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diff --git a/old/ldyld10.txt b/old/ldyld10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..62e4376 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ldyld10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7665 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of My Lady Ludlow by Elizabeth Gaskell +#7 in our series by Elizabeth Gaskell + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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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 pot 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 loft 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-trick 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 ante-room, +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 +new.' + +"'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 Morn 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 night-caps, 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 it 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 he 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 stock 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 is 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 eText My Lady Ludlow |