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diff --git a/28006.txt b/28006.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..854326e --- /dev/null +++ b/28006.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18059 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Perpetual Curate, by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Perpetual Curate + +Author: Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant + +Release Date: February 5, 2009 [EBook #28006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERPETUAL CURATE *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Chronicles of Carlingford. + + + + +THE +PERPETUAL CURATE + +MRS OLIPHANT + + +_ALLA PADRONA MIA; +ED A TE, SORELLA CARISSIMA! +CONSOLATRICI GENTILLISSIME +DELLA DESOLATA._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Carlingford is, as is well known, essentially a quiet place. There is +no trade in the town, properly so called. To be sure, there are two or +three small counting-houses at the other end of George Street, in that +ambitious pile called Gresham Chambers; but the owners of these places +of business live, as a general rule, in villas, either detached or +semi-detached, in the North-end, the new quarter, which, as everybody +knows, is a region totally unrepresented in society. In Carlingford +proper there is no trade, no manufactures, no anything in particular, +except very pleasant parties and a superior class of people--a very +superior class of people, indeed, to anything one expects to meet +with in a country town, which is not even a county town, nor the seat +of any particular interest. It is the boast of the place that it has no +particular interest--not even a public school: for no reason in the +world but because they like it, have so many nice people collected +together in those pretty houses in Grange Lane--which is, of course, a +very much higher tribute to the town than if any special inducement had +led them there. But in every community some centre of life is necessary. +This point, round which everything circles, is, in Carlingford, found in +the clergy. They are the administrators of the commonwealth, the only +people who have defined and compulsory duties to give a sharp outline to +life. Somehow this touch of necessity and business seems needful even +in the most refined society: a man who is obliged to be somewhere at a +certain hour, to do something at a certain time, and whose public duties +are not volunteer proceedings, but indispensable work, has a certain +position of command among a leisurely and unoccupied community, not to +say that it is a public boon to have some one whom everybody knows and +can talk of. The minister in Salem Chapel was everything in his little +world. That respectable connection would not have hung together half so +closely but for this perpetual subject of discussion, criticism, and +patronage; and, to compare great things with small, society in Carlingford +recognised in some degree the same human want. An enterprising or +non-enterprising rector made all the difference in the world in Grange +Lane; and in the absence of a rector that counted for anything (and poor +Mr Proctor was of no earthly use, as everybody knows), it followed, as a +natural consequence, that a great deal of the interest and influence of +the position fell into the hands of the Curate of St Roque's. + +But that position was one full of difficulties, as any one acquainted +with the real state of affairs must see in a moment. Mr Wentworth's +circumstances were, on the whole, as delicate and critical as can be +imagined, both as respected his standing in Carlingford and the place +he held in his own family--not to speak of certain other personal +matters which were still more troublesome and vexatious. These last of +course were of his own bringing on; for if a young man chooses to fall +in love when he has next to nothing to live upon, trouble is sure to +follow. He had quite enough on his hands otherwise without that +crowning complication. When Mr Wentworth first came to Carlingford, +it was in the days of Mr Bury, the Evangelical rector--his last +days, when he had no longer his old vigour, and was very glad of +"assistance," as he said, in his public and parish work. Mr Bury had a +friendship of old standing with the Miss Wentworths of Skelmersdale, +Mr Francis Wentworth's aunts; and it was a long time before the old +Rector's eyes were opened to the astounding fact, that the nephew of +these precious and chosen women held "views" of the most dangerous +complexion, and indeed was as near Rome as a strong and lofty +conviction of the really superior catholicity of the Anglican Church +would permit him to be. Before he found this out, Mr Bury, who had +unlimited confidence in preaching and improving talk, had done all he +could to get the young man to "work," as the good Rector called it, +and had voluntarily placed all that difficult district about the canal +under the charge of the Curate of St Roque's. It is said that the +horror with which, after having just written to Miss Leonora Wentworth +to inform her what "a great work" his young friend was doing among the +bargemen, Mr Bury was seized upon entering St Roque's itself for the +first time after the consecration, when the young priest had arranged +everything his own way, had a very bad effect on his health, and +hastened his end. And it is indeed a fact that he died soon after, +before he had time to issue the interdict he intended against Mr +Wentworth's further exertions in the parish of Carlingford. Then came +Mr Proctor, who came into the town as if he had dropped from the +skies, and knew no more about managing a parish than a baby; and +under his exceptional incumbency Mr Wentworth became more than ever +necessary to the peace of the community. Now a new _regime_ had been +inaugurated. Mr Morgan, a man whom Miss Wodehouse described as "in the +prime of life," newly married, with a wife also in the prime of life, +who had waited for him ten years, and all that time had been under +training for her future duties--two fresh, new, active, clergymanly +intellects, entirely open to the affairs of the town, and intent +upon general reformation and sound management--had just come into +possession. The new Rector was making a great stir all about him, as +was natural to a new man; and it seemed, on the whole, a highly +doubtful business whether he and Mr Wentworth would find Carlingford +big enough to hold them both. + +"We could not have expected to begin quite without difficulties," said +Mrs Morgan, as she and her husband discussed the question in the +drawing-room of the Rectory. It was a pretty drawing-room, though Mr +Proctor's taste was not quite in accordance with the principles of +the new incumbent's wife: however, as the furniture was all new, and as +the former rector had no further need for it, it was of course, much the +best and most economical arrangement to take it as it stood--though the +bouquets on the carpet were a grievance which nothing but her high +Christian principles could have carried Mrs Morgan through. She looked +round as she spoke, and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head: +she, too, had her share of disagreeables. "It would not look like +Christ's work, dear," said the clergyman's wife, "if we had it all our +own way." + +"My dear, I hope I am actuated by higher motives than a desire to have +it all my own way," said the Rector. "I always felt sure that Proctor +would make a mess of any parish he took in hand, but I did not imagine +he would have left it to anybody who pleased to work it. You may +imagine what my feelings were to-day, when I came upon a kind of +impromptu chapel in that wretched district near the canal. I thought +it a Little Bethel, you know, of course; but instead of that, I find +young Wentworth goes there Wednesdays and Fridays to do duty, and that +there is service on Sunday evening, and I can't tell what besides. +It may be done from a good motive--but such a disregard of all +constituted authority," said the Rector, with involuntary vehemence, +"can never, in my opinion, be attended by good results." + +"Mr Wentworth, did you say?" said Mrs Morgan, upon whose female soul +the Perpetual Curate's good looks and good manners had not been +without a certain softening effect. "I am so sorry. I don't wonder you +are vexed; but don't you think there must be some mistake, William? Mr +Wentworth is so gentlemanly and nice--and of very good family, too. +I don't think he would choose to set himself in opposition to the +Rector. I think there must be some mistake." "It's a very aggravating +mistake, at all events," said Mr Morgan, rising and going to the +window. It was, as we have said, a very pretty drawing-room, and the +windows opened upon as pretty a bit of lawn as you could see, with one +handsome cedar sweeping its dark branches majestically over delicious +greensward; but some people did think it was too near George Street +and the railway. Just at that moment a puff of delicate white vapour +appeared over the wall, and a sudden express-train, just released from +the cover of the station, sprang with a snort and bound across the +Rector's view, very imperfectly veiled by the lime-trees, which were +thin in their foliage as yet. Mr Morgan groaned and retreated--out of +his first exaltation he had descended all at once, as people will do +after building all their hopes upon one grand event, into great +depression and vexation, when he found that, after all, this event did +not change the face of existence, but indeed brought new proofs of +mortality in the shape of special annoyances belonging to itself in +its train. "On the whole," said the Rector, who was subject to fits of +disgust with things in general, "I am tempted to think it was a +mistake coming to Carlingford; the drawbacks quite overbalance the +advantages. I did hesitate, I remember--it must have been my better +angel: that is, my dear," he continued, recollecting himself, "I would +have hesitated had it not been for you." + +Here there ensued a little pause. Mrs Morgan was not so young as she +had been ten years ago, all which time she had waited patiently for +the Fellow of All-Souls, and naturally these ten years and the +patience had not improved her looks. There was a redness on her +countenance nowadays which was not exactly bloom; and it stretched +across her cheeks, and over the point of her nose, as she was +painfully aware, poor lady. She was silent when she heard this, +wondering with a passing pang whether he was sorry? But being a +thoroughly sensible woman, and above indulging in those little appeals +by which foolish ones confuse the calm of matrimonial friendship, she +did not express the momentary feeling. "Yes, William," she said, +sympathetically, casting her eyes again on the objectionable carpet, +and feeling that there _were_ drawbacks even to her happiness as the +wife of the Rector of Carlingford; "but I suppose every place has its +disadvantages; and then there is such good society; and a town like +this is the very place for your talents; and when affairs are in your +own hands--" + +"It is very easy talking," said the vexed Rector. "Society and +everybody would turn upon me if I interfered with Wentworth--there's +the vexation. The fellow goes about it as if he had a right. Why, +there's a Provident Society and all sorts of things going on, exactly +as if it were his own parish. What led me to the place was seeing +some ladies in grey cloaks--exactly such frights as you used to make +yourself, my dear--flickering about. He has got up a sisterhood, I +have no doubt; and to find all this in full operation in one's own +parish, without so much as being informed of it! and you know I don't +approve of sisterhoods--never did; they are founded on a mistake." + +"Yes, dear. I know I gave up as soon as I knew your views on that +subject," said Mrs Morgan. "I daresay so will the ladies here. Who +were they? Did you speak to them? or perhaps they belonged to St +Roque's." + +"Nobody belongs to St Roque's," said the Rector, contemptuously--"it +has not even a district. They were the two Miss Wodehouses." + +Mrs Morgan was moved to utter a little cry. "And their father is +churchwarden!" said the indignant woman. "Really, William, this is too +much--without even consulting you! But it is easy to see how _that_ +comes about. Lucy Wodehouse and young Wentworth are--; well, I don't +know if they are engaged--but they are always together, walking and +talking, and consulting with each other, and so forth--a great deal +more than I could approve of; but that poor elder sister, you know, +has no authority--nor indeed any experience, poor thing," said the +Rector's wife; "that's how it is, no doubt." "Engaged!" said the +Rector. He gave a kindly glance at his wife, and melted a little. +"Engaged, are they? Poor little thing! I hope she'll be as good as you +have been, my dear; but a young man may be in love without interfering +with another man's parish. I can't forgive that," said Mr Morgan, +recovering himself; "he must be taught to know better; and it is very +hard upon a clergyman," continued the spiritual ruler of Carlingford, +"that he cannot move in a matter like this without incurring a storm +of godless criticism. If I were sending Wentworth out of my parish, I +shouldn't wonder if the 'Times' had an article upon it, denouncing me +as an indolent priest and bigot, that would neither work myself nor +let my betters work; that's how these fellows talk." + +"But nobody could say such things of you," said Mrs Morgan, firing up. + +"Of me! they'd say them of St Paul, if he had ever been in the +circumstances," said the Rector; "and I should just like to know what +he would have done in a parish like this, with the Dissenters on one +side, and a Perpetual Curate without a district meddling on the other. +Ah, my dear," continued Mr Morgan, "I daresay they had their troubles +in those days; but facing a governor or so now and then, or even +passing a night in the stocks, is a very different thing from a +showing-up in the 'Times,' not to speak of the complications of duty. +Let us go out and call at Folgate's, and see whether he thinks +anything can be done to the church." + +"Dear, you wouldn't mind the 'Times' if it were your duty?" said the +Rector's wife, getting up promptly to prepare for the walk. + +"No, I suppose not," said Mr Morgan, not without a thrill of importance; +"nor the stake," he added, with a little laugh, for he was not without a +sense of humour; and the two went out to the architect's to ascertain +the result of his cogitations over the church. They passed that sacred +edifice in their way, and went in to gaze at it with a disgust which +only an unhappy priest of high culture and aesthetic tastes, doomed to +officiate in a building of the eighteenth century, of the churchwarden +period of architecture, could fully enter into. "Eugh!" said Mr Morgan, +looking round upon the high pews and stifling galleries with an expressive +contraction of his features--his wife looked on sympathetic; and it was +at this unlucky moment that the subject of their late conference made +his appearance cheerfully from behind the ugly pulpit, in close +conference with Mr Folgate. The pulpit was a three-storeyed mass, with +the reading-desk and the clerk's desk beneath--a terrible eyesore to the +Rector and his wife. + +"I can fancy the expediency of keeping the place in repair," said the +Curate of St Roque's, happy in the consciousness of possessing a +church which, though not old, had been built by Gilbert Scott, and +cheerfully unconscious of the presence of his listeners; "but to +beautify a wretched old barn like this is beyond the imagination of +man. Money can't do everything," said the heedless young man as he +came lounging down the middle aisle, tapping contemptuously with his +cane upon the high pew-doors. "I wonder where the people expected to +go to who built Carlingford Church? Curious," continued the young +Anglican, stopping in mid career, "to think of bestowing _consecration_ +upon anything so hideous. What a pass the world must have come to, +Folgate, when this erection was counted worthy to be the house of God! +After all, perhaps it is wrong to feel so strongly about it. The walls +_are_ consecrated, though they are ugly; we can't revoke the blessing. +But no wonder it was an unchristian age." + +"We have our treasure in earthen vessels," said Mr Morgan, somewhat +sternly, from where he stood, under shelter of the heavy gallery. Mr +Wentworth was shortsighted, like most people nowadays. He put up his +glass hastily, and then hurried forward, perhaps just a little +abashed. When he had made his salutations, however, he returned +undismayed to the charge. + +"It's a great pity you have not something better to work upon," said +the dauntless Curate; "but it is difficult to conceive what can be +done with such an unhallowed type of construction. I was just saying +to Folgate--" + +"There is a great deal of cant abroad on this subject," said Mr +Morgan, interrupting the young oracle. "I like good architecture, but +I don't relish attributing moral qualities to bricks and mortar. The +hallowing influence ought to be within. Mr Folgate, we were going to +call at your office. Have you thought of the little suggestions I +ventured to make? Oh, the drawings are here. Mr Wentworth does not +approve of them, I suppose?" said the Rector, turning sternly round +upon the unlucky Curate of St Roque's. + +"I can only say I sympathise with you profoundly," said young +Wentworth, with great seriousness. "Such a terrible church must be a +great trial. I wish I had any advice worth offering; but it is my hour +for a short service down at the canal, and I can't keep my poor +bargees waiting. Good morning. I hope you'll come and give us your +countenance, Mrs Morgan. There's no end of want and trouble at +Wharfside." + +"Is Mr Wentworth aware, I wonder, that Wharfside is in the parish of +Carlingford?" said the Rector, with involuntary severity, as the young +priest withdrew calmly to go to his "duty." Mr Folgate, who supposed +himself to be addressed, smiled, and said, "Oh yes, of course," and +unfolded his drawings, to which the clerical pair before him lent a +disturbed attention. They were both in a high state of indignation by +this time. It seemed indispensable that something should be done to +bring to his senses an intruder so perfectly composed and at his +ease. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Meanwhile Mr Wentworth, without much thought of his sins, went down +George Street, meaning to turn off at the first narrow turning which +led down behind the shops and traffic, behind the comfort and beauty +of the little town, to that inevitable land of shadow which always +dogs the sunshine. Carlingford proper knew little about it, except +that it increased the poor-rates, and now and then produced a fever. +The minister of Salem Chapel was in a state of complete ignorance on +the subject. The late Rector had been equally uninformed. Mr Bury, who +was Evangelical, had the credit of disinterring the buried creatures +there about thirty years ago. It was an office to be expected of that +much-preaching man; but what was a great deal more extraordinary, was +to find that the only people now in Carlingford who knew anything +about Wharfside, except overseers of the poor and guardians of the +public peace, were the Perpetual Curate of St Roque's--who had nothing +particular to do with it, and who was regarded by many sober-minded +persons with suspicion as a dilettante Anglican, given over to floral +ornaments and ecclesiastical upholstery--and some half-dozen people of +the very _elite_ of society, principally ladies residing in Grange +Lane. + +Mr Wentworth came to a hesitating pause at the head of the turning +which would have led him to Wharfside. He looked at his watch and saw +there was half an hour to spare. He gave a wistful lingering look down +the long line of garden-walls, pausing upon one point where the +blossomed boughs of an apple-tree overlooked that enclosure. There +was quite time to call and ask if the Miss Wodehouses were going down +to the service this afternoon; but was it duty? or, indeed, putting +that question aside, was it quite right to compound matters with his +own heart's desire and the work he was engaged in, in this undeniable +fashion? The young priest crossed the street very slowly, swinging his +cane and knitting his brows as he debated the question. If it had been +one of the bargemen bringing his sweetheart, walking with her along +the side of the canal to which Spring and sweet Easter coming on, and +Love, perhaps, always helpful of illusions, might convey a certain +greenness and sentiment of nature--and echoing her soft responses to +the afternoon prayers--perhaps the Curate might have felt that such +devotion was not entirely pure and simple. But somehow, before he was +aware of it, his slow footstep had crossed the line, and he found +himself in Grange Lane, bending his steps towards Mr Wodehouse's door. +For one thing, to be sure, the Canticles in the evening service could +always be sung when Lucy's sweet clear voice was there to lead the +uncertain melody; and it was good to see her singing the 'Magnificat' +with that serious sweet face, "full of grace," like Mary's own. +Thinking of that, Mr Wentworth made his way without any further +hesitation to the green door over which hung the apple-blossoms, +totally untroubled in his mind as to what the reverend pair were +thinking whom he had left behind him in the ugly church; and +unconscious that his impromptu chapel at Wharfside, with its little +carved reading-desk, and the table behind, contrived so as to look +suspiciously like an altar, was a thorn in anybody's side. Had his +mind been in a fit condition at that moment to cogitate trouble, his +thoughts would have travelled in a totally different direction, but in +the mean time Mr Wentworth was very well able to put aside his +perplexities. The green door opened just as he reached it, and Lucy +and her elder sister came out in those grey cloaks which the Rector +had slandered. They were just going to Wharfside to the service, and +of course they were surprised to see Mr Wentworth, who did not knock +at that green door more than a dozen times in a week, on the average. +The Curate walked between the sisters on their way towards their +favourite "district." Such a position would scarcely have been +otherwise than agreeable to any young man. Dear old Miss Wodehouse was +the gentlest of chaperones. Old Miss Wodehouse people called her, not +knowing why--perhaps because that adjective was sweeter than the harsh +one of middle age which belonged to her; and then there was such a +difference between her and Lucy. Lucy was twenty, and in her sweetest +bloom. Many people thought with Mr Wentworth that there were not other +two such eyes in Carlingford. Not that they were brilliant or +penetrating, but as blue as heaven, and as serene and pure. So many +persons thought, and the Perpetual Curate among them. The grey cloak +fell in pretty folds around that light elastic figure; and there was +not an old woman in the town so tender, so helpful, so handy as Lucy +where trouble was, as all the poor people knew. So the three went down +Prickett's Lane, which leads from George Street towards the canal--not +a pleasant part of the town by any means; and if Mr Wentworth was +conscious of a certain haze of sunshine all round and about him, +gliding over the poor pavement, and here and there transfiguring some +baby bystander gazing open-mouthed at the pretty lady, could any +reasonable man be surprised? + +"I hope your aunts were quite well, Mr Wentworth, when you heard from +them last," said Miss Wodehouse, "and all your people at home. In such +a small family as ours, we should go out of our wits if we did not +hear every day; but I suppose it is different where there are so many. +Lucy, when she goes from home," said the tender elder sister, glancing +at her with a half-maternal admiration--"and she might always be +visiting about if she liked--writes to me every day." + +"I have nobody who cares for me enough to write every week," said the +Curate, with a look which was for Lucy's benefit. "I am not so lucky +as you. My aunts are quite well, Miss Wodehouse, and they think I had +better go up to town in May for the meetings," added Mr Wentworth, +with a passing laugh; "and the rest of my people are very indignant +that I am not of their way of thinking. There is Tom Burrows on the +other side of the street; he is trying to catch _your_ eye," said the +Curate, turning round upon Lucy; for the young man had come to such a +pass that he could not address her in an ordinary and proper way like +other people, but, because he dared not yet call her by her Christian +name as if she belonged to him, had a strange rude way of indicating +when he was speaking to her, by emphasis and action. It was singularly +different from his usual good-breeding; but Lucy somehow rather liked +it than otherwise. "He is not going to church for the sake of the +service. He is going to please _you_. He has never forgotten what you +did for that little boy of his; and, indeed, if you continue to go on +so," said Mr Wentworth, lowering his voice, and more than ever bending +his tall head to one side, "I shall have to put a stop to it somehow, +for I am not prepared, whatever people say, to go in at once for +_public_ worship of the saints." + +"I am going in here to call," said Lucy. She looked up very innocently +in the Curate's face. "I promised the poor sick woman in the back room +to see her every day, and I could not get out any sooner. I daresay I +shall be at the schoolroom before you begin. Good-bye just now," said +the young Sister of Mercy. She went off all at once on this provoking +but unexceptionable errand, looking with calm eyes upon the dismay +which overspread the expressive countenance of her spiritual guide. Mr +Wentworth stood looking after her for a moment, stunned by the +unexpected movement. When he went on, truth compels us to own that a +thrill of disgust had taken the place of that vague general sense of +beatitude which threw beauty even upon Prickett's Lane. The Curate +gave but a sulky nod to the salutation of Tom Burrows, and walked on +in a savage mood by the side of Miss Wodehouse, around whom no nimbus +of ideal glory hovered. + +"I am always afraid of its being too much for her, Mr Wentworth," said +the anxious elder sister; "it upsets me directly; but then I never was +like Lucy--I can't tell where all you young people have learned it; we +never used to be taught so in my day; and though I am twice as old as +she is, I know I am not half so much good in the world," said the kind +soul, with a gentle sigh. "I should like to see you in a parish of +your own, where you would have it all your own way. I hope Mr Morgan +won't be meddling when he comes to have time for everything. I should +almost think he would--though it seems unkind to say it--by his face." + +"I am doing nothing more than my duty," said the Perpetual Curate, in +morose tones. "This district was given into my hands by the late +Rector. Mr Morgan's face does not matter to me." + +"But I should like to see you in a parish of your own," said Miss +Wodehouse, meaning to please him. "You know papa always says so. St +Roque's is very nice, but--" + +"If you wish me out of the way, Miss Wodehouse, I am sorry to say you +are not likely to be gratified," said the Curate, "for I have no more +expectation of any preferment than you have. Such chances don't come +in everybody's way." + +"But I thought your aunts, Mr Wentworth--" said poor Miss Wodehouse, +who unluckily did not always know when to stop. + +"My aunts don't approve of my principles," answered Mr Wentworth, who +had his own reasons for speaking with a little asperity. "They are +more likely to have me denounced at Exeter Hall. I will join you +immediately. I must speak to these men across the street;" and the +Curate accordingly walked into a knot of loungers opposite, with a +decision of manner which Lucy's desertion had helped him to. Miss +Wodehouse, thus left alone, went on with lingering and somewhat doubtful +steps. She was not used to being in "the district" by herself. It +disturbed her mild, middle-aged habits to be left straying about here +alone among all these poor people, whom she looked at half wistfully, +half alarmed, feeling for them in her kind heart, but not at all knowing +how to get at them as the young people did. The unruly children and +gossiping mothers at the poor doors discomposed her sadly, and she was +not near so sure that her grey cloak defended her from all rudeness as +she pretended to be when assenting to the enthusiasm of Mr Wentworth and +Lucy. She made tremulous haste to get out of this scene, which she was +not adapted for, to the shelter of the schoolroom, where, at least, she +would be safe. "We never were taught so in my day," she said to herself, +with an unexpressed wonder which was right; but when she had reached +that haven of shelter, was seized with a little panic for Lucy, and went +out again and watched for her at the corner of the street, feeling very +uncomfortable. It was a great relief to see her young sister coming down +alert and bright even before she was joined by Mr Wentworth, who had +carried his point with the men he had been talking to. To see them +coming down together, smiling to all those people at the doors who +disturbed the gentle mind of Miss Wodehouse with mingled sentiments of +sympathy and repulsion, bestowing nods of greeting here and there, +pausing even to say a word to a few favoured clients, was a wonderful +sight to the timid maiden lady at the corner of the street. Twenty years +ago some such companion might have been by Miss Wodehouse's side, but +never among the poor people in Prickett's Lane. Even with Lucy before +her she did not understand it. As the two came towards her, other +thoughts united with these in her kind soul. "I wonder whether anything +will ever come of it?" she said to herself, and with that wandered into +anxious reflections what this difference could be between Mr Wentworth +and his aunts: which cogitations, indeed, occupied her till the service +began, and perhaps disturbed her due appreciation of it; for if Lucy and +Mr Wentworth got attached, as seemed likely, and Mr Wentworth did not +get a living, what was to come of it? The thought made this +tender-hearted spectator sigh: perhaps she had some experience of her +own to enlighten her on such a point. At least it troubled, with +sympathetic human cares, the gentle soul which had lost the confidence +of youth. + +As for the two most immediately concerned, they thought nothing at all +about aunts or livings. Whether it is the divine influence of youth, +or whether the vague unacknowledged love which makes two people happy +in each other's presence carries with it a certain inspiration, this +at least is certain, that there is an absolute warmth of devotion +arrived at in such moments, which many a soul, no longer happy, would +give all the world to reach. Such crowds and heaps of blessings fall +to these young souls! They said their prayers with all their hearts, +not aware of deriving anything of that profound sweet trust and +happiness from each other, but expanding over all the rude but +reverend worshippers around them, with an unlimited faith in their +improvement, almost in their perfection. This was what the wondering +looker-on, scarcely able to keep her anxieties out of her prayers, +could not understand, having forgotten, though she did not think so, +the exaltation of that time of youth, as people do. She thought it all +their goodness that they were able to put away their own thoughts; she +did not know it was in the very nature of those unexpressed emotions +to add the confidence of happiness to their prayers. + +And after a while they all separated and went away back into the world +and the everyday hours. Young Wentworth and Lucy had not said a syllable +to each other, except about the people in "the district," and the +Provident Society; and how that sober and laudable conversation could be +called love-making, it would be difficult for the most ardent imagination +to conceive. He was to dine with them that evening; so it was for but a +very brief time that they parted when the Perpetual Curate left the +ladies at the green door, and went away to his room, to attend to some +other duties, before he arrayed himself for the evening. As for the +sisters, they went in quite comfortably, and had their cup of tea before +they dressed for dinner. Lucy was manager indoors as well as out. She +was good for a great deal more than Miss Wodehouse in every practical +matter. It was she who was responsible for the dinner, and had all the +cares of the house upon her head. Notwithstanding, the elder sister took +up her prerogative as they sat together in two very cosy easy-chairs, +in a little room which communicated with both their bed-chambers +up-stairs--a very cosy little odd room, not a dressing-room nor a +boudoir, but something between the two, where the sisters had their +private talks upon occasion, and which was consecrated by many a +libation of fragrant tea. + +"Lucy, my dear," said Miss Wodehouse, whose gentle forehead was +puckered with care, "I want to speak to you. I have not been able to +get you out of my mind since ever we met Mr Wentworth at the green +door." + +"Was there any need for getting me out of your mind?" said smiling +Lucy. "I was a safe enough inmate, surely. I wonder how often I am out +of your mind, Mary dear, night or day." + +"That is true enough," said Miss Wodehouse, "but you know that is not +what I meant either. Lucy, are you quite sure you're going on just as +you ought--" + +Here she made a troubled pause, and looked in the laughing face +opposite, intent upon her with its startled eyes. "What have I done?" +cried the younger sister. Miss Wodehouse shook her head with a great +deal of seriousness. + +"It always begins with laughing," said the experienced woman; "but if +it ends without tears it will be something new to me. It's about Mr +Wentworth, Lucy. You're always together, day after day; and, my dear, +such things can't go on without coming to something--what is to come +of it? I have looked at it from every point of view, and I am sure I +don't know." + +Lucy flushed intensely red, of course, at the Curate's name; perhaps +she had not expected it just at that moment; but she kept her +composure like a sensible girl as she was. + +"I thought it was the other side that were questioned about their +intentions," she said. "Am I doing anything amiss? Mr Wentworth is the +Curate of St Roque's, and I am one of the district-visitors, and we +can't help seeing a great deal of each other so long as this work goes +on at Wharfside. You wouldn't like to stop a great work because we are +obliged to see a good deal of--of one particular person?" said Lucy, +with youthful virtue, looking at her sister's face; at which tone and +look Miss Wodehouse immediately faltered, as the culprit knew she +must. + +"No--oh no, no--to be sure not," said the disturbed monitor. "When you +say that, I don't know how to answer you. It must be right, I suppose. +I am quite sure it is wonderful to see such young creatures as you, +and how you can tell the right way to set about it. But things did not +use to be so in my young days. Girls dare not have done such things +twenty years ago--not in Carlingford, Lucy," said Miss Wodehouse; +"and, dear, I think you ought to be a little careful, for poor Mr +Wentworth's sake." + +"I don't think Mr Wentworth is in any particular danger," said Lucy, +putting down her cup, with a slight curve at the corners of her +pretty mouth--"and it is quite time for you to begin dressing. You +know you don't like to be hurried, dear;" with which speech the young +housekeeper got up from her easy-chair, gave her sister a kiss as she +passed, and went away, singing softly, to her toilette. Perhaps there +was a little flutter in Lucy's heart as she bound it round with her +favourite blue ribbons. Perhaps it was this that gave a certain +startled gleam to her blue eyes, and made even her father remark them +when she went down-stairs--"It seems to me as if this child were +growing rather pretty, Molly, eh? I don't know what other people +think," said Mr Wodehouse--and perhaps Mr Wentworth, who was just +being ushered into the drawing-room at the moment, heard the speech, +for he, too, looked as if he had never found it out before. Luckily +there was a party, and no opportunity for sentiment. The party was in +honour of the Rector and his wife; and Mr Wentworth could not but be +conscious before the evening was over that he had done something to +lose the favour of his clerical brother. There was a good deal of +Church talk, as was natural, at the churchwarden's table, where three +clergymen were dining--for Mr Morgan's curate was there as well; and +the Curate of St Roque's, who was slightly hot-tempered, could not +help feeling himself disapproved of. It was not, on the whole, a +satisfactory evening. Mr Morgan talked rather big, when the ladies +went away, of his plans for the reformation of Carlingford. He went +into statistics about the poor, and the number of people who attended +no church, without taking any notice of that "great work" which Mr +Wentworth knew to be going on at Wharfside. The Rector even talked of +Wharfside, and of the necessity of exertion on behalf of that wretched +district, with a studious unconsciousness of Mr Wentworth; and all but +declined to receive better information when Mr Wodehouse proffered it. +Matters were scarcely better in the drawing-room, where Lucy was +entertaining everybody, and had no leisure for the Perpetual Curate. +He took his hat with a gloomy sentiment of satisfaction when it was +time to go away; but when the green door was closed behind him, Mr +Wentworth, with his first step into the dewy darkness, plunged +headlong into a sea of thought. He had to walk down the whole length +of Grange Lane to his lodging, which was in the last house of the row, +a small house in a small garden, where Mrs Hadwin, the widow of a +whilom curate, was permitted by public opinion, on the score of her +own unexceptionable propriety,[A] to receive a lodger without loss of +position thereby. It was moonlight, or rather it ought to have been +moonlight, and no lamps were lighted in Grange Lane, according to the +economical regulations of Carlingford; and as Mr Wentworth pursued his +way down the dark line of garden-walls, in the face of a sudden April +shower which happened to be falling, he had full scope and opportunity +for his thoughts. + +These thoughts were not the most agreeable in the world. In the first +place it must be remembered that for nearly a year past Mr Wentworth had +had things his own way in Carlingford. He had been more than rector, he +had been archdeacon, or rather bishop, in Mr Proctor's time; for that +good man was humble, and thankful for the advice and assistance of his +young brother, who knew so much better than he did. Now, to be looked +upon as an unauthorised workman, a kind of meddling, Dissenterish, +missionising individual, was rather hard upon the young man. And then he +thought of his aunts. The connection, imperceptible to an ignorant +observer, which existed between the Miss Wentworths and Mr Morgan, and +Lucy, and many other matters interesting to their nephew, was a +sufficiently real connection when you came to know it. That parish of +his own which Miss Wodehouse had wished him--which would free the young +clergyman from all trammels so far as his work was concerned; and would +enable him to marry, and do everything for him--it was in the power of +the Miss Wentworths to bestow; but they were Evangelical women, very +public-spirited, and thinking nothing of their nephew in comparison with +their duty; and he was at that time of life, and of that disposition, +which, for fear of being supposed to wish to deceive them, would rather +exaggerate and make a display of the difference of his own views. Not +for freedom, not for Lucy, would the Perpetual Curate temporise and +manage the matter; so the fact was that he stood at the present moment +in a very perilous predicament. But for this family living, which was, +with their mother's property, in the hands of her co-heiresses, the +three Miss Wentworths, young Frank Wentworth had not a chance of +preferment in the world; for the respectable Squire his father had +indulged in three wives and three families, and such a regiment of sons +that all his influence had been fully taxed to provide for them. Gerald, +the clergyman of the first lot, held the family living--not a very large +one--which belonged to the Wentworths; and Frank, who was of the second, +had been educated expressly with an eye to Skelmersdale, which belonged +to his aunts. How he came at the end to differ so completely from these +excellent ladies in his religious views is not our business just at +present; but in the mean time matters were in a very critical position. +The old incumbent of Skelmersdale was eighty, and had been ill all +winter; and if the Miss Wentworths were not satisfied somehow, it was +all over with their nephew's hopes. + +Such were the thoughts that occupied his mind as he walked down Grange +Lane in the dark, past the tedious, unsympathetic line of garden-walls, +with the rain in his face. The evening's entertainment had stirred up a +great many dormant sentiments. His influence in Carlingford had been +ignored by this new-comer, who evidently thought he could do what he +liked without paying any attention to the Curate of St Roque's; and, +what was a great deal worse, he had found Lucy unapproachable, and had +realised, if not for the first time, still with more distinctness than +ever before, that she did not belong to him, and that he had no more +right than any other acquaintance to monopolise her society. This last +discovery was bitter to the young man--it was this that made him set his +face to the rain, and his teeth, as if that could do any good. He had +been happy in her mere society to-day, without entering into any of the +terrible preliminaries of a closer connection. But now that was over. +She did not belong to him, and he could not bear the thought. And how +was she ever to belong to him? Not, certainly, if he was to be a Perpetual +Curate of St Roque's, or anywhere else. He felt, in the misery of the +moment, as if he could never go to that green door again, or walk by her +sweet side to that service in which they had joined so lately. He +wondered whether she cared, with a despairing pang of anxiety, through +which for an instant a celestial gleam of consciousness leaped, making +the darkness all the greater afterwards. And to think that three old +ladies, of whom it was not in the nature of things that the young man +could be profoundly reverent, should hold in their hands the absolute +power of his life, and could determine whether it was to be sweet with +hope and love, or stern, constrained, and impoverished, without Lucy or +any other immediate light! What a strange anomaly this was which met him +full in the face as he pursued his thoughts! If it had been his bishop, +or his college, or any fitting tribunal--but his aunts! Mr Wentworth's +ring at his own door was so much more hasty than usual that Mrs Hadwin +paused in the hall, when she had lighted her candle, to see if anything +was the matter. The little neat old lady held up her candle to look at +him as he came in, glistening all over with rain-drops. + +"I hope you are not wet, Mr Wentworth," she said. "It is only an April +shower, and we want it so much in the gardens. And I hope you have had +a nice party and a pleasant evening." + +"Thank you--pretty well," said the Perpetual Curate, with less suavity +than usual, and a sigh that nearly blew Mrs Hadwin's candle out. She +saw he was discomposed, and therefore, with a feminine instinct, found +more to say than usual before she made her peaceful way to bed. She +waited while Mr Wentworth lighted his candle too. "Mr Wodehouse's +parties are always pleasant," she said. "I never go out, you know; but +I like to hear of people enjoying themselves. I insist upon you going +up-stairs before me, Mr Wentworth. I have so little breath to spare, +and I take such a long time going up, that you would be tired to death +waiting for me. Now, don't be polite. I insist upon you going up +first. Thank you. Now I can take my time." + +And she took her time accordingly, keeping Mr Wentworth waiting on the +landing to say good-night to her, much to his silent exasperation. When +he got into the shelter of his own sitting-room, he threw himself upon +a sofa, and continued his thoughts with many a troubled addition. A +young man, feeling in a great measure the world before him, conscious of +considerable powers, standing on the very threshold of so much possible +good and happiness,--it was hideous to look up, in his excited +imagination, and see the figures of these three old ladies, worse than +Fates, standing across the prospect and barring the way. + +And Lucy, meantime, was undoing her blue ribbons with a thrill of sweet +agitation in her untroubled bosom. Perhaps Mary was right, and it was +about coming to the time when this half-feared, half-hoped revelation +could not be postponed much longer. For it will be perceived that Lucy +was not in much doubt of young Wentworth's sentiments. And then she +paused in the dark, after she had said her prayers, to give one timid +thought to the sweet life that seemed to lie before her so close at +hand--in which, perhaps, he and she were to go out together, she did not +know where, for the help of the world and the comfort of the sorrowful; +and not trusting herself to look much at that ideal, said another +prayer, and went to sleep like one of God's beloved, with a tear too +exquisite to be shed brimming under her long eyelashes. At this crisis +of existence, perhaps for once in her life, the woman has the best of +it; for very different from Lucy's were the thoughts with which the +Curate sought his restless pillow, hearing the rain drip all the night, +and trickle into Mrs Hadwin's reservoirs. The old lady had a passion for +rain-water, and it was a gusty night. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Next week was Passion Week, and full of occupation. Even if it had been +consistent either with Mr Wentworth's principles or Lucy's to introduce +secular affairs into so holy a season, they had not time or opportunity, +as it happened, which was perhaps just as well; for otherwise the +premonitory thrill of expectation which had disturbed Lucy's calm, and +the bitter exasperation against himself and his fate with which Mr +Wentworth had discovered that he dared not say anything, might have +caused an estrangement between them. As it was, the air was thundery and +ominous through all the solemn days of the Holy Week. A consciousness as +of something about to happen overshadowed even the "district," and +attracted the keen observation of the lively spectators at Wharfside. +They were not greatly up in matters of doctrine, nor perhaps did they +quite understand the eloquent little sermon which the Perpetual Curate +gave them on Good Friday in the afternoon, between his own services, by +way of impressing upon their minds the awful memories of the day; but +they were as skilful in the variations of their young evangelist's +looks, and as well qualified to decide upon the fact that there was "a +something between" him and Miss Lucy Wodehouse, as any practised +observer in the higher ranks of society. Whether the two had "'ad an +unpleasantness," as, Wharfside was well aware, human creatures under +such circumstances are liable to have, the interested community could +not quite make out; but that something more than ordinary was going on, +and that the prettiest of all the "Provident ladies" had a certain +preoccupation in her blue eyes, was a fact perfectly apparent to +that intelligent society. And, indeed, one of the kinder matrons in +Prickett's Lane had even ventured so far as to wish Miss Lucy "a 'appy +weddin' when the time comes." "And there's to be a sight o' weddings +this Easter," had added another, who was somewhat scandalised by the +flowers in the bonnet of one of the brides-elect, and proceeded to say +so in some detail. "But Miss Lucy won't wear no bonnet; the quality goes +in veils: and there never was as full a church as there will be to see +it, wishing you your 'ealth and 'appiness, ma'am, as aint no more nor +you deserve, and you so good to us poor folks." All which felicitations +and inquiries had confused Lucy, though she made her way out of them +with a self-possession which amazed her sister. + +"You see what everybody thinks, dear," said that gentle woman, when +they had made their escape. + +"Oh, Mary, how can you talk of such things at such a time?" the young +Sister of Mercy had answered once more, turning those severe eyes of +youthful devotion upon her troubled elder sister, who, to tell the +truth, not having been brought up to it, as she said, felt much the +same on Easter Eve as at other times of her life; and thus once more +the matter concluded. As for Mr Wentworth, he was much occupied on +that last day of the Holy Week with a great many important matters on +hand. He had not seen the Wodehouses since the Good Friday evening +service, which was an interval of about twenty hours, and had just +paused, before eating his bachelor's dinner, to ponder whether it +would be correct on that most sacred of vigils to steal away for half +an hour, just to ask Lucy if she thought it necessary that he should +see the sick woman at No. 10 Prickett's Lane before the morning. +It was while he was pondering this matter in his mind that Mr +Wentworth's heart jumped to his throat upon receipt, quite suddenly, +without preparation, of the following note:-- + + + "MY DEAREST BOY,--Your aunts Cecilia, Leonora, and I have just arrived + at this excellent inn, the Blue Boar. Old Mr Shirley at Skelmersdale + is in a very bad way, poor man, and I thought the _very best_ thing I + could do in my dearest Frank's _best_ interests, was to persuade them + to make you _quite_ an _unexpected visit_, and see everything for + themselves. I am in a terrible fright now lest I should have done + wrong; but my dear, dear boy knows it is always his interest that I + have at heart; and Leonora is so intent on having a _real gospel + minister_ at Skelmersdale, that she _never_ would have been content + with anything less than hearing you with her own ears. I hope and + trust in Providence that you don't intone like poor Gerald. And oh, + Frank, my dear boy, come directly and dine with us, and don't fly in + your aunt Leonora's face, and tell me I haven't been imprudent. I + thought it would be best to take you unawares when you had everything + prepared, and when we should see you just as you always are; for I am + convinced Leonora and you only want to see more of each other to + understand each other perfectly. Come, my dearest boy, and give a + little comfort to your loving and anxious + + "AUNT DORA." + + +Mr Wentworth sat gazing blankly upon this horrible missive for some +minutes after he had read it, quite unaware of the humble presence of +the maid who stood asking, Please was she to bring up dinner? When he +came to himself, the awful "No!" with which he answered that alarmed +handmaiden almost drove her into hysterics as she escaped down-stairs. +However, Mr Wentworth immediately put his head out at the door and +called after her, "I can't wait for dinner, Sarah; I am suddenly called +out, and shall dine where I am going. Tell Cook," said the young parson, +suddenly recollecting Lucy's client, "to send what she has prepared for +me, if it is very nice, to No. 10 Prickett's Lane. My boy will take it; +and send him off directly, please," with which last commission the young +man went up despairingly to his bedroom to prepare himself for this +interview with his aunts. What was he to do? Already before him, in +dreadful prophetic vision, he saw all three seated in one of the +handsome open benches in St Roque's, looking indescribable horrors at +the crown of spring lilies which Lucy's own fingers were to weave for +the cross above the altar, and listening to the cadence of his own manly +tenor as it rang through the perfect little church of which he was so +proud. Yes, there was an end of Skelmersdale, without any doubt or +question now; whatever hope there might have been, aunt Dora had settled +the matter by this last move of hers--an end to Skelmersdale, and an end +of Lucy. Perhaps he had better try not to see her any more; and the poor +young priest saw that his own face looked ghastly as he looked at it in +the glass. It gave him a little comfort to meet the boy with a bundle +pinned up in snowy napkins, from which a grateful odour ascended, +bending his steps to Prickett's Lane, as he himself went out to meet his +fate. It was a last offering to that beloved "district" with which the +image of his love was blended; but he would have given his dinner to +Lucy's sick woman any day. To-night it was a greater sacrifice that was +to be required of him. He went mournfully and slowly up Grange Lane, +steeling himself for the encounter, and trying to forgive aunt Dora in +his heart. It was not very easy. Things might have turned out just the +same without any interference--that was true; but to have it all brought +on in this wanton manner by a kind foolish woman, who would wring her +hands and gaze in your face, and want to know, Oh! did you think it was +her fault? after she had precipitated the calamity, was very hard; and +it was with a very gloomy countenance, accordingly, that the Curate of +St Roque's presented himself at the Blue Boar. + +The Miss Wentworths were in the very best sitting-room which the Blue +Boar contained--the style in which they travelled, with a man and two +maids, was enough to secure that; and the kitchen of that respectable +establishment was doing its very best to send up a dinner worthy of "a +party as had their own man to wait." The three ladies greeted their +nephew with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The eldest, Miss Wentworth, +from whom he took his second name Cecil, did not rise from her chair, +but nevertheless kissed him in an affectionate dignified way when he +was brought to her. As for aunt Dora, she ran into her dear Frank's +arms, and in the very moment of that embrace whispered in his ear the +expression of her anxiety, and the panic which always followed those +rash steps which she was in the habit of taking. "Oh, my dear, I hope +you don't think I'm to blame," she said, with her lips at his ear, and +gained but cold comfort from the Curate's face. The alarming member of +the party was Miss Leonora. She rose and made two steps forward to +meet the unfortunate young man. She shook both his hands cordially, +and said she was very glad to see him, and hoped he was well. She was +the sensible sister of the three, and no doubt required all the sense +she had to manage her companions. Miss Wentworth, who had been very +pretty in her youth, was now a beautiful old lady, with snow-white +hair and the most charming smile; and Miss Dora, who was only fifty, +retained the natural colour of her own scanty light-brown locks, which +wavered in weak-minded ringlets over her cheeks; but Miss Leonora was +iron-grey, without any complexion in particular, and altogether a +harder type of woman. It was she who held in her hands the fate of +Skelmersdale and of Frank Wentworth. Her terrible glance it was which +he had imagined gleaming fierce upon his lilies--Lucy's lilies, his +Easter decorations. It was by her side the alarmed Curate was made to +sit down. It was she who took the foot of the table, and was the +gentleman of the house. Her voice was of that class of voice which may +be politely called a powerful contralto. Every way she was as alarming +a critic as ever was encountered by a Perpetual Curate, or any other +young man in trouble. Mr Wentworth said feebly that this was a very +unexpected pleasure, as he met his aunt Leonora's eye. + +"I hope it _is_ a pleasure," said that penetrating observer. "To tell +the truth, I did not expect it would be; but your aunt Dora thought so, +and you know, when she sets her heart on anything, nobody can get any +peace. Not that your aunt Cecilia and I would have come on that account, +if we had not wished, for many reasons, to have some conversation with +you, and see how you are getting on." + +"Quite so, Leonora," said Miss Wentworth, smiling upon her nephew, and +leaning back in her chair. + +Then there was a little pause; for, after such a terrible address, it +was not to be expected that the poor man, who understood every word of +it, could repeat his commonplace about the unlooked-for pleasure. Miss +Dora of course seized the opportunity to rush in. + +"We have been hearing such delightful things about you, my dear, from +the people of the house. Leonora is so pleased to hear how you are +labouring among the people, and doing your Master's work. We take all +the happiness to ourselves, because, you know, you are _our_ boy, +Frank," said the anxious aunt, all her thin ringlets, poor lady, +trembling with her eagerness to make everything comfortable for her +favourite; "and we have come, you know, specially to hear you on Easter +Sunday in your own church. I am looking forward to a great treat: to +think I should never have heard you, though it is so long since you were +ordained! None of us have ever heard you--not even Leonora; but it is +such a pleasure to us all to know you are so much liked in Carlingford," +cried the troubled woman, growing nervous at sight of the unresponsive +quiet around her. Miss Leonora by no means replied to the covert +appeals thus made to her. She left her nephew and her sister to keep up +the conversation unassisted; and as for Miss Wentworth, conversation was +not her forte. + +"I'm afraid, aunt, you will not _hear_ anything worth such a long +journey," said Mr Wentworth, moved, like a rash young man as he was, to +display his colours at once, and cry no surrender. "I don't think an +Easter Sunday is a time for much preaching; and the Church has made such +ample provision for the expression of our sentiments. I am more of a +humble priest than an ambitious preacher," said the young man, with +characteristic youthful pretence of the most transparent kind. He looked +in Miss Leonora's face as he spoke. He knew the very name of priest was +an offence in its way to that highly Evangelical woman; and if they were +to come to single combat, better immediately than after intolerable +suspense and delay. + +"Perhaps, Dora, you will postpone your raptures about Frank's +sermon--which may be a very indifferent sermon, as he says, for anything +we can tell--till after dinner," said Miss Leonora. "We're all very glad +to see him; and he need not think any little ill-tempered speeches he +may make will disturb me. I daresay the poor boy would be glad to hear +of some of the people belonging to him instead of all that nonsense. +Come to dinner, Frank. Take the other side of the table, opposite Dora; +and now that you've said grace, I give you full leave to forget that +you're a clergyman for an hour at least. We were down at the old Hall a +week ago, and saw your father and the rest. They are all well; and the +last boy is rather like you, if you will think that any compliment. Mrs +Wentworth is pleased, because you are one of the handsome ones, you +know. Not much fear of the Wentworths dying out of the country yet +awhile. Your father is getting at his wit's end, and does not know what +to do with Cuthbert and Guy. Three sons are enough in the army, and two +at sea; and I rather think it's as much as we can stand," continued Miss +Leonora, not without a gleam of humour in her iron-grey eyes, "to have +two in the Church +." + +"That is as it may happen," said the Perpetual Curate, with a little +spirit. "If the boys are of my way of thinking, they will consider the +Church the highest of professions; but Guy and Cuthbert must go to +Australia, I suppose, like most other people, and take their chance--no +harm in that." + +"Not a bit of harm," said the rich aunt; "they're good boys enough, +and I daresay they'll get on. As for Gerald, if you have any influence +with your brother, I think he's in a bad way. I think he has a bad +attack of Romishness coming on. If you are not in that way yourself," +said Miss Leonora, with a sharp glance, "I think you should go and see +after Gerald. He is the sort of man who would do anything foolish, you +know. He doesn't understand what prudence means. Remember, I believe +he is a good Christian all the same. It's very incomprehensible; but +the fact is, a man may be a very good Christian, and have the least +quality of sense that is compatible with existence. I've seen it over +and over again. Gerald's notions are idiocy to me," said the sensible +but candid woman, shrugging her shoulders; "but I can't deny that he's +a good man, for all that." + +"He is the best man I ever knew," said young Wentworth, with +enthusiasm. + +"Quite so, Frank," echoed aunt Cecilia, with her sweet smile: it was +almost the only conversational effort Miss Wentworth ever made. + +"But it is so sad to see how he's led away," said Miss Dora; "it is all +owing to the bad advisers young men meet with at the universities; and +how can it be otherwise as long as tutors and professors are chosen just +for their learning, without any regard to their principles? What is +Greek and Latin in comparison with a pious guide for the young? We +would not have to feel frightened, as we do so often, about young +men's principles," continued aunt Dora, fixing her eyes with warning +significance on her nephew, and trying hard to open telegraphic +communications with him, "if more attention was paid at the universities +to give them sound guidance in their studies. So long as you are sound +in your principles, there is no fear of you," said the timid diplomatist, +trying to aid the warning look of her eyes by emphasis and inflection. +Poor Miss Dora! it was her unlucky fate, by dint of her very exertions +in smoothing matters, always to make things worse. + +"He would be a bold man who would call those principles unsound which +have made my brother Gerald what he is," said, with an affectionate +admiration that became him, the Curate of St Roque's. + +"It's a slavish system, notwithstanding Gerald," said Miss Leonora, +with some heat; "and a false system, and leads to Antichrist at the +end and nothing less. Eat your dinner, Frank--we are not going to +argue just now. We expected to hear that another of the girls was +engaged before we came away, but it has not occurred yet. I don't +approve of young men dancing about a house for ever and ever, unless +they mean something. Do you?" + +Mr Wentworth faltered at this question; it disturbed his composure +more than anything that had preceded it. "I--really I don't know," he +said, after a pause, with a sickly smile--of which all three of his +aunts took private notes, forming their own conclusions. It was, as +may well be supposed, a very severe ordeal which the poor young man +had to go through. When he was permitted to say good-night, he went +away with a sensation of fatigue more overpowering than if he had +visited all the houses in Wharfside. When he passed the green door, +over which the apple-tree rustled in the dark, it was a pang to his +heart. How was he to continue to live--to come and go through that +familiar road--to go through all the meetings and partings, when this +last hopeless trial was over, and Lucy and he were swept apart as if +by an earthquake? If his lips were sealed henceforward, and he never +was at liberty to say what was in his heart, what would she think of +him? He could not fly from his work because he lost Skelmersdale; and +how was he to bear it? He went home with a dull bitterness in his +mind, trying, when he thought of it, to quiet the aching pulses which +throbbed all over him, with what ought to have been the hallowed +associations of the last Lenten vigil. But it was difficult, throbbing +as he was with wild life and trouble to the very finger-points, to get +himself into the shadow of that rock-hewn grave, by which, according +to his own theory, the Church should be watching on this Easter Eve. +It was hard just then to be bound to that special remembrance. What he +wanted at this moment was no memory of one hour, however memorable or +glorious, not even though it contained the Redeemer's grave, but the +sense of a living Friend standing by him in the great struggle, which +is the essential and unfailing comfort of a Christian's life. + +Next morning he went to church with a half-conscious, youthful sense of +martyrdom, of which in his heart he was half ashamed. St Roque's was +very fair to see that Easter morning. Above the communion-table, with +all its sacred vessels, the carved oaken cross of the reredos was +wreathed tenderly with white fragrant festoons of spring lilies, sweet +Narcissus of the poets; and Mr Wentworth's choristers made another white +line, two deep, down each side of the chancel. The young Anglican took +in all the details of the scene on his way to the reading-desk as the +white procession ranged itself in the oaken stalls. At that moment--the +worst moment for such a thought--it suddenly flashed over him that, +after all, a wreath of spring flowers or a chorister's surplice was +scarcely worth suffering martyrdom for. This horrible suggestion, true +essence of an unheroic age, which will not suffer a man to be absolutely +sure of anything, disturbed his prayer as he knelt down in silence to +ask God's blessing. Easter, to be sure, was lovely enough of itself +without the garland, and Mr Wentworth knew well enough that his +white-robed singers were no immaculate angel-band. It was Satan himself, +surely, and no inferior imp, who shot that sudden arrow into the young +man's heart as he tried to say his private prayer; for the Curate of St +Roque's was not only a fervent Anglican, but also a young Englishman +_sans reproche_, with all the sensitive, almost fantastic, delicacy of +honour which belongs to that development of humanity; and not for a +dozen worlds would he have sacrificed a lily or a surplice on this +particular Easter, when all his worldly hopes hung in the balance. But +to think at this crowning moment that a villanous doubt of the benefit +of these surplices and lilies should seize his troubled heart! for just +then the strains of the organ died away in lengthened whispers, and Miss +Leonora Wentworth, severe and awful, swept up through the middle aisle. +It was under these terrible circumstances that the Perpetual Curate, +with his heart throbbing and his head aching, began to intone the +morning service on that Easter Sunday, ever after a day so memorable in +the records of St Roque's. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Mr Wentworth's sermon on Easter Sunday was one which he himself long +remembered, though it is doubtful whether any of his congregation had +memories as faithful. To tell the truth, the young man put a black cross +upon it with his blackest ink, a memorial of meaning unknown to anybody +but himself. It was a curious little sermon, such as may still be heard +in some Anglican pulpits. Though he had heart and mind enough to +conceive something of those natural depths of divine significance and +human interest, which are the very essence of the Easter festival, it +was not into these that Mr Wentworth entered in his sermon. He spoke, in +very choice little sentences, of the beneficence of the Church in +appointing such a feast, and of all the beautiful arrangements she had +made for the keeping of it. But even in the speaking, in the excited +state of mind he was in, it occurred to the young man to see, by a +sudden flash of illumination, how much higher, how much more catholic, +after all, his teaching would have been, could he but have once ignored +the Church, and gone direct, as Nature bade, to that empty grave in +which all the hopes of humanity had been entombed. He saw it by gleams +of that perverse light which seemed more Satanic than heavenly in the +moments it chose for shining, while he was preaching his little sermon +about the Church and her beautiful institution of Easter, just as he had +seen the non-importance of his lily-wreath and surplices as he was about +to suffer martyrdom for them. All these circumstances were hard upon the +young man. Looking down straight into the severe iron-grey eyes of his +aunt Leonora, he could not of course so much as modify a single sentence +of the discourse he was uttering, no more than he could permit himself +to slur over a single monotone of the service; but that sudden bewildering +perception that he could have done so much better--that the loftiest +High-Churchism of all might have been consistent enough with +Skelmersdale, had he but gone into the heart of the matter--gave a +bitterness to the deeper, unseen current of the Curate's thoughts. + +Besides, it was terrible to feel that he could not abstract himself from +personal concerns even in the most sacred duties. He was conscious that +the two elder sisters went away, and that only poor aunt Dora, her +weak-minded ringlets limp with tears, came tremulous to the altar rails. +When the service was over, and the young priest was disrobing himself, +she came to him and gave a spasmodic, sympathetic, half-reproachful +pressure to his hand. "Oh, Frank, my dear, I did it for the best," said +Miss Dora, with a doleful countenance; and the Perpetual Curate knew +that his doom was sealed. He put the best face he could upon the matter, +having sufficient doubts of his own wisdom to subdue the high temper of +the Wentworths for that moment at least. + +"What was it you did for the best?" said the Curate of St Roque's. "I +suppose, after all, it was no such great matter _hearing_ me as you +thought; but I told you I was not an ambitious preacher. This is a day +for worship, not for talk." + +"Ah! yes," said Miss Dora; "but oh, Frank, my dear, it is hard upon me, +after all my expectations. It would have been so nice to have had you at +Skelmersdale. I hoped you would marry Julia Trench, and we should all +have been so happy; and perhaps if I had not begged Leonora to come just +now, thinking it would be so nice to take you just in your usual +way--but she must have known sooner or later," said poor aunt Dora, +looking wistfully in his face. "Oh, Frank, I hope you don't think I'm to +blame." + +"I never should have married Julia Trench," said the Curate, gloomily. +He did not enter into the question of Miss Dora's guilt or innocence--he +gave a glance at the lilies on the altar, and a sigh. The chances were +he would never marry anybody, but loyalty to Lucy demanded instant +repudiation of any other possible bride. "Where are you going, aunt +Dora; back to the Blue Boar? or will you come with me?" he said, as they +stood together at the door of St Roque's. Mr Wentworth felt as if he had +caught the beginning threads of a good many different lines of thought, +which he would be glad to be alone to work out. + +"You'll come back with me to the inn to lunch?" said Miss Dora. "Oh, +Frank, my dear, remember your Christian feelings, and don't make a +breach in the family. It will be bad enough to face your poor dear +father, after he knows what Leonora means to do; and I do so want to +talk to you," said the poor woman, eagerly clinging to his arm. "You +always were fond of your poor aunt Dora, Frank; when you were quite a +little trot you used always to like me best; and in the holiday times, +when you came down from Harrow, I used always to hear all your +troubles. If you would only have confidence in me now!" + +"But what if I have no troubles to confide?" said Mr Wentworth; "a man +and a boy are very different things. Come, aunt Dora, I'll see you safe +to your inn. What should I have to grumble about? I have plenty to do, +and it is Easter; and few men can have everything their own way." + +"You won't acknowledge that you're vexed," said aunt Dora, almost crying +under her veil, "but I can see it all the same. You always were such a +true Wentworth; but if you only would give in and say that you are +disappointed and angry with us all, I could bear it better, Frank. I +would not feel then that you thought it my fault! And oh, Frank, dear, +you don't consider how disappointed your poor dear aunt Leonora was! +It's just as hard upon us," she continued, pressing his arm in her +eagerness, "as it is upon you. We had all so set our hearts on having +you at Skelmersdale. Don't you think, if you were giving your mind to +it, you might see things in a different light?" with another pressure of +his arm. "Oh, Frank, what does it matter, after all, if the heart is +right, whether you read the service in your natural voice, or give that +little quaver at the end? I am sure, for my part--" + +"My dear aunt," said Mr Wentworth, naturally incensed by this manner of +description, "I must be allowed to say that my convictions are fixed, +and not likely to be altered. I am a priest, and you are--a woman." He +stopped short, with perhaps a little bitterness. It was very true she +was a woman, unqualified to teach, but yet she and her sisters were +absolute in Skelmersdale. He made a little gulp of his momentary +irritation, and walked on in silence, with Miss Dora's kind wistful hand +clinging to his arm. + +"But, dear Frank among us Protestants, you know, there is no sacerdotal +caste," said Miss Dora, opportunely recollecting some scrap of an Exeter +Hall speech. "We are all kings and priests to God. Oh, Frank, it is +Gerald's example that has led you away. I am sure, before you went to +Oxford you were never at all a ritualist--even Leonora thought you such +a pious boy; and I am sure your good sense must teach you--" faltered +aunt Dora, trying her sister's grand tone. + +"Hush, hush; I can't have you begin to argue with me; you are not my +aunt Leonora," said the Curate, half amused in spite of himself. This +encouraged the anxious woman, and, clasping his arm closer than ever, +she poured out all her heart. + +"Oh, Frank, if you could only modify your views a little! It is not +that there is any difference between your views and ours, except just +in words, my dear. Flowers are very pretty decorations, and I know you +look very nice in your surplice; and I am sure, for my part, I should +not mind--but then that is not carrying the Word of God to the people, +as Leonora says. If the heart is right, what does it matter about the +altar?" said aunt Dora, unconsciously falling upon the very argument +that had occurred to her nephew's perplexed mind in the pulpit. "Even +though I was in such trouble, I can't tell you what a happiness it was +to take the sacrament from your hands, my dear, dear boy; and but for +these flowers and things that could do nobody any good, poor dear +Leonora, who is very fond of you, though perhaps you don't think it, +could have had that happiness too. Oh, Frank, don't you think you +could give up these things that don't matter? If you were just to tell +Leonora you have been thinking it over, and that you see you've made a +mistake, and that in future--" + +"You don't mean to insult me?" said the young man. "Hush--hush; you +don't know what you are saying. Not to be made Archbishop of +Canterbury, instead of Vicar of Skelmersdale. I don't understand how +you could suggest such a thing to me." + +Miss Dora's veil, which she had partly lifted, here fell over her face, +as it had kept doing all the time she was speaking--but this time she +did not put it back. She was no longer able to contain herself, but wept +hot tears of distress and vexation, under the flimsy covering of lace. +"No, of course, you will not do it--you will far rather be haughty, and +say it is my fault," said poor Miss Dora. "We have all so much pride, we +Wentworths--and you never think of our disappointment, and how we all +calculated upon having you at Skelmersdale, and how happy we were to +be, and that you were to marry Julia Trench--" + +It was just at this moment that the two reached the corner of +Prickett's Lane. Lucy Wodehouse had been down there seeing the sick +woman. She had, indeed, been carrying her dinner to that poor +creature, and was just turning into Grange Lane, with her blue ribbons +hidden under the grey cloak, and a little basket in her hand. They met +full in the face at this corner, and Miss Dora's words reached Lucy's +ears, and went through and through her with a little nervous thrill. +She had not time to think whether it was pain or only surprise that +moved her, and was not even self-possessed enough to observe the +tremulous pressure of the Curate's hand, as he shook hands with her, +and introduced his aunt. "I have just been to see the poor woman at +No. 10," said Lucy. "She is very ill to-day. If you had time, it would +be kind of you to see her. I think she has something on her mind." + +"I will go there before I go to Wharfside," said Mr Wentworth. "Are +you coming down to the service this afternoon? I am afraid it will be +a long service, for there are all these little Burrowses, you know--" + +"Yes, I am godmother," said Lucy, and smiled and gave him her hand +again as she passed him while aunt Dora looked on with curious eyes. +The poor Curate heaved a mighty sigh as he looked after the grey +cloak. Not his the privilege now, to walk with her to the green door, +to take her basket from the soft hand of the merciful Sister. On the +contrary, he had to turn his back upon Lucy, and walk on with aunt +Dora to the inn--at this moment a symbolical action which seemed to +embody his fate. + +"Where is Wharfside? and who are the little Burrowses? and what does +the young lady mean by being godmother?" said aunt Dora. "She looks +very sweet and nice; but what is the meaning of that grey cloak? Oh, +Frank, I hope you don't approve of nunneries, and that sort of thing. +It is such foolishness. My dear, the Christian life is very hard, as +your aunt Leonora always says. She says she can't bear to see people +playing at Christianity--" + +"People should not speak of things they don't understand," said the +Perpetual Curate. "Your Exeter-Hall men, aunt Dora, are like the old +ascetics--they try to make a merit of Christianity by calling it hard +and terrible; but there are some sweet souls in the world, to whom it +comes natural as sunshine in May." And the young Anglican, with a glance +behind him from the corner of his eye, followed the fair figure, which +he believed he was never, with a clear conscience, to accompany any +more. "Now, here is your inn," he said, after a little pause. "Wharfside +is a district, where I am going presently to conduct service, and the +little Burrowses are a set of little heathens, to whom I am to +administer holy baptism this Easter Sunday. Good-bye just now." + +"Oh, Frank, my dear, just come in for a moment, and tell Leonora--it +will show her how wrong she is," said poor aunt Dora, clinging to his +arm. + +"Right or wrong, I am not going into any controversy. My aunt Leonora +knows perfectly well what she is doing," said the Curate, with the best +smile he could muster; and so shook hands with her resolutely, and +walked back again all the way down Grange Lane, past the green door, to +his own house. Nobody was about the green door at that particular moment +to ask him in to luncheon, as sometimes happened. He walked down all the +way to Mrs Hadwin's, with something of the sensations of a man who has +just gone through a dreadful operation, and feels, with a kind of dull +surprise after, that everything around him is just the same as before. +He had come through a fiery trial, though nobody knew of it; and just at +this moment, when he wanted all his strength, how strange to feel that +haunting sense of an unnecessary sacrifice--that troubled new vein of +thought which would be worked out, and which concerned matters more +important than Skelmersdale, weighty as that was. He took his sermon out +of his pocket when he got home, and marked a cross upon it, as we have +already said; but, being still a young man, he was thankful to snatch a +morsel of lunch, and hasten out again to his duty, instead of staying to +argue the question with himself. He went to No. 10 Prickett's Lane, and +was a long time with the sick woman, listening to all the woeful tale of +a troubled life, which the poor sick creature had been contemplating for +days and days, in her solitude, through those strange exaggerated +death-gleams which Miss Leonora would have called "the light of +eternity." She remembered all sorts of sins, great and small, which +filled her with nervous terrors; and it was not till close upon the hour +for the Wharfside service, that the Curate could leave his tremulous +penitent. The schoolroom was particularly full that day. Easter, +perhaps, had touched the hearts--it certainly had refreshed the +toilettes--of the bargemen's wives and daughters. Some of them felt an +inward conviction that their new ribbons were undoubtedly owing to the +clergyman's influence, and that Tom and Jim would have bestowed the +money otherwise before the Church planted her pickets in this corner of +the enemy's camp; and the conviction, though not of an elevated +description, was a great deal better than no conviction at all. Mr +Wentworth's little sermon to them was a great improvement upon his +sermon at St Roque's. He told them about the empty grave of Christ, and +how He called the weeping woman by her name, and showed her the earnest +of the end of all sorrows. There were some people who cried, thinking of +the dead who were still waiting for Easter, which was more than anybody +did when Mr Wentworth discoursed upon the beautiful institutions of the +Church's year; and a great many of the congregation stayed to see Tom +Burrows's six children come up for baptism, preceded by the new baby, +whose infant claims to Christianity the Curate had so strongly insisted +upon, to the wakening of a fatherly conscience in the honest bargeman. +Lucy Wodehouse, without her grey cloak, stood at the font, holding that +last tiny applicant for saving grace, while all the other little +heathens were signed with the sacred cross. And strangely enough, when +the young priest and the young woman stood so near each other, solemnly +pledging, one after another, each little sun-browned, round-eyed pagan +to be Christ's faithful servant and soldier, the cloud passed away +from the firmament of both. Neither of them, perhaps, was of a very +enlightened character of soul. They believed they were doing a great +work for Tom Burrows's six children, calling God to His promise on their +behalf, and setting the little feet straight for the gates of the +eternal city; and in their young love and faith their hearts rose. +Perhaps it was foolish of Mr Wentworth to suffer himself to walk home +again thereafter, as of old, with the Miss Wodehouses--but it was so +usual, and, after all, they were going the same way. But it was a very +silent walk, to the wonder of the elder sister, who could not understand +what it meant. "The Wharfside service always does me good," said Mr +Wentworth, with a sigh. "And me, too," said Lucy; and then they talked a +little about the poor woman in No. 10. But that Easter Sunday was not +like other Sundays, though Miss Wodehouse could not tell why. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Next day the Miss Wentworths made a solemn call at the Rectory, having +known an aunt of Mrs Morgan at some period of their history, and being +much disposed, besides, with natural curiosity, to ascertain all about +their nephew's circumstances. Their entrance interrupted a consultation +between the Rector and his wife. Mr Morgan was slightly heated, and had +evidently been talking about something that excited him; while she, poor +lady, looked just sufficiently sympathetic and indignant to withdraw +her mind from that first idea which usually suggested itself on the +entrance of visitors--which was, what could they possibly think of her +if they supposed the carpet, &c., to be her own choice? Mrs Morgan cast +her eye with a troubled look upon the big card which had been brought to +her--Miss Wentworth, Miss Leonora Wentworth, Miss Dora Wentworth. +"Sisters of his, I suppose, William," she said in an undertone; "now +_do_ be civil, dear." There was no time for anything more before the +three ladies sailed in. Miss Leonora took the initiative, as was +natural. + +"You don't remember us, I daresay," she said, taking Mrs Morgan's +hand; "we used to know your aunt Sidney, when she lived at the +Hermitage. Don't you recollect the Miss Wentworths of Skelmersdale? +Charley Sidney spent part of his furlough with us last summer, and Ada +writes about you often. We could not be in Carlingford without coming +to see the relation of such a dear friend." + +"I am so glad to see anybody who knows my aunt Sidney," said Mrs +Morgan, with modified enthusiasm. "Mr Morgan, Miss Wentworth. It was +such a dear little house that Hermitage. I spent some very happy days +there. Oh yes, I recollect Skelmersdale perfectly; but, to tell the +truth, there is one of the clergy in Carlingford called Wentworth, and +I thought it might be some relations of his coming to call." + +"Just so," said Miss Wentworth, settling herself in the nearest +easy-chair. + +"And so it is," cried Miss Dora; "we are his aunts, dear boy--we are +very fond of him. We came on purpose to see him. We are so glad to +hear that he is liked in Carlingford." + +"Oh--yes," said the Rector's wife, and nobody else took any notice of +Miss Dora's little outburst. As for Mr Morgan, he addressed Miss +Leonora as if she had done something particularly naughty, and he had +a great mind to give her an imposition. "You have not been very long +in Carlingford, I suppose," said the Rector, as if that were a sin. + +"Only since Saturday," said Miss Leonora. "We came to see Mr Frank +Wentworth, who is at St Roque's. I don't know what your bishop is +about, to permit all those flowers and candlesticks. For my part, I +never disguise my sentiments. I mean to tell my nephew plainly that +his way of conducting the service is far from being to my mind." + +"Leonora, dear, perhaps Mr Morgan would speak to Frank about it," +interposed Miss Dora, anxiously; "he was always a dear boy, and advice +was never lost upon him. From one that he respected so much as he must +respect the Rector--" + +"I beg your pardon. I quite decline interfering with Mr Wentworth; he +is not at all under my jurisdiction. Indeed," said the Rector, with a +smile of anger, "I might be more truly said to be under his, for he is +good enough to help in my parish without consulting me; but that is +not to the purpose. I would not for the world attempt to interfere +with St Roque's." + +"Dear, I am sure Mr Wentworth is very nice, and everything we have +seen of him in private we have liked very much," said Mrs Morgan, with +an anxious look at her husband. She was a good-natured woman, and the +handsome Curate had impressed her favourably, notwithstanding his +misdoings. "As for a little too much of the rubric, I think that is +not a bad fault in a young man. It gets softened down with a little +experience; and I do like proper solemnity in the services of the +Church." + +"I don't call intoning proper solemnity," said Miss Leonora. "The +Church is a missionary institution, that is my idea. Unless you are +really bringing in the perishing and saving souls, what is the good? +and souls will never be saved by Easter decorations. I don't know what +my nephew may have done to offend you, Mr Morgan; but it is very sad +to us, who have very strong convictions on the subject, to see him +wasting his time so. I daresay there is plenty of heathenism in +Carlingford which might be attacked in the first place." + +"I prefer not to discuss the subject," said the Rector. "So long as Mr +Wentworth, or any other clergyman, keeps to his own sphere of duty, I +should be the last in the world to interfere with him." + +"You are offended with Frank," said Miss Leonora, fixing her iron-grey +eyes upon Mr Morgan. "So am I; but I should be glad if you would tell +me all about it. I have particular reasons for wishing to know. After +all, he is only a young man," she continued, with that instinct of +kindred which dislikes to hear censure from any lips but its own. "I +don't think there can be anything more than inadvertence in it. I +should be glad if you would tell me what you object to in him. I think +it is probable that he may remain a long time in Carlingford," said +Miss Leonora, with charming candour, "and it would be pleasant if we +could help to set him right. Your advice and experience might be of so +much use to him." She was not aware of the covert sarcasm of her +speech. She did not know that the Rector's actual experience, though +he was half as old again as her nephew, bore no comparison to that of +the Perpetual Curate. She spoke in good faith and good nature, not +moved in her own convictions of what must be done in respect to +Skelmersdale, but very willing, if that were possible, to do a good +turn to Frank. + +"I am sure, dear, what we have seen of Mr Wentworth in private, we +have liked very much," said the Rector's sensible wife, with a +deprecating glance towards her husband. The Rector took no notice of +the glance; he grew slightly red in his serious middle-aged face, and +cleared his throat several times before he began to speak. + +"The fact is, I have reason to be dissatisfied with Mr Wentworth, as +regards my own parish," said Mr Morgan: "personally I have nothing to +say against him--quite the reverse; probably, as you say, it arises +from inadvertence, as he is still a very young man; but--" + +"What has he done?" said Miss Leonora, pricking up her ears. + +Once more Mr Morgan cleared his throat, but this time it was to keep +down the rising anger of which he was unpleasantly sensible. "I don't +generally enter into such matters with people whom they don't concern," +he said, with a touch of his natural asperity; "but as you are Mr +Wentworth's relation--. He has taken a step perfectly unjustifiable in +every respect; he has at the present moment a mission going on in my +parish, in entire independence, I will not say defiance, of me. My +dear, it is unnecessary to look at me so deprecatingly. I am indignant +at having such a liberty taken with me. I don't pretend not to be +indignant. Mr Wentworth is a very young man, and may not know any +better; but it is the most unwarrantable intrusion upon a clergyman's +rights. I beg your pardon, Miss Wentworth: you have nothing to do with +my grievances; but the fact is, my wife and I were discussing this very +unpleasant matter when you came in." + +"A mission in your parish?" said Miss Leonora, her iron-grey eyes +lighting up with a sparkle which did not look like indignation; at +this point it was necessary that Miss Dora should throw herself into +the breach. + +"Oh, Mr Morgan, I am sure my dear Frank does not mean it!" cried the +unlucky peacemaker; "he would not for the world do anything to wound +anybody's feelings--it must be a mistake." + +"Mr Morgan would not have mentioned it if we had not just been talking +as you came in," said the Rector's wife, by way of smoothing down his +ruffled temper and giving him time to recover. "I feel _sure_ it is a +mistake, and that everything will come right as soon as they can talk +it over by themselves. The last Rector was not at all a working +clergyman--and perhaps Mr Wentworth felt it was his duty--and now I +daresay he forgets that it is not his own parish. It will all come +right after a time." + +"But the mission is effective, I suppose, or you would not object to +it?" said Miss Leonora, who, though a very religious woman, was not a +peacemaker; and the Rector, whose temper was hasty, swallowed the bait. +He entered into his grievances more fully than his wife thought +consistent with his dignity. She sat with her eyes fixed upon the floor, +tracing the objectionable pattern on the carpet with her foot, but too +much vexed for the moment to think of those bouquets which were so +severe a cross to her on ordinary occasions. Perhaps she was thinking +secretly to herself how much better one knows a man after being married +to him three months than after being engaged to him ten years; but the +discovery that he was merely a man after all, with very ordinary +defects, did not lessen her loyalty. She sat with her eyes bent upon the +carpet, feeling a little hot and uncomfortable as her husband disclosed +his weakness, and watching her opportunities to rush in and say a +softening word now and then. The chances were, perhaps, on the whole, +that the wife grew _more_ loyal, if that were possible, as she perceived +the necessity of standing by him and backing him out. The Rector went +very fully into the subject, being drawn out by Miss Leonora's questions, +and betrayed an extent of information strangely opposed to the utter +ignorance which he had displayed at Mr Wodehouse's party. He knew the +hours of Mr Wentworth's services, and the number of people who attended, +and even about Tom Burrows's six children who had been baptised the day +before. Somehow Mr Morgan took this last particular as a special +offence; it was this which had roused him beyond his usual self-control. +Six little heathens brought into the Christian fold in his own parish +without the permission of the Rector! It was indeed enough to try any +clergyman's temper. Through the entire narrative Miss Dora broke in now +and then with a little wail expressive of her general dismay and grief, +and certainty that her dear Frank did not mean it. Mrs Morgan repeated +apart to Miss Wentworth with a troubled brow the fact that all they had +seen of Mr Wentworth in private they had liked very much; to which aunt +Cecilia answered, "Quite so," with her beautiful smile; while Miss +Leonora sat and listened, putting artful questions, and fixing the +heated Rector with that iron-grey eye, out of which the sparkle of +incipient light had not faded. Mr Morgan naturally said a great deal +more than he meant to say, and after it was said he was sorry; but he +did not show the latter sentiment except by silence and an uneasy +rustling about the room just before the Miss Wentworths rose to go--a +sign apparent to his wife, though to nobody else. He gave Miss Wentworth +his arm to the door with an embarrassed courtesy. "If you are going to +stay any time at Carlingford, I trust we shall see more of you," said Mr +Morgan: "I ought to beg your pardon for taking up so much time with my +affairs;" and the Rector was much taken aback when Miss Wentworth +answered, "Thank you, that is just what I was thinking." He went back to +his troubled wife in great perplexity. What was it that was just what +she was thinking?--that he would see more of them, or that he had spoken +too much of his own affairs? + +"You think I have been angry and made an idiot of myself," said Mr +Morgan to his wife, who was standing looking from a safe distance +through the curtains at the three ladies, who were holding a consultation +with their servant out of the window of the solemn chariot provided by +the Blue Boar, as to where they were to go next. + +"Nonsense, dear; but I wish you had not said quite so much about Mr +Wentworth," said the Rector's wife, seizing, with female art, on a cause +for her annoyance which would not wound her Welshman's _amour propre_, +"for I rather think he is dependent on his aunts. They have the living +of Skelmersdale, I know; and I remember now that their nephew was to +have had it. I hope this won't turn them against him, dear," said Mrs +Morgan, who did not care the least in the world about Skelmersdale, +looking anxiously in her husband's face. + +This was the climax of the Rector's trouble. "Why did not you tell me +that before?" he said, with conjugal injustice, and went off to his +study with a disturbed mind, thinking that perhaps he had injured his +own chances of getting rid of the Perpetual Curate. If Mrs Morgan had +permitted herself to soliloquise after he was gone, the matter of her +thoughts might have been interesting; but as neither ladies nor +gentlemen in the nineteenth century are given to that useful medium of +disclosing their sentiments, the veil of privacy must remain over the +mind of the Rector's wife. She got her gardening gloves and scissors, +and went out immediately after, and had an animated discussion with the +gardener about the best means of clothing that bit of wall, over which +every railway train was visible which left or entered Carlingford. That +functionary was of opinion that when the lime-trees "growed a bit" all +would be right: but Mrs Morgan was reluctant to await the slow processes +of nature. She forgot her vexations about Mr Wentworth in consideration +of the still more palpable inconvenience of the passing train. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Miss Dora Wentworth relapsed into suppressed sobbing when the three +ladies were once more on their way. Between each little access a few +broken words fell from the poor lady's lips. "I am sure dear Frank did +not mean it," she said; it was all the plea his champion could find +for him. + +"He did not mean what? to do his duty and save souls?" said Miss +Leonora--"is that what he didn't mean? It looks very much as if he +did, though--as well as he knew how." + +"Quite so, Leonora," said Miss Wentworth. + +"But he could not mean to vex the Rector," said Miss Dora--"my poor +dear Frank: of course he meant it for the very best. I wonder you +don't think so, Leonora--you who are so fond of missions. I told you +what I heard him saying to the young lady--all about the sick people +he was going to visit, and the children. He is a faithful shepherd, +though you won't think so; and I am sure he means nothing but--" + +"His duty, I think," said the iron-grey sister, resolutely indifferent +to Miss Dora's little sniffs, and turning her gaze out of the window, +unluckily just at the moment when the carriage was passing Masters's +shop, where some engravings were hanging of a suspiciously devotional +character. The name over the door, and the aspect of the shop-window, +were terribly suggestive, and the fine profile of the Perpetual Curate +was just visible within to the keen eyes of his aunt. Miss Dora, for +her part, dried hers, and, beginning to see some daylight, addressed +herself anxiously to the task of obscuring it, and damaging once more +her favourite's chance. + +"Ah, Leonora, if he had but a sphere of his own," cried Miss Dora, +"where he would have other things to think of than the rubric, and +decorations, and sisterhoods! I don't wish any harm to poor dear old +Mr Shirley, I am sure; but when Frank is in the Rectory--" + +"I thought you understood that Frank would not do for the Rectory," +said Miss Leonora. "Sisterhoods!