrel of +gunpowder under my nose. I didn't care how sick it made me! I lit my +cigar from Sir Guy's, I suffered him to put his horrid red face close +to mine. I flirted, and laughed, and drove, and puffed away as if I +had been used to these accomplishments all my life. I rattled through +the turnpike without stopping to pay, as if it were a good joke. I +double-thonged a sleeping carter over the face and eyes as I passed +him. My near leader shied at a wheelbarrow, and I _almost_ swore as I +rated him and flanked him, and exclaimed,-- + +"Confound you, _I'll_ teach you to keep straight!" + +As we drove into the Park at Scamperley--for I fearlessly rounded the +avenue turn, and vowed I would not abandon the reins till I had +delivered my load at the front door--even Frank was completely +disgusted. My cousin took not the slightest notice, but kept his seat +with his back turned to the horses, and was still deep in his +newspaper. Sir Guy was delighted; he shouted, and grinned, and swore +more than ever. I was a "trump"--I was a "girl of the right sort"--I +was a "well-bred one"--I had no end of "devil" in me--I was fit to be +a "queen!" Whilst the object of all these polished encomiums could +willingly have burst out crying at a moment's notice; indeed, she +would have found it an unspeakable relief; and felt as she had never +felt before, and as she trusts in heaven she may never feel again. + +It was a lovely spot Scamperley--beautiful as a dream--with the quiet +woodland beauty of a real English place. Such timber! Such an avenue! +I wonder if any of the sporting dandies and thoughtless visitors who +came down "to stay with Scapegrace" because he had more pheasants and +better "dry" (meaning champagne) than anybody else ever thought of the +many proprietors those old oaks and chestnuts had seen pass away, the +strange doings they must have witnessed as generation after generation +of Scapegraces lived their short hour and went to their account, +having done all the mischief they could, for they were a wild, wicked +race from father to son. The present Baronet's childhood was nursed in +profligacy and excess. Sir Gilbert had been a fitting sire to Sir Guy, +and drank, and drove, and sinned, and turned his wife out-of-doors, +and gathered his boon companions about him, and placed his heir, a +little child, upon the table, and baptized him, in mockery, with +blood-red wine; and one fine morning he was found dead in his +dressing-room, with a dark stream stealing slowly along the floor. +They talked of "broken blood-vessels," and "hard living," and "a full +habit;" but some people thought he had died by his own hand; and the +dressing-room was shut up and made a lumber-room of, and nobody ever +used it any more. However, it was the only thing to save the family. A +long minority put the present possessor fairly on his legs again, and +the oaks and the chestnuts were spared the fate that had seemed too +surely awaiting them. Nor was this the only escape they had +experienced. A Scapegrace of former days had served in the +Parliamentary army during his father's lifetime; had gone over to the +king at his death; had fought at Edgehill and Marston Moor--and to do +Sir Neville justice, he could fight like a demon; had abandoned the +royal cause when it was hopeless, and, by betraying his sovereign, +escaped the usual fate and amercement of malcontent--the Protector +remarking, with a certain solemn humour, "that Sir Neville was an +instrument in the hand of the Lord, but that Satan had a share in him, +which doubtless he would not fail to claim in due time." So Sir +Neville lived at Scamperley in abundance and honour, and preserved his +oaks and his rents, and professed the strictest Puritanism; and died +in a fit brought on by excessive drinking to the success of the +Restoration, when he heard that Charles had landed, and the king was +really "to enjoy his own again." He was succeeded by his grandson Sir +Montague, the best-looking, the best-hearted, and the weakest of his +race. There was a picture of him hanging over against the great +staircase--a handsome, well-proportioned man, with a woman's beauty of +countenance, and more than womanly softness of expression. Lady +Scapegrace and I have stopped and gazed at it for hours. + +"He's not very like the present Baronet, my dear," she would say, her +haughty features gathering into a sneer--and Lady Scapegrace's sneer +was that of Mephistopheles himself; "he is beautiful, exceedingly. I +love to look at his hazel eyes, his low antique brow, his silky +chestnut hair, and his sweet melancholy smile. Depend upon it, Kate, +no man with such a smile as that is ever capable of succeeding in any +one thing he undertakes. I don't care what his intellect may be, I +don't care what animal courage he may possess, however dashing his +spirit, however chivalrous his sentiments--so surely as he has woman's +strength of affection, woman's weakness of heart, so surely must he go +to the wall. I have seen it a hundred times, Kate, and I never knew it +otherwise." + +Since the affair of the bull Lady Scapegrace had contracted a great +affection for me, and would have me to roam about the house with her +for hours. She was a clever, intellectual woman, without one idea or +sentiment in common with her husband. In this state of mental +widowhood she had consoled herself by study, amongst other things; and +the history of the family into which she had married afforded her +ample materials for reflection and research. She had collected every +scrap of writing, every private memorandum, letter, and document that +could throw any light upon the subject; and I verily believe she could +have concocted a highly interesting volume, detailing the exploits and +misdeeds, the fortunes and misfortunes, of the Scapegraces. + +"I know all about him, Kate," she would proceed, fixing her great +hollow eyes upon my face, and laying her hand on my arm, as was her +habit when interested. "He is my pet amongst the family, though I +despise him thoroughly. You see that distant castle, sufficiently +badly painted, in the corner of the picture? That was the residence of +her who exercised such a fatal influence over the life of poor Sir +Montague. All his little sonnets, some of them touching and pretty +enough, are addressed to 'The Lady Mabel.' I have found two or three +of his love-letters, probably returned by her, tied up in a faded bit +of ribbon; there is also one note from the lady to her admirer; such a +production, Kate! Not a word but what is misspelt, not a sentence of +common grammar in the whole of it; and yet this was the woman he broke +his heart for! Look well at him, my dear, and you will see why. With +all its beauty, such a face as that was made to be imposed upon. The +Lady Mabel, however, seems to have been a notable strong-minded +personage enough. She acknowledges the receipt of her lover's letters; +which, however, without condescending to give any further explanation, +she avers 'came to hand at an untoward moment,' and finishes by +sending him a receipt for making elderflower wine--assuring him, with +a certain sly malice, that it is 'a sovereign specific against colic, +vertigo, and all ailments of the heart and stomach!' What a contrast +to his protestations endorsed, 'These, with haste--ride--ride--ride!' +which many a good horse must have been spurred and hurried to deliver. +How he rings the changes upon his unalterable and eternal devotion! +How he implores 'his dear heart' never to forget him! and calls her +'his sweet life,' and protests that 'he welcomes the very night-breeze +blowing from the castle, because it must have swept past the windows +of his love!' and pours out his foolish heart like a child pouring +water into a sieve. Lady Mabel, however, seems to have been proof +against sentiment, as she undoubtedly was against good looks. From all +that I can gather, she appears to have made use of her adorer in +furtherance of sundry political schemes, such as were so numerous at +that period, and to have thrown him away, like a rusty blade, when she +had no further occasion for his services. I cannot help thinking she +despised him thoroughly. There are certain bills and memoranda, with +his signature attached, relating to levies of men and great purchases +of arms, which look as if he had plunged into some desperate +enterprise, doubtless at her instigation; and in his sonnets there are +frequent allusions to 'winning her by the sword,' 'loving her to the +death,' and such Quixotic protestations, that look as if he had at one +time meditated an unusually daring stroke. He was a fool," said Lady +Scapegrace reflectively, "but he was a fine fellow, too, to throw +wealth, life, and honour at the feet of a woman who was not worth a +throb of that kind, generous heart, a drop of that loyal, gallant +blood! + +"Then he married, I can't quite make out why, as there is a +considerable gap in the correspondence of the family about this time, +only partially connected by the diary of an old chaplain, who seems to +have been formerly tutor to Sir Montague, and to have cherished a +great regard for his pupil. The lady was a foreigner and a Romanist; +and although we have no picture of her, we gather from the reverend +chronicler that she was 'low of stature, dark-browed, and swarthy in +complexion,' though he gallantly adds that she was 'doubtless pleasing +to the eyes of those who loved such southern beauty.' At the wedding +it appears that Lady Mabel was present; and 'my good master's attire +and ornaments,' consisting of 'peach-coloured doublet, and +pearl-silken hose, and many gems of unspeakable price, dazzling to the +sight of humble men,' are detailed with strange minuteness and +fidelity. Even the plume in his hat and the jewelled hilt of his +rapier are dwelt upon at considerable length. But notwithstanding his +magnificence, the worthy chaplain did not fail to remark that 'my good +master seemed ill at ease, and the vertigo seizing him during the +ceremony, he must have fallen had I not caught him something cunningly +under the arm-pits, assisted by worthy Master Holder and one of the +groomsmen.' The chaplain, who seems to have been as blind as became +his reverend character, cannot forbear from expressing his admiration +of the Lady Mabel, whom he describes as 'fair and comely in colour, +like the bloom of the spring rose; of a buxom stature, and of a lofty +gait and gestures withal.' What was she doing at Sir Montague's +wedding? No wonder the old attack of 'vertigo,' which her elderflower +wine seems rather to have increased, should have come on again. + +"One thing is pretty clear, the Baronet detested his wife (the +Scapegraces have generally owned that amiable weakness, my dear). I +think it must have been in consequence of her religion that he became +so strenuous a supporter of the opposite faith. At last he joined +Monmouth, and still the correspondence seems to have gone on, for the +night before Sedgmoor he wrote her a letter. Such a letter, Kate! I +was lucky enough to get it from a descendant of the lady, who was +under great obligations to me; I'll show it you to-morrow. No man with +_that mouth_ could have written such a letter, except when death was +looking him in the face. I often think when she got it she must have +given way at last. But it was too late. He was killed in the first +charge made by the royal troops. His own regiment, raw recruits and +countrymen, turned at the first shot; but he died like a Scapegrace, +waving his hat and cheering them on. We are rather proud of him in the +family, after all. Compared with the rest of them, his was a harmless +life and a creditable end." + +"But what became of Lady Mabel?" I asked; for I confess I was a little +interested in this disjointed romance of long-past days. + +"Did you ever know a thoroughly unfeeling person in your life that did +not prosper?" was her ladyship's reply; and again her features writhed +into the Mephistopheles' sneer. "Lady Mabel married an earl, and had +sons and daughters, and lived to a green old age. I have seen a +picture of her at fifty, and she was still 'fair and comely and buxom' +as when she dazzled the old chaplain's eyes and broke Sir Montague's +heart. Yes, yes, Kate, there's nothing like a _sensible_ woman; she's +the evergreen in the garden, and blooms, and buds, and puts forth +fresh shoots, when the rose is lying withered and trampled into the +earth; but for all that, she has never had the charm of the rose, and +never can have." + +Such is a specimen of one of my many conversations with Lady +Scapegrace, whom I liked more and more the better I knew her. But I +have been anticipating sadly during my drive of Sir Guy's coach up Sir +Guy's avenue. When I reached the front door, with all my recklessness, +I felt glad to see no head poking out of windows--above all, no +_female_ witness to my unwomanly conduct. I felt thoroughly ashamed of +myself as I got down from the box; and I confess it was with feelings +of intense relief that a polite groom of the chambers informed me, +with many apologies, "her ladyship and all the ladies had gone to +dress," and handed me over, with a courtly bow, to a tidy elderly +woman, in a cap that could only belong to a housekeeper. She conducted +me to my room, and consigned me to Gertrude, already hard at work +unpacking upon her knees. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +A very pretty little room it was; none of your enormous dreary +state-apartments, dull as a theatre in the daytime, with a bed like a +mourning coach, and corners of gloom and mystery, uncomfortable even +at noon, and fatal to the nerves when seen by the light of a solitary +wax-candle. On the contrary, it was quite the room for a young lady: +pink hangings tinted one's complexion with that roseate bloom which +the poet avers is as indispensable to woman as "man's imperial +front"--whatever _that_ means--is to the male biped. A dark carpet +with a rich border relieved the light-coloured paper, picked out +sparingly with flowers; the toilet-table was covered with a blushing +transparency of pink under white, like sunset on snow--perhaps I +should rather say like a muslin dress over a satin slip; and there was +a charming full-length glass, in which I could contemplate my whole +person from top to toe, without slanting it an inch off the +perpendicular. The lookout was into Lady Scapegrace's garden, a little +_bijou_ of a place, that bore ample witness to the good taste of its +mistress. Every shrub had been transplanted under her own eye, every +border filled according to her personal directions. She tied her own +carnations, and budded her own roses, like the most exemplary +clergyman's wife in England. I do believe she _would_ have been a good +wife to anybody but Sir Guy. + +However, it was too dark for me to see anything of her ladyship's +garden. It was already getting dusk when we arrived, and although it +wanted three mortal hours of dinner, all the ladies, including the +hostess, had retired to their own rooms, to while away the time by +writing letters, reading novels, and going to sleep. I was much too +restless to embark in any of these occupations. It would have been a +relief to write, certainly--to pour out all one's thoughts and +feelings before some sympathizing correspondent; but I owned none +such. I could not have settled to read, no, not the most interesting +novel that was ever penned, although I might have left it off the day +before in an agony of uncertainty at the critical place which is +always to be found near the conclusion of the second volume; and as +for sleep--sleep, indeed!--I felt as if I should never sleep again. + +When I am unhappy, and particularly when I am angry with myself, I +must always be doing something--no matter what--but I _must_ be +occupied, so I hurried Gertrude, and bustled about, and got myself +dressed, and found my own way to one of the drawing-rooms, where I +hoped to be at least secure from interruption, and to brood and worry +myself for an hour or two in unbroken solitude. I ought to have been +safe enough here. As I had wandered through unknown passages and +passed uncertain doors, I had heard the click of billiard balls, the +sound of many voices, and the harsh laugh of Sir Guy; I knew +consequently that the gentlemen were all busy at "pool," or some +equally intellectual pastime, and had not yet gone to dress. I was +sufficiently conversant with the habits of my own sex to be aware that +no lady would willingly tarnish the freshness of her dinner toilette +by coming down before the very last minute, and I anticipated +therefore no further interruption than a housemaid coming to put the +fire to rights, or a groom of the chambers to light fresh candles, +functionaries, especially the former, who would be much more +incommoded by my presence than I should be by theirs. Good gracious! +there was a gentleman down and dressed already; sitting with his back +to me, immersed in the thrilling pages of "The Drawing-Room Scrap +Book," which he was studying upside-down. I came in very softly, and +he never heard me, nor turned his head, but I knew the back of that +head pretty well. It was Cousin John. I also took a book, and sat +down. + +"Perhaps," I thought, "he's not going to speak to me at all. Well, +what do I care? I've a temper, too, if it comes to that." + +So I read my book assiduously; it was the "Comic Almanac," but I don't +know that it made me feel very much inclined to laugh. The clock +ticked loud and disagreeably. I determined not to speak till I was +spoken to; but after a time the silence grew irksome, and the ticking +of the clock so loud, that I ventured on a slight cough, merely to +break it. "Ahem," said I, still intent on the "Comic Almanac." John +turned slowly round, made a half rise, as if out of compliment to my +presence, and returned to "The Drawing-Room Scrap Book," which, +however, he was now reading the right way. This would not do; I +resolved to wait a little longer, just a quarter of an hour by the +clock, and see whether he would not have the common civility to speak +to me. What a long quarter of an hour it was! The hand reached it at +last--it passed it--I gave him another five minutes. It was getting +painful. I spoke, and the sound of my own voice quite startled me, yet +was my remark as harmless and commonplace as well could be. + +"John," said I, "what time do we dine?" + +"A quarter before eight, I believe," answered John, quite +good-humouredly, and as if nothing had happened to estrange us. "Dear +me, Kate, how early you're dressed!" + +I could have cried with vexation; but I resolved, if possible, to find +a sore place somewhere, and give him "one" before I had done with him; +so I made a saucy face, and asked him, half laughing, whether "he +didn't think I had driven them very well from the station?" + +"Inimitably, Kate," was his reply; "I hadn't the least idea you were +so accomplished a charioteer." + +I should have burst into tears, I verily believe, but just then Lady +Scapegrace sailed in, and the usual forms of society had to be gone +through; and she kissed me, and shook hands with Mr. Jones, as if she +really liked us; and we talked of the weather, and the shameful +stoppages of the train we had come by, and the general inconveniences +of railways; and presently more ladies came down, neat and crisp as if +turned out of a bandbox, followed by their lords in choking white +neckcloths; and then Sir Guy himself appeared in a costume of +surpassing splendour; but still, although in his evening dress, +brilliant with starch and polish and buttons and jewellery, looking +like a coachman in masquerade; and "dinner" was announced, and we all +paired off with the utmost ceremony, and I found myself seated between +Frank Lovell and dear old Mr. Lumley, and opposite the elder Miss +Molasses, who scowled at me with an asperity of which I should have +believed her unmeaning face incapable, as if she hated me on this +particular evening more than all the other days of the year. I soon +discovered the cause. Frank was more attentive to me than I had ever +known him, although there was a _something_ in his manner that I did +not altogether like, a sort of freedom that I had never remarked +before, and which made me colder and more reserved than usual. It was +evident he thought he might venture as far as he liked with a young +lady who drove four horses and smoked a cigar the while. I felt I was +blushing _under my skin_; but I was determined to brave it all out, to +hide from every living soul my own vexation and self-contempt. Once I +caught a telegraphic signal exchanged between my neighbour and Miss +Molasses, after which she seemed more at ease, and went on with her +dinner in comfort. I was so angry now that I turned my shoulder +towards Master Frank, and took refuge with my dear old friend Mr. +Lumley, who, utterly regardless of the noise and flirtation his better +half was carrying on at the other end of the table, discussed his +cutlet quite contentedly, and prosed away to me in his usual kind, +consolatory manner. I was one of his great favourites; in fact, he +told me so, then and there. He always called me "my dear," and often +vowed that if he had only the use of his legs he would walk to the end +of the world to make me a thoroughgoing naturalist like himself. I was +getting more at ease under his dear old wing. I had gone through so +much excitement during the day that this comparative inaction was a +positive relief, and I was really beginning to enjoy a sort of repose, +when the Baronet's horrid voice from the bottom of the table aroused +me once more to an agony of shame and despite. + +"Do me the honour to drink a glass of champagne; the champagne to Miss +Coventry!" shouted Sir Guy; "you must require it after your exertion. +Egad! my team won't get over it in a hurry--the roads were woolly and +the time short--hey, Miss Kate? But d----n me if the whipcord was +scarce. I've done that seven miles in all weathers, and a sweet seven +miles it is, but I never came anything like the pace we did to-day. +Your good health, Miss Kate; I'll have a fresh team put together for +you to-morrow, and a better cigar to smoke than the one I gave you +to-day." + +I could willingly have sunk into the earth--nay, crept under the +table-cloth--anything to hide my dishonoured head. The ladies looked +at each other aghast, and then at _me_. The gentlemen, even the +stiffest of them, turned boldly round to survey such a phenomenon as +the tobacco-smoking, four-in-hand Miss Coventry. Mrs. Lumley showered +her long ringlets all over her face with one toss of her pretty little +head that I might not see how heartily she was laughing. Lady +Scapegrace good-naturedly made an immense clatter with something that +was handed to her, to distract attention from my unfortunate self; but +I believe I must have got up and left the room had not Cousin John +come adroitly to the rescue. He had not been studying the daily paper +for nothing, and his voice rose loud and clear through the awful +silence that succeeded Sir Guy's polished remarks. + +"Did you see that article in to-day's _Times_ about Ministers?" asked +John, of the public in general; "there's another split in the +Cabinet--this time it's on the malt-tax. To-day, in the City, they +were betting five to two there's a general election within a +fortnight, and taking two to one Ambidexter is Premier before the +first of next month." + +John! John! if you had saved my life I could not have been more +obliged to you. Many of the present party were members of +Parliament--all were deep in politics. Most of them had seen the +Times, but none, like John, had the earliest intelligence from the +City. I have since had reason to believe he invented every syllable of +it. However, such a topic was too engrossing not to swamp every other, +and no more allusions were made to my unfortunate escapade till Lady +Scapegrace had drawn on her gloves, bent her haughty head, and "made +the move," at which we all sailed away to tea and coffee in the +drawing-room. + +Here I was more at my ease. Lady Scapegrace and Mrs. Lumley, hating +each other, were, of course, inclined to be excessively kind to me--I +formed a bond of union between the foes. We three, particularly with +such a weapon as the tongue of Mrs. Lumley, were more than a match for +any number of our own sex, and most of the other ladies gave in at +once. Only Miss Molasses held out, and eyed me once more with an +expression of eager malice for which I could not easily account. I +remarked, too, that she seemed restless and fidgety, glanced anxiously +ever and anon at the door by which the gentlemen would join us, and +seemed uncomfortable if any of us approached an empty chair which was +next to her seat. I began to have my suspicions of Frank Lovell, +notwithstanding all his asseverations. I determined to watch him +narrowly; and _if_ I found my misgivings were true--if I discovered he +was false and treacherous, why, then, I would--after all, what _could_ +I do? It stung me to think how powerless I was. + +Now, the establishment of Scamperley, although doubtless the bonds of +domestic discipline were by no means over-tightly drawn, was one in +which servants, from the stately curly-headed "groom of the chambers," +down to the little boy in green that was always too late for the post, +had more than enough upon their hands. In the first place, nobody ever +seemed to think of going to bed much before daylight. This entailed a +breakfast, protracted by one late sleeper after another till +luncheon-time; that meal was of unusual magnificence and variety; +besides which, a hot repast, dressed by the French cook, and +accompanied by iced champagne, etc., required to be served in one of +the woods for the refreshment of Sir Guy's shooting guests. Then in +the afternoon there were constant fresh arrivals and rooms to be got +ready; for when the host and hostess were at home they kept the house +full, and the day concluded with a large dinner-party, at which seldom +less than sixteen sat down to discuss the inspirations of Monsieur +Horsd'oeuvre and the priceless wines of Sir Guy. No wonder the +servants looked tired and overworked, though I fancy the luxury and +good living _downstairs_ was quite equal to that which elicited +encomiums from _bon-vivants_ and connoisseurs above. Nevertheless, it +was but just that they too should have their share of relaxation and +amusement; therefore did Sir Guy in his generosity give an annual +servants' ball, which he attended and opened himself in a state of +hilarity not calculated to inspire much respect amongst his retainers. +He had, however, sufficient self-command invariably to select as his +partner the prettiest maidservant in his establishment. But if the +baronet failed in his dignity as head of the house, her ladyship had +enough for both. She looked like a queen as she sailed in, amongst her +own domestics and all the retainers and hangers-on for miles round. On +the evening in question it amused me much to see the admiration, +almost the adoration, she elicited from old and young. No wonder: that +stately form, that queenly brow, had been bent over many a sick-bed; +those deep, thrilling tones had spoken words of comfort to many a +humble sufferer; that white hand was ever ready to aid, ever open to +relieve; good or bad, none ever applied to Lady Scapegrace in vain. + +"The virtuous it is pleasant to relieve and make friends of," she has +often