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diff --git a/old/2524.txt b/old/2524.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..769eedb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2524.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7409 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, My Lady Ludlow, by Elizabeth Gaskell + + +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: My Lady Ludlow + + +Author: Elizabeth Gaskell + +Release Date: May 17, 2005 [eBook #2524] +[Last updated: March 30, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LADY LUDLOW*** + + + + + + +Transcribed from the 1896 Smith Elder and Co. "Lizzie Leigh and Other +Tales" edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +MY LADY LUDLOW +by Elizabeth Gaskell + + +CHAPTER I. + + +I am an old woman now, and things are very different to what they were in +my youth. Then we, who travelled, travelled in coaches, carrying six +inside, and making a two days' journey out of what people now go over in +a couple of hours with a whizz and a flash, and a screaming whistle, +enough to deafen one. Then letters came in but three times a week: +indeed, in some places in Scotland where I have stayed when I was a girl, +the post came in but once a month;--but letters were letters then; and we +made great prizes of them, and read them and studied them like books. Now +the post comes rattling in twice a day, bringing short jerky notes, some +without beginning or end, but just a little sharp sentence, which well- +bred folks would think too abrupt to be spoken. Well, well! they may all +be improvements,--I dare say they are; but you will never meet with a +Lady Ludlow in these days. + +I will try and tell you about her. It is no story: it has, as I said, +neither beginning, middle, nor end. + +My father was a poor clergyman with a large family. My mother was always +said to have good blood in her veins; and when she wanted to maintain her +position with the people she was thrown among,--principally rich +democratic manufacturers, all for liberty and the French Revolution,--she +would put on a pair of ruffles, trimmed with real old English point, very +much darned to be sure,--but which could not be bought new for love or +money, as the art of making it was lost years before. These ruffles +showed, as she said, that her ancestors had been Somebodies, when the +grandfathers of the rich folk, who now looked down upon her, had been +Nobodies,--if, indeed, they had any grandfathers at all. I don't know +whether any one out of our own family ever noticed these ruffles,--but we +were all taught as children to feel rather proud when my mother put them +on, and to hold up our heads as became the descendants of the lady who +had first possessed the lace. Not but what my dear father often told us +that pride was a great sin; we were never allowed to be proud of anything +but my mother's ruffles: and she was so innocently happy when she put +them on,--often, poor dear creature, to a very worn and threadbare +gown,--that I still think, even after all my experience of life, they +were a blessing to the family. You will think that I am wandering away +from my Lady Ludlow. Not at all. The Lady who had owned the lace, +Ursula Hanbury, was a common ancestress of both my mother and my Lady +Ludlow. And so it fell out, that when my poor father died, and my mother +was sorely pressed to know what to do with her nine children, and looked +far and wide for signs of willingness to help, Lady Ludlow sent her a +letter, proffering aid and assistance. I see that letter now: a large +sheet of thick yellow paper, with a straight broad margin left on the +left-hand side of the delicate Italian writing,--writing which contained +far more in the same space of paper than all the sloping, or masculine +hand-writings of the present day. It was sealed with a coat of arms,--a +lozenge,--for Lady Ludlow was a widow. My mother made us notice the +motto, "Foy et Loy," and told us where to look for the quarterings of the +Hanbury arms before she opened the letter. Indeed, I think she was +rather afraid of what the contents might be; for, as I have said, in her +anxious love for her fatherless children, she had written to many people +upon whom, to tell truly, she had but little claim; and their cold, hard +answers had many a time made her cry, when she thought none of us were +looking. I do not even know if she had ever seen Lady Ludlow: all I knew +of her was that she was a very grand lady, whose grandmother had been +half-sister to my mother's great-grandmother; but of her character and +circumstances I had heard nothing, and I doubt if my mother was +acquainted with them. + +I looked over my mother's shoulder to read the letter; it began, "Dear +Cousin Margaret Dawson," and I think I felt hopeful from the moment I saw +those words. She went on to say,--stay, I think I can remember the very +words: + +'DEAR COUSIN MARGARET DAWSON,--I have been much grieved to hear of the +loss you have sustained in the death of so good a husband, and so +excellent a clergyman as I have always heard that my late cousin Richard +was esteemed to be.' + +"There!" said my mother, laying her finger on the passage, "read that +aloud to the little ones. Let them hear how their father's good report +travelled far and wide, and how well he is spoken of by one whom he never +saw. COUSIN Richard, how prettily her ladyship writes! Go on, +Margaret!" She wiped her eyes as she spoke: and laid her fingers on her +lips, to still my little sister, Cecily, who, not understanding anything +about the important letter, was beginning to talk and make a noise. + +'You say you are left with nine children. I too should have had nine, if +mine had all lived. I have none left but Rudolph, the present Lord +Ludlow. He is married, and lives, for the most part, in London. But I +entertain six young gentlewomen at my house at Connington, who are to me +as daughters--save that, perhaps, I restrict them in certain indulgences +in dress and diet that might be befitting in young ladies of a higher +rank, and of more probable wealth. These young persons--all of +condition, though out of means--are my constant companions, and I strive +to do my duty as a Christian lady towards them. One of these young +gentlewomen died (at her own home, whither she had gone upon a visit) +last May. Will you do me the favour to allow your eldest daughter to +supply her place in my household? She is, as I make out, about sixteen +years of age. She will find companions here who are but a little older +than herself. I dress my young friends myself, and make each of them a +small allowance for pocket-money. They have but few opportunities for +matrimony, as Connington is far removed from any town. The clergyman is +a deaf old widower; my agent is married; and as for the neighbouring +farmers, they are, of course, below the notice of the young gentlewomen +under my protection. Still, if any young woman wishes to marry, and has +conducted herself to my satisfaction, I give her a wedding dinner, her +clothes, and her house-linen. And such as remain with me to my death, +will find a small competency provided for them in my will. I reserve to +myself the option of paying their travelling expenses,--disliking gadding +women, on the one hand; on the other, not wishing by too long absence +from the family home to weaken natural ties. + +'If my proposal pleases you and your daughter--or rather, if it pleases +you, for I trust your daughter has been too well brought up to have a +will in opposition to yours--let me know, dear cousin Margaret Dawson, +and I will make arrangements for meeting the young gentlewoman at +Cavistock, which is the nearest point to which the coach will bring her.' + +My mother dropped the letter, and sat silent. + +"I shall not know what to do without you, Margaret." + +A moment before, like a young untried girl as I was, I had been pleased +at the notion of seeing a new place, and leading a new life. But now,--my +mother's look of sorrow, and the children's cry of remonstrance: "Mother; +I won't go," I said. + +"Nay! but you had better," replied she, shaking her head. "Lady Ludlow +has much power. She can help your brothers. It will not do to slight +her offer." + +So we accepted it, after much consultation. We were rewarded,--or so we +thought,--for, afterwards, when I came to know Lady Ludlow, I saw that +she would have done her duty by us, as helpless relations, however we +might have rejected her kindness,--by a presentation to Christ's Hospital +for one of my brothers. + +And this was how I came to know my Lady Ludlow. + +I remember well the afternoon of my arrival at Hanbury Court. Her +ladyship had sent to meet me at the nearest post-town at which the mail- +coach stopped. There was an old groom inquiring for me, the ostler said, +if my name was Dawson--from Hanbury Court, he believed. I felt it rather +formidable; and first began to understand what was meant by going among +strangers, when I lost sight of the guard to whom my mother had intrusted +me. I was perched up in a high gig with a hood to it, such as in those +days was called a chair, and my companion was driving deliberately +through the most pastoral country I had ever yet seen. By-and-by we +ascended a long hill, and the man got out and walked at the horse's head. +I should have liked to walk, too, very much indeed; but I did not know +how far I might do it; and, in fact, I dared not speak to ask to be +helped down the deep steps of the gig. We were at last at the top,--on a +long, breezy, sweeping, unenclosed piece of ground, called, as I +afterwards learnt, a Chase. The groom stopped, breathed, patted his +horse, and then mounted again to my side. + +"Are we near Hanbury Court?" I asked. + +"Near! Why, Miss! we've a matter of ten mile yet to go." + +Once launched into conversation, we went on pretty glibly. I fancy he +had been afraid of beginning to speak to me, just as I was to him; but he +got over his shyness with me sooner than I did mine with him. I let him +choose the subjects of conversation, although very often I could not +understand the points of interest in them: for instance, he talked for +more than a quarter of an hour of a famous race which a certain dog-fox +had given him, above thirty years before; and spoke of all the covers and +turns just as if I knew them as well as he did; and all the time I was +wondering what kind of an animal a dog-fox might be. + +After we left the Chase, the road grew worse. No one in these days, who +has not seen the byroads of fifty years ago, can imagine what they were. +We had to quarter, as Randal called it, nearly all the way along the deep- +rutted, miry lanes; and the tremendous jolts I occasionally met with made +my seat in the gig so unsteady that I could not look about me at all, I +was so much occupied in holding on. The road was too muddy for me to +walk without dirtying myself more than I liked to do, just before my +first sight of my Lady Ludlow. But by-and-by, when we came to the fields +in which the lane ended, I begged Randal to help me down, as I saw that I +could pick my steps among the pasture grass without making myself unfit +to be seen; and Randal, out of pity for his steaming horse, wearied with +the hard struggle through the mud, thanked me kindly, and helped me down +with a springing jump. + +The pastures fell gradually down to the lower land, shut in on either +side by rows of high elms, as if there had been a wide grand avenue here +in former times. Down the grassy gorge we went, seeing the sunset sky at +the end of the shadowed descent. Suddenly we came to a long flight of +steps. + +"If you'll run down there, Miss, I'll go round and meet you, and then +you'd better mount again, for my lady will like to see you drive up to +the house." + +"Are we near the house?" said I, suddenly checked by the idea. + +"Down there, Miss," replied he, pointing with his whip to certain stacks +of twisted chimneys rising out of a group of trees, in deep shadow +against the crimson light, and which lay just beyond a great square lawn +at the base of the steep slope of a hundred yards, on the edge of which +we stood. + +I went down the steps quietly enough. I met Randal and the gig at the +bottom; and, falling into a side road to the left, we drove sedately +round, through the gateway, and into the great court in front of the +house. + +The road by which we had come lay right at the back. + +Hanbury Court is a vast red-brick house--at least, it is cased in part +with red bricks; and the gate-house and walls about the place are of +brick,--with stone facings at every corner, and door, and window, such as +you see at Hampton Court. At the back are the gables, and arched +doorways, and stone mullions, which show (so Lady Ludlow used to tell us) +that it was once a priory. There was a prior's parlour, I know--only we +called it Mrs. Medlicott's room; and there was a tithe-barn as big as a +church, and rows of fish-ponds, all got ready for the monks' fasting-days +in old time. But all this I did not see till afterwards. I hardly +noticed, this first night, the great Virginian Creeper (said to have been +the first planted in England by one of my lady's ancestors) that half +covered the front of the house. As I had been unwilling to leave the +guard of the coach, so did I now feel unwilling to leave Randal, a known +friend of three hours. But there was no help for it; in I must go; past +the grand-looking old gentleman holding the door open for me, on into the +great hall on the right hand, into which the sun's last rays were sending +in glorious red light,--the gentleman was now walking before me,--up a +step on to the dais, as I afterwards learned that it was called,--then +again to the left, through a series of sitting-rooms, opening one out of +another, and all of them looking into a stately garden, glowing, even in +the twilight, with the bloom of flowers. We went up four steps out of +the last of these rooms, and then my guide lifted up a heavy silk curtain +and I was in the presence of my Lady Ludlow. + +She was very small of stature, and very upright. She wore a great lace +cap, nearly half her own height, I should think, that went round her head +(caps which tied under the chin, and which we called "mobs," came in +later, and my lady held them in great contempt, saying people might as +well come down in their nightcaps). In front of my lady's cap was a +great bow of white satin ribbon; and a broad band of the same ribbon was +tied tight round her head, and served to keep the cap straight. She had +a fine Indian muslin shawl folded over her shoulders and across her +chest, and an apron of the same; a black silk mode gown, made with short +sleeves and ruffles, and with the tail thereof pulled through the pocket- +hole, so as to shorten it to a useful length: beneath it she wore, as I +could plainly see, a quilted lavender satin petticoat. Her hair was +snowy white, but I hardly saw it, it was so covered with her cap: her +skin, even at her age, was waxen in texture and tint; her eyes were large +and dark blue, and must have been her great beauty when she was young, +for there was nothing particular, as far as I can remember, either in +mouth or nose. She had a great gold-headed stick by her chair; but I +think it was more as a mark of state and dignity than for use; for she +had as light and brisk a step when she chose as any girl of fifteen, and, +in her private early walk of meditation in the mornings, would go as +swiftly from garden alley to garden alley as any one of us. + +She was standing up when I went in. I dropped my curtsey at the door, +which my mother had always taught me as a part of good manners, and went +up instinctively to my lady. She did not put out her hand, but raised +herself a little on tiptoe, and kissed me on both cheeks. + +"You are cold, my child. You shall have a dish of tea with me." She +rang a little hand-bell on the table by her, and her waiting-maid came in +from a small anteroom; and, as if all had been prepared, and was awaiting +my arrival, brought with her a small china service with tea ready made, +and a plate of delicately-cut bread and butter, every morsel of which I +could have eaten, and been none the better for it, so hungry was I after +my long ride. The waiting-maid took off my cloak, and I sat down, sorely +alarmed at the silence, the hushed foot-falls of the subdued maiden over +the thick carpet, and the soft voice and clear pronunciation of my Lady +Ludlow. My teaspoon fell against my cup with a sharp noise, that seemed +so out of place and season that I blushed deeply. My lady caught my eye +with hers,--both keen and sweet were those dark-blue eyes of her +ladyship's:-- + +"Your hands are very cold, my dear; take off those gloves" (I wore thick +serviceable doeskin, and had been too shy to take them off unbidden), +"and let me try and warm them--the evenings are very chilly." And she +held my great red hands in hers,--soft, warm, white, ring-laden. Looking +at last a little wistfully into my face, she said--"Poor child! And +you're the eldest of nine! I had a daughter who would have been just +your age; but I cannot fancy her the eldest of nine." Then came a pause +of silence; and then she rang her bell, and desired her waiting-maid, +Adams, to show me to my room. + +It was so small that I think it must have been a cell. The walls were +whitewashed stone; the bed was of white dimity. There was a small piece +of red staircarpet on each side of the bed, and two chairs. In a closet +adjoining were my washstand and toilet-table. There was a text of +Scripture painted on the wall right opposite to my bed; and below hung a +print, common enough in those days, of King George and Queen Charlotte, +with all their numerous children, down to the little Princess Amelia in a +go-cart. On each side hung a small portrait, also engraved: on the left, +it was Louis the Sixteenth; on the other, Marie-Antoinette. On the +chimney-piece there was a tinder-box and a Prayer-book. I do not +remember anything else in the room. Indeed, in those days people did not +dream of writing-tables, and inkstands, and portfolios, and easy chairs, +and what not. We were taught to go into our bedrooms for the purposes of +dressing, and sleeping, and praying. + +Presently I was summoned to supper. I followed the young lady who had +been sent to call me, down the wide shallow stairs, into the great hall, +through which I had first passed on my way to my Lady Ludlow's room. +There were four other young gentlewomen, all standing, and all silent, +who curtsied to me when I first came in. They were dressed in a kind of +uniform: muslin caps bound round their heads with blue ribbons, plain +muslin handkerchiefs, lawn aprons, and drab-coloured stuff gowns. They +were all gathered together at a little distance from the table, on which +were placed a couple of cold chickens, a salad, and a fruit tart. On the +dais there was a smaller round table, on which stood a silver jug filled +with milk, and a small roll. Near that was set a carved chair, with a +countess's coronet surmounting the back of it. I thought that some one +might have spoken to me; but they were shy, and I was shy; or else there +was some other reason; but, indeed, almost the minute after I had come +into the hall by the door at the lower hand, her ladyship entered by the +door opening upon the dais; whereupon we all curtsied very low; I because +I saw the others do it. She stood, and looked at us for a moment. + +"Young gentlewomen," said she, "make Margaret Dawson welcome among you;" +and they treated me with the kind politeness due to a stranger, but still +without any talking beyond what was required for the purposes of the +meal. After it was over, and grace was said by one of our party, my lady +rang her hand-bell, and the servants came in and cleared away the supper +things: then they brought in a portable reading-desk, which was placed on +the dais, and, the whole household trooping in, my lady called to one of +my companions to come up and read the Psalms and Lessons for the day. I +remember thinking how afraid I should have been had I been in her place. +There were no prayers. My lady thought it schismatic to have any prayers +excepting those in the Prayer-book; and would as soon have preached a +sermon herself in the parish church, as have allowed any one not a deacon +at the least to read prayers in a private dwelling-house. I am not sure +that even then she would have approved of his reading them in an +unconsecrated place. + +She had been maid of honour to Queen Charlotte: a Hanbury of that old +stock that flourished in the days of the Plantagenets, and heiress of all +the land that remained to the family, of the great estates which had once +stretched into four separate counties. Hanbury Court was hers by right. +She had married Lord Ludlow, and had lived for many years at his various +seats, and away from her ancestral home. She had lost all her children +but one, and most of them had died at these houses of Lord Ludlow's; and, +I dare say, that gave my lady a distaste to the places, and a longing to +come back to Hanbury Court, where she had been so happy as a girl. I +imagine her girlhood had been the happiest time of her life; for, now I +think of it, most of her opinions, when I knew her in later life, were +singular enough then, but had been universally prevalent fifty years +before. For instance, while I lived at Hanbury Court, the cry for +education was beginning to come up: Mr. Raikes had set up his Sunday +Schools; and some clergymen were all for teaching writing and arithmetic, +as well as reading. My lady would have none of this; it was levelling +and revolutionary, she said. When a young woman came to be hired, my +lady would have her in, and see if she liked her looks and her dress, and +question her about her family. Her ladyship laid great stress upon this +latter point, saying that a girl who did not warm up when any interest or +curiosity was expressed about her mother, or the "baby" (if there was +one), was not likely to make a good servant. Then she would make her put +out her feet, to see if they were well and neatly shod. Then she would +bid her say the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. Then she inquired if she +could write. If she could, and she had liked all that had gone before, +her face sank--it was a great disappointment, for it was an all but +inviolable rule with her never to engage a servant who could write. But +I have known her ladyship break through it, although in both cases in +which she did so she put the girl's principles to a further and unusual +test in asking her to repeat the Ten Commandments. One pert young +woman--and yet I was sorry for her too, only she afterwards married a +rich draper in Shrewsbury--who had got through her trials pretty +tolerably, considering she could write, spoilt all, by saying glibly, at +the end of the last Commandment, "An't please your ladyship, I can cast +accounts." + +"Go away, wench," said my lady in a hurry, "you're only fit for trade; +you will not suit me for a servant." The girl went away crestfallen: in +a minute, however, my lady sent me after her to see that she had +something to eat before leaving the house; and, indeed, she sent for her +once again, but it was only to give her a Bible, and to bid her beware of +French principles, which had led the French to cut off their king's and +queen's heads. + +The poor, blubbering girl said, "Indeed, my lady, I wouldn't hurt a fly, +much less a king, and I cannot abide the French, nor frogs neither, for +that matter." + +But my lady was inexorable, and took a girl who could neither read nor +write, to make up for her alarm about the progress of education towards +addition and subtraction; and afterwards, when the clergyman who was at +Hanbury parish when I came there, had died, and the bishop had appointed +another, and a younger man, in his stead, this was one of the points on +which he and my lady did not agree. While good old deaf Mr. Mountford +lived, it was my lady's custom, when indisposed for a sermon, to stand up +at the door of her large square pew,--just opposite to the +reading-desk,--and to say (at that part of the morning service where it +is decreed that, in quires and places where they sing, here followeth the +anthem): "Mr. Mountford, I will not trouble you for a discourse this +morning." And we all knelt down to the Litany with great satisfaction; +for Mr. Mountford, though he could not hear, had always his eyes open +about this part of the service, for any of my lady's movements. But the +new clergyman, Mr. Gray, was of a different stamp. He was very zealous +in all his parish work; and my lady, who was just as good as she could be +to the poor, was often crying him up as a godsend to the parish, and he +never could send amiss to the Court when he wanted broth, or wine, or +jelly, or sago for a sick person. But he needs must take up the new +hobby of education; and I could see that this put my lady sadly about one +Sunday, when she suspected, I know not how, that there was something to +be said in his sermon about a Sunday-school which he was planning. She +stood up, as she had not done since Mr. Mountford's death, two years and +better before this time, and said-- + +"Mr. Gray, I will not trouble you for a discourse this morning." + +But her voice was not well-assured and steady; and we knelt down with +more of curiosity than satisfaction in our minds. Mr. Gray preached a +very rousing sermon, on the necessity of establishing a Sabbath-school in +the village. My lady shut her eyes, and seemed to go to sleep; but I +don't believe she lost a word of it, though she said nothing about it +that I heard until the next Saturday, when two of us, as was the custom, +were riding out with her in her carriage, and we went to see a poor +bedridden woman, who lived some miles away at the other end of the estate +and of the parish: and as we came out of the cottage we met Mr. Gray +walking up to it, in a great heat, and looking very tired. My lady +beckoned him to her, and told him she should wait and take him home with +her, adding that she wondered to see him there, so far from his home, for +that it was beyond a Sabbath-day's journey, and, from what she had +gathered from his sermon the last Sunday, he was all for Judaism against +Christianity. He looked as if he did not understand what she meant; but +the truth was that, besides the way in which he had spoken up for schools +and schooling, he had kept calling Sunday the Sabbath: and, as her +ladyship said, "The Sabbath is the Sabbath, and that's one thing--it is +Saturday; and if I keep it, I'm a Jew, which I'm not. And Sunday is +Sunday; and that's another thing; and if I keep it, I'm a Christian, +which I humbly trust I am." + +But when Mr. Gray got an inkling of her meaning in talking about a +Sabbath-day's journey, he only took notice of a part of it: he smiled and +bowed, and said no one knew better than her ladyship what were the duties +that abrogated all inferior laws regarding the Sabbath; and that he must +go in and read to old Betty Brown, so that he would not detain her +ladyship. + +"But I shall wait for you, Mr. Gray," said she. "Or I will take a drive +round by Oakfield, and be back in an hour's time." For, you see, she +would not have him feel hurried or troubled with a thought that he was +keeping her waiting, while he ought to be comforting and praying with old +Betty. + +"A very pretty young man, my dears," said she, as we drove away. "But I +shall have my pew glazed all the same." + +We did not know what she meant at the time; but the next Sunday but one +we did. She had the curtains all round the grand old Hanbury family seat +taken down, and, instead of them, there was glass up to the height of six +or seven feet. We entered by a door, with a window in it that drew up or +down just like what you see in carriages. This window was generally +down, and then we could hear perfectly; but if Mr. Gray used the word +"Sabbath," or spoke in favour of schooling and education, my lady stepped +out of her corner, and drew up the window with a decided clang and clash. + +I must tell you something more about Mr. Gray. The presentation to the +living of Hanbury was vested in two trustees, of whom Lady Ludlow was +one: Lord Ludlow had exercised this right in the appointment of Mr. +Mountford, who had won his lordship's favour by his excellent +horsemanship. Nor was Mr. Mountford a bad clergyman, as clergymen went +in those days. He did not drink, though he liked good eating as much as +any one. And if any poor person was ill, and he heard of it, he would +send them plates from his own dinner of what he himself liked best; +sometimes of dishes which were almost as bad as poison to sick people. He +meant kindly to everybody except dissenters, whom Lady Ludlow and he +united in trying to drive out of the parish; and among dissenters he +particularly abhorred Methodists--some one said, because John Wesley had +objected to his hunting. But that must have been long ago for when I +knew him he was far too stout and too heavy to hunt; besides, the bishop +of the diocese disapproved of hunting, and had intimated his +disapprobation to the clergy. For my own part, I think a good run would +not have come amiss, even in a moral point of view, to Mr. Mountford. He +ate so much, and took so little exercise, that we young women often heard +of his being in terrible passions with his servants, and the sexton and +clerk. But they none of them minded him much, for he soon came to +himself, and was sure to make them some present or other--some said in +proportion to his anger; so that the sexton, who was a bit of a wag (as +all sextons are, I think), said that the vicar's saying, "The Devil take +you," was worth a shilling any day, whereas "The Deuce" was a shabby +sixpenny speech, only fit for a curate. + +There was a great deal of good in Mr. Mountford, too. He could not bear +to see pain, or sorrow, or misery of any kind; and, if it came under his +notice, he was never easy till he had relieved it, for the time, at any +rate. But he was afraid of being made uncomfortable; so, if he possibly +could, he would avoid seeing any one who was ill or unhappy; and he did +not thank any one for telling him about them. + +"What would your ladyship have me to do?" he once said to my Lady Ludlow, +when she wished him to go and see a poor man who had broken his leg. "I +cannot piece the leg as the doctor can; I cannot nurse him as well as his +wife does; I may talk to him, but he no more understands me than I do the +language of the alchemists. My coming puts him out; he stiffens himself +into an uncomfortable posture, out of respect to the cloth, and dare not +take the comfort of kicking, and swearing, and scolding his wife, while I +am there. I hear him, with my figurative ears, my lady, heave a sigh of +relief when my back is turned, and the sermon that he thinks I ought to +have kept for the pulpit, and have delivered to his neighbours (whose +case, as he fancies, it would just have fitted, as it seemed to him to be +addressed to the sinful), is all ended, and done, for the day. I judge +others as myself; I do to them as I would be done to. That's +Christianity, at any rate. I should hate--saving your ladyship's +presence--to have my Lord Ludlow coming and seeing me, if I were ill. +'Twould be a great honour, no doubt; but I should have to put on a clean +nightcap for the occasion; and sham patience, in order to be polite, and +not weary his lordship with my complaints. I should be twice as thankful +to him if he would send me game, or a good fat haunch, to bring me up to +that pitch of health and strength one ought to be in, to appreciate the +honour of a visit from a nobleman. So I shall send Jerry Butler a good +dinner every day till he is strong again; and spare the poor old fellow +my presence and advice." + +My lady would be puzzled by this, and by many other of Mr. Mountford's +speeches. But he had been appointed by my lord, and she could not +question her dead husband's wisdom; and she knew that the dinners were +always sent, and often a guinea or two to help to pay the doctor's bills; +and Mr. Mountford was true blue, as we call it, to the back-bone; hated +the dissenters and the French; and could hardly drink a dish of tea +without giving out the toast of "Church and King, and down with the +Rump." Moreover, he had once had the honour of preaching before the King +and Queen, and two of the Princesses, at Weymouth; and the King had +applauded his sermon audibly with,--"Very good; very good;" and that was +a seal put upon his merit in my lady's eyes. + +Besides, in the long winter Sunday evenings, he would come up to the +Court, and read a sermon to us girls, and play a game of picquet with my +lady afterwards; which served to shorten the tedium of the time. My lady +would, on those occasions, invite him to sup with her on the dais; but as +her meal was invariably bread and milk only, Mr. Mountford preferred +sitting down amongst us, and made a joke about its being wicked and +heterodox to eat meagre on Sunday, a festival of the Church. We smiled +at this joke just as much the twentieth time we heard it as we did at the +first; for we knew it was coming, because he always coughed a little +nervously before he made a joke, for fear my lady should not approve: and +neither she nor he seemed to remember that he had ever hit upon the idea +before. + +Mr. Mountford died quite suddenly at last. We were all very sorry to +lose him. He left some of his property (for he had a private estate) to +the poor of the parish, to furnish them with an annual Christmas dinner +of roast beef and plum pudding, for which he wrote out a very good +receipt in the codicil to his will. + +Moreover, he desired his executors to see that the vault, in which the +vicars of Hanbury were interred, was well aired, before his coffin was +taken in; for, all his life long, he had had a dread of damp, and +latterly he kept his rooms to such a pitch of warmth that some thought it +hastened his end. + +Then the other trustee, as I have said, presented the living to Mr. Gray, +Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. It was quite natural for us all, as +belonging in some sort to the Hanbury family, to disapprove of the other +trustee's choice. But when some ill-natured person circulated the report +that Mr. Gray was a Moravian Methodist, I remember my lady said, "She +could not believe anything so bad, without a great deal of evidence." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Before I tell you about Mr. Gray, I think I ought to make you understand +something more of what we did all day long at Hanbury Court. There were +five of us at the time of which I am speaking, all young women of good +descent, and allied (however distantly) to people of rank. When we were +not with my lady, Mrs. Medlicott looked after us; a gentle little woman, +who had been companion to my lady for many years, and was indeed, I have +been told, some kind of relation to her. Mrs. Medlicott's parents had +lived in Germany, and the consequence was, she spoke English with a very +foreign accent. Another consequence was, that she excelled in all manner +of needlework, such as is not known even by name in these days. She +could darn either lace, table-linen, India muslin, or stockings, so that +no one could tell where the hole or rent had been. Though a good +Protestant, and never missing Guy Faux day at church, she was as skilful +at fine work as any nun in a Papist convent. She would take a piece of +French cambric, and by drawing out some threads, and working in others, +it became delicate lace in a very few hours. She did the same by +Hollands cloth, and made coarse strong lace, with which all my lady's +napkins and table-linen were trimmed. We worked under her during a great +part of the day, either in the still-room, or at our sewing in a chamber +that opened out of the great hall. My lady despised every kind of work +that would now be called Fancy-work. She considered that the use of +coloured threads or worsted was only fit to amuse children; but that +grown women ought not to be taken with mere blues and reds, but to +restrict their pleasure in sewing to making small and delicate stitches. +She would speak of the old tapestry in the hall as the work of her +ancestresses, who lived before the Reformation, and were consequently +unacquainted with pure and simple tastes in work, as well as in religion. +Nor would my lady sanction the fashion of the day, which, at the +beginning of this century, made all the fine ladies take to making shoes. +She said that such work was a consequence of the French Revolution, which +had done much to annihilate all distinctions of rank and class, and hence +it was, that she saw young ladies of birth and breeding handling lasts, +and awls, and dirty cobblers'-wax, like shoe'-makers' daughters. + +Very frequently one of us would be summoned to my lady to read aloud to +her, as she sat in her small withdrawing-room, some improving book. It +was generally Mr. Addison's "Spectator;" but one year, I remember, we had +to read "Sturm's Reflections" translated from a German book Mrs. +Medlicott recommended. Mr. Sturm told us what to think about for every +day in the year; and very dull it was; but I believe Queen Charlotte had +liked the book very much, and the thought of her royal approbation kept +my lady awake during the reading. "Mrs. Chapone's Letters" and "Dr. +Gregory's Advice to Young Ladies" composed the rest of our library for +week-day reading. I, for one, was glad to leave my fine sewing, and even +my reading aloud (though this last did keep me with my dear lady) to go +to the still-room and potter about among the preserves and the medicated +waters. There was no doctor for many miles round, and with Mrs. +Medlicott to direct us, and Dr. Buchan to go by for recipes, we sent out +many a bottle of physic, which, I dare say, was as good as what comes out +of the druggist's shop. At any rate, I do not think we did much harm; +for if any of our physics tasted stronger than usual, Mrs. Medlicott +would bid us let it down with cochineal and water, to make all safe, as +she said. So our bottles of medicine had very little real physic in them +at last; but we were careful in putting labels on them, which looked very +mysterious to those who could not read, and helped the medicine to do its +work. I have sent off many a bottle of salt and water coloured red; and +whenever we had nothing else to do in the still-room, Mrs. Medlicott +would set us to making bread-pills, by way of practice; and, as far as I +can say, they were very efficacious, as before we gave out a box Mrs. +Medlicott always told the patient what symptoms to expect; and I hardly +ever inquired without hearing that they had produced their effect. There +was one old man, who took six pills a-night, of any kind we liked to give +him, to make him sleep; and if, by any chance, his daughter had forgotten +to let us know that he was out of his medicine, he was so restless and +miserable that, as he said, he thought he was like to die. I think ours +was what would be called homoeopathic practice now-a-days. Then we +learnt to make all the cakes and dishes of the season in the still-room. +We had plum-porridge and mince-pies at Christmas, fritters and pancakes +on Shrove Tuesday, furmenty on Mothering Sunday, violet-cakes in Passion +Week, tansy-pudding on Easter Sunday, three-cornered cakes on Trinity +Sunday, and so on through the year: all made from good old Church +receipts, handed down from one of my lady's earliest Protestant +ancestresses. Every one of us passed a portion of the day with Lady +Ludlow; and now and then we rode out with her in her coach and four. She +did not like to go out with a pair of horses, considering this rather +beneath her rank; and, indeed, four horses were very often needed to pull +her heavy coach through the stiff mud. But it was rather a cumbersome +equipage through the narrow Warwickshire lanes; and I used often to think +it was well that countesses were not plentiful, or else we might have met +another lady of quality in another coach and four, where there would have +been no possibility of turning, or passing each other, and very little +chance of backing. Once when the idea of this danger of meeting another +countess in a narrow, deep-rutted lane was very prominent in my mind I +ventured to ask Mrs. Medlicott what would have to be done on such an +occasion; and she told me that "de latest creation must back, for sure," +which puzzled me a good deal at the time, although I understand it now. I +began to find out the use of the "Peerage," a book which had seemed to me +rather dull before; but, as I was always a coward in a coach, I made +myself well acquainted with the dates of creation of our three +Warwickshire earls, and was happy to find that Earl Ludlow ranked second, +the oldest earl being a hunting widower, and not likely to drive out in a +carriage. + +All this time I have wandered from Mr. Gray. Of course, we first saw him +in church when he read himself in. He was very red-faced, the kind of +redness which goes with light hair and a blushing complexion; he looked +slight and short, and his bright light frizzy hair had hardly a dash of +powder in it. I remember my lady making this observation, and sighing +over it; for, though since the famine in seventeen hundred and ninety- +nine and eighteen hundred there had been a tax on hair-powder, yet it was +reckoned very revolutionary and Jacobin not to wear a good deal of it. My +lady hardly liked the opinions of any man who wore his own hair; but this +she would say was rather a prejudice: only in her youth none but the mob +had gone wigless, and she could not get over the association of wigs with +birth and breeding; a man's own hair with that class of people who had +formed the rioters in seventeen hundred and eighty, when Lord George +Gordon had been one of the bugbears of my lady's life. Her husband and +his brothers, she told us, had been put into breeches, and had their +heads shaved on their seventh birthday, each of them; a handsome little +wig of the newest fashion forming the old Lady Ludlow's invariable +birthday present to her sons as they each arrived at that age; and +afterwards, to the day of their death, they never saw their own hair. To +be without powder, as some underbred people were talking of being now, +was in fact to insult the proprieties of life, by being undressed. It +was English sans-culottism. But Mr. Gray did wear a little powder, +enough to save him in my lady's good opinion; but not enough to make her +approve of him decidedly. + +The next time I saw him was in the great hall. Mary Mason and I were +going to drive out with my lady in her coach, and when we went down +stairs with our best hats and cloaks on, we found Mr. Gray awaiting my +lady's coming. I believe he had paid his respects to her before, but we +had never seen him; and he had declined her invitation to spend Sunday +evening at the Court (as Mr. Mountford used to do pretty regularly--and +play a game at picquet too--), which, Mrs. Medlicott told us, had caused +my lady to be not over well pleased with him. + +He blushed redder than ever at the sight of us, as we entered the hall +and dropped him our curtsies. He coughed two or three times, as if he +would have liked to speak to us, if he could but have found something to +say; and every time he coughed he became hotter-looking than ever. I am +ashamed to say, we were nearly laughing at him; half because we, too, +were so shy that we understood what his awkwardness meant. + +My lady came in, with her quick active step--she always walked quickly +when she did not bethink herself of her cane--as if she was sorry to have +us kept waiting--and, as she entered, she gave us all round one of those +graceful sweeping curtsies, of which I think the art must have died out +with her,--it implied so much courtesy;--this time it said, as well as +words could do, "I am sorry to have kept you all waiting,--forgive me." + +She went up to the mantelpiece, near which Mr. Gray had been standing +until her entrance, and curtseying afresh to him, and pretty deeply this +time, because of his cloth, and her being hostess, and he, a new guest. +She asked him if he would not prefer speaking to her in her own private +parlour, and looked as though she would have conducted him there. But he +burst out with his errand, of which he was full even to choking, and +which sent the glistening tears into his large blue eyes, which stood +farther and farther out with his excitement. + +"My lady, I want to speak to you, and to persuade you to exert your kind +interest with Mr. Lathom--Justice Lathom, of Hathaway Manor--" + +"Harry Lathom?" inquired my lady,--as Mr. Gray stopped to take the breath +he had lost in his hurry,--"I did not know he was in the commission." + +"He is only just appointed; he took the oaths not a month ago,--more's +the pity!" + +"I do not understand why you should regret it. The Lathoms have held +Hathaway since Edward the First, and Mr. Lathom bears a good character, +although his temper is hasty--" + +"My lady! he has committed Job Gregson for stealing--a fault of which he +is as innocent as I--and all the evidence goes to prove it, now that the +case is brought before the Bench; only the Squires hang so together that +they can't be brought to see justice, and are all for sending Job to +gaol, out of compliment to Mr. Lathom, saying it his first committal, and +it won't be civil to tell him there is no evidence against his man. For +God's sake, my lady, speak to the gentlemen; they will attend to you, +while they only tell me to mind my own business." + +Now my lady was always inclined to stand by her order, and the Lathoms of +Hathaway Court were cousins to the Hanbury's. Besides, it was rather a +point of honour in those days to encourage a young magistrate, by passing +a pretty sharp sentence on his first committals; and Job Gregson was the +father of a girl who had been lately turned away from her place as +scullery-maid for sauciness to Mrs. Adams, her ladyship's own maid; and +Mr. Gray had not said a word of the reasons why he believed the man +innocent,--for he was in such a hurry, I believe he would have had my +lady drive off to the Henley Court-house then and there;--so there seemed +a good deal against the man, and nothing but Mr. Gray's bare word for +him; and my lady drew herself a little up, and said-- + +"Mr. Gray! I do not see what reason either you or I have to interfere. +Mr. Harry Lathom is a sensible kind of young man, well capable of +ascertaining the truth without our help--" + +"But more evidence has come out since," broke in Mr. Gray. My lady went +a little stiffer, and spoke a little more coldly:-- + +"I suppose this additional evidence is before the justices: men of good +family, and of honour and credit, well known in the county. They +naturally feel that the opinion of one of themselves must have more +weight than the words of a man like Job Gregson, who bears a very +indifferent character,--has been strongly suspected of poaching, coming +from no one knows where, squatting on Hareman's Common--which, by the +way, is extra-parochial, I believe; consequently you, as a clergyman, are +not responsible for what goes on there; and, although impolitic, there +might be some truth in what the magistrates said, in advising you to mind +your own business,"--said her ladyship, smiling,--"and they might be +tempted to bid me mind mine, if I interfered, Mr. Gray: might they not?" + +He looked extremely uncomfortable; half angry. Once or twice he began to +speak, but checked himself, as if his words would not have been wise or +prudent. At last he said--"It may seem presumptuous in me,--a stranger +of only a few weeks' standing--to set up my judgment as to men's +character against that of residents--" Lady Ludlow gave a little bow of +acquiescence, which was, I think, involuntary on her part, and which I +don't think he perceived,--"but I am convinced that the man is innocent +of this offence,--and besides, the justices themselves allege this +ridiculous custom of paying a compliment to a newly-appointed magistrate +as their only reason." + +That unlucky word "ridiculous!" It undid all the good his modest +beginning had done him with my lady. I knew as well as words could have +told me, that she was affronted at the expression being used by a man +inferior in rank to those whose actions he applied it to,--and truly, it +was a great want of tact, considering to whom he was speaking. + +Lady Ludlow spoke very gently and slowly; she always did so when she was +annoyed; it was a certain sign, the meaning of which we had all learnt. + +"I think, Mr. Gray, we will drop the subject. It is one on which we are +not likely to agree." + +Mr. Gray's ruddy colour grew purple and then faded away, and his face +became pale. I think both my lady and he had forgotten our presence; and +we were beginning to feel too awkward to wish to remind them of it. And +yet we could not help watching and listening with the greatest interest. + +Mr. Gray drew himself up to his full height, with an unconscious feeling +of dignity. Little as was his stature, and awkward and embarrassed as he +had been only a few minutes before, I remember thinking he looked almost +as grand as my lady when he spoke. + +"Your ladyship must remember that it may be my duty to speak to my +parishioners on many subjects on which they do not agree with me. I am +not at liberty to be silent, because they differ in opinion from me." + +Lady Ludlow's great blue eyes dilated with surprise, and--I do +think--anger, at being thus spoken to. I am not sure whether it was very +wise in Mr. Gray. He himself looked afraid of the consequences but as if +he was determined to bear them without flinching. For a minute there was +silence. Then my lady replied--"Mr. Gray, I respect your plain speaking, +although I may wonder whether a young man of your age and position has +any right to assume that he is a better judge than one with the +experience which I have naturally gained at my time of life, and in the +station I hold." + +"If I, madam, as the clergyman of this parish, am not to shrink from +telling what I believe to be the truth to the poor and lowly, no more am +I to hold my peace in the presence of the rich and titled." Mr. Gray's +face showed that he was in that state of excitement which in a child +would have ended in a good fit of crying. He looked as if he had nerved +himself up to doing and saying things, which he disliked above +everything, and which nothing short of serious duty could have compelled +him to do and say. And at such times every minute circumstance which +could add to pain comes vividly before one. I saw that he became aware +of our presence, and that it added to his discomfiture. + +My lady flushed up. "Are you aware, sir," asked she, "that you have gone +far astray from the original subject of conversation? But as you talk of +your parish, allow me to remind you that Hareman's Common is beyond the +bounds, and that you are really not responsible for the characters and +lives of the squatters on that unlucky piece of ground." + +"Madam, I see I have only done harm in speaking to you about the affair +at all. I beg your pardon and take my leave." + +He bowed, and looked very sad. Lady Ludlow caught the expression of his +face. + +"Good morning!" she cried, in rather a louder and quicker way than that +in which she had been speaking. "Remember, Job Gregson is a notorious +poacher and evildoer, and you really are not responsible for what goes on +at Hareman's Common." + +He was near the hall door, and said something--half to himself, which we +heard (being nearer to him), but my lady did not; although she saw that +he spoke. "What did he say?" she asked in a somewhat hurried manner, as +soon as the door was closed--"I did not hear." We looked at each other, +and then I spoke: + +"He said, my lady, that 'God help him! he was responsible for all the +evil he did not strive to overcome.'" + +My lady turned sharp round away from us, and Mary Mason said afterwards +she thought her ladyship was much vexed with both of us, for having been +present, and with me for having repeated what Mr. Gray had said. But it +was not our fault that we were in the hall, and when my lady asked what +Mr. Gray had said, I thought it right to tell her. + +In a few minutes she bade us accompany her in her ride in the coach. + +Lady Ludlow always sat forwards by herself, and we girls backwards. +Somehow this was a