--look here, there's a young lady in a +grey cloak, and I think she's going into _that_ shop: if Frank carries +on that sort of thing, I shall think him a greater fool than ever. Who +is that girl?" + +"I'm sure I don't know, dear," said Miss Dora, with unexpected wisdom. +And she comforted her conscience that she did not know, for she had +forgotten Lucy's name. So there was no tangible evidence to confirm +Miss Leonora's doubts, and the carriage from the Blue Boar rattled +down Prickett's Lane to the much amazement of that locality. When they +got to the grimy canal-banks, Miss Leonora stopped the vehicle and got +out. She declined the attendance of her trembling sister, and marched +along the black pavement, dispersing with the great waves of her +drapery the wondering children about, who swarmed as children will +swarm in such localities. Arrived at the schoolroom, Miss Leonora +found sundry written notices hung up in a little wooden frame inside +the open door. All sorts of charitable businesses were carried on +about the basement of the house; and a curt little notice about the +Provident Society diversified the list of services which was hung up +for the advantage of the ignorant. Clearly the Curate of St Roque's +meant it. "As well as he knows how," his aunt allowed to herself, with +a softening sentiment; but, pushing her inquiries further, was shown +up to the schoolroom, and stood pondering by the side of the +reading-desk, looking at the table which was contrived to be so like +an altar. The Curate, who could not have dreamed of such a visit, and +whose mind had been much occupied and indifferent to externals on the +day before, had left various things lying about, which were carefully +collected for him upon a bench. Among them was a little pocket copy of +Thomas a Kempis, from which, when the jealous aunt opened it, certain +little German prints, such as were to be had by the score at Masters's, +dropped out, some of them unobjectionable enough. But if the Good +Shepherd could not be found fault with, the feelings of Miss Leonora may +be imagined when the meek face of a monkish saint, inscribed with some +villanous Latin inscription, a legend which began with the terrible +words _Ora pro nobis_, became suddenly visible to her troubled eyes. She +put away the book as if it had stung her, and made a precipitate +retreat. She shook her head as she descended the stair--she re-entered +the carriage in gloomy silence. When it returned up Prickett's Lane, the +three ladies again saw their nephew, this time entering the door of No. +10. He had his prayer-book under his arm, and Miss Leonora seized upon +this professional symbol to wreak her wrath upon it. "I wonder if he +can't pray by a sick woman without his prayer-book?" she cried. "I never +was so provoked in my life. How is it he doesn't know better? His father +is not pious, but he isn't a Puseyite, and old uncle Wentworth was very +sound--he was brought up under the pure Gospel. How is that the boys are +so foolish, Dora?" said Miss Leonora, sharply; "it must be your doing. +You have told them tales and things, and put true piety out of their +head." + +"My doing!" said Miss Dora, faintly; but she was too much startled by +the suddenness of the attack to make any coherent remonstrance. Miss +Leonora tossed back her angry head, and pursued that inspiration, +finding it a relief in her perplexity. + +"It must be _all_ your doing," she said. "How can I tell that you are +not a Jesuit in disguise? one has read of such a thing. The boys were +as good, nice, pious boys as one could wish to see; and there's Gerald +on the point of perversion, and Frank--I tell you, Dora, it must be +your fault." + +"That was always my opinion," said Miss Cecilia; and the accused, +after a feeble attempt at speech, could find nothing better to do than +to drop her veil once more and cry under it. It was very hard, but she +was not quite unaccustomed to it. However, the discoveries of the day +were important enough to prevent the immediate departure which Miss +Leonora had intended. She wrote a note with her own hands to her +nephew, asking him to dinner. "We meant to have gone away to-day, but +should like to see you first," she said in her note. "Come and +dine--we mayn't have anything pleasant to say, but I don't suppose you +expect that. It's a pity we don't see eye to eye." Such was the +intimation received by Mr Wentworth when he got home, very tired, in +the afternoon. He had been asking himself whether, under the +circumstances, it would not be proper of him to return some books of +Mr Wodehouse's which he had in his possession, of course by way of +breaking off his too familiar, too frequent intercourse. He had been +representing to himself that he would make this call after their +dinner would be over, at the hour when Mr Wodehouse reposed in his +easy-chair, and the two sisters were generally to be found alone in +the drawing-room. Perhaps he might have an opportunity of intimating +the partial farewell he meant to take of them. When he got Miss +Leonora's note, the Curate's countenance clouded over. He said, +"Another night lost," with indignant candour. It was hard enough to +give up his worldly prospects, but he thought he had made up his mind +to that. However, refusal was impossible. It was still daylight when +he went up Grange Lane to the Blue Boar. He was early, and went +languidly along the well-known road. Nobody was about at that hour. In +those closed, embowered houses, people were preparing for dinner, the +great event of the day, and Mr Wentworth was aware of that. Perhaps he +had expected to see somebody--Mr Wodehouse going home, most likely, in +order that he might mention his own engagement, and account for his +failure in the chance evening call which had become so much a part of +his life. But no one appeared to bear his message. He went lingering +past the green door, and up the silent deserted road. At the end of +Grange Lane, just in the little unsettled transition interval which +interposed between its aristocratic calm and the bustle of George +Street, on the side next Prickett's Lane, was a quaint little shop, +into which Mr Wentworth strayed to occupy the time. This was +Elsworthy's, who, as is well known, was then clerk at St Roque's. +Elsworthy himself was in his shop that Easter Monday, and so was his +wife and little Rosa, who was a little beauty. Rosa and her aunt had +just returned from an excursion, and a prettier little apparition +could not be seen than that dimpled rosy creature, with her radiant +half-childish looks, her bright eyes, and soft curls of dark-brown +hair. Even Mr Wentworth gave a second glance at her as he dropped +languidly into a chair, and asked Elsworthy if there was any news. Mrs +Elsworthy, who had been telling the adventures of the holiday to her +goodman, gathered up her basket of eggs and her nosegay, and made the +clergyman a little curtsy as she hurried away; for the clerk's wife +was a highly respectable woman, and knew her own place. But Rosa, who +was only a kind of kitten, and had privileges, stayed. Mr Wentworth +was by far the most magnificent figure she had ever seen in her little +life. She looked at him with awe out of her bright eyes, and thought +he looked like the prince in the fairy tales. + +"Any news, sir? There aint much to call news, sir--not in a place like +this," said Mr Elsworthy. "Your respected aunts, sir, 'as been down at +the schoolroom. I haven't heard anything else as I could suppose you +didn't know." + +"My aunts!" cried the Curate; "how do you know anything about my +aunts?" Mr Elsworthy smiled a complacent and familiar smile. + +"There's so many a-coming and a-going here that I know most persons as +comes into Carlingford," said he; "and them three respected ladies is +as good as a pictur. I saw them a-driving past and down Prickett's +Lane. They was as anxious to know all about it as--as was to be +expected in the circumstances," said Mr Elsworthy, failing of a +metaphor; "and I wish you your 'ealth and 'appiness, sir, if all as I +hear is true." + +"It's a good wish," said the Curate; "thank you, Elsworthy; but what +you heard might not be true." + +"Well, sir, it looks more than likely," said the clerk; "as far as +I've seen in my experience, ladies don't go inquiring into a young +gentleman's ways, not without some reason. If they was young ladies, and +noways related, we know what we'd think, sir; but being old ladies, and +aunts, it's equally as clear. For my part, Mr Wentworth, my worst wish +is, that when you come into your fortune, it mayn't lead you away from +St Roque's--not after everything is settled so beautiful, and not a +thing wanted but some stained glass, as I hear a deal of people say, to +make it as perfect a little church--" + +"Yes, it is very true; a painted window is very much wanted," said Mr +Wentworth, thoughtfully. + +"Perhaps there's one o' the ladies, sir, as has some friend she'd like +to put up a memorial to," said Mr Elsworthy, in insinuating tones. "A +window is a deal cheerfuller a memorial than a tombstone, and it +couldn't be described the improvement it would be to the church. I'm +sorry to hear Mr Wodehouse aint quite so well as his usual to-night; a +useful man like he is, would be a terrible loss to Carlingford; not as +it's anything alarming, as far as I can hear, but being a stout man, +it aint a safe thing his being took so sudden. I've heard the old +doctor say, sir, as a man of a full 'abit might be took off at once, +when a spare man would fight through. It would be a sad thing for his +family, sir," said Mr Elsworthy, tying up a bundle of newspapers with +a very serious face. + +"Good heavens, Elsworthy, how you talk!" said the alarmed Curate. "What +do you mean?--is Mr Wodehouse ill?--seriously ill?" + +"Not serious, as I knows of," said the clerk, with solemnity; "but +being a man of a full 'abit of body--I daresay as the town would enter +into it by subscription if it was proposed as a memorial to _him_, for +he's much respected in Carlingford is Mr Wodehouse. I see him a-going +past, sir, at five o'clock, which is an hour earlier than common, and +he was looking flabby, that's how he was looking. I don't know a man +as would be a greater loss to his family; and they aint been without +their troubles either, poor souls." + +"I should be sorry to think that it was necessary to sacrifice Mr +Wodehouse for the sake of our painted window," said the Curate, "as +that seems what you mean. Send over this note for me please, as I have +not time to call. No, certainly, don't send Rosa; that child is too +young and too--too pretty to be out by herself at night. Send a boy. +Haven't you got a boy?--there is a very nice little fellow that I +could recommend to you," said Mr Wentworth, as he hastily scribbled +his note with a pencil, "whose mother lives in Prickett's Lane." + +"Thank _you_, sir, all the same; but I hope I don't need to go into +that neighbourhood for good service," said Mr Elsworthy: "as for Rosa, +I could trust her anywhere; and I have a boy, sir, as is the best boy +that ever lived--a real English boy, that is. Sam, take this to Mr +Wodehouse's directly, and wait for an answer. No answer?--very well, +sir. You needn't wait for no answer, Sam. That's a boy, sir, I could +trust with untold gold. His mother's a Dissenter, it is true, but the +principles of that boy is beautiful. I hope you haven't mentioned, +sir, as I said Mr Wodehouse was took bad? It was between ourselves, Mr +Wentworth. Persons don't like, especially when they've got to that +age, and are of a full 'abit of body, to have every little attack made +a talk about. You'll excuse me mentioning it, sir, but it was as +between ourselves." + +"Perhaps you'd like me to show you my note," said the Curate, with a +smile; which, indeed, Elsworthy would have very much liked, could he +have ventured to say so. Mr Wentworth was but too glad of an excuse to +write and explain his absence. The note was not to Lucy, however, +though various little epistles full of the business of the district +had passed between the two:-- + + + "DEAR MISS W.,--I hear your father is not quite well. I can't call + just now, as I am going to dine with my aunts, who are at the Blue + Boar; but, if you will pardon the lateness of the hour, I will call as + I return to ask for him.--Ever yours, + + "F. C. WENTWORTH." + + +Such was the Curate's note. While he scribbled it, little Rosa stood +apart watching him with admiring eyes. He had said she was too pretty +to be sent across Grange Lane by herself at this hour, though it was +still no more than twilight; and he looked up at her for an instant as +he said the words,--quite enough to set Rosa's poor little heart +beating with childish romantical excitement. If she could but have +peeped into the note to see what he said!--for perhaps, after all, +there might not be anything "between" him and Miss Lucy--and perhaps-- +The poor little thing stood watching, deaf to her aunt's call, looking +at the strange ease with which that small epistle was written, and +thinking it half divine to have such mastery of words and pen. Mr +Wentworth threw it to Sam as if it were a trifle; but Rosa's lively +imagination could already conceive the possibility of living upon such +trifles and making existence out of them; so the child stood with her +pretty curls about her ears, and her bright eyes gleaming dewy over +the fair, flushed, rosebud cheeks, in a flutter of roused and innocent +imagination anticipating her fate. As for Mr Wentworth, it is doubtful +whether he saw Rosa, as he swung himself round upon the stool he was +seated on, and turned his face towards the door. Somehow he was +comforted in his mind by the conviction that it was his duty to call +at Mr Wodehouse's as he came back. The evening brightened up and +looked less dismal. The illness of the respected father of the house +did not oppress the young man. He thought not of the sick-room, but of +the low chair in one corner, beside the work-table where Lucy had +always basketfuls of sewing in hand. He could fancy he saw the work +drop on her knee, and the blue eyes raised. It was a pretty picture +that he framed for himself as he looked out with a half smile into the +blue twilight through the open door of Elsworthy's shop. And it was +clearly his duty to call. He grew almost jocular in the exhilaration +of his spirits. + +"The Miss Wentworths don't approve of memorial windows, Elsworthy," he +said; "and, indeed, if you think it necessary to cut off one of the +chief people in Carlingford by way of supplying St Roque's with a +little painted glass--" + +"No, sir--no, no, sir; you're too hard upon me--there wasn't no such +meaning in my mind; but I don't make no question the ladies were +pleased with the church," said Elsworthy, with the satisfaction of a +man who had helped to produce an entirely triumphant effect. "I don't +pretend to be a judge myself of what you call 'igh art, Mr Wentworth; +but if I might venture an opinion, the altar was beautiful; and we +won't say nothing about the service, considering, sir--if you won't be +offended at putting them together, as one is so far inferior--that +both you and me--" + +Mr Wentworth laughed and moved off his chair. "We were not appreciated +in this instance," he said, with an odd comic look, and then went off +into a burst of laughter, which Mr Elsworthy saw no particular +occasion for. Then he took up his glove, which he had taken off to +write the note, and, nodding a kindly good-night to little Rosa, who +stood gazing after him with all her eyes, went away to the Blue Boar. +The idea, however, of his own joint performance with Mr Elsworthy not +only tickled the Curate, but gave him a half-ashamed sense of the +aspect in which he might himself appear to the eyes of matter-of-fact +people who differed with him. The joke had a slight sting, which +brought his laughter to an end. He went up through the lighted street +to the inn, wishing the dinner over, and himself on his way back again +to call at Mr Wodehouse's. For, to tell the truth, by this time he had +almost exhausted Skelmersdale, and, feeling in himself not much +different now from what he was when his hopes were still green, had +begun to look upon life itself with a less troubled eye, and to +believe in other chances which might make Lucy's society practicable +once more. It was in this altered state of mind that he presented +himself before his aunts. He was less self-conscious, less watchful, +more ready to amuse them, if that might happen to be possible, and in +reality much more able to cope with Miss Leonora than when he had been +more anxious about her opinion. He had not been two minutes in the +room before all the three ladies perceived this revolution, and each +in her own mind attempted to account for it. They were experienced +women in their way, and found a variety of reasons; but as none of +them were young, and as people _will_ forget how youth feels, not one +of them divined the fact that there was no reason, but that this +improvement of spirits arose solely from the fact that the Perpetual +Curate had been for two whole days miserable about Skelmersdale, and +had exhausted all his powers of misery--and that now youth had turned +the tables, and he was still to see Lucy tonight. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +"Your Rector is angry at some of your proceedings," said Miss Leonora. +"I did not think a man of your views would have cared for missionary +work. I should have supposed that you would think that vulgar, and +Low-Church, and Evangelical. Indeed, I thought I heard you say you +didn't believe in preaching, Frank?--neither do I, when a man preaches +the Tracts for the Times. I was surprised to hear what you were doing +at the place they call Wharfside." + +"First let me correct you in two little inaccuracies," said Mr Wentworth, +blandly, as he peeled his orange. "The Rector of Carlingford is not _my_ +rector, and I don't preach the Tracts for the Times. Let us always be +particular, my dear aunt, as to points of fact." + +"Exactly so," said Miss Leonora, grimly; "but, at the same time, as +there seems no great likelihood of your leaving Carlingford, don't you +think it would be wise to cultivate friendly relations with the Rector?" +said the iron-grey inexorable aunt, looking full in his eyes as she +spoke. So significant and plain a statement took for an instant the +colour out of the Curate's cheeks--he pared his orange very carefully +while he regained his composure, and it was at least half a minute +before he found himself at leisure to reply. Miss Dora of course seized +upon the opportunity, and, by way of softening matters, interposed in +her unlucky person to make peace. + +"But, my dear boy, I said I was sure you did not mean it," said Miss +Dora; "I told Mr Morgan I felt convinced it could be explained. Nobody +knows you so well as I do. You were always high-spirited from a child, +and never would give in; but I know very well you never could mean it, +Frank." + +"Mean it?" said the Curate, with sparkling eyes: "what do you take me +for, aunt Dora? Do you know what it is we are talking of? The question +is, whether a whole lot of people, fathers and children, shall be left +to live like beasts, without reverence for God or man, or shall be +brought within the pale of the Church, and taught their duty? And you +think I don't mean it? I mean it as much as my brother Charley meant it +at the Redan," said young Wentworth, with a glow of suppressed enthusiasm, +and that natural pride in Charley (who got the Cross for valour) which +was common to all the Wentworths. But when he saw his aunt Leonora +looking at him, the Perpetual Curate stood to his arms again. "I have +still to learn that the Rector has anything to do with it," said the +young Evangelist of Wharfside. + +"It is in his parish, and he thinks he has," said Miss Leonora. "I wish +you could see your duty more clearly, Frank. You seem to me, you know, +to have a kind of zeal, but not according to knowledge. If you were +carrying the real Gospel to the poor people, I shouldn't be disposed to +blame you; for the limits of a parish are but poor things to pause for +when souls are perishing; but to break the law for the sake of diffusing +the rubric and propagating Tractarianism--" + +"Oh, Leonora, how can you be so harsh and cruel?" cried Miss Dora; +"only think what you are doing. I don't say anything about +disappointing Frank, and perhaps injuring his prospects for life; for, +to be sure, he is a true Wentworth, and won't acknowledge that; but +think of my poor dear brother, with so many sons as he has to provide +for, and so much on his mind; and think of ourselves and all that we +have planned so often. Only think what you have talked of over and +over; how nice it would be when he was old enough to take the Rectory, +and marry Julia Trench--" + +"Aunt Dora," said the Curate, rising from the table. "I shall have to +go away if you make such appeals on my behalf. And besides, it is only +right to tell you that, whatever my circumstances were, I never could +nor would marry Julia Trench. It is cruel and unjust to bring in her +name. Don't let us hear any more of this, if you have any regard for +me." + +"Quite so, Frank," said Miss Wentworth; "that is exactly what I was +thinking." Miss Cecilia was not in the habit of making demonstrations, +but she put out her delicate old hand to point her nephew to his seat +again, and gave a soft slight pressure to his as she touched it. Old +Miss Wentworth was a kind of dumb lovely idol to her nephews; she +rarely said anything to them, but they worshipped her all the same for +her beauty and those languid tendernesses which she showed them once +in ten years or so. The Perpetual Curate was much touched by this +manifestation. He kissed his old aunt's beautiful hand as reverently +as if it had been a saint's. "I knew you would understand me," he +said, looking gratefully at her lovely old face; which exclamation, +however, was a simple utterance of gratitude, and would not have borne +investigation. When he had resumed his seat and his orange, Miss +Leonora cleared her throat for a grand address. + +"Frank might as well tell us he would not have Skelmersdale," she +said. "Julia Trench has quite other prospects, I am glad to say, +though Dora talks like a fool on this subject as well as on many +others. Mr Shirley is not dead yet, and I don't think he means to die, +for my part; and Julia would never leave her uncle. Besides, I don't +think any inducement in the world would make her disguise herself like +a Sister of Mercy. I hope she knows better. And it is a pity that +Frank should learn to think of Skelmersdale as if it were a family +living," continued Miss Leonora. "For my part, I think people +detached from immediate ties as we are, are under all the greater +responsibility. But as you are likely to stay in Carlingford, Frank, +perhaps we could help you with the Rector," she concluded blandly, as +she ate her biscuit. The Curate, who was also a Wentworth, had quite +recovered himself ere this speech was over, and proved himself equal +to the occasion. + +"If the Rector objects to what I am doing, I daresay he will tell me +of it," said Mr Wentworth, with indescribable suavity. "I had the +consent of the two former rectors to my mission in their parish, and I +don't mean to give up such a work without a cause. But I am equally +obliged to you, my dear aunt, and I hope Mr Shirley will live for ever. +How long are you going to stay in Carlingford? Some of the people would +like to call on you, if you remain longer. There are some great friends +of mine here; and as I have every prospect of being perpetually the +Curate, as you kindly observe, perhaps it might be good for me if I +was seen to have such unexceptionable relationships--" + +"Satire is lost upon me," said Miss Leonora, "and we are going +to-morrow. Here comes the coffee. I did not think it had been so late. +We shall leave by an early train, and you can come and see us off, if +you have time." + +"I shall certainly find time," said the nephew, with equal politeness; +"and now you will permit me to say good-night, for I have a--one of my +sick people to visit. I heard he was ill only as I came here, and had +not time to call," added the Curate, with unnecessary explanitoriness, +and took leave of his aunt Cecilia, who softly put something into his +hand as she bade him good-night. Miss Dora, for her part, went with +him to the door, and lingered leaning on his arm, down the long +passage, all unaware, poor lady, that his heart was beating with +impatience to get away, and that the disappointment for which she +wanted to console him had at the present moment not the slightest real +hold upon his perverse heart. "Oh, my dear boy, I hope you don't think +it's my fault," said Miss Dora, with tears. "It must have come to +this, dear, sooner or later: you see, poor Leonora has such a sense of +responsibility; but it is very hard upon us, Frank, who love you so +much, that she should always take her own way." + +"Then why don't you rebel?" said the Curate, who, in the thought of +seeing Lucy, was exhilarated, and dared to jest even upon the awful +power of his aunt. "You are two against one; why don't you take it +into your own hands and rebel?" + +Miss Dora repeated the words with an alarmed quiver. "Rebel! oh, +Frank, dear, do you think we could? To be sure, we are co-heiresses, +and have just as good a right as she has; and for your sake, my dear +boy," said the troubled woman, "oh, Frank, I wish you would tell me +what to do! I never should dare to contradict Leonora with no one to +stand by me; and then, if anything happened, you would all think I had +been to blame," said poor aunt Dora, clinging to his arm. She made him +walk back and back again through the long passage, which was sacred to +the chief suite of apartments at the Blue Boar. "We have it all to +ourselves, and nobody can see us here; and oh, my dear boy, if you +would only tell me what I ought to do?" she repeated, with wistful +looks of appeal. Mr Wentworth was too good-hearted to show the +impatience with which he was struggling. He satisfied her as well as +he could, and said good-night half-a-dozen times. When he made his +escape at last, and emerged into the clear blue air of the spring +night, the Perpetual Curate had no such sense of disappointment and +failure in his mind as the three ladies supposed. Miss Leonora's +distinct intimation that Skelmersdale had passed out of the region of +probabilities, had indeed tingled through him at the moment it was +uttered; but just now he was going to see Lucy, anticipating with +impatience the moment of coming into her presence, and nothing in the +world could have dismayed him utterly. He went down the road very +rapidly, glad to find that it was still so early, that the shopkeepers +in George Street were but just putting up their shutters, and that +there was still time for an hour's talk in that bright drawing-room. +Little Rosa was standing at the door of Elsworthy's shop, looking out +into the dark street as he passed; and he said, "A lovely night, +Rosa," as he went by. But the night was nothing particular in itself, +only lovely to Mr Wentworth, as embellished with Lucy shining over it, +like a distant star. Perhaps he had never in his life felt so glad +that he was going to see her, so eager for her presence, as that night +which was the beginning of the time when it would be no longer lawful +for him to indulge in her society. He heaved a big sigh as that +thought occurred to him, but it did not diminish the flush of +conscious happiness; and in this mood he went down Grange Lane, with +light resounding steps, to Mr Wodehouse's door. + +But Mr Wentworth started with a very strange sensation when the door +was stealthily, noiselessly opened to him before he could ring. He +could not see who it was that called him in the darkness; but he felt +that he had been watched for, and that the door was thrown open very +hurriedly to prevent him from making his usual summons at the bell. +Such an incident was incomprehensible. He went into the dark garden +like a man in a dream, with a horrible vision of Archimage and the +false Una somehow stealing upon his mind, he could not tell how. It +was quite dark inside, for the moon was late of rising that night, and +the faint stars threw no effectual lustre down upon the trees. He had +to grope before him to know where he was going, asking in a troubled +voice, "Who is there? What is the matter?" and falling into more and +more profound bewilderment and uneasiness. + +"Hush, hush, oh hush!--Oh, Mr Wentworth, it is I--I want to speak to +you," said an agitated voice beside him. "Come this way--this way; I +don't want any one to hear us." It was Miss Wodehouse who thus pitifully +addressed the amazed Curate. She laid a tremulous hand on his arm, and +drew him deeper into the shadows--into that walk where the limes and +tall lilac-bushes grew so thickly. Here she came to a pause, and the +sound of the terrified panting breath in the silence alarmed him more +and more. + +"Is Mr Wodehouse ill? What has happened?" said the astonished young +man. The windows of the house were gleaming hospitably over the dark +garden, without any appearance of gloom--the drawing-room windows +especially, which he knew so well, brightly lighted, one of them open, +and the sound of the piano and Lucy's voice stealing out like a +celestial reality into the darkness. By the time he had become fully +sensible of all these particulars his agitated companion had found her +breath. + +"Mr Wentworth, don't think me mad," said Miss Wodehouse; "I have come +out to speak to you, for I am in great distress. I don't know what to +do unless you will help me. Oh no, don't look at the house--nobody +knows in the house; I would die rather than have them know. Hush, +hush! don't make any noise. Is that some one looking out at the door?" + +And just then the door was opened, and Mr Wodehouse's sole male +servant looked out, and round the garden, as if he had heard something +to excite his curiosity or surprise. Miss Wodehouse grasped the arm of +the Perpetual Curate, and held him with an energy which was almost +violence. "Hush, hush, hush," she said, with her voice almost at his +ear. The excitement of this mild woman, the perfectly inexplicable +mystery of the meeting, overwhelmed young Wentworth. He could think of +nothing less than that she had lost her senses, and in his turn he +took her hands and held her fast. + +"What is the matter? I cannot tell you how anxious, how distressed I +am. What has happened?" said the young man, under his breath. + +"My father has some suspicion," she answered, after a pause--"he came +home early to-day looking ill. You heard of it, Mr Wentworth--it was +your note that decided me. Oh, heaven help us! it is so hard to know +what to do. I have never been used to act for myself, and I feel as +helpless as a baby. The only comfort I have was that it happened on +Easter Sunday," said the poor gentlewoman, incoherently; "and oh! if +it should prove a rising from the dead! If you saw me, Mr Wentworth, +you would see I look ten years older; and I can't tell you how it is, +but I think my father has suspicions;--he looked so ill--oh, so +ill--when he came home to-night. Hush! hush! did you hear anything? I +daren't tell Lucy; not that I couldn't trust her, but it is cruel when +a young creature is happy, to let her know such miseries. Oh, Mr +Wentworth, I daresay I am not telling you what it is, after all. I +don't know what I am saying--wait till I can think. It was on Easter +Sunday, after we came home from Wharfside; you remember we all came +home together, and both Lucy and you were so quiet. I could not +understand how it was you were so quiet, but I was not thinking of any +trouble--and then all at once there he was." + +"Who?" said the Curate, forgetting caution in his bewilderment. + +Once more the door opened, and John appeared on the steps, this time +with a lantern and the watch-dog, a great brown mastiff, by his side, +evidently with the intention of searching the garden for the owners of +those furtive voices. Mr Wentworth drew the arm of his trembling +companion within his own. "I don't know what you want of me, but +whatever it is, trust to me like--like a brother," he said, with a sigh. +"But now compose yourself; we must go into the house: it will not do for +you to be found here." He led her up the gravel-walk into the light of +the lantern, which the vigilant guardian of the house was flashing among +the bushes as he set out upon his rounds. John fell back amazed but +respectful when he saw his mistress and the familiar visitor. "Beg your +pardon, ma'am, but I knew there was voices, and I didn't know as any of +the family was in the garden," said the man, discomfited. It was all Mr +Wentworth could do to hold up the trembling figure by his side. As John +retreated, she gathered a little fortitude. Perhaps it was easier for +her to tell her hurried tremulous story, as he guided _her_ back to the +house, than it would have been in uninterrupted leisure and quiet. The +family tragedy fell in broken sentences from her lips, as the Curate +bent down his astonished ear to listen. He was totally unprepared for +the secret which only her helplessness and weakness and anxiety to serve +her father could have drawn from Miss Wodehouse's lips; and it had to be +told so hurriedly that Mr Wentworth scarcely knew what it was, except a +terrible unsuspected shadow overhanging the powerful house, until he had +time to think it all over. There was no such time at this moment. His +trembling companion left him as soon as they reached the house, to +"compose herself," as she said. When he saw her face in the light of the +hall lamp it was ghastly, and quivering with agitation, looking not ten +years, as she said, but a hundred years older than when, in the sweet +precision of her Sunday dress and looks, old Miss Wodehouse had bidden +him good-bye at the green door. He went up to the drawing-room, +notwithstanding, with as calm a countenance as he himself could collect, +to pay the visit which, in this few minutes, had so entirely changed in +character. Mr Wentworth felt as if he saw everything exactly as he had +pictured it to himself half an hour ago. Lucy, who had left the piano, +was seated in her low chair again, not working, but talking to Mr +Wodehouse, who lay on the sofa, looking a trifle less rosy than usual, +like a man who had had a fright, or been startled by some possible +shadow of a ghost. To walk into the room, into the bright household +glow, and smile and shake hands with them, feeling all the time that he +knew more about them than they themselves did, was the strangest +sensation to the young man. He asked how Mr Wodehouse did, with a voice +which, to himself, sounded hollow and unnatural, and sat down beside the +invalid, almost turning his back upon Lucy in his bewilderment. It was +indeed with a great effort that Mr Wentworth mastered himself, and was +able to listen to what his companion said. + +"We are all right," said Mr Wodehouse--"a trifle of a headache or +so--nothing to make a talk about; but Molly has forsaken us, and we +were just about getting bored with each other, Lucy and I; a third +person was all we wanted to make us happy--eh? Well I thought you +looked at the door very often--perhaps I was mistaken--but I could +have sworn you were listening and looking for somebody. No wonder +either--I don't think so. I should have done just the same at your +age." + +"Indeed, papa, you are quite mistaken," said Lucy. "I suppose that means +that I cannot amuse you by myself, though I have been trying all the +evening. Perhaps Mr Wentworth will be more fortunate." And, either for +shame of being supposed to look for him, or in a little innocent pique, +she moved away from where she was sitting, and rang for tea, and left +the two gentlemen to talk to each other. That is to say, Mr Wodehouse +talked, and the Perpetual Curate sat looking vaguely at the fair figure +which flitted about the room, and wondering if he were awake, or the +world still in its usual place. After a while Miss Wodehouse came in, +very tremulous and pale, and dropped into the first chair she could +find, and pretended to occupy herself over her knitting. She had a +headache, Lucy said; and Mr Wentworth sat watching while the younger +sister tended the elder, bringing her tea, kissing her, persuading her +to go and lie down, taking all kinds of affectionate trouble to cheer +the pale woman, who looked over Lucy's fair head with eyes full of +meaning to the bewildered visitor, who was the only one there who +understood what her trouble meant. When he got up to go away, she wrung +his hand with a pitiful gaze which went to his heart. "Let me know!" she +said in a whisper; and, not satisfied still, went to the door with him, +and lingered upon the stair, following slowly. "Oh, Mr Wentworth! be +sure you let me know," she repeated, again looking wistfully after him +as he disappeared into the dark garden, going out. The stars were still +shining, the spring dews lying sweet upon the plants and turf. It was a +lovelier night now than when Mr Wentworth had said so to little Rosa +Elsworthy an hour ago; but mists were rising from the earth, and clouds +creeping over the sky, to the startled imagination of the Perpetual +Curate. He had found out by practical experiments, almost for the first +time, that there were more things in earth and heaven than are dreamt of +in the philosophy of youth. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +It was the next morning after this when Mrs Hadwin's strange lodger +first appeared in the astonished house. He was the strangest lodger to +be taken into a house of such perfect respectability, a house in +Grange Lane; and it came to be currently reported in Carlingford after +a time, when people knew more about it, that even the servants could +not tell when or how he arrived, but had woke up one morning to find a +pair of boots standing outside the closed door of the green room, +which the good old lady kept for company, with sensations which it +would be impossible to describe. Such a pair of boots they were +too--muddy beyond expression, with old mud which had not been brushed +off for days--worn shapeless, and patched at the sides; the strangest +contrast to a handsome pair of Mr Wentworth's, which he, contrary to +his usual neat habits, had kicked off in his sitting-room, and which +Sarah, the housemaid, had brought and set down on the landing, close +by these mysterious and unaccountable articles. When the bell of the +green room rang an hour or two later, Sarah and the cook, who happened +to be standing together, jumped three yards apart and stared at each +other; the sound gave them both "a turn." But they soon got perfectly +well used to that bell from the green room. It rung very often in the +day, for "the gentleman" chose to sit there more than half his time; +and if other people were private about him, it was a great deal more +than he was about himself. He even sent the boots to be mended, to +Sarah's shame and confusion. For the credit of the house, the girl +invented a story about them to calm the cobbler's suspicions. "They +was the easiest boots the gentleman had, being troubled with tender +feet; and he wasn't a-going to give them up because they was shabby," +said Sarah. He sent down his shabby clothes to be brushed, and wore Mr +Wentworth's linen, to the indignation of the household. But he was not +a man to be concealed in a corner. From where he sat in the green +room, he whistled so beautifully that Mrs Hadwin's own pet canary +paused astonished to listen, and the butcher's boy stole into the +kitchen surreptitiously to try if he could learn the art; and while he +whistled, he filled the tidy room with parings and cuttings of wood, +and carved out all kinds of pretty articles with his knife. But though +he rang his bell so often, and was so tiresome with his litter, and +gave so much trouble, Sarah's heart, after a while, melted to "the +gentleman." He made her a present of a needlecase, and was very +civil-spoken--more so a great deal than the Curate of St Roque's; and +such a subject of talk and curiosity had certainly not been in +Carlingford for a hundred years. + +As for Mrs Hadwin, she never gave any explanation at all on the +subject, but accepted the fact of a new inmate cheerfully, as if she +knew all about it. Of course she could not ask any of her nieces to +visit her while the green room was occupied; and as they were all +rather large, interfering, managing women, perhaps the old lady was +not very sorry. Mr Wentworth himself was still less explanatory. When +Mr Wodehouse said to him, "What is this I hear about a brother of +yours?--they tell me you've got a brother staying with you. Well, +that's what I hear. Why don't you bring him up to dinner? Come +to-morrow;" the Perpetual Curate calmly answered, "Thank you; but +there's no brother of mine in Carlingford," and took no further +notice. Naturally, however, this strange apparition was much discussed +in Grange Lane; the servants first, and then the ladies, became +curious about him. Sometimes, in the evenings, he might be seen coming +out of Mrs Hadwin's garden-door--a shabby figure, walking softly in +his patched boots. There never was light enough for any one to see +him; but he had a great beard, and smoked a short little pipe, and had +evidently no regard for appearances. It was a kind of thing which few +people approved of. Mrs Hadwin ought not to permit it, some ladies +said; and a still greater number were of the opinion that, rather than +endure so strange a fellow-lodger, the Curate ought to withdraw, and +find fresh lodgings. This was before the time when the public began to +associate the stranger in a disagreeable way with Mr Wentworth. Before +they came to that, the people in Grange Lane bethought themselves of +all Mrs Hadwin's connections, to find out if there might not be some +of them under hiding; and, of course, that excellent woman had a +nephew or two whose conduct was not perfect; and then it came to +be reported that it was Mr Wentworth's brother--that it was an +unfortunate college chum of his--that it was somebody who had +speculated, and whom the Curate had gone shares with: but, in the mean +time, no real information could be obtained about this mysterious +stranger. The butcher's boy, whose senses were quickened by mingled +admiration and envy, heard him whistling all day long, sometimes +hidden among the trees in the garden, sometimes from the open window +of the green room, where, indeed, Lady Western's page was ready to +take his oath he had once seen the audacious unknown leaning out in +the twilight, smoking a pipe. But no trap of conversation, however +ingenious--and many traps were laid for Mr Wentworth--ever elicited +from the Perpetual Curate any acknowledgment of the other lodger's +existence. The young Anglican opened his fine eyes a little wider than +usual when he was asked sympathetically whether so many people in the +house did not interfere with his quiet. "Mrs Hadwin's talk is very +gentle," said the Curate; "she never disturbs me." And the mistress of +the house was equally obtuse, and would not comprehend any allusion. +The little household came to be very much talked of in Carlingford in +consequence; and to meet that shabby figure in the evening, when one +chanced to be out for a walk, made one's company sought after in the +best circles of society: though the fact is, that people began to be +remiss in calling upon Mrs Hadwin, and a great many only left their +cards as soon as it became evident that she did not mean to give any +explanation. To have the Curate to stay with her was possible, without +infringing upon her position; but matters became very different when +she showed herself willing to take "any one," even when in equivocal +apparel and patched boots. + +Probably the Curate had his own troubles during this period of his +history. He was noticed to be a little quick and short in his temper for +some time after Easter. For one thing, his aunts did not go away; they +stayed in the Blue Boar, and sent for him to dinner, till the Curate's +impatience grew almost beyond bearing. It was a discipline upon which he +had not calculated, and which exceeded the bounds of endurance, +especially as Miss Leonora questioned him incessantly about his "work," +and still dangled before him, like an unattainable sweet-meat before a +child, the comforts and advantages of Skelmersdale, where poor old Mr +Shirley had rallied for the fiftieth time. The situation altogether was +very tempting to Miss Leonora; she could not make up her mind to go away +and leave such a very pretty quarrel in progress; and there can be no +doubt that it would have been highly gratifying to her vanity as an +Evangelical woman to have had her nephew brought to task for missionary +work carried on in another man's parish, even though that work was not +conducted entirely on her own principles. She lingered, accordingly, +with a great hankering after Wharfside, to which Mr Wentworth steadily +declined to afford her any access. She went to the afternoon service +sometimes, it is true, but only to be afflicted in her soul by the sight +of Miss Wodehouse and Lucy in their grey cloaks, not to speak of the +rubric to which the Curate was so faithful. It was a trying experience +to his Evangelical aunt; but at the same time it was a "great work;" and +she could not give up the hope of being able one time or other to +appropriate the credit of it, and win him over to her own "views." If +that consummation could but be attained, everything would become simple; +and Miss Leonora was a true Wentworth, and wanted to see her nephew in +Skelmersdale: so it may easily be understood that, under present +circumstances, there were great attractions for her in Carlingford. + +It was, accordingly, with a beating heart that Miss Dora, feeling a +little as she might have been supposed to feel thirty years before, +had she ever stolen forth from the well-protected enclosure of +Skelmersdale Park to see a lover, put on her bonnet in the early +twilight, and, escaping with difficulty the lively observations of her +maid, went tremulously down Grange Lane to her nephew's house. She +had never yet visited Frank, and this visit was unquestionably +clandestine. But then the news with which her heart was beating was +important enough to justify the step she was taking--at least so she +whispered to herself; though whether dear Frank would be pleased, or +whether he would still think it "my fault," poor Miss Dora could not +make up her mind. Nothing happened in the quiet road, where there were +scarcely any passengers, and the poor lady arrived with a trembling +sense of escape from unknown perils at Mrs Hadwin's garden-door. For +Miss Dora was of opinion, like some few other ladies, that to walk +alone down the quietest of streets was to lay herself open to +unheard-of dangers. She put out her trembling hand to ring the bell, +thinking her perils over--for of course Frank would walk home with +her--when the door suddenly opened, and a terrible apparition, quite +unconscious of anybody standing there, marched straight out upon Miss +Dora, who gave a little scream, and staggered backwards, thinking the +worst horrors she had dreamed of were about to be realised. They were +so close together that the terrified lady took in every detail of his +appearance. She saw the patched boots and that shabby coat which Sarah +the housemaid felt that she rather demeaned herself by brushing. It +looked too small for him, as coats will do when they get shabby; and, +to complete the alarming appearance of the man, he had no hat, but +only a little travelling-cap surmounting the redundancy of hair, +mustache, and beard, which were enough of themselves to strike any +nervous woman with terror. "Oh, I beg your pardon," cried poor Miss +Dora, hysterically; "I wanted to see Mr Wentworth;" and she stood +trembling and panting for breath, holding by the wall, not quite sure +that this apparition could be appeased by any amount of apologies. It +was a great comfort to her when the monster took off its cap, and when +she perceived, by the undulations of the beard, something like a smile +upon its hidden lips. "I believe Mr Wentworth is at church," said the +new lodger: "may I have the pleasure of seeing you safely across to St +Roque's?" At which speech Miss Dora trembled more and more, and said, +faintly, "No, thank you,"--for who could tell what the man's +intentions might be? The result was, however, that he only put on his +cap again, and went off like any other human creature in the other +direction, and that slowly; with tremulous steps Miss Dora pursued her +way to her nephew's pretty church. She could not have described, as +she herself said, what a relief it was after all this, to take Frank's +arm, as she met him at the door of St Roque's. He was coming out, and +the young lady with the grey cloak had been one of the congregation; +and, to tell the truth, Miss Dora was an unwelcome addition just then +to the party. Lucy's coming had been accidental, and it was very sweet +to Mr Wentworth to be able to conclude that he was obliged to walk +home with her. They were both coming out from their evening devotions +into the tranquil spring twilight, very glad of the charmed quiet, and +happy somehow to find themselves alone together. That had happened but +seldom of late; and a certain expectation of something that might +happen hovered over the heads of Lucy and the Curate. It did not +matter that he dared not say to her what was in his heart. Mr +Wentworth was only a young man after all, and the thrill of a possible +revelation was upon him in that half-hour upon which he was entering +with so profound a sense of happiness. And then it was an accidental +meeting, and if anything did happen, they could not blame themselves +as if they had sought this opportunity of being together. The +circumstances were such that they might call it providential, if +anything came of it. But just as the two had made their first step out +of the church, where the organ was still murmuring low in the +darkness, and where the music of the last Amen, in which he had +recognised Lucy's voice, had not quite died from the Curate's ears, to +meet Miss Dora, pale and fluttered, full of news and distress, with no +other thought in her mind but to appropriate her dear Frank, and take +his arm and gain his ear! It was very hard upon the Perpetual Curate. +As for Lucy, she, of course, did not say anything, but merely arranged +her veil and greeted Miss Wentworth sweetly. Lucy walked on the other +side of the Curate, saying little as Miss Dora's eager shower of +questions and remarks ran on. Perhaps she had a little insight into Mr +Wentworth's feelings, and no doubt it was rather tantalising. When +they came to Mrs Hadwin's door, the young Anglican made a spasmodic +effort, which in his heart he felt to be unprincipled, and which, had +it been successful, would have totally taken away the accidental and +unpremeditated character of this walk with Lucy, which he could not +find it in his heart to relinquish. He proposed that his aunt should +go in and rest while he saw Miss Wodehouse safely home--he was sure +she was tired, he said, eagerly. "No, my dear, not at all," said Miss +Dora; "it is such a pleasant evening, and I know Miss Wodehouse's is +not very far off. I should like the walk, and, besides, it is too +late, you know, to see Mrs Hadwin, and I should not like to go in +without calling on her; and besides--" + +Mr Wentworth in his aggravation gave a momentary sudden glance at Lucy +when she had no expectation of it. That glance of disappointment--of +disgust--of love and longing, was no more intentional than their +meeting; could he help it, if it revealed that heart which was in such +a state of commotion and impatience? Anyhow, the look gave Lucy +sufficient occupation to keep her very quiet on the other side while +Miss Dora maundered on. + +"I met the strangest man coming out when I was going to ring your +bell. You will think it very foolish, Frank, but he frightened me," +she said. "A man with a terrible beard, and a--a shabby man, my dear. +Who could it be? Not a person to be seen coming out of a house where a +clergyman lives. He could not be any friend of yours?" + +"The other lodger, I suppose," said the Curate, briefly. "When are you +going away?" + +"Oh, my dear boy, we are not going away; I came to tell you. But, +Frank, you don't mean to say that such a man as that lodges in Mrs +Hadwin's house? I don't think it is safe for you--I don't think it is +respectable. People might think he was a friend of yours. I wonder if +Miss Wodehouse has ever seen him--a great man with a beard? To be +sure, a man might have a beard and yet be respectable; but I am sure, +if Miss Wodehouse saw him, she would agree with me in thinking-- +Frank, my dear boy, what is the matter? Have I said anything wrong?" + +"Nothing that I know of," said the Curate, who had given her arm a +little angry pressure to stop the stream of utterance--"only that I am +not interested in the other lodger. Tell me about your going away." + +"But I must appeal to Miss Wodehouse: it is for your own sake, my dear +Frank," said aunt Dora--"a clergyman should be so careful. I don't +know what your aunt Leonora would say. Don't you think to see a man +like that coming out of Mr Wentworth's house is not as it should be? I +assure you he frightened me." + +"I don't think I have seen him," said Lucy. "But shouldn't a clergyman's +house be like the church, open to good and bad?--for it is to the wicked +and the miserable you are sent," said the Sister of Mercy, lowering her +voice and glancing up at the Perpetual Curate. They could have clasped +each other's hands at that moment, almost without being aware that it +was any personal feeling which made their agreement so sweet. As for +Miss Dora, she went on leaning on her nephew's arm, totally unconscious +of the suppressed rapture and elevation in which the two were moving at +the other side. + +"That is very true. I am sure your aunt Leonora would approve of that, +dear," said Miss Dora, with a little answering pressure on her +nephew's arm--"but still I have a feeling that a clergyman should +always take care to be respectable. Not that he should neglect the +wicked," continued the poor aunt, apologetically, "for a poor sinner +turning from the evil of his ways is the--the most interesting--sight +in the world, even to the angels, you know; but to _live_ with them in +the same house, my dear--I am sure that is what I never could advise, +nor Leonora either; and Mrs Hadwin ought to know better, and have him +away. Don't you know who he is, Frank? I could not be content without +finding out, if it was me." + +"I have nothing to do with him," said the Curate, hurriedly: "it is a +subject I don't want to discuss. Never mind him. What do you mean by +saying you are not going away?" + +"My dear, Leonora has been thinking it all over," said Miss Dora, "and +we are so anxious about you. Leonora is very fond of you, though she +does not show it; and you know the Meritons have just come home from +India, and have not a house to go to. So you see we thought, as you +are not quite so comfortable as we could wish to see you, Frank--and +perhaps we might be of some use--and Mr Shirley is better again, and +no immediate settlement has to be made about Skelmersdale;--that on +the whole, if Leonora and you were to see more of each other--oh, my +dear boy, don't be so hasty; it was all her own doing--it was not my +fault." + +"Fault! I am sorry to be the occasion of so many arrangements," said Mr +Wentworth, with his stiff manner; "but, of course, if you like to stay +in Carlingford I shall be very happy--though there is not much preaching +here that will suit my aunt Leonora: as for Mr Shirley, I hope he'll +live for ever. I was at No. 10 today," continued the Curate, turning his +head to the other side, and changing his tone in a manner marvellous to +Miss Dora. "I don't think she can live much longer. You have done a +great deal to smooth her way in this last stage. Poor soul! she thinks +she has been a great sinner," said the young man, with a kind of +wondering pity. He had a great deal to vex him in his own person, and +he knew of some skeletons very near at hand, but somehow at that moment +it was hard to think of the extremities of mortal trouble, of death and +anguish--those dark deeps of life by which Lucy and he sometimes stood +together in their youth and happiness. A marvelling remorseful pity came +to his heart. He could not believe in misery, with Lucy walking softly +in the spring twilight by his side. + +"But, Frank, you are not taking any notice of what I say," said Miss +Dora, with something like a suppressed sob. "I don't doubt your sick +people are very important, but I thought you would take _some_ +interest. I came down to tell you, all the way by myself." + +"My sister would like to call on you, Miss Wentworth," said Lucy, +interposing. "Gentlemen never understand what one says. Perhaps we +could be of some use to you if you are going to settle in Carlingford. +I think she has been a great deal better since she confessed," +continued the charitable Sister, looking up to the Curate, and, like +him, dropping her voice. "The absolution was such a comfort. Now she +seems to feel as if she could die. And she has so little to live for!" +said Lucy, with a sigh of sympathetic feeling, remorseful too. Somehow +it seemed cruel to feel so young, so hopeful, so capable of happiness, +with such desolation close at hand. + +"Not even duty," said the Curate; "and to think that the Church should +hesitate to remove the last barriers out of the way! I would not be a +priest if I were debarred from the power of delivering such a poor +soul." + +"Oh, Frank," said Miss Dora, with a long breath of fright and horror, +"_what_ are you saying? Oh, my dear, don't say it over again, I don't +want to hear it! I hope when we are dying we shall all feel what great +great sinners we are," said the poor lady, who, between vexation and +mortification, was ready to cry, "and not think that one is better +than another. Oh, my dear, there is that man again! Do you think it is +safe to meet him in such a lonely road? If he comes across and speaks +to me any more I shall faint," cried poor Miss Dora, whose opinions +were not quite in accordance with her feelings. Mr Wentworth did not +say anything to soothe her, but with his unoccupied hand he made an +involuntary movement towards Lucy's cloak, and plucked at it to bring +her nearer, as the bearded stranger loomed dimly past, looking at the +group. Lucy felt the touch, and wondered and looked up at him in the +darkness. She could not comprehend the Curate's face. + +"Are _you_ afraid of him?" she said, with a slight smile; "if it is +only his beard I am not alarmed; and here is papa coming to meet me. I +thought you would have come for me sooner, papa. Has anything +happened?" said Lucy, taking Mr Wodehouse's arm, who had suddenly +appeared from underneath the lamp, still unlighted, at Dr +Marjoribanks's door. She clung to her father with unusual eagerness, +willing enough to escape from the darkness and the Curate's side, and +all the tremulous sensations of the hour. + +"What could happen?" said Mr Wodehouse, who still looked "limp" from +his recent illness, "though I hear there are doubtful people about; so +they tell me--but you ought to know best, Wentworth. Who is that +fellow in the beard that went by on the other side? Not little Lake +the drawing-master? Fancied I had seen the build of the man +before--eh?--a stranger? Well, it's a mistake, perhaps. Can't be sure +of anything nowadays;--memory failing. Well, that's what the doctor +says. Come in and rest and see Molly; as for me, I'm not good for +much, but you won't get better company than the girls, or else that's +what folks tell me. Who did you say that fellow was?" said the +churchwarden, leaning across his daughter to see Mr Wentworth's face. + +"I don't know anything about him," said the Curate of St Roque's. + +And curiously enough silence fell upon the little party, nobody could +tell how;--for two minutes, which looked like twenty, no one spoke. +Then Lucy roused herself, apparently with a little effort. "We seem to +talk of nothing but the man with the beard to-night," she said. "Mary +knows everything that goes on in Carlingford--she will tell us about +him; and if Miss Wentworth thinks it too late to come in, we will say +good-night," she continued, with a little decision of tone, which was +not incomprehensible to the Perpetual Curate. Perhaps she was a little +provoked and troubled in her own person. To say so much in looks and +so little in words, was a mode of procedure which puzzled Lucy. It +fretted her, because it looked unworthy of her hero. She withdrew +within the green door, holding her father's arm fast, and talking to +him, while Mr Wentworth strained his ears after the voice, which he +thought he could have singled out from a thousand voices. Perhaps Lucy +talked to drown her thoughts; and the Curate went away dumb and +abstracted, with his aunt leaning on his arm on the other side of the +wall. He could not be interested, as Miss Dora expected him to be, in +the Miss Wentworths' plans. He conducted her to the Blue Boar +languidly, with an evident indifference to the fact that his aunt +Leonora was about to become a permanent resident in Carlingford. He +said "Good-night" kindly to little Rosa Elsworthy, looking out with +bright eyes into the darkness at the door of her uncle's shop; but he +said little to Miss Dora, who could not tell what to make of him, and +swallowed her tears as quietly as possible under her veil. When he had +deposited his aunt safely at the inn, the Perpetual Curate hastened +down Grange Lane at a great pace. The first sound he heard on entering +Mrs Hadwin's garden was the clear notes of the stranger's whistle +among the trees; and with an impatient exclamation Mr Wentworth sought +his fellow-lodger, who was smoking as usual, pacing up and down a +shaded walk, where, even in daylight, he was pretty well concealed +from observation. The Curate looked as if he had a little discontent +and repugnance to get over before he could address the anonymous +individual who whistled so cheerily under the trees. When he did speak +it was an embarrassed and not very intelligible call. + +"I say--are you there? I want to speak to you," said Mr Wentworth. + +"Yes," said the stranger, turning sharply round. "I am here, a dog +without a name. What have you got to say?" + +"Only that you must be more careful," said Mr Wentworth again, with a +little stiffness. "You will be recognised if you don't mind. I have +just been asked who you were by--somebody who thought he had seen you +before." + +"By whom?" + +"Well, by Mr Wodehouse," said the Curate. "I may as well tell you; if +you mean to keep up this concealment you must take care." + +"By Jove!" said the stranger, and then he whistled a few bars of the +air which Mr Wentworth's arrival had interrupted. "What is a fellow to +do?" he said, after an interjection. "I sometimes think I had better +risk it all--eh! don't you think so? I can't shut myself up for ever +here." + +"That must be as you think best," said the Perpetual Curate, in whom +there appeared no movement of sympathy; and he said no more, though the +doubtful individual by his side lifted an undecided look to his face, +and once more murmured in perplexed tones a troubled exclamation: "A man +must have a little amusement somehow," the stranger said, with an +aggrieved voice; and then abruptly left his unsociable companion, and +went off to his room, where he summoned Sarah to bring lights, and tried +to talk to her a little in utter dearth of society. Mr Wentworth stayed +behind, pacing up and down the darkening walk. The Curate's thoughts +were far from satisfactory. There was not much comfort anywhere, let him +look where he pleased. When a man has no spot in all his horizon on +which his eye can rest with comfort, there is something more discouraging +in the prospect than a positive calamity. He could not take refuge even +in the imaginations of his love, for it was clear enough that already a +sentiment of surprise had risen in Lucy's mind, and her tranquillity was +shaken. And perhaps he had done rashly to plunge into other people's +troubles--he upon whom a curious committee of aunts were now to sit _en +permanence_. He went in to write his sermon, far from being so assured +of things in general as that discourse was when it was written, though +it was a little relief to his mind to fall back upon an authority +somewhere, and to refer, in terms which were perhaps too absolute to be +altogether free of doubt, to the Church, which had arranged everything +for her children in one department of their concerns at least. If it +were only as easy to know what ought to be done in one's personal +affairs as to decide what was the due state of mind expected by the +Church on the second Sunday after Easter! But being under that guidance, +at least he could not go wrong in his sermon, which was one point of +ease amid the many tribulations of the Curate of St Roque's. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +"If they are going to stay in Carlingford, perhaps we could be of use +to them? Yes, Lucy; and I am sure anything we could do for Mr +Wentworth--" said Miss Wodehouse. "I wonder what house they will get. +I am going to Elsworthy's about some paper, and we can ask him if he +knows where they are going. That poor little Rosa should have some one +to take care of her. I often wonder whether it would be kind to speak +to Mrs Elsworthy about it, Lucy; she is a sensible woman. The little +thing stands at the door in the evening, and talks to people who are +passing, and I am afraid there are some people who are unprincipled, +and tell her she is pretty, and say things to her," said Miss +Wodehouse, shaking her head; "it is a great pity. Even Mr Wentworth is +a great deal more civil to that little thing than he would be if she +had not such a pretty face." + +"I said you knew everything that went on in Carlingford," said Lucy, +as they went out together from the green door, not in their grey +cloaks this time; "but I forgot to ask you about one thing that +puzzled us last night--who is the man in the beard who lives at Mrs +Hadwin's? Mr Wentworth will not tell anybody about him, and I think he +knows." + +"Who is the man in the beard?" said Miss Wodehouse, with a gasp. She +grew very pale, and turned away her head and shivered visibly. "How +very cold it is!" she said, with her teeth chattering; "did you think +it was so cold? I--I don't know any men with beards; and it is so +strange of you to say I know everything that goes on in Carlingford. +Don't stop to speak to that little girl just now. Did you say she came +from Prickett's Lane? No. 10? It is very right to go to see the sick, +but, indeed, I don't approve of your attendance upon that poor woman, +Lucy. When I was a girl I dared not have gone away by myself as you +do, and she might not be a proper person. There is a carriage that I +don't know standing before Elsworthy's shop." + +"But you have not told me yet about the man with the beard," said +Lucy, whose curiosity was excited. She looked at her sister keenly +with an investigating look, and poor Miss Wodehouse was fain to draw +her shawl close round her, and complain again of the cold. + +"I told you I did not know," she said, with a complaining tone in her +voice. "It is strange you should think I knew; it looks as if you +thought me a gossip, Lucy. I wonder who those people can be coming out +of the carriage? My dear," said the elder sister, feeling within +herself that an attack upon the enemy's country was the best means of +meeting any sally--"I don't think you should go down to Prickett's +Lane just now. I saw Mr Wentworth pass a little while ago, and people +might say you went to meet each other. I can't keep people from +talking, Lucy, and you are both so young; and you know I spoke to you +before about your meeting so often. It will be a great deal better for +you to come with me to call on his aunts." + +"Only that my poor patient wants me," said Lucy. "Must I not do my +duty to a poor woman who is dying, because Mr Wentworth is in +Prickett's Lane? There is no reason why I should be afraid of meeting +Mr Wentworth," said the young district-visitor, severely; and the +elder sister saw that Lucy spoke in a different tone from that in +which she had answered her before. She did not extinguish Miss +Wodehouse by a reference to the great work. She treated the matter +more as a personal one to-day; and a shadow--a very ghost of +irritation--was in Lucy's voice. The two crossed the street silently +after that to Elsworthy's, where a group of ladies were visible, who +had come out of the strange carriage. One of them was seated in a +chair by the counter, another was reading a list which Mr Elsworthy +had just presented to her, and the third, who was not so tall as her +sister, was pressing up to it on tiptoe, trying to read it too. "That +is Miss Dora Wentworth," said Lucy, "and the other, I suppose, is Miss +Leonora, who is so very Low-Church. I think I can see the Miss +Hemmings coming down George Street. If I were to go in I should be in +a dreadful minority; but you are Low-Church in your heart too." + +"No, dear; only reasonable," said Miss Wodehouse, apologetically. "I +don't go as far as you and Mr Wentworth do, but I like the service to +be nicely done, and the--the authority of the Church respected too. As +I have never met Miss Wentworth, you had better come in and introduce +me. There is Rosa looking out of the front window, Lucy. I really must +speak to Mrs Elsworthy about that child. What a lovely old lady that +is sitting by the counter! Say I am your sister, and then if you are +resolved upon Prickett's Lane, you can go away." + +"They are the two who wear the grey cloaks," said Miss Leonora +Wentworth to herself, as the introduction was effected. "I am glad to +make your acquaintance, Miss Wodehouse. We are going to stay in +Carlingford for a time, and to know a few pious families will be a +great advantage. We don't go much into society, in the usual sense of +the word--but, I am sure, to make the acquaintance of ladies who help +my nephew so much in his work, is sure to be an advantage. I should +like so much to hear from you how he gets on, for he does not say a +great deal about it himself." + +"He is so good and so nice," said kind Miss Wodehouse, "he never makes +a fuss about anything he does. I am sure, to see such young creatures +so pious and so devoted, always goes to my heart. When we were young +it used to be so different--we took our own pleasure, and never +thought of our fellow-creatures. And the young people are so good +nowadays," said the gentle woman, falling instinctively into her +favourite sentiment. Miss Leonora looked at her with critical eyes. + +"We are none of us good," said that iron-grey woman, whose neutral +tints were so different from the soft dove-colour of her new +acquaintance; "it does not become such sinful creatures to talk of +anybody being good. Good works may only be beautiful sins, if they are +not done in a true spirit," said Miss Leonora, turning to her list of +furnished houses with a little contempt. But the Miss Hemmings had +come in while she was speaking, and it was seldom that such edifying +talk was heard in Carlingford. + +"That is such a beautiful sentiment--oh, if we only bore it always in +mind!" murmured the eldest Miss Hemmings. "Mr Elsworthy, I hope you +have got the tracts I ordered. They are so much wanted here. Poor dear +Mr Bury would not believe his eyes if he could see Carlingford now, +given up to Puseyism and Ritualism--but good men are taken away from +the evil to come. I will pay for them now, please." + +"If you wish it, ma'am," said Mr Elsworthy. "The town _is_ changed; I +don't say nothing different; but being in the ritual line as you say, +you won't find no church as it's better done than in St Roque's. Mr +Wentworth never spares no pains, ma'am, on anything as he takes up. +I've heard a deal of clergymen in my day, but _his_ reading is +beautiful; I can't say as I ever heard reading as could equal it;--and +them choristers, though they're hawful to manage, is trained as I +never see boys trained in _my_ life afore. There's one of them houses, +ma'am," continued the optimist, turning to Miss Wentworth, "as is a +beauty. Miss Wodehouse can tell you what it is; no lady in the land +could desire a handsomer drawing-room; and as for the kitchings,--I +don't pretend to be a judge up-stairs, but being brought up a +blacksmith, I know what's what in a kitching-range. If you had all +Grange Lane to dinner, there's a range as is equal to it," said Mr +Elsworthy with enthusiasm--"and my wife will show you the 'ouse." + +"I knew Mr Bury," said Miss Leonora; "he was a precious man. Perhaps +you have heard him mention the Miss Wentworths? I am very sorry to +hear that there is no real work going on in the town. It is very sad +that there should be nobody able to enter into the labours of such a +saint." + +"Indeed," said Miss Wodehouse, who was excited, in spite of herself, +by this conversation, "I think the Carlingford people go quite as much +to church as in Mr Bury's days. I don't think there is less religion +than there used to be: there are not so many prayer meetings, perhaps; +but--" + +"There is nothing the carnal mind dislikes so much as prayer meetings," +said Miss Hemmings. "There is a house in Grove Street, if Miss Wentworth +is looking for a house. I don't know much about the kitchen-range, but I +know it belongs to a very pious family, and they wish so much to let +it. My sister and I would be so glad to take you there. It is not in the +gay world, like Grange Lane." + +"But you might want to ask people to dinner; and then we should be so +near Frank," said Miss Dora, whispering at her sister's elbow. As for +the second Miss Hemmings, she was dull of comprehension, and did not +quite make out who the strangers were. + +"It is so sad to a feeling mind to see the mummeries that go on at St +Roque's," said this obtuse sister; "and I am afraid poor Mr Wentworth +must be in a bad way. They say there is the strangest man in his +house--some relation of his--and he daren't be seen in the daylight; +and people begin to think there must be something wrong, and that Mr +Wentworth himself is involved; but what can you expect when there is +no true Christian principle?" asked Miss Hemmings, triumphantly. It +was a dreadful moment for the bystanders; for Miss Leonora turned +round upon this new intelligence with keen eyes and attention; and +Miss Dora interposed, weeping; and Miss Wodehouse grew so pale, that +Mr Elsworthy rushed for cold water, and thought she was going to +faint. "Tell me all about this," said Miss Leonora, with peremptory +and commanding tones. "Oh, Leonora, I am sure my dear Frank has +nothing to do with it, if there is anything wrong," cried Miss Dora. +Even Miss Wentworth herself was moved out of her habitual smile. She +said, "He is my nephew"--an observation which she had never been heard +to make before, and which covered the second Miss Hemmings with +confusion. As for Miss Wodehouse, she retreated very fast to a seat +behind Miss Cecilia, and said nothing. The two who had arrived last +slunk back upon each other with fiery glances of mutual reproach. The +former three stood together in this emergency, full of curiosity, and +perhaps a little anxiety. In this position of affairs, Mr Elsworthy, +being the only impartial person present, took the management of +matters into his own hands. + +"Miss Hemmings and ladies, if you'll allow _me_," said Mr Elsworthy, +"it aint no more than a mistake. The new gentleman as is staying at +Mrs Hadwin's may be an unfortunate gentleman for anything I can tell; +but he aint no relation of our clergyman. There aint nobody belonging +to Mr Wentworth," said the clerk of St Roque's, "but is a credit both +to him and to Carlingford. There's his brother, the Rev. Mr Wentworth, +as is the finest-spoken man, to be a clergyman, as I ever set eyes on; +and there's respected ladies as needn't be named more particular. But +the gentleman as is the subject of conversation is no more like Mr +Wentworth than--asking pardon for the liberty--I am. I may say as I +have opportunities for knowing more than most," said Mr Elsworthy, +modestly, "me and Rosa; for if there's a thing Mr Wentworth is +particular about, it's having his papers the first moment; and ladies +as knows me knows I am one that never says more nor the truth. Not +saying a word against the gentleman--as is a most respectable +gentleman, for anything I know against him--he aint no connection of +Mr Wentworth. He's Mrs Hadwin's lodger; and I wouldn't say as he isn't +a relation there; but our clergyman has got no more to do with him +than the babe unborn." + +Mr Elsworthy wiped his forehead after he had made this speech, and +looked round for the approbation which he was aware he had deserved; +and Miss Leonora Wentworth threw a glance of disdainful observation +upon the unhappy lady who had caused this disturbance. "If your wife +will come with us, we will go and look at the house," she said, +graciously. "I daresay if it is in Grange Lane it will suit us very +well. My nephew is a very young man, Miss Wodehouse," said Miss +Leonora, who had not passed over the agitation of that gentle woman +without some secret comments; "he does not take advice in his work, +though it might be of great assistance to him; but I hope he'll grow +older and wiser, as indeed he cannot help doing if he lives. I hope +you and your pretty sister will come to see us when we're settled;--I +don't see any sense, you know, in your grey cloaks--I'm old, and you +won't mind me saying so; but I know what Frank Wentworth is," said the +indignant aunt, making a severe curtsy, accompanied by lightning +glances at the shrinking background of female figures, as she went out +of the shop. + +"Oh, Leonora! I always said you were fond of him, though you never +would show it," cried poor Miss Dora. "She is a great deal more +affectionate than she will let anybody believe; and my dear Frank +means nothing but good," cried the too zealous champion. Miss Leonora +turned back upon the threshold of the shop. + +"You will please to let me know what Dissenting chapels there are in +the town, and what are the hours of the services," she said. "There +must surely be a Bethesda, or Zion, or something--Salem? yes, to be +sure;--perhaps there's somebody there that preaches the gospel. Send +me word," said the peremptory woman; and poor Miss Dora relapsed into +her usual melancholy condition, and stole into the carriage in a +broken-hearted manner, weeping under her veil. + +After which Miss Wodehouse went home, not having much heart for +further visits. That is to say, she went all the way down Grange Lane, +somewhat tremulous and uncertain in her steps, and went as far as Mrs +Hadwin's, and hesitated at the door as if she meant to call there; +but, thinking better of it, went on a little farther with very +lingering steps, as if she did not know what she wanted. When she came +back again, the door of Mrs Hadwin's garden was open, and the +butcher's boy stood blocking up the way, listening with all his ears +to the notes of the whistle, soft and high and clear like the notes of +a bird which come audibly from among the trees. Miss Wodehouse gave a +little start when she heard it: again she hesitated, and looked in +with such a wistful face that Sarah, the housemaid, who had been about +to slam the door hastily upon the too tender butcher, involuntarily +held it wide open for the expected visitor. "No, not to-day thank +you," said Miss Wodehouse. "I hope your mistress is quite well; give +her my love, and say I meant to come in, but I have a bad headache. +No, thank you; not to-day." She went away after that with a wonderful +expression of face, and reached home long before Lucy had come back +from Prickett's Lane. Miss Wodehouse was not good for much in the +house. She went to the little boudoir up-stairs, and lay down on the +sofa, and had some tea brought her by an anxious maid. She was very +nervous, trembling she could not say why, and took up a novel which +was lying on the sofa, and read the most affecting scene, and cried +over it; and then her sweet old face cleared, and she felt better. +When Lucy came in she kissed her sister, and drew down the blinds, and +brought her the third volume, and then went away herself to arrange +the dessert, and see that everything was in order for one of Mr +Wodehouse's little parties. These were their respective parts in the +house; and surely a more peaceful, and orderly, and affectionate +house, was not to be found that spring evening, either in England or +Grange Lane. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It may be easily supposed after this that Mr Wentworth and his +proceedings were sufficiently overlooked and commented upon in +Carlingford. The Miss Wentworths took old Major Brown's house for six +months, which, as everybody knows, is next door to Dr Marjoribanks. It +was just after Letty Brown's marriage, and the poor old Major was very +glad to go away and pay a round of visits, and try to forget that his +last daughter had gone the way of all the rest. There was a +summer-house built in the corner of the garden, with a window in the +outer wall looking on to Grange Lane, from which everything that +happened could be inspected; and there was always somebody at that +window when the Perpetual Curate passed by. Then he began to have a +strange painful feeling that Lucy watched too, and was observing all +his looks and ways, and what he did and said in these changed times. +It was a strange difference from the sweet half-conscious bond between +them which existed of old, when they walked home together from +Wharfside, talking of the district and the people, in the tender union +of unspoken love and fellowship. Not that they were altogether parted +now; but Lucy contrived to leave the schoolroom most days before the +young priest could manage to disrobe himself, and was seldom to be +seen on the road lingering on her errands of kindness as she used to +do. But still she knew all he was about, and watched, standing in +doubt and wonder of him, which was at least a great deal better than +indifference. On the whole, however, it was a cloudy world through +which the Perpetual Curate passed as he went from his lodgings, where +the whistle of the new lodger had become a great nuisance to him, past +the long range of garden-walls, the sentinel window where Miss Dora +looked out watching for him, and Mr Wodehouse's green door which he no +longer entered every day. Over the young man's mind, as he went out to +his labours, there used to come that sensation of having nobody to +fall back upon, which is of all feelings the most desolate. Amid all +those people who were watching him, there was no one upon whom he +could rest, secure of understanding and sympathy. They were all +critical--examining, with more or less comprehension, what he did; and +he could not think of anybody in the world just then who would be +content with knowing that _he_ did it, and take that as warranty for +the act, unless, perhaps, his poor aunt Dora, whose opinion was not +important to the young man. It was not a pleasant state of mind into +which these feelings threw him; and the natural result was, that he +grew more and more careful about the rubric, and confined his sermons, +with increasing precision, to the beautiful arrangements of the +Church. They were very clever little sermons, even within these +limitations, and an indifferent spectator would probably have been +surprised to find how much he could make out of them; but still it is +undeniable that a man has less scope, not only for oratory, but for +all that is worthy of regard in human speech, when, instead of the +ever-lasting reciprocations between heaven and earth, he occupies +himself only with a set of ecclesiastical arrangements, however +perfect. The people who went to St Roque's found this out, and so did +Mr Wentworth; but it did not alter the system pursued by the troubled +Curate. Perhaps he gave himself some half-conscious credit for it, as +being against his own interests; for there was no mistaking the +countenance of Miss Leonora, when now and then, on rare occasions, she +came to hear her nephew preach. + +All this, however, was confined to St Roque's, where there was a +somewhat select audience, people who agreed in Mr Wentworth's views; +but things were entirely different at Wharfside, where the Perpetual +Curate was not thinking about himself, but simply about his work, and +how to do it best. The bargemen and their wives did not know much +about the Christian year; but they understood the greater matters +which lay beneath: and the women said to each other, sometimes with +tears in their eyes, that there was nothing that the clergyman didn't +make plain; and that if the men didn't do what was right, it was none +o' Mr Wentworth's fault. The young priest indemnified himself in "the +district" for much that vexed him elsewhere. There was no question of +Skelmersdale, or of any moot point there, but only a quantity of +primitive people under the original conditions of humanity, whose +lives might be amended, and consoled, and elevated. That was a matter +about which Mr Wentworth had no doubt. He put on his surplice with +the conviction that in that white ephod the truest embodiment of +Christian purity was brought within sight of the darkened world. He +was not himself, but a Christian priest, with power to deliver and to +bless, when he went to Wharfside. + +Easter had been early that year, and Ascension Day was in the +beginning of May, one of those sweet days of early summer which still +occur now and then to prove that the poets were right in all they say +of the tenderest month of the year. Mr Wentworth had done duty at St +Roque's, and afterwards at Wharfside. The sweet day and the sweet +season had moved his heart. He was young, and it was hard to live shut +up within himself without any sympathy either from man or woman. He +had watched the grey cloak gliding out as his rude congregation +dispersed, and went away quicker than was his wont, with a stronger +longing than usual to overtake Lucy, and recover his place beside her. +But she was not to be seen when he got into Prickett's Lane. He looked +up the weary length of the street, and saw nothing but the children +playing on the pavement, and some slovenly mothers at the doors. It +was a very disenchanting prospect. He went on again in a kind of +gloomy discontent, displeased with everything. What was the good of it +all? he said to himself--weariness, and toil, and trouble, and nothing +ever to come of it. As for the little good he was doing in Wharfside, +God did not need his poor exertions; and, to tell the truth, going on +at St Roque's, however perfect the rubric and pretty the church, was, +without any personal stimulant of happiness, no great prospect for the +Perpetual Curate. Such was the tenor of his thoughts, when he saw a +black figure suddenly emerge out of one of the houses, and stand at +the door, throwing a long shadow over the pavement. It was the Rector +who was standing there in Mr Wentworth's favourite district, talking +to a shopkeeper who had always been on the opposition side. The young +Anglican raised his drooping head instantly, and recovered his +interest in the general world. + +"Glad to see you, Mr Wentworth," said the Rector. "I have been +speaking to this worthy man about the necessities of the district. The +statistics are far from being satisfactory. Five thousand souls, and +no provision for their spiritual wants; it is a very sad state of +affairs. I mean to take steps immediately to remedy all that." + +"A bit of a Methody chapel, that's all," said the opposition shopkeeper; +"and the schoolroom, as Mr Wentworth--" + +"Yes, I have heard of that," said the Rector, blandly;--somebody had +advised Mr Morgan to change his tactics, and this was the first +evidence of the new policy--"I hear you have been doing what little +you could to mend matters. It is very laudable zeal in so young a man. +But, of course, as you were without authority, and had so little in +your power, it could only be a very temporary expedient. I am very +much obliged to you for your good intentions." + +"I beg your pardon," said the Perpetual Curate, rousing up as at the +sound of the trumpet, "I don't care in the least about my good +intentions; but you have been much deceived if you have not understood +that there is a great work going on in Wharfside. I hope, Saunders, you +have had no hand in deceiving Mr Morgan. I shall be glad to show you my +statistics, which are more satisfactory than the town list," said Mr +Wentworth. "The schoolroom is consecrated; and but that I thought we had +better work slowly and steadily, there is many a district in worse +condition which has its church and its incumbent. I shall be very happy +to give you all possible information; it is best to go to the +fountainhead." + +"The fountainhead!" said the Rector, who began not unnaturally to lose +his temper. "Are you aware, sir, that Wharfside is in my parish?" + +"And so is St Roque's, I suppose," said the Curate, affably. "I have +no district, but I have my cure of souls all the same. As for +Wharfside, the Rector of Carlingford never had had anything to do with +it. Mr Bury and Mr Proctor made it over to me. I act upon their +authority; but I should like to prove to you it is something more than +a temporary expedient," said the young Anglican, with a smile. Mr +Morgan was gradually getting very hot and flushed. His temper got the +better of him; he could not tolerate to be thus bearded on his own +ground. + +"It appears to me the most extraordinary assumption," said the Rector. +"I can't fancy that you are ignorant of the law. I repeat, Wharfside +is in my parish; and on what ground you can possibly justify such an +incredible intrusion--" + +"Perhaps we might find a fitter place to discuss the matter," said the +Curate, with great suavity. "If you care to go to the schoolroom, we +could be quiet there." + +"No, sir. I don't care to go to the schoolroom. I decline to have +anything to do with such an unwarrantable attempt to interfere with my +rights," said Mr Morgan. "I don't want to know what plausible arguments +you may have to justify yourself. The fact remains, sir, that Wharfside +is in my parish. If you have anything to say against that, I will listen +to you," said the irascible Rector. His Welsh blood was up; he even +raised his voice a little, with a kind of half-feminine excitement, +common to the Celtic race; and the consequence was that Mr Wentworth, +who stood perfectly calm to receive the storm, had all the advantage in +the world over Mr Morgan. The Perpetual Curate bowed with immovable +composure, and felt himself master of the field. + +"In that case, it will perhaps be better not to say anything," he +said; "but I think you will find difficulties in the way. Wharfside +has some curious privileges, and pays no rates; but I have never taken +up that ground. The two previous rectors made it over to me, and the +work is too important to be ignored. I have had thoughts of applying +to have it made into an ecclesiastical district," said the Curate, +with candour, "not thinking that the Rector of Carlingford, with so +much to occupy him, would care to interfere with my labours; but at +all events, to begin another mission here would be folly--it would be +copying the tactics of the Dissenters, if you will forgive me for +saying so," said Mr Wentworth, looking calmly in the Rector's face. + +It was all Mr Morgan could do to restrain himself. "I am not in the +habit of being schooled by my--juniors," said the Rector, with +suppressed fury. He meant to say inferiors, but the aspect of the +Perpetual Curate checked him. Then the two stood gazing at each other +for a minute in silence. "Anything further you may have to say, you +will perhaps communicate to my solicitor," said the elder priest. "It +is well known that some gentlemen of your views, Mr Wentworth, think +it safe to do evil that good may come;--that is not my opinion; and I +don't mean to permit any invasion of my rights. I have the pleasure of +wishing you good morning." + +Mr Morgan took off his hat, and gave it a little angry flourish in the +air before he put it on again. He had challenged his young brother to +the only duel permitted by their cloth, and he turned to the +opposition tradesman with vehemence, and went in again to the dusty +little shop, where a humble assortment of groceries were displayed for +the consumption of Prickett's Lane. Mr Wentworth remained standing +outside in much amazement, not to say amusement, and a general sense +of awakening and recovery. Next to happiness, perhaps enmity is the +most healthful stimulant of the human mind. The Perpetual Curate woke +up and realised his position with a sense of exhilaration, if the +truth must be told. He muttered something to himself, uncomplimentary +to Mr Morgan's good sense, as he turned away; but it was astonishing +to find how much more lively and interesting Prickett's Lane had +become since that encounter. He went along cheerily, saying a word now +and then to the people at the doors, every one of whom knew and +recognised him, and acknowledged, in a lesser or greater degree, the +sway of his bishopric. The groups he addressed made remarks after he +had passed, which showed their sense of the improvement in his looks. +"He's more like himsel' than he's bin sin' Easter," said one woman, +"and none o' that crossed look, as if things had gone contrairy;--Lord +bless you, not cross--he's a deal too good a man for that--but +crossed-looking; it might be crossed in love for what I can tell." +"Them as is handsome like that seldom gets crossed in love," said +another experienced observer; "but if it was fortin, or whatever it +was, there's ne'er a one in Wharfside but wishes luck to the parson. +It aint much matter for us women. Them as won't strive to keep their +children decent out o' their own heads, they won't do much for a +clergyman; but, bless you, he can do a deal with the men, and it's +them as wants looking after." "I'd like to go to his wedding," said +another. "I'd give a deal to hear it was all settled;" and amid these +affectionate comments, Mr Wentworth issued out of Prickett's Lane. He +went direct to Mr Wodehouse's green door, without making any excuses +to himself. For the first time for some weeks he went in upon the +sisters and told them all that had happened as of old. Lucy was still +in her grey cloak as she had returned from the district, and it was +with a feeling more distinct than sympathy that she heard of this +threatened attack. "It is terrible to think that he could interfere +with such a work out of jealousy of _us_," said the Sister of Charity, +with a wonderful light in her blue eyes; and she drew her low chair +nearer, and listened with eloquent looks, which were balm to the soul +of the Perpetual Curate. "But we are not to give up?" she said, giving +him her hand, when he rose to go away. "Never!" said Mr Wentworth; and +if he held it more closely and longer than there was any particular +occasion for, Lucy did not make any objection at that special moment. +Then it turned out that he had business at the other end of the town, at +the north end, where some trustee lived who had to do with the Orphan +Schools, and whom the curate was obliged to see; and Miss Wodehouse +gave him a timid invitation to come back to dinner. "But you are not to +go home to dress; we shall be quite alone--and you must be so tired," +said the elder sister, who for some reason or other was shy of Mr +Wentworth, and kept away from him whenever he called. So he went in on +his way back, and dined in happiness and his morning coat, with a sweet +conscious return to the familiar intercourse which these few disturbed +weeks had interrupted. He was a different man when he went back again +down Grange Lane. Once more the darkness was fragrant and musical about +him. When he was tired thinking of his affairs, he fell back upon the +memories of the evening, and Lucy's looks and the "us" and "we," which +were so sweet to his ears. To have somebody behind whom one can fall +back upon to fill up the interstices of thought--_that_ makes all the +difference, as Mr Wentworth found out, between a bright and a heavy +life. + +When he opened the garden-door with his key, and went softly in in the +darkness, the Perpetual Curate was much surprised to hear voices among +the trees. He waited a little, wondering, to see who it was; and +profound was his amazement when a minute after little Rosa Elsworthy, +hastily tying her hat over her curls, came rapidly along the walk from +under the big walnut-tree, and essayed, with rather a tremulous hand, +to open the door. Mr Wentworth stepped forward suddenly and laid his +hand on her arm. He was very angry and indignant, and no longer the +benign superior being to whom Rosa was accustomed. "Whom have you been +talking to?" said the Curate. "Why are you here alone so late? What +does this mean?" He held the door close, and looked down upon her +severely while he spoke. She made a frightened attempt to defend +herself. + +"Oh, please, I only came with the papers. I was talking to--Sarah," +said the little girl, with a sob of shame and terror. "I will never do +it again. Oh, please, _please_, let me go! Please, Mr Wentworth, let +me go!" + +"How long have you been talking to--Sarah?" said the Curate. "Did you +ever do it before? No, Rosa; I am going to take you home. This must +not happen any more." + +"I will run all the way. Oh, don't tell my aunt, Mr Wentworth. I didn't +mean any harm," said the frightened creature. "You are not really +coming? Oh, Mr Wentworth, if you tell my aunt I shall die!" cried poor +little Rosa. But she was hushed into awe and silence when the curate +stalked forth, a grand, half-distinguished figure by her side, keeping +pace with her hasty, tremulous steps. She even stopped crying, in the +whirlwind of her feelings. What did he mean? Was he going to say +anything to her? Was it possible that he could like her, and be jealous +of her talk with--Sarah? Poor little foolish Rosa did not know what to +think. She had read a great many novels, and knew that it was quite +usual for gentlemen to fall in love with pretty little girls who were +not of their own station;--why not with her? So she went on, half +running, keeping up with Mr Wentworth, and sometimes stealing sly +glances at him to see what intention was in his looks. But his looks +were beyond Rosa's reading. He walked by her side without speaking, and +gave a glance up at the window of the summer-house as they passed. And +strange enough, that evening of all others, Miss Dora, who had been the +victim of some of Miss Leonora's caustic criticisms, had strayed forth, +in melancholy mood, to repose herself at her favourite window, and look +out at the faint stars, and comfort herself with a feeble repetition of +her favourite plea, that it was not "my fault." The poor lady was +startled out of her own troubles by the sight of her nephew's tall +unmistakable figure; and, as bad luck would have it, Rosa's hat, tied +insecurely by her agitated fingers, blew off at that moment, so that Mr +Wentworth's aunt became aware, to her inexpressible horror and +astonishment, who his companion was. The unhappy Curate divined all the +thoughts that would arise in her perturbed bosom, when he saw the +indistinct figure at the window, and said something to himself about +_espionage_, which was barely civil to Miss Dora, as he hurried along on +his charitable errand. He was out of one trouble into another, this +unlucky young man. He knocked sharply at Elsworthy's closed door, and +gave up his charge without speaking to Rosa. "I brought her home because +I thought it wrong to let her go up Grange Lane by herself," said the +Curate. "Don't thank me; but if you have any regard for the child, don't +send her out at night again." He did not even bid Rosa good-night, or +look back at her, as she stood blushing and sparkling in confused +childish beauty, in the doorway; but turned his back like any savage, +and hastened home again. Before he entered his own apartments, he +knocked at the door of the green room, and said something to the inmate +there which produced from that personage a growl of restrained defiance. +And after all these fatigues, it was with a sense of relief that the +Curate threw himself upon his sofa, to think over the events of the +afternoon, and to take a little rest. He was very tired, and the +consolation he had experienced during the evening made him more disposed +to yield to his fatigue. He threw himself upon the sofa, and stretched +out his hand lazily for his letters, which evidently did not excite any +special expectations in his mind. There was one from his sister, and one +from an old university friend, full of the news of the season. Last of +all, there was a neat little note, directed in a neat little hand, which +anybody who received it would naturally have left to the last, as Mr +Wentworth did. He opened it quite deliberately, without any appearance +of interest. But as he read the first lines, the Curate gradually +gathered himself up off the sofa, and stretched out his hand for his +boots, which he had just taken off; and before he had finished it, had +walked across the room and laid hold of the railway book in use at +Carlingford, all the time reading and re-reading the important little +epistle. It was not so neat inside as out, and blurred and blotted, and +slightly illegible; and this is what the letter said:-- + + + "Oh, Frank, dear, I am so anxious and unhappy about Gerald. I can't + tell what is the matter with him. Come directly, for heaven's sake, + and tell me what you think, and try what you can do. Don't lose a + train after you get this, but come directly--oh, come if you ever + loved any of us. I don't know what he means, but he says the most + awful things; and if he is not _mad_, as I sometimes hope, he has + forgotten his duty to his family and to me, which is far worse. I + can't explain more; but if there is any chance of anybody doing him + good, it is you. I beg you, on my knees, come directly, dear Frank. I + never was in such a state in my life. I shall be left so that nobody + will be able to tell what I am; and my heart is bursting. Never mind + business or anything; but come, come directly, whether it is night or + day, to your broken-hearted sister, + + "LOUISA." + + "_P.S._--In great haste, and _so_ anxious to see you." + +Half an hour after, Mr Wentworth, with a travelling-bag in his hand, was +once more hastening up Grange Lane towards the railway station. His face +was somewhat grey, as the lamps shone on it. He did not exactly know +what he was anxious about, nor what might have happened at Wentworth +Rectory before he could get there; but the express train felt slow to +his anxious thoughts as it flashed out of the station. Mr Morgan and his +wife were in their garden, talking about the encounter in Prickett's +Lane, when the train plunged past, waking all the echoes; and Mrs +Morgan, by way of making a diversion, appealed to the Rector about those +creepers, with which she hoped in a year or two to shut out the sight of +the railway. "The Virginian creeper would be the best," said the +Rector's wife; and they went in to calculate the expenses of bringing Mr +Wentworth before Dr Lushington. Miss Dora, at very nearly the same +moment, was confiding to her sister Cecilia, under vows of secrecy, the +terrible sight she had seen from the summer-house window. They went to +bed with very sad hearts in consequence, both these good women. In the +mean time, leaving all these gathering clouds behind him, leaving his +reputation and his work to be discussed and quarrelled over as they +might, the Perpetual Curate rushed through the night, his heart aching +with trouble and anxiety, to help, if he could--and if not, at least to +stand by--Gerald, in this unknown crisis of his brother's life. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Miss Dora Wentworth rose very unrefreshed next morning from her +disturbed slumbers. It was hard to sit at breakfast with Leonora, and +not betray to her the new anxiety; and the troubled sister ran into a +countless number of digressions, which would have inevitably betrayed +her had not Miss Leonora been at the moment otherwise occupied. She +had her little budget of letters as usual, and some of them were more +than ordinarily interesting. She too had a favourite district, which +was in London, and where also a great work was going on; and her +missionary, and her Scripture-readers, and her colporteur were all in +a wonderful state of excitement about a new gin-palace which was being +fitted out and decorated in the highest style of art on the borders of +their especial domain. They were moving heaven and earth to prevent +this temple of Satan from being licensed; and some of them were so +very certain of the Divine acquiescence in their measures, that they +announced the success of their exertions to be a test of the +faithfulness of God; which Miss Leonora read out to her sisters as an +instance of very touching and beautiful faith. Miss Wentworth, +perhaps, was not so clear on that subject. During the course of her +silent life, she had prayed for various things which it had not been +God's pleasure to grant; and just now she, too, was very anxious about +Frank, who seemed to be in a bad way; so she rather shook her head +gently, though she did not contravene the statement, and concluded +with sadness that the government of the earth might still go on as +usual, and God's goodness remain as certain as ever, even though the +public-house was licensed, or Frank did fall away. This was the +teaching of experience; but aunt Cecilia did not utter it, for that +was not her way. As for Miss Dora, she agreed in all the colporteur's +sentiments, and thought them beautiful, as Leonora said, and was not +much disturbed by any opinion of her own, expressed or unexpressed, +but interspersed her breakfast with little sighing ejaculations of the +temptations of the world, and how little one knew what was passing +around one, and "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he +fall," which could not have failed to attract Miss Leonora's +attention, and draw forth the whole story of her sister's suspicions, +had not that quick-witted iron-grey woman been, as we have already +mentioned, too deeply engaged. Perhaps her nephew's imaginary +backsliding might have excited even Miss Leonora to an interest deeper +than that which was awakened by the new gin-palace; but as it +happened, it was the humbler intelligence alone which occupied itself +with the supposed domestic calamity. Miss Dora's breakfast was +affected by it in a way which did not appear in the morning meal of +her sister; for somehow the most fervent love of souls seldom takes +away the appetite, as the love of some unlucky individual occasionally +does. + +When breakfast was over, Miss Dora made a very elaborate excuse for +going out by herself. She wanted to match some wool for a blanket she +was making, "For Louisa's baby," the devoted aunt said, with a little +tremor. "Poor Louisa! if Gerald were to go any further, you know, it +would be so sad for her; and one would like to help to keep up her +heart, poor dear, as much as one could." + +"By means of a blanket for the bassinet in scarlet and white," said +Miss Leonora; "but it's quite the kind of comfort for Louisa. I wonder +if she ever had the smallest inkling what kind of a husband she has +got. I don't think Frank is far wrong about Gerald, though I don't pin +my faith to my nephew's judgment. I daresay he'll go mad or do worse +with all those crotchets of his--but what he married Louisa for has +always been a mystery to me." + +"I suppose because he was very fond of her," suggested Miss Dora, with +humility. + +"But why was he fond of her?