said to me in her moments of confidence; "the wicked it is a +duty to assist and to pity. Who should feel for them, Kate, if I +didn't? God knows I have been wicked enough myself." + +The men-servants never took their eyes off her, and I fear made but +sorry partners to the buxom lasses of the household till "my lady" had +left the room. I saw two stable-boys, evidently fresh arrivals, who +seemed perfectly transfixed with admiration, as at an apparition such +as they had never pictured to themselves in their dreams; and one +rough fellow, a sort of under-keeper in velveteen, with the frame of a +Hercules and a fist that could have stunned an ox, having gazed at her +open-mouthed for about ten minutes without winking an eyelash, struck +his hand against his thigh, and exclaimed aloud to his own +inexpressible relief, though utterly unconscious of anything but the +presence which so overpowered him,-- + +"Noa, dashed if ever I _did_!" + +This was soon after "my lady" had sailed into the servants' hall at +the head of her guests. It was the custom of the place for all the +"fashionables" and smart people who were actually in the house to +attend the servants' ball, most of us only staying long enough to set +the thing going with spirit, though I believe some of the young +dandies who found partners to their liking remained to the end, and +"kept it up" till daylight. Down we all went, as soon as the gentlemen +had finished their wine and discussed their coffee in the +drawing-room, down we went, through stone passages and long +underground galleries into a splendidly-lighted apartment, somewhat +devoid of furniture, but decorated with evergreens, and further +adorned by a sort of muslin transparency hanging from the roof. This +was the servants' hall, and although on a stone floor, a capital room +for dancing it was. We were all soon provided with partners. Sir Guy, +much to her triumph, selected my maid, Gertrude. Lady Scapegrace +paired off with the steward, a fat, rosy man, who quite _shone_ with +delight at the honour. The French cook carried off Miss Molasses, with +whose native stupidity I thought the vivacious foreigner seemed a +little disappointed. Frank Lovell was taken possession of by the fat +housekeeper, to whom he "did the amiable," as Frank had the knack of +doing to anything with a petticoat. Cousin John handed off a stately +damsel, whom I afterwards recognized as the upper housemaid, and I was +claimed by a dapper little second-horse rider, of whom I flatter +myself I made a complete conquest by the interest I took in his +profession and the thorough knowledge I displayed of its details. I +had to make most of the conversation myself, certainly, for his +replies, though couched in terms of the deepest respect, and +accompanied by a chivalrous deference for my sex to which I was +totally unaccustomed from the partners of a London ball-room, +consisted for the most part of little more than "Yes, Miss," and "No, +Miss," with an additional smooth of the smoothest, shiniest head I +ever beheld. When I had exhausted the meets of the hounds for the +ensuing week, with a few general observations on the pursuit of +hunting, and the merits of that noble animal, the horse, I began to +get high and dry for further topics, and was not sorry when three +fiddles and a flute struck up their inspiriting tones, and away we all +went, "cross hands," "down the middle and up again," to the lively and +by this time tolerably familiar air of "Sir Roger de Coverley." + +I am bound to confess that, as far as the servants were concerned, +everything went on with the utmost propriety and respect. Sir Guy, +indeed, pulled his partner about with an unnecessary degree of vigour, +which at times almost degenerated into a romp, and squeezed my hands +in "the Poussette" with an energy of affection which I could well have +dispensed with; but every one else was a very pattern of politeness +and decorum. In fact, the thing was almost getting stupid, when my +little second-horse rider and myself, returning breathless from our +rapid excursion down some two-and-thirty couple, were "brought up," +startled and dismayed, by a piercing scream from at least that number +of female voices, all raised at the same instant. + +"Fire! fire!" exclaimed the tall housemaid at my elbow. + +"Save me! save me!" shrieked the fat housekeeper, plumping into Frank +Lovell's arms, and well-nigh bringing him to the ground, in which case +she _must_ have crushed him. + +"Murder! murder!" shouted my idiot of a maid, Gertrude, rushing +frantically for the doorway, followed by Sir Guy, who was swearing, I +am sorry to say, most fearfully. + +"Stand still, fools!" I heard Lady Scapegrace exclaim in her deep +tones, "and let nobody open the door!" + +By this time there was a rush of all the women towards the door; and +as the centre of the room was cleared, I saw what had happened. The +muslin transparency had caught fire--a large fragment of it was even +now blazing on the floor, and the consequences amongst all those light +floating dresses and terrified women might have been indeed awful. For +an instant everybody seemed paralyzed--everybody but Cousin John; +during that instant he had flung off his coat, and kneeling upon it, +extinguished the flames. They were still blazing over his head: with a +desperate bound he tore down the ill-fated transparency; regardless of +singed hair and blistered hands, he clasped and pressed it, and +stamped upon it, and smothered it. Ere one could have counted fifty +the danger was over and not a vestige of the fire remained. How +handsome he looked with his brave face lighted up and his eyes +sparkling with excitement! Nobody could say John wanted expression of +countenance now. The next moment he was quietly apologizing in his +usual tone to Lady Scapegrace for "spoiling her beautiful +transparency," and parrying her thanks and encomiums on his courage +and presence of mind with an assurance that he "only pulled it down +because he happened to be directly under it;" but he could not help +turning to me and saying,-- + +"Kate, I hope you were not much frightened." + +The words were not much, but they were uttered in the old kind voice; +they rung in my ears all the evening, and I went to bed happier than I +ever thought I could have been after such a day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +The Sunday at Scamperley, I am sorry to say, was hardly observed with +that degree of respect and strictness which is due to the one sacred +day of the week. Very few people went to morning service, as indeed +the late hours overnight kept most of us in our rooms till eleven or +twelve o'clock, when we dawdled down to a breakfast that seemed to +lengthen itself out till luncheon-time. To be sure, when the latter +meal had been discussed, and we had marked our reverence for the day +by a conversation in which we expressed our disapproval of the +personal appearance, faults and foibles, and general character of our +friends, some of us would declare an intention of attending afternoon +church; on which subject much discussion would arise, and the +probability of the weather holding up would be volubly commented +on--the church being situated about a quarter of a mile from the +house, and the way to it through the Park being so completely +sheltered by evergreens that to have got wet, save in a downright +_pour_ of rain, was next to impossible. At last we would get under +way--the ladies mincing along with their magnificently covered +prayer-books, affecting an air of unwilling decorum; the dandies +carrying cloaks, shawls, and umbrellas for their respective goddesses, +and following them, so to speak, under protest, as if there was +something to be ashamed of in the whole proceeding. Lady Scapegrace +always went early, and quite by herself; she sat apart, too, from her +guests and relatives. Not so Sir Guy. It was his great delight to +create as much noise and confusion as possible, that on his entrance +the respectable yeomen and humble parishioners might be dazzled with +his glory, and whisper one to another, "That be Sir Guy," as he +marched to the front of his family pew in a blaze of wondrous apparel. +It was natural that he should create a sensation with his red face and +gaudy-coloured clothes, and huge, dyed whiskers, and the eternal +flower in his mouth, which was always on duty save when relieved by a +cigar or a toothpick. Pew it could scarcely with propriety be called, +inasmuch as it was more like a box at the opera than a seat in a place +of worship. We entered by a staircase outside the church, with a +private door of our own; passing through which we found ourselves in a +very comfortable chamber, with a good many chairs and sofas, a +handsome bookcase, and a blazing fire. This, again, led to a smaller +apartment, into which Sir Guy would swagger with much unnecessary +noise and bustle. Throwing up a large window, he leaned over as it +were from a hustings, and, behold! we were at church. + +When the sermon was concluded Sir Guy shut the window down again, and +we took our departure, much edified, as may easily be imagined, by the +lessons of meekness and humility which we had received in so becoming +a manner. From church we invariably proceeded to the kennel, where a +stout, healthy-looking keeper paraded the Baronet's pointers and +setters for the inspection of the ladies. Here Sir Guy took entire +possession of me once more. + +"Don't be alarmed, my dear," said he, as a great bull-headed, +black-and-white brute, surnamed Don, came blundering up and tried to +put his muddy paws on my dress. Sir Guy's affectation of the +"paternal," and his odious way of calling one "my dear," provoked me +intensely; and I gave Don such a crack over his double nose with my +parasol as broke the ivory handle of that instrument, and completely +quelled all further demonstrations of affection from the uninteresting +brute. Sir Guy was charmed. + +"Hit him hard," said he; "he's got no friends. What a vixen it is! How +she punished my near leader the other day! I _love_ that girl!" + +The latter sentence, be it observed, was spoken _sotto voce_, and +required, as indeed it received, no reply. + +"What interesting creatures!" exclaimed Miss Molasses, indicating an +old pointer lady, who went swinging by with all the appearance of +having lately brought up a large and thirsty family. "Do tell me, can +that dog really _catch_ a hare?" + +The keeper's face was a study; he was apparently a humorous +individual. But Miss Molasses addressed her remarks to Frank Lovell; +and Frank, as in duty bound, replied. That girl was evidently making +up to him, and, thinking he was fond of field-sports, pretended to +take an interest in everything connected with those pursuits for his +sake. + +"Come and see the tame pheasants, Miss Coventry," said Sir Guy. I knew +what this meant: I knew it would entail a _tête-à-tête_ walk with my +aversion, and I cast an imploring look at Frank, as much as to say, +"_Do_ save me." He caught my meaning in an instant, and skilfully +interposed. Of course, as he accompanied us, so did Miss Molasses; but +Frank and I lingered a little behind the rest of the party, made a +wrong turn in the shrubbery, and found ourselves, I never knew exactly +how, taking a long walk all alone in the waning twilight. I don't know +what Aunt Deborah would have said to such proceedings, and I am quite +sure Lady Horsingham would have been unspeakably shocked; but these +Sunday walks were the custom of the country at Scamperley--and, after +all, it was not my doing, and consequently not my fault. + +I wonder why it is that, in the very convenient code of morality which +the world has adopted for its private use, places and people should so +completely alter facts. You may do things with impunity in London that +would destroy the character of a Diana in the country; and, again, +certain rural practices, harmless--nay, even praiseworthy--when +confined to a picturesque domain, if flourished before the eyes of the +metropolis, would sink the performer to the lowest depths of social +degradation. It is not what you _do_ that matters one whit, but what +the world _thinks_ of your actions; and the gentlemen use a proverb +which I have often heard in connection with certain racing enormities, +that "One man may steal a horse, while another must not even _look at +a halter_:" and if this be the case with that sex who arrogate to +themselves the exclusive privilege of doing wrong, how much more does +the adage hold good with us poor, weak, trampled-upon women? Lady +Straitlace may do what she likes: she assumes a severe air in society, +is strict with her children, and harsh with her servants. In all ranks +of her acquaintance (of course below that of a countess) she visits +the slightest dereliction from female propriety with unrelenting +bitterness. Woe be to the trespasser, high or low! The weapon is +always ready to probe and gash and lacerate; the lash is constantly +raised, "swift to smite and never to spare." But who would venture to +speak a word against the decorum of Lady Straitlace? If she goes out +in the dark, 'tis to visit a sick friend; if she encourages young +Antinöus to be what ladies call continually "in her pocket," that is +only in order to give the lad good advice and keep him out of +mischief. Major Ramrod is never out of the house; but what then? The +visits of fifty Major Ramrods would not entitle the world to breathe a +whisper against a person of such strict propriety as Lady Straitlace. +But how that same forbearing world indemnifies itself on poor Mrs. +Peony! It is never tired of shrugging its worldly shoulders and +raising its worldly hands and eyebrows at the sayings and doings of +unfortunate Mrs. Peony. + +"Did