rule, which we never thought of questioning. It was +true that riding backwards made some of us feel very uncomfortable and +faint; and to remedy this my lady always drove with both windows open, +which occasionally gave her the rheumatism; but we always went on in the +old way. This day she did not pay any great attention to the road by +which we were going, and Coachman took his own way. We were very silent, +as my lady did not speak, and looked very serious. Or else, in general, +she made these rides very pleasant (to those who were not qualmish with +riding backwards), by talking to us in a very agreeable manner, and +telling us of the different things which had happened to her at various +places,--at Paris and Versailles, where she had been in her youth,--at +Windsor and Kew and Weymouth, where she had been with the Queen, when +maid-of-honour--and so on. But this day she did not talk at all. All at +once she put her head out of the window. + +"John Footman," said she, "where are we? Surely this is Hareman's +Common." + +"Yes, an't please my lady," said John Footman, and waited for further +speech or orders. My lady thought a while, and then said she would have +the steps put down and get out. + +As soon as she was gone, we looked at each other, and then without a word +began to gaze after her. We saw her pick her dainty way in the little +high-heeled shoes she always wore (because they had been in fashion in +her youth), among the yellow pools of stagnant water that had gathered in +the clayey soil. John Footman followed, stately, after; afraid too, for +all his stateliness, of splashing his pure white stockings. Suddenly my +lady turned round and said something to him, and he returned to the +carriage with a half-pleased, half-puzzled air. + +My lady went on to a cluster of rude mud houses at the higher end of the +Common; cottages built, as they were occasionally at that day, of wattles +and clay, and thatched with sods. As far as we could make out from dumb +show, Lady Ludlow saw enough of the interiors of these places to make her +hesitate before entering, or even speaking to any of the children who +were playing about in the puddles. After a pause, she disappeared into +one of the cottages. It seemed to us a long time before she came out; +but I dare say it was not more than eight or ten minutes. She came back +with her head hanging down, as if to choose her way,--but we saw it was +more in thought and bewilderment than for any such purpose. + +She had not made up her mind where we should drive to when she got into +the carriage again. John Footman stood, bare-headed, waiting for orders. + +"To Hathaway. My dears, if you are tired, or if you have anything to do +for Mrs. Medlicott, I can drop you at Barford Corner, and it is but a +quarter of an hour's brisk walk home." + +But luckily we could safely say that Mrs. Medlicott did not want us; and +as we had whispered to each other, as we sat alone in the coach, that +surely my lady must have gone to Job Gregson's, we were far too anxious +to know the end of it all to say that we were tired. So we all set off +to Hathaway. Mr. Harry Lathom was a bachelor squire, thirty or thirty- +five years of age, more at home in the field than in the drawing-room, +and with sporting men than with ladies. + +My lady did not alight, of course; it was Mr. Lathom's place to wait upon +her, and she bade the butler,--who had a smack of the gamekeeper in him, +very unlike our own powdered venerable fine gentleman at Hanbury,--tell +his master, with her compliments, that she wished to speak to him. You +may think how pleased we were to find that we should hear all that was +said; though, I think, afterwards we were half sorry when we saw how our +presence confused the squire, who would have found it bad enough to +answer my lady's questions, even without two eager girls for audience. + +"Pray, Mr. Lathom," began my lady, something abruptly for her,--but she +was very full of her subject,--"what is this I hear about Job Gregson?" + +Mr. Lathom looked annoyed and vexed, but dared not show it in his words. + +"I gave out a warrant against him, my lady, for theft,--that is all. You +are doubtless aware of his character; a man who sets nets and springes in +long cover, and fishes wherever he takes a fancy. It is but a short step +from poaching to thieving." + +"That is quite true," replied Lady Ludlow (who had a horror of poaching +for this very reason): "but I imagine you do not send a man to gaol on +account of his bad character." + +"Rogues and vagabonds," said Mr. Lathom. "A man may be sent to prison +for being a vagabond; for no specific act, but for his general mode of +life." + +He had the better of her ladyship for one moment; but then she answered-- + +"But in this case, the charge on which you committed him is for theft; +now his wife tells me he can prove he was some miles distant from +Holmwood, where the robbery took place, all that afternoon; she says you +had the evidence before you." + +Mr. Lathom here interrupted my lady, by saying, in a somewhat sulky +manner--"No such evidence was brought before me when I gave the warrant. +I am not answerable for the other magistrates' decision, when they had +more evidence before them. It was they who committed him to gaol. I am +not responsible for that." + +My lady did not often show signs of impatience; but we knew she was +feeling irritated, by the little perpetual tapping of her high-heeled +shoe against the bottom of the carriage. About the same time we, sitting +backwards, caught a glimpse of Mr. Gray through the open door, standing +in the shadow of the hall. Doubtless Lady Ludlow's arrival had +interrupted a conversation between Mr. Lathom and Mr. Gray. The latter +must have heard every word of what she was saying; but of this she was +not aware, and caught at Mr. Lathom's disclaimer of responsibility with +pretty much the same argument which she had heard (through our +repetition) that Mr. Gray had used not two hours before. + +"And do you mean to say, Mr. Lathom, that you don't consider yourself +responsible for all injustice or wrong-doing that you might have +prevented, and have not? Nay, in this case the first germ of injustice +was your own mistake. I wish you had been with me a little while ago, +and seen the misery in that poor fellow's cottage." She spoke lower, and +Mr. Gray drew near, in a sort of involuntary manner; as if to hear all +she was saying. We saw him, and doubtless Mr. Lathom heard his footstep, +and knew who it was that was listening behind him, and approving of every +word that was said. He grew yet more sullen in manner; but still my lady +was my lady, and he dared not speak out before her, as he would have done +to Mr. Gray. Lady Ludlow, however, caught the look of stubborness in his +face, and it roused her as I had never seen her roused. + +"I am sure you will not refuse, sir, to accept my bail. I offer to bail +the fellow out, and to be responsible for his appearance at the sessions. +What say you to that, Mr. Lathom?" + +"The offence of theft is not bailable, my lady." + +"Not in ordinary cases, I dare say. But I imagine this is an +extraordinary case. The man is sent to prison out of compliment to you, +and against all evidence, as far as I can learn. He will have to rot in +gaol for two months, and his wife and children to starve. I, Lady +Ludlow, offer to bail him out, and pledge myself for his appearance at +next quarter-sessions." + +"It is against the law, my lady." + +"Bah! Bah! Bah! Who makes laws? Such as I, in the House of Lords--such +as you, in the House of Commons. We, who make the laws in St. Stephen's, +may break the mere forms of them, when we have right on our sides, on our +own land, and amongst our own people." + +"The lord-lieutenant may take away my commission, if he heard of it." + +"And a very good thing for the county, Harry Lathom; and for you too, if +he did,--if you don't go on more wisely than you have begun. A pretty +set you and your brother magistrates are to administer justice through +the land! I always said a good despotism was the best form of +government; and I am twice as much in favour of it now I see what a +quorum is! My dears!" suddenly turning round to us, "if it would not +tire you to walk home, I would beg Mr. Lathom to take a seat in my coach, +and we would drive to Henley Gaol, and have the poor man out at once." + +"A walk over the fields at this time of day is hardly fitting for young +ladies to take alone," said Mr. Lathom, anxious no doubt to escape from +his tete-a-tete drive with my lady, and possibly not quite prepared to go +to the illegal length of prompt measures, which she had in contemplation. + +But Mr. Gray now stepped forward, too anxious for the release of the +prisoner to allow any obstacle to intervene which he could do away with. +To see Lady Ludlow's face when she first perceived whom she had had for +auditor and spectator of her interview with Mr. Lathom, was as good as a +play. She had been doing and saying the very things she had been so much +annoyed at Mr. Gray's saying and proposing only an hour or two ago. She +had been setting down Mr. Lathom pretty smartly, in the presence of the +very man to whom she had spoken of that gentleman as so sensible, and of +such a standing in the county, that it was presumption to question his +doings. But before Mr. Gray had finished his offer of escorting us back +to Hanbury Court, my lady had recovered herself. There was neither +surprise nor displeasure in her manner, as she answered--"I thank you, +Mr. Gray. I was not aware that you were here, but I think I can +understand on what errand you came. And seeing you here, recalls me to a +duty I owe Mr. Lathom. Mr. Lathom, I have spoken to you pretty +plainly,--forgetting, until I saw Mr. Gray, that only this very afternoon +I differed from him on this very question; taking completely, at that +time, the same view of the whole subject which you have done; thinking +that the county would be well rid of such a man as Job Gregson, whether +he had committed this theft or not. Mr. Gray and I did not part quite +friends," she continued, bowing towards him; "but it so happened that I +saw Job Gregson's wife and home,--I felt that Mr. Gray had been right and +I had been wrong, so, with the famous inconsistency of my sex, I came +hither to scold you," smiling towards Mr. Lathom, who looked half-sulky +yet, and did not relax a bit of his gravity at her smile, "for holding +the same opinions that I had done an hour before. Mr. Gray," (again +bowing towards him) "these young ladies will be very much obliged to you +for your escort, and so shall I. Mr. Lathom, may I beg of you to +accompany me to Henley?" + +Mr. Gray bowed very low, and went very red; Mr. Lathom said something +which we none of us heard, but which was, I think, some remonstrance +against the course he was, as it were, compelled to take. Lady Ludlow, +however, took no notice of his murmur, but sat in an attitude of polite +expectancy; and as we turned off on our walk, I saw Mr. Lathom getting +into the coach with the air of a whipped hound. I must say, considering +my lady's feeling, I did not envy him his ride--though, I believe, he was +quite in the right as to the object of the ride being illegal. + +Our walk home was very dull. We had no fears; and would far rather have +been without the awkward, blushing young man, into which Mr. Gray had +sunk. At every stile he hesitated,--sometimes he half got over it, +thinking that he could assist us better in that way; then he would turn +back unwilling to go before ladies. He had no ease of manner, as my lady +once said of him, though on any occasion of duty, he had an immense deal +of dignity. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +As far as I can remember, it was very soon after this that I first began +to have the pain in my hip, which has ended in making me a cripple for +life. I hardly recollect more than one walk after our return under Mr. +Gray's escort from Mr. Lathom's. Indeed, at the time, I was not without +suspicions (which I never named) that the beginning of all the mischief +was a great jump I had taken from the top of one of the stiles on that +very occasion. + +Well, it is a long while ago, and God disposes of us all, and I am not +going to tire you out with telling you how I thought and felt, and how, +when I saw what my life was to be, I could hardly bring myself to be +patient, but rather wished to die at once. You can every one of you +think for yourselves what becoming all at once useless and unable to +move, and by-and-by growing hopeless of cure, and feeling that one must +be a burden to some one all one's life long, would be to an active, +wilful, strong girl of seventeen, anxious to get on in the world, so as, +if possible, to help her brothers and sisters. So I shall only say, that +one among the blessings which arose out of what seemed at the time a +great, black sorrow was, that Lady Ludlow for many years took me, as it +were, into her own especial charge; and now, as I lie still and alone in +my old age, it is such a pleasure to think of her! + +Mrs. Medlicott was great as a nurse, and I am sure I can never be +grateful enough to her memory for all her kindness. But she was puzzled +to know how to manage me in other ways. I used to have long, hard fits +of crying; and, thinking that I ought to go home--and yet what could they +do with me there?--and a hundred and fifty other anxious thoughts, some +of which I could tell to Mrs. Medlicott, and others I could not. Her way +of comforting me was hurrying away for some kind of tempting or +strengthening food--a basin of melted calves-foot jelly was, I am sure +she thought, a cure for every woe. + +"There take it, dear, take it!" she would say; "and don't go on fretting +for what can't be helped." + +But, I think, she got puzzled at length at the non-efficacy of good +things to eat; and one day, after I had limped down to see the doctor, in +Mrs. Medlicott's sitting-room--a room lined with cupboards, containing +preserves and dainties of all kinds, which she perpetually made, and +never touched herself--when I was returning to my bed-room to cry away +the afternoon, under pretence of arranging my clothes, John Footman +brought me a message from my lady (with whom the doctor had been having a +conversation) to bid me go to her in that private sitting-room at the end +of the suite of apartments, about which I spoke in describing the day of +my first arrival at Hanbury. I had hardly been in it since; as, when we +read to my lady, she generally sat in the small withdrawing-room out of +which this private room of hers opened. I suppose great people do not +require what we smaller people value so much,--I mean privacy. I do not +think that there was a room which my lady occupied that had not two +doors, and some of them had three or four. Then my lady had always Adams +waiting upon her in her bed-chamber; and it was Mrs. Medlicott's duty to +sit within call, as it were, in a sort of anteroom that led out of my +lady's own sitting-room, on the opposite side to the drawing-room door. +To fancy the house, you must take a great square and halve it by a line: +at one end of this line was the hall-door, or public entrance; at the +opposite the private entrance from a terrace, which was terminated at one +end by a sort of postern door in an old gray stone wall, beyond which lay +the farm buildings and offices; so that people could come in this way to +my lady on business, while, if she were going into the garden from her +own room, she had nothing to do but to pass through Mrs. Medlicott's +apartment, out into the lesser hall, and then turning to the right as she +passed on to the terrace, she could go down the flight of broad, shallow +steps at the corner of the house into the lovely garden, with stretching, +sweeping lawns, and gay flower-beds, and beautiful, bossy laurels, and +other blooming or massy shrubs, with full-grown beeches, or larches +feathering down to the ground a little farther off. The whole was set in +a frame, as it were, by the more distant woodlands. The house had been +modernized in the days of Queen Anne, I think; but the money had fallen +short that was requisite to carry out all the improvements, so it was +only the suite of withdrawing-rooms and the terrace-rooms, as far as the +private entrance, that had the new, long, high windows put in, and these +were old enough by this time to be draped with roses, and honeysuckles, +and pyracanthus, winter and summer long. + +Well, to go back to that day when I limped into my lady's sitting-room, +trying hard to look as if I had not been crying, and not to walk as if I +was in much pain. I do not know whether my lady saw how near my tears +were to my eyes, but she told me she had sent for me, because she wanted +some help in arranging the drawers of her bureau, and asked me--just as +if it was a favour I was to do her--if I could sit down in the easy-chair +near the window--(all quietly arranged before I came in, with a +footstool, and a table quite near)--and assist her. You will wonder, +perhaps, why I was not bidden to sit or lie on the sofa; but (although I +found one there a morning or two afterwards, when I came down) the fact +was, that there was none in the room at this time. I have even fancied +that the easy-chair was brought in on purpose for me; for it was not the +chair in which I remembered my lady sitting the first time I saw her. +That chair was very much carved and gilded, with a countess' coronet at +the top. I tried it one day, some time afterwards, when my lady was out +of the room, and I had a fancy for seeing how I could move about, and +very uncomfortable it was. Now my chair (as I learnt to call it, and to +think it) was soft and luxurious, and seemed somehow to give one's body +rest just in that part where one most needed it. + +I was not at my ease that first day, nor indeed for many days afterwards, +notwithstanding my chair was so comfortable. Yet I forgot my sad pain in +silently wondering over the meaning of many of the things we turned out +of those curious old drawers. I was puzzled to know why some were kept +at all; a scrap of writing maybe, with only half a dozen common-place +words written on it, or a bit of broken riding-whip, and here and there a +stone, of which I thought I could have picked up twenty just as good in +the first walk I took. But it seems that was just my ignorance; for my +lady told me they were pieces of valuable marble, used to make the floors +of the great Roman emperors palaces long ago; and that when she had been +a girl, and made the grand tour long ago, her cousin Sir Horace Mann, the +Ambassador or Envoy at Florence, had told her to be sure to go into the +fields inside the walls of ancient Rome, when the farmers were preparing +the ground for the onion-sowing, and had to make the soil fine, and pick +up what bits of marble she could find. She had done so, and meant to +have had them made into a table; but somehow that plan fell through, and +there they were with all the dirt out of the onion-field upon them; but +once when I thought of cleaning them with soap and water, at any rate, +she bade me not to do so, for it was Roman dirt--earth, I think, she +called it--but it was dirt all the same. + +Then, in this bureau, were many other things, the value of which I could +understand--locks of hair carefully ticketed, which my lady looked at +very sadly; and lockets and bracelets with miniatures in them,--very +small pictures to what they make now-a-days, and called miniatures: some +of them had even to be looked at through a microscope before you could +see the individual expression of the faces, or how beautifully they were +painted. I don't think that looking at these made may lady seem so +melancholy, as the seeing and touching of the hair did. But, to be sure, +the hair was, as it were, a part of some beloved body which she might +never touch and caress again, but which lay beneath the turf, all faded +and disfigured, except perhaps the very hair, from which the lock she +held had been dissevered; whereas the pictures were but pictures after +all--likenesses, but not the very things themselves. This is only my own +conjecture, mind. My lady rarely spoke out her feelings. For, to begin +with, she was of rank: and I have heard her say that people of rank do +not talk about their feelings except to their equals, and even to them +they conceal them, except upon rare occasions. Secondly,--and this is my +own reflection,--she was an only child and an heiress; and as such was +more apt to think than to talk, as all well-brought-up heiresses must be. +I think. Thirdly, she had long been a widow, without any companion of +her own age with whom it would have been natural for her to refer to old +associations, past pleasures, or mutual sorrows. Mrs. Medlicott came +nearest to her as a companion of this sort; and her ladyship talked more +to Mrs. Medlicott, in a kind of familiar way, than she did to all the +rest of the household put together. But Mrs. Medlicott was silent by +nature, and did not reply at any great length. Adams, indeed, was the +only one who spoke much to Lady Ludlow. + +After we had worked away about an hour at the bureau, her ladyship said +we had done enough for one day; and as the time was come for her +afternoon ride, she left me, with a volume of engravings from Mr. +Hogarth's pictures on one side of me (I don't like to write down the +names of them, though my lady thought nothing of it, I am sure), and upon +a stand her great prayer-book open at the evening psalms for the day, on +the other. But as soon as she was gone, I troubled myself little with +either, but amused myself with looking round the room at my leisure. The +side on which the fire-place stood was all panelled,--part of the old +ornaments of the house, for there was an Indian paper with birds and +beasts and insects on it, on all the other sides. There were coats of +arms, of the various families with whom the Hanburys had intermarried, +all over these panels, and up and down the ceiling as well. There was +very little looking-glass in the room, though one of the great drawing- +rooms was called the "Mirror Room," because it was lined with glass, +which my lady's great-grandfather had brought from Venice when he was +ambassador there. There were china jars of all shapes and sizes round +and about the room, and some china monsters, or idols, of which I could +never bear the sight, they were so ugly, though I think my lady valued +them more than all. There was a thick carpet on the middle of the floor, +which was made of small pieces of rare wood fitted into a pattern; the +doors were opposite to each other, and were composed of two heavy tall +wings, and opened in the middle, moving on brass grooves inserted into +the floor--they would not have opened over a carpet. There were two +windows reaching up nearly to the ceiling, but very narrow and with deep +window-seats in the thickness of the wall. The room was full of scent, +partly from the flowers outside, and partly from the great jars of pot- +pourri inside. The choice of odours was what my lady piqued herself +upon, saying nothing showed birth like a keen susceptibility of smell. We +never named musk in her presence, her antipathy to it was so well +understood through the household: her opinion on the subject was believed +to be, that no scent derived from an animal could ever be of a +sufficiently pure nature to give pleasure to any person of good family, +where, of course, the delicate perception of the senses had been +cultivated for generations. She would instance the way in which +sportsmen preserve the breed of dogs who have shown keen scent; and how +such gifts descend for generations amongst animals, who cannot be +supposed to have anything of ancestral pride, or hereditary fancies about +them. Musk, then, was never mentioned at Hanbury Court. No more were +bergamot or southern-wood, although vegetable in their nature. She +considered these two latter as betraying a vulgar taste in the person who +chose to gather or wear them. She was sorry to notice sprigs of them in +the button-hole of any young man in whom she took an interest, either +because he was engaged to a servant of hers or otherwise, as he came out +of church on a Sunday afternoon. She was afraid that he liked coarse +pleasures; and I am not sure if she did not think that his preference for +these coarse sweetnesses did not imply a probability that he would take +to drinking. But she distinguished between vulgar and common. Violets, +pinks, and sweetbriar were common enough; roses and mignionette, for +those who had gardens, honeysuckle for those who walked along the bowery +lanes; but wearing them betrayed no vulgarity of taste: the queen upon +her throne might be glad to smell at a nosegay of the flowers. A beau- +pot (as we called it) of pinks and roses freshly gathered was placed +every morning that they were in bloom on my lady's own particular table. +For lasting vegetable odours she preferred lavender and sweet-woodroof to +any extract whatever. Lavender reminded her of old customs, she said, +and of homely cottage-gardens, and many a cottager made his offering to +her of a bundle of lavender. Sweet woodroof, again, grew in wild, +woodland places where the soil was fine and the air delicate: the poor +children used to go and gather it for her up in the woods on the higher +lands; and for this service she always rewarded them with bright new +pennies, of which my lord, her son, used to send her down a bagful fresh +from the Mint in London every February. + +Attar of roses, again, she disliked. She said it reminded her of the +city and of merchants' wives, over-rich, over-heavy in its perfume. And +lilies-of-the-valley somehow fell under the same condemnation. They were +most graceful and elegant to look at (my lady was quite candid about +this), flower, leaf, colour--everything was refined about them but the +smell. That was too strong. But the great hereditary faculty on which +my lady piqued herself, and with reason, for I never met with any person +who possessed it, was the power she had of perceiving the delicious odour +arising from a bed of strawberries in the late autumn, when the leaves +were all fading and dying. "Bacon's Essays" was one of the few books +that lay about in my lady's room; and if you took it up and opened it +carelessly, it was sure to fall apart at his "Essay on Gardens." +"Listen," her ladyship would say, "to what that great philosopher and +statesman says. 'Next to that,'--he is speaking of violets, my dear,--'is +the musk-rose,'--of which you remember the great bush, at the corner of +the south wall just by the Blue Drawing-room windows; that is the old +musk-rose, Shakespeare's musk-rose, which is dying out through the +kingdom now. But to return to my Lord Bacon: 'Then the strawberry +leaves, dying with a most excellent cordial smell.' Now the Hanburys can +always smell this excellent cordial odour, and very delicious and +refreshing it is. You see, in Lord Bacon's time, there had not been so +many intermarriages between the court and the city as there have been +since the needy days of his Majesty Charles the Second; and altogether in +the time of Queen Elizabeth, the great, old families of England were a +distinct race, just as a cart-horse is one creature, and very useful in +its place, and Childers or Eclipse is another creature, though both are +of the same species. So the old families have gifts and powers of a +different and higher class to what the other orders have. My dear, +remember that you try if you can smell the scent of dying +strawberry-leaves in this next autumn. You have some of Ursula Hanbury's +blood in you, and that gives you a chance." + +But when October came, I sniffed and sniffed, and all to no purpose; and +my lady--who had watched the little experiment rather anxiously--had to +give me up as a hybrid. I was mortified, I confess, and thought that it +was in some ostentation of her own powers that she ordered the gardener +to plant a border of strawberries on that side of the terrace that lay +under her windows. + +I have wandered away from time and place. I tell you all the +remembrances I have of those years just as they come up, and I hope that, +in my old age, I am not getting too like a certain Mrs. Nickleby, whose +speeches were once read out aloud to me. + +I came by degrees to be all day long in this room which I have been +describing; sometimes sitting in the easy-chair, doing some little piece +of dainty work for my lady, or sometimes arranging flowers, or sorting +letters according to their handwriting, so that she could arrange them +afterwards, and destroy or keep, as she planned, looking ever onward to +her death. Then, after the sofa was brought in, she would watch my face, +and if she saw my colour change, she would bid me lie down and rest. And +I used to try to walk upon the terrace every day for a short time: it +hurt me very much, it is true, but the doctor had ordered it, and I knew +her ladyship wished me to obey. + +Before I had seen the background of a great lady's life, I had thought it +all play and fine doings. But whatever other grand people are, my lady +was never idle. For one thing, she had to superintend the agent for the +large Hanbury estate. I believe it was mortgaged for a sum of money +which had gone to improve the late lord's Scotch lands; but she was +anxious to pay off this before her death, and so to leave her own +inheritance free of incumbrance to her son, the present Earl; whom, I +secretly think, she considered a greater person, as being the heir of the +Hanburys (though through a female line), than as being my Lord Ludlow +with half a dozen other minor titles. + +With this wish of releasing her property from the mortgage, skilful care +was much needed in the management of it; and as far as my lady could go, +she took every pains. She had a great book, in which every page was +ruled into three divisions; on the first column was written the date and +the name of the tenant who addressed any letter on business to her; on +the second was briefly stated the subject of the letter, which generally +contained a request of some kind. This request would be surrounded and +enveloped in so many words, and often inserted amidst so many odd reasons +and excuses, that Mr. Horner (the steward) would sometimes say it was +like hunting through a bushel of chaff to find a grain of wheat. Now, in +the second column of this book, the grain of meaning was placed, clean +and dry, before her ladyship every morning. She sometimes would ask to +see the original letter; sometimes she simply answered the request by a +"Yes," or a "No;" and often she would send for lenses and papers, and +examine them well, with Mr. Horner at her elbow, to see if such +petitions, as to be allowed to plough up pasture fields, were provided +for in the terms of the original agreement. On every Thursday she made +herself at liberty to see her tenants, from four to six in the afternoon. +Mornings would have suited my lady better, as far as convenience went, +and I believe the old custom had been to have these levees (as her +ladyship used to call them) held before twelve. But, as she said to Mr. +Horner, when he urged returning to the former hours, it spoilt a whole +day for a farmer, if he had to dress himself in his best and leave his +work in the forenoon (and my lady liked to see her tenants come in their +Sunday clothes; she would not say a word, maybe, but she would take her +spectacles slowly out, and put them on with silent gravity, and look at a +dirty or raggedly-dressed man so solemnly and earnestly, that his nerves +must have been pretty strong if he did not wince, and resolve that, +however poor he might be, soap and water, and needle and thread, should +be used before he again appeared in her ladyship's anteroom). The out- +lying tenants had always a supper provided for them in the servants'-hall +on Thursdays, to which, indeed all comers were welcome to sit down. For +my lady said, though there were not many hours left of a working man's +day when their business with her was ended, yet that they needed food and +rest, and that she should be ashamed if they sought either at the +Fighting Lion (called at this day the Hanbury Arms). They had as much +beer as they could drink while they were eating; and when the food was +cleared away, they had a cup a-piece of good ale, in which the oldest +tenant present, standing up, gave Madam's health; and after that was +drunk, they were expected to set off homewards; at any rate, no more +liquor was given them. The tenants one and all called her "Madam;" for +they recognized in her the married heiress of the Hanburys, not the widow +of a Lord Ludlow, of whom they and their forefathers knew nothing; and +against whose memory, indeed, there rankled a dim unspoken grudge, the +cause of which was accurately known to the very few who understood the +nature of a mortgage, and were therefore aware that Madam's money had +been taken to enrich my lord's poor land in Scotland. I am sure--for you +can understand I was behind the scenes, as it were, and had many an +opportunity of seeing and hearing, as I lay or sat motionless in my +lady's room with the double doors open between it and the anteroom +beyond, where Lady Ludlow saw her steward, and gave audience to her +tenants,--I am certain, I say, that Mr. Horner was silently as much +annoyed at the money that was swallowed up by this mortgage as any one; +and, some time or other, he had probably spoken his mind out to my lady; +for there was a sort of offended reference on her part, and respectful +submission to blame on his, while every now and then there was an implied +protest--whenever the payments of the interest became due, or whenever my +lady stinted herself of any personal expense, such as Mr. Horner thought +was only decorous and becoming in the heiress of the Hanburys. Her +carriages were old and cumbrous, wanting all the improvements which had +been adopted by those of her rank throughout the county. Mr. Horner +would fain have had the ordering of a new coach. The carriage-horses, +too, were getting past their work; yet all the promising colts bred on +the estate were sold for ready money; and so on. My lord, her son, was +ambassador at some foreign place; and very proud we all were of his glory +and dignity; but I fancy it cost money, and my lady would have lived on +bread and water sooner than have called upon him to help her in paying +off the mortgage, although he was the one who was to benefit by it in the +end. + +Mr. Horner was a very faithful steward, and very respectful to my lady; +although sometimes, I thought she was sharper to him than to any one +else; perhaps because she knew that, although he never said anything, he +disapproved of the Hanburys being made to pay for the Earl Ludlow's +estates and state. + +The late lord had been a sailor, and had been as extravagant in his +habits as most sailors are, I am told,--for I never saw the sea; and yet +he had a long sight to his own interests; but whatever he was, my lady +loved him and his memory, with about as fond and proud a love as ever +wife gave husband, I should think. + +For a part of his life Mr. Horner, who was born on the Hanbury property, +had been a clerk to an attorney in Birmingham; and these few years had +given him a kind of worldly wisdom, which, though always exerted for her +benefit, was antipathetic to her ladyship, who thought that some of her +steward's maxims savoured of trade and commerce. I fancy that if it had +been possible, she would have preferred a return to the primitive system, +of living on the produce of the land, and exchanging the surplus for such +articles as were needed, without the intervention of money. + +But Mr. Horner was bitten with new-fangled notions, as she would say, +though his new-fangled notions were what folk at the present day would +think sadly behindhand; and some of Mr. Gray's ideas fell on Mr. Horner's +mind like sparks on tow, though they started from two different points. +Mr. Horner wanted to make every man useful and active in this world, and +to direct as much activity and usefulness as possible to the improvement +of the Hanbury estates, and the aggrandisement of the Hanbury family, and +therefore he fell into the new cry for education. + +Mr. Gray did not care much,--Mr. Horner thought not enough,--for this +world, and where any man or family stood in their earthly position; but +he would have every one prepared for the world to come, and capable of +understanding and receiving certain doctrines, for which latter purpose, +it stands to reason, he must have heard of these doctrines; and therefore +Mr. Gray wanted education. The answer in the Catechism that Mr. Horner +was most fond of calling upon a child to repeat, was that to, "What is +thy duty towards thy neighbour?" The answer Mr. Gray liked best to hear +repeated with unction, was that to the question, "What is the inward and +spiritual grace?" The reply to which Lady Ludlow bent her head the +lowest, as we said our Catechism to her on Sundays, was to, "What is thy +duty towards God?" But neither Mr. Horner nor Mr. Gray had heard many +answers to the Catechism as yet. + +Up to this time there was no Sunday-school in Hanbury. Mr. Gray's +desires were bounded by that object. Mr. Horner looked farther on: he +hoped for a day-school at some future time, to train up intelligent +labourers for working on the estate. My lady would hear of neither one +nor the other: indeed, not the boldest man whom she ever saw would have +dared to name the project of a day-school within her hearing. + +So Mr. Horner contented himself with quietly teaching a sharp, clever lad +to read and write, with a view to making use of him as a kind of foreman +in process of time. He had his pick of the farm-lads for this purpose; +and, as the brightest and sharpest, although by far the raggedest and +dirtiest, singled out Job Gregson's son. But all this--as my lady never +listened to gossip, or indeed, was spoken to unless she spoke first--was +quite unknown to her, until the unlucky incident took place which I am +going to relate. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +I think my lady was not aware of Mr. Horner's views on education (as +making men into more useful members of society), or the practice to which +he was putting his precepts in taking Harry Gregson as pupil and protege; +if, indeed, she were aware of Harry's distinct existence at all, until +the following unfortunate occasion. The anteroom, which was a kind of +business-place for my lady to receive her steward and tenants in, was +surrounded by shelves. I cannot call them book-shelves, though there +were many books on them; but the contents of the volumes were principally +manuscript, and relating to details connected with the Hanbury property. +There were also one or two dictionaries, gazetteers, works of reference +on the management of property; all of a very old date (the dictionary was +Bailey's, I remember; we had a great Johnson in my lady's room, but where +lexicographers differed, she generally preferred Bailey). + +In this antechamber a footman generally sat, awaiting orders from my +lady; for she clung to the grand old customs, and despised any bells, +except her own little hand-bell, as modern inventions; she would have her +people always within summons of this silvery bell, or her scarce less +silvery voice. This man had not the sinecure you might imagine. He had +to reply to the private entrance; what we should call the back door in a +smaller house. As none came to the front door but my lady, and those of +the county whom she honoured by visiting, and her nearest acquaintance of +this kind lived eight miles (of bad road) off, the majority of comers +knocked at the nail-studded terrace-door; not to have it opened (for open +it stood, by my lady's orders, winter and summer, so that the snow often +drifted into the back hall, and lay there in heaps when the weather was +severe), but to summon some one to receive their message, or carry their +request to be allowed to speak to my lady. I remember it was long before +Mr. Gray could be made to understand that the great door was only open on +state occasions, and even to the last he would as soon come in by that as +the terrace entrance. I had been received there on my first setting foot +over my lady's threshold; every stranger was led in by that way the first +time they came; but after that (with the exceptions I have named) they +went round by the terrace, as it were by instinct. It was an assistance +to this instinct to be aware that from time immemorial, the magnificent +and fierce Hanbury wolf-hounds, which were extinct in every other part of +the island, had been and still were kept chained in the front quadrangle, +where they bayed through a great part of the day and night and were +always ready with their deep, savage growl at the sight of every person +and thing, excepting the man who fed them, my lady's carriage and four, +and my lady herself. It was pretty to see her small figure go up to the +great, crouching brutes thumping the flags with their heavy, wagging +tails, and slobbering in an ecstacy of delight, at her light approach and +soft caress. She had no fear of them; but she was a Hanbury born, and +the tale went, that they and their kind knew all Hanburys instantly, and +acknowledged their supremacy, ever since the ancestors of the breed had +been brought from the East by the great Sir Urian Hanbury, who lay with +his legs crossed on the altar-tomb in the church. Moreover, it was +reported that, not fifty years before, one of these dogs had eaten up a +child, which had inadvertently strayed within reach of its chain. So you +may imagine how most people preferred the terrace-door. Mr. Gray did not +seem to care for the dogs. It might be absence of mind, for I have heard +of his starting away from their sudden spring when he had unwittingly +walked within reach of their chains: but it could hardly have been +absence of mind, when one day he went right up to one of them, and patted +him in the most friendly manner, the dog meanwhile looking pleased, and +affably wagging his tail, just as if Mr. Gray had been a Hanbury. We +were all very much puzzled by this, and to this day I have not been able +to account for it. + +But now let us go back to the terrace-door, and the footman sitting in +the antechamber. + +One morning we heard a parleying, which rose to such a vehemence, and +lasted for so long, that my lady had to ring her hand-bell twice before +the footman heard it. + +"What is the matter, John?" asked she, when he entered, + +"A little boy, my lady, who says he comes from Mr. Horner, and must see +your ladyship. Impudent little lad!" (This last to himself.) + +"What does he want?" + +"That's just what I have asked him, my lady, but he won't tell me, please +your ladyship." + +"It is, probably, some message from Mr. Horner," said Lady Ludlow, with +just a shade of annoyance in her manner; for it was against all etiquette +to send a message to her, and by such a messenger too! + +"No! please your ladyship, I asked him if he had any message, and he said +no, he had none; but he must see your ladyship for all that." + +"You had better show him in then, without more words," said her ladyship, +quietly, but still, as I have said, rather annoyed. + +As if in mockery of the humble visitor, the footman threw open both +battants of the door, and in the opening there stood a lithe, wiry lad, +with a thick head of hair, standing out in every direction, as if stirred +by some electrical current, a short, brown face, red now from affright +and excitement, wide, resolute mouth, and bright, deep-set eyes, which +glanced keenly and rapidly round the room, as if taking in everything +(and all was new and strange), to be thought and puzzled over at some +future time. He knew enough of manners not to speak first to one above +him in rank, or else he was afraid. + +"What do you want with me?" asked my lady; in so gentle a tone that it +seemed to surprise and stun him. + +"An't please your ladyship?" said he, as if he had been deaf. + +"You come from Mr. Horner's: why do you want to see me?" again asked she, +a little more loudly. + +"An't please your ladyship, Mr. Horner was sent for all on a sudden to +Warwick this morning." + +His face began to work; but he felt it, and closed his lips into a +resolute form. + +"Well?" + +"And he went off all on a sudden like." + +"Well?" + +"And he left a note for your ladyship with me, your ladyship." + +"Is that all? You might have given it to the footman." + +"Please your ladyship, I've clean gone and lost it." + +He never took his eyes off her face. If he had not kept his look fixed, +he would have burst out crying. + +"That was very careless," said my lady gently. "But I am sure you are +very sorry for it. You had better try and find it; it may have been of +consequence. + +"Please, mum--please your ladyship--I can say it off by heart." + +"You! What do you mean?" I was really afraid now. My lady's blue eyes +absolutely gave out light, she was so much displeased, and, moreover, +perplexed. The more reason he had for affright, the more his courage +rose. He must have seen,--so sharp a lad must have perceived her +displeasure; but he went on quickly and steadily. + +"Mr. Horner, my lady, has taught me to read, write, and cast accounts, my +lady. And he was in a hurry, and he folded his paper up, but he did not +seal it; and I read it, my lady; and now, my lady, it seems like as if I +had got it off by heart;" and he went on with a high pitched voice, +saying out very loud what, I have no doubt, were the identical words of +the letter, date, signature and all: it was merely something about a +deed, which required my lady's signature. + +When he had done, he stood almost as if he expected commendation for his +accurate memory. + +My lady's eyes contracted till the pupils were as needle-points; it was a +way she had when much disturbed. She looked at me and said-- + +"Margaret Dawson, what will this world come to?" And then she was +silent. + +The lad, beginning to perceive he had given deep offence, stood stock +still--as if his brave will had brought him into this presence, and +impelled him to confession, and the best amends he could make, but had +now deserted him, or was extinct, and left his body motionless, until +some one else with word or deed made him quit the room. My lady looked +again at him, and saw the frowning, dumb-foundering terror at his +misdeed, and the manner in which his confession had been received. + +"My poor lad!" said she, the angry look leaving her face, "into whose +hands have you fallen?" + +The boy's lips began to quiver. + +"Don't you know what tree we read of in Genesis?--No! I hope you have +not got to read so easily as that." A pause. "Who has taught you to +read and write?" + +"Please, my lady, I meant no harm, my lady." He was fairly blubbering, +overcome by her evident feeling of dismay and regret, the soft repression +of which was more frightening to him than any strong or violent words +would have been. + +"Who taught you, I ask?" + +"It were Mr. Horner's clerk who learned me, my lady." + +"And did Mr. Horner know of it?" + +"Yes, my lady. And I am sure I thought for to please him." + +"Well! perhaps you were not to blame for that. But I wonder at Mr. +Horner. However, my boy, as you have got possession of edge-tools, you +must have some rules how to use them. Did you never hear that you were +not to open letters?" + +"Please, my lady, it were open. Mr. Horner forgot for to seal it, in his +hurry to be off." + +"But you must not read letters that are not intended for you. You must +never try to read any letters that are not directed to you, even if they +be open before you." + +"Please, may lady, I thought it were good for practice, all as one as a +book." + +My lady looked bewildered as to what way she could farther explain to him +the laws of honour as regarded letters. + +"You would not listen, I am sure," said she, "to anything you were not +intended to hear?" + +He hesitated for a moment, partly because he did not fully comprehend the +question. My lady repeated it. The light of intelligence came into his +eager eyes, and I could see that he was not certain if he could tell the +truth. + +"Please, my lady, I always hearken when I hear folk talking secrets; but +I mean no harm." + +My poor lady sighed: she was not prepared to begin a long way off in +morals. Honour was, to her, second nature, and she had never tried to +find out on what principle its laws were based. So, telling the lad that +she wished to see Mr. Horner when he returned from Warwick, she dismissed +him with a despondent look; he, meanwhile, right glad to be out of the +awful gentleness of her presence. + +"What is to be done?" said she, half to herself and half to me. I could +not answer, for I was puzzled myself. + +"It was a right word," she continued, "that I used, when I called reading +and writing 'edge-tools.' If our lower orders have these edge-tools +given to them, we shall have the terrible scenes of the French Revolution +acted over again in England. When I was a girl, one never heard of the +rights of men, one only heard of the duties. Now, here was Mr. Gray, +only last night, talking of the right every child had to instruction. I +could hardly keep my patience with him, and at length we fairly came to +words; and I told him I would have no such thing as a Sunday-school (or a +Sabbath-school, as he calls it, just like a Jew) in my village." + +"And what did he say, my lady?" I asked; for the struggle that seemed now +to have come to a crisis, had been going on for some time in a quiet way. + +"Why, he gave way to temper, and said he was bound to remember, he was +under the bishop's authority, not under mine; and implied that he should +persevere in his designs, notwithstanding my expressed opinion." + +"And your ladyship--" I half inquired. + +"I could only rise and curtsey, and civilly dismiss him. When two +persons have arrived at a certain point of expression on a subject, about +which they differ as materially as I do from Mr. Gray, the wisest course, +if they wish to remain friends, is to drop the conversation entirely and +suddenly. It is one of the few cases where abruptness is desirable." + +I was sorry for Mr. Gray. He had been to see me several times, and had +helped me to bear my illness in a better spirit than I should have done +without his good advice and prayers. And I had gathered from little +things he said, how much his heart was set upon this new scheme. I liked +him so much, and I loved and respected my lady so well, that I could not +bear them to be on the cool terms to which they were constantly getting. +Yet I could do nothing but keep silence. + +I suppose my lady understood something of what was passing in my mind; +for, after a minute or two, she went on:-- + +"If Mr. Gray knew all I know,--if he had my experience, he would not be +so ready to speak of setting up his new plans in opposition to my +judgment. Indeed," she continued, lashing herself up with her own +recollections, "times are changed when the parson of a village comes to +beard the liege lady in her own house. Why, in my grandfather's days, +the parson was family chaplain too, and dined at the Hall every Sunday. +He was helped last, and expected to have done first. I remember seeing +him take up his plate and knife and fork, and say with his mouth full all +the time he was speaking: 'If you please, Sir Urian, and my lady, I'll +follow the beef into the housekeeper's room;' for you see, unless he did +so, he stood no chance of a second helping. A greedy man, that parson +was, to be sure! I recollect his once eating up the whole of some little +bird at dinner, and by way of diverting attention from his greediness, he +told how he had heard that a rook soaked in vinegar and then dressed in a +particular way, could not be distinguished from the bird he was then +eating. I saw by the grim look of my grandfather's face that the +parson's doing and saying displeased him; and, child as I was, I had some +notion of what was coming, when, as I was riding out on my little, white +pony, by my grandfather's side, the next Friday, he stopped one of the +gamekeepers, and bade him shoot one of the oldest rooks he could find. I +knew no more about it till Sunday, when a dish was set right before the +parson, and Sir Urian said: 'Now, Parson Hemming, I have had a rook shot, +and soaked in vinegar, and dressed as you described last Sunday. Fall +to, man, and eat it with as good an appetite as you had last Sunday. Pick +the bones clean, or by--, no more Sunday dinners shall you eat at my +table!' I gave one look at poor Mr. Hemming's face, as he tried to +swallow the first morsel, and make believe as though he thought it very +good; but I could not look again, for shame, although my grandfather +laughed, and kept asking us all round if we knew what could have become +of the parson's appetite." + +"And did he finish it?" I asked. + +"O yes, my dear. What my grandfather said was to be done, was done +always. He was a terrible man in his anger! But to think of the +difference between Parson Hemming and Mr. Gray! or even of poor dear Mr. +Mountford and Mr. Gray. Mr. Mountford would never have withstood me as +Mr. Gray did!" + +"And your ladyship really thinks that it would not be right to have a +Sunday-school?" I asked, feeling very timid as I put time question. + +"Certainly not. As I told Mr. Gray. I consider a knowledge of the +Creed, and of the Lord's Prayer, as essential to salvation; and that any +child may have, whose parents bring it regularly to church. Then there +are the Ten Commandments, which teach simple duties in the plainest +language. Of course, if a lad is taught to read and write (as that +unfortunate boy has been who was here this morning) his duties become +complicated, and his temptations much greater, while, at the same time, +he has no hereditary principles and honourable training to serve as +safeguards. I might take up my old simile of the race-horse and cart- +horse. I am distressed," continued she, with a break in her ideas, +"about that boy. The whole thing reminds me so much of a story of what +happened to a friend of mine--Clement de Crequy. Did I ever tell you +about him?" + +"No, your ladyship," I replied. + +"Poor Clement! More than twenty years ago, Lord Ludlow and I spent a +winter in Paris. He had many friends there; perhaps not very good or +very wise men, but he was so kind that he liked every one, and every one +liked him. We had an apartment, as they call it there, in the Rue de +Lille; we had the first-floor of a grand hotel, with the basement for our +servants. On the floor above us the owner of the house lived, a Marquise +de Crequy, a widow. They tell me that the Crequy coat-of-arms is still +emblazoned, after all these terrible years, on a shield above the arched +porte-cochere, just as it was then, though the family is quite extinct. +Madame de Crequy had only one son, Clement, who was just the same age as +my Urian--you may see his portrait in the great hall--Urian's, I mean." I +knew that Master Urian had been drowned at sea; and often had I looked at +the presentment of his bonny hopeful face, in his sailor's dress, with +right hand outstretched to a ship on the sea in the distance, as if he +had just said, "Look at her! all her sails are set, and I'm just off." +Poor Master Urian! he went down in this very ship not a year after the +picture was taken! But now I will go back to my lady's story. "I can +see those two boys playing now," continued she, softly, shutting her +eyes, as if the better to call up the vision, "as they used to do five- +and-twenty years ago in those old-fashioned French gardens behind our +hotel. Many a time have I watched them from my windows. It was, +perhaps, a better play-place than an English garden would have been, for +there were but few flower-beds, and no lawn at all to speak about; but, +instead, terraces and balustrades and vases and flights of stone steps +more in the Italian style; and there were jets-d'eau, and little +fountains that could be set playing by turning water-cocks that were +hidden here and there. How Clement delighted in turning the water on to +surprise Urian, and how gracefully he did the honours, as it were, to my +dear, rough, sailor lad! Urian was as dark as a gipsy boy, and cared +little for his appearance, and resisted all my efforts at setting off his +black eyes and tangled curls; but Clement, without ever showing that he +thought about himself and his dress, was always dainty and elegant, even +though his clothes were sometimes but threadbare. He used to be dressed +in a kind of hunter's green suit, open at the neck and half-way down the +chest to beautiful old lace frills; his long golden curls fell behind +just like a girl's, and his hair in front was cut over his straight dark +eyebrows in a line almost as straight. Urian learnt more of a +gentleman's carefulness and propriety of appearance from that lad in two +months than he had done in years from all my lectures. I recollect one +day, when the two boys were in full romp--and, my window being open, I +could hear them perfectly--and Urian was daring Clement to some +scrambling or climbing, which Clement refused to undertake, but in a +hesitating way, as though he longed to do it if some reason had not stood +in the way; and at times, Urian, who was hasty and thoughtless, poor +fellow, told Clement that he was afraid. 