--a goose!" said the strong-minded sister, +and so went about her letter-writing without further comment, leaving +aunt Dora to pursue her independent career. It was with a feeling of +relief, and yet of guilt, that this timid inquirer set forth on her +mission, exchanging a sympathetic significant look with Miss Wentworth +before she went out. If she should meet Frank at the door, looking +dignified and virtuous, what could she possibly say to him? and yet, +perhaps, he had only been imprudent, and did not mean anything. Miss +Dora looked round her on both sides, up and down Grange Lane, as she +went out into the lovely summer morning. Neither Frank nor any other +soul, except some nurse-maids, was to be seen along the whole line of +sunny road. She was relieved, yet she was disappointed at the same +time, and went slowly up towards Elsworthy's shop, saying to herself +that she was sure Frank could not mean anything. It must have been +that forward little thing herself who had come up to him when he was +out for his walk, or it must have been an accident. But then she +remembered that she had heard the Curate call Rosa pretty; and Miss +Dora wondered within herself what it mattered whether she was pretty +or not, and what he had to do with it, and shook her head over the +strange way men had of finding out such things. For her own part, she +was sure she never looked whether the girl was pretty or not; and the +anxious aunt had just come round again, by a very circuitous and +perplexing course, to her original sentiment, and strengthened herself +in the thought that her dear Frank could not mean anything, when she +reached Elsworthy's door. + +That worthy trader was himself behind the counter, managing matters +with his usual exactness. Berlin wool was one of the articles Mr +Elsworthy dealt in, besides newspapers, and books when they were +ordered. Miss Dora, who wore no crinoline, stumbled over her dress in +her agitation as she went in, and saw, at the first glance, little +Rosa, looking very blooming and pretty, tying up a parcel at the other +end of the shop. The poor lady did not know how to enter upon so +difficult a question. She offered her wool humbly to be matched, and +listened to Mr Elsworthy's sentiments on the subject. He told her how +he always had his wools from the best houses in London, and could +match anything as was ever made in that line, and was proud to say as +he always gave satisfaction. Miss Dora could not see any opening for +the inquiries she hoped to make; for how was it possible to intimate +the possibility of disapproval to an establishment so perfect in all +its arrangements? The probabilities are, that she would have gone away +without saying anything, had not Mr Elsworthy himself given her a +chance. + +"Miss Wodehouse has been my great help," said the shopkeeper; "she is +the nicest lady, is Miss Wodehouse, in all Carlingford. I do respect +them people; they've had their troubles, like most families, but there +aint many as can lay their finger on the skeleton as is in their +cupboard: they've kept things close, and there aint a many as knows; +but Miss Wodehouse has spoke up for me, ma'am, right and left, and +most persons as count for anything in Carlingford gets their fancy +articles out o' my shop. Mr Wentworth, ma'am, our respected clergyman, +gets all his papers of me--and partickler he is to a degree--and +likes to have 'em first thing afore they're opened out o' the parcel. +It's the way with gentlemen when they're young. Mostly people aint so +partickler later in life--not as I could tell the reason why, unless +it may be that folks gets used to most things, and stop looking for +anything new. But there aint a many young gentlemen like our +clergyman, though I say it as shouldn't," continued Mr Elsworthy, with +a little effusion, as he succeeded in finding an exact match for the +scarlet wool. + +"And why shouldn't you say it, Mr Elsworthy?" said Miss Dora, a little +tartly; "you are not in any way particularly connected with my +nephew." Here she gave an angry glance at Rosa, who had drawn near to +listen, having always in her vain little heart a certain palpitation +at Mr Wentworth's name. + +"I ask your pardon, ma'am; I'm clerk at St Roque's. It aint often as +we have the pleasure of seeing you there--more's the pity," said the +church official, "though I may say there aint a church as perfect, or +where the duty is performed more beautiful, in all the country; and +there never was a clergyman as had the people's good at heart like Mr +Wentworth--not in my time. It aint no matter whether you're rich or +poor, young or old, if there's a service as can be done to ever a one +in his way, our clergyman is the man to do it. Why, no further gone +than last night, ma'am, if you'll believe me, that little girl +there--" + +"Yes," said Miss Dora, eagerly, looking with what was intended to be a +very stern and forbidding aspect in the little girl's face. + +"She was a-coming up Grange Lane in the dark," said Mr Elsworthy--"not +as there was any need, and me keeping two boys, but she likes a run +out of an evening--when Mr Wentworth see her, and come up to her. It +aint what many men would have done," said the admiring but unlucky +adherent of the suspected Curate: "he come up, seeing as she was by +herself, and walked by her, and gave her a deal of good advice, and +brought her home. Her aunt and me was struck all of a heap to see the +clergyman a-standing at our door. 'I've brought Rosa home,' he said, +making believe a bit sharp. 'Don't send her out no more so late at +night,' and was off like a shot, not waiting for no thanks. It's my +opinion as there aint many such gentlemen. I can't call to mind as I +ever met with his fellow before." + +"But a young creature like that ought not to have been out so late," +said Miss Dora, trying to harden herself into severity. "I wonder very +much that you like to walk up Grange Lane in the dark. I should think +it very unpleasant, for my part; and I am sure I would not allow it, +Mr Elsworthy," she said firmly, "if such a girl belonged to me." + +"But, please, I wasn't walking up Grange Lane," said Rosa, with some +haste. "I was at Mrs Hadwin's, where Mr Wentworth lives. I am sure I +did not want to trouble him," said the little beauty, recovering her +natural spirit as she went on, "but he insisted on walking with me; it +was all his own doing. I am sure I didn't want him;" and here Rosa +broke off abruptly, with a consciousness in her heart that she was +being lectured. She rushed to her defensive weapons by natural +instinct, and grew crimson all over her pretty little face, and +flashed lightning out of her eyes, which at the same time were not +disinclined to tears. All this Miss Dora made note of with a sinking +heart. + +"Do you mean to say that you went to Mrs Hadwin's to see Mr +Wentworth?" asked that unlucky inquisitor, with a world of horror in +her face. + +"I went with the papers," said Rosa, "and I--I met him in the garden. +I am sure it wasn't my fault," said the girl, bursting into petulant +tears. "Nobody has any occasion to scold me. It was Mr Wentworth as +would come;" and Rosa sobbed, and lighted up gleams of defiance behind +her tears. Miss Dora sat looking at her with a very troubled, pale +face. She thought all her fears were true, and matters worse than she +imagined; and being quite unused to private inquisitions, of course +she took all possible steps to create the scandal for which she had +come to look. + +"Did you ever meet him in the garden before?" asked Miss Dora, +painfully, in a low voice. During this conversation Mr Elsworthy had +been looking on, perplexed, not perceiving the drift of the +examination. He roused himself up to answer now--a little alarmed, to +tell the truth, by the new lights thrown on the subject, and vexed to +see how unconsciously far both the women had gone. + +"It aint easy to go into a house in Grange Lane without meeting of +some one in the garden," said Mr Elsworthy; "not as I mean to say it +was the right thing for Rosa to be going them errands after dark. My +orders is against that, as she knows; and what's the good of keeping +two boys if things isn't to be done at the right time? Mr Wentworth +himself was a-reproving of me for sending out Rosa, as it might be the +last time he was here; for she's one of them as sits in the chancel +and helps in the singing, and he feels an interest in her, natural," +said the apologetic clerk. Miss Dora gave him a troubled look, but +took no further notice of his speech. She thought, with an instinctive +contempt for the masculine spectator, that it was impossible he could +know anything about it, and pursued her own wiser way. + +"It is very wrong of you--a girl in your position," said Miss Dora, as +severely as she could in her soft old voice, "to be seen walking about +with a gentleman, even when he is your clergyman, and, of course, has +nothing else in his head. Young men don't think anything of it," said +the rash but timid preacher; "of course it was only to take care of you, +and keep you out of harm's way. But then you ought to think what a +trouble it was to Mr Wentworth, taking him away from his studies--and it +is not nice for a young girl like you." Miss Dora paused to take breath, +not feeling quite sure in her own mind whether this was the right thing +to say. Perhaps it would have been better to have disbelieved the fact +altogether, and declared it impossible. She was much troubled about it, +as she stood looking into the flushed tearful face, with all that light +of defiance behind the tears, and felt instinctively that little Rosa, +still only a pretty, obstinate, vain, uneducated little girl, was more +than a match for herself, with all her dearly-won experiences. The +little thing was bristling with a hundred natural weapons and defences, +against which Miss Dora's weak assault had no chance. + +"If it was a trouble, he need not have come," said Rosa, more and more +convinced that Mr Wentworth must certainly have meant something. "I am +sure _I_ did not want him. He insisted on coming, though I begged him +not. I don't know why I should be spoke to like this," cried the little +coquette, with tears, "for I never was one as looked at a gentleman; +it's them," with a sob, "as comes after me." + +"Rosa," said Mr Elsworthy, much alarmed, "your aunt is sure to be +looking out for you, and I don't want you here, not now; nor I don't +want you again for errands, and don't you forget. If it hadn't been that +Mr Wentworth thought you a silly little thing, and had a kind feeling +for my missis and me, you don't think he'd have took that charge of +you?--and I won't have my clergyman, as has always been good to me and +mine, made a talk of. You'll excuse me, ma'am," he said, in an under +tone, as Rosa reluctantly went away--not to her aunt, however, but again +to her parcel at the other end of the shop--"she aint used to being +talked to. She's but a child, and don't know no better: and after all," +said Rosa's uncle, with a little pride, "she is a tender-hearted little +thing--she don't know no better, ma'am; she's led away by a kind +word--for nobody can say but she's wonderful pretty, as is very plain to +see." + +"Is she?" said Miss Dora, following the little culprit to the +back-counter with disenchanted eyes. "Then you had better take all the +better care of her, Mr Elsworthy," she said, with again a little +asperity. The fact was, that Miss Dora had behaved very injudiciously, +and was partly aware of it; and then this prettiness of little Rosa's, +even though it shone at the present moment before her, was not so plain +to her old-maidenly eyes. She did not make out why everybody was so sure +of it, nor what it mattered; and very probably, if she could have had +her own way, would have liked to give the little insignificant thing a +good shake, and asked her how she dared to attract the eye of the +Perpetual Curate. As she could not do this, however, Miss Dora gathered +up her wool, and refused to permit Mr Elsworthy to send it home for her. +"I can carry it quite well myself," said the indignant little woman. "I +am sure you must have a great deal too much for your boys to do, or you +would not send your niece about with the things. But if you will take my +advice, Mr Elsworthy," said Miss Dora, "you will take care of that poor +little thing: she will be getting ridiculous notions into her head;" and +aunt Dora went out of the shop with great solemnity, quite unaware that +she had done more to put ridiculous notions into Rosa's head than could +have got there by means of a dozen darkling walks by the side of the +majestic Curate, who never paid her any compliments. Miss Dora went away +more than ever convinced in her mind that Frank had forgotten himself +and his position, and everything that was fit and seemly. She jumped to +a hundred horrible conclusions as she went sadly across Grange Lane with +her scarlet wool in her hand. What Leonora would say to such an +irremediable folly?--and how the Squire would receive his son after such +a _mesalliance_? "He might change his views," said poor Miss Dora to +herself, "but he could not change his wife;" and it was poor comfort to +call Rosa a designing little wretch, and to reflect that Frank at first +could not have meant anything. The poor lady had a bad headache, and was +in a terribly depressed condition all day. When she saw from the window +of her summer-house the pretty figure of Lucy Wodehouse in her grey +cloak pass by, she sank into tears and melancholy reflections. But then +Lucy Wodehouse's views were highly objectionable, and she bethought +herself of Julia Trench, who had long ago been selected by the sisters +as the clergyman's wife of Skelmersdale. Miss Dora shook her head over +the blanket she was knitting for Louisa's baby, thinking of clergymen's +wives in general, and the way in which marriages came about. Who had the +ordering of these inexplicable accidents? It was surely not Providence, +but some tricky imp or other who loved confusion; and then Miss Dora +paused with compunction, and hoped she would be forgiven for +entertaining, even for one passing moment, such a wicked, wicked +thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +On the afternoon of the same day Mr Morgan went home late, and +frightened his wife out of her propriety by the excitement and trouble +in his face. He could do nothing but groan as he sat down in the +drawing-room, where she had just been gathering her work together, and +putting stray matters in order, before she went up-stairs to make +herself tidy for dinner. The Rector paid no attention to the fact that +the dinner-hour was approaching, and only shook his head and repeated +his groan when she asked him anxiously what was the matter. The good +man was too much flushed and heated and put out, to be able at first +to answer her questions. + +"Very bad, very bad," he said, when he had recovered sufficient +composure--"far worse than I feared. My dear, I am afraid the +beginning of my work in Carlingford will be for ever associated with +pain to us both. I am discouraged and distressed beyond measure by +what I have heard to-day." + +"Dear William, tell me what it is," said the Rector's wife. + +"I feared it was a bad business from the first," said the disturbed +Rector. "I confess I feared, when I saw a young man so regardless of +lawful authority, that his moral principles must be defective, but I +was not prepared for what I have heard to-day. My dear, I am sorry to +grieve you with such a story; but as you are sure to hear it, perhaps +it is better that you should have the facts from me." + +"It must be about Mr Wentworth," said Mrs Morgan. She was sorry; for +though she had given in to her husband's vehemence, she herself in her +own person had always been prepossessed in favour of the Perpetual +Curate; but she was also sensible of a feeling of relief to know that +the misfortune concerned Mr Wentworth, and was not specially connected +with themselves. + +"Yes, it's about Mr Wentworth," said the Rector. He wiped his face, +which was red with haste and exhaustion, and shook his head. He was +sincerely shocked and grieved, to do him justice; but underneath there +was also a certain satisfaction in the thought that he had foreseen +it, and that his suspicions were verified. "My dear, I am very glad he +had not become intimate in our house," said Mr Morgan; "that would +have complicated matters sadly. I rejoice that your womanly instincts +prevented that inconvenience;" and as the Rector began to recover +himself, he looked more severe than ever. + +"Yes," said Mrs Morgan, with hesitation; for the truth was, that her +womanly instincts had pronounced rather distinctly in favour of the +Curate of St Roque's. "I hope he has not done anything very wrong, +William. I should be very sorry; for I think he has very good +qualities," said the Rector's wife. "We must not let our personal +objections prejudice us in respect to his conduct otherwise. I am sure +you are the last to do that." + +"I have never known an insubordinate man who was a perfect moral +character," said the Rector. "It is very discouraging altogether; and +you thought he was engaged to Wodehouse's pretty daughter, didn't you? +I hope not--I sincerely hope not. That would make things doubly bad; +but, to be sure, when a man is faithless to his most sacred +engagements, there is very little dependence to be placed on him in +other respects." + +"But you have not told me what it is," said the Rector's wife, with +some anxiety; and she spoke the more hastily as she saw the shadow of +a curate--Mr Morgan's own curate, who must inevitably be invited to +stop to dinner--crossing the lawn as she spoke. She got up and went a +little nearer the window to make sure. "There is Mr Leeson," she said, +with some vexation. "I must run up-stairs and get ready for dinner. +Tell me what it is!" + +Upon which the Rector, with some circumlocution, described the +appalling occurrence of the previous night,--how Mr Wentworth had +walked home with little Rosa Elsworthy from his own house to hers, as +had, of course, been seen by various people. The tale had been told +with variations, which did credit to the ingenuity of Carlingford; and +Mr Morgan's version was that they had walked arm in arm, in the +closest conversation, and at an hour which was quite unseemly for such +a little person as Rosa to be abroad. The excellent Rector gave the +story with strong expressions of disapproval; for he was aware of +having raised his wife's expectations, and had a feeling, as he +related them, that the circumstances, after all, were scarcely +sufficiently horrifying to justify his preamble. Mrs Morgan listened +with one ear towards the door, on the watch for Mr Leeson's knock. + +"Was that all?" said the sensible woman. "I think it very likely it +might be explained. I suppose Mr Leeson must have stopped to look at +my ferns; he is very tiresome with his botany. That was all! Dear, I +think it might be explained. I can't fancy Mr Wentworth is a man to +commit himself in that way--if that is all!" said Mrs Morgan; "but I +must run up-stairs to change my dress." + +"That was not all," said the Rector, following her to the door. "It is +said that this sort of thing has been habitual, my dear. He takes the +'Evening Mail,' you know, all to himself, instead of having the +'Times' like other people, and she carries it down to his house, and I +hear of meetings in the garden, and a great deal that is very +objectionable," said Mr Morgan, speaking very fast in order to deliver +himself before the advent of Mr Leeson. "I'm afraid it is a very bad +business. I don't know what to do about it. I suppose I must ask +Leeson to stay to dinner? It is absurd of him to come at six o'clock." + +"Meetings in the garden?" said Mrs Morgan, aghast. "I don't feel as if +I could believe it. There is that tiresome man at last. Do as you +like, dear, about asking him to stay; but I must make my escape," and +the Rector's wife hastened up-stairs, divided between vexation about +Mr Leeson and regret at the news she had just heard. She put on her +dress rather hastily, and was conscious of a little ill-temper, for +which she was angry with herself; and the haste of her toilette, and +the excitement under which she laboured, aggravated unbecomingly that +redness of which Mrs Morgan was painfully sensible. She was not at all +pleased with her own appearance as she looked in the glass. Perhaps +that sense of looking not so well as usual brought back to her mind a +troublesome and painful idea, which recurred to her not unfrequently +when she was in any trouble. The real Rector to whom she was married +was so different from the ideal one who courted her; could it be +possible, if they had married in their youth instead of now, that her +husband would have been less open to the ill-natured suggestions of +the gossips in Carlingford, and less jealous of the interferences of +his young neighbour? It was hard to think that all the self-denial and +patience of the past had done more harm than good; but though she was +conscious of his defects, she was very loyal to him, and resolute to +stand by him whatever he might do or say; though Mrs Morgan's "womanly +instincts," which the Rector had quoted, were all on Mr Wentworth's +side, and convinced her of his innocence to start with. On the whole, +she was annoyed and uncomfortable; what with Mr Leeson's intrusion +(which had occurred three or four times before, and which Mrs Morgan +felt it her duty to check) and the Rector's uncharitableness, and her +own insufficient time to dress, and the disagreeable heightening of +her complexion, the Rector's wife felt in rather an unchristian frame +of mind. She did not look well, and she did not feel better. She was +terribly civil to the Curate when she went down-stairs, and snubbed +him in the most unqualified way when he too began to speak about Mr +Wentworth. "It does not seem to me to be at all a likely story," she +said, courageously, and took away Mr Leeson's breath. + +"But I hear a very unfavourable general account," said the Rector, who +was almost equally surprised. "I hear he has been playing fast and loose +with that very pretty person, Miss Wodehouse, and that her friends begin +to be indignant. It is said that he has not been nearly so much there +lately, but, on the contrary, always going to Elsworthy's, and has +partly educated this little thing. My dear, one false step leads to +another. I am not so incredulous as you are. Perhaps I have studied +human nature a little more closely, and I know that error is always +fruitful;--that is my experience," said Mr Morgan. His wife did not say +anything in answer to this deliverance, but she lay in wait for the +Curate, as was natural, and had her revenge upon him as soon as his ill +fate prompted him to back the Rector out. + +"I am afraid Mr Wentworth had always too much confidence in himself," +said the unlucky individual who was destined to be scapegoat on this +occasion; "and as you very justly observe, one wrong act leads to +another. He has thrown himself among the bargemen on such an equal +footing that I daresay he has got to like that kind of society. I +shouldn't be surprised to find that Rosa Elsworthy suited him better +than a lady with refined tastes." + +"Mr Wentworth is a gentleman," said the Rector's wife, with emphasis, +coming down upon the unhappy Leeson in full battle array. "I don't think +he would go into the poorest house, if it were even a bargeman's, +without the same respect of the privacy of the family as is customary +among--persons of our own class, Mr Leeson. I can't tell how wrong or +how foolish he may have been, of course--but that he couldn't behave to +anybody in a disrespectful manner, or show himself intrusive, or forget +the usages of good society," said Mrs Morgan, who was looking all the +time at the unfortunate Curate, "I am perfectly convinced." + +It was this speech which made Mr Morgan "speak seriously," as he +called it, later the same night, to his wife, about her manner to poor +Leeson, who was totally extinguished, as was to be expected. Mrs +Morgan busied herself among her flowers all the evening, and could not +be caught to be admonished until it was time for prayers: so that it +was in the sacred retirement of her own chamber that the remonstrance +was delivered at last. The Rector said he was very sorry to find that +she still gave way to temper in a manner that was unbecoming in a +clergyman's wife; he was surprised, after all her experience, and the +way in which they had both been schooled in patience, to find she had +still to learn that lesson: upon which Mrs Morgan, who had been +thinking much on the subject, broke forth upon her husband in a manner +totally unprecedented, and which took the amazed Rector altogether by +surprise. + +"Oh, William, if we had only forestalled the lesson, and been _less_ +prudent!" she cried in a womanish way, which struck the Rector dumb +with astonishment; "if we hadn't been afraid to marry ten years ago, +but gone into life when we were young, and fought through it like so +many people, don't you think it would have been better for us? Neither +you nor I would have minded what gossips said, or listened to a pack +of stories when we were five-and-twenty. I think I was better then +than I am now," said the Rector's wife. Though she filled that +elevated position, she was only a woman, subject to outbreaks of +sudden passion, and liable to tears like the rest. Mr Morgan looked +very blank at her as she sat there crying, sobbing with the force of a +sentiment which was probably untranslatable to the surprised, +middle-aged man. He thought it must be her nerves which were in fault +somehow, and though much startled, did not inquire farther into it, +having a secret feeling in his heart that the less that was said the +better on that subject. So he did what his good angel suggested to +him, kissed his wife, and said he was well aware what heavy calls he +had made upon her patience, and soothed her the best way that occurred +to him. "But you were very hard upon poor Leeson, my dear," said the +Rector, with his puzzled look, when she had regained her composure. +Perhaps she was disappointed that she had not been able to convey her +real meaning to her husband's matter-of-fact bosom; at all events, Mrs +Morgan recovered herself immediately, and flashed forth with all the +lively freshness of a temper in its first youth. + +"He deserved a great deal more than I said to him," said the Rector's +wife. "It might be an advantage to take the furniture, as it was all +new, though it is a perpetual vexation to me, and worries me out of my +life; but there was no need to take the curate, that I can see. What +right has he to come day after day at your dinner-hour? he knows we +dine at six as well as we do ourselves; and I do believe he knows what +we have for dinner," exclaimed the incensed mistress of the house; +"for he always makes his appearance when we have anything he likes. I +hope I know my duty, and can put up with what cannot be mended," +continued Mrs Morgan, with a sigh, and a mental reference to the +carpet in the drawing-room; "but there are some things really that +would disturb the temper of an angel. I don't know anybody that could +endure the sight of a man always coming unasked to dinner;--and he to +speak of Mr Wentworth, who, if he were the greatest sinner in the +world, is _always_ a gentleman!" Mrs Morgan broke off with a sparkle +in her eye, which showed that she had neither exhausted the subject, +nor was ashamed of herself; and the Rector wisely retired from the +controversy. He went to bed, and slept, good man, and dreamt that Sir +Charles Grandison had come to be his curate in place of Mr Leeson; and +when he woke, concluded quietly that Mrs Morgan had "experienced a +little attack on the nerves," as he explained afterwards to Dr +Marjoribanks. Her compunctions, her longings after the lost life they +might have lived together, her wistful womanish sense of the +impoverished existence, deprived of so many experiences, on which they +had entered in the dry maturity of their middle age, remained for ever +a mystery to her faithful husband. He was very fond of her, and had a +high respect for her character; but if she had spoken Sanscrit, he +could not have had less understanding of the meaning her words were +intended to convey. + +Notwithstanding, a vague idea that his wife was disposed to side with +Mr Wentworth had penetrated the brain of the Rector, and was not +without its results. He told her next morning, in his curt way, that +he thought it would be best to wait a little before taking any steps +in the Wharfside business. "If all I hear is true, we may have to +proceed in a different way against the unhappy young man," said Mr +Morgan, solemnly; and he took care to ascertain that Mr Leeson had an +invitation somewhere else to dinner, which was doing the duty of a +tender husband, as everybody will allow. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +"I want to know what all this means about young Wentworth," said Mr +Wodehouse. "He's gone off, it appears, in a hurry, nobody knows where. +Well, so they say. To his brother's, is it? _I_ couldn't know that; +but look here--that's not all, nor nearly all--they say he meets that +little Rosa at Elsworthy's every night, and walks home with her, and +all that sort of thing. I tell you I don't know--that's what people +say. You ought to understand all the rights of it, you two girls. I +confess I thought it was Lucy he was after, for my part--and a very +bad match, too, and one I should never have given my consent to. And +then there is another fine talk about some fellow he's got at his +house. What's the matter, Molly?--she looks as if she was going to +faint." + +"Oh no," said Miss Wodehouse, faintly; "and I don't believe a word +about Rosa Elsworthy," she said, with sudden impetuosity, a minute +after. "I am sure Mr Wentworth could vindicate himself whenever he +likes. I daresay the one story is just as true as the other; but +then," said the gentle elder sister, turning with anxious looks +towards Lucy, "he is proud, as is natural; and I shouldn't think he +would enter into explanations if he thought people did not trust him +without them." + +"That is all stuff," said Mr Wodehouse; "why should people trust him? I +don't understand trusting a man in all sorts of equivocal circumstances, +because he's got dark eyes, &c., and a handsome face--which seems _your_ +code of morality; but I thought he was after Lucy--that was my +belief--and I want to know if it's all off." + +"It never was on, papa," said Lucy, in her clearest voice. "I have been +a great deal in the district, you know, and Mr Wentworth and I could not +help meeting each other; that is all about it: but people must always +have something to talk about in Carlingford. I hope you don't think I +and Rosa Elsworthy could go together," she went on, turning round to him +with a smile. "I don't think that would be much of a compliment;" and, +saying this, Lucy went to get her work out of its usual corner, and sat +down opposite to her father, with a wonderfully composed face. She was +so composed, indeed, that any interested beholder might have been +justified in thinking that the work suffered in consequence, for it +seemed to take nearly all Lucy's strength and leisure to keep up that +look. + +"Oh!" said Mr Wodehouse, "that's how it was? Then I wonder why that +confounded puppy came here so constantly? I don't like that sort of +behaviour. Don't you go into the district any more and meet +him--that's all I've got to say." + +"Because of Rosa Elsworthy?" said Lucy, with a little smile, which did +not flicker naturally, but was apt to get fixed at the corners of her +pretty mouth. "That would never do, papa. Mr Wentworth's private +concerns are nothing to us; but, you know, there is a great work going +on in the district, and _that_ can't be interfered with," said the young +Sister of Mercy, looking up at him with a decision which Mr Wodehouse +was aware he could make no stand against. And when she stopped speaking, +Lucy did a little work, which was for the district too. All this time +she was admitting to herself that she had been much startled by this +news about Rosa Elsworthy,--much startled. To be sure, it was not like +Mr Wentworth, and very likely it would impair his influence; and it was +natural that any friend taking an interest in him and the district, +should be taken a little aback by such news. Accordingly, Lucy sat a +little more upright than usual, and was conscious that when she smiled, +as she had just done, the smile did not glide off again in a natural +way, but settled down into the lines of her face with a kind of spasmodic +tenacity. She could do a great deal in the way of self-control, but she +could not quite command these refractory muscles. Mr Wodehouse, who was +not particularly penetrating, could not quite make her out; he saw there +was something a little different from her ordinary look about his +favourite child, but he had not insight enough to enable him to +comprehend what it was. + +"And about his man who is staying at Mrs Hadwin's?" said the perplexed +churchwarden; "does any one know who the fellow is? I don't understand +how Wentworth has got into all this hot water in a moment. Here's the +Rector in a state of fury,--and his aunts,--and now here's this little +bit of scandal to crown all;--and who is this fellow in his house?" + +"It must be somebody he has taken in out of charity," said Miss +Wodehouse, with tears in her eyes; "I am sure it is somebody whom he +has opened his doors to out of Christian charity and the goodness of +his heart. I don't understand how you can all desert him at the first +word. All the years he has been here, you know there never was a +whisper against him; and is it in reason to think he would go so far +wrong all in a moment?" cried the faithful advocate of the Perpetual +Curate. Her words were addressed to Mr Wodehouse, but her eyes sought +Lucy, who was sitting very upright doing her work, without any leisure +to look round. Lucy had quite enough to occupy her within herself at +that emergency, and the tearful appeal of her elder sister had no +effect upon her. As for Mr Wodehouse, he was more and more puzzled how +to interpret these tears in his daughter's eyes. + +"I don't make it out at all," said the perplexed father, getting up to +leave the room. "I hope _you_ weren't in love with him, Molly? you +ought to have too much sense for that. A pretty mess he'll find when +he comes home; but he must get out of it the best way he can, for _I_ +can't help him, at least. I don't mean to have him asked here any +more--you understand, Lucy," he said, turning round at the door, with +an emphatic creak of his boots. But Lucy had no mind to be seduced +into any such confession of weakness. + +"You are always having everybody in Carlingford to dinner," said the +young housekeeper, "and all the clergymen, even _that_ Mr Leeson; and +I don't see why you should except Mr Wentworth, papa; he has done +nothing wicked, so far as we know. I daresay he won't want to bring +Rosa Elsworthy with him; and why shouldn't he be asked here?" said +Lucy, looking full in his face with her bright eyes. Mr Wodehouse was +entirely discomfited, and did not know what to say. "I wonder if you +know what you mean yourselves, you women," he muttered; and then, with +a shrug of his shoulders, and a hasty "settle it as you please," the +churchwarden's boots creaked hastily out of the room, and out of the +house. + +After this a dead silence fell upon the drawing-room and its two +occupants. They did not burst forth into mutual comment upon this last +piece of Carlingford news, as they would have done under any other +circumstances; on the contrary, they bent over their several occupations +with quite an unusual devotion, not exchanging so much as a look. Lucy, +over her needlework, was the steadiest of the two; she was still at the +same point in her thoughts, owning to herself that she was startled, and +indeed shocked, by what she had heard--that it was a great pity for Mr +Wentworth; perhaps that it was not quite what might have been expected +of him,--and then she checked herself, and went back again to her +original acknowledgment. To tell the truth, though she assured herself +that she had nothing to do with it, a strange sense of having just +passed through an unexpected illness, lay underneath Lucy's composure. +It was none of her business, to be sure, but she could not help feeling +as if she had just had a fever, or some other sudden unlooked-for +attack, and that nobody knew of it, and that she must get well as best +she could, without any help from without. + +It was quite half an hour before Miss Wodehouse got up from the +knitting which she had spoiled utterly, trying to take up the dropped +stitches with her trembling fingers, and dropping others by every +effort she made. The poor lady went wistfully about the room, +wandering from corner to corner, as if in search of something; at last +she took courage to speak, when she found herself behind her young +sister. "Dear, I am sure it is not true," said Miss Wodehouse, +suddenly, with a little sob; and then she came close to Lucy's chair, +and put her hand timidly upon her sister's shoulder. "Think how many +good things you two have done together, dear; and is it likely you are +to be parted like this?" said the injudicious comforter. It felt +rather like another attack of fever to Lucy, as unexpected as the +last. + +"Don't speak so, please," said the poor girl, with a momentary shiver. +"It is about Mr Wentworth you mean?" she went on, after a little, +without turning her head. "I--am sorry, of course. I am afraid it will +do him--harm," and then she made a pause, and stumbled over her sewing +with fingers which felt feeble and powerless to the very tips--all on +account of this fever she had had. "But I don't know any reason why +you and I should discuss it, Mary," she said, getting up in her turn, +not quite sure whether she could stand at this early period of her +convalescence, but resolved to try. "We are both Mr Wentworth's +friends--and we need not say any harm of him. I have to get something +out of the storeroom for to-night." + +"But, Lucy," said the tender, trembling sister, who did not know how +to be wise and silent, "_I_ trust him, and _you_ don't. Oh, my dear, +it will break my heart. I know some part of it is not true. I know one +thing in which he is quite--quite innocent. Oh, Lucy, my darling, if +you distrust him it will be returning evil for good!" cried poor Miss +Wodehouse, with tears. As for Lucy, she did not quite know what her +sister said. She only felt that it was cruel to stop her, and look at +her, and talk to her; and there woke up in her mind a fierce sudden +spark of resistance to the intolerable. + +"Why do you hold me? I may have been ill, but I can stand well enough +by myself," cried Lucy, to her sister's utter bewilderment. "That is, +I--I mean, I have other things to attend to," she cried, breaking into +a few hot tears of mortification over this self-betrayal; and so went +away in a strange glow and tremble of sudden passion, such as had +never been seen before in that quiet house. She went direct to the +storeroom, as she had said, and got out what was wanted; and only +after that was done permitted herself to go up to her own room, and +turn the key in her door. Though she was a Sister of Mercy, and much +beloved in Prickett's Lane, she was still but one of Eve's poor +petulant women-children, and had it in her to fly at an intruder on +her suffering, like any other wounded creature. But she did not make +any wild demonstration of her pain, even when shut up thus in her +fortress. She sat down on the sofa, in a kind of dull heaviness, +looking into vacancy. She was not positively thinking of Mr Wentworth, +or of any one thing in particular. She was only conscious of a +terrible difference somehow in everything about her--in the air which +choked her breathing, and the light which blinded her eyes. When she +came to herself a little, she said over and over, half-aloud, that +everything was just the same as it had always been, and that to her at +least nothing had happened; but that declaration, though made with +vehemence, did not alter matters. The world altogether had sustained a +change. The light that was in it was darkened, and the heart stilled. +All at once, instead of a sweet spontaneous career, providing for its +own wants day by day, life came to look like something which required +such an amount of courage and patience and endurance as Lucy had not +at hand to support her in the way; and her heart failed her at the +moment when she found this out. + +Notwithstanding, the people who dined at Mr Wodehouse's that night +thought it a very agreeable little party, and more than once repeated +the remark, so familiar to most persons in society in Carlingford--that +Wodehouse's parties were the pleasantest going, though he himself was +humdrum enough. Two or three of the people present had heard the +gossip about Mr Wentworth, and discussed it, as was natural, taking +different views of the subject; and poor Miss Wodehouse took up his +defence so warmly, and with such tearful vehemence, that there were +smiles to be seen on several faces. As for Lucy, she made only a very +simple remark on the subject. She said: "Mr Wentworth is a great +friend of ours, and I think I would rather not hear any gossip about +him." Of course there were one or two keen observers who put a subtle +meaning to this, and knew what was signified by her looks and her ways +all the evening; but, most likely, they were altogether mistaken in +their suppositions, for nobody could possibly watch her so closely as +did Miss Wodehouse, who know no more than the man in the moon, at the +close of the evening, whether her young sister was very wretched or +totally indifferent. The truth was certainly not to be discovered, for +that night at least, in Lucy's looks. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +The next afternoon there were signs of a considerable commotion in Mr +Elsworthy's shop. Rosa had disappeared altogether, and Mrs Elsworthy, +with an ominous redness on her cheeks, had taken the place generally +held by that more agreeable little figure. All the symptoms of having +been engaged in an affray from which she had retired not altogether +victorious were in Mrs Elsworthy's face, and the errand-boys vanished +from her neighbourhood with inconceivable rapidity, and found out little +parcels to deliver which would have eluded their most anxious search in +other circumstances. Mr Elsworthy himself occupied his usual place in +the foreground, without the usual marks of universal content and +satisfaction with all his surroundings which generally distinguished +him. An indescribable appearance of having been recently snubbed hung +about the excellent man, and his glances towards the back-shop, and the +glances directed from the back-shop to him, told with sufficient +significance the quarter from which his humiliation had proceeded. It +had done him good, as such painful discipline generally does; for he was +clearing out some drawers in which sundry quires of paper had broken +loose and run into confusion, with the air of a man who ought to have +done it weeks ago. As for the partner of his bosom, she was standing in +the obscure distance behind the counter knitting a blue stocking, which +was evidently intended for no foot but his. There was a chair close by, +but Mrs Elsworthy disdained to sit down. She stood with her knitting in +conscious power, now and then suffering a confession of her faith to +escape her. "There's nothing as don't go contrary in this world," said +the discontented wife, "when a man's a fool." It was hard upon Mr +Elsworthy that his ears were sharp, and that he knew exactly what this +agreeable murmur was. But he was wise in his generation, and made no +reply. + +Things were in this condition when, of all persons in Carlingford, it +occurred to Miss Leonora Wentworth to enter Mr Elsworthy's shop. Not +that she was alone, or bent upon any errand of inquiry; for Miss +Leonora seldom moved about unattended by her sisters, whom she felt it +her duty to take out for exercise; and wonderfully enough, she had not +found out yet what was the source of Miss Dora's mysteries and +depression, having been still occupied meantime by her own "great +work" in her London district, and the affair of the gin-palace, which +was still undecided. She had been talking a great deal about this +gin-palace for the last twenty-four hours; and to hear Miss Leonora, +you might have supposed that all the powers of heaven must fail and be +discomfited before this potent instrument of evil, and that, after +all, Bibles and missionaries were much less effective than the +stoppage of the licence, upon which all her agents were bent. At all +events, such an object of interest had swept out from her thoughts the +vague figure of her nephew Frank, and aunt Dora's mysterious anxieties +on his account. When the three ladies approached Elsworthy's, the +first thing that attracted their attention was Rosa, the little Rosa +who had been banished from the shop, and whom Mrs Elsworthy believed +to be expiating her sins in a back room, in tears and darkness; +instead of which the little girl was looking out of her favourite +window, and amusing herself much with all that was going on in Grange +Lane. Though she was fluttered by the scolding she had received, Rosa +only looked prettier than usual with her flushed cheeks; and so many +things had been put into her nonsensical little head during the last +two days, especially by her aunt's denunciations, that her sense of +self-importance was very much heightened in consequence. She looked at +the Miss Wentworths with a throb of mingled pride and alarm, wondering +whether perhaps she might know more of them some day, if Mr Wentworth +was really fond of her, as people said--which thought gave Rosa a +wonderful sensation of awe and delighted vanity. Meanwhile the three +Miss Wentworths looked at her with very diverse feelings. "I must +speak to these people about that little girl, if nobody else has sense +enough to do it," said Miss Leonora; "she is evidently going wrong as +fast as she can, the little fool;" and the iron-grey sister went into +Mr Elsworthy's in this perfectly composed and ordinary frame of mind, +with her head full of the application which was to be made to the +licensing magistrates today, in the parish of St Michael, and totally +unaware that anybody belonging to herself could ever be connected with +the incautious little coquette at the window. Miss Dora's feelings +were very different. It was much against her will that she was going +at all into this obnoxious shop, and the eyes which she hastily +uplifted to the window and withdrew again with lively disgust and +dislike, were both angry and tearful; "Little forward shameless +thing," Miss Dora said to herself, with a little toss of her head. As +for Miss Wentworth, it was not her custom to say anything--but she, +too, looked up, and saw the pretty face at the window, and secretly +concluded that it might all be quite true, and that she had known a +young man make a fool of himself before now for such another. So they +all went in, unwitting that they came at the end of a domestic +hurricane, and that the waters were still in a state of disturbance. +Miss Wentworth took the only chair, as was natural, and sat down +sweetly to wait for Leonora, and Miss Dora lingered behind while her +sister made her purchases. Miss Leonora wanted some books-- + +"And I came here," she said, with engaging candour, "because I see no +other shop in this part of the town except Masters's, which, of +course, I would not enter. It is easy enough to do without books, but +I can't afford to compromise my principles, Mr Elsworthy;" to which Mr +Elsworthy had replied, "No, ma'am, of course not--such a thing aint to +be expected;" with one eye upon his customer, and one upon his +belligerent wife. + +"And, by the by, if you will permit me to speak about what does not +concern me," said Miss Leonora cheerfully, "I think you should look +after that little girl of yours more carefully;--recollect I don't +mean any offence; but she's very pretty, you know, and very young, and +vain, as a matter of course. I saw her the other evening going down +Grange Lane, a great deal too late for such a creature to be out; and +though I don't doubt, you are very particular where she goes--" + +It was at this conjuncture that Mrs Elsworthy, who could not keep +silence any longer, broke in ardently, with all her knitting-needles +in front of her, disposed like a kind of porcupine mail-- + +"I'm well known in Carlingford--better known than most," said Mrs +Elsworthy, with a sob; "such a thing as not being particular was never +named to me. I strive and I toil from morning to night, as all things +should be respectable and kep' in good order; but what's the good? +Here's my heart broken, that's all; and Elsworthy standing gaping like +a gaby as he is. There aint nothing as don't go contrairy, when folks +is tied to a set of fools!" cried the indignant matron. "As for +pretty, I don't know nothing about it; I've got too much to do minding +my own business. Them as has nothing to think of but stand in the shop +and twiddle their thumbs, ought to look to that; but, ma'am, if you'll +believe me, it aint no fault of mine. It aint my will to throw her in +any young gentleman's way; not to say a clergyman as we're bound to +respect. Whatever you does, ladies,--and I shouldn't wonder at your +taking away your custom, nor nothing else as was a punishment--don't +blame me!" + +"But you forget, Mrs Elsworthy, that we have nothing to do with +it,--nothing at all; my nephew knows very well what he is about," said +Miss Dora, in injudicious haste. "Mr Wentworth is not at all likely to +forget himself," continued that poor lady, getting confused as her +sister turned round and stared at her. "Of course it was all out of +kindness;--I--I know Frank did not mean anything," cried the +unfortunate aunt. Leonora's look, as she turned round and fixed her +eyes upon her, took away what little breath Miss Dora had. + +"Mr Wentworth?" asked Miss Leonora; "I should be glad to know, if +anybody would inform me, what Mr Wentworth can possibly have to do +with it? I daresay you misunderstood me; I said you were to look after +that little girl--your niece, or whatever she is; I did not say +anything about Mr Wentworth," said the strong-minded sister, looking +round upon them all. For the moment she forgot all about the licence, +and turned upon Mr Elsworthy with an emphasis which almost drive that +troubled citizen to his knees. + +"That was how I understood it," said the clerk of St Roque's, humbly; +"there wasn't nothing said about Mr Wentworth--nor there couldn't be +as I know of, but what was in his favour, for there aint many young +men like our clergyman left in the Church. It aint because I'm +speaking to respected ladies as is his relations; folks may talk," +said Mr Elsworthy, with a slight faltering, "but I never see his +equal; and as for an act of kindness to an orphan child--" + +"The orphan child is neither here nor there," said his angry wife, who +had taken up her post by his side; "a dozen fathers and mothers +couldn't have done better by her than we've done; and to go and lay +out her snares for them as is so far above her, if you'll believe me, +ma'am, it's nigh broken my heart. She's neither flesh nor blood o' +mine," cried the aggrieved woman; "there would have been a different +tale to tell if she had belonged to me. I'd have--murdered her, ma'am, +though it aint proper to say so, afore we'd have gone and raised a +talk like this; it aint my blame, if it was my dying word," cried Mrs +Elsworthy, relapsing into angry tears: "I'm one as has always shown +her a good example, and never gone flirting about, nor cast my eyes to +one side or another for the best man as ever walked; and to think as a +respectable family should be brought to shame through her doings, and +a gentleman as is a clergyman got himself talked about--it's gone nigh +to kill me, that's what it's done," sobbed the virtuous matron; "and I +don't see as nobody cares." + +Miss Leonora had been woke up suddenly out of her abstract +occupations; she penetrated to the heart of the matter while all this +talk was going on. She transfixed her sister Dora, who seemed much +inclined to cry like Mrs Elsworthy, with a look which overwhelmed that +trembling woman; then she addressed herself with great suavity to the +matter in hand. + +"I suppose it is this poor little foolish child who has been getting +herself talked about?" said Miss Leonora. "It's a pity, to be sure, +but I daresay it's not so bad as you think. As for her laying snares +for people above her, I wouldn't be afraid of that. Poor little thing! +It's not so easy as you think laying snares. Perhaps it's the new +minister at Salem Chapel who has been paying attention to her? I would +not take any notice of it if I were you. Don't let her loll about at +the window as she's doing, and don't let her go out so late, and give +her plenty of work to do. My maid wants some one to help in her +needlework. Perhaps this child would do, Cecilia?" said Miss Leonora. +"As for her snares, poor thing, I don't feel much afraid of them. I +daresay if Mr Wentworth had Sunday classes for the young people as I +wished him to have, and took pains to give them proper instruction, +such things would not happen. If you send her to my maid, I flatter +myself she will soon come to her senses. Good morning; and you will +please to send me the books--there are some others I want you to get +for me next week," said Mr Elsworthy's patroness. "I will follow you, +Dora, please," and Miss Leonora swept her sisters out before her, and +went upon her way with indescribable grandeur. Even little Rosa felt +the change, where she sat at the window looking out. The little vain +creature no longer felt it possible to believe, as she looked after +them, that she ever could be anything to the Miss Wentworths except a +little girl in a shop. It shook her confidence in what people said; +and it was as well for her that she withdrew from the window at that +conjuncture, and so had an opportunity of hearing her aunt come +up-stairs, and of darting back again to the penitential darkness of +her own chamber at the back of the house--which saved Rosa some angry +words at least. + +As for Miss Leonora Wentworth, she said nothing to her sisters on this +new subject. She saw them safely home to their own apartments, and +went out again without explaining her movements. When she was gone, +Miss Wentworth listened to Miss Dora's doubts and tears with her +usual patience, but did not go into the matter much. "It doesn't +matter whether it is your fault or not," said aunt Cecilia, with a +larger amount of words than usual, and a sharpness very uncommon with +her; "but I daresay Leonora will set it all right." After all, the +confidence which the elder sister had in Leonora was justified. She +did not entirely agree with her about the "great work," nor was +disposed to connect the non-licensing of the gin-palace in any way +with the faithfulness of God: but she comprehended in her gentle heart +that there were other matters of which Leonora was capable. As for +Miss Dora, she went to the summer-house at last, and, seating herself +at the window, cried under her breath till she had a very bad +headache, and was of no use for any purpose under heaven. She thought +nothing less than that Leonora had gone abroad to denounce poor Frank, +and tell everybody how wicked he was; and she was so sure her poor +dear boy did not mean anything! She sat with her head growing heavier +and heavier, watching for her sister's return, and calculating within +herself how many places Leonora must have called at, and how utterly +gone by this time must be the character of the Perpetual Curate. At +last, in utter despair, with her thin curls all limp about her poor +cheeks, Miss Dora had to go to bed and have the room darkened, and +swallow cups of green tea and other nauseous compounds, at the will +and pleasure of her maid, who was learned in headache. The poor lady +sobbed herself to sleep after a time, and saw, in a hideous dream, her +sister Leonora marching from house to house of poor Frank's friends, +and closing door after door with all sorts of clang and dash upon the +returning prodigal. "But oh, it was not my fault--oh, my dear, she +found it out herself. You do not think _I_ was to blame?" sobbed poor +aunt Dora in her troubled slumber; and her headache did not get any +better notwithstanding the green tea. + +Miss Dora's visions were partly realised, for it was quite true that +her iron-grey sister was making a round of calls upon Frank's friends. +Miss Leonora Wentworth went out in great state that day. She had her +handsomest dress on, and the bonnet which her maid had calculated upon +as her own property, because it was much too nice for Miss Leonora. In +this impossible attire she went to see Mrs Hadwin, and was very gracious +to that unsuspecting woman, and learned a few things of which she had +not the least conception previously. Then she went to the Miss +Wodehouses, and made the elder sister there mighty uncomfortable by her +keen looks and questions; and what Miss Leonora did after that was not +distinctly known to any one. She got into Prickett's Lane somehow, and +stumbled upon No. 10, much to the surprise of the inhabitants; and +before she returned home she had given Mrs Morgan her advice about the +Virginian creeper which was intended to conceal the continual passage of +the railway trains. "But I would not trust to trellis-work. I would +build up the wall a few feet higher, and then you will have some +satisfaction in your work," said Miss Leonora, and left the Rector's +wife to consider the matter in rather an agreeable state of mind, for +that had been Mrs Morgan's opinion all along. After this last visit the +active aunt returned home, going leisurely along George Street, and down +Grange Lane, with meditative steps. Miss Leonora, of course, would not +for kingdoms have confessed that any new light had come into her mind, +or that some very ordinary people in Carlingford, no one of whom she +could have confidently affirmed to be a converted person, had left a +certain vivid and novel impression upon her thoughts. She went along +much more slowly than usual in this new mood of reflectiveness. She was +not thinking of the licensing magistrates of St Michael's nor the +beautiful faith of the colporteur. Other ideas filled her mind at the +moment. Whether perhaps, after all, a man who did his duty by rich and +poor, and could encounter all things for love and duty's sake, was not +about the best man for a parish priest, even though he did have +choristers in white surplices, and lilies on the Easter altar? Whether +it might not be a comfort to know that in the pretty parsonage at +Skelmersdale there was some one ready to start at a moment's notice for +the help of a friend or the succour of a soul--brother to Charley who +won the Cross for valour, and not unworthy of the race? Some strange +moisture came into the corners of Miss Leonora's eyes. There was Gerald +too, whom the Perpetual Curate had declared to be the best man he ever +knew; and the Evangelical woman, with all her prejudices, could not in +her heart deny it. Various other thoughts of a similar description, but +too shadowy to bear expression, came in spite of herself through Miss +Leonora's mind. "We know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be +a worshipper of God and doeth His will, him He heareth;" and it occurred +to her vaguely, for the first time, that she was harder to please than +her Master. Not that such an idea could get possession of a mind so well +fortified, at the first assault; but it was strange how often the +thought came back to her that the man who had thrilled through all those +people about Prickett's Lane a kind of vague sense that they were +Christians, and not hopeless wretches, forgotten of God; and who had +taken in the mysterious lodger at Mrs Hadwin's, bearing the penalty of +suspicion without complaint, would be true at his post wherever he might +be, and was a priest of God's appointing. Such were the strangely novel +ideas which went flashing through Miss Leonora's mind as she went home +to dinner, ejecting summarily the new gin-palaces and her favourite +colporteur. If anybody had stated them in words, she would have +indignantly scouted such latitudinarian stuff; but they kept flickering +in the strangest fluctuations, coming and going, bringing in native +Wentworth prejudices and natural affections to overcome all other +prepossessions, in the most inveterate, unexplainable way. For it will +be apparent that Miss Leonora, being a woman of sense, utterly scorned +the Rosa Elsworthy hypothesis, and comprehended as nearly how it +happened as it was possible for any one unaware of the facts to do. + +Such were the good and bad angels who fought over the Curate's fate +while he was away. He might have been anxious if he had known anything +about them, or had been capable of imagining any such clouds as those +which overshadowed his good name in the lively imagination of +Carlingford. But Rosa Elsworthy never could have occurred to the +unconscious young man as a special danger, any more than the relenting +in the heart of his aunt Leonora could have dawned upon him as a +possible happiness. To tell the truth, he had left home, so far as he +himself was concerned, in rather a happy state of mind than otherwise, +with healthful impulses of opposition to the Rector, and confidence in +the sympathy of Lucy. To hear that Lucy had given him up, and that +Miss Leonora and Mrs Morgan were the only people who believed in him, +would have gone pretty far at this moment to make an end of the +Perpetual Curate. But fortunately he knew nothing about it; and while +Lucy held her head high with pain, and walked over the burning coals a +conscious martyr, and Miss Dora sobbed herself asleep in her darkened +room, all on his account, there was plenty of trouble, perplexity, and +distress in Wentworth Rectory to occupy to the full all the thoughts +and powers of the Curate of St Roque's. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +It was mid-day, and more than twelve hours after he had left Carlingford, +before Mr Wentworth reached the Rectory. He had snatched a few hours' +sleep in London, where he was obliged to pause because of the trains, +which did not correspond; and accordingly, though he was very anxious +about Gerald, it was with a mien and gait very much like his usual +appearance that he jumped out of the railway carriage at the little +station which was on his father's property, and where everybody knew the +Squire's son. Left in entire uncertainty as he was in respect to the +trouble which had overtaken his brother, it was a little comfort to the +Curate to find that everybody looked surprised to see him, and that +nobody seemed to know of any cause demanding his presence. All was well +at the Hall, so far as the station-master knew; and as for the Rector, +he had no special place in the local report which the handiest porter +supplied "Mr Frank"--a blessed neglect, which was very consolatory to +the heart of the anxious brother, to whom it became evident that nothing +had happened, and who began to hope that Gerald's wife, who never was +very wise, had been seized with some merely fantastic terror. With this +hope he walked on briskly upon the familiar road to his brother's house, +recovering his courage, and falling back upon his own thoughts, and at +last taking pleasure in the idea of telling all his troubles to Gerald, +and getting strength and enlightenment from his advice. He had come +quite into this view of the subject when he arrived at the Rectory, and +saw the pretty old-fashioned house, with its high ivied garden-walls, +and the famous cedar on the lawn, standing all secure and sweet in the +early sunshine, like something too steadfast to be moved, as if sorrow +or conflict could never enter there. Unconsciously to himself, the +perfect tranquillity of everything altered the entire scope of Frank +Wentworth's thoughts. He was no longer in anxiety about his brother. He +was going to ask Gerald's advice upon his own troubles, and lay the +difficulties and dangers of his position before the clear and lucid eyes +of the best man he ever knew. + +It shook him a little out of his position, however, to find himself +admitted with a kind of scared expectation by Mrs Gerald Wentworth's +maid, who made no exclamation of wonder at the sight of him, but +opened the door in a troubled, stealthy way, strangely unlike the +usual customs of the place. "Is my brother at home?" said the Curate, +going in with a step that rang on the hall, and a voice that sounded +into the house. He would have proceeded straight, as usual, to +Gerald's study after this question, which was one of form merely, but +for the disturbed looks of the woman, who put up her hand imploringly. +"Oh hush! Mr Frank; hush! My mistress wants to see you first. She +said I was to show you into her sitting-room," said the maid, half +in a whisper, and led him hastily down a side-passage to a little +out-of-the-way room, which he knew was where Louisa was wont to retire +when she had her headaches, as was well known to all the house of +Wentworth. The Curate went in with some impatience and some alarm to +this retired apartment. His eyes, dazzled by the sunshine, could not +penetrate at first the shadowy greenness of the room, which, what with +the trees without and the Venetian blind within, was lost in a kind of +twilight, grateful enough after a while, but bewildering at the first +moment. Out of this darkness somebody rose as he entered, and walked +into his arms with trembling eagerness. "Oh Frank, I am so thankful +you are come! now perhaps something may be done; for _you_ always +understood," said his little sister-in-law, reaching up to kiss him. +She was a tiny little woman, with soft eyes and a tender little +blooming face, which he had never before seen obscured by any cloud, +or indeed moved by any particular sentiment. Now the firmament was all +overcast, and Louisa, it was evident, had been sitting in the shade of +her drawn blinds, having a quiet cry, and going into all her grievances. +To see such a serene creature all clouded over and full of tears, gave +the Curate a distinct shock of alarm and anxiety. He led her back to her +sofa, seeing clearer and clearer, as he watched her face, the plaintive +lines of complaint, the heavy burden of trouble which she was about to +cast on his shoulders. He grew more and more afraid as he looked at her. +"Is Gerald ill?" he said, with a thrill of terror; but even this could +scarcely account for the woeful look of all the accessories to the +picture. + +"Oh, Frank, I am so glad you are come!" said Louisa through her tears. +"I felt sure you would come when you got my letter. Your father thinks +I make a fuss about nothing, and Cuthbert and Guy do nothing but laugh +at me, as if they could possibly know; but you always understand me, +Frank. I knew it was just as good as sending for a brother of my own; +indeed better," said Mrs Wentworth, wiping her eyes; "for though +Gerald is using me so badly, I would not expose him out of his own +family, or have people making remarks--oh, not for the world!" + +"Expose him!" said the Curate, with unutterable astonishment. "You +don't mean to say you have any complaint to make about Gerald?" The +idea was so preposterous that Frank Wentworth laughed; but it was not +a laugh pleasant to hear. + +"Oh, Frank, if you but knew all," said Louisa; "what I have had to put +up with for months--all my best feelings outraged, and so many things +to endure that were dreadful to think of. And I that was always +brought up so differently; but now," cried the poor little woman, +bursting into renewed tears, "it's come to such a pass that it can't +be concealed any longer. I think it will break my heart; people will +be sure to say I have been to blame; and how I am ever to hold up my +head in society, and what is to be my name, and whether I am to be +considered a widow--" + +"A widow!" cried the Perpetual Curate, in utter consternation. + +"Or worse," sobbed Gerald's poor little wife: "it feels like being +divorced--as if one had done something wrong; and I am sure I never +did anything to deserve it; but when your husband is a Romish priest," +cried the afflicted woman, pressing her handkerchief to her eyes, "I +would just ask anybody what are you? You can't be his wife, because he +is not allowed to have any wife; and you can't go back to your maiden +name, because of the children; and how can you have any place in +society? Oh, Frank, I think I shall go distracted," said poor Louisa; +"it will feel as if one had done something wicked, and been put out of +the pale. How can I be called Mrs Wentworth any more when my husband +has left me? and even if he is a priest, and can't have any wife, +still he will be alive, and I shall not have the satisfaction of being +a widow even. I am sure I don't know what I say," she concluded, with +a fresh outburst; "for to be a widow would be a poor satisfaction, and +I don't know how I could ever, ever live without Gerald; but to feel +as if you were an improper person, and all the children's prospects in +life!--Oh, Frank!" cried the weeping Louisa, burying her face in her +handkerchief, "I think I shall go distracted, and my heart will +break." + +To all this strange and unexpected revelation the startled Curate +listened like a man in a dream. Possibly his sister-in-law's +representation of this danger, as seen entirely from her own point of +view, had a more alarming effect upon him that any other statement of +the case. He could have gone into Gerald's difficulties with so much +sympathy and fellow-feeling that the shock would have been trifling in +comparison; and between Rome and the highest level of Anglicanism +there was no such difference as to frighten the accustomed mind of the +Curate of St Roque's. But, seen from Louisa's side, matters appeared +very different: here the foundations of the earth were shaking, and +life itself going to pieces; even the absurdity of her distress made +the whole business more real; and the poor little woman, whose trouble +was that she herself would neither be a wife nor a widow, had enough +of truth on her side to unfold a miserable picture to the eyes of the +anxious spectator. He did not know what answer to make her; and +perhaps it was a greater consolation to poor Louisa to be permitted to +run on-- + +"And you know it never needed to have come to this if Gerald had been +like other people," she said, drying her tears, and with a tone of +remonstrance. "Of course it is a family living, and it is not likely +his own father would have made any disturbance; and there is no other +family in the parish but the Skipwiths, and they are great friends, +and never would have said a word. He might have preached in six +surplices if he had liked," cried poor Louisa--"who would have minded? +And as for confession, and all that, I don't believe there is anybody +in the world who had done any wrong that could have helped confessing +to Gerald; he is so good--oh, Frank, you know he is so good!" said the +exasperated little wife, overcome with fondness and admiration and +impatience, "and there is nobody in the parish that I ever heard of +that does not worship him; but when I tell him so, he never pays the +least attention. And then Edward Plumstead and he go on talking about +subscription, and signing articles, and nonsense, till they make my +head swim. Nobody, I am sure, wants Gerald to subscribe or sign +articles. I am sure I would subscribe any amount," cried the poor +little woman, once more falling into tears--"a thousand pounds if I +had it, Frank--only to make him hear reason; for why should he leave +Wentworth, where he can do what he likes, and nobody will interfere +with him? The Bishop is an old friend of my father's, and I am sure +he never would say anything; and as for candles and crosses +and--anything he pleases, Frank--" + +Here poor Louisa paused, and put her hand on his arm, and looked up +wistfully into his face. She wanted to convince herself that she was +right, and that the faltering dread she had behind all this, of +something more mysterious than candles or crosses--something which she +did not attempt to understand--was no real spectre after all. "Oh, +Frank, I am sure I never would oppose him, nor your father, nor +anybody; and why should he go and take some dreadful step, and upset +everything?" said Mrs Wentworth. "Oh, Frank! we will not even have +enough to live upon; and as for me, if Gerald leaves me, how shall I +ever hold up my head again, or how will anybody know how to behave to +me? I can't call myself Miss Leighton again, after being married so +long; and if I am not his wife, what shall I be?" Her crying became +hysterical as she came back to this point; and Mr Wentworth sat by her +trying to soothe her, as wretched as herself. + +"But I must see Gerald, Louisa," said the Curate; "he has never +written to me about this. Perhaps things have not gone so far as you +think; but as for the crosses and the candles, you know, and not being +interfered with--" + +"I would promise to do anything he likes," cried the weeping woman. "I +never would worry him any more about anything. After aunt Leonora was +here, perhaps I said things I should not have said; but, oh Frank, +whatever he likes to do I am sure I will give in to it. I don't +_really_ mind seeing him preach in his surplice, only you know poor +papa was so _very_ Low-Church; and as for the candles, what are they +to pleasing one's husband? Oh, Frank, if you would only tell him--I +can't argue about things like a man--tell him nobody will ever +interfere, and he shall do whatever he pleases. I trust to you to say +_everything_," said the poor wife. "You can reason with him and +explain things. Nobody understands Gerald like you. You will not +forsake me in my trouble, Frank? I thought immediately of you. I knew +you could help us, if anybody could. You will tell him all I have +said," she continued, rising as Mr Wentworth rose, and going after him +to the door, to impress once more upon him the necessities of the +case. "Oh, Frank, remember how much depends upon it!--everything in +the world for me, and all the children's prospects in life; and he +would be miserable himself if he were to leave us. You know he would?" +said Louisa, looking anxiously into his face, and putting her hand on +his arm. "Oh, Frank, you don't think Gerald could be happy without the +children--and me?" + +The terrible thought silenced her. She stopped crying, and a kind of +tearless horror and dread came over her face. She was not very wise, +but her heart was tender and full of love in its way. What if perhaps +this life, which had gone so smoothly over her unthinking head without +any complications, should turn out to be a lie, and her happiness a +mere delusion? She could not have put her thoughts into words, but the +doubt suddenly came over her, putting a stop to all her lamentations. +If perhaps Gerald _could_ be happy without the children and herself, +what dreadful fiction had all her joy been built upon! Such an +inarticulate terror seemed to stop the very beating of her heart. It +was not a great calamity only but an overthrowal of all confidence in +life; and she shivered before it like a dumb creature piteously +beholding an approaching agony which it could not comprehend. The +utterance of her distress was arrested upon her lips,--she looked up +to her brother with an entreating look, so suddenly intensified and +grown desperate that he was startled by it. It alarmed him so much +that he turned again to lead her back to her sofa, wondering what +momentary passion it could be which had woke such a sudden world of +confused meaning in Louisa's eyes. + +"You may be sure he could not," said the Curate, warmly. "Not happy, +certainly; but to men like Gerald there are things in the world +dearer than happiness," he said, after a little pause, with a sigh, +wondering to himself whether, if Lucy Wodehouse were his, his dearest +duty could make him consent to part with her. "If he thinks of such a +step, he must think of it as of martyrdom--is that a comfort to you?" +he continued, bending, in his pity and wonder, over the trembling +wife, who burst forth into fresh tears as he spoke, and forgot her +momentary horror. + +"Oh, Frank, go and speak to him, and tell him how miserable I am, and +what a dreadful thing it would be; tell him everything, Frank. Oh, don't +leave him till you have persuaded him. Go, go; never mind me," cried Mrs +Wentworth; and then she went to the door after him once more--"Don't say +I sent for you. He--he might not be pleased," she said, in her +faltering, eager voice; "and oh, Frank, consider how much hangs upon +what you say." When he left her, Louisa stood at the door watching him +as he went along the passage towards her husband's room. It was a +forlorn-hope; but still the unreasoning, uncomprehending heart took a +little comfort from it. She watched his figure disappearing along the +narrow passage with a thrill of mingled anxiety and hope; arguing with +Gerald, though it was so ineffectual when she tried it, might still be +of some avail in stronger hands. His brother understood him, and could +talk to him better than anybody else could; and though she had never +convinced anybody of anything all her life, Mrs Wentworth had an +inalienable confidence in the effect of "being talked to." In the +momentary stimulus she went back to her darkened room and drew up the +blind, and went to work in a tremulous way; but as the slow time went +on, and Frank did not return, poor Louisa's courage failed her; her +fingers refused their office, and she began to imagine all sorts of +things that might be going on in Gerald's study. Perhaps the argument +might be going the wrong way; perhaps Gerald might be angry at his +brother's interference; perhaps they might come to words--they who had +been such good friends--and it would be her fault. She jumped up with +her heart beating loud when she heard a door opened somewhere; but when +nobody came, grew sick and faint, and hid her face, in the impatience of +her misery. Then the feeling grew upon her that those precious moments +were decisive, and that she must make one last appeal, or her heart +would burst. She tried to resist the impulse in a feeble way, but it was +not her custom to resist impulses, and it got the better of her; and +this was why poor Louisa rushed into the library, just as Frank thought +he had made a little advance in his pleading, and scattered his +eloquence to the winds with a set of dreadful arguments which were all +her own. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +The Curate of St Roque's found his brother in his library, looking +very much as he always looked at first glance. But Gerald was not +reading nor writing nor doing anything. He was seated in his usual +chair, by his usual table, with all the ordinary things around. Some +manuscript--lying loosely about, and looking as if he had thrown down +his pen in disgust, and pushed it away from him in the middle of a +sentence--was on the table, and an open book in his other hand; but +neither the book nor the manuscript occupied him; he was sitting +leaning his head in his hands, gazing blankly out through the window, +as it appeared, at the cedar, which flung its serene shadow over the +lawn outside. He jumped up at the sound of his brother's voice, but +seemed to recall himself with a little difficulty even for that, and +did not look much surprised to see him. In short, Frank read in +Gerald's eyes that he would not at that moment have been surprised to +see any one, and that, in his own consciousness, the emergency was +great enough to justify any unlooked-for appearance, though it might +be from heaven or from the grave. + +"I am glad you have come," he said, after they had greeted each other, +his mouth relaxing ever so slightly into the ghost of his old smile; +"you and I always understood each other, and it appears I want +interpretation now. And one interpretation supposes many," he said +with a gleam, half of pathos half of amusement, lighting up his face +for a moment; "there is no such thing as accepting a simple version +even of one man's thoughts. You have come at a very fit time, +Frank--that is, for me." + +"I am glad you think so," said the other brother; and then there was a +pause, neither liking to enter upon the grand subject which stood +between them. + +"Have you seen Louisa?" said Gerald. He spoke like a man who was ill, +in a preoccupied interrupted way. Like a sick man, he was occupied +with himself, with the train of thought which was always going on in +his mind whatever he might be doing, whether he was working or +resting, alone or in company. For months back he had carried it with +him everywhere. The cedar-tree outside, upon which his thoughtful eyes +fell as he looked straight before him out of the library window, was +all garlanded with the reasonings and questionings of this painful +spring. To Frank's eyes, Gerald's attention was fixed upon the +fluttering of a certain twig at the extremity of one of those broad +solemn immovable branches. Gerald, however, saw not the twig, but one +of his hardest difficulties which was twined and twined in the most +inextricable way round that little sombre cluster of spikes; and so +kept looking out, not at the cedar, but at the whole confused yet +distinct array of his own troubled thoughts. + +"If you have seen Louisa, she has been talking to you, no doubt," he +said, after another little pause, with again the glimmer of a smile. "We +have fallen upon troubles, and we don't understand each other, Frank. +That's all very natural; she does not see things from my point of view: +I could not expect she should. If I could see from hers, it might be +easier for us all; but that is still less to be expected; and it is hard +upon her, Frank--very hard," said Gerald, turning round in his old +ingenuous way, with that faculty for seeing other people's difficulties +which was so strong a point in his character. "She is called upon to +make, after all, perhaps, the greater sacrifice of the two; and she does +not see any duty in it--the reverse, indeed. She thinks it a sin. It is +a strange view of life, to look at it from Louisa's point. Here will be +an unwilling, unintentional martyrdom; and it is hard to think I should +take all the merit, and leave my poor little wife the suffering without +any compensation!" He began to walk up and down the room with uneasy +steps, as if the thought was painful, and had to be got rid of by some +sudden movement. "It must be that God reckons with women for what they +have endured, as with men for what they have done," said Gerald. He +spoke with a kind of grieved certainty, which made his brother feel, to +start with, the hopelessness of all argument. + +"But must this be? Is it necessary to take such a final, such a +terrible step?" said the Perpetual Curate. + +"I think so." Gerald went to the window, to resume his contemplation +of the cedar, and stood there with his back turned to Frank, and his +eyes going slowly over all the long processes of his self-argument, +laid up as they were upon those solemn levels of shadow. "Yes--you +have gone so far with me; but I don't want to take you any farther, +Frank. Perhaps, when I have reached the perfect peace to which I am +looking forward, I may try to induce you to share it, but at present +there are so many pricks of the flesh. You did not come to argue with +me, did you?" and again the half-humorous gleam of old came over +Gerald's face as he looked round. "Louisa believes in arguing," he +said, as he came back to the table and took his seat again; "not that +she has ever gained much by it, so far as I am aware. Poor girl! she +talks and talks, and fancies she is persuading me; and all the time my +heart is bleeding for her. There it is!" he exclaimed, suddenly hiding +his face in his hands. "This is what crushes one to think of. The rest +is hard enough, Heaven knows--separation from my friends, giving up my +own people, wounding and grieving, as I know I shall, everybody who +loves me. I could bear that; but Louisa and her children--God help me, +there's the sting!" + +They were both men, and strong men, not likely to fall into any +sentimental weakness; but something between a groan and a sob, wrung +out of the heart of the elder brother at the thought of the terrible +sacrifice before him, echoed with a hard sound of anguish into the +quiet. It was very different from his wife's trembling, weeping, +hoping agony; but it reduced the Curate more than ever to that +position of spectator which he felt was so very far from the active +part which his poor sister expected of him. + +"I don't know by what steps you have reached this conclusion," said +Frank Wentworth; "but even if you feel it your duty to give up the +Anglican Church (in which, of course, I think you totally wrong," +added the High Churchman in a parenthesis), "I cannot see why you are +bound to abandon all duties whatever. I have not come to argue with +you; I daresay poor Louisa may expect it of me, but I can't, and you +know very well I can't. I should like to know how it has come about +all the same; but one thing only, Gerald--a man may be a Christian +without being a priest. Louisa--" + +"Hush, I am a priest, or nothing. I can't relinquish my life!" cried the +elder brother, lifting his hands suddenly, as if to thrust away +something which threatened him. Then he rose up again and went towards +the window and his cedar, which stood dark in the sunshine, slightly +fluttered at its extremities by the light summer-wind, but throwing +glorious level lines of shadow, which the wind could not disturb, upon +the grass. The limes near, and that one delicate feathery birch which +was Mrs Wentworth's pride, had all some interest of their own on hand, +and went on waving, rustling, coquetting with the breezes and the +sunshine in a way which precluded any arbitrary line of shade. But the +cedar stood immovable, like a verdant monument, sweeping its long level +branches over the lawn, passive under the light, and indifferent, except +at its very tops and edges, to the breeze. If there had been any human +sentiment in that spectator of the ways of man, how it must have groaned +and trembled under the pitiless weight of thoughts, the sad lines of +discussion and argument and doubt, which were entangled in its branches! +Gerald Wentworth went to his window to refer to it, as if it were a book +in which all his contests had been recorded. The thrill of the air in it +tingled through him as he stood looking out; and there, without looking +at Frank, except now and then for a moment when he got excited with his +subject, he went into the history of his struggle--a history not +unprecedented or unparalleled, such as has been told to the world before +now by men who have gone through it, in various shapes, with various +amounts of sophistry and simplicity. But it is a different thing reading +of such a conflict in a book, and hearing it from lips pallid with the +meaning of the words they uttered, and a heart which was about to prove +its sincerity by voluntary pangs more hard than death. Frank Wentworth +listened to his brother with a great deal of agreement in what he said, +and again with an acute perception of mistakes on Gerald's part, and +vehement impulses of contradiction, to which, at the same time, it was +impossible to give utterance; for there was something very solemn in the +account he was giving of himself, as he stood with his face half turned +to the anxious listener, leaning on the window, looking into the cedar. +Gerald did not leave any room for argument or remonstrance; he told his +brother how he had been led from one step to another, without any +lingering touch of possibility in the narrative that he might be +induced to retrace again that painful way. It was a path, once trod, +never to be returned upon; and already he stood steadfast at the end, +looking back mournfully, yet with a strange composure. It would be +impossible to describe the mixture of love, admiration, impatience--even +intolerance--which swelled through the mind of the spectator as he +looked on at this wonderful sight, nor how hard he found it to restrain +the interruptions which rushed to his lips, the eager arguments which +came upon him in a flood, all his own favourite fences against the +overflow of the tide which ran in lawful bounds in his own mind, but +which had inundated his brother's. But though it was next to impossible +to keep silence, it was altogether impossible to break in upon Gerald's +history of this great battle through which he had just come. He _had_ +come through it, it was plain; the warfare was accomplished, the weapons +hung up, the conflict over; and nothing could be more apparent than that +he had no intention of entering the battle-field again. When he had +ended, there was another pause. + +"I am not going to argue with you," said Frank Wentworth; "I don't even +need to tell you that I am grieved to the heart. It isn't so very many +years ago," said the younger brother, almost too much touched by the +recollection to preserve his composure, "since I took all my opinions +from you; and since the time came for independent action, I too have +gone over all this ground. My conclusions have been very different from +yours, Gerald. I see you are convinced, and I can say nothing; but they +do not convince me--you do not convince me, nor the sight of your faith, +though that is the most touching of all arguments. Will you go back and +go over it again?" said the Curate, spurred, by a thought of poor +Louisa, to contradict himself, while the words were still on his lips. + +"No," said Gerald; "it would be of no use, Frank. We should only grieve +each other more." + +"Then I give up that subject," said the younger brother: "but there +is one matter which I must go back to. You may go to Rome, and cease +to be a priest of the Anglican Church, but you cannot cease to be a +man, to bear the weight of your natural duties. Don't turn away, but +hear me. Gerald, Louisa--" + +"Don't say any more. Do you imagine I have not thought of that?" said +Gerald, once more, with a gesture of pain, and something like terror; +"I have put my hand to the plough and I cannot go back. If I am not a +priest, I am nothing." But when he came to that point, his cedar-tree +no longer gave him any assistance; he came back to his chair, and +covered his face with his hands. + +"Louisa is your wife; you are not like a man free from the bonds of +nature," said the Curate of St Roque's. "It is not for me to speak of +the love between you; but I hold it, as the Scripture says, for a holy +mystery, like the love of Christ for his Church--the most sacred of +all bonds," said the young man, with a certain touch of awe and +emotion, as became a young man and a true lover. He made a little +pause to regain command of himself before he continued, "And she is +dependent on you--outwardly, for all the comfort of her life--and in +her heart, for everything, Gerald. I do not comprehend what that duty +is which could make you leave her, all helpless and tender, as you +know her to be, upon the mercies of the world. She herself says"--and +poor Louisa's complaint grew into pathos under the subliming force of +her advocate's sympathy--"that she would be like a widow, and worse +than a widow. I am not the man to bid you suppress your convictions +because they will be your ruin, in the common sense of the word; but, +Gerald--your wife--" + +Gerald had bent his head down upon his clasped hands; sometimes a +great heave of his frame showed the last struggle that was going on +within him--a struggle more painful, more profound, than anything that +had gone before. And the voice of the Curate, who, like his brother, +was nothing if not a priest, was choked, and painful with the force +of his emotion. He drew his breath hard between his words: it was not +an argument, but an admonition; an appeal, not from a brother only, +but from one who spoke with authority, as feeling himself accredited +from God. He drew closer towards the voluntary martyr beside him, the +humbleness of his reverential love for his elder brother mingling in +that voice of the priest, which was natural to him, and which he did +not scruple to adopt. "Gerald,--your wife," he said, in softened but +firm tones, laying his hand on his brother's arm. And it was at this +moment, when in his heart he felt that his influence might be of some +avail, and when all the powers of his mind were gathering to bear upon +this last experiment, that the door opened suddenly, and poor Louisa, +all flushed and tearful, in womanish hot impatience and misery that +knew no prudence, burst, without any warning, into the room. + +"I can't bear it any longer," cried the poor wife. "I knew you were +talking it all over, and deciding what it was to be; and when one's +life is hanging on a chance, how can one keep quiet and not interfere? +Oh, Gerald, Gerald! I have been a true wife to you. I know I am not +clever; but I would have died to do you any good. You are not going to +forsake me!" cried poor Louisa, going up to him and putting her arms +round him. "I said Frank was to tell you everything, but a man can +never tell what is in a woman's heart. Oh, Gerald, why should you go +and kill me! I will never oppose you any more; whatever you want, I +will give in to it as freely as if it were my own way. I will make +_that_ my own way, Gerald, if you will only listen to me. Whatever +changes you please, oh Gerald, I will never say a word, nor your +father, nor any one! If the Bishop should interfere, we would all +stand up for you. There is not a soul in Wentworth to oppose--you know +there is not. Put anything you please in the church--preach how you +please--light the candles or anything. Gerald, you know it is true I +am saying--I am not trying to deceive you!" cried the poor soul, +bewildered in her folly and her grief. + +"No, Louisa, no--only you don't understand," said her husband, with a +groan: he had raised his head, and was looking at her with a hopeless +gleam of impatience in the pity and anguish of his eyes. He took her +little hand and held it between his own, which were trembling with all +this strain--her little tender helpless woman's hand, formed only for +soft occupations and softer caresses; it was not a hand which could +help a man in such an emergency; it was without any grasp in it to +take hold upon him, or force of love to part--a clinging impotent +hand, such as holds down, but cannot raise up. He held it in a close +tremulous pressure, as she stood looking down upon him, questioning +him with eager hopeful eyes, and taking comfort in her ignorance from +his silence, and the way in which he held her. Poor Louisa concluded +she was yet to win the day. + +"I will turn Puseyite too," she said with a strange little touch of +attempted laughter. "I don't want to have any opinions different from +my husband's; and you don't think your father is likely to do anything +to drive you out of the church? You have only given us a terrible +fright, dear," she continued, beginning to tremble again, as he shook +his head and turned away from her. "You did not really mean such a +dreadful thing as sending _me_ away. You could not do without me, +Gerald--you know you could not." Her breath was getting short, her +heart quickening in its throbs--the smile that was quivering on her +face got no response from her husband's downcast eyes. And then poor +Louisa lost all her courage; she threw herself down at his feet, +kneeling to him. "Oh, Gerald, it is not because you want to get rid of +me? You are not doing it for that? If you don't stay in the Rectory, +we shall be ruined--we shall not have enough to eat! and the Rectory +will go to Frank, and your children will be cast upon the world--and +what, oh what is it for, unless it is to get rid of me?" cried Mrs +Wentworth. "You could have as much freedom as you like here at your +own living--nobody would ever interfere or say what are you doing? +and the Bishop is papa's old friend. Oh, Gerald, be wise in time, and +don't throw away all our happiness for a fancy. If it was anything +that could not be arranged, I would not mind so much; but if we all +promise to give in to you, and that you shall do what you please, and +nobody will interfere, how can you have the heart to make us all so +wretched? We will not even be respectable," said the weeping woman; "a +family without any father, and a wife without her husband--and he +living all the time! Oh, Gerald, though I think I surely might be +considered as much as candles, have the altar covered with lights if +you wish it; and if you never took off your surplice any more, I would +never say a word. You can do all that and stay in the Rectory. You +have not the heart--surely--surely you have not the heart--all for an +idea of your own, to bring this terrible distress upon the children +and me?" + +"God help us all!" said Gerald, with a sigh of despair, as he lifted +her up sobbing in a hysterical fit, and laid her on the sofa. He had +to stand by her side for a long time holding her hand, and soothing +her, with deeper and deeper shadows growing over his face. As for +Frank, after pacing the room in great agitation for some time, after +trying to interpose, and failing, he went away in a fever of +impatience and distress into the garden, wondering whether he could +ever find means to take up the broken thread, and urge again upon his +brother the argument which, but for this fatal interruption, he +thought might have moved him. But gathering thoughts came thick upon +the Perpetual Curate. He did not go back to make another attempt, even +when he knew by the sounds through the open windows that Louisa had +been led to her own room up-stairs. He stood outside and looked at the +troubled house, which seemed to stand so serene and secure in the +sunshine. Who could have supposed that it was torn asunder in such a +hopeless fashion? And Louisa's suggestion came into his mind, and +drove him wild with a sense of horror and involuntary guilt, as +though he had been conspiring against them. "The Rectory will go to +Frank." Was it his fault that at that moment a vision of Lucy +Wodehouse, sweet and strong and steadfast--a delicate, firm figure, on +which a man could lean in his trouble--suddenly rose up before the +Curate's eyes? Fair as the vision was, he would have banished it if he +could, and hated himself for being capable of conjuring it up at such +a time. Was it for him to profit by the great calamity which would +make his brother's house desolate? He could not endure the thought, +nor himself for finding it possible; and he was ashamed to look in +Gerald's face with even the shadow of such an imagination on his own. +He tapped at the library window after a while, and told his brother +that he was going up to the Hall. Louisa had gone up-stairs, and her +husband sat once more, vacant yet occupied, by his writing-table. "I +will follow you presently," said Gerald. "Speak to my father without +any hesitation, Frank; it is better to have it over while we are all +together--for it must be concluded now." And the Curate saw in the +shadow of the dim apartment that his brother lifted from the table the +grand emblem of all anguish and victory, and pressed upon it his pale +lips. The young man turned away with the shadow of that cross standing +black between him and the sunshine. His heart ached at the sight of +the symbol most sacred and most dear in the world. In an agony of +grief and impatience, he went away sadly through the familiar road to +his father's house. Here had he to stand by and see this sacrifice +accomplished. This was all that had come of his mission of consolation +and help. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +The Curate of St Roque's went sadly along the road he knew so well +from Wentworth Rectory to the Hall. There was scarcely a tree nor the +turning of a hedgerow which had not its own individual memories to the +son of the soil. Here he had come to meet Gerald returning from +Eton--coming back from the university in later days. Here he had +rushed down to the old Rector, his childless uncle, with the copy of +the prize-list when his brother took his first-class. Gerald, and the +family pride in him, was interwoven with the very path, and now--The +young man pressed on to the Hall with a certain bitter moisture +stealing to the corner of his eye. He felt indignant and aggrieved in +his love, not at Gerald, but at the causes which were conspiring to +detach him from his natural sphere and duties. When he recollected how +he had himself dallied with the same thoughts, he grew angry with his +brother's nobleness and purity, which never could see less than its +highest ideal soul in anything, and with a certain fierce fit of +truth, glanced back at his own Easter lilies and choristers, feeling +involuntarily that he would like to tear off the flowers and surplices +and tread them under his feet. Why was it that he, an inferior man, +should be able to confine himself to the mere accessories which +pleased his fancy, and could judge and reject the dangerous principles +beneath; while Gerald, the loftier, purer intelligence, should get so +hopelessly lost in mazes of sophistry and false argument, to the peril +of his work, his life, and all that he could ever know of happiness? +Such were the thoughts that passed through the mind of the Perpetual +Curate as he went rapidly through the winding country-road going +"home." Perhaps he was wrong in thinking that Gerald was thus superior +to himself; but the error was a generous one, and the Curate held it +in simplicity and with all his heart. + +Before he reached the house he saw his father walking under the +lime-trees, which formed a kind of lateral aisle to the great avenue, +which was one of the boasts of the Wentworths. The Squire was like most +squires of no particular character; a hale, ruddy, clear-complexioned, +well-preserved man, looking his full age, but retaining all the vigour +of his youth. He was not a man of any intellect to speak of, nor did he +pretend to it; but he had that glimmering of sense which keeps many a +stupid man straight, and a certain amount of natural sensibility and +consideration for other people's feelings which made persons who knew no +better give Mr Wentworth credit for tact, a quality unknown to him. He +was walking slowly in a perplexed manner under the lime-trees. They were +all in glorious blossom, filling the air with that mingling sense of +fragrance and music which is the soul of the murmurous tree: but the +short figure of the Squire, in his morning-coat, with his perplexed +looks, was not at all an accessory in keeping with the scene. He was +taking his walk in a subdued way, pondering something--and it puzzled +him sorely in his straightforward, unprofound understanding. He shook +his head sometimes as he went along, sad and perplexed and +unsatisfactory, among his limes. He had got a note from Gerald that +morning; and how his son could intend to give up living and station, and +wife and children, for anything in heaven or earth, was more than the +Squire could understand. He started very much when he heard Frank's +voice calling to him. Frank, indeed, was said to be, if any one was, the +Squire's weakness in the family; he was as clever as Gerald, and he had +the practical sense which Mr Wentworth prized as knowing himself to +possess it. If he could have wished for any one in the present +emergency, it would have been Frank--and he turned round overjoyed. + +"Frank, my boy, you're heartily welcome home!" he said, holding out +his hand to him as became a British parent--"always welcome, but +particularly just now. Where did you come from? how did you come? have +you eaten anything this morning? it's close upon lunch, and we'll go +in directly; but, my dear boy, wait here a moment, if you're not +particularly hungry; I can't tell you how glad I am you're come. I'd +rather see you than a hundred pound!" + +When Frank had thanked him, and returned his greetings, and answered +his questions (which the Squire had forgotten), and made his own +inquiries, to which Mr Wentworth replied only by a hasty nod, and an +"Oh yes, thank you, all well--all well," the two came to a momentary +pause: they had nothing particular to add about their happiness in +seeing each other; and as Frank wrote to his sisters pretty regularly, +there was nothing to tell. They were quite free to plunge at once, as +is to British relatives under the trying circumstances of a meeting a +blessed possibility, into the first great subject which happened to be +at hand. + +"Have you heard anything about Gerald?" said Mr Wentworth, abruptly; +"perhaps you called there on your way from the station? Gerald has got +into a nice mess. He wrote to tell me about it, and I can't make head +nor tail of it. Do you think he's a little touched here?" and the +Squire tapped his own round forehead, with a troubled look: "there's +no other explanation possible that I can see: a good living, a nice +house, a wife that just suits him (and it's not everybody that would +suit Gerald), and a lot of fine children--and he talks to me of giving +up everything; as if a man could give up everything! It's all very +well talking of self-renunciation, and so forth; and if it meant +simply considering other people, and doing anything disagreeable for +anybody's sake, I don't know a man more likely than my son Gerald. +Your brother's a fine fellow, Frank--a noble sort of fellow, though +he has his crotchets," said the father, with a touch of involuntary +pathos; "but you don't mean to tell me that my son, a man like Gerald +Wentworth, has a mind to throw away his position, and give up all the +duties of his life? He can't do it, sir! I tell you it's impossible, +and I won't believe it." Mr Wentworth drew up his shirt-collar, and +kicked away a fallen branch with his foot, and looked insulted and +angry. It was a dereliction of which he would not suppose the +possibility of a Wentworth being guilty. It did not strike him as a +conflict between belief and non-belief; but on the question of a man +abandoning his post, whatever it might be, the head of the house held +strong views. + +"I agree it's impossible; but it looks as if it were true," said the +Curate. "I don't understand it any more than you do; but I am afraid +we shall have to address ourselves to the reality all the same. Gerald +has made up his mind that the Church of Rome is the only true Church, +and therefore he is in a false position in the Church of England: he +can't remain a priest of the Anglican communion with such views, any +more than a man could fight against his country, or in a wrong +quarrel--" + +"But, good heavens, sir!" said the Squire, interrupting him, "is it a +time to inquire into the quarrel when you're on the ground? Will you +tell me, sir, that my son Charley should have gone into the question +between Russia and England when he was before Sebastopol--and +deserted," said Mr Wentworth, with a snort of infinite scorn, "if he +found the Czar had right on his side? God bless my soul! that's +striking at the root of everything. As for the Church of Rome, it's +Antichrist--why, every child in the village school could tell you +that; and if Gerald entertains any such absurd ideas, the thing for +him to do is to read up all that's been written on the subject, and +get rid of his doubts as soon as possible. The short and the long of +it is," said the troubled Squire, who found it much the easiest way to +be angry, "that you ask me to believe that your brother Gerald is a +fool and a coward; and I won't believe it, Frank, if you should preach +to me for a year." + +"And for my part, I would stake my life on his wisdom and his +courage," said the Curate, with a little heat; "but that is not the +question--he believes that truth and honour require him to leave his +post. There is something more involved which we might yet prevent. I +have been trying, but Louisa interrupted me--I don't know if you +realise fully what he intends. Gerald cannot cease to be a priest--he +will become a Catholic priest when he ceases to be Rector of +Wentworth--and that implies--" + +"God bless my soul!" cried the bewildered Squire--he was silent for a +long time after he had uttered that benediction. He took out Gerald's +letter and read it over while the two walked on in silence under the +lime-trees, and the paper shook in his hands, notwithstanding all his +steadiness. When he spoke again, it was only after two or three +efforts to clear his voice. "I can't make out that he says _that_, +Frank--I don't see that _that's_ what he means," said Mr Wentworth, in +a fainter tone than usual; and then he continued, with more agitation, +"Louisa is a dear good soul, you know; but she's a bit of a fool, like +most women. She always takes the worst view--if she can get a good cry +out of anything, she will. It's she that's put this fancy into your +head, eh? You don't say you had it from Gerald himself? You don't mean +to tell me that? By Jove, sir!--by heaven, sir!" cried the excited +Squire, blazing up suddenly in a burst of passion, "he can't be any +son of mine--For any damnable Papistical madness to give up his wife! +Why, God bless us, he was a man, wasn't he, before he became a priest? +A priest! He's not a priest--he's a clergyman, and the Rector of +Wentworth. I can't believe it--I won't believe it!" said the head of +the house, with vehemence. "Tell me one of my sons is a sneak and a +traitor!--and if you weren't another of my sons, sir, I'd knock you +down for your pains." In the excitement of the moment Mr Wentworth +came full force against a projecting branch which he did not see, as +he spoke these words; but though the sudden blow half stunned him, he +did not stop in his vehement contradiction. "It can't be. I tell you +it can't--it shan't be, Frank!" cried the Squire. He would not pay any +attention to the Curate's anxieties, or accept the arm Frank offered, +though he could not deny feeling faint and giddy after the blow. It +took away all the colour from his ruddy face, and left him pale, with +a red welt across his forehead, and wonderfully unlike himself. +"Confound it! I told Miles to look after that tree weeks ago. If he +thinks I'll stand his carelessness, he's mistaken," said Mr Wentworth, +by way of relieving himself. He was a man who always eased his mind by +being angry with somebody when anything happened to put him out. + +"My dear father," said the Curate as soon as it was practicable, "I +want you to listen to me and help me; there's only one thing to be +done that I can see. Gerald is in a state of high excitement, fit for +any martyrdom. We can't keep him back from one sacrifice, but by all +the force we can gather we must detain him from the other. He must be +shown that he can't abandon his natural duties. He was a man before he +was a priest, as you say; he can no more give up his duty to Louisa +than he can give up his own life. It is going on a false idea +altogether; but falsehood in anything except in argument could never +be named or dreamed of in connection with Gerald," said his brother, +with some emotion; "we all know that." + +There was another pause of a few minutes, during which they walked on +side by side without even the heart to look at each other. "If it had +been Huxtable or Plumstead, or any other fool," burst forth the +Squire, after that interval, "but Gerald!" Huxtable was the husband of +the eldest Miss Wentworth, and Plumstead was the Squire's sister's +son, so the comparison was all in the family. "I suppose your aunt +Leonora would say such a thing was sent to bring down my pride and +keep me low," said Mr Wentworth, bitterly. "Jack being what he is, +was it anything but natural that I should be proud of Gerald? There +never was any evil in him, that I could see, from a child; but +crotchety, always crotchety, Frank. I can see it now. It must have +been their mother," said the Squire, meditatively; "she died very +young, poor girl! her character was not formed. As for _your_ dear +mother, my boy, she was always equal to an emergency; she would have +given us the best of advice, had she been spared to us this day. Mrs +Wentworth is absorbed in her nursery, as is natural, and I should not +care to consult her much on such a subject. But, Frank, whatever you +can do or say, trust to me to back you out," said the anxious father +of three families. "Your mother was the most sensible woman I ever +knew," he continued, with a patriarchal composure. "Nobody could ever +manage Jack and Gerald as she did. She'd have seen at a glance what to +do now. As for Jack, he is not assistance to anybody; but I consider +you very like your mother, Frank. If anybody can help Gerald, it will +be you. He has got into some ridiculous complications, you know--that +must be the explanation of it. You have only to talk to him, and clear +up the whole affair," said the Squire, recovering himself a little. He +believed in "talking to," like Louisa, and like most people who are +utterly incapable of talking to any purpose. He took some courage from +the thought, and recovered his colour a little. "There is the bell for +luncheon, and I am very glad of it," he said; "a glass of sherry will +set me all right. Don't say anything to alarm Mrs Wentworth. When +Gerald comes we'll retire to the library, and go into the matter +calmly, and between us we will surely be able to convince him. I'll +humour him, for my part, as far as my conscience will allow me. We +must not give in to him, Frank. He will give it up if we show a very +firm front and yield nothing," said the Squire, looking with an +unusually anxious eye in his son's face. + +"For my part, I will not enter into the controversy between the +Churches," said the Curate; "it is mere waste of time. I must confine +myself to the one point. If he must forsake us, he must, and I can't +stop him: but he must not forsake his wife." + +"Tut--it's impossible!" said the Squire; "it's not to be thought of +for a moment. You must have given undue importance to something that +was said. Things will turn out better than you think." They were very +nearly at the great entrance when these words were said, and Mr +Wentworth took out his handkerchief and held it to his forehead to +veil the mark, until he could explain it, from the anxious eye of his +wife. "If the worst should come to the worst, as you seem to think," +he said, with a kind of sigh, "I should at least be able to provide +for you, Frank. Of course, the Rectory would go to you; and you don't +seem to have much chance of Skelmersdale, so far as I can learn. +Leonora's a very difficult person to deal with. God bless my soul!" +exclaimed the Squire--"depend upon it, she has had something to do +with this business of Gerald's. She's goaded him into it, with her +Low-Church ways. She's put poor Louisa up to worrying him; there's +where it is. I did not see how your brother could possibly have fallen +into such a blunder of his own accord. But come to luncheon; you must +be hungry. You will think the boys grown, Frank; and I must ask you +what you think, when you have a little leisure, of Cuthbert and Guy." + +So saying, the Squire led the way into the house; he had been much +appalled by the first hint of this threatened calamity, and was +seriously distressed and anxious still; but he was the father of many +sons, and the misfortunes or blunders of one could not occupy all his +heart. And even the Curate, as he followed his father into the house, +felt that Louisa's words, so calmly repeated, "Of course, the Rectory +will go to you," went tingling to his heart like an arrow, painfully +recalling him, in the midst of his anxiety, to a sense of his own +interests and cares. Gerald was coming up the avenue at the moment +slowly, with all the feelings of a man going to the stake. He was +looking at everything round as a dying man might, not knowing what +terrible revolution of life might have happened before he saw them +again-- + + "He looked on hill, and sea, and shore, + As he might never see them more." + +Life was darkened over to his preoccupied eyes, and the composure of +nature jarred upon him, as though it were carelessness and indifference +to the fate which he felt to be coming in the air. He thought nothing +less than that his father and brother were discussing him with hearts as +heavy and clouded as his own; for even he, in all his tolerance and +impartiality, did not make due account of the fact, that every man has +his own concerns next to him, close enough to ameliorate and lighten the +weight of his anxieties for others. The prospect was all gloom to +Gerald, who was the sufferer; but the others found gleams of comfort in +their own horizon, which threw reflected lights upon his; for perfect +sympathy is not, except in dreams. There was quite a joyful little +commotion at the luncheon table when Frank's arrival was discovered; and +his sisters were kissing him, and his young brothers shaking his hand +off, while Gerald came slowly up, with preoccupied, lingering steps, +underneath the murmurous limes. All kinds of strange miseries were +appearing to him as he pursued his way. Glimpses of scenes to come--a +dark phantasmagoria of anticipated pain. He saw his wife and his +children going away out of their happy house; he saw himself severed +from all human ties, among alien faces and customs, working out a hard +novitiate. What could he do? His heart, so long on the rack, was aching +with dull throbs of anguish, but he did not see any way of escape. He +was a priest by all the training, all the habits of his life; how could +he give up that service to which he was called before everything, the +most momentous work on earth? For ease, for happiness, for even sacred +love, could he defraud God of the service he had vowed, and go back to +secular work just at the moment when the true meaning of ecclesiastical +work seemed dawning upon him? He had decided that question before, but +it came back and back. His eyes were heavy with thought and conflict as +he went up to his father's house. All this was wearing out his strength, +and sapping his very life. The sooner it was over the better would it be +for all. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Very little came, as was natural, of the talk in the library, to which +the entire afternoon was devoted. The Squire, in his way, was as great +an interruption to the arguments of the Curate as was poor Louisa in +hers; and Gerald sat patiently to listen to his father's indignant +monologue, broken as it was by Frank's more serious attacks. He was +prepared for all they could say to him, and listened to it, sometimes +with a kind of wondering smile, knowing well how much more strongly, +backed by all his prejudices and interests, he had put the same +arguments to himself. All this time nobody discussed the practicability +of the matter much, nor what steps he meant to take: what immediately +occupied both his father and brother was his determination itself, and +the reasons which had led him to it, which the Squire, like Louisa, +could not understand. + +"If I had made myself disagreeable," said Mr Wentworth; "if I had +remonstrated with him, as Leonora urged me to do; if I had put a stop to +the surplice and so forth, and interfered with his decorations or his +saints' days, or anything, it might have been comprehensible. But I +never said a syllable on the subject. I give you my word, I never did. +Why couldn't he have sent down for Louisa now, and dined at the Hall, as +usual, when any of my sons come home? I suppose a man may change his +religion, sir, without getting rid of his natural affections," said the +Squire, gazing out with puzzled looks to watch Gerald going slowly down +the avenue. "A man who talks of leaving his wife, and declines to dine +at his father's house with his brothers and sisters, is a mystery I +can't understand." + +"I don't suppose he cares for a lively party like ours at this moment," +said the Curate: "I don't take it as any sign of a want of affection for +me." + +The Squire puffed forth a large sigh of trouble and vexation as he +came from the window. "If _I_ were to give in to trouble when it +appears, what would become of our lively party, I wonder?" he said. +"I'm getting an old man, Frank; but there's not a young man in +Christendom has more need to take care of himself, and preserve his +health, than I have. I am very well, thank God, though I have had a +touch of our Wentworth complaint--just one touch. My father had it ten +years earlier in life, and lived to eighty, all the same; but that is +an age I shall never see. Such worries as I have would kill any man. +I've not spoken to anybody about it," said the Squire, hastily, "but +Jack is going a terrible pace just now. I've had a good deal of bother +about bills and things. He gets worse every year; and what would +become of the girls and the little children if the estate were to come +into Jack's hands, is a thought I don't like to dwell upon, Frank. I +suppose he never writes to you?" + +"Not for years past," said the Curate--"not since I was at Oxford. +Where is he now?" + +"Somewhere about town, I suppose," said the aggrieved father, "or +wherever the greatest scamps collect when they go out of town--that's +where he is. I could show you a little document or two, Frank--but +now," said the Squire, shutting up a drawer which he had unlocked and +partly opened, "I won't; you've enough on your mind with Gerald, and +I told you I should be glad of your advice about Cuthbert and Guy." + +Upon which the father and son plunged into family affairs. Cuthbert +and Guy were the youngest of the Squire's middle family--a "lot" which +included Frank and Charley and the three sisters, one of whom was +married. The domestic relations of the Wentworths were complicated in +this generation. Jack and Gerald were of the first marriage, a period +in his history which Mr Wentworth himself had partly forgotten; and +the troop of children at present in the Hall nursery were quite beyond +the powers of any grown-up brother to recognise or identify. It was +vaguely understood that "the girls" knew all the small fry by head and +name, but even the Squire himself was apt to get puzzled. With such a +household, and with an heir impending over his head like Jack, it may +be supposed that Mr Wentworth's anxiety to get his younger boys +disposed of was great. Cuthbert and Guy were arrows in the hand of the +giant, but he had his quiver so full that the best thing he could do +was to draw his bow and shoot them away into as distant and as fresh a +sphere as possible. They were sworn companions and allies, but they +were not clever, Mr Wentworth believed, and he was very glad to +consult over New Zealand and Australia, and which was best, with their +brother Frank. + +"They are good boys," said their father, "but they have not any brains +to speak of--not like Gerald and you;--though, after all, I begin to be +doubtful what's the good of brains," added the Squire, disconsolately, +"if this is all that comes of them. After building so much on Gerald for +years, and feeling that one might live to see him a bishop--but, +however, there's still _you_ left; you're all right, Frank?" + +"Oh yes, I am all right," said the Curate, with a sigh; "but neither +Gerald nor I are the stuff that bishops are made of," he added, +laughing. "I hope you don't dream of any such honour for me." + +But the Squire was too troubled in his mind for laughter. "Jack was +always clever, too," he said, dolefully, "and little good has come of +that. I hope he won't disgrace the family any more than he has done, in +my time, Frank. You young fellows have all your life before you; but +when a man comes to my age, and expects a little comfort, it's hard to +be dragged into the mire after his children. I did my duty by Jack +too--I can say that for myself. He had the same training as Gerald +had--the same tutor at the university--everything just the same. How do +you account for that, sir, you that are a philosopher?" said Mr +Wentworth again, with a touch of irritation. "Own brothers both by +father and mother; brought up in the same house, same school and college +and everything; and all the time as different from each other as light +and darkness. How do you account for that? Though, to be sure, here's +Gerald taken to bad ways too. It must have been some weakness by their +mother's side. Poor girl! she died too young to show it herself; but +it's come out in her children," said the vexed Squire. "Though it's a +poor sort of thing to blame them that are gone," he added, with +penitence; and he got up and paced uneasily about the room. Who was +there else to blame? Not himself, for he had done his duty by his boys. +Mr Wentworth never was disturbed in mind, without, as his family were +well aware, becoming excited in temper too; and the unexpected nature of +the new trouble had somehow added a keener touch of exasperation to his +perennial dissatisfaction with his heir. "If Jack had been the man he +ought to have been, his advice might have done some good--for a +clergyman naturally sees things in a different light from a man of the +world," said the troubled father; and Frank perceived that he too shared +in his father's displeasure, because he was not Jack, nor a man of the +world; notwithstanding that, being Frank and a clergyman, he was +acknowledged by public opinion to be the Squire's favourite in the +family. Things continued in this uncomfortable state up to the +dinner-hour, so that the Curate, even had his own feelings permitted it, +had but little comfort in his home visit. At dinner Mr Wentworth did not +eat, and awoke the anxiety of his wife, who drove the old gentleman into +a state of desperation by inquiries after his health. + +"Indeed, I wish you would remonstrate with your papa, Frank," said his +stepmother, who was not a great deal older than the Curate. "After his +attack he ought to be more careful. But he never takes the least +trouble about himself, no more than if he were five-and-twenty. After +getting such a knock on the forehead too; and you see he eats nothing. +I shall be miserable if the doctor is not sent for to-night." + +"Stuff!" cried the Squire, testily. "Perhaps you will speak to the cook +about these messes she insists on sending up to disgust one, and leave +me to take care of my own health. Don't touch that dish, Frank; it's +poison. I am glad Gerald is not here: he'd think we never had a dinner +without that confounded mixture. And then the wonder is that one can't +eat!" said Mr Wentworth, in a tone which spread consternation round the +table. Mrs Wentworth secretly put her handkerchief to her eyes behind +the great cover, which had not yet been removed; and one of the girls +dashed in violently to the rescue, of course making everything worse. + +"Why did not Gerald and Louisa come to dinner?" cried the ignorant +sister. "Surely, when they knew Frank had come, they would have liked to +be here. How very odd it was of you not to ask them, papa! they always +do come when anybody has arrived. Why aren't they here to-night?" + +"Because they don't choose to come," said the Squire, abruptly. "If +Gerald has reasons for staying away from his father's house, what is +that to you? Butterflies," said Mr Wentworth, looking at them in their +pretty dresses, as they sat regarding him with dismay, "that don't +understand any reason for doing anything except liking it or not liking +it. I daresay by this time your sister knows better." + +"My sister is married, papa," said Letty, with her saucy look. + +"I advise you to get married too, and learn what life is like," said the +savage Squire; and conversation visibly flagged after this effort. When +the ladies got safely into the drawing-room, they gathered into a corner +to consult over it. They were all naturally anxious about him after his +"attack." + +"Don't you remember he was just like this before it came on?" said Mrs +Wentworth, nervously; "so cross, and finding fault with the made dishes. +Don't you think I might send over a message to Dr Small--not to come on +purpose, you know, but just as if it were a call in passing?" + +But the girls both agreed this would make matters worse. + +"It must be something about Jack," they both said in a breath, in a +kind of awe of their elder brother, of whom they had a very imperfect +knowledge. "And it seems we never are to have a chance of a word with +Frank!" cried Letty, who was indignant and exasperated. But at least +it was a consolation that "the boys" were no better off. All next day +Cuthbert and Guy hung about in the vain hope of securing the company +and attention of the visitor. He was at the Rectory the whole morning, +sometimes with Gerald, sometimes with Louisa, as the scouts of the +family, consisting of a variety of brothers, little and big, informed +the anxious girls. And Louisa was seen to cry on one of these +occasions; and Gerald looked cross, said one little spy, whereupon he +had his ears boxed, and was dismissed from the service. "As if Gerald +ever looked anything but a saint!" said the younger sister, who was an +advanced Anglican. Letty, however, holding other views, confuted this +opinion strongly: "When one thinks of a saint, it is aunt Leonora one +thinks of," said this profane young woman. "I'll tell you what Gerald +looks like--something just half-way between a conqueror and a martyr. +I think, of all the men I ever saw, he is my hero," said Letty, +meditatively. The youngest Miss Wentworth was not exactly of this +latter opinion, but she did not contradict her sister. They were kept +in a state of watchfulness all day, but Frank's mission remained a +mystery which they could not penetrate; and in the evening Gerald +alone made his appearance at the hall to dinner, explaining that +Louisa had a headache. Now Louisa's headaches were not unfrequent, but +they were known to improve in the prospect of going out to dinner. On +the whole, the matter was wrapt in obscurity, and the Wentworth +household could not explain it. The sisters sat up brushing their +hair, and looking very pretty in their dressing-gowns, with their +bright locks (for the Wentworth hair was golden-brown of a Titian hue) +over their shoulders, discussing the matter till it was long past +midnight; but they could make nothing of it, and the only conclusion +they came to was, that their two clergymen brothers were occupied in +negotiating with the Squire about some secret not known to the rest of +the family, but most probably concerning Jack. Jack was almost unknown +to his sisters, and awoke no very warm anxiety in their minds; so they +went to sleep at last in tolerable quiet, concluding that whatever +mystery there was concerned only the first-born and least loved of the +house. + +While the girls pursued these innocent deliberations, and reasoned +themselves into conviction, the Squire too sat late--much later than +usual. He had gone with Frank to the library, and sat there in +half-stupefied quietness, which the Curate could not see without +alarm, and from which he roused himself up now and then to wander off +into talk, which always began with Gerald, and always came back to his +own anxieties and his disappointed hopes in his eldest son. "If Jack +had been the man he ought to have been, I'd have telegraphed for him, +and he'd have managed it all," said the Squire, and then relapsed +once more into silence. "For neither you nor I are men of the world, +Frank," he would resume again, after a pause of half an hour, +revealing pitifully how his mind laboured under the weight of this +absorbing thought. The Curate sat up with him in the dimly-lighted +library, feeling the silence and the darkness to his heart. He could +not assist his father in those dim ranges of painful meditation. +Grieved as he was, he could not venture to compare his own distress +with the bitterness of the Squire, disappointed in all his hopes and +in the pride of his heart; and then the young man saw compensations +and heroisms in Gerald's case which were invisible to the unheroic +eyes of Mr Wentworth, who looked at it entirely from a practical point +of view, and regarded with keen mortification an event which would lay +all the affairs of the Wentworths open to general discussion, and +invite the eye of the world to a renewed examination of his domestic +skeletons. Everything had been hushed and shut up in the Hall for at +least an hour, when the Squire got up at last and lighted his candle, +and held out his hand to his son--"This isn't a very cheerful visit +for you, Frank," he said; "but we'll try again to-morrow, and have one +other talk with Gerald. Couldn't you read up some books on the +subject, or think of something new to say to him? God bless my soul! +if I were as young and as much accustomed to talking as you are, I'd +surely find out some argument," said the Squire, with a momentary +spark of temper, which made his son feel more comfortable about him. +"It's your business to convince a man when he's wrong. We'll try +Gerald once more, and perhaps something may come of it; and as for +Jack--" Here the Squire paused, and shook his head, and let go his +son's hand. "I suppose it's sitting up so late that makes one feel so +cold and wretched, and as if one saw ghosts," said Mr Wentworth. +"Don't stay here any longer, and take care of the candles. I ought to +have been in bed two hours ago. Good-night." + +And as he walked away, the Curate could not but observe what an aged +figure it looked, moving with a certain caution to the door. The great +library was so dim that the light of the candle which the Squire +carried in his hand was necessary to reveal his figure clearly, and +there was no mistaking his air of age and feebleness. The Curate's +thoughts were not very agreeable when he was left by himself in the +half-lighted room. His imagination jumped to a picture very possible, +but grievous to think of--Jack seated in his father's place, and "the +girls" and the little children turned out upon the world. In such a +case, who would be their protector and natural guardian? Not Gerald, +who was about to divest himself of ties still closer and more sacred. +The Curate lit his candle too, and went hastily to his room when that +thought came upon him. There might be circumstances still more +hopeless and appalling than the opposition of a rector or the want of +a benefice. He preferred to return to his anxiety about Gerald, and to +put away that thought, as he went hurriedly up-stairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +"The sum of it all is, that you won't hear any reason, Gerald," said +the Squire. "What your brother says, and what I say, are nothing; your +poor wife is nothing; and all a man's duties, sir, in life--all your +responsibilities, everything that is considered most sacred--" + +"You may say what you will to me, father," said Gerald. "I can't +expect you should speak differently. But you may imagine I have looked +at it in every possible light before I came to this resolution. A man +does not decide easily when everything he prizes on earth is at +stake. I cannot see with Frank's eyes, or with yours; according to the +light God has given me, I must see with my own." + +"But, God bless my soul! what do you mean by seeing with your own eyes?" +said the Squire. "Don't you know that is a Protestant doctrine, sir? Do +you think they'll let you see with any eyes but theirs when you get +among a set of Papists? Instead of an easy-going bishop, and friendly +fellows for brother clergymen, and parishioners that think everything +that's good of you, how do you suppose you'll feel as an Englishman when +you get into a dead Frenchified system, with everything going by rule +and measure, and bound to believe just as you're told? It'll kill you, +sir--that's what will be the end of it. If you are in your grave within +the year, it will be no wonder to me." + +"Amen!" said Gerald, softly. "If that is to be all, we will not +quarrel with the result;" and he got up and went to the window, as if +to look for his cedar, which was not there. Perhaps the absence of his +silent referee gave him a kind of comfort, though at the same time it +disappointed him in some fantastical way, for he turned with a curious +look of relief and vexation to his brother. "We need not be always +thinking of it, even if this were to be the end," he said. "Come down +the avenue with me, Frank, and let us talk of something else. The +girls will grumble, but they can have you later: come, I want to hear +about yourself." + +Unfortunately the Squire got up when his sons did, which was by no means +their intention; but Mr Wentworth was vexed and restless, and was not +willing to let Gerald off so easily. If he were mad, at least he ought +to be made duly wretched in his madness, Mr Wentworth thought; and he +went out with them, and arrested the words on their lips. Somehow +everything seemed to concur in hindering any appeal on the part of the +Curate. And Gerald, like most imaginative men, had a power of dismissing +his troubles after they had taken their will of him. It was he who took +the conversation on himself when they went out of doors. Finding Frank +slow in his report, Gerald went into all the country news for the +instruction of his brother. He had been down to the very depths during +the two previous days, and now he had come aloft again; for a man cannot +be miserable every moment of his life, however heavy his burden may be. +The "girls," whose anxieties had been much stimulated by the renewed +conference held with closed doors in the library, stood watching them +from one of the drawing-room windows. The boldest of the two had, +indeed, got her hat to follow them, not comprehending why Frank should +be monopolised for days together by anybody but herself, his favourite +sister; but something in the aspect of the three men, when they first +appeared under the lime-trees, had awed even the lively Letty out of her +usual courage. "But Gerald is talking and laughing just as usual," she +said, as she stood at the window dangling her hat in her hand--"more +than usual, for he has been very glum all this spring. Poor fellow! I +daresay Louisa worries him out of his life;" and with this easy +conclusion the elder brother was dismissed by the girls. "Perhaps Frank +is going to be married," said the other sister, who, under the lively +spur of this idea, came back to the window to gaze at him again, and +find out whether any intimation of this alarming possibility could be +gathered from the fit of his long clerical coat, or his manner of walk, +as he sauntered along under the limes. "As if a Perpetual Curate could +marry!" said Letty, with scorn, who knew the world. As for little Janet, +who was a tender-hearted little soul, she folded her two hands together, +and looked at her brother's back with a great increase of interest. "If +one loved him, one would not mind what he was," said the little maiden, +who had been in some trouble herself, and understood about such matters. +So the girls talked at their window, Mrs Wentworth being, as usual, +occupied with her nursery, and nobody else at hand to teach them wisdom, +and soon branched off into speculations about the post-bag, which was +"due," and which, perhaps, was almost more interesting, to one of them +at least, than even a brother who was going to be married. + +In the mean time Gerald was talking of Huxtable and Plumstead, the +brother-in-law and cousin, who were both clergymen in the same +district, and about the people in the village whom they had known when +they were boys, and who never grew any older. "There is old Kilweed, +for example, who was Methuselah in those days--he's not eighty yet," +he said, with a smile and a sigh; "it is we who grow older and come +nearer to the winter and the sunset. My father even has come down a +long way off the awful eminence on which I used to behold him: every +year that falls on my head seems to take one off his: if we both live +long enough, we shall feel like contemporaries by-and-by," said +Gerald: "just now the advantage of years is all on my side; and you +are my junior, sir." He was switching down the weeds among the grass +with his cane as he spoke, like any schoolboy; the air, and perhaps a +little excitement, had roused the blood to his cheek. He did not look +the same man as the pale martyr in the library--not that he had any +reason for appearing different, but only that inalienable poetic +waywardness which kept him up through his trouble. As for Mr +Wentworth, he resented the momentary brightening, which he took for +levity. + +"I thought we came out here to prolong our discussion," said the +Squire. "I don't understand this light way of talking. If you mean +what you have said, sir, I should never expect to see you smile more." + +"The smiling makes little difference," said Gerald; but he stopped +short in his talk, and there was a pause among them till the postboy +came up to them with his bag, which Mr Wentworth, with much +importance, paused to open. The young men, who had no special interest +in its contents, went on. Perhaps the absence of their father was a +relief to them. They were nearer to each other, understood each other +better than he could do; and they quickened their pace insensibly as +they began to talk. It is easy to imagine what kind of talk it +was--entire sympathy, yet disagreement wide as the poles--here for a +few steps side by side, there darting off at the most opposite +tangent; but they had begun to warm to it, and to forget everything +else, when a succession of lusty hollos from the Squire brought them +suddenly to themselves, and to a dead stop. When they looked round, he +was making up to them with choleric strides. "What the deuce do you +mean, sir, by having telegrams sent here?" cried Mr Wentworth, +pitching at his son Frank an ominous ugly envelope, in blue and red, +such as the unsophisticated mind naturally trembles at. "Beg your +pardon, Gerald; but I never can keep my temper when I see a telegraph. +I daresay it's something about Charley," said the old man, in a +slightly husky voice--"to make up to us for inventing troubles." The +Squire was a good deal disturbed by the sight of that ill-omened +message; and it was the better way, as he knew by experience, to throw +his excitement into the shape of anger rather than that of grief. + +"It's nothing about Charley," said Frank; and Mr Wentworth blew his +nose violently and drew a long breath. "I don't understand it," said +the Curate, who looked scared and pale; "it seems to be from Jack; +though why _he_ is in Carlingford, or what he has to do--" + +"He's ill, sir, I suppose--dying; nothing else was to be looked for," +said the Squire, and held out his hand, which trembled, for the +telegram. "Stuff! why shouldn't I be able to bear it? Has he been any +comfort to me? Can't you read it, one of you?" cried the old man. + +"'John Wentworth to the Reverend--'" + +"God bless my soul! can't you come to what he says?" + +"'Come back directly--you are wanted here; I am in trouble, as usual; +and T.W.--'" + +Here the Squire took a step backwards, and set himself against a tree. +"The sun comes in one's eyes," he said, rather feebly. "There's +something poisonous in the air today. Here's Gerald going out of the +Church; and here's Frank in Jack's secrets. God forgive him! Lads, it +seems you think I've had enough of this world's good. My heir's a +swindling villain, and you know it; and here's Frank going the same +road too." + +The Squire did not hear the words that both the brothers addressed to +him; he was unconscious of the Curate's disclaimer and eager explanation +that he knew nothing about Jack, and could not understand his presence +in Carlingford. The blow he had got the previous day had confused his +brain outside, and these accumulated vexations had bewildered it within. +"And I could have sworn by Frank!" said the old man, piteously, to +himself, as he put up his hand unawares and tugged at the dainty +starched cravat which was his pride. If they had not held him in their +arms, he would have slid down at the foot of the tree, against which he +had instinctively propped himself. The attack was less alarming to +Gerald, who had seen it before, than to Frank, who had only heard of it; +but the postboy was still within call, by good fortune, and was sent off +for assistance. They carried him to the Hall, gasping for breath, and in +a state of partial unconsciousness, but still feebly repeating those +words which went to the Curate's heart--"I could have sworn by Frank!" +The house was in a great fright and tumult, naturally, before they +reached it, Mrs Wentworth fainting, the girls looking on in dismay, and +the whole household moved to awe and alarm, knowing that one time or +other Death would come so. As for the Curate of St Roque's, he had +already made up his mind, with unexpected anguish, not only that his +father was dying, but that his father would die under a fatal +misconception about himself; and between this overwhelming thought, and +the anxiety which nobody understood or could sympathise with respecting +Jack's message, the young man was almost beside himself. He went away in +utter despair from the anxious consultations of the family after the +doctor had come, and kept walking up and down before the house, waiting +to hear the worst, as he thought; but yet unable, even while his father +lay dying, to keep from thinking what miserable chance, what folly or +crime, had taken Jack to Carlingford, and what his brother could have to +do with the owner of the initials named in his telegram. He was lost in +this twofold trouble when Gerald came out to him with brightened looks. + +"He is coming round, and the doctor says there is no immediate +danger," said Gerald; "and it is only immediate danger one is afraid +of. He was as well as ever last time in a day or two. It is the +complaint of the Wentworths, you know--we all die of it; but, Frank, +tell me what is this about Jack?" + +"I know no more than you do," said the Curate, when he had recovered +himself a little. "I must go back, not having done much good here, to +see." + +"And T.W.?" said Gerald. The elder brother looked at the younger +suspiciously, as if he were afraid for him; and it was scarcely in +human nature not to feel a momentary flash of resentment. + +"I tell you I know nothing about it," said Frank, "except what is +evident to any one, that Jack has gone to Carlingford in my absence, +being in trouble somehow. I suppose he always is in trouble. I have not +heard from him since I went there; but as it don't seem I can be of any +use here, as soon as my father is safe, I will go back. Louisa imagined, +you know--; but she was wrong." + +"Yes," said Gerald, quietly. That subject was concluded, and there was +no more to say. + +The same evening, as the Squire continued to improve, and had been able +to understand his energetic explanation that he was entirely ignorant of +Jack's secrets, Frank Wentworth went back again with a very disturbed +mind. He went into the Rectory as he passed down to the station, to say +good-bye to Louisa, who was sitting in the drawing-room with her +children round her, and her trouble considerably lightened, though there +was no particular cause for it. Dressing for dinner had of itself a +beneficial effect upon Louisa: she could not understand how a life could +ever be changed which was so clearly ordained of Heaven; for if Gerald +was not with her, what inducement could she possibly have to dress for +dinner? and then what would be the good of all the pretty wardrobe with +which Providence had endowed her? Must not Providence take care that its +gifts were not thus wasted? So the world was once more set fast on its +foundations, and the pillars of earth remained unshaken, when Frank +glanced in on his way to the station to say good-bye. + +"Don't be afraid, Louisa; I don't believe he would be allowed to do it," +said the Curate in her ear. "The Church of Rome does not go in the face +of nature. She will not take him away from you. Keep your heart at ease +as much as you can. Good-bye." + +"You mean about Gerald. Oh, you don't _really_ think he could ever +have had the heart?" said Mrs Wentworth. "I am so sorry you are going +away without any dinner or anything comfortable; and it was so good of +you to come, and I feel so much better. I shall always be grateful to +you, dear Frank, for showing Gerald his mistake; and tell dear aunt +Dora I am so much obliged to her for thinking of the blanket for the +bassinet. I am sure it will be lovely. Must you go? Good-bye. I am +sure you have always been like my own brother--Frank, dear, good-bye. +Come and kiss your dear uncle, children, and say good-bye." + +This was how Louisa dismissed him after all his efforts on her behalf. +The girls were waiting for him on the road, still full of anxiety to +know why he had come so suddenly, and was going away so soon. "We have +not had half a peep of you," said Letty; "and it is wicked of you not +to tell us; as if anybody could sympathise like your sisters--your +very own sisters, Frank," said the young lady, with a pressure on his +arm. In such a mixed family the words meant something. + +"We had made up our minds you had come to tell papa," said Janet, +with her pretty shy look; "that was my guess--you might tell us her +name, Frank." + +"Whose name?" said the unfortunate Curate; and the dazzling vision of +Lucy Wodehouse's face, which came upon him at the moment, was such, +that the reluctant blood rose high in his cheeks--which, of course, +the girls were quick enough to perceive. + +"It _is_ about some girl, after all," said Letty; "oh me! I did not +think you had been like all the rest. I thought you had other things +to think of. Janet may say what she likes--but I do think it's +contemptible always to find out, when a man, who can do lots of +things, is in trouble, that it's about some girl or other like one's +self! I did not expect it of you, Frank--but all the same, tell us who +she is?" said the favourite sister, clasping his arm confidentially, +and dropping her voice. + +"There is the train. Good-bye, girls, and be sure you write to me +to-morrow how my father is," said the Curate. He had taken his seat +before they could ask further questions, and in a minute or two more +was dashing out of the little station, catching their smiles and +adieus as he went, and turning back last of all for another look at +Gerald, who stood leaning on his stick, looking after the train, with +the mist of preoccupation gathering again over his smiling eyes. The +Curate went back to his corner after that, and lost himself in +thoughts and anxieties still more painful. What had Jack to do in +Carlingford? what connection had he with those initials, or how did he +know their owner? All sorts of horrible fears came over the Curate of +St Roque's. He had not seen his elder brother for years, and Jack's +career was not one for the family to be proud of. Had he done +something too terrible to be hidden--too clamorous to let his name +drop out of remembrance, as was to be desired for the credit of the +Wentworths? This speculation whiled the night away but drearily, as the +Perpetual Curate went back to the unknown tide of cares which had +surged in his absence into his momentarily abandoned place. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +Mr Wentworth got back to Carlingford by a happy concurrence of trains +before the town had gone to sleep. It was summer, when the days are at +the longest, and the twilight was just falling into night as he took +his way through George Street. He went along the familiar street with +a certain terror of looking into people's faces whom he met, and of +asking questions, such as was natural to a man who did not know +whether something of public note might not have happened in his +absence to call attention to his name. He imagined, indeed, that he +did see a strange expression in the looks of the townsfolk he +encountered on his way. He thought they looked at him askance as they +made their salutations, and said something to each other after they +passed, which, indeed, in several cases was true enough, though the +cause was totally different from anything suspected by Mr Wentworth. +Anxious to know, and yet unwilling to ask, it was with a certain +relief that the Curate saw the light gleaming out from the open door +of Elsworthy's shop as he approached. He went in and tossed down his +travelling-bag on the counter, and threw himself on the solitary chair +which stood outside for the accommodation of customers, with a +suppressed excitement, which made his question sound abrupt and +significant to the ears of Elsworthy. "Has anything happened since I +went away?" said Mr Wentworth, throwing a glance round the shop which +alarmed his faithful retainer. Somehow, though nothing was farther +from his mind than little Rosa, or any thought of her, the Curate +missed the pretty little figure at the first glance. + +"Well--no, sir; not much as I've heard of," said Elsworthy, with a +little confusion. He was tying up his newspapers as usual, but it did +not require the touch of suspicion and anxiety which gave sharpness to +the Curate's eyes to make it apparent that the cord was trembling in +Mr Elsworthy's hand. "I hope you've had a pleasant journey, sir, and a +comfortable visit--it's been but short--but we always miss you in +Carlingford, Mr Wentworth, if it was only for a day." + +"I'll take my paper," said the young man, who was not satisfied--"so +there's no news, isn't there?--all well, and everything going on as +usual?" And the look which the suspicious Curate bent upon Mr +Elsworthy made that virtuous individual, as he himself described it, +"shake in his shoes." + +"Much as usual, sir," said the frightened clerk,--"nothing new as I +hear of but gossip, and that aint a thing to interest a clergyman. +There's always one report or another flying about, but them follies +aint for your hearing. Nothing more," continued Mr Elsworthy, +conscious of guilt, and presenting a very tremulous countenance to the +inspection of his suspicious auditor, "not if it was my last +word--nothing but gossip, as you wouldn't care to hear." + +"I might possibly care to hear if it concerned myself," said the +Curate,--"or anybody I am interested in," he added, after a little +pause, with rather a forced smile--which convinced Mr Elsworthy that +his clergyman had heard all about Rosa, and that the days of his +incumbency as clerk of St Roque's were numbered. + +"Well, sir, if you did hear, it aint no blame of mine," said the +injured bookseller; "such a notion would never have come into my +mind--no man, I make bold to say, is more particular about keeping to +his own rank of life nor me. What you did, sir, you did out of the +kindness of your heart, and I'd sooner sell up and go off to the end +of the world than impose upon a gentleman. Her aunt's took her away," +continued Mr Elsworthy, lowering his voice, and cautiously pointing +to the back of the shop--"She'll not bother you no more." + +"She!--who?" cried the Perpetual Curate, in sudden consternation. He +was utterly bewildered by the introduction of a female actor into the +little drama, and immediately ran over in his mind all the women he +could think of who could, by any possibility, be involved in +mysterious relations with his brother Jack. + +"She's but a child," said Elsworthy, pathetically; "she don't know +nothing about the ways o' the world. If she was a bit proud o' being +noticed, there wasn't no harm in that. But seeing as there's nothing +in this world that folks won't make a talk of when they've started, +her aunt, as is very partic'lar, has took her away. Not as I'm meaning +no reproach to you, Mr Wentworth; but she's a loss to us, is Rosa. She +was a cheerful little thing, say the worst of her," said Mr Elsworthy; +"going a-singing and a-chirping out and in the shop; and I won't deny +as the place looks desolate, now she's away. But that aint neither +here nor there. It was for her good, as my missis says. Most things as +is unpleasant _is_ sent for good, they tell me; and I wouldn't--not +for any comfort to myself--have a talk got up about the clergyman--" + +By this time Mr Wentworth had awakened to a sense of the real meaning of +Elsworthy's talk. He sat upright on his chair, and looked into the face +of the worthy shopkeeper until the poor man trembled. "A talk about the +clergyman?" said the Curate. "About me, do you mean? and what has little +Rosa to do with me? Have you gone crazy in Carlingford--what is the +meaning of it all?" He sat with his elbows on the counter, looking at +his trembling adherent--looking through and through him, as Elsworthy +said. "I should be glad of an explanation; what does it mean?" said Mr +Wentworth, with a look which there was no evading; and the clerk of St +Roque's cast an anxious glance round him for help. He would have +accepted it from any quarter at that overwhelming moment; but there was +not even an errand-boy to divert from him the Curate's terrible eyes. + +"I--I don't know--I--can't tell how it got up," said the unhappy man, +who had not even his "missis" in the parlour as a moral support. "One +thing as I know is, it wasn't no blame o' mine. I as good as went down +on my knees to them three respected ladies when they come to inquire. I +said as it was kindness in you a-seeing of the child home, and didn't +mean nothing more. I ask you, sir, what could I do?" cried Mr Elsworthy. +"Folks in Carlingford will talk o' two straws if they're a-seen +a-blowing up Grange Lane on the same breath o' wind. I couldn't do no +more nor contradict it," cried Rosa's guardian, getting excited in his +self-defence; "and to save your feelings, Mr Wentworth, and put it out +o' folks's power to talk, the missis has been and took her away." + +"To save my feelings!" said the Curate, with a laugh of contempt and +vexation and impatience which it was not pleasant to hear. At another +moment an accusation so ridiculous would have troubled him very little; +but just now, with a sudden gleam of insight, he saw all the +complications which might spring out of it to confuse further the path +which he already felt to be so burdened. "I'll tell you what, +Elsworthy," said Mr Wentworth; "if you don't want to make me your enemy +instead of your friend, you'll send for this child instantly, without a +day's delay. Tell your wife that my orders are that she should come back +directly. _My_ feelings! do the people in Carlingford think me an idiot, +I wonder?" said the Curate, walking up and down to relieve his mind. + +"I don't know, sir, I'm sure," said Elsworthy, who thought some answer +was required of him. To tell the truth, Rosa's uncle felt a little +spiteful. He did not see matters in exactly the same light as Mr +Wentworth did. At the bottom of his heart, after all, lay a thrill of +awakened ambition. Kings and princes had been known to marry far out +of their degree for the sake of a beautiful face; and why a Perpetual +Curate should be so much more lofty in his sentiments, puzzled and +irritated the clerk of St Roque's. "There aint a worm but will turn +when he's trod upon," said Mr Elsworthy to himself; and when his +temper was roused, he became impertinent, according to the manner of +his kind. + +Mr Wentworth gave him a quick look, struck by the changed tone, but +unable to make out whether it might not be stupidity. "You understand +what I mean, Elsworthy," he said, with his loftiest air. "If Rosa does +not return instantly, I shall be seriously offended. How you and your +friends could be such utter idiots as to get up this ridiculous +fiction, I can't conceive; but the sooner it's over the better. I +expect to see her back to-morrow," said the Curate, taking up his bag +and looking with an absolute despotism, which exasperated the man, in +Elsworthy's face. + +"You may be sure, sir, if she knows as you want to see her, she'll +come," said the worm which had been trampled on; "and them as asks me +why, am I to say it was the clergyman's orders?" said Elsworthy, +looking up in his turn with a consciousness of power. "That means a +deal, does that. I wouldn't take it upon me to say as much, not of +myself; but if them's your orders, Mr Wentworth--" + +"It appears to me, Elsworthy," said the Curate, who was inwardly in a +towering passion, though outwardly calm enough, "either that you've +been drinking or that you mean to be impertinent--which is it?" + +"Me!--drinking, sir?" cried the shopkeeper. "If I had been one as was +given that way, I wouldn't have attended to your interests not as I +have done. There aint another man in Carlingford as has stood up for +his clergyman as I have; and as for little Rosa, sir, most folks as +had right notions would have inquired into that; but being as I +trusted in you, I wasn't the one to make any talk. I've said to +everybody as has asked me that there wasn't nothing in it but +kindness. I don't say as I hadn't my own thoughts--for gentlemen don't +go walking up Grange Lane with a pretty little creature like that all +for nothing; but instead o' making anything of that, or leading of you +on, or putting it in the child's head to give you encouragement, what +was it I did but send her away afore you came home, that you mightn't +be led into temptation! And instead of feelin' grateful, you say I've +been drinking! It's a thing as I scorn to answer," said Mr Elsworthy; +"there aint no need to make any reply--all Carlingford knows _me_; but +as for Rosa, if it is understood plain between us that it's your wish, +I aint the man to interfere," continued Rosa's guardian, with a smile +which drove the Curate frantic; "but she hasn't got no father, poor +thing, and it's my business to look after her; and I'll not bring her +back, Mr Wentworth, unless it's understood between us plain." + +Strong language, forcible, but unclerical, was on the Curate's lips, +and it was only with an effort that he restrained himself. "Look here, +Elsworthy," he said; "it will be better for you not to exasperate me. +You understand perfectly what I mean. I repeat, Rosa must come back, +and that instantly. It is quite unnecessary to explain to you why I +insist upon this, for you comprehend it. Pshaw! don't let us have any +more of this absurdity," he exclaimed, impatiently. "No more, I tell +you. Your wife is not such a fool. Let anybody who inquires about me +understand that I have come back, and am quite able to account for all +my actions," said the Curate, shouldering his bag. He was just about +leaving the shop when Elsworthy rushed after him in an access of alarm +and repentance. + +"One moment, sir," cried the shopkeeper; "there aint no offence, Mr +Wentworth? I am sure there aint nobody in Carlingford as means better, +or would do as much for his clergyman. One moment, sir; there was one +thing I forgot to mention. Mr Wodehouse, sir, has been took bad. There +was a message up a couple of hours ago to know when you was expected +home. He's had a stroke, and they don't think as he'll get over +it--being a man of a full 'abit of body," said Mr Elsworthy in haste, +lest the Curate should break in on his unfinished speech, "makes it +dangerous. I've had my fears this long time past." + +"A stroke," said the Curate--"a fit, do you mean? When, and how? and, +good heavens! to think that you have been wasting my time with +rubbish, and knew this!" Mr Wentworth tossed down his travelling-bag +again, and wiped his forehead nervously. He had forgotten his real +anxiety in the irritation of the moment. Now it returned upon him with +double force. "How did it come on?" he asked, "and when?" and stood +waiting for the answer, with a world of other questions, which he +could not put to Elsworthy, hanging on his lips. + +"I have a deal of respect for that family, sir," said Elsworthy; "they +have had troubles as few folks in Carlingford know of. How close they +have kep' things, to be sure!--but not so close as them that has good +memories, and can put two and two together, couldn't call to mind. My +opinion, sir, if you believe me," said the clerk of St Roque's, +approaching close to the Curate's ear, "is, that it's something +concerning the son." + +"The son!" said Mr Wentworth, with a troubled look. Then, after a +pause, he added, as if his exclamation had been an oversight, "What +son? has Mr Wodehouse a son?" + +"To think as they should have been so close with the clergyman!" said +Elsworthy, innocently; "though he aint no credit that they should talk +of him. He's been gone out o' Carlingford nigh upon twenty year; but +he aint dead for all that; and I'm told as he's been seen about Grange +Lane this last spring. I am one as hears all the talk that's a-going +on, being, as you might say, in a public position of life. Such a +thing mightn't maybe come to your ears, sir?" he continued, looking +inquisitively in Mr Wentworth's face; "but wherever he is, you may be +sure it's something about him as has brought on this attack on the old +man. It was last night as he was took so bad, and a couple of hours +ago a message came up. Miss Wodehouse (as is the nicest lady in +Grange Lane, and a great friend to me) had took a panic, and she was +a-crying for you, the man said, and wouldn't take no denial. If I had +known where you was to be found, I'd have sent word." + +"Send down my bag to my house," said the Curate, hastily interrupting +him. "Good-night--don't forget what I said about the other matter." Mr +Wentworth went out of the shop with a disagreeable impression that +Elsworthy had been examining his face like an inquisitor, and was +already forming conclusions from what he had seen there. He went away +hurriedly, with a great many vague fears in his mind. Mr Wodehouse's +sudden illness seemed to him a kind of repetition and echo of the +Squire's, and in the troubled and uncertain state of his thoughts, he +got to confusing them together in the centre of this whirl of unknown +disaster and perplexity. Perhaps even thus it was not all bitterness to +the young man to feel his family united with that of Lucy Wodehouse. He +went down Grange Lane in the summer darkness under the faint stars, full +of anxiety and alarm, yet not without a thrill in his heart, a sweeter +under-current of conscious agitation in the knowledge that he was +hastening to her presence. Sudden breaks in his thoughts revealed her, +as if behind a curtain, rising to receive him, giving him her hand, +meeting his look with a smile; so that, on the whole, neither Gerald's +distress, nor Jack's alarming call, nor his father's attack, nor Mr +Wodehouse's illness, nor the general atmosphere of vexation and trouble +surrounding his way, could succeed in making the young man totally +wretched. He had this little stronghold of his own to retire into. The +world could not fall to pieces so long as he continued with eager steps +to devour the road which led to Mr Wodehouse's garden-door. + +Before he had reached that goal, however, he met a group who were +evidently returning from some little dinner in Grange Lane. Mr Wentworth +took off his hat hastily in recognition of Mrs Morgan, who was walking +by her husband's side, with a bright-coloured hood over her head +instead of a bonnet. The Curate, who was a man of taste, could not help +observing, even in the darkness, and amid all his preoccupations, how +utterly the cherry-coloured trimmings of her head-dress were out of +accordance with the serious countenance of the Rector's wife, who was a +little heated with her walk. She was a good woman, but she was not fair +to look upon; and it occurred to Mr Wentworth to wonder, if Lucy were to +wait ten years for him, would the youthful grace dry and wither out of +her like this! And then all at once another idea flashed upon his mind, +without any wish of his. Like the unhappy lover in the ballad, he was +suddenly aware of a temptation-- + +"How there looked him in the face An angel beautiful and bright, And how +he knew it was a fiend." + +"Of course the Rectory will go to Frank." He could not tell why at that +moment the words rang into his ear with such a penetrating sound. That +he hated himself for being able to think of such a possibility made no +difference. It came darting and tingling into his mind like one of those +suggestions of blasphemy which the devils whispered in Christian's ear +as he went through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He went on faster +than ever to escape from it, scarcely observing that Mrs Morgan, instead +of simply acknowledging his bow as she passed, stopped to shake hands, +and to say how glad she was he had come back again. He thought of it +afterwards with wonder and a strange gratitude. The Rector's wife was +not like the conventional type of a pitying angel; and even had she been +so, he had not time to recognise her at that moment as he went +struggling with his demons to Mr Wodehouse's green door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +When the green door was opened, Mr Wentworth saw at a glance that +there was agitation and trouble in the house. Lights were twinkling +irregularly in the windows here and there, but the family apartment, +the cheerful drawing-room, which generally threw its steady, cheerful +blaze over the dark garden, shone but faintly with half-extinguished +lights and undrawn curtains. It was evident at a glance that the room +was deserted, and its usual occupants engaged elsewhere. "Master's +very bad, sir," said the servant who opened the door; "the young +ladies is both with him, and a hired nurse come in besides. The doctor +don't seem to have no great hopes, but it will be a comfort to know as +you have come back. Miss Wodehouse wanted you very bad an hour or two +ago, for they thought as master was reviving, and could understand. +I'll go and let them know you are here." + +"Don't disturb them, unless I can be of use," said Mr Wentworth. The +look of the house, and the atmosphere of distress and anxiety about +it, chilled him suddenly. His visions and hopes seemed guilty and +selfish as he went slowly up those familiar steps and into the house, +over which the shadow of death seemed already lying. He went by +himself into the forsaken drawing-room, where two neglected candles +were burning feebly in a corner, and the wistful sky looking in as if +to ask why the domestic temple was thus left open and uncared for. +After the first moment he went hastily to the windows, and drew down +the blinds in a kind of tender impatience. He could not bear that +anything in the world, even her father's danger, should discompose the +sweet, good order of the place where Lucy's image dwelt. There was a +chair and her basket of work, and on the little table a book marked +with pencil-marks, such as youthful readers love to make; and by +degrees that breath of Lucy lingering in the silent room overcame its +dreariness, and the painful sense of desertion which had struck him at +first. He hovered about that corner where her usual place was, feeling +in his heart that Lucy in trouble was dearer, if possible, than Lucy +in happiness, and hung over her chair, with a mixture of reverence and +tenderness and yearning, which could never be expressed in words. It +was the divinest phase of love which was in his mind at the moment; +for he was not thinking of himself, but of her, and of how he could +succour and comfort her, and interpose his own true heart and life +between her and all trouble. It was at this moment that Lucy herself +entered the room; she came in softly, and surprised him in the +overflowing of his heart. She held out her hand to him as usual, and +smiled, perhaps less brightly, but that of course arose from the +circumstances of the house; and her voice was very measured and steady +when she spoke, less variable than of old. What was it she said? Mr +Wentworth unconsciously left the neighbourhood of that chair over +which he had been bending, which, to tell the truth, he had leaned his +head upon, lover-like, and perhaps even kissed for her sake, five +minutes before, and grew red and grew pale with a strange revulsion +and tumult of feeling. He could not tell what the difference was, or +what it meant. He only felt in an instant, with a sense of the change +that chilled him to the heart, as if somehow a wall of ice had risen +between them. He could see her through the transparent veil, and hear +her speak, and perceive the smile which cast no warmth of reflection +on him; but in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, everything in +heaven and earth was changed. Lucy herself, to her own consciousness, +trembled and faltered, and felt as if her voice and her looks must +betray an amount of emotion which she would have died rather than +show; but then Lucy had rehearsed this scene before, and knew all she +intended by it; whereas upon the Curate, in his little flush and +overflow of tenderness, it fell like a sudden earthquake, rending his +fair edifice of happiness asunder, and casting him out into unexpected +darkness. Sudden confusion, mortification, even a sense of injury and +bitterness, came swelling over his heart as he set a chair for her as +far away as possible from the corner in which he had been indulging +such vain and unwarrantable dreams. + +"It happened yesterday," said Lucy; "we have not been quite able to +make out what was the cause; at least _I_ have not been able to find +it out. The clerks at the office say it was something about--but that +does not matter," she went on, with her sweet politeness: "you don't +care for the details. I sometimes fancy Mary knows more than she tells +me, and I think you are in her confidence, Mr Wentworth. But I am not +going to ask you any questions. The doctors say he is not suffering so +much as he seems to be. It is terrible to see him lie there not +knowing any of us," said Lucy, with a tremble in her voice. + +"But you thought him better some time ago?" said the Curate, whose +words choked him, and who could not endure to speak. + +"Yes, about six o'clock," said Lucy, "he tried to speak, and put Mary +in a great fright, I cannot tell why. Would you be good enough, Mr +Wentworth," she went on hastily, with a strange mixture of earnestness +and coldness, "if you know of anything she is keeping secret, to bid +her tell me? I am able to bear anything there may be to bear--surely +as well as she is, who has had no trouble," said Lucy, softly; and for +a moment she wavered in her fixed composure, and the wall of ice moved +as if it might fall. + +"Nor you?" said the Curate, bending anxiously forward to look into her +eyes. He was inexpressibly moved and agitated by the inference, which +perhaps no listener less intensely concerned would have drawn from +what Lucy said. He could not bear that she should have any trouble +which he might not do something to relieve her of. + +"Oh, no, nor I," said Lucy, quickly, and in that moment the softening +of tone disappeared entirely. "Mary will be pleased to see you, Mr +Wentworth. I will go and relieve her presently. Papa is asleep just +now, and I was down-stairs giving some directions when you came in. I +wanted to ask you to look after that poor woman at No. 10. She still +keeps living on, and I have not been able to see her today. She misses +me when I don't go," said Lucy, with a very little unconscious sigh. +"Would you see her, please, to-morrow, if you have time?" + +"Yes, certainly," said the Curate; and then there was a pause. "Is +there nothing but this that you will let me do for you?" he asked, +trusting to his looks to show the heart, which at this moment he was +so much tempted to disclose to her, but dared not. And even in all her +trouble Lucy was too much of a woman to neglect an opportunity so +tempting. + +"Thank you," she said. "Yes, there are those poor little Bertrams I +was to have seen today--if you would be so very good as to send some +one to them." Lucy lifted her eyes only as she ended this little +speech. She had meant it cruelly, to be sure, and the arrow had gone +home; but when she met the look that was fixed on her after her little +shaft was fired, Lucy's resolution faltered. The tears came rushing to +her eyes so hot and rapid that she could not restrain them. Some +trouble of her own gave poignancy to that outbreak of filial grief. +"Papa is so very ill!" she said, with a sob, as a scalding drop fell +upon her hand; and then got up suddenly, afraid of the consequences. +But the Curate, mortified, wounded, and disheartened as he was, had no +comprehension either of the bitterness or the relenting that was in +Lucy's thoughts. Rosa Elsworthy did not so much as occur to him in all +his confused wonderings. He went after her to the door, too much +perplexed and distressed to be indignant, as his first impulse was. +She turned half round, with a tremulous little inclination of her +head, which was all the good-night she could venture on. But the young +man was too much disturbed to permit this. + +"You will give me your hand, surely," he said, taking it, and holding it +fast--a hand so different from that weak woman's hand that clung to +Gerald without any force to hold him, in Wentworth Rectory. Those +reluctant fingers, so firm and so soft, which scorned any struggle to +withdraw themselves, but remained passive in his with a more effectual +protest still against his grasp, wrung the very heart of the Perpetual +Curate. He let them go with a sigh of vexation and disappointment. +"Since that is all I can do, I will do it," he said--"that or anything +else." She had left him almost before the words were said; and it was in +a very disconsolate mood that he turned back into the deserted +drawing-room. To tell the truth, he forgot everything else for the +moment, asking himself what it could mean; and walked about stumbling +over the chairs, feeling all his little edifice of personal consolation +falling to the winds, and not caring much though everything else should +follow. He was in this state of mind when Miss Wodehouse came to him, +moving with noiseless steps, as everybody did in the stricken house. + +"Oh, Mr Wentworth, I am so glad you have come," said that mild woman, +holding out both her hands to him. She was too much agitated to say +anything more. She was not equal to the emergency, or any emergency, +but sank down on a chair, and relieved herself by tears, while the +Curate stood anxiously by, waiting for what she had to say to him. "My +father is very ill," she said, like Lucy, through her crying; "I don't +know what good anybody can do; but thank God you've come home--now I +shall feel I have somebody to apply to, whatever happens," said poor +Miss Wodehouse, drying the eyes that were suffused again the next +moment. Her helpless distress did not overwhelm the spectator, like +Lucy's restrained trouble, but that was natural enough. + +"Tell me about it," said Mr Wentworth; "the cause--can I guess at the +cause? it is something about your--" + +"Oh hush! don't say his name," cried Miss Wodehouse. "Yes, yes, what +else could it be? Oh, Mr Wentworth, will you close the door, please, +and see that there's no one about. I dare not speak to you till I am +sure there's no one listening; not that I suspect anybody of +listening," said the distressed woman; "but one never knows. I am +afraid it is all my fault," she continued, getting up suddenly to see +that the windows were closed. "I ought to have sent him away, instead +of putting my trouble upon you; and now he is in greater danger than +ever. Oh, Mr Wentworth, I meant it for the best; and now, unless you +can help us, I don't know what I am to do." + +"I cannot help you unless you tell me what is wrong," said the Curate, +making her sit down, and drawing a chair close to her. He took her +hand, by way of compelling her attention--a fair, soft hand, too, in +its restless, anxious way. He held it in a brotherly grasp, trying to +restore her to coherence, and induce her to speak. + +"I don't know enough about business to tell you," she said. "He was in +danger when I threw him upon your charity; and oh, Mr Wentworth, thank +you, thank you a thousand times, for taking him in like a brother. If +Lucy only knew! But I don't feel as if I dared to tell her--and yet I +sometimes think I ought, for your--I mean for all our sakes. Yes, I will +try to explain it if I can; but I can't--indeed I don't understand," +cried the poor lady, in despair. "It is something about a bill--it was +something about a bill before; and I thought I could soften papa, and +persuade him to be merciful; but it has all turned to greater +wretchedness and misery. The first one was paid, you know, and I thought +papa might relent;--but--don't cast us off, Mr Wentworth--don't go and +denounce him; you might, but you will not. It would be justice, I +acknowledge," cried the weeping woman; "but there is something higher +than justice even in this world. You are younger than I am, and so is +Lucy; but you are better than me, you young people, and you must be more +merciful too. I have seen you going among the poor people and among the +sick, and I could not have done it; and you won't forsake me--oh, Mr +Wentworth, you won't forsake me, when you know that my trouble is +greater than I can bear!" + +"I will not forsake you," said the Curate; "but tell me what it is. I +have been summoned to Carlingford by my brother, and I am bewildered +and disturbed beyond what I can tell you--" + +"By your brother?" said Miss Wodehouse, with her unfailing instinct of +interest in other people. "I hope there is no trouble in your own +family, Mr Wentworth. One gets so selfish when one is in great +distress. I hope he is not ill. It sounds as if there was comfort in +the very name of a brother," said the gentle woman, drying her tears, +"and I hope it is so with you; but it isn't always so. I hope you will +find he is better when you get home. I am very, very sorry to hear +that you are in trouble too." + +Mr Wentworth got up from his chair with a sigh of impatience. "Will +nobody tell me what is the matter?" he said. "Mr Wodehouse is ill, and +there is some mysterious cause for it; and you are miserable, and +there is a cause for that too; and I am to do something to set things +right without knowing what is wrong. Will you not tell me? What is it? +Has your--" + +"Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't say anybody's name--don't speak so loud. +There may be a servant in the staircase or something," cried Miss +Wodehouse. "I hear somebody coming now." She got up to listen, her +face growing white with panic, and went a few steps towards the door, +and then tottered into another chair, unable to command herself. A +certain sick thrill of apprehension came over the Curate, too, as he +hastened forward. He could not tell what he was afraid of, or whether +it was only the accumulated agitation of the day that made him weak. +Somebody was coming up the stairs, and towards the room, with a +footstep more careless than those stealthy steps with which all the +servants were stealing about the house. Whoever he was, he stopped at +the door a moment, and then looked cautiously in. When he saw the +figure of the Curate in the imperfect light, he withdrew his head +again as if deliberating with himself, and then, with a sudden rush, +came in, and shut the door after him. "Confound these servants, +they're always prowling about the house," said the new-comer. He was +an alarming apparition in his great beard and his shabbiness, and the +fugitive look he had. "I couldn't help it," he broke forth, with a +spontaneous burst of apology and self-defence. "I heard he was ill, +and I couldn't keep quiet. How is he? You don't mean to say _that's_ +my fault. Molly, can't you speak to me? How could I tell I should find +you and the parson alone here, and all safe? I might have been risking +my--my--freedom--everything I care for; but when I heard he was ill, I +couldn't stay quiet. Is he dying?--what's the matter? Molly, can't you +speak?" + +"Oh, Mr Wentworth, somebody will see him," cried Miss Wodehouse, +wringing her hands. "Oh Tom, Tom, how could you do it? Suppose +somebody was to come in--John or somebody. If you care for your own +life, oh, go away, go away!" + +"They can't touch my life," said the stranger, sullenly. "I daresay +she doesn't know that. Nor the parson need not look superior--there +are more people concerned than I; but if I've risked everything to +hear, you may surely tell me how the old man is." + +"If it was love that brought you," said poor Miss Wodehouse; "but oh, +Tom, you know I can't believe that. He is very, very ill; and it is +you that have done it," cried the mild woman, in a little gush of +passion--"you whom he has forgiven and forgiven till his heart is +sick. Go away, I tell you, go away from the house that you have +shamed. Oh, Mr Wentworth, take him away," she cried, turning to the +Curate with clasped hands--"tell him to hide--to fly--or he'll be +taken: he will not be forgiven this time; and if my father--if my dear +father dies--" But when she got so far her agitation interrupted her. +She kept her eyes upon the door with a wild look of terror, and waved +her helpless hands to warn the intruder away. + +"If he dies, matters will be altered," said the stranger: "you and I +might change places then, for that matter. I'm going away from +Carlingford. I can't stay in such a wretched hole any longer. It's +gout or something?" said the man, with a tone of nature breaking +through his bravado--"it's not anything that has happened? Say so, and +I'll never trouble you more." + +"Oh, if Lucy were to see him!" said poor Miss Wodehouse. The words +came unawares out of her heart without any thought; but the next thing +of which she was conscious was that the Perpetual Curate had laid his +hand on the stranger's arm, and was leading him reluctantly away. "I +will tell you all you want to know," said Mr Wentworth, "but not +here;" and with his hand upon the other's arm, moved him somehow with +an irresistible command, half physical, half mental, to the door. +Before Miss Wodehouse could say anything they were gone; before she +could venture to draw that long sighing breath of relief, she heard +the door below close, and the retreating footsteps in the garden. But +the sound, thankful though she was, moved her to another burst of +bitter tears. "To think I should have to tell a stranger to take him +away," she sobbed, out of the anguish of her heart; and sat weeping +over him with a relenting that wrung her tender spirit, without power +to move till the servant came up with alarmed looks to ask if any one +had come in in his absence. "Oh, no; it was only Mr Wentworth--and +a--gentleman who came to fetch him," said Miss Wodehouse. And she got +up, trembling as she was, and told John he had better shut up the +house and go to bed. "For I hope papa will have a better night, and +we must not waste our strength," she said, with a kind of woeful +smile, which was a wonder to John. He said Miss Wodehouse was a +tender-hearted one, to be sure, when he went down-stairs; but that was +no very novel piece of information to anybody there. + +Meantime the Curate went down Grange Lane with that strange lodger of +Mrs Hadwin's, who had broken thus into Miss Wodehouse's solitude. They +did not say much to each other as they went sullenly side by side down +the silent road; for the stranger, whose feelings were not complicated +by any very lively sense of gratitude, looked upon his companion as a +kind of jailer, and had an unspeakable grudge against the man who +exercised so calm an ascendancy over him; though to be sure it might +have been difficult to resist the moral force of the Curate of St +Roque's, who was three inches taller than himself, and had the +unbroken vigour of youth and health to back him. As for Mr Wentworth, +he went on without speaking, with a bitterness in his heart not to be +expressed. His own personal stronghold of happiness and consolation +had shattered in pieces in that evening's interview; and as he went to +his own house he asked himself what he should find in it? This +wretched man, with whose sins he had been hitherto but partially +acquainted; and Jack, with whom the other had heaven knew what +horrible connection. Should he find a den of thieves where he had left +only high thoughts and lofty intentions? It was thus, after his three +days' absence, that he returned home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +When Mr Wentworth entered Mrs Hadwin's garden in the dark, his first +glance up at the house showed him that a certain change had passed on +it also. The decorous little house had been turned inside out. The +windows of his own sitting-room were open, the blind drawn up to the +top, and in addition to his usual lamp some candles were flaring +wildly in the draught. He could see into the room as he paused at the +garden-door, and was able to distinguish that the table was still +covered as for dinner, and to catch the purple gleam of the light in +the claret-jug which occupied the place of honour; but nobody was +visible in the room. That wildly-illuminated and open apartment stood +in strange contrast with the rest of the house, where everything was +dark, save in Mrs Hadwin's own chamber. The Curate proceeded on his +way, after that moment's pause, with hasty and impatient steps. On the +way up he encountered Sarah the housemaid, who stopped in the middle +of the stairs to make a frightened little curtsy, and utter an alarmed +"La!" of recognition and surprise. But Sarah turned round as soon as +she had recovered herself, to say that her missis wanted very bad to +see Mr Wentworth as soon as he came home; but she was gone up to bed +now, and didn't he think it would be a pity to wake her up? The Curate +gave her only a little nod of general acquiescence, as he hurried on; +but felt, notwithstanding, that this prompt request, ready prepared +for his arrival, was a tacit protest against his guests, and +expression of disapproval. Mrs Hadwin was only his landlady, an old +woman, and not a particularly wise one, but her disapproval vexed the +Perpetual Curate. It was a kind of sign of the times--those times in +which it appeared that everybody was ready to turn upon him and +embarrass his path. He had forgotten all about his companion as he +hurried into the familiar room which was so little like itself, but +yet was somehow conscious with annoyance that the stranger followed +him through its half-shut door. The scene within was one which was +never effaced from Mr Wentworth's memory. There were several bottles +upon the table, which the poor Curate knew by sight, and which had +been collected in his little cellar more for the benefit of Wharfside +than of himself. Removed out of the current of air which was playing +freely through the apartment, was some one lying on a sofa, with +candles burning on a table beside him. He was in a dressing-gown, with +his shirt open at the throat, and his languid frame extended in +perfect repose to catch the refreshment of the breeze. Clouds of +languid smoke, which were too far out of the way to feel the draught +between the windows, curled over him: he had a cigar in one hand, +which he had just taken from his lips, and with which he was faintly +waving off a big night-moth which had been attracted by the lights; +and a French novel, unmistakable in its paper cover, had closed upon +the other. Altogether a more languid figure never lay at rest in +undisturbed possession of the most legitimate retirement. He had the +Wentworth hair, the golden-brown, which, like all their other family +features, even down to their illnesses, the race was proud of, and a +handsome silky beard. He had lived a hard life of pleasure and +punishment; but though he had reached middle age, there was not a hair +on the handsome reprobate's head which had changed out of its original +colour. He looked languidly up when the door opened, but did not stop +the delicate fence which he was carrying on against the moth, nor the +polyglot oaths which he was swearing at it softly half under his +breath. + +"Frank, I suppose," he said, calmly, as the Curate came hastily +forward. "How d'ye do? I am very glad you've come back. The country +was very charming the first day, but that's a charm that doesn't last. +I suppose you've dined: or will you ring and order something?" he +said, turning slowly round on his sofa. "Accidente! the thing will +kill itself after all. Would you mind catching it in your handkerchief +before you sit down? But don't take away the candles. It's too late to +make any exertion," said the elegant prodigal, leaning back languidly +on his sofa; "but I assure you that light is half my life." + +The Curate was tired, heated, and indignant. He lifted the candles +away from the table, and then put them back again, too much excited to +think of the moth. "Your arrival must have been very sudden," he said, +throwing himself into the nearest chair. "I was very much surprised by +your message. It looks inhospitable, but I see you make yourself quite +at home--" + +"Perfectly," said the elder brother, resuming his cigar. "I always do. +It is much more agreeable for all parties. But I don't know how it is +that a man's younger brothers are always so rapid and unreasonable in +their movements. Instead of saving that unhappy insect, you have +precipitated its fate. Poor thing--and it had no soul," said the +intruder, with a tone of pathos. The scene altogether was a curious +one. Snugly sheltered from the draught, but enjoying the coolness of +the atmosphere which it produced, lay the figure on the sofa at +perfect ease and leisure, with the light shed brightly upon him, on +his shining beard, the white cool expanse of linen at his breast, and +the bright hues of his dressing-gown. Near him, fatigued, dusty, +indignant, and perplexed, sat the Curate, with the night air playing +upon him, and moving his disordered hair on his forehead; while at the +other end of the room hovered the stranger who had followed Mr +Wentworth--a broad, shabby, indistinct figure, who stood with his back +to the others, looking vaguely out of the window into the darkness. +Over these two the night air blew with no small force between the +open windows, making the candles on the centre table flare wildly, and +flapping the white tablecloth. An occasional puff from the cigar +floated now and then across the room. It was a pause before the storm. + +"I was about to say," said the Perpetual Curate, "that though it might +seem inhospitable, the first thing I had to ask was, What brought you +here--and why did you send for me?" + +"Don't be abrupt, pray," said Jack, taking his cigar from his mouth, +and slightly waving the hand that held it. "Don't let us plunge into +business all at once. You bring a sense of fatigue into the room with +you, and the atmosphere was delightful a little while ago. I flatter +myself I know how to enjoy the cool of the evening. Suppose you were +to--ah--refresh yourself a little," he said, with a disapproving +glance at his brother's dusty boots, "before we begin to talk of our +affairs." + +The Curate of St Roque's got up from his chair, feeling that he had an +unchristian inclination to kick the heir of the Wentworths. As he +could not do that, he shut the window behind him emphatically, and +extinguished the flaring candles on the centre table. "I detest a +draught," said the Perpetual Curate, which, unfortunately, was not a +statement entirely founded on fact, though so far true in the present +instance that he hated anything originated by the intruder. "I have +hurried home in reply to your message, and I should be glad to know +what it means, now that I am here--what you are in trouble about--and +why you come to me--and what you have to do with him?" + +"But you need not have deranged the temperature," said Jack. +"Impetuosity always distresses me. All these are questions which it +will take some time to answer. Let me persuade you, in the first +place, to make yourself comfortable. Don't mind me; I am at the crisis +of my novel, which is very interesting. I have just been thinking how +it might be adapted for the stage--there's a character that Fechter +could make anything of. Now, my dear fellow, don't stand on ceremony. +Take a bath and change your dress, and in the mean time there will be +time to cook something--the cookery here is not bad for the country. +After that we'll discuss all our news. I daresay our friend there is +in no hurry," said the elder brother, opening his book and puffing +slowly towards the Curate the languid smoke of his cigar. + +"But, by Jove, I _am_ in a hurry, though," said that nameless +individual, coming forward. "It's all very well for you: you put a man +up to everything that's dangerous, and then you leave him in the +lurch, and say it don't matter. I daresay it don't matter to you. All +that you've done has been to share the profit--you've nothing to do +with the danger; but I'm savage to-night, and I don't mean to stand it +any more," said the stranger, his great chest expanding with a panting +breath. He, too, looked as if he would have liked to seize the languid +spectator in his teeth and shake some human feeling into him. Jack +Wentworth raised his eyebrows and looked at him, as he might have +looked at a wild beast in a rage. + +"Sit down, savage, and be quiet," he said. "Why should I trouble +myself about you?--any fool could get into your scrape. I am not in +the habit of interfering in a case of common crime. What I do, I do +out of pity," he continued, with an air of superiority, quite +different from his tone to his brother. But this look, which had +answered before, was not successful to-night. + +"By Jove, I _am_ savage!" said the other, setting his teeth, "and I +know enough of your ways to teach you different behaviour. The parson +has treated me like a gentleman--like what I used to be, though he +don't like me; but you!--By Jove! It was only my own name I signed, +after all," he continued, after a pause, lowering his voice; "but you, +you blackleg--" + +"Stop a little," said the Curate, rising up. "Though you seem both to +have forgotten it, this is my room. I don't mean to have any +altercations here. I have taken you in for the sake of your--family," +said Mr Wentworth, with a momentary gasp, "and you have come because +you are my brother. I don't deny any natural claims upon me; but I am +master of my own house and my own leisure. Get up, Jack, and tell me +what you want. When I understand what it is, you can lounge at your +will; but in the mean time get up and explain: and as for you, +Wodehouse--" + +Jack Wentworth faced round on his sofa, and then, with a kind of +involuntary motion, slid his feet to the ground. He looked at his +brother with extreme amazement as he closed his novel and tossed away +the end of his cigar. "It's much better not to mention names," he +said, in a half-apologetic way. "Our friend here is under a temporary +cloud. His name, in fact, is--Smith, I think." But as he spoke he sat +upright, a little startled to find that Frank, whom he remembered only +as a lad, was no longer to be coerced and concussed. As for the other, +he came forward with the alacrity of a man who began to see some hope. + +"By Jove, my name _is_ Wodehouse, though," he said, in the argumentative +tone which seemed habitual to him; his voice came low and grumbling +through his beard. He was not of the class of triumphant sinners, +whatever wickedness he might be capable of. To tell the truth, he had +long, long ago fallen out of the butterfly stage of dissipation, and had +now to be the doer of dirty work, despised and hustled about by such men +as Jack Wentworth. The wages of sin had long been bitter enough, though +he had neither any hope of freeing himself, nor any wish to do so; but +he took up a grumbling tone of self-assertion as soon as he had an +opening. "The parson treats me like a gentleman--like what I used to +be," he repeated, coming into the light, and drawing a chair towards the +table. "My name is Wodehouse--it's my own name that I have signed after +all, by Jove!" said the unlucky prodigal. It seemed to give him a little +comfort to say that over again, as if to convince himself. + +"As for Wodehouse, I partly understand what he has done," said the +Curate. "It appears likely that he has killed his father, by the way; +but I suppose you don't count that. It is forgery in the mean time; I +understand as much." + +"It's my name as well as his, by Jove!" interrupted, hastily, the +stranger, under his breath. + +"Such strong terms are unnecessary," said Jack; "everybody knows that +bills are drawn to be renewed, and nursed, and taken care of. We've +had a great failure in luck as it happens, and these ones have come +down to this deuced place; and the old fellow, instead of paying them +like a gentleman, has made a row, and dropped down dead, or something. +I suppose you don't know any more than the women have told you. The +old man made a row in the office, and went off in fire and flame, and +gave up our friend here to his partner's tender mercies. I sent for +you, as you've taken charge of him. I suppose you have your reasons. +This is an unlikely corner to find him in, and I suppose he couldn't +be safer anywhere. That's about the state of the case. I came down to +look after him, out of kind feeling," said the heir of the Wentworths. +"If you don't mean to eat any dinner, have a cigar." + +"And what have you to do with each other? what is the connection +between you?" said the Curate of St Roque's. "I have my reasons, as +you say, for taking an interest in him--but you--" + +"I am only your elder brother," said Jack, shrugging his shoulders and +resuming his place on the sofa. "We understand that difference. +Business connection--that's all," he said, leisurely selecting another +cigar from his case. When he had lighted it, he turned round and fixed +his eyes upon the stranger. "We don't want any harm to happen to him," +he said, with a little emphasis. "I have come here to protect him. If +he keeps quiet and doesn't show, it will blow over. The keenest spy in +the place could scarcely suspect him to be here. I have come entirely +on his account--much to my own disgust--and yours," said the +exquisite, with another shrug. He laid back his head and looked up at +the ceiling, contemplating the fragrant wreaths of smoke with the air +of a man perfectly at his ease. "We don't mean him to come to any +harm," said Jack Wentworth, and stretched out his elegant limbs on the +sofa, like a potentate satisfied that his protection was enough to +make any man secure. + +"I'm too much in their secrets, by Jove!" said poor Wodehouse, in his +beard. "I _do_ know their secrets, though they talk so big. It's not +any consideration for me. It's to save themselves, by Jove, that's +what it is!" cried the indignant drudge, of whom his superior deigned +to take no notice. As for Mr Wentworth, he rose from his seat in a +state of suppressed indignation, which could not express itself merely +in words. + +"May I ask what share I am expected to play in the drama?" he asked, +pushing his chair aside in his excitement. The elder brother turned +instinctively, and once more slid his feet to the ground. They looked +at each other for a moment; the Curate, pale with a passion which he +could not conceal, had something in his eyes which brought shame even +to Jack Wentworth's face. + +"You can betray him if you like," he said, sulkily. "I have +no--particular interest in the matter; but in that case he had +better make the best of his time and get away. You hear?" said the +master-spirit, making a sign to Wodehouse. He had roused himself up, and +looked now like a feline creature preparing for a spring--his eyes were +cast down, but under the eyelids he followed his brother's movements +with vigilant observation. "If you like, you can betray him," he +repeated, slowly, understanding, as bad men so often do, the +generosities of the nature to which his own was so much opposed. + +And perhaps there was an undue degree of exasperation in the indignant +feelings which moved Mr Wentworth. He kicked off his dusty boots with +an indecorum quite unusual to him, and hunted up his slippers out of +the adjoining room with perhaps an unnecessary amount of noise and +haste. Then he went and looked out of the window into the serene +summer darkness and the dewy garden, getting a little fresh air upon +his heated face. Last of all he came back, peremptory and decided. "I +shall not betray him," said the Perpetual Curate; "but I will have no +further schemes concocted nor villany carried on in my house. If I +consent to shield him, and, if possible, save him from the law, it is +neither for his sake--nor yours," said the indignant young man. "I +suppose it is no use saying anything about your life; but both of you +have fathers very like to die of this--" + +"My dear fellow," said Jack Wentworth, "we have gone through that +phase ages ago. Don't be so much after date. I have brought down my +father's grey hairs, &c., a hundred times; and, I daresay, so has he. +Don't treat us as if we were in the nursery--a parson of advanced +views like you should have something a little more novel to say." + +"And so I have," said Mr Wentworth, with a heightened colour. "There +are capital rooms at the Blue Boar, which you will find very +comfortable, I am sure. I don't remember that we have ever been more +than acquaintances; and to take possession of a man's house in his +absence argues a high degree of friendship, as you are aware. It will +be with difficulty that I shall find room for myself to-night; but +to-morrow, I trust, if business requires you to remain in Carlingford, +you will be able to find accommodation at the Blue Boar." + +The elder brother grew very red all over his face. "I will go at +once," he said, with a little start; and then he took a second +thought. "It is a poor sort of way of winning a victory," he said, in +contemptuous tones, after he had overcome his first impulse; "but if +you choose that, it is no matter to me. I'll go to-morrow, as you +say--to pack up to-night is too much for my energies. In the mean time +it won't disturb you, I hope, if I go on with my novel. I don't +suppose any further civilities are necessary between you and me," said +Jack, once more putting up his feet on the sofa. He arranged himself +with an indifference which was too genuine for bravado, opening his +book, and puffing his cigar with great coolness. He did all but turn +his back upon the others, and drew the little table nearer to him, in +utter disregard of the fact that the Curate was leaning his arm on it. +In short, he retired from the contest with a kind of grandeur, with +his cigar and his novel, and the candles which lighted him up +placidly, and made him look like the master of the house and the +situation. There was a pause for some minutes, during which the others +looked on--Mr Wentworth with a perfectly unreasonable sense of defeat, +and poor Wodehouse with that strange kind of admiration which an +unsuccessful good-for-nothing naturally feels for a triumphant rascal. +They were in the shade looking on, and he in the light enjoying +himself calmly in his way. The sight put an end to various twinges of +repentance in the bosom of the inferior sinner. Jack Wentworth, lying +on the sofa in superb indifference, victorious over all sense of +right, did more to confirm his humble admirer in the life which he had +almost made up his mind to abandon, than even his own inclination +towards forbidden pleasure. He was dazzled by the success of his +principal; and in comparison with that instructive sight, his father's +probable deathbed, his sisters' tears, and even his own present +discomfort, faded into insignificance. What Jack Wentworth was, Tom +Wodehouse could never be; but at least he could follow his great model +humbly and afar off. These sentiments made him receive but sulkily the +admonitions of the Curate, when he led the way out of the preoccupied +sitting-room; for Mr Wentworth was certainly not the victor in this +passage of arms. + +"I will do what I can to help you out of this," said the Curate, +pausing within the door of Wodehouse's room, "for the sake of +your--friends. But look here, Wodehouse; I have not preached to you +hitherto, and I don't mean to do so now. When a man has done a crime, +he is generally past preaching. The law will punish you for forging +your father's name--" + +"It's _my_ name as well as his, by Jove!" interrupted the culprit, +sullenly; "I've a right to sign it wherever I please." + +"But the law," said Mr Wentworth, with emphasis, "has nothing to do +with the breaking of your father's heart. If he dies, think whether +the recollection will be a comfortable one. I will save you, if I can, +and there is time, though I am compromised already, and it may do me +serious injury. If you get free and are cleared from this, will you go +away and break off your connection with--yes, you are quite right--I +mean with my brother, whatever the connection may be? I will only +exert myself for you on condition that you promise. You will go away +somehow, and break off your old habits, and try if it is possible to +begin anew?" + +Wodehouse paused before he answered. The vision of Jack in the +Curate's sitting-room still dazzled him. "You daren't say as much to +your brother as you say to me," he replied, after a while, in his +sulky way; "but I'm a gentleman, by Jove, as well as he is." And he +threw himself down in a chair, and bit his nails, and grumbled into +his beard. "It's hard to ask a fellow to give up his liberty," he +said, without lifting his eyes. Mr Wentworth, perhaps, was a little +contemptuous of the sullen wretch who already had involved him in so +much annoyance and trouble. + +"You can take your choice," he said; "the law will respect your +liberty less than I shall;" and all the Curate's self-control could +not conceal a certain amount of disdain. + +"By Jove!" said Wodehouse, lifting up his eyes, "if the old man should +die, you'd change your tone;" and then he stopped short and looked +suspiciously at the Curate. "There's no will, and I'm the heir," he +said, with sullen braggadocio. Mr Wentworth was still young, and this +look made him sick with disgust and indignation. + +"Then you can take your chance," he said, impatiently, making a hasty +step to the door. He would not return, though his ungrateful guest +called him back, but went away, much excited and disgusted, to see if +the fresh air outside would restore his composure. On his way +down-stairs, he again met Sarah, who was hovering about in a restless +state of curiosity. "I've made a bed for you, please, sir, in the little +dressing-room," said Sarah; "and, please, Cook wants to know, wouldn't +you have anything to eat?" The question reminded Mr Wentworth that he +had eaten nothing since luncheon, which he took in his father's house. +Human nature, which can bear great blows with elasticity so wonderful, +is apt to be put out, as everybody knows, by their most trifling +accessories, and a man naturally feels miserable when he had had no +dinner, and has not a place to shelter him while he snatches a necessary +mouthful. "Never mind; all the rooms are occupied to-night," said the +Perpetual Curate, feeling thoroughly wretched. But Cook and Sarah had +arranged all that, being naturally indignant that their favourite +clergyman should be put "upon" by his disorderly and unexpected guests. + +"I have set your tray, sir, in missis's parlour," said Sarah, opening +the door to that sanctuary; and it is impossible to describe the sense +of relief with which the Perpetual Curate flung himself down on Mrs +Hadwin's sofa, deranging a quantity of cushions and elaborate +crochet-work draperies without knowing it. Here at least he was safe +from intrusion. But his reflections were far from being agreeable as +he ate his beef-steak. Here he was, without any fault of his own, +plunged into the midst of a complication of disgrace and vice. Perhaps +already the name of Lucy Wodehouse was branded with her brother's +shame; perhaps still more overwhelming infamy might overtake, through +that means, the heir and the name of the Wentworths. And for himself, +what he had to do was to attempt with all his powers to defeat +justice, and save from punishment a criminal for whom it was +impossible to feel either sympathy or hope. When he thought of Jack +up-stairs on the sofa over his French novel, the heart of the Curate +burned within him with indignation and resentment; and his disgust at +his other guest was, if less intense, an equally painful sensation. It +was hard to waste his strength, and perhaps compromise his character, +for such men as these; but on the other hand he saw his father, with +that malady of the Wentworths hanging over his head, doing his best to +live and last, like a courageous English gentleman as he was, for the +sake of "the girls" and the little children, who had so little to +expect from Jack; and poor stupid Mr Wodehouse dying of the crime +which assailed his own credit as well as his son's safety. The Curate +of St Roque's drew a long breath, and raised himself up unconsciously +to his full height as he rose to go up-stairs. It was he against the +world at the moment, as it appeared. He set himself to his uncongenial +work with a heart that revolted against the evil cause of which he was +about to constitute himself the champion. But for the Squire, who had +misjudged him--for Lucy who had received him with such icy smiles, and +closed up her heart against his entrance;--sometimes there is a kind +of bitter sweetness in the thought of spending love and life in one +lavish and prodigal outburst upon those to whom our hearts are bound, +but whose affections make us no return. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +The Curate went to breakfast next morning with a little curiosity and +a great deal of painful feeling. He had been inhospitable to his +brother, and a revulsion had happened such as happens invariably when +a generous man is forced by external circumstances to show himself +churlish. Though his good sense and his pride alike prevented him +from changing his resolution of the previous night, still his heart +had relented toward Jack, and he felt sorry and half ashamed to meet +the brother to whom he had shown so much temper and so little +kindness. It was much later than usual when he came down-stairs, and +Jack was just coming out of the comfortable chamber which belonged of +right to his brother, when the Curate entered the sitting-room. Jack +was in his dressing-gown, as on the previous night, and came forth +humming an air out of the 'Trovatore,' and looking as wholesomely +fresh and clean and dainty as the most honest gentleman in England. He +gave his brother a good-humoured nod, and wished him good morning. "I +am glad to see you don't keep distressingly early hours," he said, +between the bars of the air he was humming. He was a man of perfect +digestion, like all the Wentworths, and got up accordingly, in a good +temper, not disposed to make too much of any little incivility that +might have taken place. On the contrary, he helped himself to his +brother's favourite omelet with the most engaging cheerfulness, and +entered into such conversation as might be supposed to suit a +Perpetual Curate in a little country town. + +"I daresay you have a good many nice people about here," said Jack. +"I've done nothing but walk about since I came--and it does a man good +to see those fresh little women with their pink cheeks. There's one, a +sister of our friend's, I believe," he continued, with a nod towards +the door to indicate Wodehouse--"an uncommonly pretty girl, I can tell +you; and there's a little rosebud of a creature at that shop, whom, +they tell me, you're interested in. Your living is not worth much, I +suppose? It's unlucky having two clergymen in a family; but, to be +sure, you're going in for Skelmersdale. By the way, that reminds +me--how are the aunts? I have not heard anything of them for ages. +Female relations of that description generally cling to the parsons of +the race. I suppose they are all living--all three? Some people never +seem to die." + +"They are here," said the Curate, succinctly, "living in Carlingford. +I wonder nobody has told you." + +A sudden bright spark lighted in the prodigal's eyes. "Ah, they are +here, are they?" he said, after a momentary pause; "so much the better +for you; but in justice you ought to be content with the living. I say +so as your elder brother. Gerald has the best right to what they've +got to leave. By the by, how are Gerald and the rest? you've just been +there. I suppose our respected parent goes on multiplying. To think of +so many odious little wretches calling themselves Wentworth is enough +to make one disgusted with the name." + +"My father was very ill when I left; he has had another attack," said +the Curate. "He does not seem able to bear any agitation. Your telegram +upset him altogether. I don't know what you've been about--he did not +tell me," continued the younger brother, with a little emotion, "but he +is very uneasy about you." + +"Ah, I daresay," said Jack; "that's natural; but he's wonderfully +tough for such an old fellow. I should say it would take twenty +attacks to finish him; and this is the second, isn't it? I wonder how +long an interval there was between the two; it would be a pretty +calculation for a _post-obit_. Wodehouse seems to have brought his +ancestor down at the first shot almost; but then there's no entail in +his case, and the old fellow may have made a will. I beg your pardon; +you don't like this sort of talk. I forgot you were a clergyman. I +rather like this town of yours, do you know. Sweet situation, and good +for the health, I should say. I'll take your advice, I think, about +the--how did you call it?--Black Boar. Unless, indeed, some charitable +family would take me in," said the elder brother, with a glance from +under his eyelids. His real meaning did not in the least degree +suggest itself to the Curate, who was thinking more of what was past +than of what was to come. + +"You seem to take a great interest in Wodehouse?" said Mr Wentworth. + +"Yes; and so do you," said Jack, with a keen glance of curiosity--"I +can't tell why. My interest in him is easily explained. If the affair +came to a trial, it might involve other people who are of retiring +dispositions and dislike publicity. I don't mind saying," continued +the heir of the Wentworths, laying down his knife and fork, and +looking across at his brother with smiling candour, "that I might +myself be brought before the world in a way which would wound my +modesty; so it must not be permitted to go any further, you perceive. +The partner has got a warrant out, but has not put it into execution +as yet. That's why I sent for you. You are the only man, so far as I +can see, that can be of any use." + +"I don't know what you mean," said the Curate, hastily, "nor what +connection you can possibly have with Wodehouse; perhaps it is better +not to inquire. I mean to do my best for him, independent of you." + +"Do," said Jack Wentworth, with a slight yawn; "it is much better not to +inquire. A clergyman runs the risk of hearing things that may shock him +when he enters into worldly business; but the position of mediator is +thoroughly professional. Now for the Black Boar. I'll send for my traps +when I get settled," he said, rising in his languid way. He had made a +very good breakfast, and he was not at all disposed to make himself +uncomfortable by quarrelling with his brother. Besides, he had a new +idea in his mind. So he gave the Curate another little good-humoured +nod, and disappeared into the sleeping-room, from which he emerged a few +minutes after with a coat replacing the dressing-gown, ready to go out. +"I daresay I shall see you again before I leave Carlingford," he said, +and left the room with the utmost suavity. As for Mr Wentworth, it is +probable that his brother's serenity had quite the reverse of a soothing +effect upon his mind and temper. He rose from the table as soon as Jack +was gone, and for a long time paced about the room composing himself, +and planning what he was to do--so long, indeed, that Sarah, after +coming up softly to inspect, had cleared the table and put everything +straight in the room before the Curate discovered her presence. It was +only when she came up to him at last, with her little rustical curtsy, +to say that, please, her missis would like to see him for a moment in +the parlour, that Mr Wentworth found out that she was there. This +interruption roused him out of his manifold and complicated thoughts. "I +am too busy just now, but I will see Mrs Hadwin to-night," he said; "and +you can tell her that my brother has gone to get rooms at the Blue +Boar." After he had thus satisfied the sympathetic handmaiden, the +Curate crossed over to the closed door of Wodehouse's room and knocked. +The inmate there was still in bed, as was his custom, and answered Mr +Wentworth through his beard in a recumbent voice, less sulky and more +uncertain than on the previous night. Poor Wodehouse had neither the +nerve nor the digestion of his more splendid associate. He had no +strength of evil in himself when he was out of the way of it; and the +consequence of a restless night was a natural amount of penitence and +shame in the morning. He met the Curate with a depressed countenance, +and answered all his questions readily enough, even giving him the +particulars of the forged bills, in respect to which Thomas Wodehouse +the younger could not, somehow, feel so guilty as if it had been a name +different from his own which he had affixed to those fatal bits of +paper; and he did not hesitate much to promise that he would go abroad +and try to make a new beginning if this matter could be settled. Mr +Wentworth went out with some satisfaction after the interview, believing +in his heart that his own remonstrances had had their due effect, as it +is so natural to believe--for he did not know, having slept very +soundly, that it had rained a good deal during the night, and that Mrs +Hadwin's biggest tub (for the old lady had a passion for rain-water) was +immediately under poor Wodehouse's window, and kept him awake as it +filled and ran over all through the summer darkness. The recollection +of Jack Wentworth, even in his hour of success, was insufficient to +fortify the simple soul of his humble admirer against that ominous sound +of the unseen rain, and against the flashes of sudden lightning that +seemed to blaze into his heart. He could not help thinking of his +father's sick-bed in those midnight hours, and of all the melancholy +array of lost years which had made him no longer "a gentleman, as he +used to be," but a skulking vagabond in his native place; and his +penitence lasted till after he had had his breakfast and Mr Wentworth +was gone. Then perhaps the other side of the question recurred to his +mind, and he began to think that if his father died there might be no +need for his banishment; but Mr Wentworth knew nothing of this change in +his _protege's_ sentiments, as he went quickly up Grange Lane. Wharfside +and all the district had lain neglected for three long days, as the +Curate was aware, and he had promised to call at No. 10 Prickett's Lane, +and to look after the little orphan children whom Lucy had taken charge +of. His occupations, in short, both public and private, were +overpowering, and he could not tell how he was to get through them; for, +in addition to everything else, it was Friday, and there was a litany +service at twelve o'clock at St Roque's. So the young priest had little +time to lose as he hurried up once again to Mr Wodehouse's green door. + +It was Miss Wodehouse who came to meet the Curate as soon as his +presence was known in the house--Miss Wodehouse, and not Lucy, who +made way for her sister to pass her, and took no notice of Mr +Wentworth's name. The elder sister entered very hurriedly the little +parlour down-stairs, and shut the door fast, and came up to him with +an anxious inquiring face. She told him her father was just the same, +in faltering tones. "And oh, Mr Wentworth, has anything happened?" she +exclaimed, with endless unspeakable questions in her eyes. It was so +hard for the gentle woman to keep her secret--the very sight of +somebody who knew it was a relief to her heart. + +"I want you to give me full authority to act for you," said the +Curate. "I must go to Mr Wodehouse's partner and discuss the whole +matter." + +Here Miss Wodehouse gave a little cry, and stopped him suddenly. "Oh, +Mr Wentworth, it would kill papa to know you had spoken to any one. +You must send him away," she said, breathless with anxiety and terror. +"To think of discussing it with any one when even Lucy does not +know--!" She spoke with so much haste and fright that it was scarcely +possible to make out her last words. + +"Nevertheless I must speak to Mr Waters," said the Curate; "I am going +there now. He knows all about it already, and has a warrant for _his_ +apprehension; but we must stop that. I will undertake that it shall be +paid, and you must give me full authority to act for you." When Miss +Wodehouse met the steady look he gave her, she veered immediately from +her fright at the thought of having it spoken of, to gratitude to him +who was thus ready to take her burden into his hands. + +"Oh, Mr Wentworth, it is so good of you--it is like a brother!" said +the trembling woman; and then she made a pause. "I say a brother," she +said, drawing an involuntary moral, "though we have never had any good +of ours; and oh, if Lucy only knew--!" + +The Curate turned away hastily, and wrung her hand without being aware +of it. "No," he said, with a touch of bitterness, "don't let her know. +I don't want to appeal to her gratitude;" and with that he became +silent, and fell to listening, standing in the middle of the room, if +perhaps he might catch any sound of footsteps coming down-stairs. + +"She will know better some day," said Miss Wodehouse, wiping her eyes; +"and oh, Mr Wentworth, if papa ever gets better--!" Here the poor lady +broke down into inarticulate weeping. "But I know you will stand by +us," she said, amid her tears; "it is all the comfort I have--and +Lucy--" + +There was no sound of any footstep on the stair--nothing but the +ticking of the timepiece on the mantelshelf, and the rustling of the +curtains in the soft morning breeze which came through the open +window, and Miss Wodehouse's crying. The Curate had not expected to +see Lucy, and knew in his heart that it was better they should not +meet just at this moment; but, notwithstanding this, it was strange +how bitter and disappointed he felt, and what an impatient longing he +had for one look of her, even though it should be a look which would +drive him frantic with mortified love and disappointed expectation. To +know that she was under the same roof, and that she knew he was here, +but kept away, and did not care to see him, was gall to his excited +mind. He went away hastily, pressing poor Miss Wodehouse's hand with a +kind of silent rage. "Don't talk about Lucy," he said, half to +himself, his heart swelling and throbbing at the sound of the name. It +was the first time he had spoken it aloud to any ear but his own, and +he left the house tingling with an indignation and mortification and +bitter fondness which could not be expressed in words. What he was +about to do was for her sake, and he thought to himself, with a +forlorn pride, that she would never know it, and it did not matter. He +could not tell that Lucy was glancing out furtively over the blind, +ashamed of herself in her wounded heart for doing so, and wondering +whether even now he was occupied with that unworthy love which had +made an everlasting separation between them. If it had been any one +worthy, it would have been different, poor Lucy thought, as she +pressed back the tears into her eyes, and looked out wistfully at him +over the blind. She above-stairs in the sick-room, and he in the fresh +garden hastening out to his work, were both thinking in their hearts +how perverse life was, and how hard it was not to be happy--as indeed +they well might in a general way; though perhaps one glance of the +Curate's eyes upward, one meeting of looks, might have resulted quite +reasonably in a more felicitous train of thinking, at least for that +day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +When Mr Wentworth arrived in the little vestry at St Roque's to robe +himself for the approaching service, it was after a long and tough +contest with Mr Wodehouse's partner, which had to a great extent +exhausted his energies. Mr Wodehouse was the leading attorney in +Carlingford, the chief family solicitor in the county, a man looked upon +with favourable eyes even by the great people as being himself a cadet +of a county family. His partner, Mr Waters, was altogether a different +description of man. He was much more clever, and a good deal more like a +gentleman, but he had not a connection in the world, and had fought his +way up to prosperity through many a narrow, and perhaps, if people spoke +true, many a dirty avenue to fortune. He was very glad of the chance +which brought his partner's reputation and credit thus under his power, +and he was by no means disposed to deal gently with the prodigal son. +That is to say, he was quite disinclined to let the family out of his +clutches easily, or to consent to be silent and "frustrate the ends of +justice" for anything else than an important equivalent. Mr Wentworth +had much ado to restrain his temper while the wily attorney talked about +his conscience; for the Curate was clear-sighted enough to perceive at +the first glance that Mr Waters had no real intention of proceeding to +extremities. The lawyer would not pledge himself to anything, +notwithstanding all Mr Wentworth's arguments. "Wodehouse himself was of +the opinion that the law should take its course," he said; but out of +respect for his partner he might wait a few days to see what turn his +illness would take. "I confess that I am not adapted for my profession, +Mr Wentworth. My feelings overcome me a great deal too often," said the +sharp man of business, looking full into the Curate's eyes, "and while +the father is dying I have not the heart to proceed against the son; but +I pledge myself to nothing--recollect, to nothing." And with this and a +very indignant mind Mr Wentworth had been forced to come away. His +thoughts were occupied with the contrarieties of the world as he +hastened along to St Roque's--how one man had to bear another's burdens +in every station and capacity of life, and how another man triumphed and +came to success by means of the misfortunes of his friends. It was hard +to tell what made the difference, or how humankind got divided into +these two great classes, for possibly enough the sharp attorney was as +just in his way as the Curate; but Mr Wentworth got no more satisfaction +in thinking of it than the speculatists generally have when they +investigate this strange, wayward, fantastical humanity which is never +to be calculated upon. He came into the little vestry of St Roque's, +which was a stony little room with a groined roof and windows too +severely English in their character to admit any great amount of light, +with a sensation of fatigue and discouragement very natural to a man who +had been interfering in other people's affairs. There was some comfort +in the litany which he was just going to say, but not much comfort in +any of the human individuals who would come into Mr Wentworth's mind as +he paused in the midst of the suffrage for "sick persons" and for those +who "had erred and were deceived," that the worshippers might whisper +into God's ear the names for which their hearts were most concerned. The +young priest sighed heavily as he put on his surplice, pondering all the +obstinate selfishness and strange contradictions of men; and it was only +when he heard a rather loud echo to his breath of weariness that he +looked up and saw Elsworthy, who was contemplating him with a very +curious expression of face. The clerk started a little on being +discovered, and began to look over all the choristers' books and set +them in readiness, though, indeed, there were no choristers on Fridays, +but only the ladies, who chanted the responses a great deal more +sweetly, and wore no surplices. Thinking of that, it occurred to Mr +Wentworth how much he would miss the round full notes which always +betrayed Lucy's presence to him even when he did not see her; and he +forgot Elsworthy, and sighed again without thinking of any comment which +might be made upon the sound. + +"I'm sorry to see, sir, as you aint in your usual good spirits?" said +that observant spectator, coming closer up to "his clergyman." +Elsworthy's eyes were full of meanings which Mr Wentworth could not, +and had no wish to, decipher. + +"I am perfectly well, thank you," said the Perpetual Curate, with his +coldest tone. He had become suspicious of the man, he could scarcely +tell why. + +"There's a deal of people in church this morning," said the clerk; and +then he came closer still, and spoke in a kind of whisper. "About that +little matter as we was speaking of, Mr Wentworth--that's all +straight, sir, and there aint no occasion to be vexed. She came back +this morning," said Elsworthy, under his breath. + +"Who came back this morning?" asked the Curate, with a little +surprise. His thoughts had been so much with Lucy that no one else +occurred to him at the moment; and even while he asked the question, +his busy fancy began to wonder where she could have been, and what +motive could have taken her away? + +"I couldn't mean nobody but Rosa, as I talked to you about last +night," said Elsworthy. "She's come back, sir, as you wished; and I +_have_ heard as she was in Carlingford last night just afore you come, +Mr Wentworth, when I thought as she was far enough off; which you'll +allow, sir, whoever it was she come to see, it wasn't the right thing, +nor what her aunt and me had reason to expect." + +The Curate of St Roque's said "Pshaw!" carelessly to himself. He was not +at all interested in Rosa Elsworthy. Instead of making any answer, he +drew on the scarlet band of his hood, and marched away gravely into the +reading-desk, leaving the vestry-door open behind him for the clerk to +follow. The little dangers that harassed his personal footsteps had not +yet awakened so much as an anxiety in his mind. Things much more serious +preoccupied his thoughts. He opened his prayer-book with a consciousness +of the good of it which comes to men only now and then. At Oxford, in +his day, Mr Wentworth had entertained his doubts like others, and like +most people was aware that there were a great many things in heaven and +earth totally unexplainable by any philosophy. But he had always been +more of a man than a thinker, even before he became a high Anglican; and +being still much in earnest about most things he had to do with, he +found great comfort just at this moment, amid all his perplexities, in +the litany he was saying. He was so absorbed in it, and so full of that +appeal out of all troubles and miseries to the God who cannot be +indifferent to His creatures, that he was almost at the last Amen before +he distinguished that voice, which of all voices was most dear to him. +The heart of the young man swelled, when he heard it, with a mingled +thrill of sympathy and wounded feeling. She had not left her father's +sick-bed to see _him_, but she _had_ found time to run down the sunny +road to St Roque's to pray for the sick and the poor. When he knelt down +in the reading-desk at the end of the service, was it wrong, instead of +more abstract supplications, that the young priest said over and over, +"God bless her," in an outburst of pity and tenderness? And he did not +try to overtake her on the road, as he might have done had his heart +been less deeply touched, but went off with abstracted looks to +Wharfside, where all the poor people were very glad to see him, and +where his absence was spoken of as if he had been three months instead +of three days away. It was like going back a century or two into +primitive life, to go into "the district," where civilisation did not +prevail to any very distressing extent, and where people in general +spoke their minds freely. But even when he came out of No. 10, where the +poor woman still kept on living, Mr Wentworth was made aware of his +private troubles; for on the opposite side of the way, where there was a +little bit of vacant ground, the Rector was standing with some of the +schismatics of Wharfside, planning how to place the iron church which, +it was said, he meant to establish in the very heart of the "district." +Mr Morgan took off his hat very stiffly to the Perpetual Curate, who +returned up Prickett's Lane with a heightened colour and quickened +pulse. A man must be an angel indeed who can see his work taken out of +his hands and betray no human emotion. Mr Wentworth went into +Elsworthy's, as he went back, to write a forcible little note to the +Rector on the subject before he returned home. It was Rosa who handed +him the paper he wanted, and he gave her a little nod without looking at +her. But when he had closed his note, and laid it on the counter to be +delivered, the Curate found her still standing near, and looked at the +little blushing creature with some natural admiration. "So you have come +back," he said; "but mind you don't go into Grange Lane any more after +dark, little Rosa." When he had left the shop and finished this little +matter, he bethought himself of his aunts, whom he had not seen since he +returned. Aunt Dora was not at her usual sentinel window when he crossed +Grange Lane towards their garden-door; and the door itself was open, and +some one from the Blue Boar was carrying in a large portmanteau. Mr +Wentworth's curiosity was strangely excited by the sight. He said, "Who +has come, Lewis?" to Miss Wentworth's man, who stood in the hall +superintending the arrival, but ran up-stairs without waiting for any +answer. He felt by instinct that the visitor was some one likely to +increase the confusion of affairs, and perplex matters more and more to +himself. + +But even this presentiment did not prepare him for the astonishing sight +which met his eyes when he entered the drawing-room. There the three +ladies were all assembled, regarding with different developments of +interest the new-comer, who had thrown himself, half-reclining, on a +sofa. Aunt Dora was sitting by him with a bottle of eau-de-Cologne in +her hand, for this meeting had evidently gone to the heart of the +returned prodigal. Aunt Dora was ready to have sacrificed all the veal +in the country in honour of Jack's repentance; and the Curate stood +outside upon the threshold, looking at the scene with the strangest +half-angry, half-comical realisation of the state of mind of the elder +brother in the parable. He had himself been rather found fault with, +excused, and tolerated, among his relations; but Jack had at once become +master of the position, and taken possession of all their sympathies. Mr +Wentworth stood gazing at them, half-amused, and yet more angry than +amused--feeling, with a little indignation, as was natural, that the +pretended penitence of the clever sinner was far more effective and +interesting than his own spotless loyalty and truth. To be sure, they +were only three old ladies--three old aunts--and he smiled at the sight; +but though he smiled, he did not like it, and perhaps was more abrupt +than usual in his salutations. Miss Leonora was seated at her +writing-table, busy with her correspondence. The question of the new +gin-palace was not yet decided, and she had been in the middle of a +letter of encouragement to her agents on the subject, reminding them +that, even though the licence was granted, the world would still go on +all the same, and that the worst possibilities must be encountered, +when Jack the prodigal made his appearance, with all the tokens of +reformation and repentance about him, to throw himself upon the +Christian charity of his relations. A penitent sinner was too tempting a +bait for even Miss Leonora's good sense to withstand, and she had +postponed her letter-writing to hear his explanations. But Jack had told +his story by this time, and had explained how much he wanted to +withdraw out of the world in which he had been led astray, and how sick +he was of all its whirl of temptations and disappointment; and Miss +Leonora had returned to her letter when her younger nephew arrived. As +for Miss Wentworth, she was seated placidly in her usual easy-chair, +smiling with equable smiles upon both the young men, and lifting her +beautiful old cheek for Frank to kiss, just as she had lifted it to +Jack. It was Miss Dora who was most shaken out of her allegiance; she +who had always made Frank her special charge. Though she had wept +herself into a day's headache on his behalf so short a time ago, aunt +Dora for a moment had allowed the more effusive prodigal to supersede +Frank. Instead of taking him into her arms as usual, and clinging to +him, she only put the hand that held the eau-de-Cologne over his +shoulder as she kissed him. Jack, who had been so dreadfully, +inexpressibly wicked, and who had come back to his aunts to be converted +and restored to his right mind, was more interesting than many curates. +She sat down again by her penitent as soon as she had saluted his +brother; and even Miss Leonora, when she paused in her letter, turned +her eyes towards Jack. + +"So Gerald is actually going over to Rome," said the strong-minded +aunt. "I never expected anything else. I had a letter from Louisa +yesterday, asking me to use my influence: as if I had any influence +over your brother! If a silly wife was any justification for a man +making an idiot of himself, Gerald might be excused; but I suppose the +next thing we shall hear of will be that you have followed him, Frank. +Did you hear anything further about Janet and that lover of hers? In a +large family like ours there is always something troublesome going +on," said Miss Leonora. "I am not surprised to hear of your father's +attack. _My_ father had a great many attacks, and lived to eighty; but +he had few difficulties with the female part of his household," she +continued, with a grim little smile--for Miss Leonora rather piqued +herself upon her exemption from any known sentimental episode, even +in her youth. + +"Dear Jack's return will make up for a great deal," said aunt Dora. +"Oh, Frank, my dear, your brother has made us all so happy. He has +just been telling us that he means to give up all his racing and +betting and wickedness; and when he has been with us a little, and +learned to appreciate a domestic circle--" said poor Miss Dora, +putting her handkerchief to her eyes. She was so much overcome that +she could not finish the sentence. But she put her disengaged hand +upon Jack's arm and patted it, and in her heart concluded that as soon +as the blanket was done for Louisa's bassinet, she would work him a +pair of slippers, which should endear more and more to him the +domestic circle, and stimulate the new-born virtue in his repentant +heart. + +"I don't know what Jack's return may do," said Mr Wentworth, "but I +hope you don't imagine it was Gerald who caused my father's illness. +_You_ know better, at least," said the indignant Curate, looking at +the hero on the sofa. That interesting reprobate lifted his eyes with +a covert gleam of humour to the unresponsive countenance of his +brother, and then he stroked his silky beard and sighed. + +"My dear aunt, Frank is right," said Jack, with a melancholy voice. "I +have not concealed from you that my father has great reason to be +offended with me. I have done very much the reverse of what I ought to +have done. I see even Frank can't forgive me; and I don't wonder at +it," said the prodigal, "though I have done him no harm that I know +of;" and again the heir of the Wentworths sighed, and covered his face +for a moment with his hand. + +"Oh, Frank," cried Miss Dora, with streaming eyes--"oh, my dear +boy!--isn't there joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth? You're +not going to be the wicked elder brother that grudged the prodigal his +welcome--you're not going to give way to jealousy, Frank?" + +"Hold your tongue, Dora," said the iron-grey sister; "I daresay Frank +knows a great deal better than you do; but I want to know about +Gerald, and what is to be done. If he goes to Rome, of course you will +take Wentworth Rectory; so it will not be an unmingled evil," said +Miss Leonora, biting her pen, and throwing a keen glance at the Curate +of St Roque's, "especially as you and we differ so entirely in our +views. I could not consent to appoint anybody to Skelmersdale, even if +poor Mr Shirley were to die, who did not preach the Gospel; and it +would be sad for you to spend all your life in a Perpetual Curacy, +where you could have no income, nor ever hope to be able to marry," +she continued steadily, with her eyes fixed upon her nephew. "Of +course, if you had entered the Church for the love of the work, it +would be a different matter," said the strong-minded aunt. "But that +sort of thing seems to have gone out of fashion. I am sorry about +Gerald--very sorry; but after what I saw of him, I am not surprised; +and it is a comfort to one's mind to think that you will be provided +for, Frank." Miss Leonora wrote a few words of the letter as she +finished this speech. What she was saying in that epistle was (in +reference to the gin-palace) that all discouragements were sent by +God, and that, no doubt, His meaning was, that we should work all the +harder to make way against them. After putting down which encouraging +sentiment, she raised her eyes again, and planted her spear in her +nephew's bosom with the greatest composure in the world. + +"My Perpetual Curacy suits me very well," said Mr Wentworth, with a +little pride; "and there is a good deal to do in Carlingford. However, +I did not come here to talk about that. The Rector is going to put up +an iron church in my district," said the young man, who was rather +glad of a subject which permitted a little of his indignation to +escape. "It is very easy to interfere with other people's work." And +then he paused, not choosing to grumble to an unsympathetic audience. +To feel that nobody cares about your feelings, is better than all the +rules of self-control. The Perpetual Curate stopped instinctively with +a dignified restraint, which would have been impossible to him under +other circumstances. It was no merit of his, but he reaped the +advantage of it all the same. + +"But oh, my dear," said Miss Dora, "what a comfort to think of what St +Paul says--'Whether it be for the right motive or not, Christ is still +preached.' And one never knows what chance word may touch a heart," +said the poor little woman, shaking her limp curls away from her +cheeks. "It was you being offended with him that made dear Jack think +of coming to us; and what a happiness it is to think that he sees the +error of his ways!" cried poor Miss Dora, drying her tears. "And oh, +Frank, my dear boy, I trust you will take warning by your brother, and +not run into temptation," continued the anxious aunt, remembering all +her troubles. "If you were to go wrong, it would take away all the +pleasure of life." + +"That is just what I was thinking," said aunt Cecilia from her +easy-chair. + +"For, oh, Frank, my dear," said Miss Dora, much emboldened by this +support, "you must consider that you are a clergyman, and there are a +great many things that are wrong in a clergyman that would not matter in +another man. Oh, Leonora, if you would speak to him, he would mind you," +cried the poor lady; "for you know a clergyman is quite different;" and +Miss Dora again stopped short, and the three aunts looked at the +bewildered Curate, who, for his part, sat gazing at them without an idea +what they could mean. + +"What have I been doing that would be right in another man?" he said, +with a smile which was slightly forced; and then he turned to Jack, who +was laughing softly under his breath, and stroking his silky beard. The +elder brother was highly amused by the situation altogether, but Frank, +as was natural, did not see it in the same light. "What have you been +saying?" said the indignant Curate; and his eyes gave forth a sudden +light which frightened Miss Dora, and brought her in to the rescue. + +"Oh, Frank, he has not been saying anything," cried that troubled +woman; "it is only what we have heard everywhere. Oh, my dear boy, it +is only for your good I ever thought of speaking. There is nobody in +the world to whom your welfare is so precious," said poor Miss Dora. +"Oh, Frank, if you and your brother were to have any difference, I +should think it all my fault--and I always said you did not mean +anything," she said, putting herself and her eau-de-Cologne between +the two, and looking as if she were about to throw herself into the +Curate's arms. "Oh, Frank, dear, don't blame any one else--it is my +fault!" cried aunt Dora, with tears; and the tender-hearted foolish +creature kept between them, ready to rush in if any conflict should +occur, which was a supposition much resented by the Curate of St +Roque's. + +"Jack and I have no intention of fighting, I daresay," he said, drawing +his chair away with some impatience; and Jack lay back on the sofa and +stroked his beard, and looked on with the greatest composure while poor +Miss Dora exhausted her alarm. "It is all my fault," sobbed aunt Dora; +"but, oh, my dear boy, it was only for your good; and I always said you +did not mean anything," said the discomfited peacemaker. All this, +though it was highly amusing to the prodigal, was gall and bitterness to +the Perpetual Curate. It moved him far more deeply than he could have +imagined it possible for anything spoken by his aunt Dora to move him. +Perhaps there is something in human nature which demands to be +comprehended, even where it is aware that comprehension is impossible; +and it wounded him in the most unreasonable way to have it supposed that +he was likely to get into any quarrel with his brother, and to see Jack +thus preferred to himself. + +"Don't be a fool," said Miss Leonora, sharply: "I wish you would +confine yourself to Louisa's bassinet, and talk of things you can +understand. I hope Frank knows what he is doing better than a set of +old women. At the same time, Frank," said Miss Leonora, rising and +leading the way to the door, "I want to say a word to you. Don't +think you are above misconception. Most people believe a lie more +readily than the truth. Dora is a fool," said the elder sister, +pausing, when she had led her nephew outside the drawing-room door, +"but so are most people; and I advise you to be careful, and not to +give occasion for any gossip; otherwise, I don't say _I_ disapprove of +your conduct." She had her pen in one hand, and held out the other to +him, dismissing him; and even this added to the painful feeling in the +Curate's heart. + +"I should hope not," he said, somewhat stiffly; "good-bye--my conduct is +not likely to be affected by any gossip, and I don't see any need for +taking precautions against imaginary danger." Miss Leonora thought her +nephew looked very ungracious as he went away. She said to herself that +Frank had a great deal of temper, and resembled his mother's family more +than the Wentworths, as she went back to her writing-table; and though +she could not disapprove of him, she felt vexed somehow at his rectitude +and his impatience of advice; whereas, Jack, poor fellow! who had been a +great sinner, was, according to all appearance, a great penitent also, +and a true Wentworth, with all the family features. Such were Miss +Leonora's thoughts as she went back to finish her letters, and to +encourage her agents in her London district to carry on the good work. + +"God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform," she wrote +apropos of the gin-palace, and set very distinctly before her spiritual +retainers all that Providence might intend by this unexpected hindrance; +and so quite contented herself about her nephew, whose views on this and +many other subjects were so different from her own. + +Meanwhile Mr Wentworth went about the rest of the day's work in a not +unusual, but far from pleasant, frame of mind. When one suddenly feels +that the sympathy upon which one calculated most surely has been +withdrawn, the shock is naturally considerable. It might not be +anything very great while it lasted, but still one feels the +difference when it is taken away. Lucy had fallen off from him; and +even aunt Dora had ceased to feel his concerns the first in the world. +He smiled at himself for the wound he felt; but that did not remove +the sting of it. After the occupations of the day were over, when at +last he was going home, and when his work and the sense of fatigue +which accompanied it had dulled his mind a little, the Curate felt +himself still dwelling on the same matter, contemplating it in a +half-comic point of view, as proud men are not unapt to contemplate +anything that mortifies them. He began to realise, in a humorous way, +his own sensations as he stood at the drawing-room door and recognised +the prodigal on the sofa; and then a smile dawned upon his lip as he +thought once more of the prodigal's elder brother, who regarded that +business with unsympathetic eyes and grudged the supper. And from that +he went into a half-professional line of thought, and imagined to +himself, half smiling, how, if he had been Dr Cumming or the minister +of Salem Chapel, he might have written a series of sermons on the +unappreciated characters of Scripture, beginning with that virtuous +uninteresting elder brother; from which suggestion, though he was not +the minister of Salem nor Dr Cumming, it occurred to the Perpetual +Curate to follow out the idea, and to think of such generous careless +souls as Esau, and such noble unfortunates as the peasant-king, the +mournful magnificent Saul--people not generally approved of, or +enrolled among the martyrs or saints. He was pursuing this kind of +half-reverie, half-thought, when he reached his own house. It was +again late and dark, for he had dined in the mean time, and was going +home now to write his sermon, in which, no doubt, some of these very +ideas were destined to reappear. He opened the garden-gate with his +latch-key, and paused, with an involuntary sense of the beauty and +freshness of the night, as soon as he got within the sheltering walls. +The stars were shining faint and sweet in the summer blue, and all +the shrubs and the grass breathing forth that subdued breath of +fragrance and conscious invisible life which gives so much sweetness +to the night. He thought he heard whispering voices, as he paused +glancing up at the sky; and then from the side-walk he saw a little +figure run, and heard a light little footstep fluttering towards the +door which he had just closed. Mr Wentworth started and went after +this little flying figure with some anxiety. Two or three of his long +strides brought him up with the escaping visitor, as she fumbled in +her agitation over the handle of the door. "You have come again, +notwithstanding what I said to you? but you must not repeat it, Rosa," +said the Curate; "no good can come of these meetings. I will tell your +uncle, if I ever find you here again." + +"Oh no, no, please don't," cried the girl; "but, after all, I don't +mind," she said, with more confidence: "he would think it was +something very different;" and Rosa raised her eyes to the Curate's +face with a coquettish inquiry. She could not divest herself of the +thought that Mr Wentworth was jealous, and did not like to have her +come there for anybody but himself. + +"If you were not such a child, I should be very angry," said the +Curate; "as it is, I _am_ very angry with the person who deludes you +into coming. Go home, child," he said, opening the door to her, "and +remember I will not allow you on any pretext to come here again." + +His words were low, and perhaps Rosa did not care much to listen; but +there was quite light enough to show them both very plainly, as he +stood at the door and she went out. Just then the Miss Hemmings were +going up Grange Lane from a little tea-party with their favourite +maid, and all their eyes about them. They looked very full in Mr +Wentworth's face, and said How d'ye do? as they passed the door; and +when they had passed it, they looked at each other with eyes which +spoke volumes. Mr Wentworth shut the door violently with irrepressible +vexation and annoyance when he encountered that glance. He made no +farewells, nor did he think of taking care of Rosa on the way home as +he had done before. He was intensely annoyed and vexed, he could not +tell how. And this was how it happened that the last time she was seen +in Carlingford, Rosa Elsworthy was left standing by herself in the +dark at Mr Wentworth's door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +The Curate got up very early next morning. He had his sermon to write +and it was Saturday, and all the events of the week had naturally +enough unsettled his mind, and indisposed him for sermon-writing. When +the events of life come fast upon a man, it is seldom that he finds +much pleasure in abstract literary composition, and the style of the +Curate of St Roque's was not of that hortatory and impassioned +character which sometimes gives as much relief to the speaker as +excitement to the audience. So he got up in the early sweetness of the +summer morning, when nobody but himself was astir in the house, with +the sense of entering upon a task, and taking up work which was far +from agreeable to him. When he came into the little room which he used +as a study, and threw the window open, and breathed the delicious air +of the morning, which was all thrilling and trembling with the songs +of birds, Mr Wentworth's thoughts were far from being concentrated +upon any one subject. He sat down at his writing-table and arranged +his pens and paper, and wrote down the text he had selected; and when +he had done so much, and could feel that he had made a beginning, he +leaned back in his chair, and poised the idle pen on his finger, and +abandoned himself to his thoughts. He had so much to think about. +There was Wodehouse under the same roof, with whom he had felt himself +constrained to remonstrate very sharply on the previous night. There +was Jack, so near, and certainly come to Carlingford on no good +errand. There was Gerald, in his great perplexity and distress, and +the household at home in their anxiety; and last, but worst of all, +his fancy would go fluttering about the doors of the sick chamber in +Grange Lane, longing and wondering. He asked himself what it could be +which had raised that impalpable wall between Lucy and himself--that +barrier too strong to be overthrown, too ethereal to be complained of; +and wondered over and over again what her thoughts were towards +him--whether she thought of him at all, whether she was offended, or +simply indifferent?--a question which any one else who had observed +Lucy as closely could have solved without any difficulty, but which, +to the modest and true love of the Perpetual Curate, was at present +the grand doubt of all the doubts in the universe. With this matter to +settle, and with the consciousness that it was still only five +o'clock, and that he was at least one hour beforehand with the world, +it is easy to understand why Mr Wentworth mused and loitered over his +work, and how, when it was nearly six o'clock, and Sarah and the cook +were beginning to stir from their sleep, there still remained only the +text written upon the sermon-paper, which was so nicely arranged +before him on the table. "When the wicked man turneth away from the +evil of his ways, and doeth that which is lawful and right."--This was +the text; but sitting at the open window, looking out into the garden, +where the birds, exempt, as they seemed to think, for once from the +vulgar scrutiny of man, were singing at the pitch of all their voices +as they prepared for breakfast; and where the sweet air of the morning +breathed into his mind a freshness and hopefulness which youth can +never resist, and seduced his thoughts away from all the harder +problems of his life to dwell upon the sweeter trouble of that doubt +about Lucy,--was not the best means of getting on with his work. He +sat thus leaning back--sometimes dipping his pen in the ink, and +hovering over the paper for two or three seconds at a time, sometimes +reading over the words, and making a faint effort to recall his own +attention to them; for, on the whole, perhaps, it is not of much use +getting up very early in the morning when the chief consequence of it +is, that a man feels he has an hour to spare, and a little time to +play before he begins. + +Mr Wentworth was still lingering in this peaceful pause, when he +heard, in the stillness, hasty steps coming down Grange Lane. No doubt +it was some workmen going to their work, and he felt it must be nearly +six o'clock, and dipped his pen once more in the ink; but, the next +moment, paused again to listen, feeling in his heart a strange +conviction that the steps would stop at his door, and that something +was going to happen. He was sure of it, and yet somehow the sound +tingled upon his heart when he heard the bell ring, waking up echoes +in the silent house. Cook and Sarah had not yet given any signs of +coming down-stairs, and nobody stirred even at the sound of the bell. +Mr Wentworth put down his pen altogether, and listened with an anxiety +which he could scarcely account for--knowing, as he said to himself, +that it must be the milk, or the baker, or somebody. But neither the +milk nor the baker would have dared to knock, and shake, and kick the +door as the new arrivals were doing. Mr Wentworth sat still as long as +he could, then he added to the din they were making outside by an +indignant ring of his own bell; and finally getting anxious, as was +natural, and bethinking himself of his father's attack and Mr +Wodehouse's illness, the Curate took the matter into his own hands, +and hastened down-stairs to open the door. Mrs Hadwin called to him as +he passed her room, thinking it was Sarah, and begging for goodness +gracious sake to know directly what was the matter; and he felt +himself growing agitated as he drew back the complicated bolts, and +turned the key in the door, which was elaborately defenced, as was +natural. When he hurried out into the garden, the songs of the birds +and the morning air seemed to have changed their character. He +thought he was about to be summoned to the deathbed of one or other of +the old men upon whom their sons had brought such misery. He was but +little acquainted with the fastenings of the garden-door, and fumbled +a little over them in his anxiety. "Wait a moment and you shall be +admitted," he called out to those outside, who still continued to +knock; and he fancied, even in the haste and confusion of the moment, +that his voice caused some little commotion among them. Mr Wentworth +opened the door, looking anxiously out for some boy with a telegram, +or other such mournful messenger; but to his utter amazement was +nearly knocked down by the sudden plunge of Elsworthy, who entered +with a spring like that of a wild animal, and whose face looked white +and haggard as he rushed in. He came against the Curate so roughly as +to drive him a step or two farther into the garden, and naturally +aroused somewhat sharply the temper of the young man, who had already +begun to regard him with disagreeable sensations as a kind of spy +against himself. + +"What in the world do you want at such an early hour in the morning?" +cried Mr Wentworth--"and what do you mean by making such a noise? Is +Mr Wodehouse worse? or what has happened?" for, to tell the truth, he +was a little relieved to find that the two people outside both +belonged to Carlingford, and that nowhere was there any visible +apparition of a telegraph boy. + +"Don't trifle with me, Mr Wentworth," said Elsworthy. "I'm a poor man; +but a worm as is trodden on turns. I want my child, sir!--give me my +child. I'll find her out if it was at the end of the world. I've only +brought down my neighbour with me as I can trust," he continued, +hoarsely--"to save both your characters. I don't want to make no talk; +if you do what is right by Rosa, neither me or him will ever say a +word. I want Rosa, Mr Wentworth. Where's Rosa? If I had known as it +was for this you wanted her home! But I'll take my oath not to make no +talk," cried the clerk, with passion and earnestness, which confounded +Mr Wentworth--"if you'll promise to do what's right by her, and let +me take her home." + +"Elsworthy, are you mad?" cried the Curate--"is he out of his senses? +Has anything happened to Rosa? For heaven's sake, Hayles, don't stand +there like a man of wood, but tell me if the man's crazy, or what he +means." + +"I'll come in, sir, if you've no objection, and shut the door, not to +make a talk," said Elsworthy's companion, Peter Hayles, the druggist. +"If it can be managed without any gossip, it'll be best for all +parties," said this worthy, shutting the door softly after him. "The +thing is, where's Rosa, Mr Wentworth? I can't think as you've got her +here." + +"She's all the same as my own child!" cried Elsworthy, who was greatly +excited. "I've had her and loved her since she was a baby. I don't +mean to say as I'd put myself forward to hurt her prospects if she was +married in a superior line o' life; but them as harms Rosa has me to +reckon with," he said, with a kind of fury which sat strangely on the +man. "Mr Wentworth, where's the child? God forgive you both, you've +given me a night o' weeping; but if you'll do what's right by Rosa, +and send her home in the mean time--" + +"Be silent, sir!" cried the Curate. "I know nothing in the world about +Rosa. How dare you venture to come on such an errand to me? I don't +understand how it is," said the young man, growing red and angry, +"that you try so persistently to connect this child with me. I have +never had anything to do with her, and I will not submit to any such +impertinent suspicion. Leave my house, sir, immediately, and don't +insult me by making such inquiries here." + +Mr Wentworth was very angry in the first flush of his wrath. He did +not think what misery was involved in the question which had been +addressed to him, nor did he see for the moment the terrible calamity +to Rosa which was suggested by this search for her. He thought only of +himself, as was natural, at the first shock--of the injurious and +insulting suspicion with which he seemed to be pursued, and of the +annoyance which she and her friends were causing him. "What do you +mean by rousing a whole household at this hour in the morning?" cried +Mr Wentworth, as he saw with vexation, Sarah, very startled and +sleepy, come stealing round by the kitchen door. + +"You don't look as if you had wanted any rousing," said Elsworthy, who +was too much in earnest to own the Curate's authority. "She was seen +at your door the last thing last night, and you're in your clothes, as +bright as day, and a-waiting for us afore six o'clock in the morning. +Do you think as I've shut my eyes because it's my clergyman?" cried +the injured man, passionately. "I want my little girl--my little +Rosa--as is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. If Mr Wentworth +didn't know nothing about it, as he says," cried Elsworthy, with +sudden insight, "he has a feelin' heart, and he'd be grieved about the +child; but he aint grieved, nor concerned, nor nothing in the world +but angry; and will you tell me there aint nothing to be drawn from +that? But it's far from my intention to raise a talk," said the clerk, +drawing closer and touching the arm of the Perpetual Curate; "let her +come back, and if you're a man of your word, and behave honourable by +her, there shan't be nothing said in Carlingford. I'll stand up for +you, sir, against the world." + +Mr Wentworth shook off his assailant's hand with a mingled sense of +exasperation and sympathy. "I tell you, upon my honour, I know nothing +about her," he said. "But it is true enough I have been thinking only +of myself," he continued, addressing the other. "How about the girl? +When was she lost? and can't you think of any place she can have gone +to? Elsworthy, hear reason," cried the Curate anxiously. "I assure +you, on my word, that I have never seen her since I closed this +garden-gate upon her last night." + +"And I would ask you, sir, what had Rosa to do at your garden-gate?" +cried the clerk of St Roque's. "He aint denying it, Hayles; you can +see as he aint a-denying of it. What was it as she came here for but +you? Mr Wentworth, I've always had a great respect for you," said +Elsworthy. "I've respected you as my clergyman, sir, as well as for +other things; but you're a young man, and human nature is frail. I say +again as you needn't have no fear of me. I aint one as likes to make a +talk, and no more is Hayles. Give up the girl, and give me your +promise, and there aint a man living as will be the wiser; Mr +Wentworth--" + +"Hold your tongue, sir!" cried the Curate, furious with indignation +and resentment. "Leave this place instantly! If you don't want me to +pitch you into the middle of the road, hold your tongue and go away. +The man is mad!" said Mr Wentworth, turning towards the spectator, +Hayles, and pausing to take breath. But it was evident that this third +person was by no means on the Curate's side. + +"I don't know, sir, I'm sure," said Hayles, with a blank countenance. +"It appears to me, sir, as it's an awkward business for all parties. +Here's the girl gone, and no one knows where. When a girl don't come +back to her own 'ome all night, things look serious, sir; and it has +been said as the last place she was seen was at your door." + +"Who says so?" cried Mr Wentworth. + +"Well--it was--a party, sir--a highly respectable party--as I have +good reason to believe," said Hayles, "being a constant customer--one +as there's every confidence to be put in. It's better not to name no +names, being at this period of the affair." + +And at that moment, unluckily for Mr Wentworth, there suddenly floated +across his mind the clearest recollection of the Miss Hemmings, and +the look they gave him in passing. He felt a hot flush rush over his +face as he recalled it. They, then, were his accusers in the first +place; and for the first time he began to realise how the tide of +accusation would surge through Carlingford, and how circumstances +would be patched together, and very plausible evidence concocted out +of the few facts which were capable of an inference totally opposed to +the truth. The blood rushed to his face in an overpowering glow, and +then he felt the warm tide going back upon his heart, and realised the +position in which he stood for the first time in its true light. + +"And if you'll let me say it, sir," said the judicious Hayles, "though +a man may be in a bit of a passion, and speak more strong that is +called for, it aint unnatural in the circumstances; things may be +better than they appear," said the druggist, mildly; "I don't say +nothing against that; it may be as you've took her away, sir (if so be +as you have took her away), for to give her a bit of education, or +suchlike, before making her your wife; but folks in general aint +expected to know that; and when a young girl is kep' out of her 'ome +for a whole night, it aint wonderful if her friends take fright. It's +a sad thing for Rosa whoever's taken her away, and wherever she is." + +Now, Mr Wentworth, notwithstanding the indignant state of mind which +he was in, was emphatically of the tolerant temper which is so +curiously characteristic of his generation. He could not be +unreasonable even in his own cause; he was not partisan enough, even +in his own behalf, to forget that there was another side to the +question, nor to see how hard and how sad was that other side. He was +moved in spite of himself to grieve over Rosa Elsworthy's great +misfortune. + +"Poor little deluded child," he said, sadly; "I acknowledge it is very +dreadful for her and for her friends. I can excuse a man who is mad +with grief and wretchedness and anxiety, and doesn't know what he is +saying. As for any man in his senses imagining," said the Curate +again, with a flush of sudden colour, "that I could possibly be +concerned in anything so base, that is simply absurd. When Elsworthy +returns to reason, and acknowledges the folly of what he has said, I +will do anything in the world to help him. It is unnecessary for you +to wait," said Mr Wentworth, turning to Sarah, who had stolen up +behind, and caught some of the conversation, and who was staring with +round eyes of wonder, partly guessing, partly inquiring, what had +happened--"these people want me; go indoors and never mind." + +"La, sir! Missis is a-ringing all the bells down to know what 'as +'appened," said Sarah, holding her ground. + +This was how it was to be--the name of the Curate of St Roque's was to +be linked to that of Rosa Elsworthy, let the truth be what it might, +in the mouths of every maid and every mistress in Carlingford. He was +seized with a sudden apprehension of this aspect of the matter, and it +was not wonderful if Mr Wentworth drew his breath hard and set his +teeth, as he ordered the woman away, in a tone which could not be +disobeyed. + +"I don't want to make no talk," said Elsworthy, who during this time +had made many efforts to speak; "I've sait it before, and I say it +again--it's Mr Wentworth's fault if there's any talk. She was seen +here last night," he went on rapidly, "and afore six o'clock this +blessed morning, you, as are never known to be stirring early, meets +us at the door, all shaved and dressed; and it aint very difficult to +see, to them as watches the clergyman's countenance," said Elsworthy, +turning from one to another, "as everything isn't as straight as it +ought to be; but I aint going to make no talk, Mr Wentworth," he went +on, drawing closer, and speaking with conciliatory softness; "me and +her aunt, sir, loves her dearly, but we're not the folks to stand in +her way, if a gentleman was to take a fancy to Rosa. If you'll give me +your word to make her your wife honourable, and tell me where she is, +tortures wouldn't draw no complaints from me. One moment, sir; it aint +only that she's pretty, but she's good as well--she won't do you no +discredit, Mr Wentworth. Put her to school, or what you please, sir," +said Rosa's uncle; "me and my wife will never interfere, so be as you +make her your wife honourable; but I aint a worm to be trampled on," +cried Elsworthy, as the Curate, finding him approach very closely, +thrust him away with vehement indignation; "I aint a slave to be +pushed about. Them as brings Rosa to shame shall come to shame by me; +I'll ruin the man as ruins that child. You may turn me out," he cried, +as the Curate laid his powerful hand upon his shoulder and forced him +towards the door, "but I'll come back, and I'll bring all Carlingford. +There shan't be a soul in the town as doesn't know. Oh, you young +viper, as I thought was a pious clergyman! you aint got rid of me. My +child--where's my child?" cried the infuriated clerk, as he found +himself ejected into the road outside, and the door suddenly closed +upon him. He turned round to beat upon it in blind fury, and kept +calling upon Rosa, and wasting his threats and arguments upon the calm +air outside. Some of the maid-servants in the other houses came out, +broom in hand, to the green doors, to see what was the matter, but +they were not near enough to hear distinctly, and no early wayfarers +had as yet invaded the morning quiet of Grange Lane. + +Mr Wentworth, white with excitement, and terribly calm and self-possessed, +turned to the amazed and trembling druggist, who still stood inside. +"Look here, Hayles," said the Curate; "I have never seen Rosa Elsworthy +since I closed this door upon her last night. What had brought her here +I don't know--at least she came with no intention of seeing me--and I +reproved her sharply for being out so late. This is all I know about the +affair, and all I intend to say to any one. If that idiot outside +intends to make a disturbance, he must do it; I shall take no further +trouble to clear myself of such an insane accusation. I think it right +to say as much to you, because you seem to have your senses about you," +said the Curate, pausing, out of breath. He was perfectly calm, but it +was impossible to ignore the effect of such a scene upon ordinary flesh +and blood. His heart was beating loudly, and his breath came short and +quick. He turned away and walked up to the house-door, and then came +back again. "You understand me, I suppose?" he said; "and if Elsworthy +is not mad, you had better suggest to him not to lose his only chance +of recovering Rosa by vain bluster with me, who know nothing about her. +I shan't be idle in the mean time," said Mr Wentworth. All this time +Elsworthy was beating against the door, and shouting his threats into +the quiet of the morning; and Mrs Hadwin had thrown up her window, and +stood there visibly in her nightcap, trying to find out what the noise +was about, and trembling for the respectability of her house--all which +the Curate apprehended with that extraordinary swiftness and breadth of +perception which comes to men at the eventful moments of life. + +"I'll do my best, sir," said Hayles, who felt that his honour was +appealed to; "but it's an awkward business for all parties, that's +what it is;" and the druggist backed out in a state of great +bewilderment, having a little struggle at the door with Elsworthy to +prevent his re-entrance. "There aint nothing to be got out of _him_," +said Mr Hayles, as he succeeded at last in leading his friend away. +Such was the conclusion of Mr Wentworth's morning studies, and the +sermon which was to have been half written before breakfast upon that +eventful Saturday. He went back to the house, as was natural, with +very different thoughts in his mind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +The first thing Mr Wentworth did was to hasten up-stairs to +Wodehouse's room. Sarah had gone before him, and was by this time +talking to her mistress, who had left the window, and stood, still in +her nightcap, at the door of her own chamber. "It's something about +Rosa Elsworthy, ma'am," said Sarah; "she's gone off with some one, +which nothing else was to be expected; and her uncle's been a-raving +and a-raging at Mr Wentworth, which proves as a gentleman should never +take no notice of them shop-girls. I always heard as she was a bad +lot." + +"Oh, Mr Wentworth--if you would excuse my nightcap," said Mrs +Hadwin--"I am so shaken and all of a tremble with that noise; I +couldn't help thinking it must be a murder at the least," said the +little old lady; "but I never could believe that there was anything +between you and--Sarah, you may go away; I should like to talk to Mr +Wentworth by himself," said Mrs Hadwin, suddenly remembering that Mr +Wentworth's character must not be discussed in the presence of even +her favourite maid. + +"Presently," said the unhappy Curate, with mingled impatience and +resignation; and, after a hasty knock at the door, he went into +Wodehouse's room, which was opposite, so full of a furious anxiety to +question him that he had burst into speech before he perceived that +the room was empty. "Answer me this instant," he had cried, "where is +Rosa Elsworthy?" and then he paused, utterly taken aback. It had not +occurred to him that the culprit would be gone. He had parted with him +late on the previous night, leaving him, according to appearances, in +a state of sulky half-penitence; and now the first impulse of his +consternation was to look in all the corners for the fugitive. The +room had evidently been occupied that night; part of the Curate's own +wardrobe, which he had bestowed upon his guest, lay about on the +chairs, and on a little table were his tools and the bits of wood with +which he did his carving. The window was open, letting in the fresh +air, and altogether the apartment looked so exactly like what it might +have done had the occupant gone out for a virtuous morning walk, that +Mr Wentworth stopped short in blank amazement. It was a relief to him +to hear the curious Sarah still rustling in the passage outside. He +came out upon her so hastily that Sarah was startled. Perhaps she had +been so far excited out of her usual propriety as to think of the +keyhole as a medium of information. + +"Where is Wode--Mr Smith?" cried the Curate; "he is not in his +room--he does not generally get up so early. Where is he? Did he go +out last night?" + +"Not as I knows of, sir," said Sarah, who grew a little pale, and gave +a second glance at the open door. "Isn't the gentleman in his room? He +do take a walk in the morning, now and again," and Sarah cast an +alarmed look behind to see if her mistress was still within hearing; +but Mrs Hadwin, intent on questioning Mr Wentworth himself, had +fortunately retired to put on her cap, and closed her door. + +"Where is he?" said the Curate, firmly. + +"Oh, please sir, I don't know," said Sarah, who was very near crying. +"He's gone out for a walk, that's all. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't look at +me so dreadfully, and I'll tell you hall," cried the frightened girl, +"_hall_--as true as if I was on my oath. He 'as a taking way with +him," said poor Sarah, to whom the sulky and shabby rascal was radiant +still with the fascinating though faded glory of "a gentleman"--"and +he aint one as has been used to regular hours; and seeing as he was a +friend of yours, I knew as hall was safe, Mr Wentworth; and oh, sir, +if you'll not tell missis, as might be angry. I didn't mean no harm; +and knowing as he was a friend of yours, I let him have the key of the +little door." + +Here Sarah put her apron to her eyes; she did not cry much into it, or +wet it with her tears--but under its cover she peeped at Mr Wentworth, +and, encouraged by his looks, which did not seem to promise any +immediate catastrophe, went on with her explanation. + +"He's been and took a walk often in the morning," said Sarah, with +little gasps which interrupted her voice, "and come in as steady as +steady, and nothing happened. He's gone for a walk now, poor +gentleman. Them as goes out first thing in the morning, can't mean no +harm, Mr Wentworth. If it was at night, it would be different," said +the apologetic Sarah. "He'll be in afore we've done our breakfast in +the kitchen; that's his hour, for I always brings him a cup of coffee. +If you hadn't been up not till _your_ hour, sir, you'd never have +known nothing about it;" and here even Mrs Hadwin's housemaid looked +sharply in the Curate's face. "I never knew you so early, sir, not +since I've been here," said Sarah; and though she was a partisan of Mr +Wentworth, it occurred even to Sarah that perhaps, after all, +Elsworthy might be right. + +"If he comes in let me know immediately," said the Curate; and he went +to his study and shut himself in, to think it all over with a sense of +being baited and baffled on every side. As for Sarah, she went off in +great excitement to discuss the whole business with the cook, tossing +her head as she went. "Rosa Elsworthy, indeed!" said Sarah to herself, +thinking her own claims to admiration quite as well worth +considering--and Mr Wentworth had already lost one humble follower in +Grange Lane. + +The Curate sat down at his table as before, and gazed with a kind of +exasperation at the paper and the text out of which his sermon was to +have come. "When the wicked man turneth away from the evil of his +ways"--he began to wonder bitterly whether that ever happened, or if it +was any good trying to bring it about. If it were really the case that +Wodehouse, whom he had been labouring to save from the consequences of +one crime, had, at the very crisis of his fate, perpetrated another of +the basest kind, what was the good of wasting strength in behalf of a +wretch so abandoned? Why should such a man be permitted to live to bring +shame and misery on everybody connected with him? and why, when noxious +vermin of every other description were hunted down and exterminated, +should the vile human creature be spared to suck the blood of his +friends? Mr Wentworth grew sanguinary in his thoughts as he leaned back +in his chair, and tried to return to the train of reflection which +Elsworthy's arrival had banished. That was totally impossible, but +another train of ideas came fast enough to fill up the vacant space. The +Curate saw himself hemmed in on every side without any way of escape. If +he could not extract any information from Wodehouse, or if Wodehouse +denied any knowledge of Rosa, what could he do to clear himself from an +imputation so terrible? and if, on the other hand, Wodehouse did not +come back, and so pleaded guilty, how could he pursue and put the law +upon the track of the man whom he had just been labouring to save from +justice, and over whose head a criminal prosecution was impending? Mr +Wentworth saw nothing but misery, let him turn where he would--nothing +but disgrace, misapprehension, unjust blame. He divined with the +instinct of a man in deadly peril, that Elsworthy, who was a mean enough +man in common circumstances, had been inspired by the supposed injury he +had sustained into a relentless demon; and he saw distinctly how strong +the chain of evidence was against him, and how little he could do to +clear himself. As his miseries grew upon him, he got up, as was natural, +and began to walk about the room to walk down his impatience, if he +could, and acquire sufficient composure to enable him to wait for the +time when Wodehouse might be expected to arrive. Mr Wentworth had +forgotten at the moment that Mrs Hadwin's room was next to his study, +and that, as she stood putting on her cap, his footsteps vibrated along +the flooring, which thrilled under her feet almost as much as under his +own. Mrs Hadwin, as she stood before her glass smoothing her thin little +braids of white hair, and putting on her cap, could not but wonder to +herself what could make Mr Wentworth walk about the room in such an +agitated way. It was not by any means the custom of the Perpetual +Curate, who, up to the time of his aunts' arrival in Carlingford, had +known no special disturbances in his individual career. And then the old +lady thought of that report about little Rosa Elsworthy, which she had +never believed, and grew troubled, as old ladies are not unapt to do +under such circumstances, with all that lively faith in the seductions +of "an artful girl," and all that contemptuous pity for a "poor young +man," which seems to come natural to a woman. All the old ladies in +Carlingford, male and female, were but too likely to entertain the same +sentiments, which at least, if they did nothing else, showed a wonderful +faith in the power of love and folly common to human nature. It did not +occur to Mrs Hadwin any more than it did to Miss Dora, that Mr +Wentworth's good sense and pride, and superior cultivation, were +sufficient defences against little Rosa's dimpled cheeks and bright +eyes; and with some few exceptions, such was likely to be the opinion of +the little world of Carlingford. Mrs Hadwin grew more and more anxious +about the business as she felt the boards thrill under her feet, and +heard the impatient movements in the next room; and as soon as she had +settled her cap to her satisfaction, she left her own chamber and went +to knock, as was to be expected, at Mr Wentworth's door. + +It was just at this moment that Mr Wentworth saw Wodehouse's shabby +figure entering at the garden-gate; he turned round suddenly without +hearing Mrs Hadwin's knock, and all but ran over the old lady in his +haste and eagerness--"Pardon me; I am in a great hurry," said the +Curate, darting past her. Just at the moment when she expected her +curiosity to be satisfied, it was rather hard upon Mrs Hadwin to be +dismissed so summarily. She went down-stairs in a state of great +dignity, with her lace mittens on, and her hands crossed before her. +She felt she had more and more reason for doubting human nature in +general, and for believing that the Curate of St Roque's in particular +could not bear any close examination into his conduct. Mrs Hadwin sat +down to her breakfast accordingly with a sense of pitying virtue which +was sweet to her spirit, notwithstanding that she was, as she would +have frankly acknowledged, very fond of Mr Wentworth; she said, "Poor +young man," to herself, and shook her head over him as she poured out +her solitary cup of tea. She had never been a beauty herself, nor had +she exercised any overwhelming influence that she could remember over +any one in the days of her distant youth: but being a true woman, Mrs +Hadwin believed in Rosa Elsworthy, and pitied, not without a certain +half-conscious female disdain, the weakness of the inevitable victim. +He did not dare to stop to explain to _her_ what it meant. He rushed +out of her way as soon as he saw she meant to question him. That +designing girl had got him entirely under her sway, the poor young +man! + +Meanwhile the Curate, without a single thought for his landlady, made +a rush to Wodehouse's room. He did not wait for any answer to his +knock, but went in, not as a matter of policy, but because his +eagerness carried him on in spite of himself. To Mr Wentworth's great +amazement Wodehouse was undressing, intending, apparently, to return +to bed. The shabby fugitive, looking broad and brawny in his +shirt-sleeves, turned round when he heard the voice with an angry +exclamation. His face grew black as he saw the Curate at the door. +"What the deuce have you to do in my room at this hour?" he growled +into his beard. "Is a man never to have a little peace?" and with that +threw down his coat, which he still had in his hand, and faced round +towards the intruder with sullen looks. It was his nature to stand +always on the defensive, and he had got so much accustomed to being +regarded as a culprit, that he naturally took up the part, whether +there might be just occasion or not. + +"Where have you been?" exclaimed the Curate; "answer me truly--I can't +submit to any evasion. I know it all, Wodehouse. Where is she? where +have you hid her? If you do not give her up, I must give you up to +justice. Do you hear me? where is Rosa Elsworthy? This is a matter +that touches my honour, and I must know the truth." + +Mr Wentworth was so full of the subject that it did not occur to him +how much time he was giving his antagonist to prepare his answer. +Though Wodehouse was not clever, he had the instinct of a baited +animal driven to bay; and resistance and denial came natural to a man +who had been accused and condemned all his life. + +"Rosa Elsworthy?" said the vagabond, "what have I to do with Rosa +Elsworthy? A pretty man I should be to run away with a girl; all that +I have in the world is a shilling or two, and, by Jove, it's an +expensive business, that is. You should ask your brother," he +continued, giving a furtive glance at the Curate--"it's more in his +way, by Jove, than mine." + +Mr Wentworth was recalled to himself by this reply. "Where is she?" he +said, sternly,--"no trifling. I did not ask if you had taken her away. +I ask, where is she?" He had shut the door behind him, and stood in +the middle of the room facing Wodehouse, and overawing him by his +superior stature, force, and virtue. Before the Curate's look the eyes +of the other fell; but he had fallen by chance on a reasonable defence +enough, and so long as he held by that felt himself tolerably safe. + +"I don't know anything about her," he repeated; "how should I know +anything about her? I aint a fool, by Jove, whatever I may be: a man +may talk to a pretty girl without any harm. I mayn't be as good as a +parson, but, by Jove, I aint a fool," he muttered through his beard. +He had begun to speak with a kind of sulky self-confidence; but his +voice sunk lower as he proceeded. Jack Wentworth's elegant levity was +a terrible failure in the hands of the coarser rascal. He fell back by +degrees upon the only natural quality which enabled him to offer any +resistance. "By Jove, I aint an idiot," he repeated with dull +obstinacy, and upon that statement made a stand in his dogged, +argumentative way. + +"Would you like it better if I said you were a villain?" asked the +exasperated Curate. "I don't want to discuss your character with you. +Where is Rosa Elsworthy? She is scarcely more than a child," said Mr +Wentworth, "and a fool, if you like. But where is she? I warn you +that unless you tell me you shall have no more assistance from me." + +"And I tell you that I don't know," said Wodehouse; and the two men +stood facing each other, one glowing with youthful indignation, the +other enveloped in a cloud of sullen resistance. Just then there came +a soft knock at the door, and Sarah peeped in with a coquettish air, +which at no other time in her existence had been visible in the sedate +demeanour of Mrs Hadwin's favourite handmaid. The stranger lodger was +"a gentleman," notwithstanding his shabbiness, and he was a very +civil-spoken gentleman, without a bit of pride; and Sarah was still a +woman, though she was plain and a housemaid. "Please, sir, I've +brought you your coffee," said Sarah, and she carried in her tray, +which contained all the materials for a plentiful breakfast. When she +saw Mr Wentworth standing in the room, and Wodehouse in his +shirt-sleeves, Sarah said, "La!" and set down her tray hastily and +vanished; but the episode, short as it was, had not been without its +use to the culprit who was standing on his defence. + +"I'm not staying here on my own account," said Wodehouse,--"it's no +pleasure to me to be here. I'm staying for your brother's sake +and--other people's; it's no pleasure to me, by Jove! I'd go to-morrow +if I had my way--but I aint a fool," continued the sulky defendant: +"it's of no use asking me such questions. By Jove, I've other things to +think of than girls; and you know pretty well how much money I've got," +he continued, taking out an old purse and emptying out the few shillings +it contained into his hand. When he had thrown them about, out and in, +for nearly a minute, he turned once more upon the Curate. "I'd like to +have a little more pocket-money before I ran away with any one," said +Wodehouse, and tossed the shillings back contemptuously. As for Mr +Wentworth, his reasonableness once more came greatly in his way. He +began to ask himself whether this penniless vagabond, who seemed to have +no dash or daring in his character, could have been the man to carry +little Rosa away; and, perplexed by this idea, Mr Wentworth put himself +unawares into the position of his opponent, and in that character made +an appeal to his imaginary generosity and truth. + +"Wodehouse," he said, seriously, "look here. I am likely to be much +annoyed about this, and perhaps injured. I entreat you to tell me, if +you know, where the girl is. I've been at some little trouble for you; +be frank with me for once," said the Curate of St Roque's. Nothing in +existence could have prevented himself from responding to such an +appeal, and he made it with a kind of absurd confidence that there +must be some kindred depths even in the meaner nature with which he +had to deal, which would have been to Jack Wentworth, had he seen it, +a source of inextinguishable laughter. Even Wodehouse was taken by +surprise. He did not understand Mr Wentworth, but a certain vague idea +that the Curate was addressing him as if he still were "a gentleman as +he used to be"--though it did not alter his resolution in any +way--brought a vague flush of shame to his unaccustomed cheek. + +"I aint a fool," he repeated rather hastily, and turned away not to meet +the Curate's eyes. "I've got no money--how should _I_ know anything +about her? If I had, do you think I should have been here?" he +continued, with a sidelong look of inquiry: then he paused and put on +his coat, and in that garb felt himself more of a match for his +opponent. "I'll tell you one thing you'll thank me for," he said,--"the +old man is dying, they think. They'll be sending for you presently. +That's more important than a talk about a girl. I've been talked to till +I'm sick," said Wodehouse, with a little burst of irrepressible nature, +"but things may change before you all know where you are." When he had +said so much, the fear in his heart awoke again, and he cast another +look of inquiry and anxiety at the Curate's face. But Mr Wentworth was +disgusted, and had no more to say. + +"Everything changes--except the heart of the churl, which can never be +made bountiful," said the indignant young priest. It was not a fit +sentiment, perhaps, for a preacher who had just written that text +about the wicked man turning from the evil of his ways. Mr Wentworth +went away in a glow of indignation and excitement, and left his guest +to Sarah's bountiful provision of hot coffee and new-laid eggs, to +which Wodehouse addressed himself with a perfectly good appetite, +notwithstanding all the events of the morning, and all the mystery of +the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +Mr Wentworth retired to his own quarters with enough to think about for +one morning. He could not make up his mind about Wodehouse--whether he +was guilty or not guilty. It seemed incredible that, penniless as he +was, he could have succeeded in carrying off a girl so well known in +Carlingford as Rosa Elsworthy; and, if he had taken her away, how did +it happen that he himself had come back again? The Curate saw clearly +enough that his only chance for exculpating himself in the sight of +the multitude was by bringing home the guilt to somebody else; and in +proportion to the utter scorn with which he had treated Elsworthy's +insinuations at first, was his serious apprehension now of the danger +which surrounded him. He divined all that slander would make of it +with the quickened intelligence of a man whose entire life, and +reputation dearer than life, were at stake. If it could not be cleared +up--if even any investigation which he might be able to demand was not +perfectly successful--Mr Wentworth was quite well aware that the +character of a clergyman was almost as susceptible as that of a +woman, and that the vague stigma might haunt and overshadow him all +his life. The thought was overwhelming at this moment, when his first +hopes of finding a speedy solution of the mystery had come to nothing. +If he had but lived a century earlier, the chances are that no doubt +of Wodehouse's guilt would have entered his mind; but Mr Wentworth was +a man of the present age--reasonable to a fault, and apt to consider +other people as much as possible from their own point of view. He did +not see, looking at the circumstances, how Wodehouse _could_ be guilty; +and the Curate would not permit the strong instinctive certainty that he +_was_ guilty, to move his own mind from what he imagined to be its +better judgment. He was thinking it over very gloomily when his +breakfast was brought to him and his letters, feeling that he could be +sure of nobody in such an emergency, and dreading more the doubt of his +friends than the clamour of the general world. He could bear (he +imagined) to be hooted at in the streets, if it ever came to that; but +to see the faces of those who loved him troubled with a torturing doubt +of his truth was a terrible thought to the Perpetual Curate. And Lucy? +But here the young man got up indignant and threw off his fears. He +doubted her regard with a doubt which threw darkness over the whole +universe; but that she should be able for a moment to doubt his entire +devotion to her, seemed a blindness incredible. No; let who would +believe ill of him in this respect, to Lucy such an accusation must look +as monstrous as it was untrue. _She_, at least, knew otherwise; and, +taking this false comfort to his heart, Mr Wentworth took up his +letters, and presently was deep in the anxieties of his brother Gerald, +who wrote to him as to a man at leisure, and without any overwhelming +perplexities of his own. It requires a very high amount of unselfishness +in the person thus addressed to prevent a degree of irritation which is +much opposed to sympathy; and Mr Wentworth, though he was very impartial +and reasonable, was not, being still young and meaning to be happy, +unselfish to any inhuman degree. He put down Gerald's letter, after he +had read through half of it, with an exclamation of impatience which he +could not restrain, and then poured out his coffee, which had got cold +in the mean time, and gulped it down with a sense of half-comforting +disgust--for there are moments when the mortification of the flesh +is a relief to the spirit; and then it occurred to him to remember +Wodehouse's tray, which was a kind of love-offering to the shabby +vagabond, and the perfect good order in which _he_ had his breakfast; +and Mr Wentworth laughed at himself with a whimsical perception of all +that was absurd in his own position which did him good, and broke the +spell of his solitary musings. When he took up Gerald's letter again, he +read it through. A man more sympathetic, open-hearted, and unselfish +than Gerald Wentworth did not exist in the world, as his brother well +knew; but nevertheless, Gerald's mind was so entirely preoccupied that +he passed over the Curate's cares with the lightest reference +imaginable. "I hope you found all right when you got back, and nothing +seriously amiss with Jack," the elder brother wrote, and then went on to +his own affairs. All right! nothing seriously amiss! To a man who felt +himself standing on the edge of possible ruin, such expressions seemed +strange indeed. + +The Rector of Wentworth, however, had enough in his mind to excuse him +for a momentary forgetfulness of others. Things had taken a different +turn with him since his brother left. He had been so busy with his +change of faith and sentiment, that the practical possibilities of the +step which he contemplated had not disturbed Gerald. He had taken it +calmly for granted that he _could_ do what he wanted to do. But a new +light had burst upon him in that respect, and changed the character of +his thoughts. Notwithstanding the conviction into which he had +reasoned himself, the Rector of Wentworth had not contemplated the +idea of becoming simply a Catholic layman. He was nothing if not a +priest, he had said, passionately. He could have made a martyr of +himself--have suffered tortures and deaths with the steadiest +endurance; but he could not face the idea of taking all meaning and +significance out of his life, by giving up the profession which he +felt to be laid upon him by orders indelible, beyond the power of +circumstances to revoke. Such was the new complication to which Gerald +had come. He was terribly staggered in his previous resolution by this +new doubt, and he wrote to pour his difficulties into the ear of his +brother. It had been Frank's question which first awoke in his mind a +doubt as to the practicability of the step he contemplated; and one of +Louisa's relations, appealed to by her in her next access of terror, +had brought this aspect of the matter still more distinctly before the +Rector of Wentworth. Gerald had been studying Canon law, but his +English intelligence did not make very much of it; and the bare idea +of a dispensation making that right which in itself was wrong, touched +the high-minded gentleman to the quick, and brought him to a sudden +standstill. He who was nothing if not a priest, stood sorrowfully +looking at his contemplated martyrdom--like Brother Domenico of St +Mark's sighing on the edge of the fiery ordeal into which the Church +herself would not let him plunge. If it was so, he no longer knew what +to do. He would have wrapped the vestment of the new priesthood about +him, though it was a garment of fire; but to stand aside in irksome +leisure was a harder trial, at which he trembled. This was the new +complication in which Gerald asked his brother's sympathy and counsel. +It was a long letter, curiously introspective, and full of self-argument; +and it was hard work, with a mind so occupied as was that of the +Perpetual Curate, to give it due attention. He put it away when he had +done with his cold breakfast, and deferred the consideration of the +subject, with a kind of vague hope that the family firmament might +possibly brighten in that quarter at least; but the far-off and +indistinct interest with which he viewed, across his own gloomy +surroundings, this matter which had engrossed him so completely a few +days before, was wonderful to see. + +And then he paused to think what he was to do. To go out and face the +slander which must already have crept forth on its way--to see +Elsworthy and ascertain whether he had come to his senses, and try if +anything could be done for Rosa's discovery--to exert himself somehow, +in short, and get rid of the feverish activity which he felt consuming +him,--that was what he longed to do. But, on the other hand, it was +Saturday, and Mr Wentworth was conscious that it would be more +dignified, and in better taste altogether, if he went on writing his +sermon and took no notice of this occurrence, with which, in reality, +he had nothing to do. It was difficult, but no doubt it was the best; +and he tried it accordingly--putting down a great many sentences which +had to be scratched out again, and spoiling altogether the appearance +of the sermon-paper. When a message came from Mr Wodehouse's about +eleven o'clock, bringing the news that he was much worse and not +expected to live, and begging Mr Wentworth's immediate presence, the +Curate was as nearly glad as it was possible for a man to be under the +circumstances. He had "a feeling heart," as even Elsworthy allowed, +but in such a moment of excitement any kind of great and terrible +event seemed to come natural. He hastened out into the fresh morning +sunshine, which still seemed thrilling with life and joy, and went up +Grange Lane with a certain sense of curiosity, wondering whether +everybody was already aware of what had happened. A long way off a +figure which much resembled that of the Rector was visible crossing +over to Dr Marjoribanks's door; and it occurred to the Curate that Mr +Morgan was crossing to avoid him, which brought a smile of anger and +involuntary dislike to his face, and nerved him for any other +encounter. The green door at Mr Wodehouse's--a homely sign of the +trouble in the house--had been left unlatched, and was swinging ajar +with the wind when the Curate came up; and as he went in (closing it +carefully after him, for that forlorn little touch of carelessness +went to his heart), he encountered in the garden Dr Marjoribanks and +Dr Rider, who were coming out together with very grave looks. They did +not stop for much conversation, only pausing to tell him that the case +was hopeless, and that the patient could not possibly live beyond a +day or two at most; but even in the few words that were spoken Mr +Wentworth perceived, or thought he perceived, that something had +occurred to lessen him in the esteem of the shrewd old Scotch doctor, +who contemplated him and his prayer-book with critical eyes. "I +confess, after all, that there are cases in which written prayers are +a kind of security," Dr Marjoribanks said in an irrelevant manner to +Dr Rider when Mr Wentworth had passed them--an observation at which, +in ordinary cases, the Curate would have smiled; but to-day the colour +rose to his face, and he understood that Dr Marjoribanks did not think +him qualified to carry comfort or instruction to a sick-bed. Perhaps +the old doctor had no such idea in his mind--perhaps it was simply a +relic of his national Presbyterianism, to which the old Scotchman kept +up a kind of visionary allegiance. But whether he meant it or not, Mr +Wentworth understood it as a reproach to himself, and went on with a +bitter feeling of mortification to the sick-room. He had gone with his +whole heart into his priestly office, and had been noted for his +ministrations to the sick and poor; but now his feelings were much too +personal for the atmosphere into which he was just about to enter. He +stopped at the door to tell John that he would take a stroll round the +garden before he came in, as he had a headache, and went on through +the walks which were sacred to Lucy, not thinking of her, but +wondering bitterly whether anybody would stand by him, or whether an +utterly baseless slander would outweigh all the five years of his life +which he had spent among the people of Carlingford. Meanwhile John +stood at the door and watched him, and of course thought it was very +"queer." "It aint as if he'd a-been sitting up all night, like our +young ladies," said John to himself, and unconsciously noted the +circumstance down in his memory against the Curate. + +When Mr Wentworth entered the sick-room, he found all very silent and +still in that darkened chamber. Lucy was seated by the bedside, +wrapped in a loose dressing-gown, and looked as if she had not slept +for several nights; while Miss Wodehouse, who, notwithstanding all her +anxiety to be of use, was far more helpless than Lucy, stood on the +side next the door, with her eyes fixed on her sister, watching with +pathetic unserviceableness for the moment when she could be of some +use. As for the patient himself, he lay in a kind of stupor, from +which he scarcely ever could be roused, and showed no tokens at the +moment of hearing or seeing anybody. The scene was doubly sad, but it +was without the excitement which so often breathes in the atmosphere +of death. There was no eager listening for the last word, no last +outbreaks of tenderness. The daughters were both hushed into utter +silence; and Lucy, who was more reasonable than her sister, had even +given up those wistful beseeching looks at the patient, with which +Miss Wodehouse still regarded him, as if perhaps he might be thus +persuaded to speak. The nurse whom Dr Marjoribanks had sent to assist +them was visible through an open door, sleeping very comfortably in +the adjoining room. Mr Wentworth came into the silent chamber with all +his anxieties throbbing in his heart, bringing life at its very height +of agitation and tumult into the presence of death. He went forward to +the bed, and tried for an instant to call up any spark of intelligence +that might yet exist within the mind of the dying man; but Mr +Wodehouse was beyond the voice of any priest. The Curate said the +prayers for the dying at the bedside, suddenly filled with a great +pity for the man who was thus taking leave unawares of all this +mournful splendid world. Though the young man knew many an ordinary +sentiment about the vanity of life, and had given utterance to that +effect freely in the way of his duty, he was still too fresh in his +heart to conceive actually that any one could leave the world without +poignant regrets; and when his prayer was finished, he stood looking +at the patient with inexpressible compassion. Mr Wodehouse had scarcely +reached old age; he was well off, and only a week ago seemed to have so +much to enjoy; now, here he lay stupefied, on the edge of the grave, +unable to respond even by a look to the love that surrounded him. Once +more there rose in the heart of the young priest a natural impulse of +resentment and indignation; and when he thought of the cause of this +change, he remembered Wodehouse's threat, and roused himself from his +contemplation of the dying to think of the probable fate of those who +must live. + +"Has he made his will?" said Mr Wentworth, suddenly. He forgot that it +was Lucy who was standing by him; and it was only when he caught a +glance of reproach and horror from her eyes that he recollected how +abrupt his question was. "Pardon me," he said; "you think me heartless +to speak of it at such a time; but tell me, if you know: Miss +Wodehouse, has he made his will?" + +"Oh, Mr Wentworth, I don't know anything about business," said the +elder sister. "He said he would; but we have had other things to think +of--more important things," said poor Miss Wodehouse, wringing her +hands, and looking at Mr Wentworth with eyes full of warning and +meaning, beseeching him not to betray her secret. She came nearer to +the side of the bed on which Lucy and the Curate were standing, and +plucked at his sleeve in her anxiety. "We have had very different +things to think of. Oh, Mr Wentworth, what does it matter?" said the +poor lady, interposing her anxious looks, which suggested every kind +of misfortune, between the two. + +"It matters everything in the world," said Mr Wentworth. "Pardon me if +I wound you--I must speak; if it is possible to rouse him, an effort +must be made. Send for Mr Waters. He must not be allowed to go out of +the world and leave your interests in the hands of--" + +"Oh, hush, Mr Wentworth, hush!