you hear of her going to the bachelors' ball with three gentlemen +in a fly?" (Nobody thinks it worth while to specify that the three +Lotharios consisted of her grandfather, her husband, and her nephew.) +"Did you see her drop her bracelet, to make young Stiffneck pick it +up? Do you know that she takes morning walks with Colonel Chanticleer, +and evening strolls with Bob Bulbul? She chatters, she laughs, she +flirts, she makes eyes; she's bad style, she's an odious woman; 'pon +my word, I don't know whether mamma will go on visiting her!" + +And why should the world make this dead set at poor Mrs. Peony? She is +good-looking, soft-hearted, and unaffected; she laughs when she is +pleased, and cries when she is touched. She is altogether frank, and +natural, and womanly. Can these be good reasons for running her down? +Heavens knows! but run down she is, just as the hypocritical Lady +Straitlace is cried up. Well, we must take things as they are and make +the best of them. So Frank and I walked on through the pleasant fields +in the darkening twilight, and I, for one, enjoyed it excessively, and +was quite sorry when a great bell sounding from the house warned us +that it was time to return, and that our absence would too surely be +the subject of remark should we linger out of doors any longer. I +never knew Frank so agreeable; on every topic he was brilliant, and +lively, and amusing. Only once, in some casual remark about the +future, there was a shade of melancholy in his tone, more like what he +used to be formerly. Somehow, I don't think I liked him so well in his +best spirits; perhaps I was myself changed in the last few weeks. I +used often to think so. At first, during that walk, I feared lest +Frank should touch upon a topic which would have been far from +unwelcome a short time ago. I soon saw he had not the slightest +intention of doing so, and I confess I was immensely relieved. I had +dreaded the possibility of being obliged at last to give a decided +answer--of having my own fate in my own hands, and feeling totally +incapable of choosing for myself. But I might have spared my nerves +all such misgivings: my cavalier never gave me an opportunity of even +fancying myself in such a dilemma till just as we reached the house, +when, espying Mrs. Lumley and Miss Molasses returning from _their_ +stroll, he started, coloured up a little, like a guilty man, and acted +as though he would have escaped their notice. I was provoked. + +"Don't desert your colours, Captain Lovell," I said, in a firm voice; +"Miss Molasses is looking for you, even now." + +"Unfeeling," muttered Frank, biting his lip, and looking really +annoyed. "O Miss Coventry! O Kate! give me an opportunity of +explaining all." + +"Explain nothing," was my reply; "we understand each other perfectly. +It is time for me to go in and dress." + +So I marched into the house, and left him looking foolish--if Frank +ever _could_ look foolish--on the doorstep. As I hurried along the +passages I encountered Lady Scapegrace. + +"What's the matter, Kate?" said she, following me into my room; "you +look as if something had happened. No bad news, I trust, from Aunt +Deborah?" + +I burst into tears. Kindness always overcomes me completely, and then +I make a fool of myself. + +"Nothing's the matter," I sobbed out; "only I'm tired and nervous, +Lady Scapegrace, and I want to dress." + +My hostess slipped quietly out of the room, and presently returned +with some sal volatile and water: she made me drink it every drop. + +"I must have a talk to you, Kate," said she, "but not now; the +dinner-bell will ring in ten minutes." And she too hurried away to +perform her toilette. + +As I get older I take to moralizing, and I am afraid I waste a good +deal of valuable time in speculating on the thoughts, ideas, and, so +to speak, the inner life of my neighbours. It is curious to observe a +large, well-dressed party seated at dinner, all apparently frank and +open as the day, full of fun and good humour, saying whatever comes +uppermost, and to all outward seeming laying bare every crevice and +cranny of their hearts, and then to reflect that each one of the +throng has a separate life, entirely distinct from that which he or +she parades before the public, cherished perhaps with a miser's care +or endured with a martyr's fortitude. Sir Guy, sitting at the bottom +of his table, drinking rather more wine than usual--perhaps because it +was Sunday, and the enforced decencies of the day had somewhat damped +his spirits--looked a jovial, thoughtless, merry country gentleman, +somewhat slang, it may be, not to say vulgar, but still open-hearted, +joyous, and hospitable. Was there no skeleton in Sir Guy's mental +cupboard? Were there no phantoms that _would_ rise up, like Banquo's +ghost, to their seat, unbidden, at his board? While he smacked his +great lips over those bumpers of dark red Burgundy, had he quite +forgotten the days of old--the friends he had pledged and made fools +of--the kind hearts he had loved and betrayed? Did he ever think of +Damocles and the hanging sword? Could he summon courage to look into +the future, or fortitude even to _think_ of the past? Sir Guy's was a +strong, healthy, sensuous nature, in which the physical far outweighed +the intellectual; and yet I verily believe his conscience sometimes +nearly drove him mad. + +Then there was my lady, sitting at the top of her table, the very +picture of a courteous, affable, well-bred hostess; perhaps, if +anything, a little too placid and immovable in her outward demeanour. +Who would have guessed at the wild and stormy passions that could rage +beneath so calm a surface? Who would suppose that stately, reserved, +majestic-looking woman had the recklessness of a brigand and the +caprices of a child? A physiognomist might have marked the traces of +strong feelings in her deepened eyes and the lines about her +mouth--damages done by the hurricane, that years of calm can never +repair; but there had been a page or two in Lady Scapegrace's life +that, with all his acuteness, would have astonished Lavater himself. +Then there was Miss Molasses, the pink of propriety and +"what-would-mamma-say" young ladyism--cold as a statue, and, as old +Chaucer says, "upright as a bolt," but all the time over head and ears +in love with Frank Lovell, and ready to do anything he asked her at a +moment's notice. There was Frank himself, gay and _débonnair_: +outwardly the lightest-hearted man in the company; inwardly, I have +reason to know, tormented with misgivings and stung by self-reproach. +Playing a double game--attached to one woman and courting another, +despising himself thoroughly the while; hemmed in by difficulties and +loaded with debt, hampered by a bad book on "The Two Thousand," and +playing hide-and-seek even now with the Jews--Frank's real existence +was very different from the one he showed his friends. So with the +rest of the party. Old Mrs. Molasses was bothered by her maid; Mr. +Lumley puzzled by his beetles; his wife involved in a thousand schemes +of mischief-making, which kept her in perpetual hot water: all, even +honest Cousin John, were sedulously hiding their real thoughts from +their companions; all were playing the game with counters, of which +indeed they were lavish enough; but had you asked for a bit of +sterling coin, fresh from the Mint and stamped with the impress of +truth, they would have buttoned their pockets closer than ever--ay, +though you had been bankrupt and penniless, they would have seen you +further first, and _then they wouldn't_. + +So we flirted, and talked, and laughed, and adjourned to the +drawing-room, where, after a proper interval, we were joined by the +gentlemen, who, in consideration of the day, consented for that one +evening in the week to forego their usual games of chance or skill, +such as whist, billiards, and cockamaroo. But the essential inanity of +a fashionable party requires to be amused, so we set round a large +table, and played at "letters," sedulously "shuffling" the handsome +ivory capitals as we gave each other long jaw-breaking words, the +difficulties of which were much enhanced by their being usually +misspelt, but which, nevertheless, formed a very appropriate vehicle +for what the world calls "flirtation." I can always find out other +people's words much quicker than my own, and whilst I was puzzling +over "centipede," and teasing Mrs. Lumley, who had given it me, for +the initial letter, I peeped over the shoulder of my next neighbour, +Miss Molasses, and made out clearly enough the word she had just +received from Frank Lovell. _She_ would not have discovered it for a +century, but I read it at a glance. I just _looked_ at Frank, who +blushed like a girl, took it back, vowing he had spelt it wrong, and +gave her another. Did he think to throw dust in my eyes? There is a +stage of mental suffering at which we grow naturally clear-sighted. I +had arrived at it long ago. Watching every action of my neighbours, I +had yet ears for all that was going on around. Sir Guy, occupying a +position on the hearth-rug, with his coat-tails over his arms, was +haranguing the clergyman of the parish, a quiet, meek little man, who +dined at Scamperley regularly on Sunday, and appeared frightened out +of his wits. He was a man of education and intellect, a ripe scholar, +a middling preacher, and a profound logician; but he was completely +overpowered by coarse, ignorant, noisy Sir Guy. + +"Driving--hey?" said the Baronet; "we're all fond of driving, here, +Mr. Waxy: there's a young lady who will teach you to handle the +ribbons. Gad, she'd make the crop-eared mare step along. Have you got +the old mare still? Devilish good old mare!" + +No child of man is too learned, or too quiet, or too humble, to feel +flattered at praise of his horse. Mr. Waxy blushed a moist yellow as +he replied,-- + +"Very good of you to remember her, Sir Guy; docile and safe, and +gentle withal, Sir Guy. But I don't drive her myself, Sir Guy," added +Mr. Waxy, raising his hands deprecatingly, as who should say, "Heaven +forbid!" "I don't drive myself, sir; no--no, my lad assumes the reins; +and notwithstanding the potency of your Scamperley ale, Sir Guy, we +manage to arrive pretty safe at our destination." + +"Quite right, Mr. Waxy," vociferated Sir Guy. "Did I ever tell you +what happened to me once, when I took it into my head to drive my own +chariot home? Look ye here, sir, I'll tell you how it was. I was +unmarried then, Mr. Waxy, and as innocent as a babe, d'ye see? Well, +sir, I'd been to a _battue_ at my friend Rocketer's; and what with +staying to dinner, and a ball and a supper afterwards, it was very +late before I started for Scamperley, and all the servants were drunk, +as a matter of course. Why, sir, when I came out of the house there +were my carriage and horses standing in the line with some dozen +others, and devil a soul to look after 'em. What should you have done, +Mr. Waxy? Sworn like a trooper, I'll warrant it!" + +Mr. Waxy shook his head with an air of mild deprecation. + +"Well, sir," continued Sir Guy, "I'll tell you what I did. I jumped on +the box, Sir, before you could say Jack Robinson. I put on my own +coachman's box-coat, Sir, and drove 'em home myself. Thinks I, 'I'll +give the rascals a precious benefit: they'll have to walk every mile +of the way'--nine miles, and as dark as pitch, Mr. Waxy, as dark as +pitch! Well, sir, I'd a London footman, who was a sharpish fellow, and +used to dissipation in general; he heard the carriage drive off, and +ran to catch it. I gave _him_ a pretty good breather as I rattled down +the avenue. The fellow puffed like a grampus when he got up behind, +making no doubt it was all right, and he hadn't been found out. The +horses knew they were going home, and it wasn't long before I pulled +up at my own door. Down gets John, all officiousness and alacrity to +make up for past enormities, and rings a peal that might waken the +dead. Directly he hears them beginning to unbar he opens the +carriage-door and looks in. No master! The day was just dawning. I +shall never forget the fellow's face as he looked up, mistaking me, +muffled as I was in my own livery, for his fellow-servant. + +"'I always told you how it would be, Peter,' said he, turning up a +face of drunken wisdom; 'and now it's come to pass. The devil's been +and took Sir Guy at last; and if he's as wicious there as he's been +here, it's a precious bad bargain for both of 'em!'" + +Poor Mr. Waxy was obliged to laugh, but he took his departure +immediately; and of course, directly there was a move, the ladies went +to bed. + +"Come to my room, Kate," whispered Lady Scapegrace, as we lighted our +hand-candles--"you can go the short way through the boudoir--I want to +speak a word with you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +"Kate," said Lady Scapegrace, as she shut the door of her snug +dressing-room and wheeled an easy-chair before the fire for my +benefit--"Kate, you're a foolish girl; it strikes me you are playing a +dangerous game, and playing it all wrong, moreover. I can see more +than you think. Do you know the difference between real diamonds and +paste? Not you, you little goose. But you _shall_, if I can teach it +you. Kate, have you ever heard me talked about? Did you ever hear any +good of me?" I was forced to answer both questions--the former in the +affirmative, the latter in the negative. + +"Do you believe I'm as bad as they give me credit for?" proceeded her +ladyship. + +"No, no!" I replied, taking her hand and kissing it; for I really +liked Lady Scapegrace. "Let them say what they will, I won't believe +anything bad of you at all." + +"I have had a strange life, Kate," said she; "and perhaps not quite +fair play. Well, the worst is over now, at any rate. I don't _much_ +care how short the remainder may be. Kate, did you ever hear I was a +murderess?" + +"No, no!" I repeated, taking her hand once more; for I was shocked and +half frightened at the expression of her countenance. "I never heard +anybody say more than that you were _odd_, and a flirt, and perhaps +not very much attached to Sir Guy." + +Lady Scapegrace shuddered. "I owe you a great deal, Kate Coventry," +she resumed--"a great deal more than I can ever hope to repay. I +consider that you once saved my life, but of that I make small +account; you have done me a far greater kindness--you have interested +me; you have made me fond of you; you have taught me to feel like a +_woman_ again. The least I can do in return is to watch you and warn +you--to show you the rock on which I made shipwreck, and beseech you +to avoid it. Kate, you've heard of my Cousin Latimer; would you like +to see his picture?" + +Lady Scapegrace rose, walked to a small cabinet, unlocked it, and +produced a miniature, which she placed in my hands. If the painter had +not flattered him, Cousin Latimer was indeed a handsome boy. There was +genius on his wide, bold forehead, and resolution in his firm, +well-cut mouth; his large dark eyes betrayed strong passions and keen +intelligence, whilst high birth was stamped on his fine features and +chivalrous expression of countenance. Poor Cousin Latimer! + +"Look at that, Kate," said Lady Scapegrace, in low chilling tones; +"the last time I saw him that was his very image. Thank God, I never +beheld him when those kind features were cold and rigid--that white +neck gashed by his own hand! O Kate! 