'Fear!' said the French boy, +drawing himself up; 'you do not know what you say. If you will be here +at six to-morrow morning, when it is only just light, I will take that +starling's nest on the top of yonder chimney.' 'But why not now, +Clement?' said Urian, putting his arm round Clement's neck. 'Why then, +and not now, just when we are in the humour for it?' 'Because we De +Crequys are poor, and my mother cannot afford me another suit of clothes +this year, and yonder stone carving is all jagged, and would tear my coat +and breeches. Now, to-morrow morning I could go up with nothing on but +an old shirt.' + +"'But you would tear your legs.' + +"'My race do not care for pain,' said the boy, drawing himself from +Urian's arm, and walking a few steps away, with a becoming pride and +reserve; for he was hurt at being spoken to as if he were afraid, and +annoyed at having to confess the true reason for declining the feat. But +Urian was not to be thus baffled. He went up to Clement, and put his arm +once more about his neck, and I could see the two lads as they walked +down the terrace away from the hotel windows: first Urian spoke eagerly, +looking with imploring fondness into Clement's face, which sought the +ground, till at last the French boy spoke, and by-and-by his arm was +round Urian too, and they paced backwards and forwards in deep talk, but +gravely, as became men, rather than boys. + +"All at once, from the little chapel at the corner of the large garden +belonging to the Missions Etrangeres, I heard the tinkle of the little +bell, announcing the elevation of the host. Down on his knees went +Clement, hands crossed, eyes bent down: while Urian stood looking on in +respectful thought. + +"What a friendship that might have been! I never dream of Urian without +seeing Clement too--Urian speaks to me, or does something,--but Clement +only flits round Urian, and never seems to see any one else!" + +"But I must not forget to tell you, that the next morning, before he was +out of his room, a footman of Madame de Crequy's brought Urian the +starling's nest." + +"Well! we came back to England, and the boys were to correspond; and +Madame de Crequy and I exchanged civilities; and Urian went to sea." + +"After that, all seemed to drop away. I cannot tell you all. However, +to confine myself to the De Crequys. I had a letter from Clement; I knew +he felt his friend's death deeply; but I should never have learnt it from +the letter he sent. It was formal, and seemed like chaff to my hungering +heart. Poor fellow! I dare say he had found it hard to write. What +could he--or any one--say to a mother who has lost her child? The world +does not think so, and, in general, one must conform to the customs of +the world; but, judging from my own experience, I should say that +reverent silence at such times is the tenderest balm. Madame de Crequy +wrote too. But I knew she could not feel my loss so much as Clement, and +therefore her letter was not such a disappointment. She and I went on +being civil and polite in the way of commissions, and occasionally +introducing friends to each other, for a year or two, and then we ceased +to have any intercourse. Then the terrible Revolution came. No one who +did not live at those times can imagine the daily expectation of news--the +hourly terror of rumours affecting the fortunes and lives of those whom +most of us had known as pleasant hosts, receiving us with peaceful +welcome in their magnificent houses. Of course, there was sin enough and +suffering enough behind the scenes; but we English visitors to Paris had +seen little or nothing of that,--and I had sometimes thought, indeed, how +even death seemed loth to choose his victims out of that brilliant throng +whom I had known. Madame de Crequy's one boy lived; while three out of +my six were gone since we had met! I do not think all lots are equal, +even now that I know the end of her hopes; but I do say that whatever our +individual lot is, it is our duty to accept it, without comparing it with +that of others. + +"The times were thick with gloom and terror. 'What next?' was the +question we asked of every one who brought us news from Paris. Where +were these demons hidden when, so few years ago, we danced and feasted, +and enjoyed the brilliant salons and the charming friendships of Paris? + +"One evening, I was sitting alone in Saint James's Square; my lord off at +the club with Mr. Fox and others: he had left me, thinking that I should +go to one of the many places to which I had been invited for that +evening; but I had no heart to go anywhere, for it was poor Urian's +birthday, and I had not even rung for lights, though the day was fast +closing in, but was thinking over all his pretty ways, and on his warm +affectionate nature, and how often I had been too hasty in speaking to +him, for all I loved him so dearly; and how I seemed to have neglected +and dropped his dear friend Clement, who might even now be in need of +help in that cruel, bloody Paris. I say I was thinking reproachfully of +all this, and particularly of Clement de Crequy in connection with Urian, +when Fenwick brought me a note, sealed with a coat-of-arms I knew well, +though I could not remember at the moment where I had seen it. I puzzled +over it, as one does sometimes, for a minute or more, before I opened the +letter. In a moment I saw it was from Clement de Crequy. 'My mother is +here,' he said: 'she is very ill, and I am bewildered in this strange +country. May I entreat you to receive me for a few minutes?' The bearer +of the note was the woman of the house where they lodged. I had her +brought up into the anteroom, and questioned her myself, while my +carriage was being brought round. They had arrived in London a fortnight +or so before: she had not known their quality, judging them (according to +her kind) by their dress and their luggage; poor enough, no doubt. The +lady had never left her bedroom since her arrival; the young man waited +upon her, did everything for her, never left her, in fact; only she (the +messenger) had promised to stay within call, as soon as she returned, +while he went out somewhere. She could hardly understand him, he spoke +English so badly. He had never spoken it, I dare say, since he had +talked to my Urian." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +"In the hurry of the moment I scarce knew what I did. I bade the +housekeeper put up every delicacy she had, in order to tempt the invalid, +whom yet I hoped to bring back with me to our house. When the carriage +was ready I took the good woman with me to show us the exact way, which +my coachman professed not to know; for, indeed, they were staying at but +a poor kind of place at the back of Leicester Square, of which they had +heard, as Clement told me afterwards, from one of the fishermen who had +carried them across from the Dutch coast in their disguises as a +Friesland peasant and his mother. They had some jewels of value +concealed round their persons; but their ready money was all spent before +I saw them, and Clement had been unwilling to leave his mother, even for +the time necessary to ascertain the best mode of disposing of the +diamonds. For, overcome with distress of mind and bodily fatigue, she +had reached London only to take to her bed in a sort of low, nervous +fever, in which her chief and only idea seemed to be that Clement was +about to be taken from her to some prison or other; and if he were out of +her sight, though but for a minute, she cried like a child, and could not +be pacified or comforted. The landlady was a kind, good woman, and +though she but half understood the case, she was truly sorry for them, as +foreigners, and the mother sick in a strange land. + +"I sent her forwards to request permission for my entrance. In a moment +I saw Clement--a tall, elegant young man, in a curious dress of coarse +cloth, standing at the open door of a room, and evidently--even before he +accosted me--striving to soothe the terrors of his mother inside. I went +towards him, and would have taken his hand, but he bent down and kissed +mine. + +"'May I come in, madame?' I asked, looking at the poor sick lady, lying +in the dark, dingy bed, her head propped up on coarse and dirty pillows, +and gazing with affrighted eyes at all that was going on. + +"'Clement! Clement! come to me!' she cried; and when he went to the +bedside she turned on one side, and took his hand in both of hers, and +began stroking it, and looking up in his face. I could scarce keep back +my tears. + +"He stood there quite still, except that from time to time he spoke to +her in a low tone. At last I advanced into the room, so that I could +talk to him, without renewing her alarm. I asked for the doctor's +address; for I had heard that they had called in some one, at their +landlady's recommendation: but I could hardly understand Clement's broken +English, and mispronunciation of our proper names, and was obliged to +apply to the woman herself. I could not say much to Clement, for his +attention was perpetually needed by his mother, who never seemed to +perceive that I was there. But I told him not to fear, however long I +might be away, for that I would return before night; and, bidding the +woman take charge of all the heterogeneous things the housekeeper had put +up, and leaving one of my men in the house, who could understand a few +words of French, with directions that he was to hold himself at Madame de +Crequy's orders until I sent or gave him fresh commands, I drove off to +the doctor's. What I wanted was his permission to remove Madame de +Crequy to my own house, and to learn how it best could be done; for I saw +that every movement in the room, every sound except Clement's voice, +brought on a fresh access of trembling and nervous agitation. + +"The doctor was, I should think, a clever man; but he had that kind of +abrupt manner which people get who have much to do with the lower orders. + +"I told him the story of his patient, the interest I had in her, and the +wish I entertained of removing her to my own house. + +"'It can't be done,' said he. 'Any change will kill her.' + +"'But it must be done,' I replied. 'And it shall not kill her.' + +"'Then I have nothing more to say,' said he, turning away from the +carriage door, and making as though he would go back into the house. + +"'Stop a moment. You must help me; and, if you do, you shall have reason +to be glad, for I will give you fifty pounds down with pleasure. If you +won't do it, another shall.' + +"He looked at me, then (furtively) at the carriage, hesitated, and then +said: 'You do not mind expense, apparently. I suppose you are a rich +lady of quality. Such folks will not stick at such trifles as the life +or death of a sick woman to get their own way. I suppose I must e'en +help you, for if I don't, another will.' + +"I did not mind what he said, so that he would assist me. I was pretty +sure that she was in a state to require opiates; and I had not forgotten +Christopher Sly, you may be sure, so I told him what I had in my head. +That in the dead of night--the quiet time in the streets,--she should be +carried in a hospital litter, softly and warmly covered over, from the +Leicester Square lodging-house to rooms that I would have in perfect +readiness for her. As I planned, so it was done. I let Clement know, by +a note, of my design. I had all prepared at home, and we walked about my +house as though shod with velvet, while the porter watched at the open +door. At last, through the darkness, I saw the lanterns carried by my +men, who were leading the little procession. The litter looked like a +hearse; on one side walked the doctor, on the other Clement; they came +softly and swiftly along. I could not try any farther experiment; we +dared not change her clothes; she was laid in the bed in the landlady's +coarse night-gear, and covered over warmly, and left in the shaded, +scented room, with a nurse and the doctor watching by her, while I led +Clement to the dressing-room adjoining, in which I had had a bed placed +for him. Farther than that he would not go; and there I had refreshments +brought. Meanwhile, he had shown his gratitude by every possible action +(for we none of us dared to speak): he had kneeled at my feet, and kissed +my hand, and left it wet with his tears. He had thrown up his arms to +Heaven, and prayed earnestly, as I could see by the movement of his lips. +I allowed him to relieve himself by these dumb expressions, if I may so +call them,--and then I left him, and went to my own rooms to sit up for +my lord, and tell him what I had done. + +"Of course, it was all right; and neither my lord nor I could sleep for +wondering how Madame de Crequy would bear her awakening. I had engaged +the doctor, to whose face and voice she was accustomed, to remain with +her all night: the nurse was experienced, and Clement was within call. +But it was with the greatest relief that I heard from my own woman, when +she brought me my chocolate, that Madame de Crequy (Monsieur had said) +had awakened more tranquil than she had been for many days. To be sure, +the whole aspect of the bed-chamber must have been more familiar to her +than the miserable place where I had found her, and she must have +intuitively felt herself among friends. + +"My lord was scandalized at Clement's dress, which, after the first +moment of seeing him I had forgotten, in thinking of other things, and +for which I had not prepared Lord Ludlow. He sent for his own tailor, +and bade him bring patterns of stuffs, and engage his men to work night +and day till Clement could appear as became his rank. In short, in a few +days so much of the traces of their flight were removed, that we had +almost forgotten the terrible causes of it, and rather felt as if they +had come on a visit to us than that they had been compelled to fly their +country. Their diamonds, too, were sold well by my lord's agents, though +the London shops were stocked with jewellery, and such portable +valuables, some of rare and curious fashion, which were sold for half +their real value by emigrants who could not afford to wait. Madame de +Crequy was recovering her health, although her strength was sadly gone, +and she would never be equal to such another flight, as the perilous one +which she had gone through, and to which she could not bear the slightest +reference. For some time things continued in this state--the De Crequys +still our honoured visitors,--many houses besides our own, even among our +own friends, open to receive the poor flying nobility of France, driven +from their country by the brutal republicans, and every freshly-arrived +emigrant bringing new tales of horror, as if these revolutionists were +drunk with blood, and mad to devise new atrocities. One day Clement--I +should tell you he had been presented to our good King George and the +sweet Queen, and they had accosted him most graciously, and his beauty +and elegance, and some of the circumstances attendant on his flight, made +him be received in the world quite like a hero of romance; he might have +been on intimate terms in many a distinguished house, had he cared to +visit much; but he accompanied my lord and me with an air of indifference +and languor, which I sometimes fancied made him be all the more sought +after: Monkshaven (that was the title my eldest son bore) tried in vain +to interest him in all young men's sports. But no! it was the same +through all. His mother took far more interest in the on-dits of the +London world, into which she was far too great an invalid to venture, +than he did in the absolute events themselves, in which he might have +been an actor. One day, as I was saying, an old Frenchman of a humble +class presented himself to our servants, several of them, understood +French; and through Medlicott, I learnt that he was in some way connected +with the De Crequys; not with their Paris-life; but I fancy he had been +intendant of their estates in the country; estates which were more useful +as hunting-grounds than as adding to their income. However, there was +the old man and with him, wrapped round his person, he had brought the +long parchment rolls, and deeds relating to their property. These he +would deliver up to none but Monsieur de Crequy, the rightful owner; and +Clement was out with Monkshaven, so the old man waited; and when Clement +came in, I told him of the steward's arrival, and how he had been cared +for by my people. Clement went directly to see him. He was a long time +away, and I was waiting for him to drive out with me, for some purpose or +another, I scarce know what, but I remember I was tired of waiting, and +was just in the act of ringing the bell to desire that he might be +reminded of his engagement with me, when he came in, his face as white as +the powder in his hair, his beautiful eyes dilated with horror. I saw +that he had heard something that touched him even more closely than the +usual tales which every fresh emigrant brought. + +"'What is it, Clement?' I asked. + +"He clasped his hands, and looked as though he tried to speak, but could +not bring out the words. + +"'They have guillotined my uncle!' said he at last. Now, I knew that +there was a Count de Crequy; but I had always understood that the elder +branch held very little communication with him; in fact, that he was a +vaurien of some kind, and rather a disgrace than otherwise to the family. +So, perhaps, I was hard-hearted but I was a little surprised at this +excess of emotion, till I saw that peculiar look in his eyes that many +people have when there is more terror in their hearts than they dare put +into words. He wanted me to understand something without his saying it; +but how could I? I had never heard of a Mademoiselle de Crequy. + +"'Virginie!' at last he uttered. In an instant I understood it all, and +remembered that, if Urian had lived, he too might have been in love. + +"'Your uncle's daughter?' I inquired. + +"'My cousin,' he replied. + +"I did not say, 'your betrothed,' but I had no doubt of it. I was +mistaken, however. + +"'O madame!' he continued, 'her mother died long ago--her father now--and +she is in daily fear,--alone, deserted--' + +"'Is she in the Abbaye?' asked I. + +"'No! she is in hiding with the widow of her father's old concierge. Any +day they may search the house for aristocrats. They are seeking them +everywhere. Then, not her life alone, but that of the old woman, her +hostess, is sacrificed. The old woman knows this, and trembles with +fear. Even if she is brave enough to be faithful, her fears would betray +her, should the house be searched. Yet, there is no one to help Virginie +to escape. She is alone in Paris.' + +"I saw what was in his mind. He was fretting and chafing to go to his +cousin's assistance; but the thought of his mother restrained him. I +would not have kept back Urian from such on errand at such a time. How +should I restrain him? And yet, perhaps, I did wrong in not urging the +chances of danger more. Still, if it was danger to him, was it not the +same or even greater danger to her?--for the French spared neither age +nor sex in those wicked days of terror. So I rather fell in with his +wish, and encouraged him to think how best and most prudently it might be +fulfilled; never doubting, as I have said, that he and his cousin were +troth-plighted. + +"But when I went to Madame de Crequy--after he had imparted his, or +rather our plan to her--I found out my mistake. She, who was in general +too feeble to walk across the room save slowly, and with a stick, was +going from end to end with quick, tottering steps; and, if now and then +she sank upon a chair, it seemed as if she could not rest, for she was up +again in a moment, pacing along, wringing her hands, and speaking rapidly +to herself. When she saw me, she stopped: 'Madame,' she said, 'you have +lost your own boy. You might have left me mine.' + +"I was so astonished--I hardly knew what to say. I had spoken to Clement +as if his mother's consent were secure (as I had felt my own would have +been if Urian had been alive to ask it). Of coarse, both he and I knew +that his mother's consent must be asked and obtained, before he could +leave her to go on such an undertaking; but, somehow, my blood always +rose at the sight or sound of danger; perhaps, because my life had been +so peaceful. Poor Madame de Crequy! it was otherwise with her; she +despaired while I hoped, and Clement trusted. + +"'Dear Madame de Crequy,' said I, 'he will return safely to us; every +precaution shall be taken, that either he or you, or my lord, or +Monkshaven can think of; but he cannot leave a girl--his nearest relation +save you--his betrothed, is she not?' + +"'His betrothed!' cried she, now at the utmost pitch of her excitement. +'Virginie betrothed to Clement?--no! thank heaven, not so bad as that! +Yet it might have been. But mademoiselle scorned my son! She would have +nothing to do with him. Now is the time for him to have nothing to do +with her!" + +"Clement had entered at the door behind his mother as she thus spoke. His +face was set and pale, till it looked as gray and immovable as if it had +been carved in stone. He came forward and stood before his mother. She +stopped her walk, threw back her haughty head, and the two looked each +other steadily in the face. After a minute or two in this attitude, her +proud and resolute gaze never flinching or wavering, he went down upon +one knee, and, taking her hand--her hard, stony hand, which never closed +on his, but remained straight and stiff: + +"'Mother,' he pleaded, 'withdraw your prohibition. Let me go!' + +"'What were her words?' Madame de Crequy replied, slowly, as if forcing +her memory to the extreme of accuracy. 'My cousin,' she said, 'when I +marry, I marry a man, not a petit-maitre. I marry a man who, whatever +his rank may be will add dignity to the human race by his virtues, and +not be content to live in an effeminate court on the traditions of past +grandeur.' She borrowed her words from the infamous Jean-Jacques +Rousseau, the friend of her scarce less infamous father--nay! I will say +it,--if not her words, she borrowed her principles. And my son to +request her to marry him!' + +"'It was my father's written wish,' said Clement. + +"'But did you not love her? You plead your father's words,--words +written twelve years before,--and as if that were your reason for being +indifferent to my dislike to the alliance. But you requested her to +marry you,--and she refused you with insolent contempt; and now you are +ready to leave me,--leave me desolate in a foreign land--' + +"'Desolate! my mother! and the Countess Ludlow stands there!' + +"'Pardon, madame! But all the earth, though it were full of kind hearts, +is but a desolation and a desert place to a mother when her only child is +absent. And you, Clement, would leave me for this Virginie,--this +degenerate De Crequy, tainted with the atheism of the Encyclopedistes! +She is only reaping some of the fruit of the harvest whereof her friends +have sown the seed. Let her alone! Doubtless she has friends--it may be +lovers--among these demons, who, under the cry of liberty, commit every +licence. Let her alone, Clement! She refused you with scorn: be too +proud to notice her now.' + +"'Mother, I cannot think of myself; only of her.' + +"'Think of me, then! I, your mother, forbid you to go.' + +"Clement bowed low, and went out of the room instantly, as one blinded. +She saw his groping movement, and, for an instant, I think her heart was +touched. But she turned to me, and tried to exculpate her past violence +by dilating upon her wrongs, and they certainly were many. The Count, +her husband's younger brother, had invariably tried to make mischief +between husband and wife. He had been the cleverer man of the two, and +had possessed extraordinary influence over her husband. She suspected +him of having instigated that clause in her husband's will, by which the +Marquis expressed his wish for the marriage of the cousins. The Count +had had some interest in the management of the De Crequy property during +her son's minority. Indeed, I remembered then, that it was through Count +de Crequy that Lord Ludlow had first heard of the apartment which we +afterwards took in the Hotel de Crequy; and then the recollection of a +past feeling came distinctly out of the mist, as it were; and I called to +mind how, when we first took up our abode in the Hotel de Crequy, both +Lord Ludlow and I imagined that the arrangement was displeasing to our +hostess; and how it had taken us a considerable time before we had been +able to establish relations of friendship with her. Years after our +visit, she began to suspect that Clement (whom she could not forbid to +visit at his uncle's house, considering the terms on which his father had +been with his brother; though she herself never set foot over the Count +de Crequy's threshold) was attaching himself to mademoiselle, his cousin; +and she made cautious inquiries as to the appearance, character, and +disposition of the young lady. Mademoiselle was not handsome, they said; +but of a fine figure, and generally considered as having a very noble and +attractive presence. In character she was daring and wilful (said one +set); original and independent (said another). She was much indulged by +her father, who had given her something of a man's education, and +selected for her intimate friend a young lady below her in rank, one of +the Bureaucracie, a Mademoiselle Necker, daughter of the Minister of +Finance. Mademoiselle de Crequy was thus introduced into all the free- +thinking salons of Paris; among people who were always full of plans for +subverting society. 'And did Clement affect such people?' Madame de +Crequy had asked with some anxiety. No! Monsieur de Crequy had neither +eyes nor ears, nor thought for anything but his cousin, while she was by. +And she? She hardly took notice of his devotion, so evident to every one +else. The proud creature! But perhaps that was her haughty way of +concealing what she felt. And so Madame de Crequy listened, and +questioned, and learnt nothing decided, until one day she surprised +Clement with the note in his hand, of which she remembered the stinging +words so well, in which Virginie had said, in reply to a proposal Clement +had sent her through her father, that 'When she married she married a +man, not a petit-maitre.' + +"Clement was justly indignant at the insulting nature of the answer +Virginie had sent to a proposal, respectful in its tone, and which was, +after all, but the cool, hardened lava over a burning heart. He +acquiesced in his mother's desire, that he should not again present +himself in his uncle's salons; but he did not forget Virginie, though he +never mentioned her name. + +"Madame de Crequy and her son were among the earliest proscrits, as they +were of the strongest possible royalists, and aristocrats, as it was the +custom of the horrid Sansculottes to term those who adhered to the habits +of expression and action in which it was their pride to have been +educated. They had left Paris some weeks before they had arrived in +England, and Clement's belief at the time of quitting the Hotel de Crequy +had certainly been, that his uncle was not merely safe, but rather a +popular man with the party in power. And, as all communication having +relation to private individuals of a reliable kind was intercepted, +Monsieur de Crequy had felt but little anxiety for his uncle and cousin, +in comparison with what he did for many other friends of very different +opinions in politics, until the day when he was stunned by the fatal +information that even his progressive uncle was guillotined, and learnt +that his cousin was imprisoned by the licence of the mob, whose rights +(as she called them) she was always advocating. + +"When I had heard all this story, I confess I lost in sympathy for +Clement what I gained for his mother. Virginie's life did not seem to me +worth the risk that Clement's would run. But when I saw him--sad, +depressed, nay, hopeless--going about like one oppressed by a heavy dream +which he cannot shake off; caring neither to eat, drink, nor sleep, yet +bearing all with silent dignity, and even trying to force a poor, faint +smile when he caught my anxious eyes; I turned round again, and wondered +how Madame de Crequy could resist this mute pleading of her son's altered +appearance. As for my Lord Ludlow and Monkshaven, as soon as they +understood the case, they were indignant that any mother should attempt +to keep a son out of honourable danger; and it was honourable, and a +clear duty (according to them) to try to save the life of a helpless +orphan girl, his next of kin. None but a Frenchman, said my lord, would +hold himself bound by an old woman's whimsies and fears, even though she +were his mother. As it was, he was chafing himself to death under the +restraint. If he went, to be sure, the wretches might make an end of +him, as they had done of many a fine fellow: but my lord would take heavy +odds, that, instead of being guillotined, he would save the girl, and +bring her safe to England, just desperately in love with her preserver, +and then we would have a jolly wedding down at Monkshaven. My lord +repeated his opinion so often that it became a certain prophecy in his +mind of what was to take place; and, one day seeing Clement look even +paler and thinner than he had ever done before, he sent a message to +Madame de Crequy, requesting permission to speak to her in private. + +"'For, by George!' said he, 'she shall hear my opinion, and not let that +lad of hers kill himself by fretting. He's too good for that, if he had +been an English lad, he would have been off to his sweetheart long before +this, without saying with your leave or by your leave; but being a +Frenchman, he is all for AEneas and filial piety,--filial fiddle-sticks!' +(My lord had run away to sea, when a boy, against his father's consent, I +am sorry to say; and, as all had ended well, and he had come back to find +both his parents alive, I do not think he was ever as much aware of his +fault as he might have been under other circumstances.) 'No, my lady,' +he went on, 'don't come with me. A woman can manage a man best when he +has a fit of obstinacy, and a man can persuade a woman out of her +tantrums, when all her own sex, the whole army of them, would fail. Allow +me to go alone to my tete-a-tete with madame." + +"What he said, what passed, he never could repeat; but he came back +graver than he went. However, the point was gained; Madame de Crequy +withdrew her prohibition, and had given him leave to tell Clement as +much. + +"'But she is an old Cassandra,' said he. 'Don't let the lad be much with +her; her talk would destroy the courage of the bravest man; she is so +given over to superstition.' Something that she had said had touched a +chord in my lord's nature which he inherited from his Scotch ancestors. +Long afterwards, I heard what this was. Medlicott told me. + +"However, my lord shook off all fancies that told against the fulfilment +of Clement's wishes. All that afternoon we three sat together, planning; +and Monkshaven passed in and out, executing our commissions, and +preparing everything. Towards nightfall all was ready for Clement's +start on his journey towards the coast. + +"Madame had declined seeing any of us since my lord's stormy interview +with her. She sent word that she was fatigued, and desired repose. But, +of course, before Clement set off, he was bound to wish her farewell, and +to ask for her blessing. In order to avoid an agitating conversation +between mother and son, my lord and I resolved to be present at the +interview. Clement was already in his travelling-dress, that of a Norman +fisherman, which Monkshaven had, with infinite trouble, discovered in the +possession of one of the emigres who thronged London, and who had made +his escape from the shores of France in this disguise. Clement's plan +was, to go down to the coast of Sussex, and get some of the fishing or +smuggling boats to take him across to the French coast near Dieppe. There +again he would have to change his dress. Oh, it was so well planned! His +mother was startled by his disguise (of which we had not thought to +forewarn her) as he entered her apartment. And either that, or the being +suddenly roused from the heavy slumber into which she was apt to fall +when she was left alone, gave her manner an air of wildness that was +almost like insanity. + +"'Go, go!' she said to him, almost pushing him away as he knelt to kiss +her hand. 'Virginie is beckoning to you, but you don't see what kind of +a bed it is--' + +"'Clement, make haste!' said my lord, in a hurried manner, as if to +interrupt madame. 'The time is later than I thought, and you must not +miss the morning's tide. Bid your mother good-bye at once, and let us be +off.' For my lord and Monkshaven were to ride with him to an inn near +the shore, from whence he was to walk to his destination. My lord almost +took him by the arm to pull him away; and they were gone, and I was left +alone with Madame de Crequy. When she heard the horses' feet, she seemed +to find out the truth, as if for the first time. She set her teeth +together. 'He has left me for her!' she almost screamed. 'Left me for +her!' she kept muttering; and then, as the wild look came back into her +eyes, she said, almost with exultation, 'But I did not give him my +blessing!'" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +"All night Madame de Crequy raved in delirium. If I could I would have +sent for Clement back again. I did send off one man, but I suppose my +directions were confused, or they were wrong, for he came back after my +lord's return, on the following afternoon. By this time Madame de Crequy +was quieter: she was, indeed, asleep from exhaustion when Lord Ludlow and +Monkshaven came in. They were in high spirits, and their hopefulness +brought me round to a less dispirited state. All had gone well: they had +accompanied Clement on foot along the shore, until they had met with a +lugger, which my lord had hailed in good nautical language. The captain +had responded to these freemason terms by sending a boat to pick up his +passenger, and by an invitation to breakfast sent through a +speaking-trumpet. Monkshaven did not approve of either the meal or the +company, and had returned to the inn, but my lord had gone with Clement +and breakfasted on board, upon grog, biscuit, fresh-caught fish--'the +best breakfast he ever ate,' he said, but that was probably owing to the +appetite his night's ride had given him. However, his good fellowship +had evidently won the captain's heart, and Clement had set sail under the +best auspices. It was agreed that I should tell all this to Madame de +Crequy, if she inquired; otherwise, it would be wiser not to renew her +agitation by alluding to her son's journey. + +"I sat with her constantly for many days; but she never spoke of Clement. +She forced herself to talk of the little occurrences of Parisian society +in former days: she tried to be conversational and agreeable, and to +betray no anxiety or even interest in the object of Clement's journey; +and, as far as unremitting efforts could go, she succeeded. But the +tones of her voice were sharp and yet piteous, as if she were in constant +pain; and the glance of her eye hurried and fearful, as if she dared not +let it rest on any object. + +"In a week we heard of Clement's safe arrival on the French coast. He +sent a letter to this effect by the captain of the smuggler, when the +latter returned. We hoped to hear again; but week after week elapsed, +and there was no news of Clement. I had told Lord Ludlow, in Madame de +Crequy's presence, as he and I had arranged, of the note I had received +from her son, informing us of his landing in France. She heard, but she +took no notice, and evidently began to wonder that we did not mention any +further intelligence of him in the same manner before her; and daily I +began to fear that her pride would give way, and that she would +supplicate for news before I had any to give her. + +"One morning, on my awakening, my maid told me that Madame de Crequy had +passed a wretched night, and had bidden Medlicott (whom, as understanding +French, and speaking it pretty well, though with that horrid German +accent, I had put about her) request that I would go to madame's room as +soon as I was dressed. + +"I knew what was coming, and I trembled all the time they were doing my +hair, and otherwise arranging me. I was not encouraged by my lord's +speeches. He had heard the message, and kept declaring that he would +rather be shot than have to tell her that there was no news of her son; +and yet he said, every now and then, when I was at the lowest pitch of +uneasiness, that he never expected to hear again: that some day soon we +should see him walking in and introducing Mademoiselle de Crequy to us. + +"However at last I was ready, and go I must. + +"Her eyes were fixed on the door by which I entered. I went up to the +bedside. She was not rouged,--she had left it off now for several +days,--she no longer attempted to keep up the vain show of not feeling, +and loving, and fearing. + +"For a moment or two she did not speak, and I was glad of the respite. + +"'Clement?' she said at length, covering her mouth with a handkerchief +the minute she had spoken, that I might not see it quiver. + +"'There has been no news since the first letter, saying how well the +voyage was performed, and how safely he had landed--near Dieppe, you +know,' I replied as cheerfully as possible. 'My lord does not expect +that we shall have another letter; he thinks that we shall see him soon.' + +"There was no answer. As I looked, uncertain whether to do or say more, +she slowly turned herself in bed, and lay with her face to the wall; and, +as if that did not shut out the light of day and the busy, happy world +enough, she put out her trembling hands, and covered her face with her +handkerchief. There was no violence: hardly any sound. + +"I told her what my lord had said about Clement's coming in some day, and +taking us all by surprise. I did not believe it myself, but it was just +possible,--and I had nothing else to say. Pity, to one who was striving +so hard to conceal her feelings, would have been impertinent. She let me +talk; but she did not reply. She knew that my words were vain and idle, +and had no root in my belief; as well as I did myself. + +"I was very thankful when Medlicott came in with Madame's breakfast, and +gave me an excuse for leaving. + +"But I think that conversation made me feel more anxious and impatient +than ever. I felt almost pledged to Madame de Crequy for the fulfilment +of the vision I had held out. She had taken entirely to her bed by this +time: not from illness, but because she had no hope within her to stir +her up to the effort of dressing. In the same way she hardly cared for +food. She had no appetite,--why eat to prolong a life of despair? But +she let Medlicott feed her, sooner than take the trouble of resisting. + +"And so it went on,--for weeks, months--I could hardly count the time, it +seemed so long. Medlicott told me she noticed a preternatural +sensitiveness of ear in Madame de Crequy, induced by the habit of +listening silently for the slightest unusual sound in the house. +Medlicott was always a minute watcher of any one whom she cared about; +and, one day, she made me notice by a sign madame's acuteness of hearing, +although the quick expectation was but evinced for a moment in the turn +of the eye, the hushed breath--and then, when the unusual footstep turned +into my lord's apartments, the soft quivering sigh, and the closed +eyelids. + +"At length the intendant of the De Crequy estates--the old man, you will +remember, whose information respecting Virginie de Crequy first gave +Clement the desire to return to Paris,--came to St. James's Square, and +begged to speak to me. I made haste to go down to him in the +housekeeper's room, sooner than that he should be ushered into mine, for +fear of madame hearing any sound. + +"The old man stood--I see him now--with his hat held before him in both +his hands; he slowly bowed till his face touched it when I came in. Such +long excess of courtesy augured ill. He waited for me to speak. + +"'Have you any intelligence?' I inquired. He had been often to the house +before, to ask if we had received any news; and once or twice I had seen +him, but this was the first time he had begged to see me. + +"'Yes, madame,' he replied, still standing with his head bent down, like +a child in disgrace. + +"'And it is bad!' I exclaimed. + +"'It is bad.' For a moment I was angry at the cold tone in which my +words were echoed; but directly afterwards I saw the large, slow, heavy +tears of age falling down the old man's cheeks, and on to the sleeves of +his poor, threadbare coat. + +"I asked him how he had heard it: it seemed as though I could not all at +once bear to hear what it was. He told me that the night before, in +crossing Long Acre, he had stumbled upon an old acquaintance of his; one +who, like himself had been a dependent upon the De Crequy family, but had +managed their Paris affairs, while Flechier had taken charge of their +estates in the country. Both were now emigrants, and living on the +proceeds of such small available talents as they possessed. Flechier, as +I knew, earned a very fair livelihood by going about to dress salads for +dinner parties. His compatriot, Le Febvre, had begun to give a few +lessons as a dancing-master. One of them took the other home to his +lodgings; and there, when their most immediate personal adventures had +been hastily talked over, came the inquiry from Flechier as to Monsieur +de Crequy + +"'Clement was dead--guillotined. Virginie was dead--guillotined.' + +"When Flechier had told me thus much, he could not speak for sobbing; and +I, myself, could hardly tell how to restrain my tears sufficiently, until +I could go to my own room and be at liberty to give way. He asked my +leave to bring in his friend Le Febvre, who was walking in the square, +awaiting a possible summons to tell his story. I heard afterwards a good +many details, which filled up the account, and made me feel--which brings +me back to the point I started from--how unfit the lower orders are for +being trusted indiscriminately with the dangerous powers of education. I +have made a long preamble, but now I am coming to the moral of my story." + +My lady was trying to shake off the emotion which she evidently felt in +recurring to this sad history of Monsieur de Crequy's death. She came +behind me, and arranged my pillows, and then, seeing I had been +crying--for, indeed, I was weak-spirited at the time, and a little served +to unloose my tears--she stooped down, and kissed my forehead, and said +"Poor child!" almost as if she thanked me for feeling that old grief of +hers. + +"Being once in France, it was no difficult thing for Clement to get into +Paris. The difficulty in those days was to leave, not to enter. He came +in dressed as a Norman peasant, in charge of a load of fruit and +vegetables, with which one of the Seine barges was freighted. He worked +hard with his companions in landing and arranging their produce on the +quays; and then, when they dispersed to get their breakfasts at some of +the estaminets near the old Marche aux Fleurs, he sauntered up a street +which conducted him, by many an odd turn, through the Quartier Latin to a +horrid back alley, leading out of the Rue l'Ecole de Medecine; some +atrocious place, as I have heard, not far from the shadow of that +terrible Abbaye, where so many of the best blood of France awaited their +deaths. But here some old man lived, on whose fidelity Clement thought +that he might rely. I am not sure if he had not been gardener in those +very gardens behind the Hotel Crequy where Clement and Urian used to play +together years before. But whatever the old man's dwelling might be, +Clement was only too glad to reach it, you may be sure, he had been kept +in Normandy, in all sorts of disguises, for many days after landing in +Dieppe, through the difficulty of entering Paris unsuspected by the many +ruffians who were always on the look-out for aristocrats. + +"The old gardener was, I believe, both faithful and tried, and sheltered +Clement in his garret as well as might be. Before he could stir out, it +was necessary to procure a fresh disguise, and one more in character with +an inhabitant of Paris than that of a Norman carter was procured; and +after waiting in-doors for one or two days, to see if any suspicion was +excited, Clement set off to discover Virginie. + +"He found her at the old concierge's dwelling. Madame Babette was the +name of this woman, who must have been a less faithful--or rather, +perhaps, I should say, a more interested--friend to her guest than the +old gardener Jaques was to Clement. + +"I have seen a miniature of Virginie, which a French lady of quality +happened to have in her possession at the time of her flight from Paris, +and which she brought with her to England unwittingly; for it belonged to +the Count de Crequy, with whom she was slightly acquainted. I should +fancy from it, that Virginie was taller and of a more powerful figure for +a woman than her cousin Clement was for a man. Her dark-brown hair was +arranged in short curls--the way of dressing the hair announced the +politics of the individual, in those days, just as patches did in my +grandmother's time; and Virginie's hair was not to my taste, or according +to my principles: it was too classical. Her large, black eyes looked out +at you steadily. One cannot judge of the shape of a nose from a full- +face miniature, but the nostrils were clearly cut and largely opened. I +do not fancy her nose could have been pretty; but her mouth had a +character all its own, and which would, I think, have redeemed a plainer +face. It was wide, and deep set into the cheeks at the corners; the +upper lip was very much arched, and hardly closed over the teeth; so that +the whole face looked (from the serious, intent look in the eyes, and the +sweet intelligence of the mouth) as if she were listening eagerly to +something to which her answer was quite ready, and would come out of +those red, opening lips as soon as ever you had done speaking, and you +longed to know what she would say. + +"Well: this Virginie de Crequy was living with Madame Babette in the +conciergerie of an old French inn, somewhere to the north of Paris, so, +far enough from Clement's refuge. The inn had been frequented by farmers +from Brittany and such kind of people, in the days when that sort of +intercourse went on between Paris and the provinces which had nearly +stopped now. Few Bretons came near it now, and the inn had fallen into +the hands of Madame Babette's brother, as payment for a bad wine debt of +the last proprietor. He put his sister and her child in, to keep it +open, as it were, and sent all the people he could to occupy the half- +furnished rooms of the house. They paid Babette for their lodging every +morning as they went out to breakfast, and returned or not as they chose, +at night. Every three days, the wine-merchant or his son came to Madame +Babette, and she accounted to them for the money she had received. She +and her child occupied the porter's office (in which the lad slept at +nights) and a little miserable bed-room which opened out of it, and +received all the light and air that was admitted through the door of +communication, which was half glass. Madame Babette must have had a kind +of attachment for the De Crequys--her De Crequys, you +understand--Virginie's father, the Count; for, at some risk to herself, +she had warned both him and his daughter of the danger impending over +them. But he, infatuated, would not believe that his dear Human Race +could ever do him harm; and, as long as he did not fear, Virginie was not +afraid. It was by some ruse, the nature of which I never heard, that +Madame Babette induced Virginie to come to her abode at the very hour in +which the Count had been recognized in the streets, and hurried off to +the Lanterne. It was after Babette had got her there, safe shut up in +the little back den, that she told her what had befallen her father. From +that day, Virginie had never stirred out of the gates, or crossed the +threshold of the porter's lodge. I do not say that Madame Babette was +tired of her continual presence, or regretted the impulse which made her +rush to the De Crequy's well-known house--after being compelled to form +one of the mad crowds that saw the Count de Crequy seized and hung--and +hurry his daughter out, through alleys and backways, until at length she +had the orphan safe in her own dark sleeping-room, and could tell her +tale of horror: but Madame Babette was poorly paid for her porter's work +by her avaricious brother; and it was hard enough to find food for +herself and her growing boy; and, though the poor girl ate little enough, +I dare say, yet there seemed no end to the burthen that Madame Babette +had imposed upon herself: the De Crequys were plundered, ruined, had +become an extinct race, all but a lonely friendless girl, in broken +health and spirits; and, though she lent no positive encouragement to his +suit, yet, at the time, when Clement reappeared in Paris, Madame Babette +was beginning to think that Virginie might do worse than encourage the +attentions of Monsieur Morin Fils, her nephew, and the wine merchant's +son. Of course, he and his father had the entree into the conciergerie +of the hotel that belonged to them, in right of being both proprietors +and relations. The son, Morin, had seen Virginie in this manner. He was +fully aware that she was far above him in rank, and guessed from her +whole aspect that she had lost her natural protectors by the terrible +guillotine; but he did not know her exact name or station, nor could he +persuade his aunt to tell him. However, he fell head over ears in love +with her, whether she were princess or peasant; and though at first there +was something about her which made his passionate love conceal itself +with shy, awkward reserve, and then made it only appear in the guise of +deep, respectful devotion; yet, by-and-by,--by the same process of +reasoning, I suppose, that his aunt had gone through even before him--Jean +Morin began to let Hope oust Despair from his heart. Sometimes he +thought--perhaps years hence--that solitary, friendless lady, pent up in +squalor, might turn to him as to a friend and comforter--and then--and +then--. Meanwhile Jean Morin was most attentive to his aunt, whom he had +rather slighted before. He would linger over the accounts; would bring +her little presents; and, above all, he made a pet and favourite of +Pierre, the little cousin, who could tell him about all the ways of going +on of Mam'selle Cannes, as Virginie was called. Pierre was thoroughly +aware of the drift and cause of his cousin's inquiries; and was his +ardent partisan, as I have heard, even before Jean Morin had exactly +acknowledged his wishes to himself. + +"It must have required some patience and much diplomacy, before Clement +de Crequy found out the exact place where his cousin was hidden. The old +gardener took the cause very much to heart; as, judging from my +recollections, I imagine he would have forwarded any fancy, however wild, +of Monsieur Clement's. (I will tell you afterwards how I came to know +all these particulars so well.) + +"After Clement's return, on two succeeding days, from his dangerous +search, without meeting with any good result, Jacques entreated Monsieur +de Crequy to let him take it in hand. He represented that he, as +gardener for the space of twenty years and more at the Hotel de Crequy, +had a right to be acquainted with all the successive concierges at the +Count's house; that he should not go among them as a stranger, but as an +old friend, anxious to renew pleasant intercourse; and that if the +Intendant's story, which he had told Monsieur de Crequy in England, was +true, that mademoiselle was in hiding at the house of a former concierge, +why, something relating to her would surely drop out in the course of +conversation. So he persuaded Clement to remain indoors, while he set +off on his round, with no apparent object but to gossip. + +"At night he came home,--having seen mademoiselle. He told Clement much +of the story relating to Madame Babette that I have told to you. Of +course, he had heard nothing of the ambitious hopes of Morin Fils,--hardly +of his existence, I should think. Madame Babette had received him +kindly; although, for some time, she had kept him standing in the +carriage gateway outside her door. But, on his complaining of the +draught and his rheumatism, she had asked him in: first looking round +with some anxiety, to see who was in the room behind her. No one was +there when he entered and sat down. But, in a minute or two, a tall, +thin young lady, with great, sad eyes, and pale cheeks, came from the +inner room, and, seeing him, retired. 