--oh, hush, hush! Don't say any more," +cried Miss Wodehouse, grasping his arm in her terror. + +Lucy rose from where she had been sitting at the bedside. She had +grown paler than before, and looked almost stern in her youthful +gravity. "I will not permit my father to be disturbed," she said. "I +don't know what you mean, or what you are talking of; but he is not to +be disturbed. Do you think I will let him be vexed in his last hours +about money or anybody's interest?" she said, turning upon the Curate +a momentary glance of scorn. Then she sat down again, with a pang of +disappointment added to her grief. She could not keep her heart so +much apart from him, as not to expect a little comfort from his +presence. And there had been comfort in his prayers and his looks; but +to hear him speak of wills and worldly affairs by her father's +deathbed, as any man might have done, went to Lucy's heart. She sat +down again, putting her hand softly upon the edge of the pillow, to +guard the peace of those last moments which were ebbing away so +rapidly. What if all the comfort of the world hung upon it? Could she +let her kind father be troubled in his end for anything so miserable? +Lucy turned her indignant eyes upon the others with silent resolution. +It was she who was _his_ protector now. + +"But it must be done," said Mr Wentworth. "You will understand me +hereafter. Miss Wodehouse, you must send for Mr Waters, and in the +mean time I will do what I can to rouse him. It is no such cruelty as +you think," said the Curate, with humility; "it is not for money or +interest only--it concerns all the comfort of your life." + +This he said to Lucy, who sat defending her father. She, for her part, +looked up at him with eyes that broke his heart. At that moment of all +others, the unfortunate Curate perceived, by a sudden flash of +insight, that nothing less than love could look at him with such +force of disappointment and reproach and wounded feeling. He replied +to the look by a gesture of mingled entreaty and despair. + +"What can I do?" he cried--"you have no one else to care for you. I +cannot even explain to you all that is at stake. I must act as I +ought, even though you hate me for it. Let us send for Mr Waters;--if +there is a will--" + +Mr Wentworth had raised his voice a little in the excitement of the +moment, and the word caught the dull ear of the dying man. The Curate +saw instantly that there was comprehension in the flicker of the +eyelash and the tremulous movement of the hand upon the bed. It was a +new and unaccustomed part which he had now to play; he went hurriedly +to the other side and leaned over the pillow to make out the +stammering words which began to be audible. Lucy had risen up also and +stood looking at her father still with her look of defence. As the +feeble lips babbled forth unintelligible words, Lucy's face grew +sterner and sterner. As for Miss Wodehouse, she stood behind, crying +and trembling. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, do you think it is returning +life--do you think he is better?" she cried, looking wistfully at the +Curate; and between the two young people, who were leaning with looks +and feelings so different over his bed, the patient lay struggling +with those terrible bonds of weakness, labouring to find expression +for something which wrought him into a fever of excitement. While Mr +Wentworth bent his ear closer and closer, trying to make some sense of +the inarticulate torrent of sound, Lucy, inspired by grief and horror +and indignation, leaned over her father on the other side, doing +everything possible to calm him. "Oh, papa, don't say any more--don't +say any more; we understand you," she cried, and put her soft hands +upon his flushed forehead, and her cheek to his. "No more, no more!" +cried the girl in the dulled ear which could not hear. "We will do +everything you wish--we understand all," said Lucy. Mr Wentworth +withdrew vanquished in that strange struggle--he stood looking on +while she caressed and calmed and subdued into silence the dying +passion which he would have given anything in the world to stimulate +into clearer utterance. She had baffled his efforts, made him helpless +to serve her, perhaps injured herself cruelly; but all the more the +Curate loved her for it, as she expanded over her dying father, with +the white sleeves hanging loose about her arms like the white wings of +an angel, as he thought. Gradually the agony of utterance got subdued, +and then Lucy resumed her position by the bed. "He shall not be +disturbed," she said again, through lips that were parched with +emotion; and so sat watchful over him, a guardian immovable, ready to +defy all the world in defence of his peace. + +Mr Wentworth turned away with his heart full. He would have liked to +go and kiss her hand or her sleeve or anything belonging to her; and +yet he was impatient beyond expression, and felt that she had baffled +and vanquished him. Miss Wodehouse stood behind, still looking on with +a half perception of what had happened; but the mind of the elder +sister was occupied with vain hopes and fears, such as inexperienced +people are subject to in the presence of death. + +"He heard what you said," said Miss Wodehouse; "don't you think that +was a good sign? Oh, Mr Wentworth, sometimes I think he looks a little +better," said the poor lady, looking wistfully into the Curate's face. +Mr Wentworth could only shake his head as he hurried away. + +"I must go and consult Mr Waters," he said, as he passed her. "I shall +come back presently;" and then Miss Wodehouse followed him to the door, +to beg him not to speak to Mr Waters of _anything particular_--"For papa +has no confidence in him," she said, anxiously. The Curate was nearly +driven to his wits' end as he hastened out. He forgot the clouds that +surrounded him in his anxiety about this sad household; for it seemed +but too evident that Mr Wodehouse had made no special provision for his +daughters; and to think of Lucy under the power of her unknown brother, +made Mr Wentworth's blood boil. + +The shutters were all put up that afternoon in the prettiest house in +Grange Lane. The event took Carlingford altogether by surprise; but +other events just then were moving the town into the wildest +excitement; for nothing could be heard, far or near, of poor little +Rosa Elsworthy, and everybody was aware that the last time she was +seen in Carlingford she was standing by herself in the dark, at Mr +Wentworth's garden-door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +Mrs Morgan was in the garden watering her favourite ferns when her +husband returned home to dinner on the day of Mr Wodehouse's death. The +Rector was late, and she had already changed her dress, and was removing +the withered leaves from her prettiest plant of maidenhair, and +thinking, with some concern, of the fish, when she heard his step on the +gravel; for the cook at the Rectory was rather hasty in her temper, and +was apt to be provoking to her mistress next morning when the Rector +chose to be late. It was a very hot day, and Mr Morgan was flushed and +uncomfortable. To see his wife looking so cool and tranquil in her +muslin dress rather aggravated him than otherwise, for she did not +betray her anxiety about the trout, but welcomed him with a smile, as +she felt it her duty to do, even when he was late for dinner. The Rector +looked as if all the anxieties of the world were on his shoulders, as he +came hurriedly along the gravel; and Mrs Morgan's curiosity was +sufficiently excited by his looks to have overcome any consideration but +that of the trout, which, however, was too serious to be trifled with; +so, instead of asking questions, she thought it wiser simply to remind +her husband that it was past six o'clock. "Dinner is waiting," she said, +in her composed way; and the Rector went up-stairs to wash his hands, +half disposed to be angry with his wife. He found her already seated at +the head of the table when he came down after his rapid ablutions; and +though he was not particularly quick of perception, Mr Morgan perceived, +by the looks of the servant as well as the mistress, that he was +generally disapproved of throughout the household for being half an hour +too late. As for Thomas, he was at no pains to conceal his sentiments, +but conducted himself with distant politeness towards his master, +expressing the feelings of the household with all the greater freedom +that he had been in possession of the Rectory since Mr Bury's time, and +felt himself more secure in his tenure than any incumbent, as was +natural to a man who had already outlived two of these temporary +tenants. Mr Morgan was disposed to be conciliatory when he saw the +strength of the opposite side. + +"I am a little late today," said the politic Rector. "Mr Leeson was +with me, and I did not want to bring him home to dinner. It was only +on Wednesday he dined with us, and I know you don't care for chance +guests." + +"I think it shows a great want of sense in Mr Leeson to think of such +a thing," said Mrs Morgan, responding by a little flush of anger to +the unlucky Curate's name. "He might understand that people like to be +by themselves now and then. I am surprised that you give in to him so +much as you do, William. Good-nature must stop somewhere, and I think +it is always best to draw a line." + +"I wish it were possible for everybody to draw a line," said the +Rector, mysteriously, with a sigh. "I have heard something that has +grieved me very much to-day. I will tell you about it afterwards." +When he had said this, Mr Morgan addressed himself sadly to his +dinner, sighing over it, as if that had something to do with his +distress. + +"Perhaps, ma'am," suggested Thomas, who was scarcely on speaking terms +with his master, "the Rector mayn't have heard as Mr Wodehouse has +been took very bad again, and aint expected to see out the night." + +"I am very sorry," said the Rector. "Poor ladies! it will come very +hard upon them. My dear, I think you should call and ask if you can do +anything. Troubles never come singly, it is said. I am very sorry for +that poor young creature; though, perhaps, things have not gone so far +as one imagined." The Rector sighed again, and looked as though his +secret, whatever it might be, was almost too much for him. The +consequence, of course, was, that Thomas prolonged his services to the +last possibility, by way of hearing what had happened; as for Mrs +Morgan, she sat on thorns, though her sense of propriety was too great +to permit her to hurry over the dinner. The pudding, though it was the +Rector's favourite pudding, prepared from a receipt only known at +All-Souls, in which the late respected Head of that learned community +had concentrated all his genius, was eaten in uneasy silence, broken +only by the most transparent attempts on both sides to make a little +conversation. Thomas hovered sternly over his master and mistress all +the time, exacting with inexorable severity every usage of the table. +He would not let them off the very smallest detail, but insisted on +handing round the peaches, notwithstanding Mrs Morgan's protest. "They +are the first out of the new orchard-house," said the Rector's wife. +"I want your opinion of them. That will do, Thomas; we have got +everything now, I think." Mrs Morgan was a little anxious about the +peaches, having made a great many changes on her own responsibility in +the gardening department; but the Rector took the downy fruit as if it +had been a turnip, and notwithstanding her interest in the +long-delayed news, his wife could not but find it very provoking that +he took so little notice of her exertions. + +"Roberts stood out against the new flue as long as he could," said +Mrs Morgan. "Mr Proctor took no interest in the garden, and everything +had gone to ruin; though I must say it was very odd that anybody from +_your_ college, William, should be careless about such a vital +matter," said the Rector's wife, with a little asperity. "I suppose +there must be something in the air of Carlingford which makes people +indifferent." Naturally, it was very provoking, after all the trouble +she had taken, to see her husband slicing that juicy pulp as if it had +been any ordinary market fruit. + +"I beg your pardon, my dear," said Mr Morgan; "I was thinking of this +story about Mr Wentworth. One is always making new discoveries of the +corruption of human nature. He had behaved very badly to me; but it is +very sad to see a young man sacrifice all his prospects for the +indulgence of his passions; though that is a very secular way of +looking at the subject," said the Rector, shaking his head mournfully. +"If it is bad in a worldly point of view, what is it in a spiritual? +and in this age, too, when it is so important to keep up the character +of the clergy!" Mr Morgan sighed again more heavily than ever as he +poured out the single glass of port, in which his wife joined him +after dinner. "Such an occurrence throws a stigma upon the whole +Church, as Mr Leeson very justly remarked." + +"I thought Mr Leeson must have something to do with it," said the +Rector's wife. "What has Mr Wentworth been doing? When you keep a +Low-Church Curate, you never can tell what he may say. If he had known +of the All-Souls pudding he would have come to dinner, and we should +have had it at first-hand," said Mrs Morgan, severely. She put away +her peach in her resentment, and went to a side-table for her work, +which she always kept handy for emergencies. Like her husband, Mrs +Morgan had acquired some little "ways" in the long ten years of their +engagement, one of which was a confirmed habit of needlework at all +kinds of unnecessary moments, which much disturbed the Rector when he +had anything particular to say. + +"My dear, I am very sorry to see you so much the victim of prejudice," +said Mr Morgan. "I had hoped that all our long experiences--" and here +the Rector stopped short, troubled to see the rising colour in his +wife's face. "I don't mean to blame you, my dear," said the perplexed +man; "I know you were always very patient;" and he paused, not knowing +what more to say, comforting himself with the thought that women were +incomprehensible creatures, as so many men have done before. + +"I am not patient," said the Rector's wife; "it never was my nature. I +can't help thinking sometimes that our long experiences have done us +more harm than good; but I hope nothing will ever make me put up with +a Curate who tells tales about other people, and flatters one's self, +and comes to dinner without being asked. Perhaps Mr Wentworth is very +sinful, but at least he is a gentleman," said Mrs Morgan; and she bent +her head over her work, and drove her needle so fast through the +muslin she was at work upon, that it glimmered and sparkled like +summer lightning before the spectator's dazzled eyes. + +"I am sorry you are so prejudiced," said the Rector. "It is a very +unbecoming spirit, my dear, though I am grieved to say so much to you. +Mr Leeson is a very good young man, and he has nothing to do with this +terrible story about Mr Wentworth. I don't wish to shock your +feelings--but there are a great many things in the world that one +can't explain to ladies. He has got himself into a most distressing +position, and a public inquiry will be necessary. One can't help +seeing the hand of Providence in it," said the Rector, playing +reflectively with the peach on his plate. + +It was at this moment that Thomas appeared at the door to announce Mr +Leeson, who had come to talk over the topic of the day with the +Rector--being comfortably obtuse in his perceptions, and quite +disposed to ignore Mrs Morgan's general demeanour towards himself. "I +am sure she has a bad temper," he would say to his confidants in the +parish; "you can see it by the redness in her face: but I never take +any notice when she says rude things to me." The redness was alarming +in Mrs Morgan's face as the unlucky man became visible at the door. +She said audibly, "I knew we should be interrupted!" and got up from +her chair. "As Mr Leeson is here, you will not want me, William," she +added, in her precisest tones. "If anything has happened since you +came in, he will be able to tell you about it; and perhaps I had +better send you your coffee here, for I have a great many things to +do." Mr Morgan gave a little groan in his spirit as his wife went +away. To do him justice, he had a great deal of confidence in her, and +was unconsciously guided by her judgment in many matters. Talking it +over with Mr Leeson was a totally different thing; for whatever might +be said in his defence, there could not be any doubt that the Curate +professed Low-Church principles, and had been known to drink tea with +Mr Beecher, the new minister of Salem Chapel. "Not that I object to Mr +Beecher because he is a Dissenter," Mr Morgan said, "but because, my +dear, you know, it is a totally different class of society." When the +Rector was left alone to discuss parish matters with this doubtful +subordinate, instead of going into the subject with his wife, the good +man felt a pang of disappointment; for though he professed to be +reluctant to shock her, he had been longing all the time to enter into +the story, which was certainly the most exciting which had occurred in +Carlingford since the beginning of his incumbency. Mrs Morgan, for her +part, went up-stairs to the drawing-room with so much indignation +about this personal grievance that she almost forgot her curiosity. Mr +Leeson hung like a cloud over all the advantages of Carlingford; he +put out that new flue in the greenhouse, upon which she was rather +disposed to pique herself, and withered her ferns, which everybody +allowed to be the finest collection within a ten miles' circuit. This +sense of disgust increased upon her as she went into the drawing-room, +where her eye naturally caught that carpet which had been the first +cross of her married life. When she had laid down her work, she began +to plan how the offensive bouquets might be covered with a pinafore of +linen, which looked very cool and nice in summer-time. And then the +Rector's wife reflected that in winter a floor covered with white +looked chilly, and that a woollen drugget of an appropriate small +pattern would be better on the whole; but no such thing was to be had +without going to London for it, which brought her mind back again to +Mr Leeson and all the disadvantages of Carlingford. These subjects +occupied Mrs Morgan to the exclusion of external matters, as was +natural; and when she heard the gentlemen stir down-stairs as if with +ideas of joining her in the drawing-room, the Rector's wife suddenly +recollected that she had promised some tea to a poor woman in Grove +Street, and that she could not do better this beautiful evening than +take it in her own person. She was very active in her district at all +times, and had proved herself an admirable clergywoman; but perhaps it +would not have occurred to her to go out upon a charitable errand that +particular evening had it not been for the presence of Mr Leeson +down-stairs. + +It was such a very lovely night, that Mrs Morgan was tempted to go +further than she intended. She called on two or three of her +favourites in Grove Street, and was almost as friendly with them as +Lucy Wodehouse was with the people in Prickett's Lane; but being +neither pretty and young, like Lucy, nor yet a mother with a nursery, +qualified to talk about the measles, her reception was not quite as +enthusiastic as it might have been. Somehow it would appear as though +our poor neighbours loved most the ministrations of youth, which is +superior to all ranks in the matter of possibility and expectation, +and inferior to all ranks in the matter of experience; and so holds a +kind of balance and poise of nature between the small and the great. +Mrs Morgan was vaguely sensible of her disadvantages in this respect +as well as in others. She never could help imagining what she might +have been had she married ten years before at the natural period. +"And even then not a girl," she said to herself in her sensible way, +as she carried this habitual thread of thought with her along the +street, past the little front gardens, where there were so many +mothers with their children. On the other side of the way the genteel +houses frowned darkly with their staircase windows upon the humility +of Grove Street; and Mrs Morgan began to think within herself of the +Miss Hemmings and other spinsters, and how they got along upon this +path of life, which, after all, is never lightsome to behold, except +in the future or the past. It was dead present with the Rector's wife +just then, and many speculations were in her mind, as was natural. +"Not that I could not have lived unmarried," she continued within +herself, with a woman's pride; "but things looked so different at +five-and-twenty!" and in her heart she grudged the cares she had lost, +and sighed over this wasting of her years. + +It was just then that the youngest Miss Hemmings saw Mrs Morgan, and +crossed over to speak to her. Miss Hemmings had left five-and-thirty +behind a long time ago, and thought the Rector's wife a happy woman in +the bloom of youth. When she had discovered conclusively that Mrs +Morgan would not go in to have a cup of tea, Miss Hemmings volunteered +to walk with her to the corner; and it is not necessary to say that +she immediately plunged into the topic which at that moment engaged +all minds in Carlingford. "If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I +should not have believed it," said Miss Hemmings. "I should have +thought it a got-up story; not that I ever could have thought it +_impossible_, as you say--for, alas! I know well that without grace +every wickedness is more than possible--but I saw them with my own +eyes, my dear Mrs Morgan; she standing outside, the bold little thing, +and he at the door--as if it was right for a clergyman to open the +door like a man-servant--and from that moment to this she has not been +seen by any living creature in Carlingford: who can tell what may have +been done with her?" cried the horrified eyewitness. "She has never +been seen from that hour!" + +"But that was only twenty-four hours ago," said Mrs Morgan; "she may +have gone off to visit some of her friends." + +"Ah, my dear Mrs Morgan, twenty-four hours is a long time for a girl +to disappear out of her own home," said Miss Hemmings; "and all her +friends have been sent to, and no word can be heard of her. I am +afraid it will go very hard with Mr Wentworth; and I am sure it looks +like a judgment upon him for all his candlesticks and flowers and +things," she continued, out of breath with the impetuosity of her +tale. + +"Do you think, then, that God makes people sin in order to punish +them?" said Mrs Morgan, with some fire, which shocked Miss Hemmings, +who did not quite know how to reply. + +"I do so wish you would come in for a few minutes and taste our tea; +my sister Sophia was just making it when I came out. We get it from +our brother in Assam, and we think a great deal of it," said Miss +Hemmings; "it can't possibly be adulterated, you know, for it comes +direct from his plantation. If you can't come in just now, I will send +you some to the Rectory, and you shall tell us how you like it. We are +quite proud of our tea. My brother has a large plantation, and he +hopes--" + +"Thank you," said Mrs Morgan, "but the Rector will be waiting for me, +and I must go. It must be very nice to have your tea direct from the +plantation; and I hope you will change your mind about Mr Wentworth," +she continued, without much regard for punctuation, as she shook hands +at the corner. Mrs Morgan went down a narrow street which led to +Grange Lane, after this interview, with some commotion in her mind. +She took Mr Wentworth's part instinctively, without asking any proofs +of his innocence. The sun was just setting, and St Roque's stood out +dark and picturesque against all the glory of the western sky as the +Rector's wife went past. She could not help thinking of him, in his +youth and the opening of his career, with a kind of wistful interest. +If he had married Lucy Wodehouse, and confined himself to his own +district (but then he had no district), Mrs Morgan would have +contemplated the two, not, indeed, without a certain half-resentful +self-reference and contrast, but with natural sympathy. And now, to +think of this dark and ugly blot on his fair beginning disturbed her +much. When Mrs Morgan recollected that she had left her husband and +his Curate consulting over this matter, she grew very hot and angry, +and felt humiliated by the thought. Was it her William, her hero, whom +she had magnified for all these ten years, though not without +occasional twinges of enlightenment, into something great, who was +thus sitting upon his young brother with so little human feeling and +so much middle-aged jealousy? It hurt her to think of it, though not +for Mr Wentworth's sake. Poor Mrs Morgan, though not at all a +sentimental person, had hoarded up her ideal so much after the +ordinary date, that it came all the harder upon her when everything +thus merged into the light of common day. She walked very fast up +Grange Lane, which was another habit of her maidenhood not quite in +accord with the habit of sauntering acquired during the same period by +the Fellow of All-Souls. When Mrs Morgan was opposite Mr Wodehouse's, +she looked across with some interest, thinking of Lucy; and it shocked +her greatly to see the closed shutters, which told of the presence of +death. Then, a little farther up, she could see Elsworthy in front of +his shop, which was already closed, talking vehemently to a little +group round the door. The Rector's wife crossed the street, to avoid +coming into contact with this excited party; and, as she went swiftly +along under the garden-walls, came direct, without perceiving it, upon +Mr Wentworth, who was going the opposite way. They were both absorbed +in their own thoughts, the Perpetual Curate only perceiving Mrs Morgan +in time to take off his hat to her as he passed; and, to tell the +truth, having no desire for any further intercourse. Mrs Morgan, +however, was of a different mind. She stopped instantly, as soon as +she perceived him. "Mr Wentworth, it is getting late--will you walk +with me as far as the Rectory?" she said, to the Curate's great +astonishment. He could not help looking at her with curiosity as he +turned to accompany her. Mrs Morgan was still wearing her wedding +things, which were not now in their first freshness--not to say that +the redness, of which she was so painfully sensible, was rather out of +accordance with the orange blossoms. Then she was rather flurried and +disturbed in her mind; and, on the whole, Mr Wentworth ungratefully +concluded the Rector's wife to be looking her plainest, as he turned +with very languid interest to see her safely home. + +"A great many things seem to be happening just now," said Mrs Morgan, +with a good deal of embarrassment; "I suppose the people in +Carlingford are grateful to anybody who gives them something to talk +about." + +"I don't know about the gratitude," said the Perpetual Curate; "it is +a sentiment I don't believe in." + +"You ought to believe in everything as long as you are young," said +Mrs Morgan. "I want very much to speak to you, Mr Wentworth; but then +I don't know how you will receive what I am going to say." + +"I can't tell until I know what it is," said the Curate, shutting +himself up. He had an expressive face generally, and Mrs Morgan saw +the shutters put up, and the jealous blinds drawn over the young man's +countenance as clearly as if they had been tangible articles. He did +not look at her, but kept swinging his cane in his hand, and regarding +the pavement with downcast eyes; and if the Rector's wife had formed +any expectations of finding in the Perpetual Curate an ingenuous young +heart, open to sympathy and criticism, she now discovered her mistake. + +"If I run the risk, perhaps you will forgive me," said Mrs Morgan. "I +have just been hearing a dreadful story about you; and I don't believe +it in the least, Mr Wentworth," she continued, with a little effusion; +for though she was very sensible, she was only a woman, and did not +realise the possibility of having her sympathy rejected, and her +favourable judgment received with indifference. + +"I am much flattered by your good opinion. What was the dreadful +story?" asked Mr Wentworth, looking at her with careless eyes. They +were just opposite Elsworthy's shop, and could almost hear what he was +saying, as he stood in the midst of his little group of listeners, +talking loud and vehemently. The Perpetual Curate looked calmly at him +across the road, and turned again to Mrs Morgan, repeating his +question, "What was the dreadful story?--one gets used to romances," +he said, with a composure too elaborate to be real; but Mrs Morgan did +not think of that. + +"If you don't care about it, I need not say anything," said the +Rector's wife, who could not help feeling affronted. "But I am so +sorry that Mr Morgan and you don't get on," she continued, after a +little pause. "I have no right to speak; but I take an interest in +everything that belongs to the parish. If you would put a little +confidence in my husband, things might go on better; but, in the mean +time, I thought I might say to you, on my own account, that I had +heard this scandal, and that I don't believe in it. If you do not +understand my motive I can't help it," said the Rector's wife, who was +now equally ready for friendship or for battle. + +"Thanks; I understand what you mean," said Mr Wentworth, who had come +to himself. "But will you tell me what it is you don't believe in?" he +asked, with a smile which Mrs Morgan did not quite comprehend. + +"I will tell you," she said, with a little quiet exasperation. "I +don't think you would risk your prospects, and get yourself into +trouble, and damage your entire life, for the sake of any girl, +however pretty she might be. Men don't do such things for women +nowadays, even when it is a worthy object," said the disappointed +optimist. "And I believe you are a great deal more sensible, Mr +Wentworth." There was just that tone of mingled approval and contempt +in this speech which a woman knows how to deliver herself of without +any appearance of feeling; and which no young man, however _blase_, +can hear with composure. + +"Perhaps not," he said, with a little heat and a rising colour. "I am +glad you think me so sensible." And then there ensued a pause, upon +the issue of which depended the question of peace or war between these +two. Mr Wentworth's good angel, perhaps, dropped softly through the +dusky air at that moment, and jogged his perverse charge with the tip +of a celestial wing. "And yet there might be women in the world for +whom--" said the Curate; and stopped again. "I daresay you are not +anxious to know my sentiments on the subject," he continued, with a +little laugh. "I am sorry you think so badly--I mean so well of me." + +"I don't think badly of you," said Mrs Morgan, hastily. "Thank you for +walking with me; and whatever happens, remember that I for one don't +believe a word of it," she said, holding out her hand. After this little +declaration of friendship, the Rector's wife returned to the Rectory, +where her husband was waiting for her, more than ever prepared to stand +up for Mr Wentworth. She went back to the drawing-room, forgetting all +about the carpet, and poured out the tea with satisfaction, and made +herself very agreeable to Mr Finial, the architect, who had come to talk +over the restorations. In that moment of stimulation she forgot all her +experience of her husband's puzzled looks, of the half-comprehension +with which he looked at her, and the depths of stubborn determination +which were far beyond the reach of her hastier and more generous spirit, +and so went on with more satisfaction and gaiety than she had felt +possible for a long time, beating her drums and blowing her trumpets, to +the encounter in which her female forces were so confident of victory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +Mr Wentworth went upon his way, after he had parted from Mrs Morgan, +with a moment's gratitude; but he had not gone half-a-dozen steps +before that amiable sentiment yielded to a sense of soreness and +vexation. He had almost acknowledged that he was conscious of the +slander against which he had made up his mind to present a blank front +of unconsciousness and passive resistance, and he was angry with +himself for his susceptibility to this unexpected voice of kindness. +He was going home, but he did not care for going home. Poor Mrs +Hadwin's anxious looks of suspicion had added to the distaste with +which he thought of encountering again the sullen shabby rascal to +whom he had given shelter. It was Saturday night, and he had still his +sermon to prepare for the next day; but the young man was in a state +of disgust with all the circumstances of his lot, and could not make +up his mind to go in and address himself to his work as he ought to +have done. Such a sense of injustice and cruelty as possessed him was +not likely to promote composition, especially as the pulpit addresses +of the Curate of St Roque's were not of a declamatory kind. To think +that so many years' work could be neutralised in a day by a sudden +breath of scandal, made him not humble or patient, but fierce and +resentful. He had been in Wharfside that afternoon, and felt convinced +that even the dying woman at No. 10 Prickett's Lane had heard of Rosa +Elsworthy; and he saw, or imagined he saw, many a distrustful +inquiring glance thrown at him by people to whom he had been a kind +of secondary Providence. Naturally the mere thought of the failing +allegiance of the "district" went to Mr Wentworth's heart. When he +turned round suddenly from listening to a long account of one poor +family's distresses, and saw Tom Burrows, the gigantic bargeman, whose +six children the Curate had baptised in a lump, and whose baby had +been held at the font by Lucy Wodehouse herself, looking at him +wistfully with rude affection, and something that looked very much +like pity, it is impossible to describe the bitterness that welled up +in the mind of the Perpetual Curate. Instead of leaving Wharfside +comforted as he usually did, he came away wounded and angry, feeling +to its full extent the fickleness of popular sympathy. And when he +came into Grange Lane and saw the shutters closed, and Mr Wodehouse's +green door shut fast, as if never more to open, all sources of +consolation seemed to be shut against him. Even the habit he had of +going into Elsworthy's to get his newspaper, and to hear what talk +might be current in Carlingford, contributed to the sense of utter +discomfort and wretchedness which overwhelmed him. Men in other +positions have generally to consult the opinion of their equals only; +but all sorts of small people can plant thorns in the path of a priest +who has given himself with fervour to the duties of his office. True +enough, such clouds blow by, and sometimes leave behind a sky clearer +than before; but that result is doubtful, and Mr Wentworth was not of +the temper to comfort himself with philosophy. He felt ingratitude +keenly, as men do at eight-and-twenty, even when they have made up +their minds that gratitude is a delusion; and still more keenly, with +deep resentment and indignation, he felt the horrible doubt which had +diffused itself around him, and seemed to be looking at him out of +everybody's eyes. In such a state of mind one bethinks one's self of +one's relations--those friends not always congenial, but whom one +looks to instinctively, when one is young, in the crisis of life. He +knocked at his aunts' door almost without knowing it, as he went down +Grange Lane, after leaving Mrs Morgan, with vague sentences of his +sermon floating in his mind through all the imbroglio of other +thoughts. Even aunt Dora's foolish affection might have been a little +comfort at the moment, and he could not but be a little curious to +know whether they had heard Elsworthy's story, and what the +patronesses of Skelmersdale thought of the matter. Somehow, just then, +in the midst of his distresses, a vision of Skelmersdale burst upon +the Perpetual Curate like a glimpse of a better world. If he could but +escape there out of all this sickening misconception and ingratitude--if +he could but take Lucy into his protecting arms, and carry her away far +from the clouds that were gathering over her path as well as his own. +The thought found vent in an impatient long-drawn sigh, and was then +expelled contemptuously from the young man's bosom. If a hundred +Skelmersdales were in his power, here, where his honour had been +attacked, it was necessary to remain, in the face of all obstacles, till +it was cleared. + +The Miss Wentworths had just come up to the drawing-room after dinner +when their nephew entered. As for Miss Dora, she had seated herself by +the window, which was open, and, with her light little curls +fluttering upon her cheek, was watching a tiny puff of smoke by the +side of the great laurel, which indicated the spot occupied at this +moment by Jack and his cigar. "Dear fellow, he does enjoy the quiet," +she said, with a suppressed little sniff of emotion. "To think we +should be in such a misery about poor dear Frank, and have Jack, about +whom we have all been so unbelieving, sent to us for a consolation. My +poor brother will be so happy," said Miss Dora, almost crying at the +thought. She was under the influence of this sentiment when the Curate +entered. It was perhaps impossible for Mr Wentworth to present himself +before his three aunts at the present crisis without a certain +consciousness in his looks; and it was well that it was twilight, and +he could not read distinctly all that was written in their +countenances. Miss Cecilia held out her lovely old hand to him first +of all. She said, "How do you do, Frank?" which was not very original, +but yet counted for a good deal in the silence. When he came up to +her, she offered him her sweet old cheek with a look of pity which +touched, and yet affronted, the Perpetual Curate. He thought it was +the wisest way to accept the challenge at once. + +"It is very good of you, but you need not be sorry for me," he said, as +he sat down by her. And then there was a little pause--an awful pause; +for Miss Wentworth had no further observations to offer, and Miss Dora, +who had risen up hastily, dropped into her chair again in a disconsolate +condition, when she saw that her nephew did not take any notice of her. +The poor little woman sat down with miserable sensations, and did not +find the comfort she hoped for in contemplation of the smoke of Jack's +cigar. After all, it was Frank who was the original owner of Miss Dora's +affections. When she saw him, as she thought, in a state of guilt and +trouble, received with grim silence by the dreaded Leonora, the poor +lady began to waver greatly, divided between a longing to return to her +old allegiance, and a certain pride in the new bonds which bound her to +so great a sinner as Jack. She could not help feeling the distinction of +having such a reprobate in her hands. But the sight of Frank brought +back old habits, and Miss Dora felt at her wits' end, and could not tell +what to do. + +At length Miss Leonora's voice, which was decided contralto, broke the +silence. "I am very glad to see you, Frank," said the strong-minded +aunt. "From something we heard, I supposed you had gone away for a +time, and we were rather anxious about your movements. There are so +many things going on in the family just now, that one does not know +what to think. I am glad to see you are still in Carlingford." + +"I never had the least intention of going away," said Mr Wentworth. +"I can't imagine who could tell you so." + +"Nobody told us," said Miss Leonora; "we drew that conclusion from +other things we heard. Dora, give Frank the newspaper with that +paragraph about Gerald. I have prophesied from the very first which +way Gerald was tending. It is very shocking of him, and I don't know +what they are to do, for Louisa is an expensive little fool; and if he +leaves the Rectory, they can't have enough to live on. If you knew +what your brother was going to do, why didn't you advise him +otherwise? Besides, he will be wretched," said the discriminating +woman. "I never approved of his ways, but I could not say anything +against his sincerity. I believe his heart was in his work; a man may +be very zealous, and yet very erroneous," said Miss Leonora, like an +oracle, out of the shadows. + +"I don't know if he is erroneous or not--but I know I should like to +punch this man's head," said the Curate, who had taken the paper to +the window, where there was just light enough to make out the +paragraph. He stood looming over Miss Dora, a great black shadow +against the fading light. "All the mischief in the world comes of +these villanous papers," said Mr Wentworth. "Though I did not think +anybody nowadays believed in the 'Chronicle.' Gerald has not gone over +to Rome, and I don't think he means to go. I daresay you have agitated +yourselves unnecessarily about more than one supposed event in the +family," he continued, throwing the paper on the table. "I don't know +anything very alarming that has happened as yet, except, perhaps, the +prodigal's return," said the Perpetual Curate, with a slight touch of +bitterness. His eye had just lighted on Jack sauntering through the +garden with his cigar; and Mr Wentworth was human, and could not +entirely refrain from the expression of his sentiments. + +"But oh, Frank, my dear, you are not angry about poor Jack?" said Miss +Dora. "He has not known what it was to be at home for years and years. +A stepmother is so different from an own mother, and he never has had +any opportunities; and oh, Frank, don't you remember that there is +joy in heaven?" cried the anxious aunt--"not to say that he is the +eldest son. And it is such a thing for the family to see him changing +his ways in such a beautiful spirit!" said Miss Dora. The room was +almost dark by this time, and she did not see that her penitent had +entered while she spoke. + +"It is very consoling to gain your approval, aunt Dora," said Jack. "My +brother Frank doesn't know me. If the Squire _will_ make a nursery of +his house, what can a man do? But a fellow can't be quite ruined as long +as he has--" aunts, the reprobate was about to say, with an inflection +of laughter intended for Frank's ear only in his voice; but he +fortunately remembered in time that Miss Leonora had an acute +intelligence, and was not to be trifled with--"As long as he has female +relations," said Jack, in his most feeling tone. "Men never sympathise +with men." He seemed to be apologising for Frank's indifference, as well +as for his own sins. He had just had a very good dinner--for the Miss +Wentworths' cook was the best in Carlingford--and Jack, whose digestion +was perfect, was disposed to please everybody, and had, in particular, +no disposition to quarrel with Frank. + +"Oh, my dear, you see how humble and forgiving he is," said Miss Dora, +rising on tiptoe to whisper into the Curate's ear; "and always takes +your part whenever you are mentioned," said the injudicious aunt. +Meantime the other sisters were very silent, sitting each in the midst +of her own group of shadows. Then Miss Leonora rose with a sudden +rustling of all her draperies, and with her own energetic hand rang +the bell. + +"Now the lamp is coming," said Jack, in a tone of despair, "a bright, +blank, pitiless globe like the world; and instead of this delicious +darkness, where one can see nothing distinctly, my heart will be torn +asunder for the rest of the evening by the sight of suicide. Why do we +ever have lights?" said the exquisite, laying himself down softly on +a sofa. When the lamp was brought in, Jack became visible stretched +out in an attitude of perfect repose and tranquillity, with a quiet +conscience written in every fold of his scrupulous apparel. As for +Frank, on the contrary, he was still in morning dress, and was biting +his nails, and had a cloud upon his brow which the sudden light +disclosed like a traitor before he was prepared for it. Between the +two brothers such a contrast was visible that it was not surprising if +Miss Dora, still wavering in her allegiance, went back with relief to +the calm countenance of her penitent, and owned to herself with +trembling that the Curate looked preoccupied and guilty. Perhaps Miss +Leonora came to a similar conclusion. She seated herself at her +writing-table with her usual air of business, and made a pen to a hard +point by the light of the candles, which were sacred to her particular +use. + +"I heard some news this morning which pleased me very much," said Miss +Leonora. "I daresay you remember Julia Trench? You two used to be a +great deal together at one time. She is going to be married to Mr +Shirley's excellent curate, who is a young man of the highest +character. He did very well at the university, I believe," said the +patroness of Skelmersdale; "but I confess I don't care much for +academical honours. He is an excellent clergyman, which is a great +deal more to the purpose, and I thoroughly agree with his views. So, +knowing the interest we take in Julia, you may think how pleased we +were," said Miss Leonora, looking full into her nephew's face. He knew +what she meant as distinctly as if she had put it in words. + +"When is old Shirley going to die?" said Jack from the sofa. "It's +rather hard upon Frank, keeping him out of the living so long; and if +I were you, I'd be jealous of this model curate," said the fine +gentleman, with a slight civil yawn. "I don't approve of model curates +upon family livings. People are apt to make comparisons," said Jack, +and then he raised his head with a little energy--"Ah, there it is," +said the Sybarite, "the first moth. Don't be precipitate, my dear +fellow. Aunt Dora, pray sit quietly where you are, and don't disturb +our operations. It is only a moth, to be sure; but don't let us cut +short the moments of a creature that has no hereafter," said Jack, +solemnly. He disturbed them all by this eccentric manifestation of +benevolence, and flapped his handkerchief round Miss Dora, upon whose +white cap the unlucky moth, frightened by its benefactor's vehemence, +was fluttering wildly. Jack even forgot himself so far as to swear +softly in French at the frightened insect as it flew wildly off at a +tangent, not to the open window, but to Miss Leonora's candles, where +it came to an immediate end. Miss Leonora sat rather grimly looking on +at all this byplay. When her elegant nephew threw himself back once +more upon his sofa, she glanced from him to his brother with a +comparison which perhaps was not so much to the disadvantage of the +Perpetual Curate. But even Miss Leonora, though so sensible, had her +weaknesses; and she was very evangelical, and could put up with a +great deal from the sinner who had placed himself for conversion in +her hands. + +"We have too great a sense of our responsibility to treat Skelmersdale +simply as a family living," she said. "Besides, Frank of course is to +have Wentworth Rectory. Gerald's perversion is a great blow; but +still, if it _is_ to be, Frank will be provided for at least. As for +our parish--" + +"I beg your pardon," said the Curate; "I have not the least intention +of leaving Carlingford. At the present moment neither Skelmersdale nor +Wentworth would tempt me. I am in no doubt as to where my work lies, +and there is enough of it to satisfy any man." He could not help +thinking, as he spoke, of ungrateful Wharfside, for which he had done +so much, and the recollection brought a little flush of indignant +colour to his cheek. + +"Oh, Frank, my dear," said Miss Dora in a whisper, stealing up to him, +"if it is not true, you must not mind. Oh, my dear boy, nobody will +mind it if it is not true." She put her hand timidly upon his arm as +she reached up to his ear, and at the same time the poor little woman, +who was trying all she could to serve two masters, kept one eye upon +Jack, lest her momentary return to his brother might have a disastrous +effect upon the moral reformation which she was nursing with so much +care. As for the Curate, he gave her a hasty glance, which very nearly +made an end of Miss Dora. She retired to her seat with no more courage +to say anything, unable to make out whether it was virtuous reproach +or angry guilt which looked at her so sternly. She felt her headache +coming on as she sank again upon her chair. If she could but have +stolen away to her own room, and had a good comforting cry in the +dark, it might have kept off the headache; but then she had to be +faithful to her post, and to look after the reformation of Jack. + +"I have no doubt that a great work might be done in Carlingford," said +Miss Leonora, "if you would take my advice and organise matters +properly, and make due provision for the lay element. As for Sisters +of Mercy, I never had any belief in them. They only get young +clergymen into mischief," said the strong-minded aunt. "We are going +to have tea, Frank, if you will have some. Poor Mr Shirley has got +matters into very bad order at Skelmersdale, but things will be +different under the new incumbent, I hope," said Miss Leonora, +shooting a side-glance of keen inspection at the Curate, who bore it +steadily. + +"I hope he will conduct himself to your satisfaction," said Mr +Wentworth, with a bland but somewhat grim aspect, from the window; +"but I can't wait for tea. I have still got some of my work to do for +to-morrow; so good-night." + +"I'll walk with you, Frank," said his elder brother. "My dear aunts, +don't look alarmed; nothing can happen to me. There are few +temptations in Grange Lane; and, besides, I shall come back directly. +_I_ cannot do without my tea," said Jack, by way of consoling poor +Miss Dora, who had started with consternation at the proposal. And +the two brothers went out into the fresh evening air together, their +aunt Dora watching them from the window with inexpressible anxiety; +for perhaps it was not quite right for a clergyman to saunter out of +doors in the evening with such a doubtful member of society as Jack; +and perhaps Frank, having himself fallen into evil ways, might hinder +or throw obstacles in the way of his brother's re-establishment in the +practice of all the virtues. Miss Dora, who had to carry them both +upon her shoulders, and who got no sympathy in the present case from +her hard-hearted sisters, was fain at last to throw a shawl over her +head and steal out to that summer-house which was built into the +garden-wall, and commanded Grange Lane from its little window. There +she established herself in the darkness, an affectionate spy. There +ought to have been a moon that night, and accordingly the lamps were +not lighted at that end of Grange Lane, for the authorities in +Carlingford bore a frugal mind. But the sky had become cloudy, and the +moon shone only at intervals, which gave a certain character of +mystery and secrecy to the night. Through this uncertain light the +anxious woman saw her two nephews coming and going under the window, +apparently in the most eager conversation. Miss Dora's anxiety grew to +such a height that she opened softly a chink of the window in hopes of +being able to hear as well as to see, but that attempt was altogether +unsuccessful. Then, when they had walked about for half an hour, which +looked like two hours to Miss Dora, who was rapidly taking one of her +bad colds at the half-open window, they were joined by another figure +which she did not think she had ever seen before. The excitement was +growing tremendous, and the aspect of the three conspirators more and +more alarming, when the poor lady started with a little scream at a +noise behind her, and turning round, saw her maid, severe as a +pursuing Fate, standing at the door. "After giving me your word as you +wouldn't come no more?" said the reproachful despot who swayed Miss +Dora's soul. After that she had to make the best of her way indoors, +thankful not to be carried to her room and put into hot water, which +was the original intention of Collins. But it would be impossible to +describe the emotions of Miss Dora's mind after this glimpse into the +heart of the volcano on which her innocent feet were standing. Unless +it were murder or high treason, what could they have to plot about? or +was the mysterious stranger a disguised Jesuit, and the whole business +some terrible Papist conspiracy? Jack, who had been so much abroad, +and Gerald, who was going over to Rome, and Frank, who was in trouble +of every description, got entangled together in Miss Dora's disturbed +imagination. No reality could be so frightful as the fancies with +which she distracted herself after that peep from the summer-house; +and it would be impossible to describe the indignation of Collins, who +knew that her mistress would kill herself some day, and was aware that +she, in her own person, would get little rest that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +"I don't know what is the exact connection between tea and +reformation," said Jack Wentworth, with a wonderful yawn. "When I +consider that this is all on account of that stupid beast Wodehouse, I +feel disposed to eat him. By the way, they have got a capital cook; I +did not think such a _cuisine_ was the sort of thing to be found in +the bosom of one's family, which has meant boiled mutton up to this +moment, to my uninstructed imagination. But the old ladies are in a +state of excitement which, I presume, is unusual to them. It appears +you have been getting into scrapes like other people, though you are +a parson. As your elder brother, my dear Frank--" + +"Look here," said the Perpetual Curate; "you want to ask about +Wodehouse. I will answer your questions, since you seem to have some +interest in him; but I don't speak of my private affairs to any but my +intimate friends," said Mr Wentworth, who was not in a humour to be +trifled with. + +The elder brother shrugged his shoulders. "It is curious to remark the +progress of the younger members of one's family," he said, +reflectively. "When you were a little boy, you took your drubbings +dutifully; but never mind, we've another subject in hand. I take an +interest in Wodehouse, and so do you--I can't tell for what reason. +Perhaps he is one of the intimate friends with whom you discuss your +private affairs? but that is a matter quite apart from the subject. +The thing is that he has to be taken care of--not for his own sake, as +I don't need to explain to you," said Jack. "I hear the old fellow +died today, which was the best thing he could have done, upon the +whole. Perhaps you can tell me how much he had, and how he has left +it? We may have to take different sides, and the fellow himself is a +snob; but I should like to understand exactly the state of affairs +between you and me as gentlemen," said the heir of the Wentworths. +Either a passing spasm of compunction passed over him as he said the +word, or it was the moon, which had just flung aside the last fold of +cloud and burst out upon them as they turned back facing her. "When we +know how the affair stands, we can either negotiate or fight," he +added, puffing a volume of smoke from his cigar. "Really a very fine +effect--that little church of yours comes well against that bit of +sky. It looks like a Constable, or rather it would look like a +Constable, thrusting up that bit of spire into the blue, if it +happened to be daylight," said Jack, making a tube of his hand, and +regarding the picture with great interest. Miss Dora at her window +beheld the movement with secret horror and apprehension, and took it +for some mysterious sign. + +"I know nothing about Mr Wodehouse's property," said the Curate: "I +wish I knew enough law to understand it. He has left no will, I +believe;" and Mr Wentworth watched his brother's face with no small +interest as he spoke. + +"Very like a Constable," said Jack, still with his hands to his eyes. +"These clouds to the right are not a bad imitation of some effects of +his. I beg your pardon, but Constable is my passion. And so old +Wodehouse has left no will? What _has_ he left? some daughters? Excuse +my curiosity," said the elder brother. "I am a man of the world, you +know. If you like this other girl well enough to compromise yourself +on her account (which, mind you, I think a great mistake), you can't +mean to go in at the same time for that pretty sister, eh? It's a sort +of sport I don't attempt myself--though it may be the correct thing +for a clergyman, for anything I can tell to the contrary," said the +tolerant critic. + +Mr Wentworth had swallowed down the interruptions that rushed to his +lips, and heard his brother out with unusual patience. After all, +perhaps Jack was the only man in the world whom he could ask to advise +him in such an emergency. "I take it for granted that you don't mean +to insult either me or my profession," he said, gravely; "and, to tell +the truth, here is one point upon which I should be glad of your help. +I am convinced that it is Wodehouse who has carried away this +unfortunate girl. She is a little fool, and he has imposed upon her. +If you can get him to confess this, and to restore her to her friends, +you will lay me under the deepest obligation," said the Perpetual +Curate, with unusual energy. "I don't mind telling you that such a +slander disables me, and goes to my heart." When he had once begun to +speak on the subject, he could not help expressing himself fully; and +Jack, who had grown out of acquaintance with the nobler sentiments, +woke up with a slight start through all his moral being to recognise +the thrill of subdued passion and scorn and grief which was in his +brother's voice. Innocent Miss Dora, who knew no evil, had scarcely a +doubt in _her_ mind that Frank was guilty; but Jack, who scarcely knew +what goodness was, acquitted his brother instantaneously, and required +no other proof. Perhaps if he had been capable of any impression +beyond an intellectual one, this little incident might, in Miss Dora's +own language, have "done him good." + +"So you have nothing to do with it?" he said, with a smile. "Wodehouse! +but then the fellow hasn't a penny. I see some one skulking along under +the walls that looks like him. Hist! Smith--Tom--what do they call you? +We want you here," said Jack, upon whom the moon was shining full. When +he stood in his evening coat and spotless breadth of linen, the heir of +the Wentworths was ready to meet the eye of all the world. His shabby +subordinate stopped short, with a kind of sullen admiration, to look at +him. Wodehouse knew the nature of Jack Wentworth's pursuits a great deal +better than his brother did, and that some of them would not bear much +investigation; but when he saw him stand triumphant in gorgeous apparel, +fearing no man, the poor rascal, whom everybody kicked at, rose superior +to his own misfortunes. He had not made much of it in his own person, +but that life was not altogether a failure which had produced Jack +Wentworth. He obeyed his superior's call with instinctive fidelity, +proud, in spite of himself, to be living the same life and sharing the +same perils. When he emerged into the moonlight, his shaggy countenance +looked excited and haggard. Notwithstanding all his experiences, he was +not of a constitution which could deny nature. He had inflicted every +kind of torture upon his father while living; but, notwithstanding, the +fact of the death affected him. His eyes looked wilder than usual, and +his face older and more worn, and he looked round him with a kind of +clandestine skulking instinct as he came out of the shadow into the +light. + +This was the terrible conjunction which Miss Dora saw from her window. +The anxious woman did not wait long enough to be aware that the Curate +left the other two to such consultations as were inevitable between +them, and went away very hastily to his own house, and to the work which +still awaited him--"When the wicked man turneth away from the evil of +his ways, and doeth that which is lawful and right." Mr Wentworth, when +he came back to it, sat for about an hour over his text before he wrote +a single syllable. His heart had been wrung that day by the sharpest +pangs which can be inflicted upon a proud and generous spirit. He was +disposed to be bitter against all the world--against the dull eyes that +would not see, the dull ears that could shut themselves against all +suggestions either of gratitude or justice. It appeared to him, on the +whole, that the wicked man was every way the best off in this world, +besides being wooed and besought to accept the blessings of the other. +And the Curate was conscious of an irrepressible inclination to +exterminate the human vermin who made the earth such an imbroglio of +distress and misery; and was sore and wounded in his heart to feel how +his own toils and honest purposes availed him nothing, and how all the +interest and sympathy of bystanders went to the pretender. These +sentiments naturally complicated his thoughts, and made composition +difficult; not to say that they added a thrill of human feeling warmer +than usual to the short and succinct sermon. It was not an emotional +sermon, in the ordinary sense of the word; but it was so for Mr +Wentworth, who carried to an extreme point the Anglican dislike for +pulpit exaggeration in all forms. The Perpetual Curate was not a natural +orator. He had very little of the eloquence which gave Mr Vincent so +much success in the Dissenting connection during his short stay in +Carlingford, which was a kind of popularity not much to the taste of the +Churchman. But Mr Wentworth had a certain faculty of concentrating his +thoughts into the tersest expression, and of uttering in a very few +words, as if they did not mean anything particular, ideas which were +always individual, and often of distinct originality--a kind of +utterance which is very dear to the English mind. As was natural, there +were but a limited amount of people able to find him out; but those who +did so were rather fond of talking about the "restrained power" of the +Curate of St Roque's. + +Next morning was a glorious summer Sunday--one of those days of peace +on which this tired old earth takes back her look of innocence, and +deludes herself with thoughts of Eden. To be sure, there were tumults +enough going on over her surface--vulgar merry-makings and noises, +French drums beating, all kinds of discordant sounds going on here and +there, by land and sea, under that tranquil impartial sun. But the air +was very still in Carlingford, where you could hear the bees in the +lime-blossoms as you went to church in the sunshine. All that world of +soft air in which the embowered houses of Grange Lane lay beatified, +was breathing sweet of the limes; but notwithstanding the radiance of +the day, people were talking of other subjects as they came down under +the shadow of the garden-walls to St Roque's. There was a great stream +of people--greater than usual; for Carlingford was naturally anxious +to see how Mr Wentworth would conduct himself in such an emergency. On +one side of the way Mr Wodehouse's hospitable house, shut up closely, +and turning all its shuttered windows to the light, which shone +serenely indifferent upon the blank frames, stood silent, dumbly +contributing its great moral to the human holiday; and on the other, +Elsworthy's closed shop, with the blinds drawn over the cheerful +windows above, where little Rosa once amused herself watching the +passengers, interposed a still more dreadful discordance. The +Carlingford people talked of both occurrences with composure as they +went to St Roque's. They were sorry, and shocked, and very curious; +but that wonderful moral atmosphere of human indifference and +self-regard which surrounds every individual soul, kept their feelings +quite within bounds. Most people wondered much what Mr Wentworth +would say; whether he would really venture to face the Carlingford +world; whether he would take refuge in a funeral sermon for Mr +Wodehouse; or how it was possible for him to conduct himself under +such circumstances. When the greater part of the congregation was +seated, Miss Leonora Wentworth, all by herself, in her iron-grey silk, +which rustled like a breeze along the narrow passage, although she +wore no crinoline, went up to a seat immediately in front, close to Mr +Wentworth's choristers, who just then came trooping in in their white +surplices, looking like angels of unequal height and equivocal +reputation. Miss Leonora placed herself in the front row of a little +group of benches arranged at the side, just where the Curate's wife +would have been placed, had he possessed such an appendage. She looked +down blandly upon the many lines of faces turned towards her, +accepting their inspection with perfect composure. Though her +principles were Evangelical, Miss Leonora was still a Wentworth, and a +woman. She had not shown any sympathy for her nephew on the previous +night; but she had made up her mind to stand by him, without saying +anything about her determination. This incident made a great +impression on the mind of Carlingford. Most likely it interfered with +the private devotions, from which a few heads popped up abruptly as +she passed; but she was very devout and exemplary in her own person, +and set a good example, as became the clergyman's aunt. + +Excitement rose very high in St Roque's when Mr Wentworth came into the +reading-desk, and Elsworthy, black as a cloud, became visible +underneath. The clerk had not ventured to absent himself, nor to send a +substitute in his place. Never, in the days when he was most devoted to +Mr Wentworth, had Elsworthy been more determined to accompany him +through every particular of the service. They had stood together in the +little vestry, going through all the usual preliminaries, the Curate +trying hard to talk as if nothing had happened, the clerk going through +all his duties in total silence. Perhaps there never was a church +service in Carlingford which was followed with such intense interest by +all the eyes and ears of the congregation. When the sermon came, it took +Mr Wentworth's admirers by surprise, though they could not at the moment +make out what it was that puzzled them. Somehow the perverse manner in +which for once the Curate treated that wicked man who is generally made +so much of in sermons, made his hearers slightly ashamed of themselves. +As for Miss Leonora, though she could not approve of his sentiments, the +thought occurred to her that Frank was not nearly so like his mother's +family as she had supposed him to be. When the service was over, she +kept her place, steadily watching all the worshippers out, who thronged +out a great deal more hastily than usual to compare notes, and ask each +other what they thought. "I can't fancy he looks guilty," an eager voice +here and there kept saying over and over. But on the whole, after they +had got over the momentary impression made by his presence and aspect, +the opinion of Carlingford remained unchanged; which was--that, +notwithstanding all the evidence of his previous life, it was quite +believable that Mr Wentworth was a seducer and a villain, and ought to +be brought to condign punishment; but that in the mean time it was very +interesting to watch the progress of this startling little drama; and +that he himself, instead of merely being the Curate of St Roque's, had +become a most captivating enigma, and had made church-going itself half +as good as a play. + +As for Miss Leonora, she waited for her nephew, and, when he was ready, +took his arm and walked with him up Grange Lane to her own door, where +they encountered Miss Wentworth and Miss Dora returning from church, and +overwhelmed them with astonishment. But it was not about his own affairs +that they talked. Miss Leonora did not say a word to her nephew about +himself. She was talking of Gerald most of the time, and inquiring into +all the particulars of the Squire's late "attack." And she would very +fain have found out what Jack's motive was in coming to Carlingford; but +as for Rosa Elsworthy and her concerns, the strong-minded woman ignored +them completely. Mr Wentworth even went with her to lunch, on her urgent +invitation; and it was from his aunts' house that he took his way to +Wharfside, pausing at the green door to ask after the Miss Wodehouses, +who were, John said, with solemnity, as well as could be expected. They +were alone, and they did not feel equal to seeing anybody--even Mr +Wentworth; and the Perpetual Curate, who would have given all he had in +the world for permission to soothe Lucy in her sorrow, went away sadly +from the hospitable door, which was now for the first time closed to +him. He could not go to Wharfside, to the "district" through which they +had so often gone together, about which they had talked, when all the +little details discussed were sweet with the love which they did not +name, without going deeper and deeper into that sweet shadow of Lucy +which was upon his way wherever he went. He could not help missing her +voice when the little choir, which was so feeble without her, sang the +'Magnificat,' which, somehow, Mr Wentworth always associated with her +image. He read the same sermon to the Wharfside people which he had +preached in St Roque's, and saw, with a little surprise, that it drew +tears from the eyes of his more open-hearted hearers, who did not think +of the proprieties. He could see their hands stealing up to their faces, +and a great deal of persistent winking on the part of the stronger +members of the congregation. At the close of the service Tom Burrows +came up to the Curate with a downcast countenance. "Please, sir, if I've +done ye injustice in my own mind, as went sore against the grain, and +wouldn't have happened but for the women, I axes your pardon," said the +honest bargeman, which was balm and consolation to Mr Wentworth. There +was much talk in Prickett's Lane on the subject as he went to see the +sick woman in No. 10. "There aint no doubt as he sets our duty before +us clear," said one family mother; "he don't leave the men no excuse for +their goings-on. He all but named the Bargeman's Arms out plain, as it +was the place all mischief comes from." "If he'd have married Miss Lucy, +like other folks, at Easter," said one of the brides whom Mr Wentworth +had blessed, "such wicked stories couldn't never have been made up." "A +story may be made up, or it mayn't be made up," said a more experienced +matron; "but it can't be put out of the world unbeknowst no more nor a +babby. I don't believe in stories getting up that aint true. I don't say +as he don't do his duty; but things was different in Mr Bury's time, as +was the real Rector; and, as I was a-saying, a tale's like a babby--it +may come when it didn't ought to come, or when it aint wanted, but you +can't do away with it, anyhow as you like to try." Mr Wentworth did not +hear this dreary prediction as he went back again into the upper world. +He was in much better spirits, on the whole. He had calmed his own mind +and moved the hearts of others, which is to every man a gratification, +even though nothing higher should be involved. And he had regained the +moral countenance of Tom Burrows, which most of all was a comfort to +him. More than ever he longed to go and tell Lucy as he passed by the +green door. Tom Burrows's repentant face recalled Mr Wentworth's mind to +the fact that a great work was doing in Wharfside, which, after all, was +more worth thinking of than any tantalising vision of an impossible +benefice. But this very thought, so consoling in itself, reminded him of +all his vexations, of the public inquiry into his conduct which was +hanging over him, and of his want of power to offer to Lucy the support +and protection of which she might so soon stand in need; and having thus +drawn upon his head once more his whole burden of troubles, Mr Wentworth +went in to eat his dinner with what appetite he could. + +The Perpetual Curate sat up late that night, as indeed was his +custom. He sat late, hearing, as everybody does who sits up alone in a +hushed and sleeping household, a hundred fantastic creaks and sounds +which did not mean anything, and of which he took no notice. Once, +indeed, when it was nearly midnight, he fancied he heard the +garden-gate close hurriedly, but explained it to himself as people do +when they prefer not to give themselves trouble. About one o'clock in +the morning, however, Mr Wentworth could no longer be in any doubt +that some stealthy step was passing his door and moving about the +house. He was not alarmed, for Mrs Hadwin had occasional "attacks," +like most people of her age; but he put down his pen and listened. No +other sound was to be heard except this stealthy step, no opening of +doors, nor whisper of voices, nor commotion of any kind; and after a +while Mr Wentworth's curiosity was fully awakened. When he heard it +again, he opened his door suddenly, and threw a light upon the +staircase and little corridor into which his room opened. The figure +he saw there startled him more than if it had been a midnight robber. +It was only Sarah, the housemaid, white and shivering with terror, who +fell down upon her knees before him. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, it aint my +fault!" cried Sarah. The poor girl was only partially dressed, and +trembled pitifully. "They'll say it was my fault; and oh, sir, it's my +character I'm a-thinking of," said Sarah, with a sob; and the Curate +saw behind her the door of Wodehouse's room standing open, and the +moonlight streaming into the empty apartment. "I daren't go +down-stairs to see if he's took anything," cried poor Sarah, under her +breath; "there might be more of them about the place. But oh, Mr +Wentworth, if Missis finds out as I gave him the key, what will become +of me?" Naturally, it was her own danger which had most effect upon +Sarah. Her full, good-humoured face was all wet and stained with +crying, her lips quivering, her eyes dilated. Perhaps a thrill of +private disappointment mingled with her dread of losing her character. +"He used to tell me all as he was a-going to do," said Sarah; "but, +oh, sir, he's been and gone away, and I daren't go down-stairs to look +at the plate, and I'll never more sleep in quiet, if I was to live a +century. It aint as I care for _him_, but it's the key and my +character as I'm a-thinking of," cried the poor girl, bursting into +audible sobs that could be restrained no longer. Mr Wentworth took a +candle and went into Wodehouse's empty room, leaving her to recover +her composure. Everything was cleared and packed up in that apartment. +The little personal property he had, the shabby boots and worn +habiliments, had disappeared totally; even the rubbish of wood-carving +on his table was cleared away. Not a trace that he had been there a +few hours ago remained in the place. The Curate came out of the room +with an anxious countenance, not knowing what to make of it. And by +this time Sarah's sobs had roused Mrs Hadwin, who stood, severe and +indignant, at her own door in her nightcap, to know what was the +matter. Mr Wentworth retired into his own apartments after a word of +explanation, leaving the mistress and maid to fight it out. He himself +was more disturbed and excited than he could have described. He could +not tell what this new step meant, but felt instinctively that it +denoted some new development in the tangled web of his own fortunes. +Some hidden danger seemed to him to be gathering in the air over the +house of mourning, of which he had constituted himself a kind of +guardian. He could not sleep all night, but kept starting at every +sound, thinking now that the skulking rascal, who was Lucy's brother, +was coming back, and now that his departure was only a dream. Mr +Wentworth's restlessness was not soothed by hearing all the night +through, in the silence of the house, suppressed sobs and sounds of +weeping proceeding from the attic overhead, which poor Sarah shared +with her fellow-servant. Perhaps the civilities of "the gentleman" had +dazzled Sarah, and been too much for her peace of mind; perhaps it was +only her character, as the poor girl said. But as often as the Curate +started from his uneasy and broken snatches of sleep, he heard the +murmur of crying and consoling up-stairs. Outside the night was +spreading forth those sweetest unseen glories of the starlight and the +moonlight and the silence, which Nature reserves for her own +enjoyment, when the weary human creatures are out of the way and at +rest;--and Jack Wentworth slept the sleep of the righteous, uttering +delicate little indications of the depth of his slumber, which it +would have been profane to call by any vulgar name. _He_ slept sweetly +while his brother watched and longed for daylight, impatient for the +morrow which must bring forth something new. The moonlight streamed +full into the empty room, and made mysterious combinations of the +furniture, and chased the darkness into corners which each held their +secret. This was how Mrs Hadwin's strange lodger, whom nobody could +ever make out, disappeared as suddenly as he had come, without any +explanations; and only a very few people could ever come to understand +what he had to do with the after-events which struck Grange Lane dumb, +and turned into utter confusion all the ideas and conclusions of +society in Carlingford. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +"I will do what I can for you," said Mr Morgan; "yours is a very hard +case, as you say. Of course it would not do for me to give any +opinion--but such a thing shall not occur in Carlingford, while I am +here, without being looked into," said the Rector, with dignity; "of +that you may be sure." + +"I don't want no more nor justice," said Elsworthy--"no more nor +justice. I'm a man as has always been respected, and never interfered +with nobody as didn't interfere with me. The things I've stood from +my clergyman, I wouldn't have stood from no man living. The way as +he'd talk, sir, of them as was a deal better than himself! We was a +happy family afore Mr Wentworth came nigh of us. Most folks in +Carlingford knows me. There wasn't a more industrious family in +Carlingford, though I say it as shouldn't, nor one as was more +content, or took things more agreeable, afore Mr Wentworth come to put +all wrong." + +"Mr Wentworth has been here for five years," said the Rector's wife, +who was present at this interview; "have things been going wrong for +all that time?" + +"I couldn't describe to nobody what I've put up with," said the clerk +of St Roque's, evading the question. "He hadn't the ways of such +clergymen as I've been used to. Twice the pay wouldn't have made up +for what I've suffered in my feelings; and I ask you, sir, is this how +it's all to end? My little girl's gone," cried Elsworthy, rising into +hoarse earnestness--"my little girl as was so sweet, and as everybody +took notice on. She's gone, and I don't know as I'll ever see her +again; and I can't get no satisfaction one way or another; and I ask +you, sir, is a villain as could do such a thing to hold up his head in +the town, and go on the same as ever? I aint a man as is contrairy, or +as goes agin' my superiors; but it's driving me mad, that's what it's +doing," said Elsworthy, wiping the moisture from his forehead. The man +was trembling and haggard, changed even in his looks--his eyes were +red with passion and watching, and looked like the eyes of a wild +beast lying in wait for its prey. "I can't say as I've ever slept an +hour since it happened," he cried; "and as for my missis, it's +a-killing of her. We aint shut up, because we've got to live all the +same; and because, if the poor thing come back, there's always an open +door. But I'll have justice, if I was to die for it!" cried Elsworthy. +"I don't ask no more than justice. If it aint to be had one way, I'll +have it another. I'll set the police on him--I will. When a man's +drove wild, he aint answerable for what he's a-doing; and to see him +a-walking about Carlingford, and a-holding up his head, is a thing as +I won't stand no longer, not if it was to be my ruin. I'm as good as +ruined now, and I don't care." He broke off short with these words, +and sat down abruptly on the chair Thomas had placed for him in front +of the Rector's table. Up to this moment he had been standing, in his +vehemence and agitation, without taking advantage of the courtesy +accorded to his misfortune; now the poor man sat down by way of +emphasis, and began to polish his hat round and round with his +trembling hands. + +As for Mr Morgan, he, on the contrary, got up and walked instinctively +to the fireplace, and stood there with his back to the empty grate, +contemplating the world in general with a troubled countenance, as was +usual. Not to speak of his prejudice against Mr Wentworth, the Rector +was moved by the sight of Elsworthy's distress; but then his wife, who +unluckily had brought her needlework into the library on this particular +morning, and who was in the interest of the Curate of St Roque's, was +seated watchful by the window, occasionally looking up, and entirely +cognisant, as Mr Morgan was aware, of everything that happened. The +Rector was much embarrassed to feel himself thus standing between the +two parties. "Yours is a very hard case--but it is necessary to proceed +with caution, for, after all, there is not much proof," he said, +faltering a little. "My dear, it is a pity to detain you from your +walk," Mr Morgan continued, after a momentary pause, and looked with a +flush of consciousness at his wife, whose absence would have been such a +relief to him. Mrs Morgan looked up with a gracious smile. + +"You are not detaining me, William--I am very much interested," said +the designing woman, and immediately began to arrange and put in order +what the Rector knew by experience to be a long piece of work, likely +to last her an hour at least. Mr Morgan uttered a long breath, which +sounded like a little snort of despair. + +"It is very difficult to know what to do," said the Rector, shifting +uneasily upon the hearthrug, and plunging his hands into the depths of +his pockets. "If you could name anybody you would like to refer it +to--but being a brother clergyman--" + +"A man as conducts himself like that, didn't ought to be a clergyman, +sir," cried Elsworthy. "I'm one as listened to him preaching on Sunday, +and could have jumped up and dragged him out of the pulpit, to hear him +a-discoursing as if he wasn't a bigger sinner nor any there. I aint safe +to stand it another Sunday. I'd do something as I should be sorry for +after. I'm asking justice, and no more." With these words Elsworthy got +up again, still turning round in his hands the unlucky hat, and turned +his person, though not his eyes, towards Mrs Morgan. "No man could be +more partial to his clergyman nor I was," he said hoarsely. "There was +never a time as I wasn't glad to see him. He came in and out as if it +belonged to him, and I had no more thought as he was meaning any harm +than the babe unborn; but a man as meddles with an innocent girl aint +nothing but a black-hearted villain!" cried Elsworthy, with a gleam out +of his red eyes; "and I don't believe as anybody would take his part as +knew all. I put my confidence in the Rector, as is responsible for the +parish," he went on, facing round again: "not to say but what it's +natural for them as are Mr Wentworth's friends to take his part--but +I'll have justice, wherever it comes from. It's hard work to go again' +any lady as I've a great respect for, and wouldn't cross for the world; +but it aint in reason that I should be asked to bear it and not say +nothing; and I'll have justice, if I should die for it," said Elsworthy. +He turned from one to another as he spoke, but kept his eyes upon his +hat, which he smoothed and smoothed as if his life depended on it. But +for the reality of his excitement, his red eyes, and hoarse voice, he +would have been a ludicrous figure, standing as he did in the middle of +Mr Morgan's library, veering round, first to one side and then to the +other, with his stooping head and ungainly person. As for the Rector, he +too kept looking at his wife with a very troubled face. + +"It is difficult for me to act against a brother clergyman," said Mr +Morgan; "but I am very sorry for you, Elsworthy--very sorry; if you +could name, say, half-a-dozen gentlemen--" + +"But don't you think," said the Rector's wife, interposing, "that you +should inquire first whether there is any evidence? It would make you +all look very ridiculous if you got up an inquiry and found no proof +against Mr Wentworth. Is it likely he would do such a thing all at +once without showing any signs of wickedness beforehand--is it +possible? To be sorry is quite a different thing, but I don't see--" + +"Ladies don't understand such matters," said the Rector, who had been +kept at bay so long that he began to get desperate. "I beg your +pardon, my dear, but it is not a matter for you to discuss. We shall +take good care that there is plenty of evidence," said the perplexed +man--"I mean, before we proceed to do anything," he added, growing +very red and confused. When Mr Morgan caught his wife's eye, he got as +nearly into a passion as was possible for so good a man. "You know +what I mean," he said, in his peremptory way; "and, my dear, you will +forgive me for saying this is not a matter to be discussed before a +lady." When he had uttered this bold speech, the Rector took a few +little walks up and down the room, not caring, however, to look at his +wife. He was ashamed of the feeling he had that her absence would set +him much more at ease with Elsworthy, but still could not help being +conscious that it was so. He did not say anything more, but he walked +up and down the room with sharp short steps, and betrayed his +impatience very manifestly. As for Mrs Morgan, who was a sensible +woman, she saw that the time had come for her to retire from the +field. + +"I think the first thing to be done is to try every possible means of +finding the girl," she said, getting up from her seat; "but I have no +doubt what you decide upon will be the best. You will find me in the +drawing-room when you want me, William." Perhaps her absence for the +first moment was not such a relief to her husband as he had expected. +The mildness of her parting words made it very apparent that she did +not mean to take offence; and he perceived suddenly, at a glance, that +he would have to tell her all he was going to do, and encounter her +criticism single-handed, which was rather an appalling prospect to the +Rector. Mrs Morgan, for her part, went up-stairs not without a little +vexation, certainly, but with a comforting sense of the opportunity +which awaited her. She felt that, in his unprotected position, as soon +as she left him, the Rector would conduct himself rashly, and that her +time was still to come. + +The Rector went back to the hearthrug when his wife left the room, but +in the heat of his own personal reflections he did not say anything to +Elsworthy, who still stood smoothing his hat in his hand. On the +whole, Mr Morgan was rather aggravated for the moment by the unlucky +cause of this little encounter, and was not half so well disposed +towards Mr Wentworth's enemy as half an hour before, when he +recognised his wife as the champion of the Curate, and felt controlled +by her presence; for the human and even the clerical mind has its +impulses of perversity. He began to get very impatient of Elsworthy's +hat, and the persistent way in which he worked at it with his hands. + +"I suppose you would not be so certain about it if you had not +satisfactory evidence?" he said, turning abruptly, and even a little +angrily, upon the supplicant; for Mr Morgan naturally resented his own +temper and the little semi-quarrel he had got into upon the third +person who was the cause of all. + +"Sir," said Elsworthy, with eagerness, "it aint no wonder to me as the +lady takes Mr Wentworth's part. A poor man don't stand no chance +against a young gentleman as has had every advantage. It's a thing as +I'm prepared for, and it don't have no effect upon me. A lady as is so +respected and thought a deal of both in town and country--" + +"I was not speaking of my wife," said the Rector, hastily, "don't you +think you had better put down your hat? I think you said it was on +Friday it occurred. It will be necessary to take down the facts in a +business-like way," said Mr Morgan, drawing his chair towards the table +and taking up his pen. This was how the Rector was occupied when Thomas +announced the most unexpected of all possible visitors, Mr Proctor, who +had been Mr Morgan's predecessor in Carlingford. Thomas announced his +old master with great solemnity as "the late Rector"--a title which +struck the present incumbent with a sense of awe not unnatural in the +circumstances. He jumped up from his chair and let his pen fall out of +his startled fingers when his old friend came in. They had eaten many a +good dinner together in the revered hall of All-Souls, and as the +familiar countenance met his eyes, perhaps a regretful thought of that +Elysium stole across the mind of the late Fellow, who had been so glad +to leave the sacred brotherhood, and marry, and become as other men. He +gave but a few hurried words of surprise and welcome to his visitor, and +then, with a curious counterpoise of sentiment, sent him up-stairs to +see "my wife," feeling, even while half envious of him, a kind of +superiority and half contempt for the man who was not a Rector and +married, but had given up both these possibilities. When he sent him +up-stairs to see "my wife," Mr Morgan looked after the elderly celibate +with a certain pity. One always feels more inclined to take the simple +view of any matter--to stand up for injured innocence, and to right the +wronged--when one feels one's self better off than one's neighbours. A +reverse position is apt to detract from the simplicity of one's +conceptions, and to suggest two sides to the picture. When Mr Proctor +was gone, the Rector addressed himself with great devotion to Elsworthy +and his evidence. It could not be doubted, at least, that the man was +in earnest, and believed what he said; and things unquestionably looked +rather ugly for Mr Wentworth. Mr Morgan took down all about the Curate's +untimely visit to Elsworthy on the night when he took Rosa home; and +when he came to the evidence of the Miss Hemmings, who had seen the +Curate talking to the unfortunate little girl at his own door the last +time she was seen in Carlingford, the Rector shook his head with a +prolonged movement, half of satisfaction, half of regret; for, to be +sure, he had made up his mind beforehand who the culprit was, and it was +to a certain extent satisfactory to have his opinion confirmed. + +"This looks very bad, very bad, I am sorry to say," said Mr Morgan; +"for the unhappy young man's own sake, an investigation is absolutely +necessary. As for you, Elsworthy, everybody must be sorry for you. +Have you no idea where he could have taken the poor girl?--that is," +said the uncautious Rector, "supposing that he is guilty--of which I +am afraid there does not seem much doubt." + +"There aint no doubt," said Elsworthy; "there aint nobody else as +could have done it. Just afore my little girl was took away, sir, Mr +Wentworth went off of a sudden, and it was said as he was a-going home +to the Hall. I was a-thinking of sending a letter anonymous, to ask if +it was known what he was after. I read in the papers the other day as +his brother was a-going over to Rome. There don't seem to be none o' +them the right sort; which it's terrible for two clergymen. I was +thinking of dropping a bit of a note anonymous--" + +"No--no--no," said the Rector, "that would never do; nothing of that +sort, Elsworthy. If you thought it likely she was there, the proper +thing would be to go and inquire; nothing anonymous--no, no; that is a +thing I could not possibly countenance," said Mr Morgan. He pushed +away his pen and paper, and got very red and uncomfortable. If either +of the critics up-stairs, his wife, or his predecessor in the Rectory, +could but know that he was having an anonymous letter suggested to +him--that anybody ventured to think him capable of being an accomplice +in such proceedings! The presence of these two in the house, though +they were most probably at the moment engaged in the calmest abstract +conversation, and totally unaware of what was going on in the library, +had a great effect upon the Rector. He felt insulted that any man +could venture to confide such an intention to him almost within the +hearing of his wife. "If I am to take up your case, everything must be +open and straightforward," said Mr Morgan; while Elsworthy, who saw +that he had said something amiss, without precisely understanding +what, took up his hat as a resource, and once more began to polish it +round and round in his hands. + +"I didn't mean no harm, sir, I'm sure," he said; "I don't seem to see +no other way o' finding out; for I aint like a rich man as can go and +come as he pleases; but I won't say no more, since it's displeasing to +you. If you'd give me the list of names, sir, as you have decided on +to be the committee, I wouldn't trouble you no longer, seeing as +you've got visitors. Perhaps, if the late Rector aint going away +directly, he would take it kind to be put on the committee; and he's a +gentleman as I've a great respect for, though he wasn't not to say the +man for Carlingford," said Elsworthy, with a sidelong look. He began +to feel the importance of his own position as the originator of a +committee, and at the head of the most exciting movement which had +been for a long time in Carlingford, and could not help being +sensible, notwithstanding his affliction, that he had a distinction to +offer which even the late Rector might be pleased to accept. + +"I don't think Mr Proctor will stay," said Mr Morgan; "and if he does +stay, I believe he is a friend of Mr Wentworth's." It was only after +he had said this that the Rector perceived the meaning of the words he +had uttered; then, in his confusion and vexation, he got up hastily +from the table, and upset the inkstand in all the embarrassment of +the moment. "Of course that is all the greater reason for having his +assistance," said Mr Morgan, in his perplexity; "we are all friends of +Mr Wentworth. Will you have the goodness to ring the bell? There are +few things more painful than to take steps against a brother +clergyman, if one did not hope it would be for his benefit in the +end. Oh, never mind the table. Be so good as to ring the bell +again--louder, please." + +"There aint nothing equal to blotting-paper, sir," said Elsworthy, +eagerly. "With a bit o' blotting-paper I'd undertake to rub out +ink-stains out o' the finest carpet--if you'll permit me. It aint but a +small speck, and it'll be gone afore you could look round. It's twenty +times better nor lemon-juice, or them poisonous salts as you're always +nervous of leaving about. Look you here, sir, if it aint a-sopping up +beautiful. There aint no harm done as your respected lady could be put +out about; and I'll take the list with me, if you please, to show to my +wife, as is a-breaking her heart at home, and can't believe as we'll +ever get justice. She says as how the quality always takes a gentleman's +part against us poor folks, but that aint been my experience. Don't you +touch the carpet, Thomas--there aint a speck to be seen when the +blotting-paper's cleared away. I'll go home, not to detain you no more, +sir, and cheer up the poor heart as is a-breaking," said Elsworthy, +getting up from his knees where he had been operating upon the carpet. +He had got in his hand the list of names which Mr Morgan had put down as +referees in this painful business, and it dawned faintly upon the Rector +for the moment that he himself was taking rather an undignified position +as Elsworthy's partisan. + +"I have no objection to your showing it to your wife," said Mr Morgan; +"but I shall be much displeased if I hear any talk about it, Elsworthy; +and I hope it is not revenge you are thinking of, which is a very +unchristian sentiment," said the Rector, severely, "and not likely to +afford comfort either to her or to you." + +"No, sir, nothing but justice," said Elsworthy, hoarsely, as he backed +out of the room. Notwithstanding this statement, it was with very +unsatisfactory sensations that Mr Morgan went up-stairs. He felt somehow +as if the justice which Elsworthy demanded, and which he himself had +solemnly declared to be pursuing the Curate of St Roque's, was +wonderfully like revenge. "All punishment must be more or less +vindictive," he said to himself as he went up-stairs; but that fact did +not make him more comfortable as he went into his wife's drawing-room, +where he felt more like a conspirator and assassin than an English +Rector in broad daylight, without a mystery near him, had any right to +feel. This sensation confused Mr Morgan much, and made him more +peremptory in his manner than ever. As for Mr Proctor, who was only a +spectator, and felt himself on a certain critical eminence, the +suggestion that occurred to his mind was, that he had come in at the end +of a quarrel, and that the conjugal firmament was still in a state of +disturbance: which idea acted upon some private projects in the hidden +mind of the Fellow of All-Souls, and produced a state of feeling little +more satisfactory than that of the Rector of Carlingford. + +"I hope Mr Proctor is going to stay with us for a day or two," said Mrs +Morgan. "I was just saying it must look like coming home to come to the +house he used to live in, and which was even furnished to his own +taste," said the Rector's wife, shooting a little arrow at the late +Rector, of which that good man was serenely unconscious. All this time, +while they had been talking, Mrs Morgan had scarcely been able to keep +from asking who could possibly have suggested such a carpet. Mr +Proctor's chair was placed on the top of one of the big bouquets, which +expanded its large foliage round him with more than Eastern +prodigality--but he was so little conscious of any culpability of his +own in the matter, that he had referred his indignant hostess to one of +the leaves as an illustration of the kind of diaper introduced into the +new window which had lately been put up in the chapel of All-Souls. "A +naturalistic treatment, you know," said Mr Proctor, with the utmost +serenity; "and some people objected to it," added the unsuspicious man. + +"I should have objected very strongly," said Mrs Morgan, with a little +flush. "If you call that naturalistic treatment, I consider it +perfectly out of place in decoration--of every kind--" Mr Proctor +happened to be looking at her at the moment, and it suddenly occurred +to him that Miss Wodehouse never got red in that uncomfortable way, +which was the only conclusion he drew from the circumstance, having +long ago forgotten that any connection had ever existed between +himself and the carpet on the drawing-room in Carlingford Rectory. He +addressed his next observation to Mr Morgan, who had just come in. + +"I saw Mr Wodehouse's death in the 'Times,'" said Mr Proctor, "and I +thought the poor young ladies might feel--at least they might think it +a respect--or, at all events, it would be a satisfaction to one's +self," said the late Rector, who had got into a mire of explanation. +"Though he was far from being a young man, yet having a young daughter +like Miss Lucy--" + +"Poor Lucy!" said Mr Morgan. "I hope that wretched fellow, young +Wentworth"--and here the Rector came to a dead stop, and felt that he +had brought the subject most to be avoided head and shoulders into the +conversation, as was natural to an embarrassed man. The consequence +was that he got angry, as might have been expected. "My dear, you must +not look at me as you do. I have just been hearing all the evidence. +No unbiassed mind could possibly come to any other decision," said Mr +Morgan, with exasperation. Now that he had committed himself, he +thought it was much the best thing to go in for it wholly, without +half measures, which was certainly the most straightforward way. + +"What has happened to Wentworth?" said Mr Proctor. "He is a young man +for whom I have a great regard. Though he is so much younger than I +am, he taught me some lessons while I was in Carlingford which I shall +never forget. If he is in any trouble that I can help him in, I shall +be very glad to do it, both for his sake and for--" Mr Proctor slurred +over the end of his sentence a little, and the others were occupied +with their own difficulties, and did not take very much notice--for it +was difficult to state fully the nature and extent of Mr Wentworth's +enormities after such a declaration of friendship. "I met him on my +way here," said the Fellow of All-Souls, "not looking quite as he used +to do. I supposed it might be Mr Wodehouse's death, perhaps." All Mr +Proctor's thoughts ran in that channel of Mr Wodehouse's death, which, +after all, though sad enough, was not so great an event to the +community in general as the late Rector seemed to suppose. + +It was Mrs Morgan at length who took heart to explain to Mr Proctor +the real state of affairs. "He has been a very good clergyman for five +years," said Mrs Morgan; "he might behave foolishly, you know, about +Wharfside, but then that was not his fault so much as the fault of the +Rector's predecessors. I am sure I beg your pardon, Mr Proctor--I did +not mean that you were to blame," said the Rector's wife; "but, +notwithstanding all the work he has done, and the consistent life he +has led, there is nobody in Carlingford who is not quite ready to +believe that he has run away with Rosa Elsworthy--a common little girl +without any education, or a single idea in her head. I suppose she is +what you would call pretty," said the indignant woman. "Everybody is +just as ready to believe that he is guilty as if he were a stranger or +a bad character." Mrs Morgan stopped in an abrupt manner, because her +quick eyes perceived a glance exchanged between the two gentlemen. Mr +Proctor had seen a good deal of the world in his day, as he was fond +of saying now and then to his intimate friends: and he had learned at +the university and other places that a girl who is "what you would +call pretty," counts for a great deal in the history of a young man, +whether she has any ideas in her head or not. He did not, any more +than the people of Carlingford, pronounce at once on _a priori_ +evidence that Mr Wentworth must be innocent. The Curate's "consistent +life" did not go for much in the opinion of the middle-aged Fellow of +All-Souls, any more than of the less dignified populace. He said, +"Dear me, dear me!" in a most perplexed and distressed tone, while Mrs +Morgan kept looking at him; and looked very much as if he were tempted +to break forth into lamentations over human nature, as Mr Morgan +himself had done. + +"I wonder what the Miss Wodehouses think of it," he said at last. "One +would do a great deal to keep them from hearing such a thing; but I +wonder how they are feeling about it," said Mr Proctor--and clearly +declined to discuss the matter with Mrs Morgan, who was counsel for +the defence. When the Rector's wife went to her own room to dress for +dinner, it is very true that she had a good cry over her cup of tea. +She was not only disappointed, but exasperated, in that impatient +feminine nature of hers. Perhaps if she had been less sensitive, she +would have had less of that redness in her face which was so great a +trouble to Mrs Morgan. These two slow middle-aged men, without any +intuitions, who were coming lumbering after her through all kind of +muddles of evidence and argument, exasperated the more rapid woman. To +be sure, they understood Greek plays a great deal better than she did; +but she was penetrated with the liveliest impatience of their dulness +all the same. Mrs Morgan, however, like most people who are in advance +of their age, felt her utter impotence against that blank wall of dull +resistance. She could not make them see into the heart of things as +she did. She had to wait until they had attacked the question in the +orthodox way of siege, and made gradual entrance by dint of hard +labour. All she could do to console herself was, to shed certain hot +tears of indignation and annoyance over her tea, which, however, was +excellent tea, and did her good. Perhaps it was to show her sense of +superiority, and that she did not feel herself vanquished, that, after +that, she put on her new dress, which was very much too nice to be +wasted upon Mr Proctor. As for Mr Leeson, who came in as usual just in +time for dinner, having heard of Mr Proctor's arrival, she treated him +with a blandness which alarmed the Curate. "I quite expected you, for +we have the All-Souls pudding to-day," said the Rector's wife, and she +smiled a smile which would have struck awe into the soul of any curate +that ever was known in Carlingford. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +It was the afternoon of the same day on which Mr Proctor arrived in +Carlingford that Mr Wentworth received the little note from Miss +Wodehouse which was so great a consolation to the Perpetual Curate. By +that time he had begun to experience humiliations more hard to bear than +anything he had yet known. He had received constrained greetings from +several of his most cordial friends; his people in the district, all but +Tom Burrows, looked askance upon him; and Dr Marjoribanks, who had never +taken kindly to the young Anglican, had met him with satirical remarks +in his dry Scotch fashion, which were intolerable to the Curate. In +these circumstances, it was balm to his soul to have his sympathy once +more appealed to, and by those who were nearest to his heart. The next +day was that appointed for Mr Wodehouse's funeral, to which Mr Wentworth +had been looking forward with a little excitement--wondering, with +indignant misery, whether the covert insults he was getting used to +would be repeated even over his old friend's grave. It was while this +was in his mind that he received Miss Wodehouse's little note. It was +very hurriedly written, on the terrible black-edged paper which, to such +a simple soul as Miss Wodehouse, it was a kind of comfort to use in the +moment of calamity. "Dear Mr Wentworth," it said, "I am in great +difficulty, and don't know what to do: come, I beg of you, and tell me +what is best. My dear Lucy insists upon going to-morrow, and I can't +cross her when her heart is breaking, and I don't know what to do. +Please to come, if it were only for a moment. Dear, dear papa, and all +of us, have always had such confidence in you!" Mr Wentworth was seated, +very disconsolate, in his study when this appeal came to him: he was +rather sick of the world and most things in it; a sense of wrong +eclipsed the sunshine for the moment, and obscured the skies; but it was +comforting to be appealed to--to have his assistance and his protection +sought once more. He took his hat immediately and went up the sunny +road, on which there was scarcely a passenger visible, to the closed-up +house, which stood so gloomy and irresponsive in the sunshine. Mr +Wodehouse had not been a man likely to attract any profound love in his +lifetime, or sense of loss when he was gone; but yet it was possible to +think, with the kindly, half-conscious delusion of nature, that had _he_ +been living, he would have known better; and the Curate went into the +darkened drawing-room, where all the shutters were closed, except those +of the little window in the corner, where Lucy's work-table stood, and +where a little muffled sunshine stole in through the blind. Everything +was in terribly good order in the room. The two sisters had been living +in their own apartments, taking their forlorn meals in the little +parlour which communicated with their sleeping chambers, during this +week of darkness; and nobody had come into the drawing-room except the +stealthy housemaid, who contemplated herself and her new mourning for an +hour at a stretch in the great mirror without any interruption, while +she made "tidy" the furniture which nobody now disturbed. Into this +sombre apartment Miss Wodehouse came gliding, like a gentle ghost, in +her black gown. She too, like John and the housemaid and everybody +about, walked and talked under her breath. There was now no man in the +house entitled to disturb those proprieties with which a female +household naturally hedges round all the great incidents of life; and +the affairs of the family were all carried on in a whisper, in +accordance with the solemnity of the occasion--a circumstance which had +naturally called the ghost of a smile to the Curate's countenance as he +followed John up-stairs. Miss Wodehouse herself, though she was pale, +and spent half her time, poor soul! in weeping, and had, besides, living +encumbrances to trouble her helpless path, did not look amiss in her +black gown. She came in gliding without any noise, but with a little +expectation in her gentle countenance. She was one of the people whom +experience never makes any wiser; and she could not help hoping to be +delivered from her troubles this time, as so often before, as soon as +she should have transferred them to somebody else's shoulders, and taken +"advice." + +"Lucy has made up her mind that we are to go to-morrow," said Miss +Wodehouse, drying her tears. "It was not the custom in my young days, +Mr Wentworth, and I am sure I don't know what to say; but I can't bear +to cross her, now that she has nobody but me. She was always the best +child in the world," said the poor lady--"far more comfort to poor +dear papa than I ever could be; but to hear her talk you would think +that she had never done anything. And oh, Mr Wentworth, if that was +all I should not mind; but we have always kept things a secret from +her; and now I have had a letter, and I don't know what it is possible +to do." + +"A letter from your brother?" asked Mr Wentworth, eagerly. + +"From Tom," said the elder sister; "poor, poor Tom! I am sure papa +forgave him at the last, though he did not say anything. Oh, Mr +Wentworth, he was such a nice boy once; and if Lucy only knew, and I +could summon up the courage to tell her, and he would change his ways, +as he promised--don't think me fickle or changeable, or look as if I +didn't know my own mind," cried poor Miss Wodehouse, with a fresh flow +of tears; "but oh, Mr Wentworth, if he only would change his ways, as +he promised, think what a comfort it would be to us to have him at +home!" + +"Yes," said the Curate, with a little bitterness. Here was another +instance of the impunities of wickedness. "I think it very likely +indeed that you will have him at home," said Mr Wentworth--"almost +certain; the wonder is that he went away. Will you tell me where he +dates his letter from? I have a curiosity to know." + +"You are angry," said the anxious sister. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, I know he +does not deserve anything else, but you have always been so kind. I +put his letter in my pocket to show you--at least, I am sure I +intended to put it in my pocket. We have scarcely been in this room +since--since--" and here Miss Wodehouse broke down, and had to take a +little time to recover. "I will go and get the letter," she said, as +at last she regained her voice, and hurried away through the partial +darkness with her noiseless step, and the long black garments which +swept noiselessly over the carpet. Mr Wentworth for his part went to +the one window which was only veiled by a blind, and comforted himself +a little in the sunshine. The death atmosphere weighed upon the young +man and took away his courage. If he was only wanted to pave the way +for the reception of the rascally brother for whose sins he felt +convinced he was himself suffering, the consolation of being appealed +to would be sensibly lessened, and it was hard to have no other way of +clearing himself than by criminating Lucy's brother, and bringing +dishonour upon her name. While he waited for Miss Wodehouse's return, +he stood by Lucy's table, with very little of the feeling which had +once prompted him to fold his arms so caressingly with an impulse of +tenderness upon the chair which stood beside it. He was so much +absorbed in his own thoughts that he did not hear at first the sound +of a hesitating hand upon the door, which at length, when repeated, +went to the Curate's heart. He turned round rapidly, and saw Lucy +standing on the threshold in her profound mourning. She was very pale, +and her blue eyes looked large and full beyond their natural +appearance, dilated with tears and watching; and when they met those +of Mr Wentworth, they filled full like flower-cups with dew; but +besides this Lucy made no demonstration of her grief. After that +momentary hesitation at the door, she came in and gave the Curate her +hand. Perhaps it was a kind of defiance, perhaps a natural yearning, +which drew her out of her chamber when she heard of his presence; both +sentiments sprang out of the same feeling; and the Curate, when he +looked at her, bethought himself of the only moment when he had been +able to imagine that Lucy loved him; that moment by her father's +bedside, of which the impression had been dulled since then by a crowd +of events, when she looked with such reproach and disappointment and +indignation into his face. + +"I heard you were here," said Lucy, "and I thought you might think it +strange not to see us both." And then she paused, perhaps finding it +less easy than she thought to explain why she had come. "We ought to +thank you, Mr Wentworth, for your kindness, though I--" + +"You were angry with me," said the Curate. "I know you thought me +heartless; but a man must bear to be misconceived when he has duty to +do," the young clergyman added, with a swelling heart. Lucy did not +know the fuller significance of his words; and there was a loftiness +in them which partly affronted her, and set all her sensitive +woman-pride in arms against him. + +"I beg your pardon," she said, faltering, and then the two stood +beside each other in silence, with a sense of estrangement. As for +Lucy, all the story about Rosa Elsworthy, of which she had not yet +heard the last chapter, rushed back upon her mind. Was it to see +little Rosa's lover that she had come out of the darkness of her room, +with a natural longing for sympathy which it was impossible to +restrain? The tenderness of the instinctive feeling which had moved +her, went back upon her heart in bitterness. That he must have divined +why she had come, and scorned her for it, was the mildest supposition +in Lucy's mind. She could almost have imagined that he had come on +purpose to elicit this vain exhibition of regard, and triumph over it; +all this, too, when she was in such great trouble and sorrow, and +wanted a little compassion, a little kindness, so much. This was the +state of mind to which Lucy had come, in five minutes after she +entered the room, when Miss Wodehouse came back with the letter. The +elder sister was almost as much astonished at Lucy's presence as if +she had been the dead inhabitant who kept such state in the darkened +house. She was so startled that she went back a step or two when she +perceived her, and hastily put the letter in her pocket, and exclaimed +her sister's name in a tone most unlike Miss Wodehouse's natural +voice. + +"I came down-stairs because--I mean they told me Mr Wentworth was +here," said Lucy, who had never felt so weak and so miserable in her +life, "and I wanted to thank him for all his kindness." It was here +for the first time that Lucy broke down. Her sorrow was so great, her +longing for a word of kindness had been so natural, and her shame and +self-condemnation at the very thought that she was able to think of +anything but her father, were so bitter, that the poor girl's forces, +weakened by watching, were not able to withstand them. She sank into +the chair that stood nearest, and covered her face with her hands, and +cried as people cry only at twenty. And as for Mr Wentworth, he had no +right to take her in his arms and comfort her, nor to throw himself at +her feet and entreat her to take courage. All he could do was to stand +half a yard, yet a whole world, apart looking at her, his heart +beating with all the remorseful half-angry tenderness of love. Since +it was not his to console her, he was almost impatient of her tears. + +"Dear, I have been telling Mr Wentworth about to-morrow," said Miss +Wodehouse, weeping too, as was natural, "and he thinks--he thinks--oh, +my darling! and so do I--that it will be too much for you. When I was +young it never was the custom; and oh, Lucy, remember that ladies are +not to be expected to have such command over their feelings," said poor +Miss Wodehouse, dropping on her knees by Lucy's chair. Mr Wentworth +stood looking on in a kind of despair. He had nothing to say, and no +right to say anything; even his presence was a kind of intrusion. But to +be referred to thus as an authority against Lucy's wishes, vexed him in +the most unreasonable way. + +"Mr Wentworth does not know me," said Lucy, under her breath, wiping +away her tears with a trembling, indignant hand. "If we had had a +brother, it might have been different; but there must be somebody there +that loves him," said the poor girl, with a sob, getting up hastily from +her chair. She could not bear to stay any longer in the room, which she +had entered with a vague sense of possible consolation. As for the +Curate, he made haste to open the door for her, feeling the restraint of +his position almost intolerable. "_I_ shall be there," he said, stopping +at the door to look into the fair, pallid face which Lucy would scarcely +raise to listen. "Could you not trust _me_?" It looked like giving him a +pledge of something sacred and precious to put her hand into his, which +was held out for it so eagerly. But Lucy could not resist the softening +of nature; and not even Miss Wodehouse, looking anxiously after them, +heard what further words they were that Mr Wentworth said in her ear. "I +am for your service, however and wherever you want me," said the Curate, +with a young man's absolutism. Heaven knows he had enough to do with his +own troubles; but he remembered no obstacle which could prevent him from +dedicating all his time and life to her as he spoke. When Lucy reached +her own room, she threw herself upon the sofa, and wept like a woman +inconsolable; but it was somehow because this consolation, subtle and +secret, had stolen into her heart that her tears flowed so freely. And +Mr Wentworth returned to her sister relieved, he could not have told +why. At all events, come what might, the two had drawn together again in +their mutual need. + +"Oh, Mr Wentworth, how can I cross her?" said Miss Wodehouse, wringing +her hands. "If we had a brother--did you hear what she said? Here is +his letter, and I hope you will tell me candidly what you think. If we +could trust him--if we could but trust him! I daresay you think me +very changeable and foolish; but now we are alone," said the poor +lady, "think what a comfort it would be if he only would change his +ways as he promised! Lucy is a great deal more use than I am, and +understands things; but still we are only two women," said the elder +sister. "If you think we could put any dependence upon him, Mr +Wentworth, I would never hesitate. He might live with us, and have his +little allowance." Miss Wodehouse paused, and raised her anxious face +to the Curate, pondering the particulars of the liberality she +intended. "He is not a boy," she went on. "I daresay now he must feel +the want of the little comforts he once was used to; and though he is +not like what he used to be, neither in his looks nor his manners, +people would be kind to him for our sakes. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't you +think we might trust him?" said the anxious woman, looking in the +Curate's face. + +All this time Mr Wentworth, with an impatience of her simplicity which +it was difficult to restrain, was reading the letter, in which he +perceived a very different intention from any divined by Miss Wodehouse. +The billet was disreputable enough, written in pencil, and without any +date. + + + "MARY,--I mean to come to my father's funeral," wrote Mr Wodehouse's + disowned son. "Things are changed now, as I said they would be. I and + a friend of mine have set everything straight with Waters, and I mean + to come in my own name, and take the place I have a right to. How it + is to be after this depends on how you behave; but things are changed + between you and me, as I told you they would be; and I expect you + won't do anything to make 'em worse by doing or saying what's + unpleasant. I add no more, because I hope you'll have sense to see + what I mean, and to act accordingly.--Your brother, + + "THOMAS WODEHOUSE." + + +"You see he thinks I will reproach him," said Miss Wodehouse, +anxiously; perhaps it had just glanced across her own mind that +something more important still might have dictated language so +decided. "He has a great deal more feeling than you would suppose, +poor fellow! It is very touching in him to say, 'the place he has a +right to'--don't you think so, Mr Wentworth? Poor Tom! if we could but +trust him, and he would change his ways as he promised! Oh, Mr +Wentworth, don't you think I might speak of it to him to-morrow? If we +could--bury--everything--in dear papa's grave," cried the poor lady, +once more breaking down. Mr Wentworth took no notice of Miss +Wodehouse's tears. They moved him with sentiments entirely different +from those with which he regarded Lucy's. He read the note over again +without any attempt to console her, till she had struggled back into +composure; but even then there was nothing sympathetic in the Curate's +voice. + +"And I think you told me you did not know anything about the will?" he +said, with some abruptness, making no account whatever of the +suggestion she had made. + +"No," said Miss Wodehouse; "but my dear father was a business man, Mr +Wentworth, and I feel quite sure--quite--" + +"Yes," said the Perpetual Curate; "nor of the nature of his property, +perhaps?" added the worldly-minded young man whom poor Miss Wodehouse +had chosen for her adviser. It was more than the gentle woman could +bear. + +"Oh, Mr Wentworth, you know I am not one to understand," cried the +poor lady. "You ask me questions, but you never tell me what you think +I should do. If it were only for myself, I would not mind, but I have +to act for Lucy," said the elder sister, suddenly sitting upright and +drying her tears. "Papa, I am sure, did what was best for us," she +said, with a little gentle dignity, which brought the Curate back to +his senses; "but oh, Mr Wentworth, look at the letter, and tell me, +for my sister's sake, what am I to do?" + +The Curate went to the window, from which the sunshine was stealing +away, to consider the subject; but he did not seem to derive much +additional wisdom from that sacred spot, where Lucy's work-table stood +idle. "We must wait and see," he said to himself. When he came back to +Miss Wodehouse, and saw the question still in her eyes, it only +brought back his impatience. "My dear Miss Wodehouse, instead of +speculating about what is to happen, it would be much better to +prepare your sister for the discovery she must make to-morrow," said +Mr Wentworth; "I cannot give any other advice, for my part. I think it +is a great pity that you have kept it concealed so long. I beg your +pardon for speaking so abruptly, but I am afraid you don't know all +the trouble that is before you. We are all in a great deal of +trouble," said the Perpetual Curate, with a little unconscious +solemnity. "I can't say I see my way through it; but you ought to +prepare her--to see--her brother." He said the words with a degree of +repugnance which he could not conceal, and which wounded his +companion's tender heart. + +"He was so different when he was young," said Miss Wodehouse, with a +suppressed sob--"he was a favourite everywhere. You would not have +looked so if you had known him then. Oh, Mr Wentworth, promise me that +you will not turn your back upon him if he comes home, after all your +kindness. I will tell Lucy how much you have done for him," said Miss +Wodehouse. She was only half-conscious of her own gentle artifice. She +took the Curate's hand in both her own before he left her, and said it +was such a comfort to have his advice to rely upon; and she believed +what she said, though Mr Wentworth himself knew better. The poor lady +sat down in Lucy's chair, and had a cry at her ease after he went +away. She was to tell Lucy--but how? and she sat pondering this hard +question till all the light had faded out of the room, and the little +window which was not shuttered dispersed only a grey twilight through +the empty place. The lamp, meantime, had been lighted in the little +parlour where Lucy sat, very sad, in her black dress, with 'In +Memoriam' on the table by her, carrying on a similar strain in her +heart. She was thinking of the past, so many broken scenes of which +kept flashing up before her, all bright with indulgent love and +tenderness--and she was thinking of the next day, when she was to see +all that remained of her good father laid in his grave. He was not +very wise nor remarkable among men, but he had been the tenderest +father to the child of his old age; and in her heart she was praying +for him still, pausing now and then to think whether it was right. The +tears were heavy in her young eyes, but they were natural tears, and +Lucy had no more thought that there was in the world anything sadder +than sorrow, or that any complications lay in her individual lot, than +the merest child in Prickett's Lane. She thought of going back to the +district, all robed and invested in the sanctity of her grief--she +thought it was to last for ever, as one has the privilege of thinking +when one is young; and it was to this young saint, tender towards all +the world, ready to pity everybody, and to save a whole race, if that +had been possible, that Miss Wodehouse went in, heavy and burdened, +with her tale of miserable vice, unkindness, estrangement. How was it +possible to begin? Instead of beginning, poor Miss Wodehouse, +overpowered by her anxieties and responsibilities, was taken ill and +fainted, and had to be carried to bed. Lucy would not let her talk +when she came to herself; and so the only moment of possible +preparation passed away, and the event itself, which one of them knew +nothing of, and the other did not understand, came in its own person, +without any _avant-couriers_, to open Lucy's eyes once for all. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +Mr Wentworth had to go into Carlingford on some business when he left +Miss Wodehouse; and as he went home again, having his head full of so +many matters, he forgot for the moment what most immediately concerned +himself, and was close upon Elsworthy's shop, looking into the window, +before he thought of it. Elsworthy himself was standing behind the +counter, with a paper in his hand, from which he was expounding +something to various people in the shop. It was getting late, and the +gas was lighted, which threw the interior into very bright relief to Mr +Wentworth outside. The Curate was still only a young man, though he was +a clergyman, and his movements were not always guided by reason or sound +sense. He walked into the shop, almost before he was aware what he was +doing. The people were inconsiderable people enough--cronies of +Elsworthy--but they were people who had been accustomed to look up very +reverentially to the Curate of St Roque's and Mr Wentworth was far from +being superior to their disapproval. There was a very visible stir among +them as he entered, and Elsworthy came to an abrupt stop in his +elucidations, and thrust the paper he had been reading into a drawer. +Dead and sudden silence followed the entrance of the Curate. Peter +Hayles, the druggist, who was one of the auditors, stole to the door +with intentions of escape, and the women, of whom there were two or +three, looked alarmed, not knowing what might come of it. As for Mr +Wentworth, there was only one thing possible for him to say. "Have you +heard anything of Rosa, Elsworthy?" he asked, with great gravity, fixing +his eyes upon the man's face. The question seemed to ring into all the +corners. Whether it was innocence or utter abandonment nobody could +tell, and the spectators held their breath for the answer. Elsworthy, +for his part, was as much taken by surprise as his neighbours. He grew +very pale and livid in his sudden excitement, and lost his voice, and +stood staring at the Curate like a man struck dumb. Perhaps Mr Wentworth +got bolder when he saw the effect he had produced. He repeated the +question, looking towards poor Mrs Elsworthy, who had jumped from her +husband's side when he came in. The whole party looked like startled +conspirators to Mr Wentworth's eyes, though he had not the least idea +what they had been doing. "Have you heard anything of Rosa?" he asked +again; and everybody looked at Elsworthy, as if he were the guilty man, +and had suborned the rest; which, indeed, in one sense, was not far from +being the case. + +When Elsworthy came to himself, he gave Mr Wentworth a sidelong +dangerous look. "No, sir--nothing," said Rosa's uncle. "Them as has +hidden her has hidden her well. I didn't expect to hear not yet," said +Elsworthy. Though Mr Wentworth did not know what he meant, his little +audience in the shop did, and showed, by the slightest murmur in the +world, their conviction that the arrow had gone home, which naturally +acted like a spur upon the Curate, who was not the wisest man in the +world. + +"I am very sorry to see you in so much distress," said the young man, +looking at Mrs Elsworthy's red eyes, "but I trust things will turn out +much better than you imagine. If I can do anything to help you, let +me know," said Mr Wentworth. Perhaps it was foolish to say so much, +knowing what he did, but unfortunately prudence was not the ruling +principle at that moment in the Curate's soul. + +"I was a-thinking of letting you know, sir," said the clerk of St +Roque's, with deadly meaning; "leastways not me, but them as has taken +me by the hand. There's every prospect as it'll all be known afore +long," said Elsworthy, pushing his wife aside and following Mr +Wentworth, with a ghastly caricature of his old obsequiousness, to the +door. "There's inquiries a-being made as was never known to fail. For +one thing, I've written to them as knows a deal about the movements of +a party as is suspected--not to say as I've got good friends," said +Rosa's guardian, standing upon the step of his own door, and watching +the Curate out into the darkness. Mr Wentworth could not altogether +restrain a slight thrill of unpleasant emotion, for Elsworthy, +standing at his door with the light gleaming over him from behind, and +his face invisible, had an unpleasant resemblance to a wild beast +waiting for his prey. + +"I am glad to think you are likely to be so successful. Send me word +as soon as you know," said the Curate, and he pursued his way home +afterwards, with feelings far from pleasant. He saw something was +about to come of this more than he had thought likely, and the crisis +was approaching. As he walked rapidly home, he concluded within +himself to have a conversation with the Rector next day after Mr +Wodehouse's funeral, and to ask for an investigation into the whole +matter. When he had come to this conclusion, he dismissed the subject +from his mind as far as was possible, and took to thinking of the +other matters which disturbed his repose, in which, indeed, it was +very easy to get perplexed and bewildered to his heart's content. +Anyhow, one way and another, the day of poor Mr Wodehouse's funeral +must necessarily be an exciting and momentous day. + +Mr Wentworth had, however, no idea that its interest was to begin so +early. When he was seated at breakfast reading his letters, a note was +brought to him, which, coming in the midst of a lively chronicle of +home news from his sister Letty, almost stopped for the moment the +beating of the Curate's heart. It took him so utterly by surprise, +that more violent sentiments were lost for the moment in mere wonder. +He read it over twice before he could make it out. It was from the +Rector, and notwithstanding his wife's remonstrances, and his own +qualms of doubt and uncertainty, this was what Mr Morgan said:-- + + + "DEAR SIR,--It is my painful duty to let you know that certain rumours + have reached my ears very prejudicial to your character as a + clergyman, and which I understand to be very generally current in + Carlingford. Such a scandal, if not properly dealt with, is certain to + have an unfavourable effect upon the popular mind, and injure the + clergy in the general estimation--while it is, as I need not point + out to you, quite destructive of your own usefulness. Under the + circumstances, I have thought it my duty, as Rector of the parish, + to take steps for investigating these reports. Of course I do not + pretend to any authority over you, nor can I enforce in any way your + participation in the inquiry or consent to it; but I beg to urge upon + you strongly, as a friend, the advantage of assenting freely, that + your innocence (if possible) may be made apparent, and your character + cleared. I enclose the names of the gentlemen whose assistance I + intend to request for this painful duty, in case you should object to + any of them; and would again urge you, _for your own sake_, the + expediency of concurrence. I regret to say that, though I would not + willingly prejudge any man, much less a brother clergyman, I do not + feel that it would be seemly on my part, under the circumstances, to + avail myself of your assistance today in the burial-service for the + late Mr Wodehouse.--Believe me, very sincerely yours, + + "W. MORGAN." + + +When Mr Wentworth looked up from this letter, he caught sight of his +face in the mirror opposite, and gazed into his own eyes like a man +stupefied. He had not been without vexations in eight-and-twenty years +of a not uneventful life, but he had never known anything like the +misery of that moment. It was nearly four hours later when he walked +slowly up Grange Lane to the house, which before night might own so +different a master, but he had found as yet no time to spare for the +Wodehouses--even for Lucy--in the thoughts which were all occupied by +the unlooked-for blow. Nobody could tell, not even himself, the mental +discipline he had gone through before he emerged, rather stern, but +perfectly calm, in the sunshine in front of the closed-up house. If it +was not his to meet the solemn passenger at the gates with words of +hope, at least he could do a man's part to the helpless who had still +to live; but the blow was cruel, and all the force of his nature was +necessary to sustain it. All Carlingford knew, by the evidence of its +senses, that Mr Wentworth had been a daily visitor of the dead, and +one of his most intimate friends, and nobody had doubted for a moment +that to him would be assigned as great a portion of the service as his +feelings permitted him to undertake. When the bystanders saw him join +the procession, a thrill of surprise ran through the crowd; but +nobody--not even the man who walked beside him--ventured to trifle +with the Curate's face so far as to ask why. The Grand Inquisitor +himself, if such a mythical personage exists any longer, could not +have invented a more delicate torture than that which the respectable +and kind-hearted Rector of Carlingford inflicted calmly, without +knowing it, upon the Curate of St Roque's. How was Mr Morgan to know +that the sting would go to his heart? A Perpetual Curate without a +district has nothing to do with a heart so sensitive. The Rector put +on his own robes with a peaceful mind, feeling that he had done his +duty, and, with Mr Leeson behind him, came to the church door with +great solemnity to meet the procession. He read the words which are +so sweet and so terrible with his usual reading-desk voice as he read +the invitations every Sunday. He was a good man, but he was middle-aged, +and not accessible to impression from the mere aspect of death; and he +did not know Mr Wodehouse, nor care much for anything in the matter, +except his own virtue in excluding the Perpetual Curate from any share +in the service. Such was the Rector's feeling in respect to this +funeral, which made so much commotion in Carlingford. He felt that he +was vindicating the purity of his profession as he threaded his way +through the pathetic hillocks, where the nameless people were lying, to +poor Mr Wodehouse's grave. + +This, however, was not the only thing which aroused the wonder and +interest of the townspeople when the two shrinking, hooded female +figures, all black and unrecognisable, rose up trembling to follow their +dead from the church to the grave. Everybody saw with wonder that their +place was contested, and that somebody else, a man whom no one knew, +thrust himself before them, and walked alone in the chief mourner's +place. As for Lucy, who, through her veil and her tears, saw nothing +distinctly, this figure, which she did not know, struck her only with a +vague astonishment. If she thought of it at all, she thought it a +mistake, simple enough, though a little startling, and went on, doing +all she could to support her sister, saying broken prayers in her heart, +and far too much absorbed in the duty she was performing to think who +was looking on, or to be conscious of any of the attending +circumstances, except Mr Morgan's voice, which was not the voice she had +expected to hear. Miss Wodehouse was a great deal more agitated than +Lucy. She knew very well who it was that placed himself before her, +asserting his own right without offering any help to his sisters; and +vague apprehensions, which she herself could not understand, came over +her just at the moment when she required her strength most. As there +were no other relations present, the place of honour next to the two +ladies had been tacitly conceded to Mr Proctor and Mr Wentworth; and it +was thus that the Curate rendered the last service to his old friend. It +was a strange procession, and concentrated in itself all that was most +exciting in Carlingford at the moment. Everybody observed and commented +upon the strange man, who, all remarkable and unknown, with his great +beard and sullen countenance, walked by himself as chief mourner. Who +was he? and whispers arose and ran through the outskirts of the crowd of +the most incredible description. Some said he was an illegitimate son +whom Mr Wodehouse had left all his property to, but whom the ladies knew +nothing of; some that it was a strange cousin, whom Lucy was to be +compelled to marry or lose her share; and after a while people compared +notes, and went back upon their recollections, and began to ask each +other if it was true that Tom Wodehouse died twenty years ago in the +West Indies? Then behind the two ladies--poor ladies, whose fate was +hanging in the balance, though they did not know it--came Mr Wentworth +in his cap and gown, pale and stern as nobody ever had seen him before +in Carlingford, excluded from all share in the service, which Mr Leeson, +in a flutter of surplice and solemnity, was giving his valuable +assistance in. The churchyard at Carlingford had not lost its semi-rural +air though the town had increased so much, for the district was very +healthy, as everybody knows, and people did not die before their time, +as in places less favoured. The townspeople, who knew Mr Wodehouse so +well, lingered all about among the graves, looking with neighbourly, +calm regret, but the liveliest curiosity. Most of the shopkeepers at +that end of George Street had closed their shops on the mournful +occasion, and felt themselves repaid. As for Elsworthy, he stood with a +group of supporters round him, as near as possible to the funeral +procession; and farther off in the distance, under the trees, was a much +more elegant spectator--an unlikely man enough to assist at such a +spectacle, being no less a person than Jack Wentworth, in the +perfection of an English gentleman's morning apparel, perfectly at his +ease and indifferent, yet listening with close attention to all the +scraps of talk that came in his way. The centre of all this wondering, +curious crowd, where so many passions and emotions and schemes and +purposes were in full tide, and life was beating so strong and vehement, +was the harmless dead, under the heavy pall which did not veil him so +entirely from the living as did the hopes and fears and curious +speculations which had already sprung up over him, filling up his place. +Among the whole assembly there was not one heart really occupied by +thoughts of him, except that of poor Lucy, who knew nothing of all the +absorbing anxieties and terrors that occupied the others. She had still +a moment's leisure for her natural grief. It was all she could do to +keep upright and support her sister, who had burdens to bear which Lucy +knew nothing of; but still, concealed under her hood and veil, seeing +nothing but the grave before her, hearing nothing but the sacred words +and the terrible sound of "dust to dust," the young creature stood +steadfast, and gave the dead man who had loved her his due--last +offering of nature and love, sweeter to anticipate than any honours. +Nobody but his child offered to poor Mr Wodehouse that last right of +humanity, or made his grave sacred with natural tears. + +When they went back sadly out of all that blinding sunshine into the +darkened house, it was not all over, as poor Lucy had supposed. She +had begun to come to herself and understand once more the looks of the +people about her, when the old maid, who had been the attendant of the +sisters during all Lucy's life, undid her wrappings, and in her +agitation of the moment kissed her white cheek, and held her in her +arms. "Oh, Miss Lucy, darling, don't take on no more than you can +help. I'm sore, sore afeared that there's a deal of trouble afore you +yet," said the weeping woman. Though Lucy had not the smallest +possible clue to her meaning, and was almost too much worn out to be +curious, she could not help a vague thrill of alarm. "What is it, +Alland?" she said, rising up from the sofa on which she had thrown +herself. But Alland could do nothing but cry over her nursling and +console her. "Oh, my poor dear! oh, my darling! as he never would have +let the wind of heaven to blow rough upon her!" cried the old servant. +And it was just then that Miss Wodehouse, who was trembling all over +hysterically, came into the room. + +"We have to go down-stairs," said the elder sister. "Oh Lucy, my +darling, it was not my fault at first. I should have told you last +night to prepare you, and I had not the heart. Mr Wentworth has told +me so often--" + +"Mr Wentworth?" said Lucy. She rose up, not quite knowing where she +was; aware of nothing, except that some sudden calamity, under which +she was expected to faint altogether, was coming to her by means of Mr +Wentworth. Her mind jumped at the only dim possibility that seemed to +glimmer through the darkness. He must be married, she supposed, or +about to be married; and it was this they insulted her by thinking +that she could not bear. There was not a particle of colour in her +face before, but the blood rushed into it with a bitterness of shame +and rage which she had never known till now. "I will go down with you +if it is necessary," said Lucy; "but surely this is a strange time to +talk of Mr Wentworth's affairs." There was no time to explain anything +farther, for just then old Mrs Western, who was a distant cousin, +knocked at the door. "God help you, my poor dear children!" said the +old lady; "they are all waiting for you down-stairs," and it was with +this delusion in her mind, embittering every thought, that Lucy went +into the drawing-room where they were all assembled. The madness of +the idea did not strike her somehow, even when she saw the grave +assembly, which it was strange to think could have been brought +together to listen to any explanation from the Perpetual Curate. He +was standing there prominent enough among them, with a certain air of +suppressed passion in his face, which Lucy divined almost without +seeing it. For her own part, she went in with perfect firmness, +supporting her sister, whose trembling was painful to see. There was +no other lady in the room except old Mrs Western, who would not sit +down, but hovered behind the chairs which had been placed for the +sisters near the table at which Mr Waters was standing. By the side of +Mr Waters was the man who had been at the funeral, and whom nobody +knew, and a few gentlemen who were friends of the family were in the +room--the Rector, by virtue of his office, and Mr Proctor and Dr +Marjoribanks; and any one whose attention was sufficiently disengaged +to note the details of the scene might have perceived John, who had +been fifteen years with Mr Wodehouse, and the old cook in her black +gown, who was of older standing in the family than Alland herself, +peeping in, whenever it was opened, through the door. + +"Now that the Miss Wodehouses are here, we may proceed to business," +said Mr Waters. "Some of the party are already aware that I have an +important communication to make. I am very sorry if it comes abruptly +upon anybody specially interested. My late partner, much respected +though he has always been, was a man of peculiar views in many +respects. Dr Marjoribanks will bear me out in what I say. I had been +his partner for ten years before I found this out, highly important as +it will be seen to be; and I believe Mr Wentworth, though an intimate +friend of the family, obtained the information by a kind of +accident--" + +The stranger muttered something in his beard which nobody could hear, +and the Perpetual Curate interposed audibly. "Would it not be best to +make the explanations afterwards?" said Mr Wentworth--and he changed +his own position and went over beside old Mrs Western, who was leaning +upon Lucy's chair. He put his own hand on the back of the chair with +an involuntary impulse. As for Lucy, her first thrill of nervous +strength had failed her: she began to get confused and bewildered; but +whatever it was, no insult, no wound to her pride or affections, was +coming to her from that hand which she knew was on her chair. She +leaned back a little, with a long sigh. Her imagination could not +conceive anything important enough for such a solemn intimation, and +her attention began to flag in spite of herself. No doubt it was +something about that money which people thought so interesting. +Meanwhile Mr Waters went on steadily with what he had to say, not +sparing them a word of the preamble; and it was not till ten minutes +later that Lucy started up with a sudden cry of incredulity and +wonder, and repeated his last words. "His son!--whose son?" cried +Lucy. She looked all round her, not knowing whom to appeal to in her +sudden consternation. "We never had a brother," said the child of Mr +Wodehouse's old age; "it must be some mistake." There was a dead pause +after these words. When she looked round again, a sickening conviction +came to Lucy's heart that it was no mistake. She rose up without +knowing it, and looked round upon all the people, who were watching +her with various looks of pity and curiosity and spectator-interest. +Mr Waters had stopped speaking, and the terrible stranger made a step +forward with an air that identified him. It was at him that Mr Proctor +was staring, who cleared his voice a great many times, and came +forward to the middle of the room and looked as if he meant to speak; +and upon him every eye was fixed except Mr Wentworth's, who was +watching Lucy, and Miss Wodehouse's, which were hidden in her hands. +"We never had a brother," she repeated, faltering; and then, in the +extremity of her wonder and excitement, Lucy turned round, without +knowing it, to the man whom her heart instinctively appealed to. "Is +it true?" she said. She held out her hands to him with a kind of +entreaty not to say so. Mr Wentworth made no reply to her question. He +said only, "Let me take you away--it is too much for you," bending +down over her, without thinking what he did, and drawing her hand +through his arm. "She is not able for any more," said the Curate, +hurriedly; "afterwards we can explain to her." If he could have +remembered anything about himself at the moment, it is probable that +he would have denied himself the comfort of supporting Lucy--he, a man +under ban; but he was thinking only of her, as he stood facing them +all with her arm drawn through his; upon which conjunction the Rector +and the late Rector looked with a grim aspect, disposed to interfere, +but not knowing how. + +"All this may be very interesting to you," said the stranger out of +his beard; "if Lucy don't know her brother, it is no fault of mine. Mr +Waters has only said half he has got to say; and as for the rest, to +sum it up in half-a-dozen words, I'm very glad to see you in my house, +gentlemen, and I hope you will make yourselves at home. Where nobody +understands, a man has to speak plain. I've been turned out all my +life and, by Jove! I don't mean to stand it any longer. The girls can +have what their father's left them," said the vagabond, in his moment +of triumph. "They aint my business no more than I was theirs. The +property is freehold, and Waters is aware that I'm the heir." + +Saying this, Wodehouse drew a chair to the table, and sat down with +emphasis. He was the only man seated in the room, and he kept his +place in his sullen way amid the excited group which gathered round +him. As for Miss Wodehouse, some sense of what had happened penetrated +even her mind. She too rose up and wiped her tears from her face, and +looked round, pale and scared, to the Curate. "I was thinking--of +speaking to Lucy. I meant to ask her--to take you back, Tom," said the +elder sister. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, tell me, for heaven's sake, what does +it mean?" + +"If I had only been permitted to explain," said Mr Waters; "my worthy +partner died intestate--his son is his natural heir. Perhaps we need not +detain the ladies longer, now that they understand it. All the rest can +be better arranged with their representative. I am very sorry to add to +their sufferings today," said the polite lawyer, opening the door; +"everything else can be made the subject of an arrangement." He held the +door open with a kind of civil coercion compelling their departure. The +familiar room they were in no longer belonged to the Miss Wodehouses. +Lucy drew her arm out of Mr Wentworth's, and took her sister's hand. + +"You will be our representative," she said to him, out of the fulness +of her heart. When the door closed, the Perpetual Curate took up his +position, facing them all with looks more lofty than belonged even to +his Wentworth blood. They had kept him from exercising his office at +his friend's grave, but nobody could take from him the still nobler +duty of defending the oppressed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +When the door closed upon Lucy and her sister, Mr Wentworth stood by +himself, facing the other people assembled. The majority of them were +more surprised, more shocked, than he was; but they were huddled +together in their wonder at the opposite end of the table, and had +somehow a confused, half-conscious air of being on the other side. + +"It's a very extraordinary revelation that has just been made to us," +said Dr Marjoribanks. "I am throwing no doubt upon it, for my part; but +my conviction was, that Tom Wodehouse died in the West Indies. He was +just the kind of man to die in the West Indies. If it's you," said the +Doctor, with a growl of natural indignation, "you have the constitution +of an elephant. You should have been dead ten years ago, at the very +least; and it appears to me there would be some difficulty in proving +identity, if anybody would take up that view of the question." As he +spoke, Dr Marjoribanks walked round the new-comer, looking at him with +medical criticism. The Doctor's eyes shot out fiery hazel gleams as he +contemplated the heavy figure. "More appearance than reality," he +muttered to himself, with a kind of grim satisfaction, poising a +forefinger in air, as if to prove the unwholesome flesh; and then he +went round to the other elbow of the unexpected heir. "The thing is now, +what you mean to do for them, to repair your father's neglect," he said, +tapping peremptorily on Wodehouse's arm. + +"There is something else to be said in the mean time," said Mr +Wentworth. "I must know precisely how it is that a state of affairs so +different from anything Mr Wodehouse could have intended has come about. +The mere absence of a will does not seem to me to explain it. I should +like to have Mr Brown's advice--for my own satisfaction, if nothing +else." + +"The parson has got nothing to do with it, that I can see," said +Wodehouse, "unless he was looking for a legacy, or that sort of thing. +As for the girls, I don't see what right I have to be troubled; they +took deuced little trouble with me. Perhaps they'd have taken me in as +a sort of footman without pay--you heard what they said, Waters? By +Jove! I'll serve Miss Mary out for that," said the vagabond. Then he +paused a little, and, looking round him, moderated his tone. "I've +been badly used all my life," said the prodigal son. "They would never +give me a hearing. They say I did heaps of things I never dreamt of. +Mary aint above thinking of her own interest--" + +Here Mr Proctor came forward from the middle of the room where he had +been standing in a perplexed manner since the ladies went away. +"Hold--hold your tongue, sir!" said the late Rector; "haven't you done +enough injury already--" When he had said so much, he stopped as +abruptly as he had begun, and seemed to recollect all at once that he +had no title to interfere. + +"By Jove!" said Wodehouse, "you don't seem to think I know what +belongs to me, or who belongs to me. Hold _your_ tongue, Waters; I can +speak for myself. I've been long enough snubbed by everybody that had +a mind. I don't mean to put up with this sort of thing any longer. Any +man who pleases can consult John Brown. I recollect John Brown as well +as anybody in Carlingford. It don't matter to me what he says, or what +anybody says. The girls are a parcel of girls, and I am my father's +son, as it happens. I should have thought the parson had enough on his +hands for one while," said the new heir, in the insolence of triumph. +"He tried patronising me, but that wouldn't answer. Why, there's his +brother, Jack Wentworth, his elder brother, come down here purposely +to manage matters for me. He's the eldest son, by Jove! and one of the +greatest swells going. He has come down here on purpose to do the +friendly thing by me. We're great friends, by Jove! Jack Wentworth and +I; and yet here's a beggarly younger brother, that hasn't a penny--" + +"Wodehouse," said Mr Wentworth, with some contempt, "sit down and be +quiet. You and I have some things to talk of which had better not be +discussed in public. Leave Jack Wentworth's name alone, if you are +wise, and don't imagine that I am going to bear your punishment. Be +silent, sir!" cried the Curate, sternly; "do you suppose I ask any +explanations from you? Mr Waters, I want to hear how this has come +about? When I saw you in this man's interest some time ago, you were +not so friendly to him. Tell me how it happens that he is now your +client, and that you set him forth as the heir!" + +"By Jove, the parson has nothing to do with it! Let him find it out," +muttered Wodehouse in his beard; but the words were only half audible, +and the vagabond's shabby soul was cowed in spite of himself. He gave +the lawyer a furtive thrust in the arm as he spoke, and looked at him +a little anxiously; for the position of a man standing lawfully on his +natural rights was new to Wodehouse; and all his certainty of the +facts did not save him from a sensation of habit which suggested that +close examination was alarming, and that something might still be +found out. As for Mr Waters, he looked with placid contempt at the +man, who was not respectable, and still had the instincts of a +vagabond in his heart. + +"I am perfectly ready to explain," said the irreproachable solicitor, +who was quite secure in his position. "The tone of the request, +however, might be modified a little; and as I don't, any more than Mr +Wodehouse, see exactly what right Mr Wentworth has to demand--" + +"I ask an explanation, not on my own behalf, but for the Miss +Wodehouses, who have made me their deputy," said the Curate, "for +their satisfaction, and that I may consult Mr Brown. You seem to +forget that all _he_ gains they lose; which surely justifies their +representative in asking how did it come about?" + +It was at this point that all the other gentlemen present pressed +closer, and evinced an intention to take part. Dr Marjoribanks was the +first to speak. He took a pinch of snuff, and while he consumed it +looked from under his grizzled sandy eyebrows with a perplexing +mixture of doubt and respect at the Perpetual Curate. He was a man of +some discrimination in his way, and the young man's lofty looks +impressed him a little in spite of himself. + +"Not to interrupt the explanation," said Dr Marjoribanks, "which we'll +all be glad to hear--but Mr Wentworth's a young man, not possessed, so +far as I am aware, of any particular right;--except that he has been +very generous and prompt in offering his services," said the Doctor, +moved to the admission by a fiery glance from the Curate's eye, which +somehow did not look like the eye of a guilty man. "I was thinking, an +old man, and an old friend, like myself, might maybe be a better +guardian for the ladies' interests--" + +Mr Proctor, who had been listening very anxiously, was seized with a +cough at this moment, which drowned out the Doctor's words. It was a +preparatory cough, and out of it the late Rector rushed into speech. +"I have come from--from Oxford to be of use," said the new champion. +"My time is entirely at my own--at Miss Wodehouse's--at the Miss +Wodehouses' disposal. I am most desirous to be of use," said Mr +Proctor, anxiously. And he advanced close to the table to prefer his +claim. + +"Such a discussion seems quite unnecessary," said Mr Wentworth, with +some haughtiness. "I shall certainly do in the mean time what has been +intrusted to me. At present we are simply losing time." + +"But--" said the Rector. The word was not of importance nor uttered +with much resolution, but it arrested Mr Wentworth more surely than +the shout of a multitude. He turned sharp round upon his adversary, +and said "Well?" with an air of exasperation; while Wodehouse, who had +been lounging about the room in a discomfited condition, drew near to +listen. + +"I am comparatively a stranger to the Miss Wodehouses," said Mr +Morgan; "still I am their clergyman; and I think with Dr Marjoribanks, +that a young man like Mr Wentworth, especially a man so seriously +compromised--" + +"Oh, stop! I do think you are all a great deal too hard upon Mr +Wentworth," said the lawyer, with a laugh of toleration, which +Wodehouse echoed behind him with a sense of temerity that made his +laughter all the louder. He was frightened, but he was glad to make +himself offensive, according to his nature. Mr Wentworth stood alone, +for his part, and had to put up with the laugh as he best could. + +"If any one here wishes to injure me with the Miss Wodehouses, an +opportunity may easily be found," said the Curate, with as much +composure as he could muster; "and I am ready to relinquish my charge +when they call on me to do so. In the mean time, this is not the place +to investigate my conduct. Sit down, sir, and let us be free of your +interference for this moment at least," he said, fiercely, turning to +the new heir. "I warn you again, you have nothing but justice to expect +at my hands. Mr Waters, we wait your explanations." He was the tallest +man in the room, which perhaps had something to do with it; the +youngest, best born, and best endowed. That he would have carried the +day triumphantly in the opinion of any popular audience, there could be +no kind of doubt. Even in this middle-aged unimpressionable assembly, +his indignant self-control had a certain influence. When he drew a chair +towards the table and seated himself, the others sat down unawares, and +the lawyer began his story without any further interruption. The +explanation of all was, that Mr Wodehouse, like so many men, had an +ambition to end his days as a country gentleman. He had set his heart +for years on an estate in the neighbourhood of Carlingford, and had just +completed his long-contemplated purchase at the moment of his last +seizure. Nobody knew, except the Curate and the lawyer, what the cause +of that seizure was. They exchanged looks without being aware of it, and +Wodehouse, still more deeply conscious, uttered, poor wretch! a kind of +gasp, which sounded like a laugh to the other horrified spectators. +After all, it was his crime which had brought him his good fortune, +for there had been an early will relating to property which existed +no longer--property which had been altogether absorbed in the +newly-acquired estate. "I have no doubt my late excellent partner would +have made a settlement had the time been permitted him," said Mr Waters. +"I have not the slightest doubt as to his intentions; but the end was +very unexpected at the last. I suppose death always is unexpected when +it comes," said the lawyer, with a little solemnity, recollecting that +three of his auditors were clergymen. "The result is painful in many +respects; but law is law, and such accidents cannot be entirely avoided. +With the exception of a few trifling personal matters, and the +furniture, and a little money at the bank, there is nothing but freehold +property, and of course the son takes that. I can have no possible +objection to your consulting Mr Brown; but Mr Brown can give you no +further information." If there had been any little hope of possible +redress lingering in the mind of the perplexed assembly, this brought it +to a conclusion. The heir, who had been keeping behind with an impulse +of natural shame, came back to the table when his rights were so clearly +established. He did not know how to behave himself with a good grace, +but he was disposed to be conciliatory, as far as he could, especially +as it began to be disagreeably apparent that the possession of his +father's property might not make any particular difference in the +world's opinion of himself. + +"It aint my fault, gentlemen," said Wodehouse. "Of course, I expected +the governor to take care of the girls. I've been kept out of it for +twenty years, and that's a long time. By Jove! I've never known what +it was to be a rich man's son since I was a lad. I don't say I won't +do something for the girls if they behave to me as they ought; and as +for you, gentlemen, who were friends of the family, I'll always be +glad to see you in my house," he said, with an attempt at a friendly +smile. But nobody took any notice of the overtures of the new heir. + +"Then they have nothing to depend upon," said Mr Proctor, whose agitated +looks were the most inexplicable feature of the whole--"no shelter even; +no near relations I ever heard of--and nobody to take care of Lucy if--" +Here he stopped short and went to the window, and stood looking out in a +state of great bewilderment. The late Rector was so buried in his own +thoughts, whatever they might be, that he did not pay any attention to +the further conversation which went on behind him--of which, however, +there was very little--and only came to himself when he saw Mr Wentworth +go rapidly through the garden. Mr Proctor rushed after the Perpetual +Curate. He might be seriously compromised, as Mr Morgan said; but he +was more sympathetic than anybody else in Carlingford under present +circumstances; and Mr Proctor, in his middle-aged uncertainty, could not +help having a certain confidence in the young man's promptitude and +vigour. He made up to him out of breath when he was just entering George +Street. Carlingford had paid what respect it could to Mr Wodehouse's +memory; and now the shutters were being taken off the shop-windows, and +people in general were very willing to reward themselves for their +self-denial by taking what amusement they could out of the reports +which already began to be circulated about the way in which the Miss +Wodehouses were "left." When the late Rector came up with the Perpetual +Curate opposite Masters's shop there was quite a group of people there +who noted the conjunction. What could it mean? Was there going to be a +compromise? Was Carlingford to be shamefully cheated out of the +"investigation," and all the details about Rosa Elsworthy, for which it +hungered? Mr Proctor put his arm through that of the Curate of St +Roque's, and permitted himself to be swept along by the greater impetus +of the young man's rapid steps, for at this moment, being occupied with +more important matters, the late Rector had altogether forgotten Mr +Wentworth's peculiar position, and the cloud that hung over him. + +"What a very extraordinary thing!" said Mr Proctor. "What could have +betrayed old Wodehouse into such a blunder! He must have known well +enough. This son--this fellow--has been living all the time, of +course. It is quite inexplicable to me," said the aggrieved man. "Do +you know if there are any aunts or uncles--any people whom poor little +Lucy might live with, for instance, if--" And here Mr Proctor once +more came to a dead stop. Mr Wentworth, for his part, was so far from +thinking of her as "poor little Lucy," that he was much offended by +the unnecessary commiseration. + +"The sisters will naturally remain together," he said; "and, of +course, there are many people who would be but too glad to receive +them. Miss Wodehouse is old enough to protect her sister--though, of +course, the balance of character is on the other side," said the +inconsiderate young man; at which Mr Proctor winced, but made no +definite reply. + +"So you think there are people she could go to?" said the late Rector, +after a pause. "The thing altogether is so unexpected, you know. My +idea was--" + +"I beg your pardon," said the Curate; "I must see Mr Brown, and this +is about the best time to find him at home. Circumstances make it +rather awkward for me to call at the Rectory just now," he continued, +with a smile smile--"circumstances over which I have no control, as +people say; but perhaps you will stay long enough to see me put on my +trial. Good-bye now." + +"Stop a moment," said Mr Proctor; "about this trial. Don't be +affronted--I have nothing to do with it, you know; and Morgan means +very well, though he's stupid enough. I should like to stand your +friend, Wentworth; you know I would. I wish you'd yield to tell me all +about it. If I were to call on you to-night after dinner--for perhaps +it would put Mrs Hadwin out to give me a chop?" + +The Curate laughed in spite of himself. "Fellows of All-Souls don't +dine on chops," he said, unable to repress a gleam of amusement; "but +come at six, and you shall have something to eat, as good as I can +give you. As for telling you all about it," said Mr Wentworth, "all +the world is welcome to know as much as I know." + +Mr Proctor laid his hand on the young man's arm, by way of soothing +him. "We'll talk it all over," he said, confidentially; "both this +affair, and--and the other. We have a good deal in common, if I am not +much mistaken, and I trust we shall always be good friends," said the +inexplicable man. His complexion heightened considerably after he had +made this speech, which conveyed nothing but amazement to the mind of +the Curate; and then he shook hands hastily, and hurried back again +towards Grange Lane. If there had been either room or leisure in Frank +Wentworth's mind for other thoughts, he might have laughed or puzzled +over the palpable mystery; but as it was, he had dismissed the late +Rector entirely from his mind before he reached the door of Mr Brown's +room, where the lawyer was seated alone. John Brown, who was +altogether a different type of man from Mr Waters, held out his hand to +his visitor, and did not look at all surprised to see him. "I have +expected a call from you," he said, "now that your old friend is gone, +from whom you would naturally have sought advice in the circumstances. +Tell me what I can do for you;" and it became apparent to Mr Wentworth +that it was his own affairs which were supposed to be the cause of his +application. It may be supposed after this that the Curate stated his +real object very curtly and clearly without any unnecessary words, to +the unbounded amazement of the lawyer, who, being a busy man, and not a +friend of the Wodehouses, had as yet heard nothing of the matter. Mr +Brown, however, could only confirm what had been already said. "If it is +really freehold property, and no settlement made, there cannot be any +question about it," he said; "but I will see Waters to-morrow and make +all sure, if you wish it; though he dares not mislead you on such a +point. I am very sorry for the ladies, but I don't see what can be done +for them," said Mr Brown; "and about yourself, Mr Wentworth?" Perhaps it +was because of a certain look of genuine confidence and solicitude in +John Brown's honest face that the Curate's heart was moved. For the +first time he condescended to discuss the matter--to tell the lawyer, +with whom indeed he had but a very slight acquaintance (for John Brown +lived at the other end of Carlingford, and could not be said to be in +society), all he knew about Rosa Elsworthy, and something of his +suspicions. Mr Brown, for his part, knew little of the Perpetual Curate +in his social capacity, but he knew about Wharfside, which was more to +the purpose; and having himself been truly in love once in his life, +commonplace as he looked, this honest man did not believe it possible +that Lucy Wodehouse's representative could be Rosa Elsworthy's +seducer--the two things looked incompatible to the straightforward +vision of John Brown. + +"I'll attend at their investigation," he said, with a smile, "which, +if you were not particularly interested, you'd find not bad fun, Mr +Wentworth. These private attempts at law are generally very amusing. +I'll attend and look after your interests; but you had better see that +this Tom Wodehouse,--I remember the scamp--he used to be bad enough +for anything,--don't give you the slip and get out of the way. Find +out if you can where he has been living these two days. I'll attend to +the other matter, too," the lawyer said, cheerfully, shaking hands +with his new client; and the Curate went away with a vague feeling +that matters were about to come right somehow, at which he smiled when +he came to think of it, and saw how little foundation he had for such +a hope. But his hands were full of business, and he had no time to +consider his own affairs at this particular moment. It seemed to him a +kind of profanity to permit Lucy to remain under the same roof with +Wodehouse, even though he was her brother; and Mr Proctor's inquiries +had stimulated his own feeling. There was a certain pleasure, besides, +in postponing himself and his own business, however important, to her +and her concerns; and it was with this idea that he proceeded to the +house of his aunts, and was conducted to a little private sitting-room +appropriated to the sole use of Miss Leonora, for whom he had asked. +As he passed the door of the drawing-room, which was ajar, he glanced +in, and saw his aunt Dora bending over somebody who wept, and heard a +familiar voice pouring out complaints, the general sound of which was +equally familiar, though he could not make out a word of the special +subject. Frank was startled, notwithstanding his preoccupations, for +it was the same voice which had summoned him to Wentworth Rectory +which now poured out its lamentations in the Miss Wentworths' +drawing-room in Carlingford. Evidently some new complication had +arisen in the affairs of the family. Miss Leonora was in her room, +busy with the books of a Ladies' Association, of which she was +treasurer. She had a letter before her from the missionary employed by +the society, which was a very interesting letter, and likely to make a +considerable sensation when read before the next meeting. Miss Leonora +was taking the cream off this piece of correspondence, enjoying at +once itself and the impression it would make. She was slightly annoyed +when her nephew came in to disturb her. "The others are in the +drawing-room, as usual," she said. "I can't imagine what Lewis could +be thinking of, to bring you here. Louisa's coming can make no +difference to you." + +"So Louisa has come? I thought I heard her voice. What has happened to +bring Louisa here?" said the Curate, who was not sorry to begin with +an indifferent subject. Miss Leonora shook her head and took up her +letter. + +"She is in the drawing-room," said the strong-minded aunt. "If you +have no particular business with me, Frank, you had better ask +herself: of course, if you want me, I am at your service--but +otherwise I am busy, you see." + +"And so am I," said Mr Wentworth, "as busy as a man can be whose +character is at stake. Do you know I am to be tried to-morrow? But +that is not what I came to ask you about." + +"I wish you would _tell_ me about it," said Miss Leonora. She got up +from her writing-table and from the missionary's letter, and abandoned +herself to the impulses of nature. "I have heard disagreeable rumours. +I don't object to your reserve, Frank, but things seem to be getting +serious. What does it mean?" + +The Curate had been much braced in his inner man by his short +interview with John Brown; that, and the representative position he +held, had made a wonderful change in his feelings: besides, a matter +which was about to become so public could not be ignored. "It means +only that a good many people in Carlingford think me a villain," said +Mr Wentworth: "it is not a flattering idea; and it seems to me, I +must say, an illogical induction from the facts of my life. Still it +is true that some people think so--and I am to be tried to-morrow. But +in the mean time, something else has happened. I know you are a good +woman, aunt Leonora. We don't agree in many things, but that does not +matter. There are two ladies in Carlingford who up to this day have +been rich, well off, well cared for, and who have suddenly lost all +their means, their protector, even their home. They have no relations +that I know of. One of them is good for any exertion that may be +necessary," said the Curate, his voice softening with a far-off +masculine suggestion as of tears; "but she is young--too young to +contend with the world--and she is now suffering her first grief. The +other is old enough, but not good for much--" + +"You mean the two Miss Wodehouses?" said Miss Leonora. "Their father +has turned out to be--bankrupt?--or something?--" + +"Worse than bankrupt," said the Curate: "there is a brother who takes +everything. Will you stand by them--offer them shelter?--I mean for a +time. I don't know anybody I should care to apply to but you." + +Miss Leonora paused and looked at her nephew. "First tell me what you +have to do with them," she asked. "If there is a brother, he is their +natural protector--certainly not you--unless there is something I +don't know of. Frank, you know you can't marry," said Miss Leonora, +with a little vehemence, once more looking in her nephew's face. + +"No," said Frank, with momentary bitterness; "I am not likely to make +any mistake about that--at present, at least. The brother is a +reprobate of whom they know nothing. I have no right to consider +myself their protector--but I am their friend at least," said the +Curate, breaking off with again that softening in his voice. "They may +have a great many friends, for anything I know; but I have confidence +in you, aunt Leonora: you are not perhaps particularly sympathetic," +he went on, with a laugh; "you don't condole with Louisa, for +instance; but I could trust you with--" + +"Lucy Wodehouse!" said Miss Leonora; "I don't dislike her at all, if +she would not wear that ridiculous grey cloak; but young men don't +take such an interest in young women without some reason for it. What +are we to do for you, Frank?" said the strong-minded woman, looking at +him with a little softness. Miss Leonora, perhaps, was not used to be +taken into anybody's confidence. It moved her more than might have +been expected from so self-possessed a woman. Perhaps no other act on +the part of her nephew could have had so much effect, had he been able +to pursue his advantage, upon the still undecided fate of Skelmersdale. + +"Nothing," said the Curate. He met her eye very steadily, but she was +too clear-sighted to believe that he felt as calmly as he looked. +"Nothing," he repeated again--"I told you as much before. I have been +slandered here, and here I must remain. There are no parsonages or +paradises for me." + +With which speech Mr Wentworth shook hands with his aunt and +went away. He left Miss Leonora as he had left her on various +occasions--considerably confused in her ideas. She could not enjoy any +longer the cream of the missionary's letter. When she tried to resume +her reading, her attention flagged over it. After a while she put on her +bonnet and went out, after a little consultation with her maid, who +assisted her in the housekeeping department. The house was tolerably +full at the present moment, but it was elastic. She was met at the green +door of Mr Wodehouse's garden by the new proprietor, who stared +excessively, and did not know what to make of such an apparition. "Jack +Wentworth's aunt, by Jove!" he said to himself, and took off his hat, +meaning to show her "a little civility." Miss Leonora thought him one of +the attendants at the recent ceremonial, and passed him without any +ceremony. She was quite intent upon her charitable mission. Mr +Wentworth's confidence was justified. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + +Mr Wentworth's day had been closely occupied up to this point. He had +gone through a great many emotions, and transacted a good deal of +business, and he went home with the comparative ease of a man whose +anxieties are relieved, not by any real deliverance, but by the +soothing influence of fatigue and the sense of something accomplished. +He was not in reality in a better position than when he left his house +in the morning, bitterly mortified, injured, and wounded at the +tenderest point. Things were very much the same as they had been, but +a change had come over the feelings of the Perpetual Curate. He +remembered with a smile, as he went down Grange Lane, that Mr Proctor +was to dine with him, and that he had rashly undertaken to have +something better than a chop. It was a very foolish engagement under +the circumstances. Mr Wentworth was cogitating within himself whether +he could make an appeal to the sympathies of his aunt's cook for +something worthy of the sensitive palate of a Fellow of All-Souls, +when all such thoughts were suddenly driven out of his mind by the +apparition of his brother Gerald--perhaps the last man in the world +whom he could have expected to see in Carlingford. Gerald was coming +up Grange Lane in his meditative way from Mrs Hadwin's door. To look +at him was enough to reveal to any clear-sighted spectator the +presence of some perpetual argument in his mind. Though he had come +out to look for Frank, his eyes were continually forsaking his +intention, catching spots of lichen on the wall and clumps of herbage +on the roadside. The long discussion had become so familiar to him, +that even now, when his mind was made up, he could not relinquish the +habit which possessed him. When he perceived Frank, he quickened his +steps. They met with only such a modified expression of surprise on +the part of the younger brother as was natural to a meeting of English +kinsfolk. "I heard Louisa's voice in my aunt's drawing-room," said +Frank; "but, oddly enough, it never occurred to me that you might have +come with her;" and then Gerald turned with the Curate. When the +ordinary family questions were asked and answered, a silence ensued +between the two. As for Frank, in the multiplicity of his own cares, +he had all but forgotten his brother; and Gerald's mind, though full +of anxiety, had something of the calm which might be supposed to +subdue the senses of a dying man. He was on the eve of a change, which +appeared to him almost as great as death; and the knowledge of that +gave him a curious stillness of composure--almost a reluctance to +speak. Strangely enough, each brother at this critical moment felt it +necessary to occupy himself with the affairs of the other, and to +postpone the consideration of his own. + +"I hope you have changed your mind a little since we last met," said +Frank; "your last letter--" + +"We'll talk of that presently," said the elder brother; "in the mean +time I want to know about _you_. What is all this? My father is in a +great state of anxiety. He does not seem to have got rid of his fancy +that you were somehow involved with Jack--and Jack is here," said +Gerald, with a look which betokened some anxiety on his own part. "I +wish you would give me your confidence. Right or wrong, I have come to +stand by you, Frank," said the Rector of Wentworth, rather mournfully. +He had been waiting at Mrs Hadwin's for the last two hours. He had +seen that worthy woman's discomposed looks, and felt that she did not +shake her head for nothing. Jack had been the bugbear of the family +for a long time past. Gerald was conscious of adding heavily at the +present moment to the Squire's troubles. Charley was at Malta, in +indifferent health; all the others were boys. There was only Frank to +give the father a little consolation; and now Frank, it appeared, was +most deeply compromised of all; no wonder Gerald was sad. And then he +drew forth the anonymous letter which had startled all the Wentworths +on the previous night. "This is written by somebody who hates you," +said the elder brother; "but I suppose there must be some meaning in +it. I wish you would be frank with me, and tell me what it is." + +This appeal had brought them to Mrs Hadwin's door, which the Curate +opened with his key before he answered his brother. The old lady +herself was walking in the garden in a state of great agitation, with +a shawl thrown over the best cap, which she had put on in honour of +the stranger. Mrs Hadwin's feelings were too much for her at that +moment. Her head was nodding with the excitement of age, and injured +virtue trembled in every line of her face. "Mr Wentworth, I cannot put +up with it any longer; it is a thing I never was used to," she cried, +as soon as the Curate came within hearing. "I have shut my eyes to a +great deal, but I cannot bear it any longer. If I had been a common +lodging-house keeper, I could not have been treated with less respect; +but to be outraged--to be insulted--" + +"What is the matter, Mrs Hadwin?" said Mr Wentworth, in dismay. + +"Sir," said the old lady, who was trembling with passion, "you may +think it no matter to turn a house upside down as mine has been since +Easter; to bring all sorts of disreputable people about--persons whom +a gentlewoman in my position ought never to have heard of. I received +your brother into my house," cried Mrs Hadwin, turning to Gerald, +"because he was a clergyman and I knew his family, and hoped to find +him one whose principles I could approve of. I have put up with a +great deal, Mr Wentworth, more than I could tell to anybody. I took +in his friend when he asked me, and gave him the spare room, though it +was against my judgment. I suffered a man with a beard to be seen +stealing in and out of my house in the evening, as if he was afraid to +be seen. You gentlemen may not think much of that, but it was a +terrible thing for a lady in my position, unprotected, and not so well +off as I once was. It made my house like a lodging-house, and so my +friends told me; but I was so infatuated I put up with it all for Mr +Frank's sake. But there _is_ a limit," said the aggrieved woman. "I +would not have believed it--I _could_ not have believed it of you--not +whatever people might say: to think of that abandoned disgraceful girl +coming openly to my door--" + +"Good heavens!" cried the Curate: he seized Mrs Hadwin's hand, +evidently forgetting everything else she had said. "What girl?--whom +do you mean? For heaven's sake compose yourself and answer me. Who was +it? Rosa Elsworthy? This is a matter of life and death for me," cried +the young man. "Speak quickly: when was it?--where is she? For +heaven's sake, Mrs Hadwin, speak--" + +"Let me go, sir!" cried the indignant old lady; "let me go this +instant--this is insult upon insult. I appeal to you, Mr Gerald--to +think I should ever be supposed capable of encouraging such a horrid +shameless--! How dare you--how dare you name such a creature to me?" +exclaimed Mrs Hadwin, with hysterical sobs. "If it were not for your +family, you should never enter my house again. Oh, thank you, Mr +Gerald Wentworth--indeed I am not able to walk. I am sure I don't want +to grieve you about your brother--I tried not to believe it--I tried +as long as I could not to believe it--but you hear how he speaks. Do +you think, sir, I would for a moment permit such a creature to enter +my door?" she cried again, turning to Frank Wentworth as she leaned +upon his brother's arm. + +"I don't know what kind of a creature the poor girl is," said the +Curate; "but I know that if you had taken her in, it would have saved +me much pain and trouble. Tell me, at least, when she came, and who +saw her--or if she left any message? Perhaps Sarah will tell me," he +said, with a sigh of despair, as he saw that handmaiden hovering +behind. Sarah had been a little shy of Mr Wentworth since the night +Wodehouse disappeared. She had betrayed herself to the Curate, and did +not like to remember the fact. Now she came up with a little toss of +her head and a sense of equality, primed and ready with her reply. + +"I hope I think more of myself than to take notice of any sich," said +Sarah; but her instincts were more vivid than those of her mistress, +and she could not refrain from particulars. "Them as saw her now, +wouldn't see much in her; I never see such a changed creature," said +Sarah; "not as I ever thought anything of her looks! a bit of a shawl +dragged around her, and her eyes as if they would jump out of her +head. Laws! she didn't get no satisfaction here," said the housemaid, +with a little triumph. + +"Silence, Sarah!" said Mrs Hadwin; "that is not a way to speak to your +clergyman. I'll go in, Mr Wentworth, please--I am not equal to so much +agitation. If Mr Frank will come indoors, I should be glad to have an +explanation--for this sort of thing cannot go on," said the old lady. +As for the Curate he did not pay the least attention either to the +disapproval or the impertinence. + +"At what time did she come?--which way did she go?--did she leave any +message?" he repeated; "a moment's common-sense will be of more use +than all this indignation. It is of the greatest importance to me to +see Rosa Elsworthy. Here's how it is, Gerald," said the Curate, driven +to his wit's end; "a word from the girl is all I want to make an end +of all this--this disgusting folly--and you see how I am thwarted. +Perhaps they will answer _you_. When did she come?--did she say +anything?" he cried, turning sharply upon Sarah, who, frightened by Mr +Wentworth's look, and dismayed to see her mistress moving away, and to +feel herself alone opposed to him, burst at last into an alarmed +statement. + +"Please, sir, it aint no fault of mine," said Sarah; "it was Missis as +saw her. She aint been gone not half an hour. It's all happened since +your brother left. She come to the side-door; Missis wouldn't hear +nothing she had got to say, nor let her speak. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't +you go after her!" cried the girl, following him to the side-door, to +which he rushed immediately. Not half an hour gone! Mr Wentworth burst +into the lane which led up to Grove Street, and where there was not a +soul to be seen. He went back to Grange Lane, and inspected every +corner where she could have hid herself. Then, after a pause, he +walked impetuously up the quiet road, and into Elsworthy's shop. Mrs +Elsworthy was there alone, occupying her husband's place, who had gone +as usual to the railway for the evening papers. She jumped up from the +high stool she was seated on when the Curate entered. "Good gracious, +Mr Wentworth!" cried the frightened woman, and instinctively called +the errand-boy, who was the only other individual within hearing. She +was unprotected, and quite unable to defend herself if he meant +anything; and it was impossible to doubt that there was meaning of the +most serious and energetic kind in Mr Wentworth's face. + +"Has Rosa come back?" he asked. "Is she here? Don't stare at me, but +speak. Has she come back? I have just heard that she was at my house +half an hour ago: have you got her safe?" + +It was at this moment that Wodehouse came lounging in, with his cigar +appearing in the midst of his beard, and a curious look of +self-exhibition and demonstration in his general aspect. When the +Curate, hearing the steps, turned round upon him, he fell back for a +moment, not expecting such an encounter. Then the vagabond recovered +himself, and came forward with the swagger which was his only +alternative. + +"I thought you weren't on good terms here," said Wodehouse; "who are you +asking after? It's a fine evening, and they don't seem up to much in my +house. I have asked Jack Wentworth to the Blue Boar at seven--will you +come? I don't want to bear any grudge. I don't know if they can cook +anything fit to be eaten in my house. It wasn't me you were asking +after?" The fellow came and stood close, shoulder to shoulder, by the +Perpetual Curate. "By Jove, sir! I've as good a right here as you--or +anywhere," he muttered, as Mr Wentworth withdrew from him. He had to say +it aloud to convince himself of the fact; for it was hard, after being +clandestine for half a lifetime, to move about freely in the daylight. +As for Mr Wentworth, he fixed his eyes full on the new-comer's face. + +"I want to know if Rosa has come home," he repeated, in the clearest +tones of his clear voice. "I am told she called at Mrs Hadwin's half +an hour ago. Has she come back?" + +He scarcely noticed Mrs Elsworthy's answer, for, in the mean time, the +cigar dropped out of Wodehouse's beard, out of his fingers. He made an +involuntary step back out of the Curate's way. "By Jove!" he exclaimed +to himself--the news was more important to him than to either of the +others. After a minute he turned his back upon them, and kicked the +cigar which he had dropped out into the street with much blundering +and unnecessary violence--but turned round and stopped short in this +occupation as soon as he heard Mrs Elsworthy's voice. + +"She hasn't come here," said that virtuous woman, sharply. "I've give +in to Elsworthy a deal, but I never said I'd give in to take her back. +She's been and disgraced us all; and she's not a drop's blood to me," +said Mrs Elsworthy. "Them as has brought her to this pass had best +look after her; I've washed my hands of Rosa, and all belonging to +her. She knows better than to come here." + +"Who's speaking of Rosa?" said Elsworthy, who just then came in with +his bundle of newspapers from the railway. "I might have know'd as it +was Mr Wentworth. Matters is going to be cleared, sir, between me and +you. If you was going to make a proposal, I aint revengeful; and I'm +open to any arrangement as is honourable, to save things coming afore +the public. I've been expecting of it. You may speak free, sir. You +needn't be afraid of me." + +"Fool!" said the Curate, hotly, "your niece has been seen in +Carlingford; she came to my door, I am told, about an hour ago. Give +up this folly, and let us make an effort to find her. I tell you she +came to my house--" + +"In course, sir," said Elsworthy; "it was the most naturalest place +for her to go. Don't you stand upon it no longer, as if you could +deceive folks. It will be your ruin, Mr Wentworth--you know that as +well as I do. I aint no fool but I'm open to a honourable proposal, I +am. It'll ruin you--ay, and I'll ruin you," cried Rosa's uncle, +hoarsely--"if you don't change your mind afore to-morrow. It's your +last chance, if you care for your character, is to-night." + +Mr Wentworth did not condescend to make any answer. He followed +Wodehouse, who had shuffled out after his cigar, and stopped him on +the step. "I wonder if it is any use appealing to your honour," he +said. "I suppose you were a gentleman once, and had the feelings of--" + +"By Jove! I'm as good a gentleman as you are," cried the new heir. "I +could buy you up--you and all that belongs to you, by Jove! I'm giving +Jack Wentworth a dinner at the Blue Boar to-night. I'm not a man to be +cross-questioned. It appears to me you have got enough to do if you +mind your own business," said Wodehouse, with a sneer. "You're in a +nice mess, though you are the parson. I told Jack Wentworth so last +night." + +The Curate stood on the step of Elsworthy's shop with his enemy +behind, and the ungrateful vagabond whom he had rescued and guarded, +standing in front of him, with that sneer on his lips. It was hard to +refrain from the natural impulse which prompted him to pitch the +vagabond out of his way. "Look here," he said, sharply, "you have not +much character to lose; but a scamp is a different thing from a +criminal. I will make the principal people in Carlingford aware what +were the precise circumstances under which you came here at Easter if +you do not immediately restore this unhappy girl to her friends. Do +you understand me? If it is not done at once I will make use of my +information--and you know what that means. You can defy me if you +please; but in that case you had better make up your mind to the +consequences; you will have to take your place as a--" + +"Stop!" cried Wodehouse, with a shiver. "We're not by ourselves--we're +in the public street. What do you mean by talking like that here? Come +to my house, Wentworth--there's a good fellow--I've ordered a +dinner--" + +"Be silent, sir!" said the Curate. "I give you till noon to-morrow; +after that I will spare you no longer. You understand what I mean. I +have been too merciful already. To-morrow, if everything is not +arranged to my satisfaction here--" + +"It was my own name," said Wodehouse, sullenly; "nobody can say it +wasn't my own name. You couldn't do me any harm--you know you +wouldn't, either, for the sake of the girls; I'll--I'll give them a +thousand pounds or so, if I find I can afford it. Come, you don't mean +that sort of thing, you know," said the conscious criminal; "you +wouldn't do me any harm." + +"If I have to fight for my own reputation I shall not spare you," +cried the Curate. "Mind what I say! You are safe till twelve o'clock +to-morrow; but after that I will have no mercy--not for your sisters' +sake, not for any inducement in the world. If you want to be known as +a--" + +"Oh Lord, don't speak so loud!--what do you mean? Wentworth, I say, +hist! Mr Wentworth! By Jove, he won't listen to me!" cried Wodehouse, +in an agony. When he found that the Curate was already out of hearing, +the vagabond looked round him on every side with his natural instinct +of suspicion. If he had known that Mr Wentworth was thinking only of +disgrace and the stern sentence of public opinion, Wodehouse could +have put up with it; but he himself, in his guilty imagination, jumped +at the bar and the prison which had haunted him for long. Somehow it +felt natural that such a Nemesis should come to him after the +morning's triumph. He stood looking after the Curate, guilty and +horror-stricken, till it occurred to him that he might be remarked; +and then he made a circuit past Elsworthy's shop-window as far as the +end of Prickett's Lane, where he ventured to cross over so as to get +to his own house. His own house!--the wretched thrill of terror that +went through him was a very sufficient offset against his momentary +triumph; and this was succeeded by a flush of rage as he thought of +the Curate's other information. What was to be done? Every moment was +precious; but he felt an instinctive horror of venturing out again in +the daylight. When it approached the hour at which he had ordered that +dinner at the Blue Boar, the humbled hero wrapped himself in an old +overcoat which he found in the hall, and slunk into the inn like the +clandestine wretch he was. He had no confidence in himself, but he had +confidence in Jack Wentworth. He might still be able to help his +unlucky associate out. + +When Mr Wentworth reached his rooms, he found that his guest had +arrived before him, and consequently the threatened explanation with +Mrs Hadwin was forestalled for that night. Mr Proctor and Gerald were +sitting together, not at all knowing what to talk about; for the late +Rector was aware that Frank Wentworth's brother was on the verge of +Rome, and was confused, and could not help feeling that his position +between a man on the point of perversion in an ecclesiastical point of +view, and another whose morals were suspected and whose character was +compromised, was, to say the least, a very odd position for a +clergyman of unblemished orthodoxy and respectability; besides, it was +embarrassing, when he had come for a very private consultation, to +find a stranger there before him. The Curate went in very full of what +had just occurred. The events of the last two or three hours had +worked a total change in his feelings. He was no longer the injured, +insulted, silent object of a petty but virulent persecution. The +contemptuous silence with which he had treated the scandal at first, +and the still more obstinate sense of wrong which latterly had shut +his lips and his heart, had given way to-day to warmer and more +generous emotions. What would have seemed to him in the morning only +the indignant reserve of a man unjustly suspected, appeared now a +foolish and unfriendly reticence. The only thing which restrained him +was a still lingering inclination to screen Wodehouse, if possible, +from a public exposure, which would throw shame upon his sisters as +well as himself. If any generosity, if any gentlemanly feeling, were +still left in the vagabond's soul, it was possible he might answer the +Curate's appeal; and Mr Wentworth felt himself bound to offer no +public explanation of the facts of the case until this last chance of +escape had been left for the criminal. But, so far as regarded +himself, his heart was opened, his wounded pride mollified, and he was +ready enough to talk of what had just happened, and to explain the +whole business to his anxious companions. When he joined them, indeed, +he was so full of it as almost to forget that he himself was still +believed the hero of the tale. "This unfortunate little girl has been +here, and I have missed her," he said, without in the least concealing +his vexation, and the excitement which his rapid walk had not subdued; +to the great horror of Mr Proctor, who tried all he could, by +telegraphic glances, to recall the young man to a sense of that fact +that Sarah was in the room. + +"I must say I think it is imprudent--highly imprudent," said the late +Rector: "they will call these women to prove that she has been here +again; and what conclusion but one can possibly be drawn from such a +fact? I am very sorry to see you so unguarded." He said this, seizing +the moment after Sarah had removed the salmon, which was very good, +and was served with a sauce which pleased Mr Proctor all the more that +he had not expected much from an impromptu dinner furnished by a +Perpetual Curate; but the fact was, that Gerald's arrival had +awakened Mrs Hadwin to a proper regard for her own credit, which was +at stake. + +When Sarah withdrew finally, and they were left alone, Frank Wentworth +gave the fullest explanation he was able to his surprised auditors. He +told them that it was Wodehouse, and not himself, whom Rosa had met in +the garden, and whom she had no doubt come to seek at this crisis of +their fortunes. There was not the least doubt in his own mind that +Wodehouse had carried her away, and hidden her somewhere close at +hand; and when he had given them all his reasons for thinking so, his +hearers were of the same opinion; but Mr Proctor continued very +doubtful and perplexed, clear though the story was. He sat silent, +brooding over the new mystery, while the brothers discussed the +original questions. + +"I cannot think why you did not go to the Rector at once and tell him +all this," said Gerald. "It is always best to put a stop to gossip. At +least you will see him to-morrow, or let me see him--" + +"The Rector is deeply prejudiced against me," said the Perpetual Curate, +"for a very unworthy reason, if he has any reason at all. He has never +asked me to explain. I shall not interfere with his investigation," said +the young man, haughtily; "let it go on. I have been working here for +five years, and the Carlingford people ought to know better. As for the +Rector, I will make no explanations to him." + +"It is not for the Rector, it is for yourself," said Gerald; "and this +fellow Wodehouse surely has no claim--" + +But at the sound of this name, Mr Proctor roused himself from his +pause of bewilderment, and took the words out of Mr Wentworth's mouth. + +"He has been here since Easter; but why?" said the late Rector. "I +cannot fancy why Mr Wodehouse's son should come to you when his +father's house was so near. In hiding? why was he in hiding? He is +evidently a scamp," said Mr Proctor, growing red; "but that is not so +unusual. I don't understand--I am bound to say I don't understand it. +He may be the culprit, as you say; but what was he doing here?" + +"I took him in at Miss Wodehouse's request. I cannot explain +why--_she_ will tell you," said the Curate. "As for Wodehouse, I have +given him another chance till twelve o'clock to-morrow: if he does not +make his appearance then--" + +Mr Proctor had listened only to the first words; he kept moving +uneasily in his seat while the Curate spoke. Then he broke in, "It +appears I cannot see Miss Wodehouse," he said, with an injured tone; +"she does not see any one. I cannot ask for any explanation; but it +seems to me most extraordinary. It is three months since Easter. If he +had been living with you all the time, there must have been some +occasion for it. I don't know what to think, for my part; and yet I +always imagined that I was considered a friend of the family," said +the late Rector, with an aggrieved look. He took his glass of claret +very slowly, looking at it as if expecting to see in the purple +reflection some explanation of the mystery. As for Gerald Wentworth, +he relapsed into silence when he found that his arguments did not +alter Frank's decision; he too was disappointed not to find his +brother alone. He sat with his eyes cast down, and a singular look of +abstraction on his face. He had got into a new atmosphere--a different +world. When his anxieties about Frank were satisfied, Gerald withdrew +himself altogether from the little party. He sat there, it is true, +not unaware of what was going on, and even from time to time joining +in the conversation; but already a subtle change had come over Gerald. +He might have been repeating an "office," or carrying on a course of +private devotions, from his looks. Rome had established her dualism in +his mind. He had no longer the unity of an Englishman trained to do +one thing at a time, and to do it with his might. He sat in a kind of +languor, carrying on within himself a thread of thought, to which his +external occupation gave no clue; yet at the same time suffering no +indication to escape him of the real condition of his mind. The three +were consequently far from being good company. Mr Proctor, who was +more puzzled than ever as to the true state of the case, could not +unburden himself of his own intentions as he had hoped to do; and +after a while the Curate, too, was silent, finding his statements +received, as he thought, but coldly. It was a great relief to him when +he was called out by Sarah to speak to some one, though his absence +made conversation still more difficult for the two who were left +behind. Mr Proctor, from the other side of the table, regarded Gerald +with a mixture of wonder and pity. He did not feel quite sure that it +was not his duty to speak to him--to expound the superior catholicity +of the Church of England, and call his attention to the schismatic +peculiarities of the Church of Rome. "It might do him good to read +Burgon's book," Mr Proctor said to himself; and by way of introducing +that subject, he began to talk of Italy, which was not a bad device, +and did credit to his invention. Meanwhile the Curate had gone to his +study, wondering a little who could want him, and, to his utter +bewilderment, found his aunt Dora, veiled, and wrapped up in a great +shawl. + +"Oh, Frank, my dear, don't be angry! I couldn't help coming," cried +Miss Dora. "Come and sit down by me here. I slipped out and did not +even put on my bonnet, that nobody might know. Oh, Frank, I don't know +what to say. I am so afraid you have been wicked. I have just seen +that--that girl. I saw her out of my window. Frank! don't jump up like +that. I can't go on telling you if you don't stay quiet here." + +"Aunt, let me understand you," cried the Curate. "You saw whom? Rosa +Elsworthy? Don't drive me desperate, as all the others do with their +stupidity. You saw her? when?