'tis a sad story. I have not +mentioned it for twenty years; but it's a relief to _talk_ of it now. +Surely I was not altogether to blame; surely he might have given me +time; he need not have been so hasty--so desperate. + +"Listen, Kate. I was one of a large family of girls. All my sisters +were beautiful; all were vain of their charms. As I grew up, I heard +nothing talked about but conquests, and lovers, and captivations. I +thought, to dazzle and enslave the opposite sex was the noblest aim of +woman. Latimer was brought up with us: we called him 'cousin,' though +he was in reality a very distant connection. Poor boy! day by day I +could see he was growing more and more attached to me. Latimer always +brought me the earliest roses. Latimer would walk miles by the side of +my pony. Latimer helped me with my drawing, and did my commissions, +and turned the leaves when I played on the pianoforte, and hung over +the instrument when I sang. In short, Latimer was my slave, body and +soul; and the consequence was, Kate, that I cared very little for him. +My sisters, to be sure, joked me about my conquest; and I felt, I +confess, a proper pride in owning a lover like the rest; but of real +affection for him I had then very little; and I often think, my dear, +that we women seldom value devotion such as his till too late. I was +not old enough to think seriously of marriage; but Latimer was +convinced I should become his wife, and (poor fellow!) made all his +arrangements and schemes for the future under this idea, with a +forethought scarcely to be expected from one so young. + +"Well, years crept on, and I 'came out,' as you young ladies call it, +and was presented at court, and went to balls, and began to make the +most of my time, and enjoy life after the manner of my kind. Of +course, I was no wiser than my elders. I danced, and smiled, and +flirted, as I had seen my sisters do; and the more partners I could +refuse the better I was pleased. One day Cousin Latimer came to me, +and spoke out honestly and explicitly. He told me of all his hopes, +his misgivings, his future as I had the power to make it, and his +love. I was pleased and flattered. I felt that I liked Cousin Latimer +better than any one in the world; but there were two things I liked +even better than Cousin Latimer: these were power and admiration. Of +the former I never could obtain as much as I coveted; of the latter I +determined to take my fill. We were that night to have a grand ball in +the house, and were much occupied with decorating the rooms, and other +preparations, such as we girls delighted in. I put off Latimer with +half-promises and vague assurances, which sent him away more in love +with me than ever. I was to dance the first quadrille with him. It was +an engagement of at least a month's standing, and he had rather +wearied me by too often reminding me of it. + +"There was a regiment of hussars quartered in our neighbourhood, and +we were well acquainted with most of the officers. The more so, as one +of my sisters was engaged to be married to the major, who, by the way, +ran away from her a year afterwards. One of these officers, a captain +in the regiment, was an especial flirt of mine; he was a good-looking, +agreeable man, and a beautiful waltzer. I recollect the night as well +as if it was yesterday--the officers arriving in their uniforms; my +father standing behind us, proclaiming aloud his pride in his six +handsome daughters; Cousin Latimer claiming my hand for the first +dance, and my refusal, notwithstanding my long promise, on the plea +that I was engaged to Captain Normanton. Poor boy! I can see his +pained, eager face now. 'You do what you like with me,' he said; 'but +you _must_ dance the next.' I laughed and promised. + +"Captain Normanton was very agreeable; he was the most dashing-looking +man in the room, and I liked the vanity of parading him about in his +uniform, and showing my sisters and others the power I had over Cousin +Latimer. Once more the latter claimed my promise, and once more I +threw him over. I glanced triumphantly at him as he watched me from a +corner; and the more he gazed, the more _I acted at him_, as if I was +making violent love to my partner. Somehow, without looking, I saw +every shade of Latimer's countenance. Once or twice I had compassion, +but there was the excitement of vanity and novelty to lure me on. + +"For the first time in my life I knew how much it was possible for men +to care for us, and I could not resist torturing my victim to the +utmost. Fool that I was! Cousin Latimer came up to me once more. +Though annoyed and hurt, he mustered a good-humoured smile as he said, +'For the _third_ and _last_ time, will you dance with me?' 'But you +don't waltz half as well as Captain Normanton,' I replied; 'I like +_him_ best;' and away I whirled again with the delighted hussar. + +"The instant I had spoken, I felt I had gone too far. I would have +given anything to unsay those foolish words, but it was too late. When +I stopped, panting and breathless, after the dance, Cousin Latimer +came quite close to me. I never saw a face so changed: he was deadly +pale, and there was a sweet, melancholy expression in his countenance +that contrasted strangely with the wild gleam in his eye. He spoke +very low, almost softly, but in a voice I had never heard before. He +only said, 'God forgive you, dear; you try me too much.' I never saw +him again, Kate--never. + +"When I heard what had happened, I was laid up for months with brain +fever. They cut all my hair off; they pinioned me; they did all that +skill and science could do, and I recovered. Would to God that I had +died! I do not think my head has ever been right since. + +"Kate! Kate! would you have such feelings as mine? Should you like to +live all your life haunted by one pale face? Would you wish never to +enjoy a strain of music, a gleam of sunshine, a single, simple, +natural pleasure, because of the phantom? Be warned, my dear, before +it is too late. I tell you honestly, I never forgot him; I tell you, I +never forgave myself. What did I care for any of them, except poor +Alphonse--and I only liked Alphonse because he reminded me of the +dead. Do you think I was not a reckless woman when I married Sir Guy? + +"Do you think I have not been punished and humiliated enough? Heaven +forbid, my dear, that your fate should resemble mine! I read your +feelings far more plainly than you do yourself. You have a kind, +generous, noble heart deeply attached to you. Don't be a fool, as I +was; don't throw him over for the sake of an empty-headed, flirting, +good-for-nothing roué, who will forget you in a fortnight. Strong +language, Kate, is it not? But think over what I have told you. +Good-night, dear. What would I give to yawn as honestly as you do, and +to sleep sound once again, as I used to sleep when I was a girl!" + +I took my candle, and kissed Lady Scapegrace affectionately as I +thanked her, and wished her "good-night." It was already late, and my +room was quite at the other end of the house. As I sped along, +devoutly trusting I should not meet any of the gentlemen on their way +to bed, I spied a figure advancing towards me from the end of a long +corridor. It was attired in a flowing dressing-gown of crimson silk, +with magnificent Turkish slippers, and carried a hand candlestick much +off the perpendicular, as it swayed up the passage in a somewhat +devious course. When it caught sight of me, it extended both its arms, +regardless of the melted wax with which such a manoeuvre bedaubed the +wall, and prepared, with many endearing and complimentary expressions, +to bar my further progress. + +The figure was no less a person than Sir Guy, half tipsy, proceeding +from his dressing-room to bed. What to do I knew not. I shuddered at +the idea of meeting the Baronet at such an hour, and in so excited a +state. I loathed and hated him at all times, and I quite trembled now +to face his odious compliments and impertinent _double entendres_. My +hunting experience, however, had given me a quick eye to see my way +out of a difficulty; and espying a green baise door on my right I +rushed through it, and down a flight of stone steps that led I knew +not where. Giving a view-holloa that must have startled every light +sleeper in the house, Sir Guy followed close in my wake, dropping the +silver candlestick with a most alarming clatter. I saw I had not the +speed of him to any great extent, so I dodged into the first empty +room I came to, and blowing out my light, resolved to lie there +_perdue_ till my pursuer had overrun the scent. + +The manoeuvre answered admirably so far. I heard the enemy swearing +volubly as he blundered along the passage, thinking I was still before +him; and I now prepared to grope my way back in the dark to my own +room. But I had not escaped yet. To my infinite dismay, I heard the +voices of gentlemen wishing each other the usual "Good-night, old +fellow," and proceeding along the passage from the direction of the +smoking-room. Horror of horrors! a light approached the door of the +very room in which I had taken refuge; in another second he would +enter--the man would find me in his room. He stopped a moment on the +threshold to fire a parting jest at his companions, and the light from +his candle showed me my only chance. A covered showerbath stood in the +corner of the apartment, and into that shower-bath I jumped, closing +the curtains all round me, but, as may be easily believed, taking very +particular care not to pull the string. Scarcely was I fairly +ensconced before Frank Lovell made his appearance; and I saw at once, +through a hole in the curtains, that he was the lawful occupier and +possessor of the apartment. + +Here was a predicament indeed! If the emergency had not been so +desperate, I must have fainted. "Good gracious," I thought, "if he +should lock the door!" Frank, however, seemed to have no such +intention; I believe this is a precaution gentlemen seldom adopt. On +the contrary, he proceeded to make himself thoroughly at home. +Lighting his candle, he leisurely divested himself of his coat, +waistcoat, and neckcloth, enfolded his person in a large loose +dressing-gown, leaned his head on both hands, and gave a deep sigh. +Apparently much relieved by this process, he took up his hair-brushes, +and after a good refreshing turn at his locks and whiskers, and a +muttered compliment to his own reflection in the glass, that sounded +very like "You fool!" he unlocked a small writing-case, and producing +from it a little bundle of letters, tied up with pink ribbon, selected +them one by one, and read them over from beginning to end, kissing +each with devout fervour as he replaced it carefully in its envelope. +I would have given a great deal to know who they were from; their +perusal seemed to afford him mingled satisfaction and annoyance; but +he sighed heavily again, and I saw he had a long lock of hair in his +fingers, which he gazed at till the tears stood in his eyes. He kissed +it, the traitor! and fondled it, and spoke to it, and clasped it to +his heart (men are just as great fools as we are). Whose could it be? +Not mine, certainly, for I never gave him such a thing; Miss +Molasses'? No; hers was black, and rather coarse; this was a silky +chestnut. Could it have belonged to Mrs. Lumley? Hers was very much +the colour, and I often thought Frank rather _épris_ with her. +Nonsense! that lively lady had not an atom of sentiment in her +composition; she would just as soon have thought of working him a +counterpane! + +I was so interested in my discoveries that I forgot altogether my own +critical position, the impracticability of escape till Frank had gone +to sleep, the chance of arousing him as I went out, or, more alarming +still, the awful possibility of his lying awake all night. When +morning dawned, concealment could no longer be preserved, and what to +do then? I meditated a bold stroke. To rush from my hiding-place, blow +out both the candles before my host had recovered his surprise, and +then run for it. Thrice was I on the eve of this