'It is Mademoiselle Cannes,' said +Madame Babette, rather unnecessarily; for, if he had not been on the +watch for some sign of Mademoiselle de Crequy, he would hardly have +noticed the entrance and withdrawal. + +"Clement and the good old gardener were always rather perplexed by Madame +Babette's evident avoidance of all mention of the De Crequy family. If +she were so much interested in one member as to be willing to undergo the +pains and penalties of a domiciliary visit, it was strange that she never +inquired after the existence of her charge's friends and relations from +one who might very probably have heard something of them. They settled +that Madame Babette must believe that the Marquise and Clement were dead; +and admired her for her reticence in never speaking of Virginie. The +truth was, I suspect, that she was so desirous of her nephews success by +this time, that she did not like letting any one into the secret of +Virginie's whereabouts who might interfere with their plan. However, it +was arranged between Clement and his humble friend, that the former, +dressed in the peasant's clothes in which he had entered Paris, but +smartened up in one or two particulars, as if, although a countryman, he +had money to spare, should go and engage a sleeping-room in the old +Breton Inn; where, as I told you, accommodation for the night was to be +had. This was accordingly done, without exciting Madame Babette's +suspicions, for she was unacquainted with the Normandy accent, and +consequently did not perceive the exaggeration of it which Monsieur de +Crequy adopted in order to disguise his pure Parisian. But after he had +for two nights slept in a queer dark closet, at the end of one of the +numerous short galleries in the Hotel Duguesclin, and paid his money for +such accommodation each morning at the little bureau under the window of +the conciergerie, he found himself no nearer to his object. He stood +outside in the gateway: Madame Babette opened a pane in her window, +counted out the change, gave polite thanks, and shut to the pane with a +clack, before he could ever find out what to say that might be the means +of opening a conversation. Once in the streets, he was in danger from +the bloodthirsty mob, who were ready in those days to hunt to death every +one who looked like a gentleman, as an aristocrat: and Clement, depend +upon it, looked a gentleman, whatever dress he wore. Yet it was unwise +to traverse Paris to his old friend the gardener's grenier, so he had to +loiter about, where I hardly know. Only he did leave the Hotel +Duguesclin, and he did not go to old Jacques, and there was not another +house in Paris open to him. At the end of two days, he had made out +Pierre's existence; and he began to try to make friends with the lad. +Pierre was too sharp and shrewd not to suspect something from the +confused attempts at friendliness. It was not for nothing that the +Norman farmer lounged in the court and doorway, and brought home presents +of galette. Pierre accepted the galette, reciprocated the civil +speeches, but kept his eyes open. Once, returning home pretty late at +night, he surprised the Norman studying the shadows on the blind, which +was drawn down when Madame Babette's lamp was lighted. On going in, he +found Mademoiselle Cannes with his mother, sitting by the table, and +helping in the family mending. + +"Pierre was afraid that the Norman had some view upon the money which his +mother, as concierge, collected for her brother. But the money was all +safe next evening, when his cousin, Monsieur Morin Fils, came to collect +it. Madame Babette asked her nephew to sit down, and skilfully barred +the passage to the inner door, so that Virginie, had she been ever so +much disposed, could not have retreated. She sat silently sewing. All +at once the little party were startled by a very sweet tenor voice, just +close to the street window, singing one of the airs out of Beaumarchais' +operas, which, a few years before, had been popular all over Paris. But +after a few moments of silence, and one or two remarks, the talking went +on again. Pierre, however, noticed an increased air of abstraction in +Virginie, who, I suppose, was recurring to the last time that she had +heard the song, and did not consider, as her cousin had hoped she would +have done, what were the words set to the air, which he imagined she +would remember, and which would have told her so much. For, only a few +years before, Adam's opera of Richard le Roi had made the story of the +minstrel Blondel and our English Coeur de Lion familiar to all the opera- +going part of the Parisian public, and Clement had bethought him of +establishing a communication with Virginie by some such means. + +"The next night, about the same hour, the same voice was singing outside +the window again. Pierre, who had been irritated by the proceeding the +evening before, as it had diverted Virginie's attention from his cousin, +who had been doing his utmost to make himself agreeable, rushed out to +the door, just as the Norman was ringing the bell to be admitted for the +night. Pierre looked up and down the street; no one else was to be seen. +The next day, the Norman mollified him somewhat by knocking at the door +of the conciergerie, and begging Monsieur Pierre's acceptance of some +knee-buckles, which had taken the country farmer's fancy the day before, +as he had been gazing into the shops, but which, being too small for his +purpose, he took the liberty of offering to Monsieur Pierre. Pierre, a +French boy, inclined to foppery, was charmed, ravished by the beauty of +the present and with monsieur's goodness, and he began to adjust them to +his breeches immediately, as well as he could, at least, in his mother's +absence. The Norman, whom Pierre kept carefully on the outside of the +threshold, stood by, as if amused at the boy's eagerness. + +"'Take care,' said he, clearly and distinctly; 'take care, my little +friend, lest you become a fop; and, in that case, some day, years hence, +when your heart is devoted to some young lady, she may be inclined to say +to you'--here he raised his voice--'No, thank you; when I marry, I marry +a man, not a petit-maitre; I marry a man, who, whatever his position may +be, will add dignity to the human race by his virtues.' Farther than +that in his quotation Clement dared not go. His sentiments (so much +above the apparent occasion) met with applause from Pierre, who liked to +contemplate himself in the light of a lover, even though it should be a +rejected one, and who hailed the mention of the words 'virtues' and +'dignity of the human race' as belonging to the cant of a good citizen. + +"But Clement was more anxious to know how the invisible Lady took his +speech. There was no sign at the time. But when he returned at night, +he heard a voice, low singing, behind Madame Babette, as she handed him +his candle, the very air he had sung without effect for two nights past. +As if he had caught it up from her murmuring voice, he sang it loudly and +clearly as he crossed the court. + +"'Here is our opera-singer!' exclaimed Madame Babette. 'Why, the Norman +grazier sings like Boupre,' naming a favourite singer at the neighbouring +theatre. + +"Pierre was struck by the remark, and quietly resolved to look after the +Norman; but again, I believe, it was more because of his mother's deposit +of money than with any thought of Virginie. + +"However, the next morning, to the wonder of both mother and son, +Mademoiselle Cannes proposed, with much hesitation, to go out and make +some little purchase for herself. A month or two ago, this was what +Madame Babette had been never weary of urging. But now she was as much +surprised as if she had expected Virginie to remain a prisoner in her +rooms all the rest of her life. I suppose she had hoped that her first +time of quitting it would be when she left it for Monsieur Morin's house +as his wife. + +"A quick look from Madame Babette towards Pierre was all that was needed +to encourage the boy to follow her. He went out cautiously. She was at +the end of the street. She looked up and down, as if waiting for some +one. No one was there. Back she came, so swiftly that she nearly caught +Pierre before he could retreat through the porte-cochere. There he +looked out again. The neighbourhood was low and wild, and strange; and +some one spoke to Virginie,--nay, laid his hand upon her arm,--whose +dress and aspect (he had emerged out of a side-street) Pierre did not +know; but, after a start, and (Pierre could fancy) a little scream, +Virginie recognised the stranger, and the two turned up the side street +whence the man had come. Pierre stole swiftly to the corner of this +street; no one was there: they had disappeared up some of the alleys. +Pierre returned home to excite his mother's infinite surprise. But they +had hardly done talking, when Virginie returned, with a colour and a +radiance in her face, which they had never seen there since her father's +death." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +"I have told you that I heard much of this story from a friend of the +Intendant of the De Crequys, whom he met with in London. Some years +afterwards--the summer before my lord's death--I was travelling with him +in Devonshire, and we went to see the French prisoners of war on +Dartmoor. We fell into conversation with one of them, whom I found out +to be the very Pierre of whom I had heard before, as having been involved +in the fatal story of Clement and Virginie, and by him I was told much of +their last days, and thus I learnt how to have some sympathy with all +those who were concerned in those terrible events; yes, even with the +younger Morin himself, on whose behalf Pierre spoke warmly, even after so +long a time had elapsed. + +"For when the younger Morin called at the porter's lodge, on the evening +of the day when Virginie had gone out for the first time after so many +months' confinement to the conciergerie, he was struck with the +improvement in her appearance. It seems to have hardly been that he +thought her beauty greater: for, in addition to the fact that she was not +beautiful, Morin had arrived at that point of being enamoured when it +does not signify whether the beloved one is plain or handsome--she has +enchanted one pair of eyes, which henceforward see her through their own +medium. But Morin noticed the faint increase of colour and light in her +countenance. It was as though she had broken through her thick cloud of +hopeless sorrow, and was dawning forth into a happier life. And so, +whereas during her grief, he had revered and respected it even to a point +of silent sympathy, now that she was gladdened, his heart rose on the +wings of strengthened hopes. Even in the dreary monotony of this +existence in his Aunt Babette's conciergerie, Time had not failed in his +work, and now, perhaps, soon he might humbly strive to help Time. The +very next day he returned--on some pretence of business--to the Hotel +Duguesclin, and made his aunt's room, rather than his aunt herself, a +present of roses and geraniums tied up in a bouquet with a tricolor +ribbon. Virginie was in the room, sitting at the coarse sewing she liked +to do for Madame Babette. He saw her eyes brighten at the sight of the +flowers: she asked his aunt to let her arrange them; he saw her untie the +ribbon, and with a gesture of dislike, throw it on the ground, and give +it a kick with her little foot, and even in this girlish manner of +insulting his dearest prejudices, he found something to admire. + +"As he was coming out, Pierre stopped him. The lad had been trying to +arrest his cousin's attention by futile grimaces and signs played off +behind Virginie's back: but Monsieur Morin saw nothing but Mademoiselle +Cannes. However, Pierre was not to be baffled, and Monsieur Morin found +him in waiting just outside the threshold. With his finger on his lips, +Pierre walked on tiptoe by his companion's side till they would have been +long past sight or hearing of the conciergerie, even had the inhabitants +devoted themselves to the purposes of spying or listening. + +"'Chut!' said Pierre, at last. 'She goes out walking.' + +"'Well?' said Monsieur Morin, half curious, half annoyed at being +disturbed in the delicious reverie of the future into which he longed to +fall. + +"'Well! It is not well. It is bad.' + +"'Why? I do not ask who she is, but I have my ideas. She is an +aristocrat. Do the people about here begin to suspect her?' + +"'No, no!' said Pierre. 'But she goes out walking. She has gone these +two mornings. I have watched her. She meets a man--she is friends with +him, for she talks to him as eagerly as he does to her--mamma cannot tell +who he is.' + +"'Has my aunt seen him?' + +"'No, not so much as a fly's wing of him. I myself have only seen his +back. It strikes me like a familiar back, and yet I cannot think who it +is. But they separate with sudden darts, like two birds who have been +together to feed their young ones. One moment they are in close talk, +their heads together chuckotting; the next he has turned up some +bye-street, and Mademoiselle Cannes is close upon me--has almost caught +me.' + +"'But she did not see you?' inquired Monsieur Morin, in so altered a +voice that Pierre gave him one of his quick penetrating looks. He was +struck by the way in which his cousin's features--always coarse and +common-place--had become contracted and pinched; struck, too, by the +livid look on his sallow complexion. But as if Morin was conscious of +the manner in which his face belied his feelings, he made an effort, and +smiled, and patted Pierre's head, and thanked him for his intelligence, +and gave him a five-franc piece, and bade him go on with his observations +of Mademoiselle Cannes' movements, and report all to him. + +"Pierre returned home with a light heart, tossing up his five-franc piece +as he ran. Just as he was at the conciergerie door, a great tall man +bustled past him, and snatched his money away from him, looking back with +a laugh, which added insult to injury. Pierre had no redress; no one had +witnessed the impudent theft, and if they had, no one to be seen in the +street was strong enough to give him redress. Besides, Pierre had seen +enough of the state of the streets of Paris at that time to know that +friends, not enemies, were required, and the man had a bad air about him. +But all these considerations did not keep Pierre from bursting out into a +fit of crying when he was once more under his mother's roof; and +Virginie, who was alone there (Madame Babette having gone out to make her +daily purchases), might have imagined him pommeled to death by the +loudness of his sobs. + +"'What is the matter?' asked she. 'Speak, my child. What hast thou +done?' + +"'He has robbed me! he has robbed me!' was all Pierre could gulp out. + +"'Robbed thee! and of what, my poor boy?' said Virginie, stroking his +hair gently. + +"'Of my five-franc piece--of a five-franc piece,' said Pierre, correcting +himself, and leaving out the word my, half fearful lest Virginie should +inquire how he became possessed of such a sum, and for what services it +had been given him. But, of course, no such idea came into her head, for +it would have been impertinent, and she was gentle-born. + +"'Wait a moment, my lad,' and going to the one small drawer in the inner +apartment, which held all her few possessions, she brought back a little +ring--a ring just with one ruby in it--which she had worn in the days +when she cared to wear jewels. 'Take this,' said she, 'and run with it +to a jeweller's. It is but a poor, valueless thing, but it will bring +you in your five francs, at any rate. Go! I desire you.' + +"'But I cannot,' said the boy, hesitating; some dim sense of honour +flitting through his misty morals. + +"'Yes, you must!' she continued, urging him with her hand to the door. +'Run! if it brings in more than five francs, you shall return the surplus +to me.' + +"Thus tempted by her urgency, and, I suppose, reasoning with himself to +the effect that he might as well have the money, and then see whether he +thought it right to act as a spy upon her or not--the one action did not +pledge him to the other, nor yet did she make any conditions with her +gift--Pierre went off with her ring; and, after repaying himself his five +francs, he was enabled to bring Virginie back two more, so well had he +managed his affairs. But, although the whole transaction did not leave +him bound, in any way, to discover or forward Virginie's wishes, it did +leave him pledged, according to his code, to act according to her +advantage, and he considered himself the judge of the best course to be +pursued to this end. And, moreover, this little kindness attached him to +her personally. He began to think how pleasant it would be to have so +kind and generous a person for a relation; how easily his troubles might +be borne if he had always such a ready helper at hand; how much he should +like to make her like him, and come to him for the protection of his +masculine power! First of all his duties, as her self-appointed squire, +came the necessity of finding out who her strange new acquaintance was. +Thus, you see, he arrived at the same end, via supposed duty, that he was +previously pledged to via interest. I fancy a good number of us, when +any line of action will promote our own interest, can make ourselves +believe that reasons exist which compel us to it as a duty. + +"In the course of a very few days, Pierre had so circumvented Virginie as +to have discovered that her new friend was no other than the Norman +farmer in a different dress. This was a great piece of knowledge to +impart to Morin. But Pierre was not prepared for the immediate physical +effect it had on his cousin. Morin sat suddenly down on one of the seats +in the Boulevards--it was there Pierre had met with him accidentally--when +he heard who it was that Virginie met. I do not suppose the man had the +faintest idea of any relationship or even previous acquaintanceship +between Clement and Virginie. If he thought of anything beyond the mere +fact presented to him, that his idol was in communication with another, +younger, handsomer man than himself, it must have been that the Norman +farmer had seen her at the conciergerie, and had been attracted by her, +and, as was but natural, had tried to make her acquaintance, and had +succeeded. But, from what Pierre told me, I should not think that even +this much thought passed through Morin's mind. He seems to have been a +man of rare and concentrated attachments; violent, though restrained and +undemonstrative passions; and, above all, a capability of jealousy, of +which his dark oriental complexion must have been a type. I could fancy +that if he had married Virginie, he would have coined his life-blood for +luxuries to make her happy; would have watched over and petted her, at +every sacrifice to himself, as long as she would have been content to +live with him alone. But, as Pierre expressed it to me: 'When I saw what +my cousin was, when I learned his nature too late, I perceived that he +would have strangled a bird if she whom he loved was attracted by it from +him.' + +"When Pierre had told Morin of his discovery, Morin sat down, as I said, +quite suddenly, as if he had been shot. He found out that the first +meeting between the Norman and Virginie was no accidental, isolated +circumstance. Pierre was torturing him with his accounts of daily +rendezvous: if but for a moment, they were seeing each other every day, +sometimes twice a day. And Virginie could speak to this man, though to +himself she was coy and reserved as hardly to utter a sentence. Pierre +caught these broken words while his cousin's complexion grew more and +more livid, and then purple, as if some great effect were produced on his +circulation by the news he had just heard. Pierre was so startled by his +cousin's wandering, senseless eyes, and otherwise disordered looks, that +he rushed into a neighbouring cabaret for a glass of absinthe, which he +paid for, as he recollected afterwards, with a portion of Virginie's five +francs. By-and-by Morin recovered his natural appearance; but he was +gloomy and silent; and all that Pierre could get out of him was, that the +Norman farmer should not sleep another night at the Hotel Duguesclin, +giving him such opportunities of passing and repassing by the +conciergerie door. He was too much absorbed in his own thoughts to repay +Pierre the half franc he had spent on the absinthe, which Pierre +perceived, and seems to have noted down in the ledger of his mind as on +Virginie's balance of favour. + +"Altogether, he was much disappointed at his cousin's mode of receiving +intelligence, which the lad thought worth another five-franc piece at +least; or, if not paid for in money, to be paid for in open-mouthed +confidence and expression of feeling, that he was, for a time, so far a +partisan of Virginie's--unconscious Virginie--against his cousin, as to +feel regret when the Norman returned no more to his night's lodging, and +when Virginie's eager watch at the crevice of the closely-drawn blind +ended only with a sigh of disappointment. If it had not been for his +mother's presence at the time, Pierre thought he should have told her +all. But how far was his mother in his cousin's confidence as regarded +the dismissal of the Norman? + +"In a few days, however, Pierre felt almost sure that they had +established some new means of communication. Virginie went out for a +short time every day; but though Pierre followed her as closely as he +could without exciting her observation, he was unable to discover what +kind of intercourse she held with the Norman. She went, in general, the +same short round among the little shops in the neighbourhood; not +entering any, but stopping at two or three. Pierre afterwards remembered +that she had invariably paused at the nosegays displayed in a certain +window, and studied them long: but, then, she stopped and looked at caps, +hats, fashions, confectionery (all of the humble kind common in that +quarter), so how should he have known that any particular attraction +existed among the flowers? Morin came more regularly than ever to his +aunt's; but Virginie was apparently unconscious that she was the +attraction. She looked healthier and more hopeful than she had done for +months, and her manners to all were gentler and not so reserved. Almost +as if she wished to manifest her gratitude to Madame Babette for her long +continuance of kindness, the necessity for which was nearly ended, +Virginie showed an unusual alacrity in rendering the old woman any little +service in her power, and evidently tried to respond to Monsieur Morin's +civilities, he being Madame Babette's nephew, with a soft graciousness +which must have made one of her principal charms; for all who knew her +speak of the fascination of her manners, so winning and attentive to +others, while yet her opinions, and often her actions, were of so decided +a character. For, as I have said, her beauty was by no means great; yet +every man who came near her seems to have fallen into the sphere of her +influence. Monsieur Morin was deeper than ever in love with her during +these last few days: he was worked up into a state capable of any +sacrifice, either of himself or others, so that he might obtain her at +last. He sat 'devouring her with his eyes' (to use Pierre's expression) +whenever she could not see him; but, if she looked towards him, he looked +to the ground--anywhere--away from her and almost stammered in his +replies if she addressed any question to him.' + +"He had been, I should think, ashamed of his extreme agitation on the +Boulevards, for Pierre thought that he absolutely shunned him for these +few succeeding days. He must have believed that he had driven the Norman +(my poor Clement!) off the field, by banishing him from his inn; and +thought that the intercourse between him and Virginie, which he had thus +interrupted, was of so slight and transient a character as to be quenched +by a little difficulty. + +"But he appears to have felt that he had made but little way, and he +awkwardly turned to Pierre for help--not yet confessing his love, though; +he only tried to make friends again with the lad after their silent +estrangement. And Pierre for some time did not choose to perceive his +cousin's advances. He would reply to all the roundabout questions Morin +put to him respecting household conversations when he was not present, or +household occupations and tone of thought, without mentioning Virginie's +name any more than his questioner did. The lad would seem to suppose, +that his cousin's strong interest in their domestic ways of going on was +all on account of Madame Babette. At last he worked his cousin up to the +point of making him a confidant: and then the boy was half frightened at +the torrent of vehement words he had unloosed. The lava came down with a +greater rush for having been pent up so long. Morin cried out his words +in a hoarse, passionate voice, clenched his teeth, his fingers, and +seemed almost convulsed, as he spoke out his terrible love for Virginie, +which would lead him to kill her sooner than see her another's; and if +another stepped in between him and her!--and then he smiled a fierce, +triumphant smile, but did not say any more. + +"Pierre was, as I said, half-frightened; but also half-admiring. This +was really love--a 'grande passion,'--a really fine dramatic thing,--like +the plays they acted at the little theatre yonder. He had a dozen times +the sympathy with his cousin now that he had had before, and readily +swore by the infernal gods, for they were far too enlightened to believe +in one God, or Christianity, or anything of the kind,--that he would +devote himself, body and soul, to forwarding his cousin's views. Then +his cousin took him to a shop, and bought him a smart second-hand watch, +on which they scratched the word Fidelite, and thus was the compact +sealed. Pierre settled in his own mind, that if he were a woman, he +should like to be beloved as Virginie was, by his cousin, and that it +would be an extremely good thing for her to be the wife of so rich a +citizen as Morin Fils,--and for Pierre himself, too, for doubtless their +gratitude would lead them to give him rings and watches ad infinitum. + +"A day or two afterwards, Virginie was taken ill. Madame Babette said it +was because she had persevered in going out in all weathers, after +confining herself to two warm rooms for so long; and very probably this +was really the cause, for, from Pierre's account, she must have been +suffering from a feverish cold, aggravated, no doubt, by her impatience +at Madame Babette's familiar prohibitions of any more walks until she was +better. Every day, in spite of her trembling, aching limbs, she would +fain have arranged her dress for her walk at the usual time; but Madame +Babette was fully prepared to put physical obstacles in her way, if she +was not obedient in remaining tranquil on the little sofa by the side of +the fire. The third day, she called Pierre to her, when his mother was +not attending (having, in fact, locked up Mademoiselle Cannes' out-of- +door things). + +"'See, my child,' said Virginie. 'Thou must do me a great favour. Go to +the gardener's shop in the Rue des Bons-Enfans, and look at the nosegays +in the window. I long for pinks; they are my favourite flower. Here are +two francs. If thou seest a nosegay of pinks displayed in the window, if +it be ever so faded--nay, if thou seest two or three nosegays of pinks, +remember, buy them all, and bring them to me, I have so great a desire +for the smell.' She fell back weak and exhausted. Pierre hurried out. +Now was the time; here was the clue to the long inspection of the nosegay +in this very shop. + +"Sure enough, there was a drooping nosegay of pinks in the window. Pierre +went in, and, with all his impatience, he made as good a bargain as he +could, urging that the flowers were faded, and good for nothing. At last +he purchased them at a very moderate price. And now you will learn the +bad consequences of teaching the lower orders anything beyond what is +immediately necessary to enable them to earn their daily bread! The +silly Count de Crequy,--he who had been sent to his bloody rest, by the +very canaille of whom he thought so much,--he who had made Virginie +(indirectly, it is true) reject such a man as her cousin Clement, by +inflating her mind with his bubbles of theories,--this Count de Crequy +had long ago taken a fancy to Pierre, as he saw the bright sharp child +playing about his court--Monsieur de Crequy had even begun to educate the +boy himself to try work out certain opinions of his into practice,--but +the drudgery of the affair wearied him, and, beside, Babette had left his +employment. Still the Count took a kind of interest in his former pupil; +and made some sort of arrangement by which Pierre was to be taught +reading and writing, and accounts, and Heaven knows what besides,--Latin, +I dare say. So Pierre, instead of being an innocent messenger, as he +ought to have been--(as Mr. Horner's little lad Gregson ought to have +been this morning)--could read writing as well as either you or I. So +what does he do, on obtaining the nosegay, but examine it well. The +stalks of the flowers were tied up with slips of matting in wet moss. +Pierre undid the strings, unwrapped the moss, and out fell a piece of wet +paper, with the writing all blurred with moisture. It was but a torn +piece of writing-paper, apparently, but Pierre's wicked mischievous eyes +read what was written on it,--written so as to look like a +fragment,--'Ready, every and any night at nine. All is prepared. Have +no fright. Trust one who, whatever hopes he might once have had, is +content now to serve you as a faithful cousin;' and a place was named, +which I forget, but which Pierre did not, as it was evidently the +rendezvous. After the lad had studied every word, till he could say it +off by heart, he placed the paper where he had found it, enveloped it in +moss, and tied the whole up again carefully. Virginie's face coloured +scarlet as she received it. She kept smelling at it, and trembling: but +she did not untie it, although Pierre suggested how much fresher it would +be if the stalks were immediately put into water. But once, after his +back had been turned for a minute, he saw it untied when he looked round +again, and Virginie was blushing, and hiding something in her bosom. + +"Pierre was now all impatience to set off and find his cousin, But his +mother seemed to want him for small domestic purposes even more than +usual; and he had chafed over a multitude of errands connected with the +Hotel before he could set off and search for his cousin at his usual +haunts. At last the two met and Pierre related all the events of the +morning to Morin. He said the note off word by word. (That lad this +morning had something of the magpie look of Pierre--it made me shudder to +see him, and hear him repeat the note by heart.) Then Morin asked him to +tell him all over again. Pierre was struck by Morin's heavy sighs as he +repeated the story. When he came the second time to the note, Morin +tried to write the words down; but either he was not a good, ready +scholar, or his fingers trembled too much. Pierre hardly remembered, +but, at any rate, the lad had to do it, with his wicked reading and +writing. When this was done, Morin sat heavily silent. Pierre would +have preferred the expected outburst, for this impenetrable gloom +perplexed and baffled him. He had even to speak to his cousin to rouse +him; and when he replied, what he said had so little apparent connection +with the subject which Pierre had expected to find uppermost in his mind, +that he was half afraid that his cousin had lost his wits. + +"'My Aunt Babette is out of coffee.' + +"'I am sure I do not know,' said Pierre. + +"'Yes, she is. I heard her say so. Tell her that a friend of mine has +just opened a shop in the Rue Saint Antoine, and that if she will join me +there in an hour, I will supply her with a good stock of coffee, just to +give my friend encouragement. His name is Antoine Meyer, Number One +hundred and Fifty at the sign of the Cap of Liberty.' + +"'I could go with you now. I can carry a few pounds of coffee better +than my mother,' said Pierre, all in good faith. He told me he should +never forget the look on his cousin's face, as he turned round, and bade +him begone, and give his mother the message without another word. It had +evidently sent him home promptly to obey his cousins command. Morin's +message perplexed Madame Babette. + +"'How could he know I was out of coffee?' said she. 'I am; but I only +used the last up this morning. How could Victor know about it?' + +"'I am sure I can't tell,' said Pierre, who by this time had recovered +his usual self-possession. 'All I know is, that monsieur is in a pretty +temper, and that if you are not sharp to your time at this Antoine +Meyer's you are likely to come in for some of his black looks.' + +"'Well, it is very kind of him to offer to give me some coffee, to be +sure! But how could he know I was out?' + +"Pierre hurried his mother off impatiently, for he was certain that the +offer of the coffee was only a blind to some hidden purpose on his +cousin's part; and he made no doubt that when his mother had been +informed of what his cousin's real intention was, he, Pierre, could +extract it from her by coaxing or bullying. But he was mistaken. Madame +Babette returned home, grave, depressed, silent, and loaded with the best +coffee. Some time afterwards he learnt why his cousin had sought for +this interview. It was to extract from her, by promises and threats, the +real name of Mam'selle Cannes, which would give him a clue to the true +appellation of The Faithful Cousin. He concealed the second purpose from +his aunt, who had been quite unaware of his jealousy of the Norman +farmer, or of his identification of him with any relation of Virginie's. +But Madame Babette instinctively shrank from giving him any information: +she must have felt that, in the lowering mood in which she found him, his +desire for greater knowledge of Virginie's antecedents boded her no good. +And yet he made his aunt his confidante--told her what she had only +suspected before--that he was deeply enamoured of Mam'selle Cannes, and +would gladly marry her. He spoke to Madame Babette of his father's +hoarded riches; and of the share which he, as partner, had in them at the +present time; and of the prospect of the succession to the whole, which +he had, as only child. He told his aunt of the provision for her (Madame +Babette's) life, which he would make on the day when he married Mam'selle +Cannes. And yet--and yet--Babette saw that in his eye and look which +made her more and more reluctant to confide in him. By-and-by he tried +threats. She should leave the conciergerie, and find employment where +she liked. Still silence. Then he grew angry, and swore that he would +inform against her at the bureau of the Directory, for harbouring an +aristocrat; an aristocrat he knew Mademoiselle was, whatever her real +name might be. His aunt should have a domiciliary visit, and see how she +liked that. The officers of the Government were the people for finding +out secrets. In vain she reminded him that, by so doing, he would expose +to imminent danger the lady whom he had professed to love. He told her, +with a sullen relapse into silence after his vehement outpouring of +passion, never to trouble herself about that. At last he wearied out the +old woman, and, frightened alike of herself and of him, she told him +all,--that Mam'selle Cannes was Mademoiselle Virginie de Crequy, daughter +of the Count of that name. Who was the Count? Younger brother of the +Marquis. Where was the Marquis? Dead long ago, leaving a widow and +child. A son? (eagerly). Yes, a son. Where was he? Parbleu! how +should she know?--for her courage returned a little as the talk went away +from the only person of the De Crequy family that she cared about. But, +by dint of some small glasses out of a bottle of Antoine Meyer's, she +told him more about the De Crequys than she liked afterwards to remember. +For the exhilaration of the brandy lasted but a very short time, and she +came home, as I have said, depressed, with a presentiment of coming evil. +She would not answer Pierre, but cuffed him about in a manner to which +the spoilt boy was quite unaccustomed. His cousin's short, angry words, +and sudden withdrawal of confidence,--his mother's unwonted crossness and +fault-finding, all made Virginie's kind, gentle treatment, more than ever +charming to the lad. He half resolved to tell her how he had been acting +as a spy upon her actions, and at whose desire he had done it. But he +was afraid of Morin, and of the vengeance which he was sure would fall +upon him for any breach of confidence. Towards half-past eight that +evening--Pierre, watching, saw Virginie arrange several little things--she +was in the inner room, but he sat where he could see her through the +glazed partition. His mother sat--apparently sleeping--in the great easy- +chair; Virginie moved about softly, for fear of disturbing her. She made +up one or two little parcels of the few things she could call her own: +one packet she concealed about herself--the others she directed, and left +on the shelf. 'She is going,' thought Pierre, and (as he said in giving +me the account) his heart gave a spring, to think that he should never +see her again. If either his mother or his cousin had been more kind to +him, he might have endeavoured to intercept her; but as it was, he held +his breath, and when she came out he pretended to read, scarcely knowing +whether he wished her to succeed in the purpose which he was almost sure +she entertained, or not. She stopped by him, and passed her hand over +his hair. He told me that his eyes filled with tears at this caress. +Then she stood for a moment looking at the sleeping Madame Babette, and +stooped down and softly kissed her on the forehead. Pierre dreaded lest +his mother should awake (for by this time the wayward, vacillating boy +must have been quite on Virginie's side), but the brandy she had drunk +made her slumber heavily. Virginie went. Pierre's heart beat fast. He +was sure his cousin would try to intercept her; but how, he could not +imagine. He longed to run out and see the catastrophe,--but he had let +the moment slip; he was also afraid of reawakening his mother to her +unusual state of anger and violence." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +"Pierre went on pretending to read, but in reality listening with acute +tension of ear to every little sound. His perceptions became so +sensitive in this respect that he was incapable of measuring time, every +moment had seemed so full of noises, from the beating of his heart up to +the roll of the heavy carts in the distance. He wondered whether +Virginie would have reached the place of rendezvous, and yet he was +unable to compute the passage of minutes. His mother slept soundly: that +was well. By this time Virginie must have met the 'faithful cousin:' if, +indeed, Morin had not made his appearance. + +"At length, he felt as if he could no longer sit still, awaiting the +issue, but must run out and see what course events had taken. In vain +his mother, half-rousing herself, called after him to ask whither he was +going: he was already out of hearing before she had ended her sentence, +and he ran on until, stopped by the sight of Mademoiselle Cannes walking +along at so swift a pace that it was almost a run; while at her side, +resolutely keeping by her, Morin was striding abreast. Pierre had just +turned the corner of the street, when he came upon them. Virginie would +have passed him without recognizing him, she was in such passionate +agitation, but for Morin's gesture, by which he would fain have kept +Pierre from interrupting them. Then, when Virginie saw the lad, she +caught at his arm, and thanked God, as if in that boy of twelve or +fourteen she held a protector. Pierre felt her tremble from head to +foot, and was afraid lest she would fall, there where she stood, in the +hard rough street. + +"'Begone, Pierre!' said Morin. + +"'I cannot,' replied Pierre, who indeed was held firmly by Virginie. +'Besides, I won't,' he added. 'Who has been frightening mademoiselle in +this way?' asked he, very much inclined to brave his cousin at all +hazards. + +"'Mademoiselle is not accustomed to walk in the streets alone,' said +Morin, sulkily. 'She came upon a crowd attracted by the arrest of an +aristocrat, and their cries alarmed her. I offered to take charge of her +home. Mademoiselle should not walk in these streets alone. We are not +like the cold-blooded people of the Faubourg Saint Germain.' + +"Virginie did not speak. Pierre doubted if she heard a word of what they +were saying. She leant upon him more and more heavily. + +"'Will mademoiselle condescend to take my arm?' said Morin, with sulky, +and yet humble, uncouthness. I dare say he would have given worlds if he +might have had that little hand within his arm; but, though she still +kept silence, she shuddered up away from him, as you shrink from touching +a toad. He had said something to her during that walk, you may be sure, +which had made her loathe him. He marked and understood the gesture. He +held himself aloof while Pierre gave her all the assistance he could in +their slow progress homewards. But Morin accompanied her all the same. +He had played too desperate a game to be baulked now. He had given +information against the ci-devant Marquis de Crequy, as a returned +emigre, to be met with at such a time, in such a place. Morin had hoped +that all sign of the arrest would have been cleared away before Virginie +reached the spot--so swiftly were terrible deeds done in those days. But +Clement defended himself desperately: Virginie was punctual to a second; +and, though the wounded man was borne off to the Abbaye, amid a crowd of +the unsympathising jeerers who mingled with the armed officials of the +Directory, Morin feared lest Virginie had recognized him; and he would +have preferred that she should have thought that the 'faithful cousin' +was faithless, than that she should have seen him in bloody danger on her +account. I suppose he fancied that, if Virginie never saw or heard more +of him, her imagination would not dwell on his simple disappearance, as +it would do if she knew what he was suffering for her sake. + +"At any rate, Pierre saw that his cousin was deeply mortified by the +whole tenor of his behaviour during their walk home. When they arrived +at Madame Babette's, Virginie fell fainting on the floor; her strength +had but just sufficed for this exertion of reaching the shelter of the +house. Her first sign of restoring consciousness consisted in avoidance +of Morin. He had been most assiduous in his efforts to bring her round; +quite tender in his way, Pierre said; and this marked, instinctive +repugnance to him evidently gave him extreme pain. I suppose Frenchmen +are more demonstrative than we are; for Pierre declared that he saw his +cousin's eyes fill with tears, as she shrank away from his touch, if he +tried to arrange the shawl they had laid under her head like a pillow, or +as she shut her eyes when he passed before her. Madame Babette was +urgent with her to go and lie down on the bed in the inner room; but it +was some time before she was strong enough to rise and do this. + +"When Madame Babette returned from arranging the girl comfortably, the +three relations sat down in silence; a silence which Pierre thought would +never be broken. He wanted his mother to ask his cousin what had +happened. But Madame Babette was afraid of her nephew, and thought it +more discreet to wait for such crumbs of intelligence as he might think +fit to throw to her. But, after she had twice reported Virginie to be +asleep, without a word being uttered in reply to her whispers by either +of her companions, Morin's powers of self-containment gave way. + +"'It is hard!' he said. + +"'What is hard?' asked Madame Babette, after she had paused for a time, +to enable him to add to, or to finish, his sentence, if he pleased. + +"'It is hard for a man to love a woman as I do,' he went on--'I did not +seek to love her, it came upon me before I was aware--before I had ever +thought about it at all, I loved her better than all the world beside. +All my life, before I knew her, seems a dull blank. I neither know nor +care for what I did before then. And now there are just two lives before +me. Either I have her, or I have not. That is all: but that is +everything. And what can I do to make her have me? Tell me, aunt,' and +he caught at Madame Babette's arm, and gave it so sharp a shake, that she +half screamed out, Pierre said, and evidently grew alarmed at her +nephew's excitement. + +"'Hush, Victor!' said she. 'There are other women in the world, if this +one will not have you.' + +"'None other for me,' he said, sinking back as if hopeless. 'I am plain +and coarse, not one of the scented darlings of the aristocrats. Say that +I am ugly, brutish; I did not make myself so, any more than I made myself +love her. It is my fate. But am I to submit to the consequences of my +fate without a struggle? Not I. As strong as my love is, so strong is +my will. It can be no stronger,' continued he, gloomily. 'Aunt Babette, +you must help me--you must make her love me.' He was so fierce here, +that Pierre said he did not wonder that his mother was frightened. + +"'I, Victor!' she exclaimed. 