perilous enterprise. +Thrice my courage failed me at the critical moment. The fourth time I +think I should have gone, when a knock at the door arrested my +attention, and Frank's "Come in" welcomed a visitor whose voice I well +knew to be that of Cousin John. The plot began to thicken. It was +impossible to get away now. + +"Lovell," said John, in an unusually grave voice, "I told you I wanted +to speak a word with you, and this is the only time I can make sure of +finding you alone." + +Frank was busy huddling his treasures back into the writing-case. + +"Drive on, old fellow," said he, "there's lots of time; it's not two +o'clock yet." + +"Lovell," proceeded John, "you are an old friend of mine, and I have a +great regard for you, but I have a duty to perform, and I must go +through with it. Point-blank, on your honour as a gentleman, I ask +you, _Are you_ or _are you not_ engaged to be married to Miss +Molasses?" + +Frank coloured, hesitated, looked confused, and then got angry. + +"No intimacy can give you a right to ask such a question," he replied, +talking very fast and excitedly: "you take an unwarrantable liberty, +both with her and me. Who told you I was going to be married at all? +or what business is it of yours whether I am married or not?" + +John began to get heated too, but he looked very determined. + +"I am sorry you should take it thus," he replied, "for you force me to +come at once to the point. As the nearest relation and natural +guardian of my cousin, Miss Coventry, I must ask your intention with +regard to that young lady. I have often remarked you paid her great +attention, but it was not till to-day that I heard your name coupled +with hers, and a doubt expressed as to which of the ladies I have +mentioned you meant to honour with your preference. I don't want to +quarrel with you, Frank," added John, softening, "I don't want to +mistrust your good feelings or your honour. Perhaps you don't know her +as well as I do; perhaps you can't appreciate her value like me. Many +men would give away their lives for her--would think no sacrifice too +dear at which to purchase her regard. Believe me, Frank, she's worth +anything. If you have proposed to her, as I have reason to think you +must have done, confide in me; I will smooth all difficulties; I will +arrange everything for you both. God knows I love her better than +anything on earth; but _her_ happiness is my first consideration, and +if she likes you, Frank, she shall marry you." + +Captain Lovell seemed to be of a different opinion. He bit his lip, +looking angry and annoyed. + +"You go too fast, Mr. Jones," he replied very stiffly; "I have never +given the young lady you mention an opportunity of either accepting or +refusing me. If ever _I am_ fool enough to marry, I shall take the +liberty of selecting my own wife, without consulting your taste; and I +really cannot undertake to wed every lively young lady that +condescends to flirt with me, merely _pour passer le temps_." + +John's face grew dark with anger. How noble he looked as he squared +his fine figure and reared his gallant head, standing erect before his +enemy, and scanning him from top to toe. He was very quiet too; he +only said,-- + +"Captain Lovell, I claim a brother's right to protect Miss Coventry's +reputation, and as a brother I demand reparation for the wrong you +have done her; need I say any more?" + +"Not another syllable," replied Frank Lovell carelessly. "Whenever you +like, only the sooner the better. Popham always acts for me on these +occasions; he don't go away till to-morrow afternoon, so I refer you +to him. I'm getting sleepy now, Mr. Jones. I wish you a good-night." + +Cousin John took up his candle, and retired. Never in my life had I +been in such a position as this. That there would be a duel I had not +the slightest shadow of doubt--and all for my sake. That my gallant, +generous, true-hearted cousin should have behaved so nobly, so +unselfishly, did not surprise me; but that he should be sacrificed to +his devoted fidelity--I could not bear to think of it for a moment! +How I loved him now! How I wondered that I could ever have compared +the two for an instant! How I resolved to make him full amends, and, +come what might, to frustrate this projected duel! But what could I +do? In the first place, how was I to get out of the room? + +My situation was so embarrassing, and at the same time so ridiculous, +that I could with difficulty resist a hysterical inclination to laugh. +Here I was, at all events, a close prisoner till Captain Lovell should +go to bed, and he seemed to have no idea of that rational proceeding, +though it was now past three o'clock. He walked about the room, +whistling softly. Once he came so near my hiding-place that I felt his +breath on my cheek. "Good heavens," thought I, "if he should take it +into his head to have a shower-bath now to brace his nerves!" At last +he walked to a drawer, selected a cigar, lit it, and throwing open the +window, proceeded deliberately to get out. I almost hoped he would +break his neck! But I conclude there was a ledge or balcony of some +sort to sustain him, and that he was accustomed to a nightly cigar in +that position. Here was a chance not to be lost! I bolted out of the +shower-bath; I popped the extinguisher on one candle, and blew the +other out at the same instant. I heard the smoker's exclamation of +astonishment, but heeded it not. I rushed through the door. I flew +along the dark passages, breathless and trembling; at last I reached +my own room, more by instinct, I believe, than any other faculty, and +having locked the door and struck a light, sat me down, in a state of +immense confusion and bewilderment, to think what I should do next. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Who was there to whom I could apply? Sir Guy, of course, was out of +the question. Then, in an affair of such delicacy, I could not consult +a _young_ man; besides, these boys, I fancy, are always for fighting, +right or wrong. A woman was no use, or I should have gone straight +back to Lady Scapegrace. I pondered matters over and over again. I +thought of every horror in the way of duelling I had ever heard of. + +My own uncle was shot dead by a Frenchman when attached to the army of +occupation at Cambray. It was a romantic story, and I had often heard +the particulars from my godfather, General Grape, who officiated as +his second. My uncle was a handsome, chivalrous youth, deeply attached +to a countrywoman of his own, whose picture he wore constantly next +his heart. Such a man was not likely to become compromised with +another lady. It happened, however, that my uncle was quartered in the +vicinity of a château belonging to a retired general of the Grand +Army, who hated an Englishman as a matter of taste, and a British +officer as a matter of duty. + +The French general had a charming daughter, and Rosalie, besides being +_belle comme le jour_, was likewise what her acquaintance called _tant +soit peu coquette_. So she made love to my uncle on every available +opportunity, and of course, because he didn't care for her two pins, +set her faithless heart upon him, as a woman will. To make things +simpler, she was herself engaged to a young marquis in the +neighbourhood. Well, my uncle, like a sensible man, did his best to +keep clear of the whole thing, but he could not avoid meeting Rosalie +occasionally in his walks, nor could he absolutely refuse to make her +acquaintance, or refrain from perusing the letters she wrote to him, +or, finally, prevent that forward young person from falling into his +arms, and bursting into tears, with her head on his shoulder. The +moment was, however, ill-chosen for so dramatic a scene, inasmuch as +it occurred under the very noses of her father and her _fiancé_, both +of whom, unknown to the fair wanderer, had followed Rosalie, on +purpose to find out where it was she walked day after day so +perseveringly. + +My uncle had scarcely recovered his surprise at the first +demonstration ere he was staggered by the second--"_Malheureuse!_" +exclaimed the father; "_Perfide!_" groaned the lover; "_Traître!_" +shouted the marquis; "_Lâche!_" growled the general. My uncle turned +from one to the other, completely at a nonplus, Rosalie in the +meantime clinging to his breast and imploring him passionately to save +her! My uncle's waistcoat came undone--his real mistress's miniature +dropped out; the sight added fuel to the fire of the belligerents. +Nothing would satisfy them but his blood. In vain he protested, in +vain he swore, in extremely bad French, that he had no _penchant_ for +Rosalie, had never made love to her in his life; in fact, rather +disliked her than otherwise. + +The Frenchmen _sacréed_, and fumed, and stormed at him, and jostled +him, till my uncle lost all patience, shook himself clear of Rosalie, +who fell fainting to the ground, knocked each of his adversaries down +in turn, and walked home to his quarters, very much disgusted with the +world in general, and the wilfulness of French young ladies in +particular. Of course he knew perfectly well it was not to end here. +He sent for Grape, then a brother subaltern, and placed his honour in +that officer's hands. + +No message came for two days, that interval having elapsed in +consequence of a deadly quarrel between the marquis and the general as +to who should take the thing up first. Grape firmly believes they +decided the matter with small swords; another version is, that they +played piquet for eight-and-forty hours to settle it--the best out of +so many games. Be this how it may, the general appeared as the +ostensible champion, and the marquis officiated as his _témoin_. +Grape, as my uncle's second, chose pistols for the weapons, and +selected a retired piece of ground in a large garden near the château +as the lists. I give the conclusion in his own words:-- + + + "Horsingham was as cool as a cucumber, and the only thing that + seemed to annoy him was a possibility that the cause of his + _rencontre_ might be misrepresented to her he loved at home. + + "'Tell her I was faithful to the last,' said he to me as he squeezed + my hand just before _I put him up_. 'Tell her, if I fall, that I + never loved another; that my heart is pure and spotless as that + white rose, which I will wear upon it for her sake.' + + "While he spoke, he plucked a white rose from a neighbouring bush, + and in spite of my remonstrances fixed it in the breast of his + close-fitting dark coat. + + "'What are you about, Charlie?' I urged. 'This is no time for + romance. Don't you know all these cursed Frenchmen are dead shots? + You might as well chalk out a bull's eye over the pit of your + stomach!' + + "He was a romantic, foolish fellow. I can see him now, drawing + himself up, and looking like a knight of the olden time, with his + brightening eye, and his smooth, unruffled forehead." + + "'Give her the white rose,' he only said. 'She'll keep it when it's + withered, perhaps. And tell her I never wavered--never for an + hour!'" + + "I knew too well how it would be. From the instant he came on the + ground the old general never took his eye off his man. What an eye + it was! Cold and gray and leaden; half shut, like that of some wild + animal, with a pupil that contracted visibly while I watched it. I + knew my friend had no chance. I did all I could. As I had the + privilege of placing the men, I stationed our adversary where he + would have to look over his shoulder to see my signal, whilst my + friend's face was turned towards me. They were to fire when I + dropped my hat. I dropped it with a flourish. Alas! all was of no + use. The general shot him right through the heart. I knew he would; + and the bullet cut the stalk of the rose in two, smashed the lower + part of the miniature, leaving only the face untouched, and poor + Charlie Horsingham never spoke again. As we lifted him and + unbuttoned his waistcoat, the two Frenchmen gazed at the miniature + with looks of anger and curiosity. Great was their astonishment to + behold the portrait of another than Rosalie. The younger man was + much affected; he groaned aloud and covered his face with his hands. + Not so the old general. '_Tenez_,' said he, wiping the barrel of his + weapon on his glove, '_c'est dommage! je ne contais pas là-dessus; + mais, que voulez-vous? Peste! ce n'est qu'un Anglais de moins._'" + +This is the carelessness with which men talk and think of human life; +and here was my cousin about to go through the fearful ordeal, perhaps +to be shot dead, like poor Charles Horsingham. The more I thought of +it, the more resolutely I determined to prevent it. I had never taken +off my dinner-dress--my candles were nearly burned down--the clock +struck five--in two hours it would be daylight. There was not a moment +to lose. All at once a bright thought struck me. I would rouse good +old Mr. Lumley. He was clever, sensible, and respected; he was +likewise a man of honour and a gentleman. With all his infirmities, I +had seen him show energy enough when he could do any good. I would go +to him at once; and I left my room with the resolution that I, for +one, would move heaven and earth ere a hair of Cousin John's precious +head should be imperilled on my account. + +I lit my candle and tripped once more along the silent passages. I +knew where Mrs. Lumley slept, and soon reached the door of her room; +audible snores, base and treble, attested, if not the good +consciences, at least the sound digestions of the inmates. I tapped +loudly; no answer. Again I knocked till my knuckles smarted. A sleepy +"Come in" was the reply to my summons. They probably thought it was +the housemaid arrived to open the shutters. It was no time for false +delicacy or diffidence, and I walked boldly into the apartment. By the +light of the night-lamp I beheld the happy pair. Of course, I am not +going to describe the lady's dress; but all I can say is, that if ever +I am prevailed on to marry, and such a catastrophe is by no means +impossible, I shall _not_ permit my husband to disfigure himself at +any hour by adopting such a custom as that of dear, kind, good old Mr. +Lumley. + +A white cotton nightcap, coming well over the ears, and tied under the +throat with tape to match, surmounted by a high _bonnet rouge_ like an +extinguisher, the entire headdress being further secured by a broad +black ribbon, would make Plato himself look ridiculous; and a sleepy +old face, with a small turn-up nose, and a rough stubbly chin of +unshaven gray, does not add to the beauty or the dignity of such a +recumbent subject. However, what I wanted was Mr. Lumley; and Mr. +Lumley I was forced to take as I could get him. + +"What's o'clock?" he murmured drowsily. "Come again to light the fire +in half an hour." + +"Why, it's Kate!" exclaimed his better half, rousing up, bright and +warm, in a moment, like a child. "Goodness, Kate, what are you doing +here?" + +"Miss Coventry!" ejaculated her husband. "What is it? A perfect +specimen of the common house-spider, I'll lay my life. What an +energetic girl! Found it on her pillow, and lost not a moment in +bringing it here! I'm eternally obliged to you. Where is it? Mind you +don't injure the legs. Pray don't stick a pin through the back." + +"Oh, Mr. Lumley!" I sobbed out, "it's worse than a spider. Get up, +please; there's going to be a duel, and I want you to stop it. Captain +Lovell and Cousin--Cousin----" + +I fairly broke down here, and burst into tears; but the kind old man +understood me in an instant. + +"Margery, my dear," he shouted, "get me up directly; there's not a +moment to lose. Oh, these boys! these boys! young blood and absence of +brains! If they would but devote their energies to science. Don't +distress yourself, my dear; I'll manage it all. Where does Captain +Lovell sleep?" + +"First door on the right, when you get down the steps in the +Bachelors' wing," I replied unhesitatingly, much to the surprise of +Mrs. Lumley. She would have known too, if she had been shut up there +for a couple of hours in a shower-bath. + +"I'll go to him as soon as I'm dressed," promised Mr. Lumley. "I +pledge you my honour he shan't fight till I give him leave. Go to bed, +my dear, and leave everything in my hands. Don't cry, there's a good +girl. By the way, the housemaids here are infernally officious; you +haven't _seen_ a good specimen of the common house-spider anywhere +about, have you?" + +I assured the kind-hearted old naturalist I had not; and as he was +already half out of bed, I took my departure, and sought my own +couch--not to sleep, Heaven knows, but to toss and turn and tumble, +and see horrid visions, waken as I was, and think of everything +dreadful that might happen to my cousin, and confess to my own heart +how I loved him now, and hated myself for having treated him as I had, +and revel, as it were, in self-reproach and self-torture. It was broad +daylight ere I fell into a sort of fitful dose, so out-wearied and +over-excited was I, both in body and mind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +It is very disagreeable to face a large party with anything on your +mind that you cannot help thinking must be known, or at least +suspected, by your associates. When I came down to breakfast, after a +hasty and uncomfortable toilette, and found the greater portion of the +guests assembled at that gossiping meal, I could not help fancying +that every listless dandy and affected fine lady present was +acquainted with my proceedings during the last twelve hours, and was +laughing in his or her sleeve accordingly. I cast a rapid and +frightened glance round the table, and, to my infinite relief, beheld +Cousin John eating his egg as composedly as possible; whilst a +reassuring smile and a pleasant "Good-morning" from Mr. Lumley gave me +to understand that his mediation had averted all fatal proceedings. + +The other guests ate and drank, and laughed and chattered much as +usual; but still I could not help remarking on the face of each of +them a subdued expression of intelligence, as though in possession of +some charming bit of news or delightful morsel of scandal. Lady +Scapegrace was the first to put me on a footing of equality with the +rest. + +"We have lost some of our party, Kate," said she, as she handed me my +tea. "I confess I suspected it last year, in London. She is a most +amiable girl, and will have a large fortune." + +I looked at her ladyship as if I was dreaming. + +"You needn't be so surprised, Kate," said she, laughing at my utter +bewilderment; "don't you miss anybody? Look round the table." + +Sure enough the Molasses party were absent, and there was no Frank +Lovell. Then it was true, after all! He had sold himself to that +lackadaisical young lady, and had been making a fool of _me_, Kate +Coventry, the whole time. How angry I ought to have been! I was +surprised to find I was _not_. On the contrary, my first feeling was +one of inexpressible relief, as I thought there was now no earthly +obstacle between myself and that kind face on the other side of the +breakfast-table; though too soon a horrid tide of doubts and fears +surged up as I reflected on my own unworthiness and caprice. + +How I had undervalued that noble, generous character! How often I had +wounded and annoyed him in sheer carelessness or petulance, and +thought little of inflicting on him days of pain to afford myself the +short and doubtful amusement of an hour's flirtation and folly! + +What if he should cast _me_ off now? What if he had obtained an +insight into my character which had cured him entirely of any regard +he might previously have entertained for me? What if I should find +that I had all my life been neglecting the gem which I was too +ignorant to appreciate, and now, when I knew its real value and would +give my life for it, it was beyond my grasp? + +At all events, I would never forget _him_. Come what might now, I +would never care for another. I felt quite glad Frank Lovell was as +good as married, and out of the way. The instant I had swallowed my +breakfast I put my bonnet on and rushed into the garden, for I felt as +if fresh air was indispensable to my very existence. The first person +I met amongst the flower-beds was dear old Mr. Lumley. He had hobbled +out on his crutches purposely to give me an interview. I thanked him, +as if he had been my father, for all his kindness; and he talked to me +gently and considerately, as a parent would to a child. + +"I promised you, my dear, that they should not fight, and I think I +have kept my word. Your cousin, Miss Coventry, is a noble fellow," +said the old man, his benevolent features kindling into admiration; +"but I had more difficulty with him than his antagonist. He would not +be satisfied till Captain Lovell had assured him, on his honour, that +you had yourself declined his advances in a manner which admitted of +no misconstruction; and that then, and not till then, he considered +himself free. You were right, my dear--I am an old man, and I take a +great interest in you, so do not think me impertinent--you were right +to have nothing to say to a _roué_ and a gambler. + +"I was not always the old cripple you are so forbearing with now. I +lived in the world once, and saw a good deal of life and men. My +experience has convinced me that selfishness is the bane of the +generality of mankind; but that nowhere is it so thoroughly developed +as in those who live what people call 'by their wits,' and enjoy all +the luxuries and pleasures of life by dint of imposing on the world. I +consider Frank Lovell, though we all vote him such a good fellow, one +of that class, and I do not think he would have made a good husband to +my young friend Miss Coventry. Your cousin, my dear, is a character of +another stamp altogether; and if, as I hear everybody say, he is +really to be married to that Welsh girl, I think you will agree with +me that she has got a prize such as falls to the lot of few." + +Mr. Lumley was by this time out of breath; but I could not have +answered him to save my life. Like one of his own favourite +house-spiders, I had been unconsciously spinning a web of delightful +self-delusion, and here came the ruthless housemaid and swept it all +away. How blind I must have been not to see it long ago! John might be +very fond of pheasant-shooting, and I believe, when the game is +plentiful and the thing well managed, that sport is fascinating +enough; but people don't travel night and day into such a country as +Wales, where there are no railroads, merely for the purpose of +standing in a ride and knocking over a certain quantity of half-tame +fowls. No, no; I ought to have seen it long ago. I had lost him now, +and _now_ I knew his value when it was too late. Too late!--the knell +that tolls over half the hopes and half the visions of life. + +Too late!--the one bitter drop that poisons the whole cup of success. +Too late! The golden fruit has long hung temptingly just above your +grasp; you have laboured and striven and persevered, and you seize it +at last and press it to your thirsty lips. Dust and ashes are your +reward. The fruit is still the same, but it is too late: your desire +for it is gone, or your power of enjoying it has failed you at the +very moment of fruition; all that remains to you is the keen pang of +disappointment, or, worse still, the apathy of disgust. I might have +made John my slave a few weeks ago, and _now_--it was too provoking, +and for that Welsh girl too! How I hated everything Welsh! Not Ancient +Pistol, eating his enforced leek with its accompanying sauce, could +have entertained a greater aversion for the Principality than I did at +that moment. + +Presently we were joined by Lady Scapegrace. She too had got something +pleasant to say to me. + +"I told you so, Kate," she observed, taking my arm, and leading me +down one of those secluded walks--"I told you so all along. Your +friend Captain Lovell proposed to Miss Molasses yesterday. Don't blame +him too much, Kate; if he's not married within three weeks, he'll be +in the Bench. Never mind how I know, but I _do_ know. I think he has +behaved infamously to you, I confess; but take comfort, my dear--you +are not the first by a good many." + +I put it to my impartial reader whether such a remark, though made +with the kindest intentions, was not enough to drive any woman mad +with spite. I broke away from Lady Scapegrace, and rushed back into +the house. We were to leave Scamperley that day by the afternoon +train. Gertrude was already packing my things; but I was obliged to go +to the drawing-room for some work I had left there, and in the +drawing-room I found a whole bevy of ladies assembled over their +different occupations. + +Women never spare each other; and I had to go through the ordeal, +administered ruthlessly, and with a refinement of cruelty known only +to ourselves. Even Mrs. Lumley, my own familiar friend, had no mercy. + +"We ought to congratulate you, I conclude, Miss Coventry," said one. + +"He's a relation of yours, is he not?" inquired another. + +"Only a very great _friend_," laughed Mrs. Lumley, shaking her curls. + +"It's a great marriage for _him_," some one else went on to say--"far +better than he deserves. Poor thing! he'll lead her a sad life; he's a +shocking flirt!" + +Now, if there is one thing to my mind more contemptible than another, +it is that male impostor whom ladies so charitably designate by the +mild term "a flirt." It is all fair for _us_ to have our little +harmless vanities and weaknesses. We are shamefully debarred from the +nobler pursuits and avocations of life; so we may be excused for +passing the time in such trivial manoeuvres as we can invent to excite +the envy of our own and triumph over the pride of the opposite sex. +But that a man should lower himself to act the part of a slave, "tied +to an apron-string," and voluntarily be a fool, without being an +honest one--it is too degrading! + +Such a despicable being does us an infinity of harm: he encourages us +to display all the worst points of the female character; he cheats us +of our due amount of homage from many a noble heart, and perhaps robs +us of our own dignity and self-respect. Yet such is the creature we +encourage in our blind vanity, and whilst we vote him "so pleasant and +agreeable," temper our commendation with the mild remonstrance, +"though I am afraid he's rather a flirt!" + +I saw the drawing-room on that morning was no place for me; so I +folded my work, and curbing my tongue, which I own had a strong +inclination to take its part in the war of words, I sought my own +room, and found there, in addition to the litter and discomfort +inseparable from the process of packing, a letter just arrived by the +post. It was in Cousin Amelia's hand, and bore the Dangerfield +postmark. "What now?" I thought, dreading to open it lest it might +contain some fresh object of annoyance, some further inquiries or +remarks calculated to irritate my already overdriven temper out of due +bounds. + +"Cousin Amelia never writes to me unless she has something unpleasant +to say," was my mental observation, "and a very little more would fill +the cup to overflowing. Whatever happens, I am determined not to cry; +rather than face all those ladies with red eyes when I go to wish Lady +Scapegrace good-bye, I would forego the pleasure of ever receiving a +letter or hearing a bit of news again!" + +So I popped Cousin Amelia's epistle into my pocket without breaking +the seal, and put on my bonnet at once, that