'I make her love you? How can I? Ask me +to speak for you to Mademoiselle Didot, or to Mademoiselle Cauchois even, +or to such as they, and I'll do it, and welcome. But to Mademoiselle de +Crequy, why you don't know the difference! Those people--the old +nobility I mean--why they don't know a man from a dog, out of their own +rank! And no wonder, for the young gentlemen of quality are treated +differently to us from their very birth. If she had you to-morrow, you +would be miserable. Let me alone for knowing the aristocracy. I have +not been a concierge to a duke and three counts for nothing. I tell you, +all your ways are different to her ways.' + +"'I would change my "ways," as you call them.' + +"'Be reasonable, Victor.' + +"'No, I will not be reasonable, if by that you mean giving her up. I +tell you two lives are before me; one with her, one without her. But the +latter will be but a short career for both of us. You said, aunt, that +the talk went in the conciergerie of her father's hotel, that she would +have nothing to do with this cousin whom I put out of the way to-day?' + +"'So the servants said. How could I know? All I know is, that he left +off coming to our hotel, and that at one time before then he had never +been two days absent.' + +"'So much the better for him. He suffers now for having come between me +and my object--in trying to snatch her away out of my sight. Take you +warning, Pierre! I did not like your meddling to-night.' And so he went +off, leaving Madam Babette rocking herself backwards and forwards, in all +the depression of spirits consequent upon the reaction after the brandy, +and upon her knowledge of her nephew's threatened purpose combined. + +"In telling you most of this, I have simply repeated Pierre's account, +which I wrote down at the time. But here what he had to say came to a +sudden break; for, the next morning, when Madame Babette rose, Virginie +was missing, and it was some time before either she, or Pierre, or Morin, +could get the slightest clue to the missing girl. + +"And now I must take up the story as it was told to the Intendant +Flechier by the old gardener Jacques, with whom Clement had been lodging +on his first arrival in Paris. The old man could not, I dare say, +remember half as much of what had happened as Pierre did; the former had +the dulled memory of age, while Pierre had evidently thought over the +whole series of events as a story--as a play, if one may call it +so--during the solitary hours in his after-life, wherever they were +passed, whether in lonely camp watches, or in the foreign prison, where +he had to drag out many years. Clement had, as I said, returned to the +gardener's garret after he had been dismissed from the Hotel Duguesclin. +There were several reasons for his thus doubling back. One was, that he +put nearly the whole breadth of Paris between him and an enemy; though +why Morin was an enemy, and to what extent he carried his dislike or +hatred, Clement could not tell, of course. The next reason for returning +to Jacques was, no doubt, the conviction that, in multiplying his +residences, he multiplied the chances against his being suspected and +recognized. And then, again, the old man was in his secret, and his +ally, although perhaps but a feeble kind of one. It was through Jacques +that the plan of communication, by means of a nosegay of pinks, had been +devised; and it was Jacques who procured him the last disguise that +Clement was to use in Paris--as he hoped and trusted. It was that of a +respectable shopkeeper of no particular class; a dress that would have +seemed perfectly suitable to the young man who would naturally have worn +it; and yet, as Clement put it on, and adjusted it--giving it a sort of +finish and elegance which I always noticed about his appearance and which +I believed was innate in the wearer--I have no doubt it seemed like the +usual apparel of a gentleman. No coarseness of texture, nor clumsiness +of cut could disguise the nobleman of thirty descents, it appeared; for +immediately on arriving at the place of rendezvous, he was recognized by +the men placed there on Morin's information to seize him. Jacques, +following at a little distance, with a bundle under his arm containing +articles of feminine disguise for Virginie, saw four men attempt +Clement's arrest--saw him, quick as lightning, draw a sword hitherto +concealed in a clumsy stick--saw his agile figure spring to his +guard,--and saw him defend himself with the rapidity and art of a man +skilled in arms. But what good did it do? as Jacques piteously used to +ask, Monsieur Flechier told me. A great blow from a heavy club on the +sword-arm of Monsieur de Crequy laid it helpless and immovable by his +side. Jacques always thought that that blow came from one of the +spectators, who by this time had collected round the scene of the affray. +The next instant, his master--his little marquis--was down among the feet +of the crowd, and though he was up again before he had received much +damage--so active and light was my poor Clement--it was not before the +old gardener had hobbled forwards, and, with many an old-fashioned oath +and curse, proclaimed himself a partisan of the losing side--a follower +of a ci-devant aristocrat. It was quite enough. He received one or two +good blows, which were, in fact, aimed at his master; and then, almost +before he was aware, he found his arms pinioned behind him with a woman's +garter, which one of the viragos in the crowd had made no scruple of +pulling off in public, as soon as she heard for what purpose it was +wanted. Poor Jacques was stunned and unhappy,--his master was out of +sight, on before; and the old gardener scarce knew whither they were +taking him. His head ached from the blows which had fallen upon it; it +was growing dark--June day though it was,--and when first he seems to +have become exactly aware of what had happened to him, it was when he was +turned into one of the larger rooms of the Abbaye, in which all were put +who had no other allotted place wherein to sleep. One or two iron lamps +hung from the ceiling by chains, giving a dim light for a little circle. +Jacques stumbled forwards over a sleeping body lying on the ground. The +sleeper wakened up enough to complain; and the apology of the old man in +reply caught the ear of his master, who, until this time, could hardly +have been aware of the straits and difficulties of his faithful Jacques. +And there they sat,--against a pillar, the live-long night, holding one +another's hands, and each restraining expressions of pain, for fear of +adding to the other's distress. That night made them intimate friends, +in spite of the difference of age and rank. The disappointed hopes, the +acute suffering of the present, the apprehensions of the future, made +them seek solace in talking of the past. Monsieur de Crequy and the +gardener found themselves disputing with interest in which chimney of the +stack the starling used to build,--the starling whose nest Clement sent +to Urian, you remember, and discussing the merits of different espalier- +pears which grew, and may grow still, in the old garden of the Hotel de +Crequy. Towards morning both fell asleep. The old man wakened first. +His frame was deadened to suffering, I suppose, for he felt relieved of +his pain; but Clement moaned and cried in feverish slumber. His broken +arm was beginning to inflame his blood. He was, besides, much injured by +some kicks from the crowd as he fell. As the old man looked sadly on the +white, baked lips, and the flushed cheeks, contorted with suffering even +in his sleep, Clement gave a sharp cry which disturbed his miserable +neighbours, all slumbering around in uneasy attitudes. They bade him +with curses be silent; and then turning round, tried again to forget +their own misery in sleep. For you see, the bloodthirsty canaille had +not been sated with guillotining and hanging all the nobility they could +find, but were now informing, right and left, even against each other; +and when Clement and Jacques were in the prison, there were few of gentle +blood in the place, and fewer still of gentle manners. At the sound of +the angry words and threats, Jacques thought it best to awaken his master +from his feverish uncomfortable sleep, lest he should provoke more +enmity; and, tenderly lifting him up, he tried to adjust his own body, so +that it should serve as a rest and a pillow for the younger man. The +motion aroused Clement, and he began to talk in a strange, feverish way, +of Virginie, too,--whose name he would not have breathed in such a place +had he been quite himself. But Jacques had as much delicacy of feeling +as any lady in the land, although, mind you, he knew neither how to read +nor write,--and bent his head low down, so that his master might tell him +in a whisper what messages he was to take to Mademoiselle de Crequy, in +case--Poor Clement, he knew it must come to that! No escape for him now, +in Norman disguise or otherwise! Either by gathering fever or +guillotine, death was sure of his prey. Well! when that happened, +Jacques was to go and find Mademoiselle de Crequy, and tell her that her +cousin loved her at the last as he had loved her at the first; but that +she should never have heard another word of his attachment from his +living lips; that he knew he was not good enough for her, his queen; and +that no thought of earning her love by his devotion had prompted his +return to France, only that, if possible, he might have the great +privilege of serving her whom he loved. And then he went off into +rambling talk about petit-maitres, and such kind of expressions, said +Jacques to Flechier, the intendant, little knowing what a clue that one +word gave to much of the poor lad's suffering. + +"The summer morning came slowly on in that dark prison, and when Jacques +could look round--his master was now sleeping on his shoulder, still the +uneasy, starting sleep of fever--he saw that there were many women among +the prisoners. (I have heard some of those who have escaped from the +prisons say, that the look of despair and agony that came into the faces +of the prisoners on first wakening, as the sense of their situation grew +upon them, was what lasted the longest in the memory of the survivors. +This look, they said, passed away from the women's faces sooner than it +did from those of the men.) + +"Poor old Jacques kept falling asleep, and plucking himself up again for +fear lest, if he did not attend to his master, some harm might come to +the swollen, helpless arm. Yet his weariness grew upon him in spite of +all his efforts, and at last he felt as if he must give way to the +irresistible desire, if only for five minutes. But just then there was a +bustle at the door. Jacques opened his eyes wide to look. + +"'The gaoler is early with breakfast,' said some one, lazily. + +"'It is the darkness of this accursed place that makes us think it +early,' said another. + +"All this time a parley was going on at the door. Some one came in; not +the gaoler--a woman. The door was shut to and locked behind her. She +only advanced a step or two, for it was too sudden a change, out of the +light into that dark shadow, for any one to see clearly for the first few +minutes. Jacques had his eyes fairly open now, and was wide awake. It +was Mademoiselle de Crequy, looking bright, clear, and resolute. The +faithful heart of the old man read that look like an open page. Her +cousin should not die there on her behalf, without at least the comfort +of her sweet presence. + +"'Here he is,' he whispered as her gown would have touched him in +passing, without her perceiving him, in the heavy obscurity of the place. + +"'The good God bless you, my friend!' she murmured, as she saw the +attitude of the old man, propped against a pillar, and holding Clement in +his arms, as if the young man had been a helpless baby, while one of the +poor gardener's hands supported the broken limb in the easiest position. +Virginie sat down by the old man, and held out her arms. Softly she +moved Clement's head to her own shoulder; softly she transferred the task +of holding the arm to herself. Clement lay on the floor, but she +supported him, and Jacques was at liberty to arise and stretch and shake +his stiff, weary old body. He then sat down at a little distance, and +watched the pair until he fell asleep. Clement had muttered 'Virginie,' +as they half-roused him by their movements out of his stupor; but Jacques +thought he was only dreaming; nor did he seem fully awake when once his +eyes opened, and he looked full at Virginie's face bending over him, and +growing crimson under his gaze, though she never stirred, for fear of +hurting him if she moved. Clement looked in silence, until his heavy +eyelids came slowly down, and he fell into his oppressive slumber again. +Either he did not recognize her, or she came in too completely as a part +of his sleeping visions for him to be disturbed by her appearance there. + +"When Jacques awoke it was full daylight--at least as full as it would +ever be in that place. His breakfast--the gaol-allowance of bread and +vin ordinaire--was by his side. He must have slept soundly. He looked +for his master. He and Virginie had recognized each other now,--hearts, +as well as appearance. They were smiling into each other's faces, as if +that dull, vaulted room in the grim Abbaye were the sunny gardens of +Versailles, with music and festivity all abroad. Apparently they had +much to say to each other; for whispered questions and answers never +ceased. + +"Virginie had made a sling for the poor broken arm; nay, she had obtained +two splinters of wood in some way, and one of their fellow-prisoners--having, +it appeared, some knowledge of surgery--had set it. Jacques felt more +desponding by far than they did, for he was suffering from the night he had +passed, which told upon his aged frame; while they must have heard some +good news, as it seemed to him, so bright and happy did they look. Yet +Clement was still in bodily pain and suffering, and Virginie, by her own +act and deed, was a prisoner in that dreadful Abbaye, whence the only +issue was the guillotine. But they were together: they loved: they +understood each other at length. + +"When Virginie saw that Jacques was awake, and languidly munching his +breakfast, she rose from the wooden stool on which she was sitting, and +went to him, holding out both hands, and refusing to allow him to rise, +while she thanked him with pretty eagerness for all his kindness to +Monsieur. Monsieur himself came towards him, following Virginie, but +with tottering steps, as if his head was weak and dizzy, to thank the +poor old man, who now on his feet, stood between them, ready to cry while +they gave him credit for faithful actions which he felt to have been +almost involuntary on his part,--for loyalty was like an instinct in the +good old days, before your educational cant had come up. And so two days +went on. The only event was the morning call for the victims, a certain +number of whom were summoned to trial every day. And to be tried was to +be condemned. Every one of the prisoners became grave, as the hour for +their summons approached. Most of the victims went to their doom with +uncomplaining resignation, and for a while after their departure there +was comparative silence in the prison. But, by-and-by--so said +Jacques--the conversation or amusements began again. Human nature cannot +stand the perpetual pressure of such keen anxiety, without an effort to +relieve itself by thinking of something else. Jacques said that Monsieur +and Mademoiselle were for ever talking together of the past days,--it was +'Do you remember this?' or, 'Do you remember that?' perpetually. He +sometimes thought they forgot where they were, and what was before them. +But Jacques did not, and every day he trembled more and more as the list +was called over. + +"The third morning of their incarceration, the gaoler brought in a man +whom Jacques did not recognize, and therefore did not at once observe; +for he was waiting, as in duty bound, upon his master and his sweet young +lady (as he always called her in repeating the story). He thought that +the new introduction was some friend of the gaoler, as the two seemed +well acquainted, and the latter stayed a few minutes talking with his +visitor before leaving him in prison. So Jacques was surprised when, +after a short time had elapsed, he looked round, and saw the fierce stare +with which the stranger was regarding Monsieur and Mademoiselle de +Crequy, as the pair sat at breakfast,--the said breakfast being laid as +well as Jacques knew how, on a bench fastened into the prison +wall,--Virginie sitting on her low stool, and Clement half lying on the +ground by her side, and submitting gladly to be fed by her pretty white +fingers; for it was one of her fancies, Jacques said, to do all she could +for him, in consideration of his broken arm. And, indeed, Clement was +wasting away daily; for he had received other injuries, internal and more +serious than that to his arm, during the melee which had ended in his +capture. The stranger made Jacques conscious of his presence by a sigh, +which was almost a groan. All three prisoners looked round at the sound. +Clement's face expressed little but scornful indifference; but Virginie's +face froze into stony hate. Jacques said he never saw such a look, and +hoped that he never should again. Yet after that first revelation of +feeling, her look was steady and fixed in another direction to that in +which the stranger stood,--still motionless--still watching. He came a +step nearer at last. + +"'Mademoiselle,' he said. Not the quivering of an eyelash showed that +she heard him. 'Mademoiselle!' he said again, with an intensity of +beseeching that made Jacques--not knowing who he was--almost pity him, +when he saw his young lady's obdurate face. + +"There was perfect silence for a space of time which Jacques could not +measure. Then again the voice, hesitatingly, saying, 'Monsieur!' Clement +could not hold the same icy countenance as Virginie; he turned his head +with an impatient gesture of disgust; but even that emboldened the man. + +"'Monsieur, do ask mademoiselle to listen to me,--just two words.' + +"'Mademoiselle de Crequy only listens to whom she chooses.' Very +haughtily my Clement would say that, I am sure. + +"'But, mademoiselle,'--lowering his voice, and coming a step or two +nearer. Virginie must have felt his approach, though she did not see it; +for she drew herself a little on one side, so as to put as much space as +possible between him and her.--'Mademoiselle, it is not too late. I can +save you: but to-morrow your name is down on the list. I can save you, +if you will listen.' + +"Still no word or sign. Jacques did not understand the affair. Why was +she so obdurate to one who might be ready to include Clement in the +proposal, as far as Jacques knew? + +"The man withdrew a little, but did not offer to leave the prison. He +never took his eyes off Virginie; he seemed to be suffering from some +acute and terrible pain as he watched her. + +"Jacques cleared away the breakfast-things as well as he could. +Purposely, as I suspect, he passed near the man. + +"'Hist!' said the stranger. 'You are Jacques, the gardener, arrested for +assisting an aristocrat. I know the gaoler. You shall escape, if you +will. Only take this message from me to mademoiselle. You heard. She +will not listen to me: I did not want her to come here. I never knew she +was here, and she will die to-morrow. They will put her beautiful round +throat under the guillotine. Tell her, good old man, tell her how sweet +life is; and how I can save her; and how I will not ask for more than +just to see her from time to time. She is so young; and death is +annihilation, you know. Why does she hate me so? I want to save her; I +have done her no harm. Good old man, tell her how terrible death is; and +that she will die to-morrow, unless she listens to me.' + +"Jacques saw no harm in repeating this message. Clement listened in +silence, watching Virginie with an air of infinite tenderness. + +"'Will you not try him, my cherished one?' he said. 'Towards you he may +mean well' (which makes me think that Virginie had never repeated to +Clement the conversation which she had overheard that last night at +Madame Babette's); 'you would be in no worse a situation than you were +before!' + +"'No worse, Clement! and I should have known what you were, and have lost +you. My Clement!' said she, reproachfully. + +"'Ask him,' said she, turning to Jacques, suddenly, 'if he can save +Monsieur de Crequy as well,--if he can?--O Clement, we might escape to +England; we are but young.' And she hid her face on his shoulder. + +"Jacques returned to the stranger, and asked him Virginie's question. His +eyes were fixed on the cousins; he was very pale, and the twitchings or +contortions, which must have been involuntary whenever he was agitated, +convulsed his whole body. + +"He made a long pause. 'I will save mademoiselle and monsieur, if she +will go straight from prison to the mairie, and be my wife.' + +"'Your wife!' Jacques could not help exclaiming, 'That she will never +be--never!' + +"'Ask her!' said Morin, hoarsely. + +"But almost before Jacques thought he could have fairly uttered the +words, Clement caught their meaning. + +"'Begone!' said he; 'not one word more.' Virginie touched the old man as +he was moving away. 'Tell him he does not know how he makes me welcome +death.' And smiling, as if triumphant, she turned again to Clement. + +"The stranger did not speak as Jacques gave him the meaning, not the +words, of their replies. He was going away, but stopped. A minute or +two afterwards, he beckoned to Jacques. The old gardener seems to have +thought it undesirable to throw away even the chance of assistance from +such a man as this, for he went forward to speak to him. + +"'Listen! I have influence with the gaoler. He shall let thee pass out +with the victims to-morrow. No one will notice it, or miss thee--. They +will be led to trial,--even at the last moment, I will save her, if she +sends me word she relents. Speak to her, as the time draws on. Life is +very sweet,--tell her how sweet. Speak to him; he will do more with her +than thou canst. Let him urge her to live. Even at the last, I will be +at the Palais de Justice,--at the Greve. I have followers,--I have +interest. Come among the crowd that follow the victims,--I shall see +thee. It will be no worse for him, if she escapes'-- + +"'Save my master, and I will do all,' said Jacques. + +"'Only on my one condition,' said Morin, doggedly; and Jacques was +hopeless of that condition ever being fulfilled. But he did not see why +his own life might not be saved. By remaining in prison until the next +day, he should have rendered every service in his power to his master and +the young lady. He, poor fellow, shrank from death; and he agreed with +Morin to escape, if he could, by the means Morin had suggested, and to +bring him word if Mademoiselle de Crequy relented. (Jacques had no +expectation that she would; but I fancy he did not think it necessary to +tell Morin of this conviction of his.) This bargaining with so base a man +for so slight a thing as life, was the only flaw that I heard of in the +old gardener's behaviour. Of course, the mere reopening of the subject +was enough to stir Virginie to displeasure. Clement urged her, it is +true; but the light he had gained upon Morin's motions, made him rather +try to set the case before her in as fair a manner as possible than use +any persuasive arguments. And, even as it was, what he said on the +subject made Virginie shed tears--the first that had fallen from her +since she entered the prison. So, they were summoned and went together, +at the fatal call of the muster-roll of victims the next morning. He, +feeble from his wounds and his injured health; she, calm and serene, only +petitioning to be allowed to walk next to him, in order that she might +hold him up when he turned faint and giddy from his extreme suffering. + +"Together they stood at the bar; together they were condemned. As the +words of judgment were pronounced, Virginie tuned to Clement, and +embraced him with passionate fondness. Then, making him lean on her, +they marched out towards the Place de la Greve. + +"Jacques was free now. He had told Morin how fruitless his efforts at +persuasion had been; and scarcely caring to note the effect of his +information upon the man, he had devoted himself to watching Monsieur and +Mademoiselle de Crequy. And now he followed them to the Place de la +Greve. He saw them mount the platform; saw them kneel down together till +plucked up by the impatient officials; could see that she was urging some +request to the executioner; the end of which seemed to be, that Clement +advanced first to the guillotine, was executed (and just at this moment +there was a stir among the crowd, as of a man pressing forward towards +the scaffold). Then she, standing with her face to the guillotine, +slowly made the sign of the cross, and knelt down. + +"Jacques covered his eyes, blinded with tears. The report of a pistol +made him look up. She was gone--another victim in her place--and where +there had been a little stir in the crowd not five minutes before, some +men were carrying off a dead body. A man had shot himself, they said. +Pierre told me who that man was." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +After a pause, I ventured to ask what became of Madame de Crequy, +Clement's mother. + +"She never made any inquiry about him," said my lady. "She must have +known that he was dead; though how, we never could tell. Medlicott +remembered afterwards that it was about, if not on--Medlicott to this day +declares that it was on the very Monday, June the nineteenth, when her +son was executed, that Madame de Crequy left off her rouge and took to +her bed, as one bereaved and hopeless. It certainly was about that time; +and Medlicott--who was deeply impressed by that dream of Madame de +Crequy's (the relation of which I told you had had such an effect on my +lord), in which she had seen the figure of Virginie--as the only light +object amid much surrounding darkness as of night, smiling and beckoning +Clement on--on--till at length the bright phantom stopped, motionless, +and Madame de Crequy's eyes began to penetrate the murky darkness, and to +see closing around her the gloomy dripping walls which she had once seen +and never forgotten--the walls of the vault of the chapel of the De +Crequys in Saint Germain l'Auxerrois; and there the two last of the +Crequys laid them down among their forefathers, and Madame de Crequy had +wakened to the sound of the great door, which led to the open air, being +locked upon her--I say Medlicott, who was predisposed by this dream to +look out for the supernatural, always declared that Madame de Crequy was +made conscious in some mysterious way, of her son's death, on the very +day and hour when it occurred, and that after that she had no more +anxiety, but was only conscious of a kind of stupefying despair." + +"And what became of her, my lady?" I again asked. + +"What could become of her?" replied Lady Ludlow. "She never could be +induced to rise again, though she lived more than a year after her son's +departure. She kept her bed; her room darkened, her face turned towards +the wall, whenever any one besides Medlicott was in the room. She hardly +ever spoke, and would have died of starvation but for Medlicott's tender +care, in putting a morsel to her lips every now and then, feeding her, in +fact, just as an old bird feeds her young ones. In the height of summer +my lord and I left London. We would fain have taken her with us into +Scotland, but the doctor (we had the old doctor from Leicester Square) +forbade her removal; and this time he gave such good reasons against it +that I acquiesced. Medlicott and a maid were left with her. Every care +was taken of her. She survived till our return. Indeed, I thought she +was in much the same state as I had left her in, when I came back to +London. But Medlicott spoke of her as much weaker; and one morning on +awakening, they told me she was dead. I sent for Medlicott, who was in +sad distress, she had become so fond of her charge. She said that, about +two o'clock, she had been awakened by unusual restlessness on Madame de +Crequy's part; that she had gone to her bedside, and found the poor lady +feebly but perpetually moving her wasted arm up and down--and saying to +herself in a wailing voice: 'I did not bless him when he left me--I did +not bless him when he left me!' Medlicott gave her a spoonful or two of +jelly, and sat by her, stroking her hand, and soothing her till she +seemed to fall asleep. But in the morning she was dead." + +"It is a sad story, your ladyship," said I, after a while. + +"Yes it is. People seldom arrive at my age without having watched the +beginning, middle, and end of many lives and many fortunes. We do not +talk about them, perhaps; for they are often so sacred to us, from having +touched into the very quick of our own hearts, as it were, or into those +of others who are dead and gone, and veiled over from human sight, that +we cannot tell the tale as if it was a mere story. But young people +should remember that we have had this solemn experience of life, on which +to base our opinions and form our judgments, so that they are not mere +untried theories. I am not alluding to Mr. Horner just now, for he is +nearly as old as I am--within ten years, I dare say--but I am thinking of +Mr. Gray, with his endless plans for some new thing--schools, education, +Sabbaths, and what not. Now he has not seen what all this leads to." + +"It is a pity he has not heard your ladyship tell the story of poor +Monsieur de Crequy." + +"Not at all a pity, my dear. A young man like him, who, both by position +and age, must have had his experience confined to a very narrow circle, +ought not to set up his opinion against mine; he ought not to require +reasons from me, nor to need such explanation of my arguments (if I +condescend to argue), as going into relation of the circumstances on +which my arguments are based in my own mind, would be." + +"But, my lady, it might convince him," I said, with perhaps injudicious +perseverance. + +"And why should he be convinced?" she asked, with gentle inquiry in her +tone. "He has only to acquiesce. Though he is appointed by Mr. Croxton, +I am the lady of the manor, as he must know. But it is with Mr. Horner +that I must have to do about this unfortunate lad Gregson. I am afraid +there will be no method of making him forget his unlucky knowledge. His +poor brains will be intoxicated with the sense of his powers, without any +counterbalancing principles to guide him. Poor fellow! I am quite +afraid it will end in his being hanged!" + +The next day Mr. Horner came to apologize and explain. He was +evidently--as I could tell from his voice, as he spoke to my lady in the +next room--extremely annoyed at her ladyship's discovery of the education +he had been giving to this boy. My lady spoke with great authority, and +with reasonable grounds of complaint. Mr. Horner was well acquainted +with her thoughts on the subject, and had acted in defiance of her +wishes. He acknowledged as much, and should on no account have done it, +in any other instance, without her leave. + +"Which I could never have granted you," said my lady. + +But this boy had extraordinary capabilities; would, in fact, have taught +himself much that was bad, if he had not been rescued, and another +direction given to his powers. And in all Mr. Horner had done, he had +had her ladyship's service in view. The business was getting almost +beyond his power, so many letters and so much account-keeping was +required by the complicated state in which things were. + +Lady Ludlow felt what was coming--a reference to the mortgage for the +benefit of my lord's Scottish estates, which, she was perfectly aware, +Mr. Horner considered as having been a most unwise proceeding--and she +hastened to observe--"All this may be very true, Mr. Horner, and I am +sure I should be the last person to wish you to overwork or distress +yourself; but of that we will talk another time. What I am now anxious +to remedy is, if possible, the state of this poor little Gregson's mind. +Would not hard work in the fields be a wholesome and excellent way of +enabling him to forget?" + +"I was in hopes, my lady, that you would have permitted me to bring him +up to act as a kind of clerk," said Mr. Horner, jerking out his project +abruptly. + +"A what?" asked my lady, in infinite surprise. + +"A kind of--of assistant, in the way of copying letters and doing up +accounts. He is already an excellent penman and very quick at figures." + +"Mr. Horner," said my lady, with dignity, "the son of a poacher and +vagabond ought never to have been able to copy letters relating to the +Hanbury estates; and, at any rate, he shall not. I wonder how it is +that, knowing the use he has made of his power of reading a letter, you +should venture to propose such an employment for him as would require his +being in your confidence, and you the trusted agent of this family. Why, +every secret (and every ancient and honourable family has its secrets, as +you know, Mr. Horner) would be learnt off by heart, and repeated to the +first comer!" + +"I should have hoped to have trained him, my lady, to understand the +rules of discretion." + +"Trained! Train a barn-door fowl to be a pheasant, Mr. Horner! That +would be the easier task. But you did right to speak of discretion +rather than honour. Discretion looks to the consequences of +actions--honour looks to the action itself, and is an instinct rather +than a virtue. After all, it is possible you might have trained him to +be discreet." + +Mr. Horner was silent. My lady was softened by his not replying, and +began as she always did in such cases, to fear lest she had been too +harsh. I could tell that by her voice and by her next speech, as well as +if I had seen her face. + +"But I am sorry you are feeling the pressure of the affairs: I am quite +aware that I have entailed much additional trouble upon you by some of my +measures: I must try and provide you with some suitable assistance. +Copying letters and doing up accounts, I think you said?" + +Mr. Horner had certainly had a distant idea of turning the little boy, in +process of time, into a clerk; but he had rather urged this possibility +of future usefulness beyond what he had at first intended, in speaking of +it to my lady as a palliation of his offence, and he certainly was very +much inclined to retract his statement that the letter-writing, or any +other business, had increased, or that he was in the slightest want of +help of any kind, when my lady after a pause of consideration, suddenly +said-- + +"I have it. Miss Galindo will, I am sure, be glad to assist you. I will +speak to her myself. The payment we should make to a clerk would be of +real service to her!" + +I could hardly help echoing Mr. Horner's tone of surprise as he said-- + +"Miss Galindo!" + +For, you must be told who Miss Galindo was; at least, told as much as I +know. Miss Galindo had lived in the village for many years, keeping +house on the smallest possible means, yet always managing to maintain a +servant. And this servant was invariably chosen because she had some +infirmity that made her undesirable to every one else. I believe Miss +Galindo had had lame and blind and hump-backed maids. She had even at +one time taken in a girl hopelessly gone in consumption, because if not +she would have had to go to the workhouse, and not have had enough to +eat. Of course the poor creature could not perform a single duty usually +required of a servant, and Miss Galindo herself was both servant and +nurse. + +Her present maid was scarcely four feet high, and bore a terrible +character for ill-temper. Nobody but Miss Galindo would have kept her; +but, as it was, mistress and servant squabbled perpetually, and were, at +heart, the best of friends. For it was one of Miss Galindo's +peculiarities to do all manner of kind and self-denying actions, and to +say all manner of provoking things. Lame, blind, deformed, and dwarf, +all came in for scoldings without number: it was only the consumptive +girl that never had heard a sharp word. I don't think any of her +servants liked her the worse for her peppery temper, and passionate odd +ways, for they knew her real and beautiful kindness of heart: and, +besides, she had so great a turn for humour that very often her speeches +amused as much or more than they irritated; and on the other side, a +piece of witty impudence from her servant would occasionally tickle her +so much and so suddenly, that she would burst out laughing in the middle +of her passion. + +But the talk about Miss Galindo's choice and management of her servants +was confined to village gossip, and had never reached my Lady Ludlow's +ears, though doubtless Mr. Horner was well acquainted with it. What my +lady knew of her amounted to this. It was the custom in those days for +the wealthy ladies of the county to set on foot a repository, as it was +called, in the assize-town. The ostensible manager of this repository +was generally a decayed gentlewoman, a clergyman's widow, or so forth. +She was, however, controlled by a committee of ladies; and paid by them +in proportion to the amount of goods she sold; and these goods were the +small manufactures of ladies of little or no fortune, whose names, if +they chose it, were only signified by initials. + +Poor water-colour drawings, indigo and Indian ink; screens, ornamented +with moss and dried leaves; paintings on velvet, and such faintly +ornamental works were displayed on one side of the shop. It was always +reckoned a mark of characteristic gentility in the repository, to have +only common heavy-framed sash-windows, which admitted very little light, +so I never was quite certain of the merit of these Works of Art as they +were entitled. But, on the other side, where the Useful Work placard was +put up, there was a great variety of articles, of whose unusual +excellence every one might judge. Such fine sewing, and stitching, and +button-holing! Such bundles of soft delicate knitted stockings and +socks; and, above all, in Lady Ludlow's eyes, such hanks of the finest +spun flaxen thread! + +And the most delicate dainty work of all was done by Miss Galindo, as +Lady Ludlow very well knew. Yet, for all their fine sewing, it sometimes +happened that Miss Galindo's patterns were of an old-fashioned kind; and +the dozen nightcaps, maybe, on the materials for which she had expended +bona-fide money, and on the making-up, no little time and eye-sight, +would lie for months in a yellow neglected heap; and at such times, it +was said, Miss Galindo was more amusing than usual, more full of dry +drollery and humour; just as at the times when an order came in to X. +(the initial she had chosen) for a stock of well-paying things, she sat +and stormed at her servant as she stitched away. She herself explained +her practice in this way:-- + +"When everything goes wrong, one would give up breathing if one could not +lighten ones heart by a joke. But when I've to sit still from morning +till night, I must have something to stir my blood, or I should go off +into an apoplexy; so I set to, and quarrel with Sally." + +Such were Miss Galindo's means and manner of living in her own house. Out +of doors, and in the village, she was not popular, although she would +have been sorely missed had she left the place. But she asked too many +home questions (not to say impertinent) respecting the domestic economies +(for even the very poor liked to spend their bit of money their own way), +and would open cupboards to find out hidden extravagances, and question +closely respecting the weekly amount of butter, till one day she met with +what would have been a rebuff to any other person, but which she rather +enjoyed than otherwise. + +She was going into a cottage, and in the doorway met the good woman +chasing out a duck, and apparently unconscious of her visitor. + +"Get out, Miss Galindo!" she cried, addressing the duck. "Get out! O, I +ask your pardon," she continued, as if seeing the lady for the first +time. "It's only that weary duck will come in. Get out Miss Gal---" (to +the duck). + +"And so you call it after me, do you?" inquired her visitor. + +"O, yes, ma'am; my master would have it so, for he said, sure enough the +unlucky bird was always poking herself where she was not wanted." + +"Ha, ha! very good! And so your master is a wit, is he? Well! tell him +to come up and speak to me to-night about my parlour chimney, for there +is no one like him for chimney doctoring." + +And the master went up, and was so won over by Miss Galindo's merry ways, +and sharp insight into the mysteries of his various kinds of business (he +was a mason, chimney-sweeper, and ratcatcher), that he came home and +abused his wife the next time she called the duck the name by which he +himself had christened her. + +But odd as Miss Galindo was in general, she could be as well-bred a lady +as any one when she chose. And choose she always did when my Lady Ludlow +was by. Indeed, I don't know the man, woman, or child, that did not +instinctively turn out its best side to her ladyship. So she had no +notion of the qualities which, I am sure, made Mr. Horner think that Miss +Galindo would be most unmanageable as a clerk, and heartily wish that the +idea had never come into my lady's head. But there it was; and he had +annoyed her ladyship already more than he liked to-day, so he could not +directly contradict her, but only urge difficulties which he hoped might +prove insuperable. But every one of them Lady Ludlow knocked down. +Letters to copy? Doubtless. Miss Galindo could come up to the Hall; she +should have a room to herself; she wrote a beautiful hand; and writing +would save her eyesight. "Capability with regard to accounts?" My lady +would answer for that too; and for more than Mr. Horner seemed to think +it necessary to inquire about. Miss Galindo was by birth and breeding a +lady of the strictest honour, and would, if possible, forget the +substance of any letters that passed through her hands; at any rate, no +one would ever hear of them again from her. "Remuneration?" Oh! as for +that, Lady Ludlow would herself take care that it was managed in the most +delicate manner possible. She would send to invite Miss Galindo to tea +at the Hall that very afternoon, if Mr. Horner would only give her +ladyship the slightest idea of the average length of time that my lady +was to request Miss Galindo to sacrifice to her daily. "Three hours! +Very well." Mr. Horner looked very grave as he passed the windows of the +room where I lay. I don't think he liked the idea of Miss Galindo as a +clerk. + +Lady Ludlow's invitations were like royal commands. Indeed, the village +was too quiet to allow the inhabitants to have many evening engagements +of any kind. Now and then, Mr. and Mrs. Horner gave a tea and supper to +the principal tenants and their wives, to which the clergyman was +invited, and Miss Galindo, Mrs. Medlicott, and one or two other spinsters +and widows. The glory of the supper-table on these occasions was +invariably furnished by her ladyship: it was a cold roasted peacock, with +his tail stuck out as if in life. Mrs. Medlicott would take up the whole +morning arranging the feathers in the proper semicircle, and was always +pleased with the wonder and admiration it excited. It was considered a +due reward and fitting compliment to her exertions that Mr. Horner always +took her in to supper, and placed her opposite to the magnificent dish, +at which she sweetly smiled all the time they were at table. But since +Mrs. Horner had had the paralytic stroke these parties had been given up; +and Miss Galindo wrote a note to Lady Ludlow in reply to her invitation, +saying that she was entirely disengaged, and would have great pleasure in +doing herself the honour of waiting upon her ladyship. + +Whoever visited my lady took their meals with her, sitting on the dais, +in the presence of all my former companions. So I did not see Miss +Galindo until some time after tea; as the young gentlewomen had had to +bring her their sewing and spinning, to hear the remarks of so competent +a judge. At length her ladyship brought her visitor into the room where +I lay,--it was one of my bad days, I remember,--in order to have her +little bit of private conversation. Miss Galindo was dressed in her best +gown, I am sure, but I had never seen anything like it except in a +picture, it was so old-fashioned. She wore a white muslin apron, +delicately embroidered, and put on a little crookedly, in order, as she +told us, even Lady Ludlow, before the evening was over, to conceal a spot +whence the colour had been discharged by a lemon-stain. This crookedness +had an odd effect, especially when I saw that it was intentional; indeed, +she was so anxious about her apron's right adjustment in the wrong place, +that she told us straight out why she wore it so, and asked her ladyship +if the spot was properly hidden, at the same time lifting up her apron +and showing her how large it was. + +"When my father was alive, I always took his right arm, so, and used to +remove any spotted or discoloured breadths to the left side, if it was a +walking-dress. That's the convenience of a gentleman. But widows and +spinsters must do what they can. Ah, my dear (to me)! when you are +reckoning up the blessings in your lot,--though you may think it a hard +one in some respects,--don't forget how little your stockings want +darning, as you are obliged to lie down so much! I would rather knit two +pairs of stockings than darn one, any day." + +"Have you been doing any of your beautiful knitting lately?" asked my +lady, who had now arranged Miss Galindo in the pleasantest chair, and +taken her own little wicker-work one, and, having her work in her hands, +was ready to try and open the subject. + +"No, and alas! your ladyship. It is partly the hot weather's fault, for +people seem to forget that winter must come; and partly, I suppose, that +every one is stocked who has the money to pay four-and-sixpence a pair +for stockings." + +"Then may I ask if you have any time in your active days at liberty?" +said my lady, drawing a little nearer to her proposal, which I fancy she +found it a little awkward to make. + +"Why, the village keeps me busy, your ladyship, when I have neither +knitting or sewing to do. You know I took X. for my letter at the +repository, because it stands for Xantippe, who was a great scold in old +times, as I have learnt. But I'm sure I don't know how the world would +get on without scolding, your ladyship. It would go to sleep, and the +sun would stand still." + +"I don't think I could bear to scold, Miss Galindo," said her ladyship, +smiling. + +"No! because your ladyship has people to do it for you. Begging your +pardon, my lady, it seems to me the generality of people may be divided +into saints, scolds, and sinners. Now, your ladyship is a saint, because +you have a sweet and holy nature, in the first place; and have people to +do your anger and vexation for you, in the second place. And Jonathan +Walker is a sinner, because he is sent to prison. But here am I, half +way, having but a poor kind of disposition at best, and yet hating sin, +and all that leads to it, such as wasting, and extravagance, and +gossiping,--and yet all this lies right under my nose in the village, and +I am not saint enough to be vexed at it; and so I scold. And though I +had rather be a saint, yet I think I do good in my way." + +"No doubt you do, dear Miss Galindo," said Lady Ludlow. "But I am sorry +to hear that there is so much that is bad going on in the village,--very +sorry." + +"O, your ladyship! then I am sorry I brought it out. It was only by way +of saying, that when I have no particular work to do at home, I take a +turn abroad, and set my neighbours to rights, just by way of steering +clear of Satan. + + For Satan finds some mischief still + For idle hands to do, + +you know, my lady." + +There was no leading into the subject by delicate degrees, for Miss +Galindo was evidently so fond of talking, that, if asked a question, she +made her answer so long, that before she came to an end of it, she had +wandered far away from the original starting point. So Lady Ludlow +plunged at once into what she had to say. + +"Miss Galindo, I have a great favour to ask of you." + +"My lady, I wish I could tell you what a pleasure it is to hear you say +so," replied Miss Galindo, almost with tears in her eyes; so glad were we +all to do anything for her ladyship, which could be called a free service +and not merely a duty. + +"It is this. Mr. Horner tells me that the business-letters, relating to +the estate, are multiplying so much that he finds it impossible to copy +them all himself, and I therefore require the services of some +confidential and discreet person to copy these letters, and occasionally +to go through certain accounts. Now, there is a very pleasant little +sitting-room very near to Mr. Horner's office (you know Mr. Horner's +office--on the other side of the stone hall?), and if I could prevail +upon you to come here to breakfast and afterwards sit there for three +hours every morning, Mr. Horner should bring or send you the papers--" + +Lady Ludlow stopped. Miss Galindo's countenance had fallen. There was +some great obstacle in her mind to her wish for obliging Lady Ludlow. + +"What would Sally do?" she asked at length. Lady Ludlow had not a notion +who Sally was. Nor if she had had a notion, would she have had a +conception of the perplexities that poured into Miss Galindo's mind, at +the idea of leaving her rough forgetful dwarf without the perpetual +monitorship of her mistress. Lady Ludlow, accustomed to a household +where everything went on noiselessly, perfectly, and by clock-work, +conducted by a number of highly-paid, well-chosen, and accomplished +servants, had not a conception of the nature of the rough material from +which her servants came. Besides, in her establishment, so that the +result was good, no one inquired if the small economies had been observed +in the production. Whereas every penny--every halfpenny, was of +consequence to Miss Galindo; and visions of squandered drops of milk and +wasted crusts of bread filled her mind with dismay. But she swallowed +all her apprehensions down, out of her regard for Lady Ludlow, and desire +to be of service to her. No one knows how great a trial it was to her +when she thought of Sally, unchecked and unscolded for three hours every +morning. But all she said was-- + +"'Sally, go to the Deuce.' I beg your pardon, my lady, if I was talking +to myself; it's a habit I have got into of keeping my tongue in practice, +and I am not quite aware when I do it. Three hours every morning! I +shall be only too proud to do what I can for your ladyship; and I hope +Mr. Horner will not be too impatient with me at first. You know, +perhaps, that I was nearly being an authoress once, and that seems as if +I was destined to 'employ my time in writing.'" + +"No, indeed; we must return to the subject of the clerkship afterwards, +if you please. An authoress, Miss Galindo! You surprise me!" + +"But, indeed, I was. All was quite ready. Doctor Burney used to teach +me music: not that I ever could learn, but it was a fancy of my poor +father's. And his daughter wrote a book, and they said she was but a +very young lady, and nothing but a music-master's daughter; so why should +not I try?" + +"Well?" + +"Well! I got paper and half-a-hundred good pens, a bottle of ink, all +ready--" + +"And then--" + +"O, it ended in my having nothing to say, when I sat down to write. But +sometimes, when I get hold of a book, I wonder why I let such a poor +reason stop me. It does not others." + +"But I think it was very well it did, Miss Galindo," said her ladyship. +"I am extremely against women usurping men's employments, as they are +very apt to do. But perhaps, after all, the notion of writing a book +improved your hand. It is one of the most legible I ever saw." + +"I despise z's without tails," said Miss Galindo, with a good deal of +gratified pride at my lady's praise. Presently, my lady took her to look +at a curious old cabinet, which Lord Ludlow had picked up at the Hague; +and while they were out of the room on this errand, I suppose the +question of remuneration was settled, for I heard no more of it. + +When they came back, they were talking of Mr. Gray. Miss Galindo was +unsparing in her expressions of opinion about him: going much farther +than my lady--in her language, at least. + +"A little blushing man like him, who can't say bo to a goose without +hesitating and colouring, to come to this village--which is as good a +village as ever lived--and cry us down for a set of sinners, as if we had +all committed murder and that other thing!--I have no patience with him, +my lady. And then, how is he to help us to heaven, by teaching us our, a +b, ab--b a, ba? And yet, by all accounts, that's to save poor children's +souls. O, I knew your ladyship would agree with me. I am sure my mother +was as good a creature as ever breathed the blessed air; and if she's not +gone to heaven I don't want to go there; and she could not spell a letter +decently. And does Mr. Gray think God took note of that?" + +"I was sure you would agree with me, Miss Galindo," said my lady. "You +and I can remember how this talk about education--Rousseau, and his +writings--stirred up the French people to their Reign of Terror, and all +those bloody scenes." + +"I'm afraid that Rousseau and Mr. Gray are birds of a feather," replied +Miss Galindo, shaking her head. "And yet there is some good in the young +man too. He sat up all night with Billy Davis, when his wife was fairly +worn out with nursing him." + +"Did he, indeed!" said my lady, her face lighting up, as it always did +when she heard of any kind or generous action, no matter who performed +it. "What a pity he is bitten with these new revolutionary ideas, and is +so much for disturbing the established order of society!" + +When Miss Galindo went, she left so favourable an impression of her visit +on my lady, that she said to me with a pleased smile-- + +"I think I have provided Mr. Horner with a far better clerk than he would +have made of that lad Gregson in twenty years. And I will send the lad +to my lord's grieve, in Scotland, that he may be kept out of harm's way." + +But something happened to the lad before this purpose could be +accomplished. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +The next morning, Miss Galindo made her appearance, and, by some mistake, +unusual to my lady's well-trained servants, was shown into the room where +I was trying to walk; for a certain amount of exercise was prescribed for +me, painful although the exertion had become. + +She brought a little basket along with her and while the footman was gone +to inquire my lady's wishes (for I don't think that Lady Ludlow expected +Miss Galindo so soon to assume her clerkship; nor, indeed, had Mr. Horner +any work of any kind ready for his new assistant to do), she launched out +into conversation with me. + +"It was a sudden summons, my dear! However, as I have often said to +myself, ever since an occasion long ago, if Lady Ludlow ever honours me +by asking for my right hand, I'll cut it off, and wrap the stump up so +tidily she shall never find out it bleeds. But, if I had had a little +more time, I could have mended my pens better. You see, I have had to +sit up pretty late to get these sleeves made"--and she took out of her +basket a pail of brown-holland over-sleeves, very much such as a grocer's +apprentice wears--"and I had only time to make seven or eight pens, out +of some quills Farmer Thomson gave me last autumn. As for ink, I'm +thankful to say, that's always ready; an ounce of steel filings, an ounce +of nut-gall, and a pint of water (tea, if you're extravagant, which, +thank Heaven! I'm not), put all in a bottle, and hang it up behind the +house door, so that the whole gets a good shaking every time you slam it +to--and even if you are in a passion and bang it, as Sally and I often +do, it is all the better for it--and there's my ink ready for use; ready +to write my lady's will with, if need be." + +"O, Miss Galindo!" said I, "don't talk so my lady's will! and she not +dead yet." + +"And if she were, what would be the use of talking of making her will? +Now, if you were Sally, I should say, 'Answer me that, you goose!' But, +as you're a relation of my lady's, I must be civil, and only say, 'I +can't think how you can talk so like a fool!' To be sure, poor thing, +you're lame!" + +I do not know how long she would have gone on; but my lady came in, and +I, released from my duty of entertaining Miss Galindo, made my limping +way into the next room. To tell the truth, I was rather afraid of Miss +Galindo's tongue, for I never knew what she would say next. + +After a while my lady came, and began to look in the bureau for +something: and as she looked she said--"I think Mr. Horner must have made +some mistake, when he said he had so much work that he almost required a +clerk, for this morning he cannot find anything for Miss Galindo to do; +and there she is, sitting with her pen behind her ear, waiting for +something to write. I am come to find her my mother's letters, for I +should like to have a fair copy made of them. O, here they are: don't +trouble yourself, my dear child." + +When my lady returned again, she sat down and began to talk of Mr. Gray. + +"Miss Galindo says she saw him going to hold a prayer-meeting in a +cottage. Now that really makes me unhappy, it is so like what Mr. Wesley +used to do in my younger days; and since then we have had rebellion in +the American colonies and the French Revolution. You may depend upon it, +my dear, making religion and education common--vulgarising them, as it +were--is a bad thing for a nation. A man who hears prayers read in the +cottage where he has just supped on bread and bacon, forgets the respect +due to a church: he begins to think that one place is as good as another, +and, by-and-by, that one person is as good as another; and after that, I +always find that people begin to talk of their rights, instead of +thinking of their duties. I wish Mr. Gray had been more tractable, and +had left well alone. What do you think I heard this morning? Why that +the Home Hill estate, which niches into the Hanbury property, was bought +by a Baptist baker from Birmingham!" + +"A Baptist baker!" I exclaimed. I had never seen a Dissenter, to my +knowledge; but, having always heard them spoken of with horror, I looked +upon them almost as if they were rhinoceroses. I wanted to see a live +Dissenter, I believe, and yet I wished it were over. I was almost +surprised when I heard that any of them were engaged in such peaceful +occupations as baking. + +"Yes! so Mr. Horner tells me. A Mr. Lambe, I believe. But, at any rate, +he is a Baptist, and has been in trade. What with his schismatism and +Mr. Gray's methodism, I am afraid all the primitive character of this +place will vanish." + +From what I could hear, Mr. Gray seemed to be taking his own way; at any +rate, more than he had done when he first came to the village, when his +natural timidity had made him defer to my lady, and seek her consent and +sanction before embarking in any new plan. But newness was a quality +Lady Ludlow especially disliked. Even in the fashions of dress and +furniture, she clung to the old, to the modes which had prevailed when +she was young; and though she had a deep personal regard for Queen +Charlotte (to whom, as I have already said, she had been maid-of-honour), +yet there was a tinge of Jacobitism about her, such as made her extremely +dislike to hear Prince Charles Edward called the young Pretender, as many +loyal people did in those days, and made her fond of telling of the thorn- +tree in my lord's park in Scotland, which had been planted by bonny Queen +Mary herself, and before which every guest in the Castle of Monkshaven +was expected to stand bare-headed, out of respect to the memory and +misfortunes of the royal planter. + +We might play at cards, if we so chose, on a Sunday; at least, I suppose +we might, for my lady and Mr. Mountford used to do so often when I first +went. But we must neither play cards, nor read, nor sew on the fifth of +November and on the thirtieth of January, but must go to church, and +meditate all the rest of the day--and very hard work meditating was. I +would far rather have scoured a room. That was the reason, I suppose, +why a passive life was seen to be better discipline for me than an active +one. + +But I am wandering away from my lady, and her dislike to all innovation. +Now, it seemed to me, as far as I heard, that Mr. Gray was full of +nothing but new things, and that what he first did was to attack all our +established institutions, both in the village and the parish, and also in +the nation. To be sure, I heard of his ways of going on principally from +Miss Galindo, who was apt to speak more strongly than accurately. + +"There he goes," she said, "clucking up the children just like an old +hen, and trying to teach them about their salvation and their souls, and +I don't know what--things that it is just blasphemy to speak about out of +church. And he potters old people about reading their Bibles. I am sure +I don't want to speak disrespectfully about the Holy Scriptures, but I +found old Job Horton busy reading his Bible yesterday. Says I, 'What are +you reading, and where did you get it, and who gave it you?' So he made +answer, 'That he was reading Susannah and the Elders, for that he had +read Bel and the Dragon till he could pretty near say it off by heart, +and they were two as pretty stories as ever he had read, and that it was +a caution to him what bad old chaps there were in the world.' Now, as +Job is bed-ridden, I don't think he is likely to meet with the Elders, +and I say that I think repeating his Creed, the Commandments, and the +Lord's Prayer, and, maybe, throwing in a verse of the Psalms, if he +wanted a bit of a change, would have done him far more good than his +pretty stories, as he called them. And what's the next thing our young +parson does? Why he tries to make us all feel pitiful for the black +slaves, and leaves little pictures of negroes about, with the question +printed below, 'Am I not a man and a brother?' just as if I was to be +hail-fellow-well-met with every negro footman. They do say he takes no +sugar in his tea, because he thinks he sees spots of blood in it. Now I +call that superstition." + +The next day it was a still worse story. + +"Well, my dear! and how are you? My lady sent me in to sit a bit with +you, while Mr. Horner looks out some papers for me to copy. Between +ourselves, Mr. Steward Horner does not like having me for a clerk. It is +all very well he does not; for, if he were decently civil to me, I might +want a chaperone, you know, now poor Mrs. Horner is dead." This was one +of Miss Galindo's grim jokes. "As it is, I try to make him forget I'm a +woman, I do everything as ship-shape as a masculine man-clerk. I see he +can't find a fault--writing good, spelling correct, sums all right. And +then he squints up at me with the tail of his eye, and looks glummer than +ever, just because I'm a woman--as if I could help that. I have gone +good lengths to set his mind at ease. I have stuck my pen behind my ear, +I have made him a bow instead of a curtsey, I have whistled--not a tune I +can't pipe up that--nay, if you won't tell my lady, I don't mind telling +you that I have said 'Confound it!' and 'Zounds!' I can't get any +farther. For all that, Mr. Horner won't forget I am a lady, and so I am +not half the use I might be, and if it were not to please my Lady Ludlow, +Mr. Horner and his books might go hang (see how natural that came out!). +And there is an order for a dozen nightcaps for a bride, and I am so +afraid I shan't have time to do them. Worst of all, there's Mr. Gray +taking advantage of my absence to seduce Sally!" + +"To seduce Sally! Mr. Gray!" + +"Pooh, pooh, child! There's many a kind of seduction. Mr. Gray is +seducing Sally to want to go to church. There has he been twice at my +house, while I have been away in the mornings, talking to Sally about the +state of her soul and that sort of thing. But when I found the meat all +roasted to a cinder, I said, 'Come, Sally, let's have no more praying +when beef is down at the fire. Pray at six o'clock in the morning and +nine at night, and I won't hinder you.' So she sauced me, and said +something about Martha and Mary, implying that, because she had let the +beef get so overdone that I declare I could hardly find a bit for Nancy +Pole's sick grandchild, she had chosen the better part. I was very much +put about, I own, and perhaps you'll be shocked at what I said--indeed, I +don't know if it was right myself--but I told her I had a soul as well as +she, and if it was to be saved by my sitting still and thinking about +salvation and never doing my duty, I thought I had as good a right as she +had to be Mary, and save my soul. So, that afternoon I sat quite still, +and it was really a comfort, for I am often too busy, I know, to pray as +I ought. There is first one person wanting me, and then another, and the +house and the food and the neighbours to see after. So, when tea-time +comes, there enters my maid with her hump on her back, and her soul to be +saved. 'Please, ma'am, did you order the pound of butter?'--'No, Sally,' +I said, shaking my head, 'this morning I did not go round by Hale's farm, +and this afternoon I have been employed in spiritual things.' + +"Now, our Sally likes tea and bread-and-butter above everything, and dry +bread was not to her taste. + +"'I'm thankful,' said the impudent hussy, 'that you have taken a turn +towards godliness. It will be my prayers, I trust, that's given it you.' + +"I was determined not to give her an opening towards the carnal subject +of butter, so she lingered still, longing to ask leave to run for it. But +I gave her none, and munched my dry bread myself, thinking what a famous +cake I could make for little Ben Pole with the bit of butter we were +saving; and when Sally had had her butterless tea, and was in none of the +best of tempers because Martha had not bethought herself of the butter, I +just quietly said-- + +"'Now, Sally, to-morrow we'll try to hash that beef well, and to remember +the butter, and to work out our salvation all at the same time, for I +don't see why it can't all be done, as God has set us to do it all.' But +I heard her at it again about Mary and Martha, and I have no doubt that +Mr. Gray will teach her to consider me a lost sheep." + +I had heard so many little speeches about Mr. Gray from one person or +another, all speaking against him, as a mischief-maker, a setter-up of +new doctrines, and of a fanciful standard of life (and you may be sure +that, where Lady Ludlow led, Mrs. Medlicott and Adams were certain to +follow, each in their different ways showing the influence my lady had +over them), that I believe I had grown to consider him as a very +instrument of evil, and to expect to perceive in his face marks of his +presumption, and arrogance, and impertinent interference. It was now +many weeks since I had seen him, and when he was one morning shown into +the blue drawing-room (into which I had been removed for a change), I was +quite surprised to see how innocent and awkward a young man he appeared, +confused even more than I was at our unexpected tete-a-tete. He looked +thinner, his eyes more eager, his expression more anxious, and his colour +came and went more than it had done when I had seen him last. I tried to +make a little conversation, as I was, to my own surprise, more at my ease +than he was; but his thoughts were evidently too much preoccupied for him +to do more than answer me with monosyllables. + +Presently my lady came in. Mr. Gray twitched and coloured more than +ever; but plunged into the middle of his subject at once. + +"My lady, I cannot answer it to my conscience, if I allow the children of +this village to go on any longer the little heathens that they are. I +must do something to alter their condition. I am quite aware that your +ladyship disapproves of many of the plans which have suggested themselves +to me; but nevertheless I must do something, and I am come now to your +ladyship to ask respectfully, but firmly, what you would advise me to +do." + +His eyes were dilated, and I could almost have said they were full of +tears with his eagerness. But I am sure it is a bad plan to remind +people of decided opinions which they have once expressed, if you wish +them to modify those opinions. Now, Mr. Gray had done this with my lady; +and though I do not mean to say she was obstinate, yet she was not one to +retract. + +She was silent for a moment or two before she replied. + +"You ask me to suggest a remedy for an evil of the existence of which I +am not conscious," was her answer--very coldly, very gently given. "In +Mr. Mountford's time I heard no such complaints: whenever I see the +village children (and they are not unfrequent visitors at this house, on +one pretext or another), they are well and decently behaved." + +"Oh, madam, you cannot judge," he broke in. "They are trained to respect +you in word and deed; you are the highest they ever look up to; they have +no notion of a higher." + +"Nay, Mr. Gray," said my lady, smiling, "they are as loyally disposed as +any children can be. They come up here every fourth of June, and drink +his Majesty's health, and have buns, and (as Margaret Dawson can testify) +they take a great and respectful interest in all the pictures I can show +them of the royal family." + +"But, madam, I think of something higher than any earthly dignities." + +My lady coloured at the mistake she had made; for she herself was truly +pious. Yet when she resumed the subject, it seemed to me as if her tone +was a little sharper than before. + +"Such want of reverence is, I should say, the clergyman's fault. You +must excuse me, Mr. Gray, if I speak plainly." + +"My Lady, I want plain-speaking. I myself am not accustomed to those +ceremonies and forms which are, I suppose, the etiquette in your +ladyship's rank of life, and which seem to hedge you in from any power of +mine to touch you. Among those with whom I have passed my life hitherto, +it has been the custom to speak plainly out what we have felt earnestly. +So, instead of needing any apology from your ladyship for straightforward +speaking, I will meet what you say at once, and admit that it is the +clergyman's fault, in a great measure, when the children of his parish +swear, and curse, and are brutal, and ignorant of all saving grace; nay, +some of them of the very name of God. And because this guilt of mine, as +the clergyman of this parish, lies heavy on my soul, and every day leads +but from bad to worse, till I am utterly bewildered how to do good to +children who escape from me as if I were a monster, and who are growing +up to be men fit for and capable of any crime, but those requiring wit or +sense, I come to you, who seem to me all-powerful, as far as material +power goes--for your ladyship only knows the surface of things, and +barely that, that pass in your village--to help me with advice, and such +outward help as you can give." + +Mr. Gray had stood up and sat down once or twice while he had been +speaking, in an agitated, nervous kind of way, and now he was interrupted +by a violent fit of coughing, after which he trembled all over. + +My lady rang for a glass of water, and looked much distressed. + +"Mr. Gray," said she, "I am sure you are not well; and that makes you +exaggerate childish faults into positive evils. It is always the case +with us when we are not strong in health. I hear of your exerting +yourself in every direction: you overwork yourself, and the consequence +is, that you imagine us all worse people than we are." + +And my lady smiled very kindly and pleasantly at him, as he sat, a little +panting, a little flushed, trying to recover his breath. I am sure that +now they were brought face to face, she had quite forgotten all the +offence she had taken at his doings when she heard of them from others; +and, indeed, it was enough to soften any one's heart to see that young, +almost boyish face, looking in such anxiety and distress. + +"Oh, my lady, what shall I do?" he asked, as soon as he could recover +breath, and with such an air of humility, that I am sure no one who had +seen it could have ever thought him conceited again. "The evil of this +world is too strong for me. I can do so little. It is all in vain. It +was only to-day--" and again the cough and agitation returned. + +"My dear Mr. Gray," said my lady (the day before I could never have +believed she could have called him My dear), "you must take the advice of +an old woman about yourself. You are not fit to do anything just now but +attend to your own health: rest, and see a doctor (but, indeed, I will +take care of that), and when you are pretty strong again, you will find +that you have been magnifying evils to yourself." + +"But, my lady, I cannot rest. The evils do exist, and the burden of +their continuance lies on my shoulders. I have no place to gather the +children together in, that I may teach them the things necessary to +salvation. The rooms in my own house are too small; but I have tried +them. I have money of my own; and, as your ladyship knows, I tried to +get a piece of leasehold property, on which to build a school-house at my +own expense. Your ladyship's lawyer comes forward, at your instructions, +to enforce some old feudal right, by which no building is allowed on +leasehold property without the sanction of the lady of the manor. It may +be all very true; but it was a cruel thing to do,--that is, if your +ladyship had known (which I am sure you do not) the real moral and +spiritual state of my poor parishioners. And now I come to you to know +what I am to do. Rest! I cannot rest, while children whom I could +possibly save are being left in their ignorance, their blasphemy, their +uncleanness, their cruelty. It is known through the village that your +ladyship disapproves of my efforts, and opposes all my plans. If you +think them wrong, foolish, ill-digested (I have been a student, living in +a college, and eschewing all society but that of pious men, until now: I +may not judge for the best, in my ignorance of this sinful human nature), +tell me of better plans and wiser projects for accomplishing my end; but +do not bid me rest, with Satan compassing me round, and stealing souls +away." + +"Mr. Gray," said my lady, "there may be some truth in what you have said. +I do not deny it, though I think, in your present state of indisposition +and excitement, you exaggerate it much. I believe--nay, the experience +of a pretty long life has convinced me--that education is a bad thing, if +given indiscriminately. It unfits the lower orders for their duties, the +duties to which they are called by God; of submission to those placed in +authority over them; of contentment with that state of life to which it +has pleased God to call them, and of ordering themselves lowly and +reverently to all their betters. I have made this conviction of mine +tolerably evident to you; and I have expressed distinctly my +disapprobation of some of your ideas. You may imagine, then, that I was +not well pleased when I found that you had taken a rood or more of Farmer +Hale's land, and were laying the foundations of a school-house. You had +done this without asking for my permission, which, as Farmer Hale's liege +lady, ought to have been obtained legally, as well as asked for out of +courtesy. I put a stop to what I believed to be calculated to do harm to +a village, to a population in which, to say the least of it, I may be +disposed to take as much interest as you can do. How can reading, and +writing, and the multiplication-table (if you choose to go so far) +prevent blasphemy, and uncleanness, and cruelty? Really, Mr. Gray, I +hardly like to express myself so strongly on the subject in your present +state of health, as I should do at any other time. It seems to me that +books do little; character much; and character is not formed from books." + +"I do not think of character: I think of souls. I must get some hold +upon these children, or what will become of them in the next world? I +must be found to have some power beyond what they have, and which they +are rendered capable of appreciating, before they will listen to me. At +present physical force is all they look up to; and I have none." + +"Nay, Mr. Gray, by your own admission, they look up to me." + +"They would not do anything your ladyship disliked if it was likely to +come to your knowledge; but if they could conceal it from you, the +knowledge of your dislike to a particular line of conduct would never +make them cease from pursuing it." + +"Mr. Gray"--surprise in her air, and some little indignation--"they and +their fathers have lived on the Hanbury lands for generations!" + +"I cannot help it, madam. I am telling you the truth, whether you +believe me or not." There was a pause; my lady looked perplexed, and +somewhat ruffled; Mr. Gray as though hopeless and wearied out. "Then, my +lady," said he, at last, rising as he spoke, "you can suggest nothing to +ameliorate the state of things which, I do assure you, does exist on your +lands, and among your tenants. Surely, you will not object to my using +Farmer Hale's great barn every Sabbath? He will allow me the use of it, +if your ladyship will grant your permission." + +"You are not fit for any extra work at present," (and indeed he had been +coughing very much all through the conversation). "Give me time to +consider of it. Tell me what you wish to teach. You will be able to +take care of your health, and grow stronger while I consider. It shall +not be the worse for you, if you leave it in my hands for a time." + +My lady spoke very kindly; but he was in too excited a state to recognize +the kindness, while the idea of delay was evidently a sore irritation. I +heard him say: "And I have so little time in which to do my work. Lord! +lay not this sin to my charge." + +But my lady was speaking to the old butler, for whom, at her sign, I had +rung the bell some little time before. Now she turned round. + +"Mr. Gray, I find I have some bottles of Malmsey, of the vintage of +seventeen hundred and seventy-eight, yet left. Malmsey, as perhaps you +know, used to be considered a specific for coughs arising from weakness. +You must permit me to send you half-a-dozen bottles, and, depend upon it, +you will take a more cheerful view of life and its duties before you have +finished them, especially if you will be so kind as to see Dr. Trevor, +who is coming to see me in the course of the week. By the time you are +strong enough to work, I will try and find some means of preventing the +children from using such bad language, and otherwise annoying you." + +"My lady, it is the sin, and not the annoyance. I wish I could make you +understand." He spoke with some impatience; Poor fellow! he was too +weak, exhausted, and nervous. "I am perfectly well; I can set to work to- +morrow; I will do anything not to be oppressed with the thought of how +little I am doing. I do not want your wine. Liberty to act in the +manner I think right, will do me far more good. But it is of no use. It +is preordained that I am to be nothing but a cumberer of the ground. I +beg your ladyship's pardon for this call." + +He stood up, and then turned dizzy. My lady looked on, deeply hurt, and +not a little offended, he held out his hand to her, and I could see that +she had a little hesitation before she took it. He then saw me, I almost +think, for the first time; and put out his hand once more, drew it back, +as if undecided, put it out again, and finally took hold of mine for an +instant in his damp, listless hand, and was gone. + +Lady Ludlow was dissatisfied with both him and herself, I was sure. +Indeed, I was dissatisfied with the result of the interview myself. But +my lady was not one to speak out her feelings on the subject; nor was I +one to forget myself, and begin on a topic which she did not begin. She +came to me, and was very tender with me; so tender, that that, and the +thoughts of Mr. Gray's sick, hopeless, disappointed look, nearly made me +cry. + +"You are tired, little one," said my lady. "Go and lie down in my room, +and hear what Medlicott and I can decide upon in the way of strengthening +dainties for that poor young man, who is killing himself with his over- +sensitive conscientiousness." + +"Oh, my lady!" said I, and then I stopped. + +"Well. What?" asked she. + +"If you would but let him have Farmer Hale's barn at once, it would do +him more good than all." + +"Pooh, pooh, child!" though I don't think she was displeased, "he is not +fit for more work just now. I shall go and write for Dr. Trevor." + +And for the next half-hour, we did nothing but arrange physical comforts +and cures for poor Mr. Gray. At the end of the time, Mrs. Medlicott +said-- + +"Has your ladyship heard that Harry Gregson has fallen from a tree, and +broken his thigh-bone, and is like to be a cripple for life?" + +"Harry Gregson! That black-eyed lad who read my letter? It all comes +from over-education!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +But I don't see how my lady could think it was over-education that made +Harry Gregson break his thigh, for the manner in which he met with the +accident was this:-- + +Mr. Horner, who had fallen sadly out of health since his wife's death, +had attached himself greatly to Harry Gregson. Now, Mr. Horner had a +cold manner to every one, and never spoke more than was necessary, at the +best of times. And, latterly, it had not been the best of times with +him. I dare say, he had had some causes for anxiety (of which I knew +nothing) about my lady's affairs; and he was evidently annoyed by my +lady's whim (as he once inadvertently called it) of placing Miss Galindo +under him in the position of a clerk. Yet he had always been friends, in +his quiet way, with Miss Galindo, and she devoted herself to her new +occupation with diligence and punctuality, although more than once she +had moaned to me over the orders for needlework which had been sent to +her, and which, owing to her occupation in the service of Lady Ludlow, +she had been unable to fulfil. + +The only living creature to whom the staid Mr. Horner could be said to be +attached, was Harry Gregson. To my lady he was a faithful and devoted +servant, looking keenly after her interests, and anxious to forward them +at any cost of trouble to himself. But the more shrewd Mr. Horner was, +the more probability was there of his being annoyed at certain +peculiarities of opinion which my lady held with a quiet, gentle +pertinacity; against which no arguments, based on mere worldly and +business calculations, made any way. This frequent opposition to views +which Mr. Horner entertained, although it did not interfere with the +sincere respect which the lady and the steward felt for each other, yet +prevented any warmer feeling of affection from coming in. It seems +strange to say it, but I must repeat it--the only person for whom, since +his wife's death, Mr. Horner seemed to feel any love, was the little imp +Harry Gregson, with his bright, watchful eyes, his tangled hair hanging +right down to his eyebrows, for all the world like a Skye terrier. This +lad, half gipsy and whole poacher, as many people esteemed him, hung +about the silent, respectable, staid Mr. Horner, and followed his steps +with something of the affectionate fidelity of the dog which he +resembled. I suspect, this demonstration of attachment to his person on +Harry Gregson's part was what won Mr. Horner's regard. In the first +instance, the steward had only chosen the lad out as the cleverest +instrument he could find for his purpose; and I don't mean to say that, +if Harry had not been almost as shrewd as Mr. Horner himself was, both by +original disposition and subsequent experience, the steward would have +taken to him as he did, let the lad have shown ever so much affection for +him. + +But even to Harry Mr. Horner was silent. Still, it was pleasant to find +himself in many ways so readily understood; to perceive that the crumbs +of knowledge he let fall were picked up by his little follower, and +hoarded like gold that here was one to hate the persons and things whom +Mr. Horner coldly disliked, and to reverence and admire all those for +whom he had any regard. Mr. Horner had never had a child, and +unconsciously, I suppose, something of the paternal feeling had begun to +develop itself in him towards Harry Gregson. I heard one or two things +from different people, which have always made me fancy that Mr. Horner +secretly and almost unconsciously hoped that Harry Gregson might be +trained so as to be first his clerk, and next his assistant, and finally +his successor in his stewardship to the Hanbury estates. + +Harry's disgrace with my lady, in consequence of his reading the letter, +was a deeper blow to Mr. Horner than his quiet manner would ever have led +any one to suppose, or than Lady Ludlow ever dreamed of inflicting, I am +sure. + +Probably Harry had a short, stern rebuke from Mr. Horner at the time, for +his manner was always hard even to those he cared for the most. But +Harry's love was not to be daunted or quelled by a few sharp words. I +dare say, from what I heard of them afterwards, that Harry accompanied +Mr. Horner in his walk over the farm the very day of the rebuke; his +presence apparently unnoticed by the agent, by whom his absence would +have been painfully felt nevertheless. That was the way of it, as I have +been told. Mr. Horner never bade Harry go with him; never thanked him +for going, or being at his heels ready to run on any errands, straight as +the crow flies to his point, and back to heel in as short a time as +possible. Yet, if Harry were away, Mr. Horner never inquired the reason +from any of the men who might be supposed to know whether he was detained +by his father, or otherwise engaged; he never asked Harry himself where +he had been. But Miss Galindo said that those labourers who knew Mr. +Horner well, told her that he was always more quick-eyed to shortcomings, +more savage-like in fault-finding, on those days when the lad was absent. + +Miss Galindo, indeed, was my great authority for most of the village news +which I heard. She it was who gave me the particulars of poor Harry's +accident. + +"You see, my dear," she said, "the little poacher has taken some +unaccountable fancy to my master." (This was the name by which Miss +Galindo always spoke of Mr. Horner to me, ever since she had been, as she +called it, appointed his clerk.) + +"Now if I had twenty hearts to lose, I never could spare a bit of one of +them for that good, gray, square, severe man. But different people have +different tastes, and here is that little imp of a gipsy-tinker ready to +turn slave for my master; and, odd enough, my master,--who, I should have +said beforehand, would have made short work of imp, and imp's family, and +have sent Hall, the Bang-beggar, after them in no time--my master, as +they tell me, is in his way quite fond of the lad, and if he could, +without vexing my lady too much, he would have made him what the folks +here call a Latiner. However, last night, it seems that there was a +letter of some importance forgotten (I can't tell you what it was about, +my dear, though I know perfectly well, but '_service oblige_,' as well as +'noblesse,' and you must take my word for it that it was important, and +one that I am surprised my master could forget), till too late for the +post. (The poor, good, orderly man is not what he was before his wife's +death.) Well, it seems that he was sore annoyed by his forgetfulness, +and well he might be. And it was all the more vexatious, as he had no +one to blame but himself. As for that matter, I always scold somebody +else when I'm in fault; but I suppose my master would never think of +doing that, else it's a mighty relief. However, he could eat no tea, and +was altogether put out and gloomy. And the little faithful imp-lad, +perceiving all this, I suppose, got up like a page in an old ballad, and +said he would run for his life across country to Comberford, and see if +he could not get there before the bags were made up. So my master gave +him the letter, and nothing more was heard of the poor fellow till this +morning, for the father thought his son was sleeping in Mr. Horner's +barn, as he does occasionally, it seems, and my master, as was very +natural, that he had gone to his father's." + +"And he had fallen down the old stone quarry, had he not?" + +"Yes, sure enough. Mr. Gray had been up here fretting my lady with some +of his new-fangled schemes, and because the young man could not have it +all his own way, from what I understand, he was put out, and thought he +would go home by the back lane, instead of through the village, where the +folks would notice if the parson looked glum. But, however, it was a +mercy, and I don't mind saying so, ay, and meaning it too, though it may +be like methodism; for, as Mr. Gray walked by the quarry, he heard a +groan, and at first he thought it was a lamb fallen down; and he stood +still, and then he heard it again; and then I suppose, he looked down and +saw Harry. So he let himself down by the boughs of the trees to the +ledge where Harry lay half-dead, and with his poor thigh broken. There +he had lain ever since the night before: he had been returning to tell +the master that he had safely posted the letter, and the first words he +said, when they recovered him from the exhausted state he was in, were" +(Miss Galindo tried hard not to whimper, as she said it), "'It was in +time, sir. I see'd it put in the bag with my own eyes.'" + +"But where is he?" asked I. "How did Mr. Gray get him out?" + +"Ay! there it is, you see. Why the old gentleman (I daren't say Devil in +Lady Ludlow's house) is not so black as he is painted; and Mr. Gray must +have a deal of good in him, as I say at times; and then at others, when +he has gone against me, I can't bear him, and think hanging too good for +him. But he lifted the poor lad, as if he had been a baby, I suppose, +and carried him up the great ledges that were formerly used for steps; +and laid him soft and easy on the wayside grass, and ran home and got +help and a door, and had him carried to his house, and laid on his bed; +and then somehow, for the first time either he or any one else perceived +it, he himself was all over blood--his own blood--he had broken a blood- +vessel; and there he lies in the little dressing-room, as white and as +still as if he were dead; and the little imp in Mr. Gray's own bed, sound +asleep, now his leg is set, just as if linen sheets and a feather bed +were his native element, as one may say. Really, now he is doing so +well, I've no patience with him, lying there where Mr. Gray ought to be. +It is just what my lady always prophesied would come to pass, if there +was any confusion of ranks." + +"Poor Mr. Gray!" said I, thinking of his flushed face, and his feverish, +restless ways, when he had been calling on my lady not an hour before his +exertions on Harry's behalf. And I told Miss Galindo how ill I had +thought him. + +"Yes," said she. "And that was the reason my lady had sent for Doctor +Trevor. Well, it has fallen out admirably, for he looked well after that +old donkey of a Prince, and saw that he made no blunders." + +Now "that old donkey of a Prince" meant the village surgeon, Mr. Prince, +between whom and Miss Galindo there was war to the knife, as they often +met in the cottages, when there was illness, and she had her queer, odd +recipes, which he, with his grand pharmacopoeia, held in infinite +contempt, and the consequence of their squabbling had been, not long +before this very time, that he had established a kind of rule, that into +whatever sick-room Miss Galindo was admitted, there he refused to visit. +But Miss Galindo's prescriptions and visits cost nothing and were often +backed by kitchen-physic; so, though it was true that she never came but +she scolded about something or other, she was generally preferred as +medical attendant to Mr. Prince. + +"Yes, the old donkey is obliged to tolerate me, and be civil to me; for, +you see, I got there first, and had possession, as it were, and yet my +lord the donkey likes the credit of attending the parson, and being in +consultation with so grand a county-town doctor as Doctor Trevor. And +Doctor Trevor is an old friend of mine" (she sighed a little, some time I +may tell you why), "and treats me with infinite bowing and respect; so +the donkey, not to be out of medical fashion, bows too, though it is +sadly against the grain; and he pulled a face as if he had heard a slate- +pencil gritting against a slate, when I told Doctor Trevor I meant to sit +up with the two lads, for I call Mr. Gray little more than a lad, and a +pretty conceited one, too, at times." + +"But why should you sit up, Miss Galindo? It will tire you sadly." + +"Not it. You see, there is Gregson's mother to keep quiet for she sits +by her lad, fretting and sobbing, so that I'm afraid of her disturbing +Mr. Gray; and there's Mr. Gray to keep quiet, for Doctor Trevor says his +life depends on it; and there is medicine to be given to the one, and +bandages to be attended to for the other; and the wild horde of gipsy +brothers and sisters to be turned out, and the father to be held in from +showing too much gratitude to Mr. Gray, who can't hear it,--and who is to +do it all but me? The only servant is old lame Betty, who once lived +with me, and _would_ leave me because she said I was always +bothering--(there was a good deal of truth in what she said, I grant, but +she need not have said it; a good deal of truth is best let alone at the +bottom of the well), and what can she do,--deaf as ever she can be, too?" + +So Miss Galindo went her ways; but not the less was she at her post in +the morning; a little crosser and more silent than usual; but the first +was not to be wondered at, and the last was rather a blessing. + +Lady Ludlow had been extremely anxious both about Mr. Gray and Harry +Gregson. Kind and thoughtful in any case of illness and accident, she +always was; but somehow, in this, the feeling that she was not quite--what +shall I call it?--"friends" seems hardly the right word to use, as to the +possible feeling between the Countess Ludlow and the little vagabond +messenger, who had only once been in her presence,--that she had hardly +parted from either as she could have wished to do, had death been near, +made her more than usually anxious. Doctor Trevor was not to spare +obtaining the best medical advice the county could afford: whatever he +ordered in the way of diet, was to be prepared under Mrs. Medlicott's own +eye, and sent down from the Hall to the Parsonage. As Mr. Horner had +given somewhat similar directions, in the case of Harry Gregson at least, +there was rather a multiplicity of counsellors and dainties, than any +lack of them. And, the second night, Mr. Horner insisted on taking the +superintendence of the nursing himself, and sat and snored by Harry's +bedside, while the poor, exhausted mother lay by her child,--thinking +that she watched him, but in reality fast asleep, as Miss Galindo told +us; for, distrusting any one's powers of watching and nursing but her +own, she had stolen across the quiet village street in cloak and dressing- +gown, and found Mr. Gray in vain trying to reach the cup of barley-water +which Mr. Horner had placed just beyond his reach. + +In consequence of Mr. Gray's illness, we had to have a strange curate to +do duty; a man who dropped his h's, and hurried through the service, and +yet had time enough to stand in my Lady's way, bowing to her as she came +out of church, and so subservient in manner, that I believe that sooner +than remain unnoticed by a countess, he would have preferred being +scolded, or even cuffed. Now I found out, that great as was my lady's +liking and approval of respect, nay, even reverence, being paid to her as +a person of quality,--a sort of tribute to her Order, which she had no +individual right to remit, or, indeed, not to exact,--yet she, being +personally simple, sincere, and holding herself in low esteem, could not +endure anything like the servility of Mr. Crosse, the temporary curate. +She grew absolutely to loathe his perpetual smiling and bowing; his +instant agreement with the slightest opinion she uttered; his veering +round as she blew the wind. I have often said that my lady did not talk +much, as she might have done had she lived among her equals. But we all +loved her so much, that we had learnt to interpret all her little ways +pretty truly; and I knew what particular turns of her head, and +contractions of her delicate fingers meant, as well as if she had +expressed herself in words. I began to suspect that my lady would be +very thankful to have Mr. Gray about again, and doing his duty even with +a conscientiousness that might amount to worrying himself, and fidgeting +others; and although Mr. Gray might hold her opinions in as little esteem +as those of any simple gentlewoman, she was too sensible not to feel how +much flavour there was in his conversation, compared to that of Mr. +Crosse, who was only her tasteless echo. + +As for Miss Galindo, she was utterly and entirely a partisan of Mr. +Gray's, almost ever since she had begun to nurse him during his illness. + +"You know, I never set up for reasonableness, my lady. So I don't +pretend to say, as I might do if I were a sensible woman and all +that,--that I am convinced by Mr. Gray's arguments of this thing or +t'other. For one thing, you see, poor fellow! he has never been able to +argue, or hardly indeed to speak, for Doctor Trevor has been very +peremptory. So there's been no scope for arguing! But what I mean is +this:--When I see a sick man thinking always of others, and never of +himself; patient, humble--a trifle too much at times, for I've caught him +praying to be forgiven for having neglected his work as a parish priest," +(Miss Galindo was making horrible faces, to keep back tears, squeezing up +her eyes in a way which would have amused me at any other time, but when +she was speaking of Mr. Gray); "when I see a downright good, religious +man, I'm apt to think he's got hold of the right clue, and that I can do +no better than hold on by the tails of his coat and shut my eyes, if +we've got to go over doubtful places on our road to Heaven. So, my lady, +you must excuse me if, when he gets about again, he is all agog about a +Sunday-school, for if he is, I shall be agog too, and perhaps twice as +bad as him, for, you see, I've a strong constitution compared to his, and +strong ways of speaking and acting. And I tell your ladyship this now, +because I think from your rank--and still more, if I may say so, for all +your kindness to me long ago, down to this very day--you've a right to be +first told of anything about me. Change of opinion I can't exactly call +it, for I don't see the good of schools and teaching A B C, any more than +I did before, only Mr. Gray does, so I'm to shut my eyes, and leap over +the ditch to the side of education. I've told Sally already, that if she +does not mind her work, but stands gossiping with Nelly Mather, I'll +teach her her lessons; and I've never caught her with old Nelly since." + +I think Miss Galindo's desertion to Mr. Gray's opinions in this matter +hurt my lady just a little bit; but she only said-- + +"Of course, if the parishoners wish for it, Mr. Gray must have his Sunday- +school. I shall, in that case, withdraw my opposition. I am sorry I +cannot alter my opinions as easily as you." + +My lady made herself smile as she said this. Miss Galindo saw it was an +effort to do so. She thought a minute before she spoke again. + +"Your ladyship has not seen Mr. Gray as intimately as I have done. That's +one thing. But, as for the parishioners, they will follow your +ladyship's lead in everything; so there is no chance of their wishing for +a Sunday-school." + +"I have never done anything to make them follow my lead, as you call it, +Miss Galindo," said my lady, gravely. + +"Yes, you have," replied Miss Galindo, bluntly. And then, correcting +herself, she said, "Begging your ladyship's pardon, you have. Your +ancestors have lived here time out of mind, and have owned the land on +which their forefathers have lived ever since there were forefathers. You +yourself were born amongst them, and have been like a little queen to +them ever since, I might say, and they've never known your ladyship do +anything but what was kind and gentle; but I'll leave fine speeches about +your ladyship to Mr. Crosse. Only you, my lady, lead the thoughts of the +parish; and save some of them a world of trouble, for they could never +tell what was right if they had to think for themselves. It's all quite +right that they should be guided by you, my lady,--if only you would +agree with Mr. Gray." + +"Well," said my lady, "I told him only the last day that he was here, +that I would think about it. I do believe I could make up my mind on +certain subjects better if I were left alone, than while being constantly +talked to about them." + +My lady said this in her usual soft tones; but the words had a tinge of +impatience about them; indeed, she was more ruffled than I had often seen +her; but, checking herself in an instant she said-- + +"You don't know how Mr. Horner drags in this subject of education apropos +of everything. Not that he says much about it at any time: it is not his +way. But he cannot let the thing alone." + +"I know why, my lady," said Miss Galindo. "That poor lad, Harry Gregson, +will never be able to earn his livelihood in any active way, but will be +lame for life. Now, Mr. Horner thinks more of Harry than of any one else +in the world,--except, perhaps, your ladyship." Was it not a pretty +companionship for my lady? "And he has schemes of his own for teaching +Harry; and if Mr. Gray could but have his school, Mr. Horner and he think +Harry might be schoolmaster, as your ladyship would not like to have him +coming to you as steward's clerk. I wish your ladyship would fall into +this plan; Mr. Gray has it so at heart." + +Miss Galindo looked wistfully at my lady, as she said this. But my lady +only said, drily, and rising at the same time, as if to end the +conversation-- + +"So Mr. Horner and Mr. Gray seem to have gone a long way in advance of my +consent to their plans." + +"There!" exclaimed Miss Galindo, as my lady left the room, with an +apology for going away; "I have gone and done mischief with my long, +stupid tongue. To be sure, people plan a long way ahead of to-day; more +especially when one is a sick man, lying all through the weary day on a +sofa." + +"My lady will soon get over her annoyance," said I, as it were +apologetically. I only stopped Miss Galindo's self-reproaches to draw +down her wrath upon myself. + +"And has not she a right to be annoyed with me, if she likes, and to keep +annoyed as long as she likes? Am I complaining of her, that you need +tell me that? Let me tell you, I have known my lady these thirty years; +and if she were to take me by the shoulders, and turn me out of the +house, I should only love her the more. So don't you think to come +between us with any little mincing, peace-making speeches. I have been a +mischief-making parrot, and I like her the better for being vexed with +me. So good-bye to you, Miss; and wait till you know Lady Ludlow as well +as I do, before you next think of telling me she will soon get over her +annoyance!" And off Miss Galindo went. + +I could not exactly tell what I had done wrong; but I took care never +again to come in between my lady and her by any remark about the one to +the other; for I saw that some most powerful bond of grateful affection +made Miss Galindo almost worship my lady. + +Meanwhile, Harry Gregson was limping a little about in the village, still +finding his home in Mr. Gray's house; for there he could most +conveniently be kept under the doctor's eye, and receive the requisite +care, and enjoy the requisite nourishment. As soon as he was a little +better, he was to go to Mr. Horner's house; but, as the steward lived +some distance out of the way, and was much from home, he had agreed to +leave Harry at the house; to which he had first been taken, until he was +quite strong again; and the more willingly, I suspect, from what I heard +afterwards, because Mr. Gray gave up all the little strength of speaking +which he had, to teaching Harry in the very manner which Mr. Horner most +desired. + +As for Gregson the father--he--wild man of the woods, poacher, tinker, +jack-of-all trades--was getting tamed by this kindness to his child. +Hitherto his hand had been against every man, as every man's had been +against him. That affair before the justice, which I told you about, +when Mr. Gray and even my lady had interested themselves to get him +released from unjust imprisonment, was the first bit of justice he had +ever met with; it attracted him to the people, and attached him to the +spot on which he had but squatted for a time. I am not sure if any of +the villagers were grateful to him for remaining in their neighbourhood, +instead of decamping as he had often done before, for good reasons, +doubtless, of personal safety. Harry was only one out of a brood of ten +or twelve children, some of whom had earned for themselves no good +character in service: one, indeed, had been actually transported, for a +robbery committed in a distant part of the county; and the tale was yet +told in the village of how Gregson the father came back from the trial in +a state of wild rage, striding through the place, and uttering oaths of +vengeance to himself, his great black eyes gleaming out of his matted +hair, and his arms working by his side, and now and then tossed up in his +impotent despair. As I heard the account, his wife followed him, child- +laden and weeping. After this, they had vanished from the country for a +time, leaving their mud hovel locked up, and the door-key, as the +neighbours said, buried in a hedge bank. The Gregsons had reappeared +much about the same time that Mr. Gray came to Hanbury. He had either +never heard of their evil character, or considered that it gave them all +the more claims upon his Christian care; and the end of it was, that this +rough, untamed, strong giant of a heathen was loyal slave to the weak, +hectic, nervous, self-distrustful parson. Gregson had also a kind of +grumbling respect for Mr. Horner: he did not quite like the steward's +monopoly of his Harry: the mother submitted to that with a better grace, +swallowing down her maternal jealousy in the prospect of her child's +advancement to a better and more respectable position than that in which +his parents had struggled through life. But Mr. Horner, the steward, and +Gregson, the poacher and squatter, had come into disagreeable contact too +often in former days for them to be perfectly cordial at any future time. +Even now, when there was no immediate cause for anything but gratitude +for his child's sake on Gregson's part, he would skulk out of Mr. +Horner's way, if he saw him coming; and it took all Mr. Horner's natural +reserve and acquired self-restraint to keep him from occasionally holding +up his father's life as a warning to Harry. Now Gregson had nothing of +this desire for avoidance with regard to Mr. Gray. The poacher had a +feeling of physical protection towards the parson; while the latter had +shown the moral courage, without which Gregson would never have respected +him, in coming right down upon him more than once in the exercise of +unlawful pursuits, and simply and boldly telling him he was doing wrong, +with such a quiet reliance upon Gregson's better feeling, at the same +time, that the strong poacher could not have lifted a finger against Mr. +Gray, though it had been to save himself from being apprehended and taken +to the lock-ups the very next hour. He had rather listened to the +parson's bold words with an approving smile, much as Mr. Gulliver might +have hearkened to a lecture from a Lilliputian. But when brave words +passed into kind deeds, Gregson's heart mutely acknowledged its master +and keeper. And the beauty of it all was, that Mr. Gray knew nothing of +the good work he had done, or recognized himself as the instrument which +God had employed. He thanked God, it is true, fervently and often, that +the work was done; and loved the wild man for his rough gratitude; but it +never occurred to the poor young clergyman, lying on his sick-bed, and +praying, as Miss Galindo had told us he did, to be forgiven for his +unprofitable life, to think of Gregson's reclaimed soul as anything with +which he had had to do. It was now more than three months since Mr. Gray +had been at Hanbury Court. During all that time he had been confined to +his house, if not to his sick-bed, and he and my lady had never met since +their last discussion and difference about Farmer Hale's barn. + +This was not my dear lady's fault; no one could have been more attentive +in every way to the slightest possible want of either of the invalids, +especially of Mr. Gray. And she would have gone to see him at his own +house, as she sent him word, but that her foot had slipped upon the +polished oak staircase, and her ancle had been sprained. + +So we had never seen Mr. Gray since his illness, when one November day he +was announced as wishing to speak to my lady. She was sitting in her +room--the room in which I lay now pretty constantly--and I remember she +looked startled, when word was brought to her of Mr. Gray's being at the +Hall. + +She could not go to him, she was too lame for that, so she bade him be +shown into where she sat. + +"Such a day for him to go out!" she exclaimed, looking at the fog which +had crept up to the windows, and was sapping the little remaining life in +the brilliant Virginian creeper leaves that draperied the house on the +terrace side. + +He came in white, trembling, his large eyes wild and dilated. He +hastened up to Lady Ludlow's chair, and, to my surprise, took one of her +hands and kissed it, without speaking, yet shaking all over. + +"Mr. Gray!" said she, quickly, with sharp, tremulous apprehension of some +unknown evil. "What is it? There is something unusual about you." + +"Something unusual has occurred," replied he, forcing his words to be +calm, as with a great effort. "A gentleman came to my house, not half an +hour ago--a Mr. Howard. He came straight from Vienna." + +"My son!" said my dear lady, stretching out her arms in dumb questioning +attitude. + +"The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the +Lord." + +But my poor lady could not echo the words. He was the last remaining +child. And once she had been the joyful mother of nine. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +I am ashamed to say what feeling became strongest in my mind about this +time; next to the sympathy we all of us felt for my dear lady in her deep +sorrow, I mean; for that was greater and stronger than anything else, +however contradictory you may think it, when you hear all. + +It might arise from my being so far from well at the time, which produced +a diseased mind in a diseased body; but I was absolutely jealous for my +father's memory, when I saw how many signs of grief there were for my +lord's death, he having done next to nothing for the village and parish, +which now changed, as it were, its daily course of life, because his +lordship died in a far-off city. My father had spent the best years of +his manhood in labouring hard, body and soul, for the people amongst whom +he lived. His family, of course, claimed the first place in his heart; +he would have been good for little, even in the way of benevolence, if +they had not. But close after them he cared for his parishioners, and +neighbours. And yet, when he died, though the church-bells tolled, and +smote upon our hearts with hard, fresh pain at every beat, the sounds of +every-day life still went on, close pressing around us,--carts and +carriages, street-cries, distant barrel-organs (the kindly neighbours +kept them out of our street): life, active, noisy life, pressed on our +acute consciousness of Death, and jarred upon it as on a quick nerve. + +And when we went to church,--my father's own church,--though the pulpit +cushions were black, and many of the congregation had put on some humble +sign of mourning, yet it did not alter the whole material aspect of the +place. And yet what was Lord Ludlow's relation to Hanbury, compared to +my father's work and place in--? + +O! it was very wicked in me! I think if I had seen my lady,--if I had +dared to ask to go to her, I should not have felt so miserable, so +discontented. But she sat in her own room, hung with black, all, even +over the shutters. She saw no light but that which was +artificial--candles, lamps, and the like--for more than a month. Only +Adams went near her. Mr. Gray was not admitted, though he called daily. +Even Mrs. Medlicott did not see her for near a fortnight. The sight of +my lady's griefs, or rather the recollection of it, made Mrs. Medlicott +talk far more than was her wont. She told us, with many tears, and much +gesticulation, even speaking German at times, when her English would not +flow, that my lady sat there, a white figure in the middle of the +darkened room; a shaded lamp near her, the light of which fell on an open +Bible,--the great family Bible. It was not open at any chapter or +consoling verse; but at the page whereon were registered the births of +her nine children. Five had died in infancy,--sacrificed to the cruel +system which forbade the mother to suckle her babies. Four had lived +longer; Urian had been the first to die, Ughtred-Mortimar, Earl Ludlow, +the last. + +My lady did not cry, Mrs. Medlicott said. She was quite composed; very +still, very silent. She put aside everything that savoured of mere +business: sent people to Mr. Horner for that. But she was proudly alive +to every possible form which might do honour to the last of her race. + +In those days, expresses were slow things, and forms still slower. Before +my lady's directions could reach Vienna, my lord was buried. There was +some talk (so Mrs. Medlicott said) about taking the body up, and bringing +him to Hanbury. But his executors,--connections on the Ludlow +side,--demurred to this. If he were removed to England, he must be +carried on to Scotland, and interred with his Monkshaven forefathers. My +lady, deeply hurt, withdrew from the discussion, before it degenerated to +an unseemly contest. But all the more, for this understood mortification +of my lady's, did the whole village and estate of Hanbury assume every +outward sign of mourning. The church bells tolled morning and evening. +The church itself was draped in black inside. Hatchments were placed +everywhere, where hatchments could be put. All the tenantry spoke in +hushed voices for more than a week, scarcely daring to observe that all +flesh, even that of an Earl Ludlow, and the last of the Hanburys, was but +grass after all. The very Fighting Lion closed its front door, front +shutters it had none, and those who needed drink stole in at the back, +and were silent and maudlin over their cups, instead of riotous and +noisy. Miss Galindo's eyes were swollen up with crying, and she told me, +with a fresh burst of tears, that even hump-backed Sally had been found +sobbing over her Bible, and using a pocket-handkerchief for the first +time in her life; her aprons having hitherto stood her in the necessary +stead, but not being sufficiently in accordance with etiquette to be used +when mourning over an earl's premature decease. + +If it was this way out of the Hall, "you might work it by the rule of +three," as Miss Galindo used to say, and judge what it was in the Hall. +We none of us spoke but in a whisper: we tried not to eat; and indeed the +shock had been so really great, and we did really care so much for my +lady, that for some days we had but little appetite. But after that, I +fear our sympathy grew weaker, while our flesh grew stronger. But we +still spoke low, and our hearts ached whenever we thought of my lady +sitting there alone in the darkened room, with the light ever falling on +that one solemn page. + +We wished, O how I wished that she would see Mr. Gray! But Adams said, +she thought my lady ought to have a bishop come to see her. Still no one +had authority enough to send for one. + +Mr. Horner all this time was suffering as much as any one. He was too +faithful a servant of the great Hanbury family, though now the family had +dwindled down to a fragile old lady, not to mourn acutely over its +probable extinction. He had, besides, a deeper sympathy and reverence +with, and for, my lady, in all things, than probably he ever cared to +show, for his manners were always measured and cold. He suffered from +sorrow. He also suffered from wrong. My lord's executors kept writing +to him continually. My lady refused to listen to mere business, saying +she intrusted all to him. But the "all" was more complicated than I ever +thoroughly understood. As far as I comprehended the case, it was +something of this kind:--There had been a mortgage raised on my lady's +property of Hanbury, to enable my lord, her husband, to spend money in +cultivating his Scotch estates, after some new fashion that required +capital. As long as my lord, her son, lived, who was to succeed to both +the estates after her death, this did not signify; so she had said and +felt; and she had refused to take any steps to secure the repayment of +capital, or even the payment of the interest of the mortgage from the +possible representatives and possessors of the Scotch estates, to the +possible owner of the Hanbury property; saying it ill became her to +calculate on the contingency of her son's death. + +But he had died childless, unmarried. The heir of the Monkshaven +property was an Edinburgh advocate, a far-away kinsman of my lord's: the +Hanbury property, at my lady's death, would go to the descendants of a +third son of the Squire Hanbury in the days of Queen Anne. + +This complication of affairs was most grievous to Mr. Horner. He had +always been opposed to the mortgage; had hated the payment of the +interest, as obliging my lady to practise certain economies which, though +she took care to make them as personal as possible, he disliked as +derogatory to the family. Poor Mr. Horner! He was so cold and hard in +his manner, so curt and decisive in his speech, that I don't think we any +of us did him justice. Miss Galindo was almost the first, at this time, +to speak a kind word of him, or to take thought of him at all, any +farther than to get out of his way when we saw him approaching. + +"I don't think Mr. Horner is well," she said one day; about three weeks +after we had heard of my lord's death. "He sits resting his head on his +hand, and hardly hears me when I speak to him." + +But I thought no more of it, as Miss Galindo did not name it again. My +lady came amongst us once more. From elderly she had become old; a +little, frail, old lady, in heavy black drapery, never speaking about nor +alluding to her great sorrow; quieter, gentler, paler than ever before; +and her eyes dim with much weeping, never witnessed by mortal. + +She had seen Mr. Gray at the expiration of the month of deep retirement. +But I do not think that even to him she had said one word of her own +particular individual sorrow. All mention of it seemed buried deep for +evermore. One day, Mr. Horner sent word that he was too much indisposed +to attend to his usual business at the Hall; but he wrote down some +directions and requests to Miss Galindo, saying that he would be at his +office early the next morning. The next morning he was dead. + +Miss Galindo told my lady. Miss Galindo herself cried plentifully, but +my lady, although very much distressed, could not cry. It seemed a +physical impossibility, as if she had shed all the tears in her power. +Moreover, I almost think her wonder was far greater that she herself +lived than that Mr. Horner died. It was almost natural that so faithful +a servant should break his heart, when the family he belonged to lost +their stay, their heir, and their last hope. + +Yes! Mr. Horner was a faithful servant. I do not think there are many +so faithful now; but perhaps that is an old woman's fancy of mine. When +his will came to be examined, it was discovered that, soon after Harry +Gregson's accident, Mr. Horner had left the few thousands (three, I +think,) of which he was possessed, in trust for Harry's benefit, desiring +his executors to see that the lad was well educated in certain things, +for which Mr. Horner had thought that he had shown especial aptitude; and +there was a kind of implied apology to my lady in one sentence where he +stated that Harry's lameness would prevent his being ever able to gain +his living by the exercise of any mere bodily faculties, "as had been +wished by a lady whose wishes" he, the testator, "was bound to regard." + +But there was a codicil in the will, dated since Lord Ludlow's +death--feebly written by Mr. Horner himself, as if in preparation only +for some more formal manner of bequest: or, perhaps, only as a mere +temporary arrangement till he could see a lawyer, and have a fresh will +made. In this he revoked his previous bequest to Harry Gregson. He only +left two hundred pounds to Mr Gray to be used, as that gentleman thought +best, for Henry Gregson's benefit. With this one exception, he +bequeathed all the rest of his savings to my lady, with a hope that they +might form a nest-egg, as it were, towards the paying off of the mortgage +which had been such a grief to him during his life. I may not repeat all +this in lawyer's phrase; I heard it through Miss Galindo, and she might +make mistakes. Though, indeed, she was very clear-headed, and soon +earned the respect of Mr. Smithson, my lady's lawyer from Warwick. Mr. +Smithson knew Miss Galindo a little before, both personally and by +reputation; but I don't think he was prepared to find her installed as +steward's clerk, and, at first, he was inclined to treat her, in this +capacity, with polite contempt. But Miss Galindo was both a lady and a +spirited, sensible woman, and she could put aside her self-indulgence in +eccentricity of speech and manner whenever she chose. Nay more; she was +usually so talkative, that if she had not been amusing and warm-hearted, +one might have thought her wearisome occasionally. But to meet Mr. +Smithson she came out daily in her Sunday gown; she said no more than was +required in answer to his questions; her books and papers were in +thorough order, and methodically kept; her statements of matters-of-fact +accurate, and to be relied on. She was amusingly conscious of her +victory over his contempt of a woman-clerk and his preconceived opinion +of her unpractical eccentricity. + +"Let me alone," said she, one day when she came in to sit awhile with me. +"That man is a good man--a sensible man--and I have no doubt he is a good +lawyer; but he can't fathom women yet. I make no doubt he'll go back to +Warwick, and never give credit again to those people who made him think +me half-cracked to begin with. O, my dear, he did! He showed it twenty +times worse than my poor dear master ever did. It was a form to be gone +through to please my lady, and, for her sake, he would hear my statements +and see my books. It was keeping a woman out of harm's way, at any rate, +to let her fancy herself useful. I read the man. And, I am thankful to +say, he cannot read me. At least, only one side of me. When I see an +end to be gained, I can behave myself accordingly. Here was a man who +thought that a woman in a black silk gown was a respectable, orderly kind +of person; and I was a woman in a black silk gown. He believed that a +woman could not write straight lines, and required a man to tell her that +two and two made four. I was not above ruling my books, and had Cocker a +little more at my fingers' ends than he had. But my greatest triumph has +been holding my tongue. He would have thought nothing of my books, or my +sums, or my black silk gown, if I had spoken unasked. So I have buried +more sense in my bosom these ten days than ever I have uttered in the +whole course of my life before. I have been so curt, so abrupt, so +abominably dull, that I'll answer for it he thinks me worthy to be a man. +But I must go back to him, my dear, so good-bye to conversation and you." + +But though Mr. Smithson might be satisfied with Miss Galindo, I am afraid +she was the only part of the affair with which he was content. Everything +else went wrong. I could not say who told me so--but the conviction of +this seemed to pervade the house. I never knew how much we had all +looked up to the silent, gruff Mr. Horner for decisions, until he was +gone. My lady herself was a pretty good woman of business, as women of +business go. Her father, seeing that she would be the heiress of the +Hanbury property, had given her a training which was thought unusual in +those days, and she liked to feel herself queen regnant, and to have to +decide in all cases between herself and her tenantry. But, perhaps, Mr. +Horner would have done it more wisely; not but what she always attended +to him at last. She would begin by saying, pretty clearly and promptly, +what she would have done, and what she would not have done. If Mr. +Horner approved of it, he bowed, and set about obeying her directly; if +he disapproved of it, he bowed, and lingered so long before he obeyed +her, that she forced his opinion out of him with her "Well, Mr. Horner! +and what have you to say against it?" For she always understood his +silence as well as if he had spoken. But the estate was pressed for +ready money, and Mr. Horner had grown gloomy and languid since the death +of his wife, and even his own personal affairs were not in the order in +which they had been a year or two before, for his old clerk had gradually +become superannuated, or, at any rate, unable by the superfluity of his +own energy and wit to supply the spirit that was wanting in Mr. Horner. + +Day after day Mr. Smithson seemed to grow more fidgety, more annoyed at +the state of affairs. Like every one else employed by Lady Ludlow, as +far as I could learn, he had an hereditary tie to the Hanbury family. As +long as the Smithsons had been lawyers, they had been lawyers to the +Hanburys; always coming in on all great family occasions, and better able +to understand the characters, and connect the links of what had once been +a large and scattered family, than any individual thereof had ever been. + +As long as a man was at the head of the Hanburys, the lawyers had simply +acted as servants, and had only given their advice when it was required. +But they had assumed a different position on the memorable occasion of +the mortgage: they had remonstrated against it. My lady had resented +this remonstrance, and a slight, unspoken coolness had existed between +her and the father of this Mr. Smithson ever since. + +I was very sorry for my lady. Mr. Smithson was inclined to blame Mr. +Horner for the disorderly state in which he found some of the outlying +farms, and for the deficiencies in the annual payment of rents. Mr. +Smithson had too much good feeling to put this blame into words; but my +lady's quick instinct led her to reply to a thought, the existence of +which she perceived; and she quietly told the truth, and explained how +she had interfered repeatedly to prevent Mr. Horner from taking certain +desirable steps, which were discordant to her hereditary sense of right +and wrong between landlord and tenant. She also spoke of the want of +ready money as a misfortune that could be remedied, by more economical +personal expenditure on her own part; by which individual saving, it was +possible that a reduction of fifty pounds a year might have been +accomplished. But as soon as Mr. Smithson touched on larger economies, +such as either affected the welfare of others, or the honour and standing +of the great House of Hanbury, she was inflexible. Her establishment +consisted of somewhere about forty servants, of whom nearly as many as +twenty were unable to perform their work properly, and yet would have +been hurt if they had been dismissed; so they had the credit of +fulfilling duties, while my lady paid and kept their substitutes. Mr. +Smithson made a calculation, and would have saved some hundreds a year by +pensioning off these old servants. But my lady would not hear of it. +Then, again, I know privately that he urged her to allow some of us to +return to our homes. Bitterly we should have regretted the separation +from Lady Ludlow; but we would have gone back gladly, had we known at the +time that her circumstances required it: but she would not listen to the +proposal for a moment. + +"If I cannot act justly towards every one, I will give up a plan which +has been a source of much satisfaction; at least, I will not carry it out +to such an extent in future. But to these young ladies, who do me the +favour to live with me at present, I stand pledged. I cannot go back +from my word, Mr. Smithson. We had better talk no more of this." + +As she spoke, she entered the room where I lay. She and Mr. Smithson +were coming for some papers contained in the bureau. They did not know I +was there, and Mr. Smithson started a little when he saw me, as he must +have been aware that I had overheard something. But my lady did not +change a muscle of her face. All the world might overhear her kind, +just, pure sayings, and she had no fear of their misconstruction. She +came up to me, and kissed me on the forehead, and then went to search for +the required papers. + +"I rode over the Connington farms yesterday, my lady. I must say I was +quite grieved to see the condition they are in; all the land that is not +waste is utterly exhausted with working successive white crops. Not a +pinch of manure laid on the ground for years. I must say that a greater +contrast could never have been presented than that between Harding's farm +and the next fields--fences in perfect order, rotation crops, sheep +eating down the turnips on the waste lands--everything that could be +desired." + +"Whose farm is that?" asked my lady. + +"Why, I am sorry to say, it was on none of your ladyship's that I saw +such good methods adopted. I hoped it was, I stopped my horse to +inquire. A queer-looking man, sitting on his horse like a tailor, +watching his men with a couple of the sharpest eyes I ever saw, and +dropping his h's at every word, answered my question, and told me it was +his. I could not go on asking him who he was; but I fell into +conversation with him, and I gathered that he had earned some money in +trade in Birmingham, and had bought the estate (five hundred acres, I +think he said,) on which he was born, and now was setting himself to +cultivate it in downright earnest, going to Holkham and Woburn, and half +the country over, to get himself up on the subject." + +"It would be Brooke, that dissenting baker from Birmingham," said my lady +in her most icy tone. "Mr. Smithson, I am sorry I have been detaining +you so long, but I think these are the letters you wished to see." + +If her ladyship thought by this speech to quench Mr. Smithson she was +mistaken. Mr. Smithson just looked at the letters, and went on with the +old subject. + +"Now, my lady, it struck me that if you had such a man to take poor +Horner's place, he would work the rents and the land round most +satisfactorily. I should not despair of inducing this very man to +undertake the work. I should not mind speaking to him myself on the +subject, for we got capital friends over a snack of luncheon that he +asked me to share with him." + +Lady Ludlow fixed her eyes on Mr. Smithson as he spoke, and never took +them off his face until he had ended. She was silent a minute before she +answered. + +"You are very good, Mr. Smithson, but I need not trouble you with any +such arrangements. I am going to write this afternoon to Captain James, +a friend of one of my sons, who has, I hear, been severely wounded at +Trafalgar, to request him to honour me by accepting Mr. Horner's +situation." + +"A Captain James! A captain in the navy! going to manage your ladyship's +estate!" + +"If he will be so kind. I shall esteem it a condescension on his part; +but I hear that he will have to resign his profession, his state of +health is so bad, and a country life is especially prescribed for him. I +am in some hopes of tempting him here, as I learn he has but little to +depend on if he gives up his profession." + +"A Captain James! an invalid captain!" + +"You think I am asking too great a favour," continued my lady. (I never +could tell how far it was simplicity, or how far a kind of innocent +malice, that made her misinterpret Mr. Smithson's words and looks as she +did.) "But he is not a post-captain, only a commander, and his pension +will be but small. I may be able, by offering him country air and a +healthy occupation, to restore him to health." + +"Occupation! My lady, may I ask how a sailor is to manage land? Why, +your tenants will laugh him to scorn." + +"My tenants, I trust, will not behave so ill as to laugh at any one I +choose to set over them. Captain James has had experience in managing +men. He has remarkable practical talents, and great common sense, as I +hear from every one. But, whatever he may be, the affair rests between +him and myself. I can only say I shall esteem myself fortunate if he +comes." + +There was no more to be said, after my lady spoke in this manner. I had +heard her mention Captain James before, as a middy who had been very kind +to her son Urian. I thought I remembered then, that she had mentioned +that his family circumstances were not very prosperous. But, I confess, +that little as I knew of the management of land, I quite sided with Mr. +Smithson. He, silently prohibited from again speaking to my lady on the +subject, opened his mind to Miss Galindo, from whom I was pretty sure to +hear all the opinions and news of the household and village. She had +taken a great fancy to me, because she said I talked so agreeably. I +believe it was because I listened so well. + +"Well, have you heard the news," she began, "about this Captain James? A +sailor,--with a wooden leg, I have no doubt. What would the poor, dear, +deceased master have said to it, if he had known who was to be his +successor! My dear, I have often thought of the postman's bringing me a +letter as one of the pleasures I shall miss in heaven. But, really, I +think Mr. Horner may be thankful he has got out of the reach of news; or +else he would hear of Mr. Smithson's having made up to the Birmingham +baker, and of his one-legged captain, coming to dot-and-go-one over the +estate. I suppose he will look after the labourers through a spy-glass. +I only hope he won't stick in the mud with his wooden leg; for I, for +one, won't help him out. Yes, I would," said she, correcting herself; "I +would, for my lady's sake." + +"But are you sure he has a wooden leg?" asked I. "I heard Lady Ludlow +tell Mr. Smithson about him, and she only spoke of him as wounded." + +"Well, sailors are almost always wounded in the leg. Look at Greenwich +Hospital! I should say there were twenty one-legged pensioners to one +without an arm there. But say he has got half-a-dozen legs: what has he +to do with managing land? I shall think him very impudent if he comes, +taking advantage of my lady's kind heart." + +However, come he did. In a month from that time, the carriage was sent +to meet Captain James; just as three years before it had been sent to +meet me. His coming had been so much talked about that we were all as +curious as possible to see him, and to know how so unusual an experiment, +as it seemed to us, would answer. But, before I tell you anything about +our new agent, I must speak of something quite as interesting, and I +really think quite as important. And this was my lady's making friends +with Harry Gregson. I do believe she did it for Mr. Horner's sake; but, +of course, I can only conjecture why my lady did anything. But I heard +one day, from Mary Legard, that my lady had sent for Harry to come and +see her, if he was well enough to walk so far; and the next day he was +shown into the room he had been in once before under such unlucky +circumstances. + +The lad looked pale enough, as he stood propping himself up on his +crutch, and the instant my lady saw him, she bade John Footman place a +stool for him to sit down upon while she spoke to him. It might be his +paleness that gave his whole face a more refined and gentle look; but I +suspect it was that the boy was apt to take impressions, and that Mr. +Horner's grave, dignified ways, and Mr. Gray's tender and quiet manners, +had altered him; and then the thoughts of illness and death seem to turn +many of us into gentlemen, and gentlewomen, as long as such thoughts are +in our minds. We cannot speak loudly or angrily at such times; we are +not apt to be eager about mere worldly things, for our very awe at our +quickened sense of the nearness of the invisible world, makes us calm and +serene about the petty trifles of to-day. At least, I know that was the +explanation Mr. Gray once gave me of what we all thought the great +improvement in Harry Gregson's way of behaving. + +My lady hesitated so long about what she had best say, that Harry grew a +little frightened at her silence. A few months ago it would have +surprised me more than it did now; but since my lord her son's death, she +had seemed altered in many ways,--more uncertain and distrustful of +herself, as it were. + +At last she said, and I think the tears were in her eyes: "My poor little +fellow, you have had a narrow escape with your life since I saw you +last." + +To this there was nothing to be said but "Yes;" and again there was +silence. + +"And you have lost a good, kind friend, in Mr. Horner." + +The boy's lips worked, and I think he said, "Please, don't." But I can't +be sure; at any rate, my lady went on: + +"And so have I,--a good, kind friend, he was to both of us; and to you he +wished to show his kindness in even a more generous way than he has done. +Mr. Gray has told you about his legacy to you, has he not?" + +There was no sign of eager joy on the lad's face, as if he realised the +power and pleasure of having what to him must have seemed like a fortune. + +"Mr. Gray said as how he had left me a matter of money." + +"Yes, he has left you two hundred pounds." + +"But I would rather have had him alive, my lady," he burst out, sobbing +as if his heart would break. + +"My lad, I believe you. We would rather have had our dead alive, would +we not? and there is nothing in money that can comfort us for their loss. +But you know--Mr. Gray has told you--who has appointed all our times to +die. Mr. Horner was a good, just man; and has done well and kindly, both +by me and you. You perhaps do not know" (and now I understood what my +lady had been making up her mind to say to Harry, all the time she was +hesitating how to begin) "that Mr. Horner, at one time, meant to leave +you a great deal more; probably all he had, with the exception of a +legacy to his old clerk, Morrison. But he knew that this estate--on +which my forefathers had lived for six hundred years--was in debt, and +that I had no immediate chance of paying off this debt; and yet he felt +that it was a very sad thing for an old property like this to belong in +part to those other men, who had lent the money. You understand me, I +think, my little man?" said she, questioning Harry's face. + +He had left off crying, and was trying to understand, with all his might +and main; and I think he had got a pretty good general idea of the state +of affairs; though probably he was puzzled by the term "the estate being +in debt." But he was sufficiently interested to want my lady to go on; +and he nodded his head at her, to signify this to her. + +"So Mr. Horner took the money which he once meant to be yours, and has +left the greater part of it to me, with the intention of helping me to +pay off this debt I have told you about. It will go a long way, and I +shall try hard to save the rest, and then I shall die happy in leaving +the land free from debt." She paused. "But I shall not die happy in +thinking of you. I do not know if having money, or even having a great +estate and much honour, is a good thing for any of us. But God sees fit +that some of us should be called to this condition, and it is our duty +then to stand by our posts, like brave soldiers. Now, Mr. Horner +intended you to have this money first. I shall only call it borrowing +from you, Harry Gregson, if I take it and use it to pay off the debt. I +shall pay Mr. Gray interest on this money, because he is to stand as your +guardian, as it were, till you come of age; and he must fix what ought to +be done with it, so as to fit you for spending the principal rightly when +the estate can repay it you. I suppose, now, it will be right for you to +be educated. That will be another snare that will come with your money. +But have courage, Harry. Both education and money may be used rightly, +if we only pray against the temptations they bring with them." + +Harry could make no answer, though I am sure he understood it all. My +lady wanted to get him to talk to her a little, by way of becoming +acquainted with what was passing in his mind; and she asked him what he +would like to have done with his money, if he could have part of it now? +To such a simple question, involving no talk about feelings, his answer +came readily enough. + +"Build a cottage for father, with stairs in it, and give Mr. Gray a +school-house. O, father does so want Mr. Gray for to have his wish! +Father saw all the stones lying quarried and hewn on Farmer Hale's land; +Mr. Gray had paid for them all himself. And father said he would work +night and day, and little Tommy should carry mortar, if the parson would +let him, sooner than that he should be fretted and frabbed as he was, +with no one giving him a helping hand or a kind word." + +Harry knew nothing of my lady's part in the affair; that was very clear. +My lady kept silence. + +"If I might have a piece of my money, I would buy land from Mr. Brooks; +he has got a bit to sell just at the corner of Hendon Lane, and I would +give it to Mr. Gray; and, perhaps, if your ladyship thinks I may be +learned again, I might grow up into the schoolmaster." + +"You are a good boy," said my lady. "But there are more things to be +thought of, in carrying out such a plan, than you are aware of. However, +it shall be tried." + +"The school, my lady?" I exclaimed, almost thinking she did not know what +she was saying. + +"Yes, the school. For Mr. Horner's sake, for Mr. Gray's sake, and last, +not least, for this lad's sake, I will give the new plan a trial. Ask +Mr. Gray to come up to me this afternoon about the land he wants. He +need not go to a Dissenter for it. And tell your father he shall have a +good share in the building of it, and Tommy shall carry the mortar." + +"And I may be schoolmaster?" asked Harry, eagerly. + +"We'll see about that," said my lady, amused. "It will be some time +before that plan comes to pass, my little fellow." + +And now to return to Captain James. My first account of him was from +Miss Galindo. + +"He's not above thirty; and I must just pack up my pens and my paper, and +be off; for it would be the height of impropriety for me to be staying +here as his clerk. It was all very well in the old master's days. But +here am I, not fifty till next May, and this young, unmarried man, who is +not even a widower! O, there would be no end of gossip. Besides he +looks as askance at me as I do at him. My black silk gown had no effect. +He's afraid I shall marry him. But I won't; he may feel himself quite +safe from that. And Mr. Smithson has been recommending a clerk to my +lady. She would far rather keep me on; but I can't stop. I really could +not think it proper." + +"What sort of a looking man is he?" + +"O, nothing particular. Short, and brown, and sunburnt. I did not think +it became me to look at him. Well, now for the nightcaps. I should have +grudged any one else doing them, for I have got such a pretty pattern!" + +But when it came to Miss Galindo's leaving, there was a great +misunderstanding between her and my lady. Miss Galindo had imagined that +my lady had asked her as a favour to copy the letters, and enter the +accounts, and had agreed to do the work without the notion of being paid +for so doing. She had, now and then, grieved over a very profitable +order for needlework passing out of her hands on account of her not +having time to do it, because of her occupation at the Hall; but she had +never hinted this to my lady, but gone on cheerfully at her writing as +long as her clerkship was required. My lady was annoyed that she had not +made her intention of paying Miss Galindo more clear, in the first +conversation she had had with her; but I suppose that she had been too +delicate to be very explicit with regard to money matters; and now Miss +Galindo was quite hurt at my lady's wanting to pay her for what she had +done in such right-down good-will. + +"No," Miss Galindo said; "my own dear lady, you may be as angry with me +as you like, but don't offer me money. Think of six-and-twenty years +ago, and poor Arthur, and as you were to me then! Besides, I wanted +money--I don't disguise it--for a particular purpose; and when I found +that (God bless you for asking me!) I could do you a service, I turned it +over in my mind, and I gave up one plan and took up another, and it's all +settled now. Bessy is to leave school and come and live with me. Don't, +please, offer me money again. You don't know how glad I have been to do +anything for you. Have not I, Margaret Dawson? Did you not hear me say, +one day, I would cut off my hand for my lady; for am I a stick or a +stone, that I should forget kindness? O, I have been so glad to work for +you. And now Bessy is coming here; and no one knows anything about +her--as if she had done anything wrong, poor child!" + +"Dear Miss Galindo," replied my lady, "I will never ask you to take money +again. Only I thought it was quite understood between us. And you know +you have taken money for a set of morning wrappers, before now." + +"Yes, my lady; but that was not confidential. Now I was so proud to have +something to do for you confidentially." + +"But who is Bessy?" asked my lady. "I do not understand who she is, or +why she is to come and live with you. Dear Miss Galindo, you must honour +me by being confidential with me in your turn!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +I had always understood that Miss Galindo had once been in much better +circumstances, but I had never liked to ask any questions respecting her. +But about this time many things came out respecting her former life, +which I will try and arrange: not however, in the order in which I heard +them, but rather as they occurred. + +Miss Galindo was the daughter of a clergyman in Westmoreland. Her father +was the younger brother of a baronet, his ancestor having been one of +those of James the First's creation. This baronet-uncle of Miss Galindo +was one of the queer, out-of-the-way people who were bred at that time, +and in that northern district of England. I never heard much of him from +any one, besides this one great fact: that he had early disappeared from +his family, which indeed only consisted of a brother and sister who died +unmarried, and lived no one knew where,--somewhere on the Continent, it +was supposed, for he had never returned from the grand tour which he had +been sent to make, according to the general fashion of the day, as soon +as he had left Oxford. He corresponded occasionally with his brother the +clergyman; but the letters passed through a banker's hands; the banker +being pledged to secrecy, and, as he told Mr. Galindo, having the +penalty, if he broke his pledge, of losing the whole profitable business, +and of having the management of the baronet's affairs taken out of his +hands, without any advantage accruing to the inquirer, for Sir Lawrence +had told Messrs. Graham that, in case his place of residence was revealed +by them, not only would he cease to bank with them, but instantly take +measures to baffle any future inquiries as to his whereabouts, by +removing to some distant country. + +Sir Lawrence paid a certain sum of money to his brother's account every +year; but the time of this payment varied, and it was sometimes eighteen +or nineteen months between the deposits; then, again, it would not be +above a quarter of the time, showing that he intended it to be annual, +but, as this intention was never expressed in words, it was impossible to +rely upon it, and a great deal of this money was swallowed up by the +necessity Mr. Galindo felt himself under of living in the large, old, +rambling family mansion, which had been one of Sir Lawrence's rarely +expressed desires. Mr. and Mrs. Galindo often planned to live upon their +own small fortune and the income derived from the living (a vicarage, of +which the great tithes went to Sir Lawrence as lay impropriator), so as +to put-by the payments made by the baronet, for the benefit of +Laurentia--our Miss Galindo. But I suppose they found it difficult to +live economically in a large house, even though they had it rent free. +They had to keep up with hereditary neighbours and friends, and could +hardly help doing it in the hereditary manner. + +One of these neighbours, a Mr. Gibson, had a son a few years older than +Laurentia. The families were sufficiently intimate for the young people +to see a good deal of each other: and I was told that this young Mr. Mark +Gibson was an unusually prepossessing man (he seemed to have impressed +every one who spoke of him to me as being a handsome, manly, kind-hearted +fellow), just what a girl would be sure to find most agreeable. The +parents either forgot that their children were growing up to man's and +woman's estate, or thought that the intimacy and probable attachment +would be no bad thing, even if it did lead to a marriage. Still, nothing +was ever said by young Gibson till later on, when it was too late, as it +turned out. He went to and from Oxford; he shot and fished with Mr. +Galindo, or came to the Mere to skate in winter-time; was asked to +accompany Mr. Galindo to the Hall, as the latter returned to the quiet +dinner with his wife and daughter; and so, and so, it went on, nobody +much knew how, until one day, when Mr. Galindo received a formal letter +from his brother's bankers, announcing Sir Lawrence's death, of malaria +fever, at Albano, and congratulating Sir Hubert on his accession to the +estates and the baronetcy. The king is dead--"Long live the king!" as I +have since heard that the French express it. + +Sir Hubert and his wife were greatly surprised. Sir Lawrence was but two +years older than his brother; and they had never heard of any illness +till they heard of his death. They were sorry; very much shocked; but +still a little elated at the succession to the baronetcy and estates. The +London bankers had managed everything well. There was a large sum of +ready money in their hands, at Sir Hubert's service, until he should +touch his rents, the rent-roll being eight thousand a-year. And only +Laurentia to inherit it all! Her mother, a poor clergyman's daughter, +began to plan all sorts of fine marriages for her; nor was her father +much behind his wife in his ambition. They took her up to London, when +they went to buy new carriages, and dresses, and furniture. And it was +then and there she made my lady's acquaintance. How it was that they +came to take a fancy to each other, I cannot say. My lady was of the old +nobility,--grand, compose, gentle, and stately in her ways. Miss Galindo +must always have been hurried in her manner, and her energy must have +shown itself in inquisitiveness and oddness even in her youth. But I +don't pretend to account for things: I only narrate them. And the fact +was this:--that the elegant, fastidious countess was attracted to the +country girl, who on her part almost worshipped my lady. My lady's +notice of their daughter made her parents think, I suppose, that there +was no match that she might not command; she, the heiress of eight +thousand a-year, and visiting about among earls and dukes. So when they +came back to their old Westmoreland Hall, and Mark Gibson rode over to +offer his hand and his heart, and prospective estate of nine hundred a- +year, to his old companion and playfellow, Laurentia, Sir Hubert and Lady +Galindo made very short work of it. They refused him plumply themselves; +and when he begged to be allowed to speak to Laurentia, they found some +excuse for refusing him the opportunity of so doing, until they had +talked to her themselves, and brought up every argument and fact in their +power to convince her--a plain girl, and conscious of her plainness--that +Mr. Mark Gibson had never thought of her in the way of marriage till +after her father's accession to his fortune; and that it was the +estate--not the young lady--that he was in love with. I suppose it will +never be known in this world how far this supposition of theirs was true. +My Lady Ludlow had always spoken as if it was; but perhaps events, which +came to her knowledge about this time, altered her opinion. At any rate, +the end of it was, Laurentia refused Mark, and almost broke her heart in +doing so. He discovered the suspicions of Sir Hubert and Lady Galindo, +and that they had persuaded their daughter to share in them. So he flung +off with high words, saying that they did not know a true heart when they +met with one; and that although he had never offered till after Sir +Lawrence's death, yet that his father knew all along that he had been +attached to Laurentia, only that he, being the eldest of five children, +and having as yet no profession, had had to conceal, rather than to +express, an attachment, which, in those days, he had believed was +reciprocated. He had always meant to study for the bar, and the end of +all he had hoped for had been to earn a moderate income, which he might +ask Laurentia to share. This, or something like it, was what he said. +But his reference to his father cut two ways. Old Mr. Gibson was known +to be very keen about money. It was just as likely that he would urge +Mark to make love to the heiress, now she was an heiress, as that he +would have restrained him previously, as Mark said he had done. When +this was repeated to Mark, he became proudly reserved, or sullen, and +said that Laurentia, at any rate, might have known him better. He left +the country, and went up to London to study law soon afterwards; and Sir +Hubert and Lady Galindo thought they were well rid of him. But Laurentia +never ceased reproaching herself, and never did to her dying day, as I +believe. The words, "She might have known me better," told to her by +some kind friend or other, rankled in her mind, and were never forgotten. +Her father and mother took her up to London the next year; but she did +not care to visit--dreaded going out even for a drive, lest she should +see Mark Gibson's reproachful eyes--pined and lost her health. Lady +Ludlow saw this change with regret, and was told the cause by Lady +Galindo, who of course, gave her own version of Mark's conduct and +motives. My lady never spoke to Miss Galindo about it, but tried +constantly to interest and please her. It was at this time that my lady +told Miss Galindo so much about her own early life, and about Hanbury, +that Miss Galindo resolved, if ever she could, she would go and see the +old place which her friend loved so well. The end of it all was, that +she came to live there, as we know. + +But a great change was to come first. Before Sir Hubert and Lady Galindo +had left London on this, their second visit, they had a letter from the +lawyer, whom they employed, saying that Sir Lawrence had left an heir, +his legitimate child by an Italian woman of low rank; at least, legal +claims to the title and property had been sent into him on the boy's +behalf. Sir Lawrence had always been a man of adventurous and artistic, +rather than of luxurious tastes; and it was supposed, when all came to be +proved at the trial, that he was captivated by the free, beautiful life +they lead in Italy, and had married this Neapolitan fisherman's daughter, +who had people about her shrewd enough to see that the ceremony was +legally performed. She and her husband had wandered about the shores of +the Mediterranean for years, leading a happy, careless, irresponsible +life, unencumbered by any duties except those connected with a rather +numerous family. It was enough for her that they never wanted money, and +that her husband's love was always continued to her. She hated the name +of England--wicked, cold, heretic England--and avoided the mention of any +subjects connected with her husband's early life. So that, when he died +at Albano, she was almost roused out of her vehement grief to anger with +the Italian doctor, who declared that he must write to a certain address +to announce the death of Lawrence Galindo. For some time, she feared +lest English barbarians might come down upon her, making a claim to the +children. She hid herself and them in the Abruzzi, living upon the sale +of what furniture and jewels Sir Lawrence had died possessed of. When +these failed, she returned to Naples, which she had not visited since her +marriage. Her father was dead; but her brother inherited some of his +keenness. He interested the priests, who made inquiries and found that +the Galindo succession was worth securing to an heir of the true faith. +They stirred about it, obtained advice at the English Embassy; and hence +that letter to the lawyers, calling upon Sir Hubert to relinquish title +and property, and to refund what money he had expended. He was vehement +in his opposition to this claim. He could not bear to think of his +brother having married a foreigner--a papist, a fisherman's daughter; +nay, of his having become a papist himself. He was in despair at the +thought of his ancestral property going to the issue of such a marriage. +He fought tooth and nail, making enemies of his relations, and losing +almost all his own private property; for he would go on against the +lawyer's advice, long after every one was convinced except himself and +his wife. At last he was conquered. He gave up his living in gloomy +despair. He would have changed his name if he could, so desirous was he +to obliterate all tie between himself and the mongrel papist baronet and +his Italian mother, and all the succession of children and nurses who +came to take possession of the Hall soon after Mr. Hubert Galindo's +departure, stayed there one winter, and then flitted back to Naples with +gladness and delight. Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Galindo lived in London. He +had obtained a curacy somewhere in the city. They would have been +thankful now if Mr. Mark Gibson had renewed his offer. No one could +accuse him of mercenary motives if he had done so. Because he did not +come forward, as they wished, they brought his silence up as a +justification of what they had previously attributed to him. I don't +know what Miss Galindo thought herself; but Lady Ludlow has told me how +she shrank from hearing her parents abuse him. Lady Ludlow supposed that +he was aware that they were living in London. His father must have known +the fact, and it was curious if he had never named it to his son. +Besides, the name was very uncommon; and it was unlikely that it should +never come across him, in the advertisements of charity sermons which the +new and rather eloquent curate of Saint Mark's East was asked to preach. +All this time Lady Ludlow never lost sight of them, for Miss Galindo's +sake. And when the father and mother died, it was my lady who upheld +Miss Galindo in her determination not to apply for any provision to her +cousin, the Italian baronet, but rather to live upon the hundred a-year +which had been settled on her mother and the children of his son Hubert's +marriage by the old grandfather, Sir Lawrence. + +Mr. Mark Gibson had risen to some eminence as a barrister on the Northern +Circuit, but had died unmarried in the lifetime of his father, a victim +(so people said) to intemperance. Doctor Trevor, the physician who had +been called in to Mr. Gray and Harry Gregson, had married a sister of +his. And that was all my lady knew about the Gibson family. But who was +Bessy? + +That mystery and secret came out, too, in process of time. Miss Galindo +had been to Warwick, some years before I arrived at Hanbury, on some kind +of business or shopping, which can only be transacted in a county town. +There was an old Westmoreland connection between her and Mrs. Trevor, +though I believe the latter was too young to have been made aware of her +brother's offer to Miss Galindo at the time when it took place; and such +affairs, if they are unsuccessful, are seldom spoken about in the +gentleman's family afterwards. But the Gibsons and Galindos had been +county neighbours too long for the connection not to be kept up between +two members settled far away from their early homes. Miss Galindo always +desired her parcels to be sent to Dr. Trevor's, when she went to Warwick +for shopping purchases. If she were going any journey, and the coach did +not come through Warwick as soon as she arrived (in my lady's coach or +otherwise) from Hanbury, she went to Doctor Trevor's to wait. She was as +much expected to sit down to the household meals as if she had been one +of the family: and in after-years it was Mrs. Trevor who managed her +repository business for her. + +So, on the day I spoke of, she had gone to Doctor Trevor's to rest, and +possibly to dine. The post in those times, came in at all hours of the +morning: and Doctor Trevor's letters had not arrived until after his +departure on his morning round. Miss Galindo was sitting down to dinner +with Mrs. Trevor and her seven children, when the Doctor came in. He was +flurried and uncomfortable, and hurried the children away as soon as he +decently could. Then (rather feeling Miss Galindo's presence an +advantage, both as a present restraint on the violence of his wife's +grief, and as a consoler when he was absent on his afternoon round), he +told Mrs. Trevor of her brother's death. He had been taken ill on +circuit, and had hurried back to his chambers in London only to die. She +cried terribly; but Doctor Trevor said afterwards, he never noticed that +Miss Galindo cared much about it one way or another. She helped him to +soothe his wife, promised to stay with her all the afternoon instead of +returning to Hanbury, and afterwards offered to remain with her while the +Doctor went to attend the funeral. When they heard of the old love-story +between the dead man and Miss Galindo,--brought up by mutual friends in +Westmoreland, in the review which we are all inclined to take of the +events of a man's life when he comes to die,--they tried to remember Miss +Galindo's speeches and ways of going on during this visit. She was a +little pale, a little silent; her eyes were sometimes swollen, and her +nose red; but she was at an age when such appearances are generally +attributed to a bad cold in the head, rather than to any more sentimental +reason. They felt towards her as towards an old friend, a kindly, +useful, eccentric old maid. She did not expect more, or wish them to +remember that she might once have had other hopes, and more youthful +feelings. Doctor Trevor thanked her very warmly for staying with his +wife, when he returned home from London (where the funeral had taken +place). He begged Miss Galindo to stay with them, when the children were +gone to bed, and she was preparing to leave the husband and wife by +themselves. He told her and his wife many particulars--then paused--then +went on--"And Mark has left a child--a little girl-- + +"But he never was married!" exclaimed Mrs. Trevor. + +"A little girl," continued her husband, "whose mother, I conclude, is +dead. At any rate, the child was in possession of his chambers; she and +an old nurse, who seemed to have the charge of everything, and has +cheated poor Mark, I should fancy, not a little." + +"But the child!" asked Mrs. Trevor, still almost breathless with +astonishment. "How do you know it is his?" + +"The nurse told me it was, with great appearance of indignation at my +doubting it. I asked the little thing her name, and all I could get was +'Bessy!' and a cry of 'Me wants papa!' The nurse said the mother was +dead, and she knew no more about it than that Mr. Gibson had engaged her +to take care of the little girl, calling it his child. One or two of his +lawyer friends, whom I met with at the funeral, told me they were aware +of the existence of the child." + +"What is to be done with her?" asked Mrs. Gibson. + +"Nay, I don't know," replied he. "Mark has hardly left assets enough to +pay his debts, and your father is not inclined to come forward." + +That night, as Doctor Trevor sat in his study, after his wife had gone to +bed, Miss Galindo knocked at his door. She and he had a long +conversation. The result was that he accompanied Miss Galindo up to town +the next day; that they took possession of the little Bessy, and she was +brought down, and placed at nurse at a farm in the country near Warwick, +Miss Galindo undertaking to pay one-half of the expense, and to furnish +her with clothes, and Dr. Trevor undertaking that the remaining half +should be furnished by the Gibson family, or by himself in their default. + +Miss Galindo was not fond of children; and I dare say she dreaded taking +this child to live with her for more reasons than one. My Lady Ludlow +could not endure any mention of illegitimate children. It was a +principle of hers that society ought to ignore them. And I believe Miss +Galindo had always agreed with her until now, when the thing came home to +her womanly heart. Still she shrank from having this child of some +strange woman under her roof. She went over to see it from time to time; +she worked at its clothes long after every one thought she was in bed; +and, when the time came for Bessy to be sent to school, Miss Galindo +laboured away more diligently than ever, in order to pay the increased +expense. For the Gibson family had, at first, paid their part of the +compact, but with unwillingness and grudging hearts; then they had left +it off altogether, and it fell hard on Dr. Trevor with his twelve +children; and, latterly, Miss Galindo had taken upon herself almost all +the burden. One can hardly live and labour, and plan and make +sacrifices, for any human creature, without learning to love it. And +Bessy loved Miss Galindo, too, for all the poor girl's scanty pleasures +came from her, and Miss Galindo had always a kind word, and, latterly, +many a kind caress, for Mark Gibson's child; whereas, if she went to Dr. +Trevor's for her holiday, she was overlooked and neglected in that +bustling family, who seemed to think that if she had comfortable board +and lodging under their roof, it was enough. + +I am sure, now, that Miss Galindo had often longed to have Bessy to live +with her; but, as long as she could pay for her being at school, she did +not like to take so bold a step as bringing her home, knowing what the +effect of the consequent explanation would be on my lady. And as the +girl was now more than seventeen, and past the age when young ladies are +usually kept at school, and as there was no great demand for governesses +in those days, and as Bessy had never been taught any trade by which to +earn her own living, why I don't exactly see what could have been done +but for Miss Galindo to bring her to her own home in Hanbury. For, +although the child had grown up lately, in a kind of unexpected manner, +into a young woman, Miss Galindo might have kept her at school for a year +longer, if she could have afforded it; but this was impossible when she +became Mr. Horner's clerk, and relinquished all the payment of her +repository work; and perhaps, after all, she was not sorry to be +compelled to take the step she was longing for. At any rate, Bessy came +to live with Miss Galindo, in a very few weeks from the time when Captain +James set Miss Galindo free to superintend her own domestic economy +again. + +For a long time, I knew nothing about this new inhabitant of Hanbury. My +lady never mentioned her in any way. This was in accordance with Lady +Ludlow's well-known principles. She neither saw nor heard, nor was in +any way cognisant of the existence of those who had no legal right to +exist at all. If Miss Galindo had hoped to have an exception made in +Bessy's favour, she was mistaken. My lady sent a note inviting Miss +Galindo herself to tea one evening, about a month after Bessy came; but +Miss Galindo "had a cold and could not come." The next time she was +invited, she "had an engagement at home"--a step nearer to the absolute +truth. And the third time, she "had a young friend staying with her whom +she was unable to leave." My lady accepted every excuse as bona fide, +and took no further notice. I missed Miss Galindo very much; we all did; +for, in the days when she was clerk, she was sure to come in and find the +opportunity of saying something amusing to some of us before she went +away. And I, as an invalid, or perhaps from natural tendency, was +particularly fond of little bits of village gossip. There was no Mr. +Horner--he even had come in, now and then, with formal, stately pieces of +intelligence--and there was no Miss Galindo in these days. I missed her +much. And so did my lady, I am sure. Behind all her quiet, sedate +manner, I am certain her heart ached sometimes for a few words from Miss +Galindo, who seemed to have absented herself altogether from the Hall now +Bessy was come. + +Captain James might be very sensible, and all that; but not even my lady +could call him a substitute for the old familiar friends. He was a +thorough sailor, as sailors were in those days--swore a good deal, drank +a good deal (without its ever affecting him in the least), and was very +prompt and kind-hearted in all his actions; but he was not accustomed to +women, as my lady once said, and would judge in all things for himself. +My lady had expected, I think, to find some one who would take his +notions on the management of her estate from her ladyship's own self; but +he spoke as if he were responsible for the good management of the whole, +and must, consequently, be allowed full liberty of action. He had been +too long in command over men at sea to like to be directed by a woman in +anything he undertook, even though that woman was my lady. I suppose +this was the common-sense my lady spoke of; but when common-sense goes +against us, I don't think we value it quite so much as we ought to do. + +Lady Ludlow was proud of her personal superintendence of her own estate. +She liked to tell us how her father used to take her with him in his +rides, and bid her observe this and that, and on no account to allow such +and such things to be done. But I have heard that the first time she +told all this to Captain James, he told her point-blank that he had heard +from Mr. Smithson that the farms were much neglected and the rents sadly +behind-hand, and that he meant to set to in good earnest and study +agriculture, and see how he could remedy the state of things. My lady +would, I am sure, be greatly surprised, but what could she do? Here was +the very man she had chosen herself, setting to with all his energy to +conquer the defect of ignorance, which was all that those who had +presumed to offer her ladyship advice had ever had to say against him. +Captain James read Arthur Young's "Tours" in all his spare time, as long +as he was an invalid; and shook his head at my lady's accounts as to how +the land had been cropped or left fallow from time immemorial. Then he +set to, and tried too many new experiments at once. My lady looked on in +dignified silence; but all the farmers and tenants were in an uproar, and +prophesied a hundred failures. Perhaps fifty did occur; they were only +half as many as Lady Ludlow had feared; but they were twice as many, +four, eight times as many as the captain had anticipated. His openly- +expressed disappointment made him popular again. The rough country +people could not have understood silent and dignified regret at the +failure of his plans, but they sympathized with a man who swore at his +ill success--sympathized, even while they chuckled over his discomfiture. +Mr. Brooke, the retired tradesman, did not cease blaming him for not +succeeding, and for swearing. "But what could you expect from a sailor?" +Mr. Brooke asked, even in my lady's hearing; though he might have known +Captain James was my lady's own personal choice, from the old friendship +Mr. Urian had always shown for him. I think it was this speech of the +Birmingham baker's that made my lady determine to stand by Captain James, +and encourage him to try again. For she would not allow that her choice +had been an unwise one, at the bidding (as it were) of a dissenting +tradesman; the only person in the neighbourhood, too, who had flaunted +about in coloured clothes, when all the world was in mourning for my +lady's only son. + +Captain James would have thrown the agency up at once, if my lady had not +felt herself bound to justify the wisdom of her choice, by urging him to +stay. He was much touched by her confidence in him, and swore a great +oath, that the next year he would make the land such as it had never been +before for produce. It was not my lady's way to repeat anything she had +heard, especially to another person's disadvantage. So I don't think she +ever told Captain James of Mr. Brooke's speech about a sailor's being +likely to mismanage the property; and the captain was too anxious to +succeed in this, the second year of his trial, to be above going to the +flourishing, shrewd Mr. Brooke, and asking for his advice as to the best +method of working the estate. I dare say, if Miss Galindo had been as +intimate as formerly at the Hall, we should all of us have heard of this +new acquaintance of the agent's long before we did. As it was, I am sure +my lady never dreamed that the captain, who held opinions that were even +more Church and King than her own, could ever have made friends with a +Baptist baker from Birmingham, even to serve her ladyship's own interests +in the most loyal manner. + +We heard of it first from Mr. Gray, who came now often to see my lady, +for neither he nor she could forget the solemn tie which the fact of his +being the person to acquaint her with my lord's death had created between +them. For true and holy words spoken at that time, though having no +reference to aught below the solemn subjects of life and death, had made +her withdraw her opposition to Mr. Gray's wish about establishing a +village school. She had sighed a little, it is true, and was even yet +more apprehensive than hopeful as to the result; but almost as if as a +memorial to my lord, she had allowed a kind of rough school-house to be +built on the green, just by the church; and had gently used the power she +undoubtedly had, in expressing her strong wish that the boys might only +be taught to read and write, and the first four rules of arithmetic; +while the girls were only to learn to read, and to add up in their heads, +and the rest of the time to work at mending their own clothes, knitting +stockings and spinning. My lady presented the school with more spinning- +wheels than there were girls, and requested that there might be a rule +that they should have spun so many hanks of flax, and knitted so many +pairs of stockings, before they ever were taught to read at all. After +all, it was but making the best of a bad job with my poor lady--but life +was not what it had been to her. I remember well the day that Mr. Gray +pulled some delicately fine yarn (and I was a good judge of those things) +out of his pocket, and laid it and a capital pair of knitted stockings +before my lady, as the first-fruits, so to say, of his school. I +recollect seeing her put on her spectacles, and carefully examine both +productions. Then she passed them to me. + +"This is well, Mr. Gray. I am much pleased. You are fortunate in your +schoolmistress. She has had both proper knowledge of womanly things and +much patience. Who is she? One out of our village?" + +"My lady," said Mr. Gray, stammering and colouring in his old fashion, +"Miss Bessy is so very kind as to teach all those sorts of things--Miss +Bessy, and Miss Galindo, sometimes." + +My lady looked at him over her spectacles: but she only repeated the +words "Miss Bessy," and paused, as if trying to remember who such a +person could be; and he, if he had then intended to say more, was quelled +by her manner, and dropped the subject. He went on to say, that he had +thought it his duty to decline the subscription to his school offered by +Mr. Brooke, because he was a Dissenter; that he (Mr. Gray) feared that +Captain James, through whom Mr. Brooke's offer of money had been made, +was offended at his refusing to accept it from a man who held heterodox +opinions; nay, whom Mr. Gray suspected of being infected by Dodwell's +heresy. + +"I think there must be some mistake," said my lady, "or I have +misunderstood you. Captain James would never be sufficiently with a +schismatic to be employed by that man Brooke in distributing his +charities. I should have doubted, until now, if Captain James knew him." + +"Indeed, my lady, he not only knows him, but is intimate with him, I +regret to say. I have repeatedly seen the captain and Mr. Brooke walking +together; going through the fields together; and people do say--" + +My lady looked up in interrogation at Mr. Gray's pause. + +"I disapprove of gossip, and it may be untrue; but people do say that +Captain James is very attentive to Miss Brooke." + +"Impossible!" said my lady, indignantly. "Captain James is a loyal and +religious man. I beg your pardon Mr. Gray, but it is impossible." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Like many other things which have been declared to be impossible, this +report of Captain James being attentive to Miss Brooke turned out to be +very true. + +The mere idea of her agent being on the slightest possible terms of +acquaintance with the Dissenter, the tradesman, the Birmingham democrat, +who had come to settle in our good, orthodox, aristocratic, and +agricultural Hanbury, made my lady very uneasy. Miss Galindo's +misdemeanour in having taken Miss Bessy to live with her, faded into a +mistake, a mere error of judgment, in comparison with Captain James's +intimacy at Yeast House, as the Brookes called their ugly square-built +farm. My lady talked herself quite into complacency with Miss Galindo, +and even Miss Bessy was named by her, the first time I had ever been +aware that my lady recognized her existence; but--I recollect it was a +long rainy afternoon, and I sat with her ladyship, and we had time and +opportunity for a long uninterrupted talk--whenever we had been silent +for a little while she began again, with something like a wonder how it +was that Captain James could ever have commenced an acquaintance with +"that man Brooke." My lady recapitulated all the times she could +remember, that anything had occurred, or been said by Captain James which +she could now understand as throwing light upon the subject. + +"He said once that he was anxious to bring in the Norfolk system of +cropping, and spoke a good deal about Mr. Coke of Holkham (who, by the +way, was no more a Coke than I am--collateral in the female line--which +counts for little or nothing among the great old commoners' families of +pure blood), and his new ways of cultivation; of course new men bring in +new ways, but it does not follow that either are better than the old +ways. However, Captain James has been very anxious to try turnips and +bone manure, and he really is a man of such good sense and energy, and +was so sorry last year about the failure, that I consented; and now I +begin to see my error. I have always heard that town bakers adulterate +their flour with bone-dust; and, of course, Captain James would be aware +of this, and go to Brooke to inquire where the article was to be +purchased." + +My lady always ignored the fact which had sometimes, I suspect, been +brought under her very eyes during her drives, that Mr. Brooke's few +fields were in a state of far higher cultivation than her own; so she +could not, of course, perceive that there was any wisdom to be gained +from asking the advice of the tradesman turned farmer. + +But by-and-by this fact of her agent's intimacy with the person whom in +the whole world she most disliked (with that sort of dislike in which a +large amount of uncomfortableness is combined--the dislike which +conscientious people sometimes feel to another without knowing why, and +yet which they cannot indulge in with comfort to themselves without +having a moral reason why), came before my lady in many shapes. For, +indeed I am sure that Captain James was not a man to conceal or be +ashamed of one of his actions. I cannot fancy his ever lowering his +strong loud clear voice, or having a confidental conversation with any +one. When his crops had failed, all the village had known it. He +complained, he regretted, he was angry, or owned himself a --- fool, all +down the village street; and the consequence was that, although he was a +far more passionate man than Mr. Horner, all the tenants liked him far +better. People, in general, take a kindlier interest in any one, the +workings of whose mind and heart they can watch and understand, than in a +man who only lets you know what he has been thinking about and feeling, +by what he does. But Harry Gregson was faithful to the memory of Mr. +Horner. Miss Galindo has told me that she used to watch him hobble out +of the way of Captain James, as if to accept his notice, however good- +naturedly given, would have been a kind of treachery to his former +benefactor. But Gregson (the father) and the new agent rather took to +each other; and one day, much to my surprise, I heard that the "poaching, +tinkering vagabond," as the people used to call Gregson when I first had +come to live at Hanbury, had been appointed gamekeeper; Mr. Gray standing +godfather, as it were, to his trustworthiness, if he were trusted with +anything; which I thought at the time was rather an experiment, only it +answered, as many of Mr. Gray's deeds of daring did. It was curious how +he was growing to be a kind of autocrat in the village; and how +unconscious he was of it. He was as shy and awkward and nervous as ever +in any affair that was not of some moral consequence to him. But as soon +as he was convinced that a thing was right, he "shut his eyes and ran and +butted at it like a ram," as Captain James once expressed it, in talking +over something Mr. Gray had done. People in the village said, "they +never knew what the parson would be at next;" or they might have said, +"where his reverence would next turn up." For I have heard of his +marching right into the middle of a set of poachers, gathered together +for some desperate midnight enterprise, or walking into a public-house +that lay just beyond the bounds of my lady's estate, and in that extra- +parochial piece of ground I named long ago, and which was considered the +rendezvous of all the ne'er-do-weel characters for miles round, and where +a parson and a constable were held in much the same kind of esteem as +unwelcome visitors. And yet Mr. Gray had his long fits of depression, in +which he felt as if he were doing nothing, making no way in his work, +useless and unprofitable, and better out of the world than in it. In +comparison with the work he had set himself to do, what he did seemed to +be nothing. I suppose it was constitutional, those attacks of lowness of +spirits which he had about this time; perhaps a part of the nervousness +which made him always so awkward when he came to the Hall. Even Mrs. +Medlicott, who almost worshipped the ground he trod on, as the saying is, +owned that Mr. Gray never entered one of my lady's rooms without knocking +down something, and too often breaking it. He would much sooner have +faced a desperate poacher than a young lady any day. At least so we +thought. + +I do not know how it was that it came to pass that my lady became +reconciled to Miss Galindo about this time. Whether it was that her +ladyship was weary of the unspoken coolness with her old friend; or that +the specimens of delicate sewing and fine spinning at the school had +mollified her towards Miss Bessy; but I was surprised to learn one day +that Miss Galindo and her young friend were coming that very evening to +tea at the Hall. This information was given me by Mrs. Medlicott, as a +message from my lady, who further went on to desire that certain little +preparations should be made in her own private sitting-room, in which the +greater part of my days were spent. From the nature of these +preparations, I became quite aware that my lady intended to do honour to +her expected visitors. Indeed, Lady Ludlow never forgave by halves, as I +have known some people do. Whoever was coming as a visitor to my lady, +peeress, or poor nameless girl, there was a certain amount of preparation +required in order to do them fitting honour. I do not mean to say that +the preparation was of the same degree of importance in each case. I +dare say, if a peeress had come to visit us at the Hall, the covers would +have been taken off the furniture in the white drawing-room (they never +were uncovered all the time I stayed at the Hall), because my lady would +wish to offer her the ornaments and luxuries which this grand visitor +(who never came--I wish she had! I did so want to see that furniture +uncovered!) was accustomed to at home, and to present them to her in the +best order in which my lady could. The same rule, mollified, held good +with Miss Galindo. Certain things, in which my lady knew she took an +interest, were laid out ready for her to examine on this very day; and, +what was more, great books of prints were laid out, such as I remembered +my lady had had brought forth to beguile my own early days of +illness,--Mr. Hogarth's works, and the like,--which I was sure were put +out for Miss Bessy. + +No one knows how curious I was to see this mysterious Miss Bessy--twenty +times more mysterious, of course, for want of her surname. And then +again (to try and account for my great curiosity, of which in +recollection I am more than half ashamed), I had been leading the quiet +monotonous life of a crippled invalid for many years,--shut up from any +sight of new faces; and this was to be the face of one whom I had thought +about so much and so long,--Oh! I think I might be excused. + +Of course they drank tea in the great hall, with the four young +gentlewomen, who, with myself, formed the small bevy now under her +ladyship's charge. Of those who were at Hanbury when first I came, none +remained; all were married, or gone once more to live at some home which +could be called their own, whether the ostensible head were father or +brother. I myself was not without some hopes of a similar kind. My +brother Harry was now a curate in Westmoreland, and wanted me to go and +live with him, as eventually I did for a time. But that is neither here +nor there at present. What I am talking about is Miss Bessy. + +After a reasonable time had elapsed, occupied as I well knew by the meal +in the great hall,--the measured, yet agreeable conversation +afterwards,--and a certain promenade around the hall, and through the +drawing-rooms, with pauses before different pictures, the history or +subject of each of which was invariably told by my lady to every new +visitor,--a sort of giving them the freedom of the old family-seat, by +describing the kind and nature of the great progenitors who had lived +there before the narrator,--I heard the steps approaching my lady's room, +where I lay. I think I was in such a state of nervous expectation, that +if I could have moved easily, I should have got up and run away. And yet +I need not have been, for Miss Galindo was not in the least altered (her +nose a little redder, to be sure, but then that might only have had a +temporary cause in the private crying I know she would have had before +coming to see her dear Lady Ludlow once again). But I could almost have +pushed Miss Galindo away, as she intercepted me in my view of the +mysterious Miss Bessy. + +Miss Bessy was, as I knew, only about eighteen, but she looked older. +Dark hair, dark eyes, a tall, firm figure, a good, sensible face, with a +serene expression, not in the least disturbed by what I had been thinking +must be such awful circumstances as a first introduction to my lady, who +had so disapproved of her very existence: those are the clearest +impressions I remember of my first interview with Miss Bessy. She seemed +to observe us all, in her quiet manner, quite as much as I did her; but +she spoke very little; occupied herself, indeed, as my lady had planned, +with looking over the great books of engravings. I think I must have +(foolishly) intended to make her feel at her ease, by my patronage; but +she was seated far away from my sofa, in order to command the light, and +really seemed so unconcerned at her unwonted circumstances, that she did +not need my countenance or kindness. One thing I did like--her watchful +look at Miss Galindo from time to time: it showed that her thoughts and +sympathy were ever at Miss Galindo's service, as indeed they well might +be. When Miss Bessy spoke, her voice was full and clear, and what she +said, to the purpose, though there was a slight provincial accent in her +way of speaking. After a while, my lady set us two to play at chess, a +game which I had lately learnt at Mr. Gray's suggestion. Still we did +not talk much together, though we were becoming attracted towards each +other, I fancy. + +"You will play well," said she. "You have only learnt about six months, +have you? And yet you can nearly beat me, who have been at it as many +years." + +"I began to learn last November. I remember Mr. Gray's bringing me +'Philidor on Chess,' one very foggy, dismal day." + +What made her look up so suddenly, with bright inquiry in her eyes? What +made her silent for a moment as if in thought, and then go on with +something, I know not what, in quite an altered tone? + +My lady and Miss Galindo went on talking, while I sat thinking. I heard +Captain James's name mentioned pretty frequently; and at last my lady put +down her work, and said, almost with tears in her eyes: + +"I could not--I cannot believe it. He must be aware she is a schismatic; +a baker's daughter; and he is a gentleman by virtue and feeling, as well +as by his profession, though his manners may be at times a little rough. +My dear Miss Galindo, what will this world come to?" + +Miss Galindo might possibly be aware of her own share in bringing the +world to the pass which now dismayed my lady,--for of course, though all +was now over and forgiven, yet Miss, Bessy's being received into a +respectable maiden lady's house, was one of the portents as to the +world's future which alarmed her ladyship; and Miss Galindo knew +this,--but, at any rate, she had too lately been forgiven herself not to +plead for mercy for the next offender against my lady's delicate sense of +fitness and propriety,--so she replied: + +"Indeed, my lady, I have long left off trying to conjecture what makes +Jack fancy Gill, or Gill Jack. It's best to sit down quiet under the +belief that marriages are made for us, somewhere out of this world, and +out of the range of this world's reason and laws. I'm not so sure that I +should settle it down that they were made in heaven; t'other place seems +to me as likely a workshop; but at any rate, I've given up troubling my +head as to why they take place. Captain James is a gentleman; I make no +doubt of that ever since I saw him stop to pick up old Goody Blake (when +she tumbled down on the slide last winter) and then swear at a little lad +who was laughing at her, and cuff him till he tumbled down crying; but we +must have bread somehow, and though I like it better baked at home in a +good sweet brick oven, yet, as some folks never can get it to rise, I +don't see why a man may not be a baker. You see, my lady, I look upon +baking as a simple trade, and as such lawful. There is no machine comes +in to take away a man's or woman's power of earning their living, like +the spinning-jenny (the old busybody that she is), to knock up all our +good old women's livelihood, and send them to their graves before their +time. There's an invention of the enemy, if you will!" + +"That's very true!" said my lady, shaking her head. + +"But baking bread is wholesome, straight-forward elbow-work. They have +not got to inventing any contrivance for that yet, thank Heaven! It does +not seem to me natural, nor according to Scripture, that iron and steel +(whose brows can't sweat) should be made to do man's work. And so I say, +all those trades where iron and steel do the work ordained to man at the +Fall, are unlawful, and I never stand up for them. But say this baker +Brooke did knead his bread, and make it rise, and then that people, who +had, perhaps, no good ovens, came to him, and bought his good light +bread, and in this manner he turned an honest penny and got rich; why, +all I say, my lady, is this,--I dare say he would have been born a +Hanbury, or a lord if he could; and if he was not, it is no fault of his, +that I can see, that he made good bread (being a baker by trade), and got +money, and bought his land. It was his misfortune, not his fault, that +he was not a person of quality by birth." + +"That's very true," said my lady, after a moment's pause for +consideration. "But, although he was a baker, he might have been a +Churchman. Even your eloquence, Miss Galindo, shan't convince me that +that is not his own fault." + +"I don't see even that, begging your pardon, my lady," said Miss Galindo, +emboldened by the first success of her eloquence. "When a Baptist is a +baby, if I understand their creed aright, he is not baptized; and, +consequently, he can have no godfathers and godmothers to do anything for +him in his baptism; you agree to that, my lady?" + +My lady would rather have known what her acquiescence would lead to, +before acknowledging that she could not dissent from this first +proposition; still she gave her tacit agreement by bowing her head. + +"And, you know, our godfathers and godmothers are expected to promise and +vow three things in our name, when we are little babies, and can do +nothing but squall for ourselves. It is a great privilege, but don't let +us be hard upon those who have not had the chance of godfathers and +godmothers. Some people, we know, are born with silver spoons,--that's +to say, a godfather to give one things, and teach one's catechism, and +see that we're confirmed into good church-going Christians,--and others +with wooden ladles in their mouths. These poor last folks must just be +content to be godfatherless orphans, and Dissenters, all their lives; and +if they are tradespeople into the bargain, so much the worse for them; +but let us be humble Christians, my dear lady, and not hold our heads too +high because we were born orthodox quality." + +"You go on too fast, Miss Galindo! I can't follow you. Besides, I do +believe dissent to be an invention of the Devil's. Why can't they +believe as we do? It's very wrong. Besides, its schism and heresy, and, +you know, the Bible says that's as bad as witchcraft." + +My lady was not convinced, as I could see. After Miss Galindo had gone, +she sent Mrs. Medlicott for certain books out of the great old library up +stairs, and had them made up into a parcel under her own eye. + +"If Captain James comes to-morrow, I will speak to him about these +Brookes. I have not hitherto liked to speak to him, because I did not +wish to hurt him, by supposing there could be any truth in the reports +about his intimacy with them. But now I will try and do my duty by him +and them. Surely this great body of divinity will bring them back to the +true church." + +I could not tell, for though my lady read me over the titles, I was not +any the wiser as to their contents. Besides, I was much more anxious to +consult my lady as to my own change of place. I showed her the letter I +had that day received from Harry; and we once more talked over the +expediency of my going to live with him, and trying what entire change of +air would do to re-establish my failing health. I could say anything to +my lady, she was so sure to understand me rightly. For one thing, she +never thought of herself, so I had no fear of hurting her by stating the +truth. I told her how happy my years had been while passed under her +roof; but that now I had begun to wonder whether I had not duties +elsewhere, in making a home for Harry,--and whether the fulfilment of +these duties, quiet ones they must needs be in the case of such a cripple +as myself, would not prevent my sinking into the querulous habit of +thinking and talking, into which I found myself occasionally falling. Add +to which, there was the prospect of benefit from the more bracing air of +the north. + +It was then settled that my departure from Hanbury, my happy home for so +long, was to take place before many weeks had passed. And as, when one +period of life is about to be shut up for ever, we are sure to look back +upon it with fond regret, so I, happy enough in my future prospects, +could not avoid recurring to all the days of my life in the Hall, from +the time when I came to it, a shy awkward girl, scarcely past childhood, +to now, when a grown woman,--past childhood--almost, from the very +character of my illness, past youth,--I was looking forward to leaving my +lady's house (as a residence) for ever. As it has turned out, I never +saw either her or it again. Like a piece of sea-wreck, I have drifted +away from those days: quiet, happy, eventless days,--very happy to +remember! + +I thought of good, jovial Mr. Mountford,--and his regrets that he might +not keep a pack, "a very small pack," of harriers, and his merry ways, +and his love of good eating; of the first coming of Mr. Gray, and my +lady's attempt to quench his sermons, when they tended to enforce any +duty connected with education. And now we had an absolute school-house +in the village; and since Miss Bessy's drinking tea at the Hall, my lady +had been twice inside it, to give directions about some fine yarn she was +having spun for table-napery. And her ladyship had so outgrown her old +custom of dispensing with sermon or discourse, that even during the +temporary preaching of Mr. Crosse, she had never had recourse to it, +though I believe she would have had all the congregation on her side if +she had. + +And Mr. Horner was dead, and Captain James reigned in his stead. Good, +steady, severe, silent Mr. Horner! with his clock-like regularity, and +his snuff-coloured clothes, and silver buckles! I have often wondered +which one misses most when they are dead and gone,--the bright creatures +full of life, who are hither and thither and everywhere, so that no one +can reckon upon their coming and going, with whom stillness and the long +quiet of the grave, seems utterly irreconcilable, so full are they of +vivid motion and passion,--or the slow, serious people, whose +movements--nay, whose very words, seem to go by clockwork; who never +appear much to affect the course of our life while they are with us, but +whose methodical ways show themselves, when they are gone, to have been +intertwined with our very roots of daily existence. I think I miss these +last the most, although I may have loved the former best. Captain James +never was to me what Mr. Horner was, though the latter had hardly changed +a dozen words with me at the day of his death. Then Miss Galindo! I +remembered the time as if it had been only yesterday, when she was but a +name--and a very odd one--to me; then she was a queer, abrupt, +disagreeable, busy old maid. Now I loved her dearly, and I found out +that I was almost jealous of Miss Bessy. + +Mr. Gray I never thought of with love; the feeling was almost reverence +with which I looked upon him. I have not wished to speak much of myself, +or else I could have told you how much he had been to me during these +long, weary years of illness. But he was almost as much to every one, +rich and poor, from my lady down to Miss Galindo's Sally. + +The village, too, had a different look about it. I am sure I could not +tell you what caused the change; but there were no more lounging young +men to form a group at the cross-road, at a time of day when young men +ought to be at work. I don't say this was all Mr. Gray's doing, for +there really was so much to do in the fields that there was but little +time for lounging now-a-days. And the children were hushed up in school, +and better behaved out of it, too, than in the days when I used to be +able to go my lady's errands in the village. I went so little about now, +that I am sure I can't tell who Miss Galindo found to scold; and yet she +looked so well and so happy that I think she must have had her accustomed +portion of that wholesome exercise. + +Before I left Hanbury, the rumour that Captain James was going to marry +Miss Brooke, Baker Brooke's eldest daughter, who had only a sister to +share his property with her, was confirmed. He himself announced it to +my lady; nay, more, with a courage, gained, I suppose, in his former +profession, where, as I have heard, he had led his ship into many a post +of danger, he asked her ladyship, the Countess Ludlow, if he might bring +his bride elect, (the Baptist baker's daughter!) and present her to my +lady! + +I am glad I was not present when he made this request; I should have felt +so much ashamed for him, and I could not have helped being anxious till I +heard my lady's answer, if I had been there. Of course she acceded; but +I can fancy the grave surprise of her look. I wonder if Captain James +noticed it. + +I hardly dared ask my lady, after the interview had taken place, what she +thought of the bride elect; but I hinted my curiosity, and she told me, +that if the young person had applied to Mrs. Medlicott, for the situation +of cook, and Mrs. Medlicott had engaged her, she thought that it would +have been a very suitable arrangement. I understood from this how little +she thought a marriage with Captain James, R.N., suitable. + +About a year after I left Hanbury, I received a letter from Miss Galindo; +I think I can find it.--Yes, this is it. + + 'Hanbury, May 4, 1811. + + DEAR MARGARET, + + 'You ask for news of us all. Don't you know there is no news in + Hanbury? Did you ever hear of an event here? Now, if you have + answered "Yes," in your own mind to these questions, you have fallen + into my trap, and never were more mistaken in your life. Hanbury is + full of news; and we have more events on our hands than we know what + to do with. I will take them in the order of the newspapers--births, + deaths, and marriages. In the matter of births, Jenny Lucas has had + twins not a week ago. Sadly too much of a good thing, you'll say. + Very true: but then they died; so their birth did not much signify. My + cat has kittened, too; she has had three kittens, which again you may + observe is too much of a good thing; and so it would be, if it were + not for the next item of intelligence I shall lay before you. Captain + and Mrs. James have taken the old house next Pearson's; and the house + is overrun with mice, which is just as fortunate for me as the King of + Egypt's rat-ridden kingdom was to Dick Whittington. For my cat's + kittening decided me to go and call on the bride, in hopes she wanted + a cat; which she did like a sensible woman, as I do believe she is, in + spite of Baptism, Bakers, Bread, and Birmingham, and something worse + than all, which you shall hear about, if you'll only be patient. As I + had got my best bonnet on, the one I bought when poor Lord Ludlow was + last at Hanbury in '99--I thought it a great condescension in myself + (always remembering the date of the Galindo baronetcy) to go and call + on the bride; though I don't think so much of myself in my every-day + clothes, as you know. But who should I find there but my Lady Ludlow! + She looks as frail and delicate as ever, but is, I think, in better + heart ever since that old city merchant of a Hanbury took it into his + head that he was a cadet of the Hanburys of Hanbury, and left her that + handsome legacy. I'll warrant you that the mortgage was paid off + pretty fast; and Mr. Horner's money--or my lady's money, or Harry + Gregson's money, call it which you will--is invested in his name, all + right and tight; and they do talk of his being captain of his school, + or Grecian, or something, and going to college, after all! Harry + Gregson the poacher's son! Well! to be sure, we are living in strange + times! + + 'But I have not done with the marriages yet. Captain James's is all + very well, but no one cares for it now, we are so full of Mr. Gray's. + Yes, indeed, Mr. Gray is going to be married, and to nobody else but + my little Bessy! I tell her she will have to nurse him half the days + of her life, he is such a frail little body. But she says she does + not care for that; so that his body holds his soul, it is enough for + her. She has a good spirit and a brave heart, has my Bessy! It is a + great advantage that she won't have to mark her clothes over again: + for when she had knitted herself her last set of stockings, I told her + to put G for Galindo, if she did not choose to put it for Gibson, for + she should be my child if she was no one else's. And now you see it + stands for Gray. So there are two marriages, and what more would you + have? And she promises to take another of my kittens. + + 'Now, as to deaths, old Farmer Hale is dead--poor old man, I should + think his wife thought it a good riddance, for he beat her every day + that he was drunk, and he was never sober, in spite of Mr. Gray. I + don't think (as I tell him) that Mr. Gray would ever have found + courage to speak to Bessy as long as Farmer Hale lived, he took the + old gentleman's sins so much to heart, and seemed to think it was all + his fault for not being able to make a sinner into a saint. The + parish bull is dead too. I never was so glad in my life. But they + say we are to have a new one in his place. In the meantime I cross + the common in peace, which is very convenient just now, when I have so + often to go to Mr. Gray's to see about furnishing. + + 'Now you think I have told you all the Hanbury news, don't you? Not + so. The very greatest thing of all is to come. I won't tantalize + you, but just out with it, for you would never guess it. My Lady + Ludlow has given a party, just like any plebeian amongst us. We had + tea and toast in the blue drawing-room, old John Footman waiting with + Tom Diggles, the lad that used to frighten away crows in Farmer Hale's + fields, following in my lady's livery, hair powdered and everything. + Mrs. Medlicott made tea in my lady's own room. My lady looked like a + splendid fairy queen of mature age, in black velvet, and the old lace, + which I have never seen her wear before since my lord's death. But + the company? you'll say. Why, we had the parson of Clover, and the + parson of Headleigh, and the parson of Merribank, and the three + parsonesses; and Farmer Donkin, and two Miss Donkins; and Mr. Gray (of + course), and myself and Bessy; and Captain and Mrs. James; yes, and + Mr. and Mrs. Brooke; think of that! I am not sure the parsons liked + it; but he was there. For he has been helping Captain James to get my + lady's land into order; and then his daughter married the agent; and + Mr. Gray (who ought to know) says that, after all, Baptists are not + such bad people; and he was right against them at one time, as you may + remember. Mrs. Brooke is a rough diamond, to be sure. People have + said that of me, I know. But, being a Galindo, I learnt manners in my + youth and can take them up when I choose. But Mrs. Brooke never + learnt manners, I'll be bound. When John Footman handed her the tray + with the tea-cups, she looked up at him as if she were sorely puzzled + by that way of going on. I was sitting next to her, so I pretended + not to see her perplexity, and put her cream and sugar in for her, and + was all ready to pop it into her hands,--when who should come up, but + that impudent lad Tom Diggles (I call him lad, for all his hair is + powdered, for you know that it is not natural gray hair), with his + tray full of cakes and what not, all as good as Mrs. Medlicott could + make them. By this time, I should tell you, all the parsonesses were + looking at Mrs. Brooke, for she had shown her want of breeding before; + and the parsonesses, who were just a step above her in manners, were + very much inclined to smile at her doings and sayings. Well! what + does she do, but pull out a clean Bandanna pocket-handkerchief all red + and yellow silk, spread it over her best silk gown; it was, like + enough, a new one, for I had it from Sally, who had it from her cousin + Molly, who is dairy-woman at the Brookes', that the Brookes were + mighty set-up with an invitation to drink tea at the Hall. There we + were, Tom Diggles even on the grin (I wonder how long it is since he + was own brother to a scarecrow, only not so decently dressed) and Mrs. + Parsoness of Headleigh,--I forget her name, and it's no matter, for + she's an ill-bred creature, I hope Bessy will behave herself + better--was right-down bursting with laughter, and as near a hee-haw + as ever a donkey was, when what does my lady do? Ay! there's my own + dear Lady Ludlow, God bless her! She takes out her own + pocket-handkerchief, all snowy cambric, and lays it softly down on her + velvet lap, for all the world as if she did it every day of her life, + just like Mrs. Brooke, the baker's wife; and when the one got up to + shake the crumbs into the fire-place, the other did just the same. But + with such a grace! and such a look at us all! Tom Diggles went red + all over; and Mrs. Parsoness of Headleigh scarce spoke for the rest of + the evening; and the tears came into my old silly eyes; and Mr. Gray, + who was before silent and awkward in a way which I tell Bessy she must + cure him of, was made so happy by this pretty action of my lady's, + that he talked away all the rest of the evening, and was the life of + the company. + + 'Oh, Margaret Dawson! I sometimes wonder if you're the better off for + leaving us. To be sure you're with your brother, and blood is blood. + But when I look at my lady and Mr. Gray, for all they're so different, + I would not change places with any in England.' + +Alas! alas! I never saw my dear lady again. She died in eighteen +hundred and fourteen, and Mr. Gray did not long survive her. As I dare +say you know, the Reverend Henry Gregson is now vicar of Hanbury, and his +wife is the daughter of Mr. Gray and Miss Bessy. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LADY LUDLOW*** + + +******* This file should be named 2524.txt or 2524.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/2/2524 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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