I might be ready to +start, and not keep Cousin John waiting. + +The leavetaking was got over more easily than I expected. People +generally hustle one off in as great a hurry as the common decencies +of society would admit of, in order to shorten as much as possible the +unavoidable gêne of parting. Sir Guy, staunch to his colours, was to +drive me back on the detested drag; but his great face fell several +inches when I expressed my determination to perform the journey _this_ +time _inside_. + +"I've bitted the team on purpose for you, Miss Kate," he exclaimed, +with one of his usual oaths, "and now you throw me over at the last +moment. Too bad; by all that's disappointing, it's too bad! Come now, +think better of it; put on my box-coat, and catch hold of 'em, there's +a good girl." + +"_Inside_, or not at all, Sir Guy," was my answer; and I can be pretty +determined, too, when I choose. + +"Then perhaps your maid would like to come on the box," urged the +Baronet, who seemed to have set his heart on the enjoyment of _some_ +female society. + +"Gertrude goes with me," I replied stoutly; for I thought Cousin John +looked pleased, and Sir Guy was at a nonplus. + +"Awfully high temper," he muttered, as he took his reins and placed +his foot on the roller-bolt. "I like 'em saucy, I own, but this girl's +a regular vixen!" + +Sir Guy was very much put out, and vented his annoyance on his +off-wheeler, "double-thonging" that unfortunate animal most +unmercifully the whole way to the station. He bade me farewell with a +coldness, and almost sulkiness, quite foreign to his usual demeanour, +and infinitely pleasanter to my feelings. Besides, I saw plainly that +the more I fell in the Baronet's good opinion, the higher I rose in +that of my _chaperone_; and by the time John and I were fairly settled +in a _coupé_, my cousin had got back to his old, frank, cordial +manner, and I took courage to break the seal of Cousin Amelia's +letter, and peruse that interesting document, regardless of all the +sarcasms and innuendoes it might probably contain. + +What a jumble of incongruities it was! Long stories about the weather, +and the garden, and the farm, and all sorts of things which no one +knew better than I did had no interest for my correspondent whatever. +I remarked, however, throughout the whole composition, that "mamma's" +sentiments and regulations were treated with an unusual degree of +contempt, and the writer's own opinions asserted with a boldness and +freedom I had never before observed in my strait-laced, hypocritical +cousin. Mr. Haycock's name, too, was very frequently brought on the +_tapis_: he seemed to have breakfasted with them, lunched with them, +walked, driven, played billiards with them, and, in short, to have +taken up his residence almost entirely at Dangerfield. The postscript +explained it all, and the postscript I give verbatim as I read it +aloud to Cousin John whilst we were whizzing along at the rate of +forty miles an hour. + +"_P.S._--I am sure my dear Kate will give me joy. You cannot have +forgotten a _certain_ person calling this autumn at Dangerfield for a +_certain_ purpose, in which he did not seem clearly to know his own +mind. Everything is now explained. My dear Herod (is it not a pretty +Christian name!)--my dear Herod is all that I can wish, and assures me +that all along _it_ was intended for me. The _happy day_ is not yet +fixed; but my dearest Kate may rest assured that I will not fail to +give her the _earliest intelligence_ on the _first opportunity_. Tell +Mr. Jones I shall be married before him, after all." + +The last sentence escaped my lips without my meaning it. Had I not +come upon it unexpectedly, I think I should have kept it to myself. +John blushed, and looked hurt. For a few minutes there was a +disagreeable silence, which we both felt awkward. He was the first to +break it. + +"Kate," said he, "do you think I shall be married before Miss +Horsingham?" + +"How can I tell?" I replied, looking steadfastly out of the window, +whilst my colour rose and my heart beat rapidly. + +"Do you believe that Welsh story, Kate?" proceeded my cousin. + +I knew by his voice it _couldn't_ be true; I _felt_ it was a slander; +and I whispered, "No." + +"One more question, Kate," urged Cousin John, in a thick, low voice. +"Why did you refuse Frank Lovell?" + +"He never proposed to me," I answered; "I never gave him an +opportunity." + +"Why not?" said my cousin. + +"Because I liked some one else better," was my reply; and I think +those few words settled the whole business. + + * * * * * + +I shall soon be five-and-twenty now, and on my birthday I am to be +married. Aunt Deborah has got better ever since it has all been +settled. Everybody seems pleased, and I am sure no one can be better +pleased than I am. Only Lady Horsingham says, "Kate will _never_ +settle." I think I know better. I think I shall make none the worse a +wife because I can walk, and ride, and get up early, and stand all +weathers, and love the simple, wholesome, natural pleasures of the +country. John thinks so too, and that is all I need care about. + +I have such a charming trousseau, though I am ashamed to say I take +very little pleasure in looking at it. But kind, thoughtful Cousin +John has presented Brilliant with an entirely new set of clothing; and +I think my horse seems almost more delighted with his finery than his +mistress is with hers. My Cousin and I ride together every day. Dear +me, how delightful it is to think that I shall always be as happy as I +am now! + + +THE END. + + + + + +NELSON'S CLASSICS + +A Library of Masterpieces, well printed, well bound in cloth, and +unabridged. + + + +UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME. + + + Tom Brown's Schooldays. THOMAS HUGHES. + +Since its publication more than half a century ago, this book has been +the only school story which a boy recognizes as true to life. + + + Henry Esmond. W. M. THACKERAY. + +If the merit of a historical novel be the exact reproduction of the +life of another age, then _Esmond_ is the greatest of its class. No +other book has caught more perfectly the flavour of the later Stuart +times. + + + Kenilworth. Sir WALTER SCOTT. + +Like all Sir Walter Scott's books, _Kenilworth_ is a great picture of +a historical epoch, and it is also a very great and wonderful drama. + + + Quentin Durward. Sir WALTER SCOTT. + +One of the most brilliant of Scott's romances. It presents a +wonderfully powerful and moving picture of the times of Louis the +Eleventh. + + + Ivanhoe. Sir WALTER SCOTT. + +The most popular novel of Sir Walter Scott, and the first which every +boy reads. It has given a living interest to an age which, in other +hands, becomes a mere catalogue of conventional antiquities. + + + Adam Bede. GEORGE ELIOT. + +The book which made Mrs. Carlyle feel "in charity with the whole human +race" could be no ordinary one. _Adam Bede_ contains all George +Eliot's broad and catholic knowledge of life, and the characters are +all drawn by the hand of a master. + + + The Mill on the Floss. GEORGE ELIOT. + +This is perhaps the best beloved of modern novels. It is the book in +which George Eliot put most of her early life, and of all her heroines +Maggie Tulliver is the one on whom she has expended most care and +tenderness. + + + Oliver Twist. CHARLES DICKENS. + +In this book Dickens achieved the dual purpose which he had always +before him. He wrote a great story, and he laboured also to redress a +great social scandal. In no other, perhaps, except _A Tale of Two +Cities_, is the tragic power which lay behind all his humour apparent +in so wonderful a degree. + + + The Old Curiosity Shop. CHARLES DICKENS. + +This book, largely biographical, has always been one of the most +popular of the author's works. Humour and pathos are mingled in it, +for if we have on the one hand Little Nell, on the other we have "The +Marchioness," Mrs. Jarley, and the immortal Codlin and Short. + + + A Tale of Two Cities. CHARLES DICKENS. + +Sidney Carton is almost the only case in which Dickens has drawn a +hero on the true heroic scale, and his famous act of self-sacrifice is +unmatched in fiction. The book must be ranked very high among the +great tragedies in literature. + + + A Child's History of England. CHARLES DICKENS. + +Amongst histories for children this is easily first. It possesses all +Dickens's wonderful force, vivacity, and keen insight into human +nature, and his characteristic enthusiasm for all that is loyal, +manly, and true. + + + Hard Times. CHARLES DICKENS. + +A bitter and scathing satire on the belief in "Facts, nothing but +Facts" in education, the results developed in a tale of deep and +pathetic interest. + + + Westward Ho! CHARLES KINGSLEY. + +This is the best novel ever written on the greatest age of English +adventure. It is a saga of the Devonshire sailors who, like Drake, +sailed to the unknown to found an empire for their queen, "as good as +any which his Majesty of Spain had." The story swings from start to +close at a breathless pace. + + + Hypatia. CHARLES KINGSLEY. + +This book is a remarkable instance of the range of Kingsley's powers. +No difference could be greater than that between the stirring age of +Elizabeth and that of Alexandria in the fifth century, when the world +was occupied with barren ecclesiastical strife. Hypatia, the last +defender of the pagan faith, is a wonderful study, and the whole book +is a brilliant picture of the passing of the old faiths of Greece and +Rome. + + + The Last Days of Pompeii. Lord LYTTON. + +A classical romance is always a difficult form of art, but Lord +Lytton's is easily the most successful. He does not overload his +narrative with antiquarian details, and the story moves rapidly to its +great climax. It is a brilliant and imaginative picture of the later +Roman civilization. + + + The Cloister and the Hearth. CHARLES READE. + +There are many who think this the greatest of all historical novels, +and it is certain that there are few better. It is not a story so much +as a vast and varied transcript of life. It is also a delightful +romance, and Gerard and Margaret are among the immortals of fiction. + + + John Halifax, Gentleman. Mrs. CRAIK. + +This simple and candid study of one who lived up to the standard of +truth and honour and courtesy which an earlier age defined by the word +"gentleman" is one of the most popular novels of last century, and +there is no sign that its attraction is waning. + + + Cranford. Mrs. GASKELL. + +To praise _Cranford_ at this time of day is an idle task. After being +overshadowed for a little, it has taken its place finally among the +masterpieces of English fiction, along with Jane Austen and the _Vicar +of Wakefield_. There has never been a more delightful and tender study +of English village life, or one in which insight is so joined with +kindliness. + + + East Lynne, Mrs. HENRY WOOD. + The Channings. + + +Mrs. Wood has long been the most popular of writers, and the +publishers are glad to be able to add her two chief novels to their +series. The whole world is familiar with her characters. + + + The Deerslayer, FENIMORE COOPER. + The Last of the Mohicans, " + The Pathfinder. " + +Fenimore Cooper was the Scott of America, the man who, by turning his +own history into great romance, gave it immortality. Many years have +passed since the first publication of these books, and there have been +many imitators, but their merits still remain unsurpassed. + + + The Three Musketeers. ALEXANDRE DUMAS. + +Dumas is, after Scott, the foremost of historical novelists, and _The +Three Musketeers_ is, by universal consent, his masterpiece. It tells +of a great companionship in arms, and the names of Athos, Porthos, +Aramis, and D'Artagnan are among the most familiar to all lovers of +good fiction. No man had so generous an imagination, so great a sense +of drama, so boyish a love of high enterprises, or so masterly a power +of narrative. + + + Villette. CHARLOTTE BRONTË. + +From an artistic point of view, the most perfect of Charlotte Brontë's +stories. Practically an autobiography, it abounds with rich humour and +keen analysis of character. + + + Pride and Prejudice, JANE AUSTEN. + Sense and Sensibility. " + +Jane Austen's novels were Sir Walter Scott's especial favourites, and +of recent years their charm has won for them a great revival of +popularity. + + + Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mrs. H. B. STOWE. + +This is one of the books which have made history. It was the chief +instrument in the abolition of slavery in America, and it has touched +the conscience of mankind; but it is not only a great propagandist +work, it is also a brilliant story. + + + The Bible in Spain. GEORGE BORROW. + +One of the most brilliant and entertaining of books of travel. + + + The Pilgrim's Progress. JOHN BUNYAN. + + Robinson Crusoe. DANIEL DEFOE. + + Gulliver's Travels. DEAN SWIFT. + +Three immortal works, of which nothing remains to be said that has not +been said over and over again. + + +_In Preparation._ + + Silas Marner. GEORGE ELIOT. + + Notre Dame. VICTOR HUGO. + + + + * * * * * + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +The following misprints in the original have been corrected: + + men think they are begining to grow old! (beginning) + the very personification of that danydism (dandyism) + in London that would destory (destroy) + "_Traitre!_" shouted the marquis; (Traître) + The Frenchmen _sacreéd_, and fumed (sacréed) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KATE COVENTRY*** + + +******* This file should be named 21759-8.txt or 21759-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/7/5/21759 + + + +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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