--where?" + +"Oh Frank, Frank! to think it should put you in such a way--such a +girl as that! Oh, my dear boy, if I had thought you cared so much, I +never would have come to tell you. It wasn't to encourage you--it +wasn't. Oh, Frank, Frank! that it should come to this!" cried Miss +Dora, shrinking back from him with fright and horror in her face. + +"Come, we have no time to lose," said the Curate, who was desperate. +He picked up her shawl, which had fallen on the floor, and bundled her +up in it in the most summary way. "Come, aunt Dora," said the +impetuous young man; "you know you were always my kindest friend. +Nobody else can help me at this moment. I feel that you are going to +be my deliverer. Come, aunt Dora--we must go and find her, you and I. +There is not a moment to lose." + +He had his arm round her, holding on her shawl. He raised her up from +her chair, and supported her, looking at her as he had not done before +since he was a boy at school, Miss Dora thought. She was too +frightened, too excited, to cry, as she would have liked to do; but +the proposal was so terrible and unprecedented that she leaned back +trembling on her nephew's arm, and could not move either to obey or to +resist him. "Oh, Frank, I never went after any improper person in my +life," gasped aunt Dora. "Oh, my dear, don't make me do anything that +is wrong; they will say it is my fault!" cried the poor lady, +gradually feeling herself obliged to stand on her feet and collect her +forces. The shawl fell back from her shoulders as the Curate withdrew +his arm. "You have lost my large pin," cried aunt Dora, in despair; +"and I have no bonnet. And oh! what will Leonora say? I never, never +would have come to tell you if I had thought of this. I only came to +warn you, Frank. I only intended--" + +"Yes," said the Curate. The emergency was momentous, and he dared not +lose patience. He found her large pin even, while she stood trembling, +and stuck it into her shawl as if it had been a skewer. "You never +would have come if you had not been my guardian angel," said the +deceitful young man, whose heart was beating high with anxiety and +hope. "Nobody else would do for me what you are going to do--but I +have always had confidence in my aunt Dora. Come, come! We have not a +moment to lose." + +This was how he overcame Miss Dora's scruples. Before she knew what +had happened she was being hurried through the clear summer night past +the long garden-walls of Grange Lane. The stars were shining overhead, +the leaves rustling on all sides in the soft wind--not a soul to be +seen in the long line of darkling road. Miss Dora had no breath to +speak, however much disposed she might have been. She could not +remonstrate, having full occasion for all her forces to keep her feet +and her breath. When Mr Wentworth paused for an instant to ask "which +way did she go?" it was all Miss Dora could do to indicate with her +finger the dark depths of Prickett's Lane. Thither she was immediately +carried as by a whirlwind. With a shawl over her head, fastened +together wildly by the big pin--with nothing but little satin +slippers, quite unfit for the exertion required of them--with an +agonised protest in her heart that she had never, never in her life +gone after any improper person before--and, crowning misfortune of +all, with a horrible consciousness that she had left the garden-door +open, hoping to return in a few minutes, Miss Dora Wentworth, single +woman as she was, and ignorant of evil, was whirled off in pursuit of +the unfortunate Rosa into the dark abysses of Prickett's Lane. + +While this terrible Hegira was taking place, Mr Proctor sat opposite +Gerald Wentworth, sipping his claret and talking of Italy. "Perhaps +you have not read Burgon's book," said the late Rector. "There is a +good deal of valuable information in it about the Catacombs, and he +enters at some length into the question between the Roman Church and +our own. If you are interested in that, you should read it," said Mr +Proctor; "it is a very important question." + +"Yes," said Gerald; and then there followed a pause. Mr Proctor did +not know what to make of the faint passing smile, the abstracted look, +which he had vaguely observed all the evening; and he looked so +inquiringly across the table that Gerald's new-born dualism came +immediately into play, to the great amazement of his companion. Mr +Wentworth talked, and talked well; but his eyes were still abstracted, +his mind was still otherwise occupied; and Mr Proctor, whose own +intelligence was in a state of unusual excitement, perceived the fact +without being at all able to explain it. An hour passed, and both the +gentlemen looked at their watches. The Curate had left them abruptly +enough, with little apology; and as neither of them had much interest +in the other, nor in the conversation, it was natural that the host's +return should be looked for with some anxiety. When the two gentlemen +had said all they could say about Italy--when Mr Proctor had given a +little sketch of his own experiences in Rome, to which his companion +did not make the usual response of narrating his--the two came to a +dead pause. They had now been sitting for more than two hours over +that bottle of Lafitte, many thoughts having in the mean time crossed +Mr Proctor's mind concerning the coffee and the Curate. Where could he +have gone? and why was there not somebody in the house with sense +enough to clear away the remains of dessert, and refresh the wearied +interlocutors with the black and fragrant cup which cheers all +students? Both of the gentlemen had become seriously uneasy by this +time; the late Rector got up from the table when he could bear it no +longer. "Your brother must have been called away by something +important," said Mr Proctor, stiffly. "Perhaps you will kindly make my +excuses. Mr Morgan keeps very regular hours, and I should not like to +be late--" + +"It is very extraordinary. I can't fancy what can be the reason--it +must be somebody sick," said Gerald, rising too, but not looking by +any means sure that Frank's absence had such a laudable excuse. + +"Very likely," said the late Rector, more stiffly than ever. "You are +living here, I suppose?" + +"No; I am at Miss Wentworth's--my aunt's," said Gerald. "I will walk +with you;" and they went out together with minds considerably excited. +Both looked up and down the road when they got outside the garden-gate: +both had a vague idea that the Curate might be visible somewhere in +conversation with somebody disreputable; and one being his friend and +the other his brother, they were almost equally disturbed about the +unfortunate young man. Mr Proctor's thoughts, however, were mingled with +a little offence. He had meant to be confidential and brotherly, and the +occasion had been lost; and how was it possible to explain the rudeness +with which Mr Wentworth had treated him? Gerald was still more seriously +troubled. When Mr Proctor left him, he walked up and down Grange Lane in +the quiet of the summer night, watching for his brother. Jack came home +smoking his cigar, dropping Wodehouse, whom the heir of the Wentworths +declined to call his friend, before he reached his aunts' door, and as +much surprised as it was possible for him to be, to find Gerald +lingering, meditating, along the silent road; but still Frank did +not come. By-and-by a hurried light gleamed in the window of the +summer-house, and sounds of commotion were audible in the orderly +dwelling of the Miss Wentworths; and the next thing that happened was +the appearance of Miss Leonora, also with a shawl over her head, at the +garden-door. Just then, when they were all going to bed, Collins, Miss +Dora's maid, had come to the drawing-room in search of her mistress. She +was not to be found anywhere, though her bonnets and all her outdoor +gear were safe in their place. For the first time in her life the entire +family were startled into anxiety on Miss Dora's account. As for Mrs +Gerald Wentworth, she jumped at once to the conclusion that the poor +lady was murdered, and that Frank must have something to do with it, and +filled the house with lamentations. Nobody went to bed, not even aunt +Cecilia, who had not been out of her room at eleven o'clock for +centuries. Collins had gone into the summer-house and was turning over +everything there as if she expected to find her mistress's body in the +cupboard or under the sofa; Lewis, the butler, was hunting through the +garden with a lantern, looking under all the bushes. No incident so +utterly unaccountable had occurred before in Miss Dora Wentworth's life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + +The first investigation into the character of the Rev. F. C. +Wentworth, Curate of St Roque's was fixed to take place in the vestry +of the parish church, at eleven o'clock on the morning of the day +which followed this anxious night. Most people in Carlingford were +aware that the Perpetual Curate was to be put upon his trial on that +sunny July morning; and there was naturally a good deal of curiosity +among the intelligent townsfolk to see how he looked, and what was the +aspect of the witnesses who were to bear testimony for or against him. +It is always interesting to the crowd to see how a man looks at a +great crisis of his life--or a woman either, for that matter; and if a +human creature, at the height of joy, or in the depths of sorrow, is a +spectacle to draw everybody's eyes, there is a still greater dramatic +interest in the sight when hope and fear are both in action, and the +alternative hangs between life or death. It was life or death to Mr +Wentworth, though the tribunal was one which could inflict no +penalties. If he should be found guilty, death would be a light doom +to the downfall and moral extinction which would make an end of the +unfaithful priest; and, consequently, Carlingford had reason for its +curiosity. There was a crowd about the back entrance which led to the +shabby little sacristy where Mr Morgan and Mr Leeson were accustomed +to robe themselves; and scores of people strayed into the church +itself, and hung about, pretending to look at the improvements which +the Rector called restorations. Mrs Morgan herself, looking very pale, +was in and out half-a-dozen times in the hour, talking with terrible +science and technicalism to Mr Finial's clerk of works, who could not +make her see that she was talking Gothic--a language which had nothing +to do with Carlingford Church, that building being of the Revolution +or churchwarden epoch. She was a great deal too much agitated at that +moment to be aware of the distinction. As for Mr Wentworth, it was +universally agreed that, though he looked a little flushed and +excited, there was no particular discouragement visible in his face. +He went in to the vestry with some eagerness, not much like a culprit +on his trial. The Rector, indeed, who was heated and embarrassed and +doubtful of himself, looked more like a criminal than the real hero. +There were six of the amateur judges, of whom one had felt his heart +fail him at the last moment. The five who were steadfast were Mr +Morgan, Dr Marjoribanks, old Mr Western (who was a distant cousin of +the Wodehouses, and brother-in-law, though old enough to be her +grandfather, of the beautiful Lady Western, who once lived in Grange +Lane), and with them Mr Centum, the banker, and old Colonel Chiley. Mr +Proctor, who was very uneasy in his mind, and much afraid lest he +should be called upon to give an account of the Curate's behaviour on +the previous night, had added himself as a kind of auxiliary to this +judicial bench. Mr Waters had volunteered his services as counsellor, +perhaps with the intention of looking after the interests of a very +different client; and to this imposing assembly John Brown had walked +in, with his hands in his pockets, rather disturbing the composure of +the company in general, who were aware what kind of criticism his +was. While the bed of justice was being arranged, a very odd little +group collected in the outer room, where Elsworthy, in a feverish +state of excitement, was revolving about the place from the door to +the window, and where the Miss Hemmings sat up against the wall, with +their drapery drawn up about them, to show that they were of different +clay from Mrs Elsworthy, who, respectful but sullen, sat on the same +bench. The anxious public peered in at the door whenever it had a +chance, and took peeps through the window when the other privilege was +impossible. Besides the Miss Hemmings and the Elsworthys there was +Peter Hayles, who also had seen something, and the wife of another +shopkeeper at the end of George Street; and there was the Miss +Hemmings' maid, who had escorted them on that eventful night of Rosa's +disappearance. Not one of the witnesses had the smallest doubt as to +the statement he or she was about to make; they were entirely +convinced of the righteousness of their own cause, and the justice of +the accusation, which naturally gave a wonderful moral force to their +testimony. Besides--but that was quite a different matter--they all +had their little grudges against Mr Wentworth, each in his secret +heart. + +When Elsworthy was called in to the inner room it caused a little +commotion amid this company outside. The Miss Hemmings looked at each +other, not with an agreeable expression of face. "They might have had +the politeness to call us first," Miss Sophia said to her sister; and +Miss Hemmings shook her head and sighed, and said, "Dear Mr Bury!" an +observation which meant a great deal, though it did not seem perfectly +relevant. "Laws! I'll forget everything when I'm took in there," said +the shopkeeper's wife to Miss Hemmings' maid; and the ladies drew +still closer up, superior to curiosity, while the others stretched +their necks to get a peep into the terrible inner room. + +It was indeed a formidable tribunal. The room was small, so that the +unfortunate witness was within the closest range of six pairs of +judicial eyes, not to speak of the vigilant orbs of the two lawyers, +and those of the accused and his supporters. Mr Morgan, by right of +his position, sat at the end of the table, and looked very severely at +the first witness as he came in--which Elsworthy did, carrying his hat +before him like a kind of shield, and polishing it carefully round and +round. The Rector was far from having any intention of discouraging +the witness, who was indeed his mainstay; but the anxiety of his +peculiar position, as being at once counsel for the prosecution, and +chief magistrate of the bed of justice, gave an unusual sternness to +his face. + +"Your name is George Elsworthy," said the Rector, filling his pen with +ink, and looking penetratingly in the witness's face. + +"George Appleby Elsworthy," said Rosa's uncle, a little alarmed; "not +as I often signs in full; for you see, sir, it's a long name, and +life's short, and it aint necessary in the way of business--" + +"Stationer and newsmonger in Carlingford," interrupted the Rector; "I +should say in Upper Grange Lane, Carlingford; aged--?" + +"But it doesn't appear to me that newsmonger is a correct expression," +said old Mr Western, who was very conversational; "newsmonger means a +gossip, not a tradesman; not that there is any reason why a tradesman +should not be a gossip, but--" + +"Aged?" said Mr Morgan, holding his pen suspended in the air. "I will +say newsvendor if that will be better--one cannot be too +particular--Aged--?" + +"He is come to years of discretion," said Dr Marjoribanks, "that's all +we need; don't keep us all day waiting, man, but tell your story about +this elopement of your niece. When did it take place, and what are the +facts? Never mind your hat, but say out what you have got to say." + +"You are much too summary, Doctor," said Mr Morgan, with a little +offence; but the sense of the assembly was clearly with Dr +Marjoribanks--so that the Rector dashed in 45 as the probable age of +the witness, and waited his further statement. + +After this there was silence, and Elsworthy began his story. He +narrated all the facts of Rosa's disappearance, with an intention and +bias which made his true tale a wonderful tacit accusation. Rage, +revenge, a sense of wrong, worked what in an indifferent narrator only +the highest skill could have wrought. He did not mention the Curate's +name, but arranged all his facts in lines like so many trains of +artillery. How Rosa was in the habit of going to Mrs Hadwin's (it was +contrary to Elsworthy's instinct to bring in at this moment any +reference to Mr Wentworth) every night with the newspaper--"not as I +sent her of errands for common--keeping two boys for the purpose," +said the injured man; "but, right or wrong, there's where she'd go as +certain as the night come. I've seen her with my own eyes go into Mrs +Hadwin's garden-door, which she hadn't no need to go in but for being +encouraged; and it would be half an hour at the least afore she came +out." + +"But, bless me! that was very imprudent of you," cried Mr Proctor, who +up to this time had not uttered a word. + +"There was nobody there but the old lady and her maids--except the +clergyman," said Elsworthy. "It wasn't my part to think as she could +get any harm from the clergyman. She wouldn't hear no remonstrances +from me; she _would_ go as regular as the evening come." + +"Yes, yes," said Mr Waters, who saw John Brown's humorous eye gleaming +round upon the little assembly; "but let us come to the immediate +matter in hand. Your niece disappeared from Carlingford on the--?" + +"Yes, yes," said Mr Western, "we must not sink into conversation; +that's the danger of all unofficial investigations. It seems natural +to let him tell his story as he likes: but here we have got somebody +to keep us in order. It's natural, but it aint law--is it, Brown?" + +"I don't see that law has anything to do with it," said John Brown, +with a smile. + +"Order! order!" said the Rector, who was much goaded and aggravated by +this remark. "I request that there may be no conversation. The witness +will proceed with what he has to say. Your niece disappeared on the +15th. What were the circumstances of her going away?" + +"She went down as usual with the newspaper," said Elsworthy; "it had got +to be a custom as regular as regular. She stopped out later nor common, +and my wife and me was put out. I don't mind saying, gentlemen," said +the witness, with candour, "as my missis and I wasn't altogether of the +same mind about Rosa. She was late, but I can't say as I was anxious. It +wasn't above a week afore that Mr Wentworth himself brought her home +safe, and it was well known as he didn't like her to be out at night; so +I was easy in my mind, like. But when eleven o'clock came, and there was +no denying of its being past hours, I began to get a little fidgety. I +stepped out to the door, and I looked up and down, and saw nobody; so I +took up my hat and took a turn down the road--" + +At this moment there was a little disturbance outside. A voice at +which the Curate started was audible, asking entrance. "I must see Mr +Wentworth immediately," this voice said, as the door was partially +opened; and then, while his sons both rose to their feet, the Squire +himself suddenly entered the room. He looked round upon the assembled +company with a glance of shame and grief that went to the Curate's +heart. Then he bowed to the judges, who were looking at him with an +uncomfortable sense of his identity, and walked across the room to the +bench on which Gerald and Frank were seated together. "I beg your +pardon, gentlemen," said the Squire, "if I interrupt your proceedings; +but I have only this moment arrived in Carlingford, and heard what was +going on, and I trust I may be allowed to remain, as my son's honour +is concerned." Mr Wentworth scarcely waited for the assent which +everybody united in murmuring, but seated himself heavily on the +bench, as if glad to sit down anywhere. He suffered Frank to grasp his +hand, but scarcely gave it; nor, indeed, did he look, except once, +with a bitter momentary glance at the brothers. They were sons a +father might well have been proud of, so far as external appearances +went; but the Squire's soul was bitter within him. One was about to +abandon all that made life valuable in the eyes of the sober-minded +country gentleman. The other--"And I could have sworn by Frank," the +mortified father was saying in his heart. He sat down with a dull +dogged composure. He meant to hear it all, and have it proved to him +that his favourite son was a villain. No wonder that he was +disinclined to respond to any courtesies. He set himself down almost +with impatience that the sound of his entrance should have interrupted +the narrative, and looked straight in front of him, fixing his eyes on +Elsworthy, and taking no notice of the anxious glances of the possible +culprit at his side. + +"I hadn't gone above a step or two when I see Mr Hayles at his door. I +said to him, 'It's a fine evening,'--as so it was, and the stars +shining. 'My Rosa aint been about your place, has she?' I says; and he +says, 'No.' But, gentlemen, I see by the look of his eye as he had +more to say. 'Aint she come home yet?' says Mr Hayles--" + +"Stop a moment," said John Brown. "Peter Hayles is outside, I think. +If the Rector wishes to preserve any sort of legal form in this +inquiry, may I suggest that a conversation repeated is not evidence? +Let Elsworthy tell what he knows, and the other can speak for +himself." + +"It is essential we should hear the conversation," said the Rector, +"since I believe it was of importance. I believe it is an important +link in the evidence--I believe--" + +"Mr Morgan apparently has heard the evidence before," said the +inexorable John Brown. + +Here a little commotion arose in the bed of justice. "Hush, hush," +said Dr Marjoribanks; "the question is, What has the witness got to +say of his own knowledge? Go on, Elsworthy; we can't possibly spend +the whole day here. Never mind what Hayles said, unless he +communicated something about the girl." + +"He told me as the Miss Hemmings had seen Rosa," said Elsworthy, +slowly; "had seen her at nine, or half after nine--I won't be sure +which--at Mrs Hadwin's gate." + +"The Miss Hemmings are outside. Let the Miss Hemmings be called," said +Mr Proctor, who had a great respect for Mr Brown's opinion. + +But here Mr Waters interposed. "The Miss Hemmings will be called +presently," he said; "in the mean time let this witness be heard out; +afterwards his evidence will be corroborated. Go on, Elsworthy." + +"The Miss Hemmings had seen my Rosa at Mrs Hadwin's gate," repeated +Elsworthy, "a-standing outside, and Mr Wentworth a-standing inside; +there aint more respectable parties in all Carlingford. It was them as +saw it, not me. Gentlemen, I went back home. I went out again. I went +over all the town a-looking for her. Six o'clock in the morning come, +and I had never closed an eye, nor took off my clothes, nor even sat +down upon a chair. When it was an hour as I could go to a gentleman's +house and no offence, I went to the place as she was last seen. Me and +Mr Hayles, we went together. The shutters was all shut but on one +window, which was Mr Wentworth's study. We knocked at the garden-door, +and I aint pretending that we didn't make a noise; and, gentlemen, it +wasn't none of the servants--it was Mr Wentworth hisself as opened the +door." + +There was here a visible sensation among the judges. It was a point +that told. As for the Squire, he set his stick firmly before him, and +leaned his clasped hands upon it to steady himself. His healthful, +ruddy countenance was paling gradually. If it had been an apostle who +spoke, he could not have taken in more entirely the bitter tale. + +"It was Mr Wentworth hisself, gentlemen," said the triumphant witness; +"not like a man roused out of his sleep, but dressed and shaved, and +his hair brushed, as if it had been ten instead o' six. It's well +known in Carlingford as he aint an early man; and gentlemen here knows +it as well as me. I don't pretend as I could keep my temper. I give +him my mind, gentlemen, being an injured man; but I said as--if he do +his duty by her--" + +"Softly a moment," said Mr Brown. "What had Mr Wentworth's aspect at +six o'clock in the morning to do with Rosa Elsworthy's disappearance +at nine on the previous night?" + +"I don't see that the question is called for at the present moment," +said Mr Waters. "Let us hear what reasons you have for attributing to +Mr Wentworth an unusual degree of interest in your niece." + +"Sir," said Elsworthy, "he come into my shop as regular as the day; he +never come but he asked after Rosa, or spoke to her if she was there. +One night he walked all the way up Grange Lane and knocked at my door +and brought her in all of a glow, and said I wasn't to send her out +late no more. My missis, being a woman as is very particular, was +struck, and thought as harm might come of it; and, not to be talked +of, we sent Rosa away. And what does Mr Wentworth do, but the moment +he hears of it comes right off to my shop! He had been at his own +home, sir, a-visiting his respected family," said Elsworthy, turning +slightly towards the side of the room where the father and sons sat +together. "He came to my shop with his carpet-bag as he come off the +railway, and he gave me my orders as I was to bring Rosa back. What he +said was, 'Directly,' that very day. I never had no thought but what +his meaning was honourable--being a clergyman," said the witness, with +a heavy sigh; and then there ensued a little pause. + +"The Miss Hemmings had better be called now," said Mr Waters. +"Elsworthy, you can retire; but we may require you again, so you had +better not go away. Request Miss Hemmings to do us the favour of +coming here." + +The Squire lifted his heavy eyes when the next witness entered. She +made a very solemn curtsy to the gentlemen, and sat down on the chair +which somebody placed for her. Being unsupported, a lady--not to say +an unmarried lady profoundly conscious of the fact--among a number of +men, Miss Hemmings was naturally much agitated. She was the eldest and +the softest-hearted; and it occurred to her for the first time, as she +gave a frightened look towards the Curate, that he was like her +favourite younger brother, who had died ever so many years ago--a +thought which, for the first time, made her doubtful of her testimony, +and disposed to break down in her evidence. + +"You were in Grange Lane on the evening of the 15th ultimo," said Mr +Morgan, after he had carefully written down her name, "about nine +o'clock?" + +"Oh yes, Mr Morgan," said the poor lady; "we were at St Roque's +Cottage drinking tea with Mrs Bland, who was lodging with Mrs Smith in +the same rooms Mrs Rider used to have. I put the note of invitation in +my pocket in case there should be any doubt; but, indeed, poor Mrs +Bland was taken very ill on the 16th, and Dr Marjoribanks was called, +and he knows it could not be any other evening--and besides--" + +"About nine o'clock," said Mr Waters; "did I understand you, it was +about nine o'clock?" + +"She was such an invalid, poor dear," said Miss Hemmings, +apologetically; "and it is such a privilege to have real Christian +conversation. We dined early on purpose, and we were asked for +half-past six. I think it must have been a little after nine; but Mary +is here, and she knows what hour she came for us. Shall I call Mary, +please?" + +"Presently," said the counsel for the prosecution. "Don't be +agitated; one or two questions will do. You passed Mrs Hadwin's door +coming up. Will you kindly tell the gentlemen what you saw there?" + +"Oh!" cried Miss Hemmings. She looked round at the Curate again, and +he was more than ever like Willie who died. "I--I don't take much +notice of what I see in the streets," she said, faltering; "and there +are always so many poor people going to see Mr Wentworth." Here the +poor lady stopped short. She had never considered before what harm her +evidence might do. Now her heart smote her for the young man who was +like Willie. "He is so very kind to all the poor people," continued +the unwilling witness, looking doubtfully round into all the faces +near her; "and he's such a young man," she added, in her tremulous +way. It was Miss Sophia who was strong-minded; all the poor women in +Back Grove Street were perfectly aware that their chances were doubled +when they found Miss Jane. + +"But you must tell us what you saw all the same," said Dr Marjoribanks. +"I daresay Mr Wentworth wishes it as much as we do." + +The Curate got up and came forward with one of his impulses. "I wish +it a great deal more," he said. "My dear Miss Hemmings, thank you for +your reluctance to say anything to harm me; but the truth can't +possibly harm me: tell them exactly what you saw." + +Miss Hemmings looked from one to another, and trembled more and more. "I +am sure I never meant to injure Mr Wentworth," she said; "I only said I +thought it was imprudent of him--that was all I meant. Oh, I am sure, if +I had thought of this, I would rather have done anything than say it. +And whatever Sophia might have imagined, I assure you, gentlemen, _I_ +never, never for a moment thought Mr Wentworth meant any harm." + +"Never mind Mr Wentworth," said Mr Brown, who now took the matter in +hand. "When you were passing Mrs Hadwin's house about nine o'clock on +the evening of the 15th, you saw some one standing at the door. Mr +Wentworth particularly wishes you to say who it was." + +"Oh, Mr Brown--oh, Mr Morgan," cried the poor lady; "it was little +Rosa Elsworthy. She was a designing little artful thing. When she was +in my Sunday class, she was always thinking of her vanities. Mr +Wentworth was talking to her at the garden-door. I daresay he was +giving her good advice; and oh, gentlemen, if you were to question me +for ever and ever, that is all I have got to say." + +"Did you not hear what they were talking about?" said Mr Proctor. "If it +was good advice--" The late Rector stopped short, and grew red, and felt +that his supposition was that of a simpleton. "You heard what they were +talking about? What did they say?" he concluded, peremptorily, in a tone +which frightened the reluctant witness more and more. + +"I did not hear a single word," she cried--"not a word. That is all I +know about it. Oh, please, let me go away. I feel very faint. I should +like a little cold water, please. I did not hear a word--not a word. I +have told you everything I have got to say." + +Everybody looked more serious when Miss Hemmings stumbled from her +chair. She was so frightened at her own testimony, and so unwilling to +give it, that its importance was doubled in the eyes of the +inexperienced judges. The Squire gave a low groan under his breath, +and turned his eyes, which had been fixed upon her, on the ground +instead; but raised them immediately, with a gleam of anxiety as his +son again rose from his side. All that the Curate meant to do was to +give the trembling lady his arm, and lead her out; but the entire +assembly, with the exception of John Brown, started and stared as if +he had been about to take instant revenge upon the frightened woman. +Miss Hemmings burst into tears when Mr Wentworth set a chair for her +by the door, and brought her a glass of water, in the outer room; and +just then somebody knocked and gave him a note, with which he returned +to the presence of the awful tribunal. Miss Sophia Hemmings was +corroborating her sister's statement when the Perpetual Curate +re-entered. He stood behind her quite quietly, until she had finished, +with a slight smile upon his lips, and the note in his hand. Dr +Marjoribanks was not partial to Miss Sophia Hemmings. She was never +ill herself, and rarely permitted even her sister to enjoy the gentle +satisfaction of a day's sickness. The old Doctor looked instead at the +Perpetual Curate. When Miss Hemmings withdrew, Dr Marjoribanks +interposed. "It appears to me that Mr Wentworth has something to say," +said the Doctor. "It is quite necessary that he should have a hearing +as well as the rest of us. Let Peter Hayles wait a moment, till we +hear what Mr Wentworth has to say." + +"It is not yet time for us to receive Mr Wentworth's statement," said +the Rector. "He shall certainly be heard in his own defence at the +proper time. Mr Waters, call Peter Hayles." + +"One moment," said the Curate. "I have no statement to make, and I can +wait till you have heard what everybody has to say, if the Rector +wishes it; but it might save time and trouble to hear me. I have +another witness whom, up to this moment, I have been reluctant to +bring forward--a witness all-important for me, whom I cannot produce +in so public a place, or at an hour when everybody is abroad. If you +will do me the favour to adjourn this inquiry till the evening, and to +meet then in a private house--in my own, or Miss Wentworth's, or +wherever you may appoint--I think I can undertake to make this whole +business perfectly clear." + +"Bless me!" said Mr Proctor, suddenly. This unexpected and irrelevant +benediction was the first sound distinctly audible in the little stir +of surprise, expectation, and excitement which followed the Curate's +speech. The Squire let his stick fall out of his hands, and groped +after it to pick it up again. Hope had suddenly all at once come into +possession of the old man's breast. As for the Rector, he was too much +annoyed at the moment to speak. + +"You should have thought of this before," said Dr Marjoribanks. "It +would have been just as easy to fix this meeting for the evening, and +in a private house, and would have saved time. You are very welcome to +my dining-room, if you please; but I don't understand why it could not +have been settled so at once, and saved our time," said the Doctor; to +which sentiment there were several murmurs of assent. + +"Gentlemen," said the Curate, whose eyes were sparkling with +excitement, "you must all know in your hearts that this trial ought +never to have taken place. I have lived among you for five years, and +you ought to have known me by this time. I have never been asked for +an explanation, neither could any explanation which it was possible +for me to make have convinced a mind prejudiced against me," he said, +after a moment's pause, with a meaning which everybody understood. "It +is only now that I feel myself able to clear up the whole matter, and +it is for this reason alone that I ask you to put off your inquiry +till to-night." + +"I don't feel inclined to consent to any adjournment," said Mr Morgan; +"it looks like an attempt to defeat the ends of justice." The Rector was +very much annoyed--more than he dared confess to himself. He believed in +his heart that young Wentworth was guilty, and he felt equally convinced +that here was some unexpected loophole through which he would escape. +But public opinion was strong in Grange Lane--stronger than a new +Rector. The Banker and the Doctor and the Indian Colonel, not to speak +of old Mr Western, were disposed to grant the request of the Curate; and +when even Mr Proctor forsook his side, the Rector himself yielded. +"Though it is against my judgment," he said, "and I see no advantage to +be gained by it, the meeting had better be held in the Rectory, this +evening at seven o'clock." + +"Most of us dine at seven o'clock," said Dr Marjoribanks. + +"This evening at eight o'clock," said the Rector, severely. "I will +request all the witnesses to be in attendance, and we must hope to +find Mr Wentworth's witness of sufficient importance to justify the +change. At eight o'clock this evening, in my house, gentlemen," said +the Rector. He collected his notes and went outside, and began talking +to his witnesses, while the others collected together round the table +to consult over this new phase of the affair. The three Mr Wentworths +went out together, the father between his two tall sons. The Squire's +strength was much shaken, both in mind and body. When they were out of +the shadow of the church, he looked up in Frank's face. + +"I hope you consider me entitled to an immediate explanation," said Mr +Wentworth. "When I read that anonymous letter, it went a long way +towards breaking my heart, sir; I can tell you it did. Jack here too, +and your brother making up his mind as he has done, Frank. I am not a +man to complain. If it were all over with me to-morrow, I shouldn't be +sorry, so far as I am concerned, if it weren't for the girls and the +little children. But I always thought I could have sworn by Frank," +said the old man, mournfully. He was ever so much older since he had +said these words before in the long lime avenue at Wentworth Hall. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + +The little assembly which met in the vestry of Carlingford Church to +inquire into the conduct of the Perpetual Curate, had so many different +interests in hands when it dispersed, and so much to do, that it is +difficult for the narrator of this history to decide which thread should +be taken up first. Of all the interlocutors, however, perhaps Mr Proctor +was the one who had least succeeded in his efforts to explain himself, +and accordingly demands in the first place the attention of an impartial +historian. The excellent man was still labouring under much perplexity +when the bed of justice was broken up. He began to recollect that Mr +Wentworth's explanation on the previous night had convinced him of his +innocence, and to see that it was indeed altogether inconceivable that +the Curate should be guilty; but then, other matters still more +disagreeable to contemplate than Mr Wentworth's guilt came in to darken +the picture. This vagabond Wodehouse, whom the Curate had taken in at +his sister's request--what was the meaning of that mystery? Mr Proctor +had never been anyhow connected with mysteries; he was himself an only +son, and had lived a straightforward peaceable life. Neither he nor his +estimable parents, so far as the late Rector was aware, had ever done +anything to be ashamed of; and he winced a little at the thought of +connecting himself with concealment and secrecy. And then the Curate's +sudden disappearance on the previous evening perplexed and troubled him. +He imagined all kinds of reasons for it as he walked down Grange Lane. +Perhaps Miss Wodehouse, who would not receive himself, had sent for Mr +Wentworth; perhaps the vagabond brother was in some other scrape, out of +which he had to be extricated by the Curate's assistance. Mr Proctor was +perfectly honest, and indeed determined, in his "intentions;" but +everybody will allow that for a middle-aged lover of fifty or +thereabouts, contemplating a sensible match with a lady of suitable +years and means, to find suddenly that the object of his affections was +not only a penniless woman, but the natural guardian of an equally +penniless sister, was startling, to say the least of it. He was a true +man, and it did not occur to him to decline the responsibility +altogether; on the contrary, he was perhaps more eager than he would +have been otherwise, seeing that his elderly love had far more need of +his devotion than he had ever expected her to have; but, notwithstanding, +he was disturbed by such an unlooked-for change of circumstances, as was +natural, and did not quite know what was to be done with Lucy. He was +full of thoughts on this subject as he proceeded towards the house, to +the interview which, to use sentimental language, was to decide his +fate. But, to tell the truth, Mr Proctor was not in a state of very deep +anxiety about his fate. The idea of being refused was too unreasonable +an idea to gain much ground in his mind. He was going to offer his +personal support, affection, and sympathy to Miss Wodehouse at the least +fortunate moment in her life; and if there was anything consolatory in +marriage at all, the late Rector sensibly concluded that it must be +doubly comforting under such circumstances, and that the offer of an +honest man's hand and house and income was not a likely thing to be +rejected by a woman of Miss Wodehouse's experience and good sense--not +to speak of his heart, which was very honest and true and affectionate, +though it had outlived the fervours of youth. Such was Mr Proctor's view +of the matter; and the chances were strong that Miss Wodehouse entirely +agreed with him--so, but for a certain shyness which made him rather +nervous, it would not be correct to say that the late Rector was in a +state of special anxiety about the answer he was likely to receive. He +was, however, anxious about Lucy. His bachelor mind was familiar with +all the ordinary traditions about the inexpediency of being surrounded +by a wife's family; and he had a little of the primitive male sentiment, +shared one way or other by most husbands, that the old system of buying +a woman right out, and carrying her off for his own sole and private +satisfaction, was, after all, the correct way of managing such matters. +To be sure, a pretty, young, unmarried sister, was perhaps the least +objectionable encumbrance a woman could have; but, notwithstanding, Mr +Proctor would have been glad could he have seen any feasible way of +disposing of Lucy. It was utterly out of the question to think of her +going out as a governess; and it was quite evident that Mr Wentworth, +even were he perfectly cleared of every imputation, having himself +nothing to live upon, could scarcely offer to share his poverty with +poor Mr Wodehouse's cherished pet and darling. "I daresay she has been +used to live expensively," Mr Proctor said to himself, wincing a little +in his own mind at the thought. It was about one o'clock when he +reached the green door--an hour at which, during the few months of +his incumbency at Carlingford, he had often presented himself at that +hospitable house. Poor Mr Wodehouse! Mr Proctor could not help wondering +at that moment how he was getting on in a world where, according to +ordinary ideas, there are no lunch nor dinner parties, no old port nor +savoury side-dishes. Somehow it was impossible to realise Mr Wodehouse +with other surroundings than those of good-living and creature-comfort. +Mr Proctor sighed, half for the departed, half at thought of the +strangeness of that unknown life for which he himself did not feel much +more fitted than Mr Wodehouse. In the garden he saw the new heir sulkily +marching about among the flower-beds smoking, and looking almost as much +out of place in the sweet tranquillity of the English garden, as a +churchwarden of Carlingford or a Fellow of All-Souls could look, to +carry out Mr Proctor's previous imagination, in the vague beatitude of a +disembodied heaven. Wodehouse was so sick of his own company that he +came hastily forward at the sight of a visitor, but shrank a little when +he saw who it was. + +"I suppose you have brought some news," he said, in his sullen way. "I +suppose he has been making his statements, has he? Much I care! He may +tell what lies he pleases; he can't do me any harm. I never did +anything but sign my own name, by Jove! Jack Wentworth himself says +so. I don't care _that_ for the parson and his threats," said +Wodehouse, snapping his fingers in Mr Proctor's face. The late Rector +drew back a little, with a shudder of disgust and resentment. He could +not help thinking that this fellow would most likely be his +brother-in-law presently, and the horror he felt made itself visible +in his face. + +"I am quite unaware what you can mean," said Mr Proctor. "I am a +parson, but I never made any threats that I know of. I wish to see +Miss Wodehouse. I--I think she expects me at this hour," he said, with +a little embarrassment, turning to John, who, for his part, had been +standing by in a way which became his position as a respectable and +faithful servant, waiting any opportunity that might come handy to +show his disgust for the new _regime_. + +"Yes, sir," said John, promptly, and with emphasis. "My mistress +expects you, sir. She's come down to the drawing-room for the first +time. Miss Lucy keeps her room, sir, still; she's dreadfully cut up, +poor dear young lady. My mistress will be glad to see you, sir," said +John. This repetition of a title which Miss Wodehouse had not been in +the habit of receiving was intended for the special advantage of the +new master, whom John had no intention of recognising in that +capacity. "If you should know of any one, sir, as is in want of a +steady servant," the man continued, as he led the way into the house, +with a shrewd glance at Mr Proctor, whose "intentions" were legible +enough to John's experienced eyes--"not as I'm afeared of getting +suited, being well known in Carlingford; but it would come natural to +be with a friend of the family. There aint a servant in the house, +sir, as will stay when the ladies go, and I think as Miss Wodehouse +would speak for me," said John, with natural astuteness. This address +made Mr Proctor a little uneasy. It recalled to him the unpleasant +side of the important transaction in which he was about to engage. He +was not rich, and did not see his way now to any near prospect of +requiring the services of "a steady servant," and the thought made him +sigh. + +"We'll see," he said, with a troubled look. To persevere honourably in +his "intentions" was one thing, but to be insensible to the loss of much +he had looked forward to was quite another. It was accordingly with a +grave and somewhat disturbed expression that he went to the interview +which was "to decide his fate." Miss Wodehouse was seated in the +drawing-room, looking slightly flushed and excited. Though she knew it +was very wrong to be thus roused into a new interest the day after her +father's funeral, the events altogether had been of so startling a +description that the usual decorum of an afflicted household had already +been ruthlessly broken. And on the whole, notwithstanding her watching +and grief, Mr Proctor thought he had never seen the object of his +affections looking so well as she did now in the long black dress, which +suited her better than the faint dove colours in which she arrayed +herself by preference. She was not, it is true, quite sure what Mr +Proctor wanted in this interview he had solicited, but a certain +feminine instinct instructed her in its probable eventualities. So she +sat in a subdued flutter, with a little colour fluctuating on her cheek, +a tear in her eyes, and some wonder and expectation in her heart. +Perhaps in her youth Miss Wodehouse might have come to such a feminine +crisis before; but if so, it was long ago, and the gentle woman had +never been given to matrimonial speculations, and was as fresh and +inexperienced as any girl. The black frame in which she was set made her +soft colour look fresher and less faded. Her plaintive voice, the +general softness of her demeanour, looked harmonious and suitable to her +circumstances. Mr Proctor, who had by no means fallen in love with her +on account of any remnants of beauty she might possess, had never +admired her so much as he did now; he felt confused, good man, as he +stood before her, and, seeing her so much younger and fairer than his +former idea, began to grow alarmed, and wonder at his serenity. What if +she thought him an old fogey? what if she refused him? This supposition +brought a crimson colour to Mr Proctor's middle-aged countenance, and +was far from restoring his courage. It was a wonderful relief to him +when she, with the instinct of a timid woman, rushed into hasty talk. + +"It was very kind of you to come yesterday," she said; "Lucy and I +were very grateful. We have not many relatives, and my dear father--" + +"Yes," said the late Rector, again embarrassed by the tears which +choked her voice, "he was very much respected: that must be a +consolation to you. And he had a long life--and--and I suppose, on the +whole, a happy one," said Mr Proctor, "with you and your sister--" + +"Oh, Mr Proctor, he had a great deal to put up with," said Miss +Wentworth, through her tears. She had, like most simple people, an +instinctive disinclination to admit that anybody was or had been +happy. It looked like an admission of inferiority. "Mamma's death, and +poor Tom," said the elder sister. As she wiped her eyes, she almost +forgot her own little feminine flutter of expectancy in respect to Mr +Proctor himself. Perhaps it was not going to happen this time, and as +she was pretty well assured that it would happen one day or another, +she was not anxious about it. "If I only knew what to do about Tom," +she continued, with a vague appeal in her voice. + +Mr Proctor got up from his chair and walked to the window. When he +had looked out he came back, rather surprising Miss Wodehouse by +his unlooked-for movements. "I wanted very much to have a little +conversation with you," he said, growing again very red. "I daresay you +will be surprised--but I have accepted another living, Miss Wodehouse;" +and here the good man stopped short in a terrible state of +embarrassment, not knowing what next to say. + +"Yes?" said Miss Wodehouse, interrogatively. Her heart began to beat +quicker, but perhaps he was only going to tell her about the new work +he had undertaken; and then she was a woman, and had some knowledge, +which came by nature, how to conduct herself on an occasion such as +this. + +"I don't know whether you recollect," said Mr Proctor--"I shall never +forget it--one time when we all met in a house where a woman was +dying,--I mean your sister and young Wentworth, and you and I;--and +neither you nor I knew anything about it," said the late Rector, in a +strange voice. It was not a complimentary way of opening his subject, +and the occurrence had not made so strong an impression upon Miss +Wodehouse as upon her companion. She looked a little puzzled, and, as +he made a pause, gave only a murmur of something like assent, and +waited to hear what more he might have to say. + +"We neither of us knew anything about it," said Mr Proctor--"neither +you how to manage her, nor I what to say to her, though the young +people did. I have always thought of you from that time. I have +thought I should like to try whether I was good for anything now--if +you would help me," said the middle-aged lover. When he had said this +he walked to the window, and once more looked out, and came back +redder than ever. "You see we are neither of us young," said Mr +Proctor; and he stood by the table turning over the books nervously, +without looking at her, which was certainly an odd commencement for a +wooing. + +"That is quite true," said Miss Wodehouse, rather primly. She had +never disputed that fact by word or deed, but still it was not +pleasant to have the statement thus thrust upon her without any +apparent provocation. It was not the sort of thing which a woman +expects to have said to her under such circumstances. "I am sure I +hope you will do better--I mean be more comfortable--this time," she +continued, after a pause, sitting very erect on her seat. + +"If you will help me," said Mr Proctor, taking up one of the books and +reading the name on it, which was lucky for him, for it was Miss +Wodehouse's name, which he either had forgotten or never had known. + +And here they came to a dead stop. What was she to say? She was a +little affronted, to tell the truth, that he should remember more +distinctly than anything else her age, and her unlucky failure on that +one occasion. "You have just said that I could not manage," said the +mild woman, not without a little vigour of her own; "and how then +could I help you, Mr Proctor? Lucy knows a great deal more about +parish work than I do," she went on in a lower tone; and for one half +of a second there arose in the mind of the elder sister a kind of +wistful half envy of Lucy, who _was_ young, and knew how to manage--a +feeling which died in unspeakable remorse and compunction as soon as +it had birth. + +"But Lucy would not have me," said the late Rector; "and indeed I should +not know what to do with her if she would have me;--but you--It is a +small parish, but it's not a bad living. I should do all I could to make +you comfortable. At least we might try," said Mr Proctor, in his most +insinuating tone. "Don't you think we might try? at least it would do--" +He was going to say "no harm," but on second thoughts rejected that +expression. "At least I should be very glad if you would," said the +excellent man, with renewed confusion. "It's a nice little rectory, with +a pretty garden, and all that sort of thing; and--and perhaps--it might +help you to settle about going away--and--and I daresay there would be +room for Lucy. Don't you think you would try?" cried Mr Proctor, +volunteering, in spite of himself, the very hospitality which he had +thought it hard might be required of him; but somehow his suit seemed to +want backing at the actual moment when it was being made. + +As for Miss Wodehouse, she sat and listened to him till he began to +falter, and then her composure gave way all at once. "But as for +trying," she gasped, in broken mouthfuls of speech, "that would +never--never do, Mr Proctor. It has to be done--done for good and +all--if--if it is done at all," sobbed the poor lady, whose voice came +somewhat muffled through her handkerchief and her tears. + +"Then it shall be for good and all!" cried Mr Proctor, with a sudden +impulse of energy. This was how it came about that Miss Wodehouse and +the late Rector were engaged. He had an idea that he might be expected +to kiss her, and certainly ought to call her Mary after this; and +hovered for another minute near her seat, not at all disinclined for +the former operation. But his courage failed him, and he only drew a +chair a little closer and sat down, hoping she would soon stop crying. +And indeed, by the time that he produced out of his pocket-book the +little photograph of the new rectory, which he had had made for her by +a rural artist, Miss Wodehouse had emerged out of her handkerchief, +and was perhaps in her heart as happy in a quiet way as she had ever +been in her life. She who had never been good for much, was now, in +the time of their need, endowed with a home which she could offer +Lucy. It was she, the helpless one of the family, who was to be her +young sister's deliverer. Let it be forgiven to her if, in the tumult +of the moment, this was the thought that came first. + +When Miss Wodehouse went up-stairs after this agitating but +satisfactory interview, she found Lucy engaged in putting together +some books and personal trifles of her own which were scattered about +the little sitting-room. She had been reading 'In Memoriam' until it +vexed her to feel how inevitably good sense came in and interfered +with the enthusiasm of her grief, making her sensible that to apply to +her fond old father all the lofty lauds which were appropriate to the +poet's hero would be folly indeed. He had been a good tender father to +her, but he was not "the sweetest soul that ever looked with human +eyes;" and Lucy could not but stop in her reading with a kind of pang +and self-reproach as this consciousness came upon her. Miss Wodehouse +looked rather aghast when she found her sister thus occupied. "Did you +think of accepting Miss Wentworth's invitation, after all?" said Miss +Wodehouse; "but, dear, I am afraid it would be awkward; and oh, Lucy, +my darling, I have so many things to tell you," said the anxious +sister, who was shy of communicating her own particular news. Before +many minutes had passed, Lucy had thrown aside all the books, and was +sitting by her sister's side in half-pleased, disconcerted amazement +to hear her story. Only half-pleased--for Lucy, like most other girls +of her age, thought love and marriage were things which belonged only +to her own level of existence, and was a little vexed and disappointed +to find that her elder sister could condescend to such youthful +matters. On the whole, she rather blushed for Mary, and felt sadly as +if she had come down from an imaginary pedestal. And then Mr Proctor, +so old and so ordinary, whom it was impossible to think of as a +bridegroom, and still less as a brother. "I shall get used to it +presently," said Lucy, with a burning flush on her cheek, and a half +feeling that she had reason to be ashamed; "but it is so strange to +think of you in that way, Mary. I always thought you were too--too +sensible for that sort of thing," which was a reproach that went to +Miss Wodehouse's heart. + +"Oh, Lucy, dear," said that mild woman, who in this view of the matter +became as much ashamed of herself as Lucy could desire, "what could I +do? I know what you mean, at my time of life; but I could not let you +be dependent on Tom, my darling," said Miss Wodehouse, with a +deprecating appealing look. + +"No indeed," said Lucy; "that would be impossible under any +circumstances: nor on you either, Mary dear. I can do something to +make a living, and I should like it. I have always been fond of work. +I will not permit you to sacrifice yourself for me," said the younger +sister, with some dignity. "I see how it has been. I felt sure it was +not of your own accord." + +Miss Wodehouse wrung her hands with dismay and perplexity. What was +she to do if Lucy stood out and refused her consent? She could not +humble herself so far as to confess that she rather liked Mr Proctor, +and was, on the whole, not displeased to be married; for the feeling +that Lucy expected her to be too sensible for that sort of thing +overawed the poor lady. "But, Lucy, I have given him my promise," said +poor Miss Wodehouse. "It--it would make him very unhappy. I can't use +him badly, Lucy dear." + +"I will speak to him, and explain if it is necessary. Whatever +happens, I can't let you sacrifice yourself for me," said Lucy. All +the answer Miss Wodehouse could make was expressed in the tears of +vexation and mortification which rushed to her eyes. She repelled her +young sister's ministrations for the first time in her life with hasty +impatience. Her troubles had not been few for the last twenty-four +hours. She had been questioned about Tom till she had altogether lost +her head, and scarcely knew what she was saying; and Lucy had not +applauded that notable expedient of throwing the shame of the family +upon Mr Wentworth, to be concealed and taken care of, which had +brought so many vexations to the Perpetual Curate. Miss Wodehouse at +last was driven to bay. She had done all for the best, but nobody gave +her any credit for it; and now this last step, by which she had meant +to provide a home for Lucy, was about to be contradicted and put a +stop to altogether. She put away Lucy's arm, and rejected her +consolations. "What is the use of pretending to be fond of me if I am +always to be wrong, and never to have my--my own way in anything?" +cried the poor lady, who, beginning with steadiness, broke down before +she reached the end of her little speech. The words made Lucy open her +blue eyes with wonder; and after that there followed a fuller +explanation, which greatly changed the ideas of the younger sister. +After her "consent" had been at last extracted from her, and when Miss +Wodehouse regained her composure, she reported to Lucy the greater +part of the conversation which had taken place in the drawing-room, of +which Mr Proctor's proposal constituted only a part, and which touched +upon matters still more interesting to her hearer. The two sisters, +preoccupied by their father's illness and death, had up to this time +but a vague knowledge of the difficulties which surrounded the +Perpetual Curate. His trial, which Mr Proctor had reported to his +newly-betrothed, had been unsuspected by either of them; and they were +not even aware of the event which had given rise to it--the +disappearance of Rosa Elsworthy. Miss Wodehouse told the story with +faltering lips, not being able to divest herself of the idea that, +having been publicly accused, Mr Wentworth must be more or less +guilty; while, at the same time, a sense that her brother must have +had something to do with it, and a great reluctance to name his name, +complicated the narrative. She had already got into trouble with Lucy +about this unlucky brother, and unconsciously, in her story, she took +an air of defence. "I should have thought better of Mr Wentworth if he +had not tried to throw the guilt on another," said the perplexed +woman. "Oh, Lucy dear, between two people it is so hard to know what +to do." + +"I know what I shall do," said Lucy, promptly; but she would not +further explain herself. She was, however, quite roused up out of 'In +Memoriam.' She went to her desk and drew out some of the paper deeply +edged with black, which announced before words its tale of grief to +all her correspondents. It was with some alarm that Miss Wodehouse +awaited this letter, which was placed before her as soon as finished. +This was what, as soon as she knew the story, Lucy's prompt and +generous spirit said:-- + + + "DEAR MR WENTWORTH,--We have just heard of the vexations you have been + suffering, to our great indignation and distress. Some people may + think it is a matter with which I have no business to interfere; but I + cannot have you think for a moment, that we, to whom you have been so + kind, could put the slightest faith in any such accusations against + you. We are not of much consequence, but we are two women, to whom any + such evil would be a horror. If it is any one connected with us who + has brought you into this painful position, it gives us the more + reason to be indignant and angry. I know now what you meant about the + will. If it was to do over again, I should do just the same; but for + all that, I understand now what you meant. I understand, also, how + much we owe to you, of which, up to yesterday, I was totally unaware. + You ought never to have been asked to take our burden upon your + shoulders. I suppose you ought not to have done it; but all the same, + thank you with all my heart. I don't suppose we ever can do anything + for you to show our gratitude; and indeed I do not believe in paying + back. But in the mean time, thank you--and don't, from any + consideration for us, suffer a stain which belongs to another to rest + upon yourself. You are a clergyman, and your reputation must be clear. + Pardon me for saying so, as if I were qualified to advise you; but it + would be terrible to think that you were suffering such an injury out + of consideration for us.--Gratefully and truly yours, + + "LUCY WODEHOUSE." + + +The conclusion of this letter gave Lucy a good deal of trouble. Her +honest heart was so moved with gratitude and admiration that she had +nearly called herself "affectionately" Mr Wentworth's. Why should not +she? "He has acted like a brother to us," Lucy said to herself; and +then she paused to inquire whether his conduct had indeed arisen from +brotherly motives solely. Then, when she had begun to write +"faithfully" instead, a further difficulty occurred to her. Not thus +lightly and unsolicited could she call herself "faithful," for did not +the word mean everything that words could convey in any human +relationship? When she had concluded it at last, and satisfied her +scruples by the formula above, she laid the letter before her sister. +This event terminated the active operations of the day in the dwelling +of the Wodehouses. Their brother had not asked to see them, had not +interrupted them as yet in their retreat up-stairs, where they were +sedulously waited upon by the entire household. When Miss Wodehouse's +agitation was over, she too began to collect together her books and +personalities, and they ended by a long consultation where they were +to go and what they were to do, during the course of which the elder +sister exhibited with a certain shy pride that little photograph of +the new rectory, in which there was one window embowered in foliage, +which the bride had already concluded was to be Lucy's room. Lucy +yielded during this sisterly conference to sympathetic thoughts even +of Mr Proctor. The two women were alone in the world. They were still +so near the grave and the deathbed that chance words spoken without +thought from time to time awakened in both the ready tears. Now and +then they each paused to consider with a sob what _he_ would have +liked best. They knew very little of what was going on outside at the +moment when they were occupied with those simple calculations. What +was to become of them, as people say--what money they were to have, or +means of living--neither was much occupied in thinking of. They had +each other; they had, besides, one a novel and timid middle-aged +confidence, the other an illimitable youthful faith in one man in the +world. Even Lucy, whose mind and thoughts were more individual than +her sister's, wanted little else at that moment to make her happy with +a tender tremulous consolation in the midst of her grief. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + +While matters were thus arranging themselves in the ideas at least of +the two sisters whose prospects had been so suddenly changed, +explanations of a very varied kind were going on in the house of the +Miss Wentworths. It was a very full house by this time, having been +invaded and taken possession of by the "family" in a way which entirely +obliterated the calmer interests and occupations of the habitual +inhabitants. The three ladies had reached the stage of life which knows +no personal events except those of illness and death; and the presence +of Jack Wentworth, of Frank and Gerald, and even of Louisa, reduced them +altogether to the rank of spectators, the audience, or at the utmost the +chorus, of the drama; though this was scarcely the case with Miss Dora, +who kept her own room, where she lay on the sofa, and received visits, +and told the story of her extraordinary adventure, the only adventure of +her life. The interest of the household centred chiefly, however, in the +dining-room, which, as being the least habitable apartment in the house, +was considered to be most adapted for anything in the shape of business. +On the way from the church to Miss Wentworth's house the Curate had +given his father a brief account of all the events which had led to his +present position; but though much eased in his mind, and partly +satisfied, the Squire was not yet clear how it all came about. His +countenance was far from having regained that composure, which indeed +the recent course of events in the family had pretty nearly driven out +of his life. His fresh light-coloured morning dress, with all its little +niceties, and the fresh colour which even anxiety could not drive away +from his cheeks, were somehow contradicted in their sentiment of +cheerfulness by the puckers in his forehead and the harassed look of his +face. He sat down in the big leathern chair by the fireplace, and looked +round him with a sigh, and the air of a man who wonders what will be the +next vexation. "I'd like to hear it over again, Frank," said the Squire. +"My mind is not what it used to be; I don't say I ever was clever, like +you young fellows, but I used to understand what was said to me. Now I +seem to require to hear everything twice over; perhaps it is because I +have had myself to say the same things over again a great many times +lately," he added, with a sigh of weariness. Most likely his eye fell on +Gerald as he said so; at all events, the Rector of Wentworth moved sadly +from where he was standing and went to the window, where he was out of +his father's range of vision. Gerald's looks, his movements, every +action of his, seemed somehow to bear a symbolic meaning at this crisis +in his life. He was no longer in any doubt; he had made up his mind. He +looked like a martyr walking to his execution, as he crossed the room; +and the Squire looked after him, and once more breathed out of his +impatient breast a heavy short sigh. Louisa, who had placed herself in +the other great chair at the other side of the forlorn fireplace, from +which, this summer afternoon, there came no cheerful light, put up her +handkerchief to her eyes and began to cry with half-audible sobs--which +circumstances surrounding him were far from being encouraging to Frank +as he entered anew into his own story--a story which he told with many +interruptions. The Squire, who had once "sworn by Frank," had now a +terrible shadow of distrust in his mind. Jack was here on the spot, of +whom the unfortunate father knew more harm than he had ever told, and +the secret dread that he had somehow corrupted his younger brother came +like a cold shadow over Mr Wentworth's mind. He could not slur over any +part of the narrative, but cross-examined his son to the extent of his +ability, with an anxious inquisition into all the particulars. He was +too deeply concerned to take anything for granted. He sat up in his +chair with those puckers in his forehead, with that harassed look in his +eyes, making an anxious, vigilant, suspicious investigation, which was +pathetic to behold. If the defendant, who was thus being examined on his +honour, had been guilty, the heart of the judge would have broken; but +that was all the more reason for searching into it with jealous +particularity, and with a suspicion which kept always gleaming out of +his troubled eyes in sudden anxious glances, saying, "You are guilty? +Are you guilty?" with mingled accusations and appeals. The accused, +being innocent, felt this suspicion more hard to bear than if he had +been a hundred times guilty. + +"I understand a little about this fellow Wodehouse," said the Squire; +"but what I want to know is, why you took him in? What did you take +him in for, sir, at first? Perhaps I could understand the rest if you +would satisfy me of that." + +"I took him in," said the Curate, rather slowly, "because his sister +asked me. She threw him upon my charity--she told me the danger he was +in--" + +"What danger was he in?" asked the Squire. + +The Curate made a pause, and as he paused Mr Wentworth leaned forward +in his chair, with another pucker in his forehead and a still sharper +gleam of suspicion in his eyes. "His father had been offended time +after time in the most serious way. This time he had threatened to +give him up to justice. I can't tell you what he had done, because it +would be breaking my trust--but he had made himself obnoxious to the +law," said Frank Wentworth. "To save him from the chance of being +arrested, his sister brought him to me." + +The Squire's hand shook a good deal as he took out his handkerchief +and wiped his forehead. "Perhaps it would be the best way if one had +not too much regard for the honour of the family," he said, +tremulously, like a man under a sudden temptation; "but the sister, +sir, why did she bring him to you?" he added, immediately after, with +renewed energy. Mr Wentworth was not aware that, while he was +speaking, his eldest son had come into the room. He had his back to +the door, and he did not see Jack, who stood rather doubtfully on the +threshold, with a certain shade of embarrassment upon his ordinary +composure. "It is not everybody that a woman would confide her +brother's life to," said the Squire. "Who is the sister? Is she--is +there any--any entanglement that I don't know of? It will be better +for all of us if you tell me plainly," said the old man, with a +querulous sound in his voice. He forgot the relationship of his own +girls to Jack, and groaned within himself at what appeared almost +certain evidence that the sister of a criminal like Wodehouse had got +possession of Frank. + +"Miss Wodehouse is about the same age as my aunt Dora," said the +Curate. It was an exaggeration which would have gone to the poor +lady's heart, but Frank Wentworth, in the unconscious insolence of his +youth, was quite unaware and careless of the difference. Then he +paused for a moment with an involuntary smile. "But I am a clergyman, +sir," he continued, seriously. "If a man in my position is good for +anything, it is his business to help the helpless. I could do no good +in any other way--I took him into my house." + +"Frank," said the Squire, "I beg your pardon. I believe in my heart +you're true and honest. If I were not driven out of my senses by one +thing and another," said Mr Wentworth, with bitterness. "They make me +unjust to you, sir--unjust to you! But never mind; go on. Why didn't +you tell these fellows what you've told me? That would have settled +the business at once, without any more ado." + +"Mr Morgan is a great deal too much prejudiced against me to believe +anything I said. I thought it better to let him prove to himself his +own injustice; and another still more powerful reason--" said the +Curate. + +"Stop, sir, stop; I can't follow you to more than one thing at a time. +Why is Mr Morgan prejudiced against you?" said the Squire, once more +sitting upright and recommencing his examination. + +Frank Wentworth laughed in spite of himself, though he was far from +being amused. "I know no reason, except that I have worked in his +parish without his permission," he answered, briefly enough, "for +which he threatened to have me up before somebody or other--Dr +Lushington, I suppose, who is the new Council of Trent, and settles +all our matters for us nowadays," said the Curate, not without a +little natural scorn, at which, however, his father groaned. + +"There is nothing to laugh at in Dr Lushington," said the Squire. "He +gives you justice, at all events, which you parsons never give each +other, you know. You ought not to have worked in the Rector's parish, +sir, without his permission. It's like shooting in another man's +grounds. However, that's not my business;--and the other reason, sir?" +said Mr Wentworth, with his anxious look. + +"My dear father," said the Curate, touched by the anxiety in the +Squire's face, and sitting down by him with a sudden impulse, "I have +done nothing which either you or I need be ashamed of. I am grieved +that you should think it necessary to examine me so closely. Wodehouse +is a rascal, but I had taken charge of him; and as long as it was +possible to shield him, I felt bound to do so. I made an appeal to his +honour, if he had any, and to his fears, which are more to be depended +on, and gave him until noon to-day to consider it. Here is his note, +which was given me in the vestry; and now you know the whole business, +and how it is that I postponed the conclusion till to-night." + +The Squire put on his spectacles with a tremulous hand to read the note +which his son gave him. The room was very still while he read it, no +sound interrupting him except an occasional sniff from Louisa, who was +in a permanent state of whimpering, and, besides, had ceased to be +interested in Frank's affairs. Jack Wentworth, standing in the +background behind the Squire's chair, had the whole party before him, +and studied them keenly with thoughts which nobody guessed at. Gerald +was still standing by the window, leaning on it with his face only half +turned to the others. Was he thinking of the others? was he still one of +them? or was he saying his office from some invisible breviary +abstracted into another life? That supposition looked the most like +truth. Near him was his wife, who had thrown herself, a heap of bright +fluttering muslin, into the great chair, and kept her handkerchief to +her red eyes. She had enough troubles of her own to occupy her, poor +soul! Just at that moment it occurred to her to think of the laburnum +berries in the shrubbery at the Rectory, which, it was suddenly borne in +upon her, would prove fatal to one or other of the children in her +absence;--the dear Rectory which she had to leave so soon! "And Frank +will have it, of course," Louisa said to herself, "and marry somebody;" +and then she thought of the laburnum berries in connection with his +problematical children, not without a movement of satisfaction. Opposite +to her was the Squire, holding Wodehouse's epistle in a hand which shook +a little, and reading aloud slowly as he could make it out. The note was +short and insolent enough. While it was being read, Jack Wentworth, who +was not easily discomposed, grew red and restless. He had not dictated +it certainly, nor even suggested the wording of the epistle; but it was +he who, half in scorn and half in pity of the vagabond's terrors, had +reassured Wodehouse, and convinced him that it was only the punishments +of public opinion which the Curate could bring upon him. Hardened as +Jack was, he could not but be conscious that thus to stand in his +brother's way was a shabby business enough, and to feel that he himself +and his protege cut a very poor figure in presence of the manful old +Squire with all his burdens, and of Frank, who had, after all, nothing +to explain which was not to his honour. Notwithstanding that he was at +the present moment his brother's adversary, actually working against him +and prolonging his difficulties, an odd kind of contempt and indignation +against the fools who could doubt Frank's honour possessed the prodigal +at the moment. "A parcel of asses," he said to himself; and so stood and +listened to Wodehouse's little note of defiance, which, but for his +prompting, the sullen vagabond would never have dared to send to his +former protector. The letter itself was as follows:-- + + + "I have consulted my friends about what you said to-day, and they tell + me it is d----d nonsense. You can't do me any harm; and I don't mean + to get myself into any scrape for you. You can do what you like--I + shan't take any notice. Your love affairs are no business of + mine.--Yours truly, + + "T. WODEHOUSE" + + +Mr Wentworth threw the miserable scrawl on the table. "The fellow is a +scoundrel," said the Squire; "he does not seem to have a spark of +gratitude. You've done a deal too much for him already; and if the +sister is as old as Dora--" he continued, after a long pause, with a +half-humorous relaxation of his features. He was too much worn out to +smile. + +"Yes," said the Curate. The young man was sensible of a sudden flush +and heat, but did not feel any inclination to smile. Matters were very +serious just then with Frank Wentworth. He was about to shake himself +free of one vexation, no doubt; but at this moment, when Lucy +Wodehouse was homeless and helpless, he had nothing to offer her, nor +any prospects even which he dared ask her to share with him. This was +no time to speak of the other sister, who was not as old as Miss Dora. +He was more than ever the Perpetual Curate now. Perhaps, being a +clergyman, he ought not to have been swayed by such merely human +emotions; but honour and pride alike demanded that he should remain in +Carlingford, and he had no shelter to offer Lucy in the time of her +need. + +After this there followed a pause, which was far from being cheerful. +Frank could not but be disconsolate enough over his prospects when the +excitement died away; and there was another big, terrible event +looming darkly in the midst of the family, which they had not courage +to name to each other. The long, uneasy pause was at length broken by +Louisa, whose voice sounded in the unnatural silence like the burst of +impatient rain which precedes a thunderstorm. + +"Now that you have done with Frank's affairs, if you have done with +them," said Louisa, "perhaps somebody will speak to Gerald. I don't +mean in the way of arguing. If some one would only speak _sense_ to +him. You all know as well as I do how many children we've got, +and--and--an--other coming," sobbed the poor lady, "if something +doesn't happen to me, which I am sure is more than likely, and might +be expected. I don't blame dear grandpapa, for he has said everything, +and so have I; but I do think his brothers ought to take a little more +interest. Oh, Frank, you know it doesn't matter for you. You are a +young man, you can go anywhere; but when there are five children +and--and--an--other--And how are we to live? You know what a little +bit of money I had when Gerald married me. Everybody knows Gerald +never cared for money. If I had had a good fortune it would have been +quite different," cried poor Louisa, with a little flow of tears and a +querulous sob, as though that too was Gerald's fault. "He has not sent +off his letter yet, Frank," said the injured wife; "if you would but +speak to him. He does not mind me or grandpapa, but he might mind you. +Tell him we shall have nothing to live on; tell him--" + +"Hush," said Gerald. He came forward to the table, very pale and +patient, as became a man at the point of legal death. "I _have_ sent +away my letter. By this time I am no longer Rector of Wentworth. Do +not break my heart. Do you think there is any particular in the whole +matter which I have not considered--the children, yourself, +everything? Hush; there is nothing now to be said." + +The Squire rose, almost as pale as his son, from his chair. "I think +I'll go out into the air a little," said Mr Wentworth. "There's always +something new happening. Here is a son of my own," said the old man, +rising into a flush of energy, "who has not only deserted his post, +but deserted it secretly, Frank. God bless my soul! don't speak to me, +sir; I tell you he's gone over to the enemy as much as Charley would +have done if he had deserted at the Alma--and done it when nobody knew +or was thinking. I used to be thought a man of honour in my day," said +Mr Wentworth, bitterly; "and it's a mean thing to say it came by their +mother's side. There's Jack--" + +The eldest son roused himself up at the mention of his own name. +Notwithstanding all his faults, he was not a man to stand behind backs +and listen to what was said of him. He came forward with his usual +ease, though a close observer might have detected a flush on his face. +"I am here, sir," said the heir. "I cannot flatter myself you will +have much pleasure in seeing me; but I suppose I have still a right to +be considered one of the family." The Squire, who had risen to his +feet, and was standing leaning against the table when Jack advanced, +returned to his chair and sat down as his eldest son confronted him. +They had not met for years, and the shock was great. Mr Wentworth put +his hand to his cravat and pulled at it with an instinctive movement. +The old man was still feeble from his late illness, and apprehensive +of a return of the disease of the Wentworths. He restrained himself, +however, with force so passionate that Jack did not guess at the +meaning of the gasp which, before the Squire was able to speak to him, +convulsed his throat, and made Frank start forward to offer assistance +which his father impatiently rejected. The Squire made, indeed, a +great effort to speak with dignity. He looked from one to another of +his tall sons as he propped himself up by the arms of his chair. + +"You are the most important member of the family," said Mr Wentworth; +"it is long since you have been among us, but that is not our fault. +If things had been different, I should have been glad of your advice +as a man of the world. Anyhow, I can't wish you to be estranged from +your brothers," said the Squire. It was all any one could say. The +heir of Wentworth was not to be denounced or insulted among his +kindred, but he could not be taken to their bosom. Perhaps the +reception thus given him was more galling than any other could have +been to Jack Wentworth's pride. He stood at the table by himself +before his father, feeling that there existed no living relations +between himself and any one present. He had keen intellectual +perceptions, and could recognise the beauty of honour and worth as +well as most people; and the contrast between himself and the others +who surrounded him presented itself in a very forcible light to Jack. +Instead of Gerald and Frank, Wodehouse was _his_ allotted companion. +For that once he was bitter, notwithstanding his habitual good-humour. + +"Yes," he said; "it would be a pity to estrange me from my brothers. +We are, on the whole, a lucky trio. I, whom my relations are civil to; +and Frank, who is not acquitted yet, though he seems so confident; and +Gerald, who has made the greatest mistake of all--" + +"Jack," said the Curate, "nobody wants to quarrel with you. You've +dealt shabbily by me, but I do not mind. Only talk of things you +understand--don't talk of Gerald." + +For a moment Jack Wentworth was roused almost to passion. "What is +Gerald that I should not understand him?" said Jack; "he and I are the +original brood. You are all a set of interlopers, the rest of you. +What is Gerald that I should not talk of him? In the world, my dear +Frank," continued the heir, superciliously, "as the Squire himself +will testify, a man is not generally exempted from criticism because +he is a parson. Gerald is--" + +"I am a simple Catholic layman, nothing more," said Gerald; "not worth +criticism, having done nothing. I am aware I am as good as dead. There +is no reason why Jack should not talk if it pleases him. It will make +no difference to me." + +"And yet," said Frank, "it is only the other day that you told us you +were nothing if not a priest." + +Gerald turned upon him with a look of melancholy reproach that went to +the Curate's heart. "It is true I said so," he replied, and then he +made a pause, and the light died out of his pale face. "Don't bring up +the ghosts of my dead battles, Frank. I said so only the other day. +But it is the glory of the true Church," said the convert, with a +sudden glow which restored colour for a moment to his face, "to +restrain and subdue the last enemy, the will of man. I am content to +be nothing, as the saints were. The fight has been hard enough, but I +am not ashamed of the victory. When the law of the Church and the +obedience of the saints ordain me to be nothing, I consent to it. +There is nothing more to say." + +"And this is how it is to be!" cried Louisa. "He knows what is coming, +and he does not care--and none of you will interfere or speak to him! +It is not as if he did not know what would happen. He tells you +himself that he will be nothing; and even if _he_ can put up with it +after being a man of such consideration in the county, how am _I_ to +put up with it? We have always been used to the very best society," +said poor Louisa, with tears. "The Duke himself was not more thought +of; and now he tells you he is to be nothing!" Mrs Wentworth stopped +to dry her eyes with tremulous haste. "_He_ may not mind," said +Louisa, "for at least he is having his own way. It is all very well +for a man, who can do as he pleases; but it is his poor wife who will +have to suffer. I don't know who will visit me after it's all over, +and people will give over asking us if we don't ask them again; and +how can we ever have anybody, with five children--or more--and only a +few hundreds a-year? Oh, Frank, it kills me to think of it. Don't you +think you might speak to him again?" she whispered, stretching up to +his ear, when Gerald, with a sigh, had gone back to his window. The +Squire, too, cast an appealing glance at his younger son. + +"It is all true enough that she says," said Mr Wentworth. "She mayn't +understand _him_, Frank, but she's right enough in what she's saying. +If things were different between your brother and me, I'd ask his +advice," said the Squire, with a sigh. He gave a longing look at his +eldest son, who stood with his usual ease before the fireplace. +Matters had gone a great deal too far between the father and son to +admit of the usual displeasure of an aggrieved parent--all that was +over long ago; and Mr Wentworth could not restrain a certain melting +of the heart towards his first-born. "He's not what I could wish, but +he's a man of the world, and might give us some practical advice," +said the Squire, with his anxious looks. Of what possible advantage +advice, practical or otherwise, could have been in the circumstances, +it was difficult to see; but the Squire was a man of simple mind, and +still believed in the suggestions of wisdom. He still sat in the +easy-chair, looking wistfully at Jack, and with a certain faith that +matters might even yet be mended, if the counsel of his eldest son, as +a man of the world, could be had and could be trusted; when Frank, who +had an afternoon service at Wharfside, had to leave the family +committee. Gerald, who roused up when his younger brother mentioned +the business he was going upon, looked at Frank almost as wistfully as +his father looked at Jack. "It may be the last time," he said to +himself; "if you'll let me, I'll go with you, Frank;" and so the +little conclave was broken up. The people in Prickett's Lane were +greatly impressed by the aspect of Gerald Wentworth, as he went, +silent and pale, by his brother's side, down the crowded pavement. +They thought it must be a bishop at least who accompanied the Curate +of St Roque's; and the women gathered at a little distance and made +their comments, as he stood waiting for his brother after the service. +"He don't look weakly nor sickly no more nor the clergyman," said one; +"but he smiles at the little uns for all the world like my man smiled +the night he was took away." "Smilin' or not smilin'," said another, +"I don't see as it makes no matter; but I'd give a deal to know what +Elsworthy and them as stands by Elsworthy can say after that." "Maybe, +then, he'd give the poor fatherless children a blessing afore he'd +go," suggested a poor Irish widow, who, having been much under Mr +Wentworth's hands "in her trouble," was not quite sure now what faith +she professed, or at least which Church she belonged to. Such was the +universal sentiment of Prickett's Lane. Meanwhile Gerald stood silent, +and looked with pathetic, speechless eyes at the little crowd. He was +no priest now--he was shorn of the profession which had been his life. +His hope of being able to resign all things for Christ's sake had +failed him. Too wary and politic to maintain in a critical age and +country the old licence of the ages of Faith, even his wife's consent, +could he have obtained it, would not have opened to the convert the +way into the priesthood. A greater trial had been required of him; he +was nothing, a man whose career was over. He stood idly, in a kind of +languor, looking on while the Curate performed the duties of his +office--feeling like a man whom sickness had reduced to the last stage +of life, and for whom no earthly business remained; while, at the same +time, his aspect struck awe, as that of a bishop at the least, to the +imagination of Prickett's Lane. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + + +Mr Morgan did not go home direct from the investigation of the morning; +on the contrary, he paid various visits, and got through a considerable +amount of parish business, before he turned his face towards the +Rectory. On the whole, his feelings were far from being comfortable. He +did not know, certainly, who Mr Wentworth's witness was, but he had an +unpleasant conviction that it was somebody who would clear the Curate. +"Of course I shall be very glad," the Rector said to himself; but it is +a fact, that in reality he was far from being glad, and that a secret +conviction of this sentiment, stealing into his mind, made matters still +more uncomfortable. This private sense of wishing evil to another man, +of being unwilling and vexed to think well of his neighbour, was in +itself enough to disturb the Rector's tranquillity; and when to this was +added the aggravation that his wife had always been on the other side, +and had warned him against proceeding, and might, if she pleased, say, +"I told you so," it will be apparent that Mr Morgan's uneasiness was not +without foundation. Instead of going home direct to acquaint his wife +with the circumstances, about which he knew she must be curious, it was +late in the afternoon before the Rector opened his own gate. Even then +he went through the garden with a reluctant step, feeling it still more +difficult to meet her now than it would have been at first, although his +delay had arisen from the thought that it would be easier to encounter +her keen looks after an interval. There was, however, no keen look to be +dreaded at this moment. Mrs Morgan was busy with her ferns, and she did +not look up as her husband approached. She went on with her occupation, +examining carefully what withered fronds there might be about her +favourite maidenhair, even when he stopped by her side. Though her +husband's shadow fell across the plants she was tending, Mrs Morgan, for +the first time in her married life, did not look up to welcome the +Rector. She made no demonstration, said no word of displeasure, but only +showed herself utterly absorbed in, and devoted to, her ferns. There +was, to be sure, no such lover of ferns in the neighbourhood of +Carlingford as the Rector's wife. + +As for Mr Morgan, he stood by her side in a state of great discomfort +and discomfiture. The good man's perceptions were not very clear, but +he saw that she had heard from some one the issue of the morning's +inquiry, and that she was deeply offended by his delay, and that, in +short, they had arrived at a serious difference, the first quarrel +since their marriage. Feeling himself in the wrong, Mr Morgan +naturally grew angry too. + +"I should like to have dinner earlier to-day," he said, with the usual +indiscretion of an aggrieved husband. "Perhaps you will tell the cook, +my dear. I think I should like to have it at five, if possible. It +can't make much difference for one day." + +Mrs Morgan raised herself up from her ferns, and no doubt it was a +relief to her to find herself provided with so just a cause of +displeasure. "Much difference!" cried the Rector's wife; "it is +half-past four now. I wonder how you could think of such a thing, +William. There is some lamb, which of course is not put down to roast +yet, and the ducks. If you wish the cook to give warning immediately, +you may send such a message. It is just like a man to think it would +make no difference! But I must say, to do them justice," said the +Rector's wife, "it is not like a man of your college!" When she had +fired this double arrow, she took off her gardening gloves and lifted +her basket. "I suppose you told Mr Proctor that you wished to dine +early?" said Mrs Morgan, with severity, pausing on the threshold. "Of +course it is quite impossible to have dinner at five unless he knows." + +"Indeed I--I forgot all about Proctor," said the Rector, who now saw +the inexpediency of his proposal. "On second thoughts, I see it does +not matter much. But after dinner I expect some people about Mr +Wentworth's business. It was not settled this morning, as I expected." + +"So I heard," said Mrs Morgan. "I will tell Thomas to show them into +the library," and she went indoors, carrying her basket. As for the +Rector, he stood silent, looking after her, and feeling wonderfully +discomfited. Had she found fault with him for his delay--had she even +said "I told you so!" it would have been less overwhelming than this +indifference. They had never had a quarrel before, and the effect was +proportionately increased. After standing bewildered at the door for a +few minutes, he retired into his study, where the change in his wife's +demeanour haunted him, and obscured Mr Wentworth. Mrs Morgan sat at +the head of the table at dinner with an equal want of curiosity. Even +when the subject was discussed between the Rector and Mr Proctor, she +asked no questions--a course of procedure very puzzling and trying to +Mr Morgan, who could not make it out. + +It was after eight o'clock before the tribunal of the morning was +reconstituted at the Rectory. Most of the gentlemen came late, and the +little assembly brought with it a flavour of port, which modified the +serious atmosphere. When the bed of justice was again formed, Mr +Wentworth entered with the bodyguard of Wentworths, which numbered +half as many as his judges. Half from curiosity, half from a reluctant +inclination to please his father, Jack had joined the others, and they +came in together, all of them noticeable men, profoundly different, +yet identified as belonging to each other by the touching bond of +family resemblance. After the four gentlemen had taken possession of +their corner, Mr Waters made a somewhat hurried entry, bringing after +him the sullen reluctant figure of Wodehouse, who made an awkward bow +to the assembled potentates, and looked ashamed and vigilant, and very +ill at ease. Mr Waters made a hasty explanation to the Rector before +he sat down by the side of his unlucky client. "I thought it possible +there might be some attempt made to shift the blame upon him, +therefore I thought it best to bring him," said the lawyer. Mr Morgan +gave him a dry little nod without answering. To tell the truth, the +Rector felt anything but comfortable; when he glanced up at the +stranger, who was looking askance at the people in the room as if they +had been so many policemen in disguise, a disagreeable sudden +conviction that this sullen rascal looked a great deal more like the +guilty man than Mr Wentworth did, came into Mr Morgan's mind, and made +him sick with annoyance and embarrassment. If it should turn out so! +if it should become apparent that he, for private prejudices of his +own, had been persecuting his brother! This thought produced an actual +physical effect for the moment upon the Rector, but its immediate +visible consequence was simply to make him look more severe, almost +spiteful, in a kind of unconscious self-vindication. Last of all, +Elsworthy, who began to be frightened too, but whose fears were +mingled with no compunction nor blame of himself, stole in and found +an uncomfortable seat on a stool near the door, where scarcely any one +saw him, by favour of Thomas, and screened by the high back of the +Rector's easy-chair. When all were assembled Mr Morgan spoke. + +"We are met this evening, gentlemen, to complete, if there is sufficient +time, the investigation we began this morning," said the Rector. "I have +no doubt I express the sentiments of every one present when I say I +shall be glad--_unfeignedly_ glad," said Mr Morgan, with a defiant +emphasis, which was meant to convince himself, "to find that Mr +Wentworth's witness is of sufficient importance to justify the delay. As +we were interrupted this morning solely on his account, I presume it +will be most satisfactory that this witness should be called at once." + +"I should like to say something in the first place," said the Curate. +Mr Morgan made an abrupt nod indicative of his consent, and, instead +of looking at the defendant, shaded his eyes with his hand, and made +figures with his pen upon the blotting-paper. A conviction, against +which it was impossible to strive, had taken possession of the +Rector's soul. He listened to Frank Wentworth's address with a kind of +impatient annoyance and resistance. "What is the good of saying any +more about it?" Mr Morgan was saying in his soul. "For heaven's sake +let us bury it and be done with it, and forget that we ever made such +asses of ourselves." But at the same time the Rector knew this was +quite impossible; and as he sat leaning over his blotting-book, +writing down millions after millions with his unconscious pen, he +looked a very model of an unwilling listener--a prejudiced judge--a +man whom no arguments could convince; which was the aspect under which +he appeared to the Curate of St Roque's. + +"I should like to say something first," said the Perpetual Curate. "I +could not believe it possible that I, being tolerably well known in +Carlingford as I have always supposed, could be suspected by any +rational being of such an insane piece of wickedness as has been laid +to my charge; and consequently it did not occur to me to vindicate +myself, as I perhaps ought to have done, at the beginning. I have been +careless all along of vindicating myself. I had an idea," said the +young man, with involuntary disdain, "that I might trust, if not to +the regard, at least to the common-sense of my friends--" + +Here John Brown, who was near his unwary client, plucked at the +Curate's coat, and brought him to a momentary half-angry pause. +"Softly, softly," said Dr Marjoribanks; "common-sense has nothing to +do with facts; we're inquiring into facts at this moment; and, +besides, it's a very foolish and unjustifiable confidence to trust to +any man's common-sense," said the old Doctor, with a humorous glance +from under his shaggy eyebrows at his fellow-judges; upon which there +ensued a laugh, not very agreeable in its tone, which brought the +Rector to a white heat of impatience and secret rage. + +"It appears to me that the witness ought to be called at once," said +Mr Morgan, "if this is not a mere expedient to gain time, and if it is +intended to make any progress to-night." + +"My explanations shall be very brief," said Frank Wentworth, facing +instantly to his natural enemy. "I have suspected from the beginning +of this business who was the culprit, and have made every possible +attempt to induce him to confess, and, so far as he could, amend the +wrong that he had done. I have failed; and now the confession, the +_amende_, must be made in public. I will now call my witness," said +the Curate. But this time a commotion rose in another part of the +room. It was Wodehouse, who struggled to rise, and to get free from +the detaining grasp of his companion. + +"By Jove! I aint going to sit here and listen to a parcel of lies!" +cried the vagabond. "If I am to be tried, at least I'll have the real +thing, by Jove!" He had risen up, and was endeavouring to pass Mr +Waters and get out, casting a suspicious defiant look round the room. +The noise he made turned all eyes upon him, and the scrutiny he had +brought upon himself redoubled his anxiety to get away. "I'll not +stand it, by Jove! Waters, let me go," said the craven, whose confused +imagination had mixed up all his evil doings together, and who already +felt himself being carried off to prison. It was at this moment that +Jack Wentworth rose from his place in his easy careless way, and went +forward to the table to adjust the lamp, which was flaring a little. +Wodehouse dropped back into a chair as soon as he caught the eye of +this master of his fate. His big beard moved with a subterranean gasp +like the panting of a hunted creature, and all the colour that had +remained died away out of his haggard, frightened face. As for Jack +Wentworth, he took no apparent notice of the shabby rascal whom he +held in awe. "Rather warm this room for a court of justice. I hope +Frank's witness is not fat," said Jack, putting himself up against the +wall, and lifting languidly his glass to his eye--which byplay was +somewhat startling, but totally incomprehensible, to the amateur +judges, who looked upon him with angry eyes. + +"I must request that the proceedings may not be interrupted," said Mr +Morgan; and then everybody looked towards the open door: the sight they +saw there was enough to startle the calmest spectator. Elsworthy, who +was seated close by, sprang from his stool with a low resounding howl of +amazement, upsetting his lowly seat, and staggering back against the +wall, in the excess of his wonder and consternation. The judges +themselves forgot their decorum, and crowded round upon each other to +stare--old Mr Western putting his arm round the Rector's neck in his +curiosity, as if they had been two boys at a peep-show. It was Miss +Leonora Wentworth's erect iron-grey figure that appeared in the doorway, +half leading in, half pushing before her, the unfortunate cause of all +the commotion--Rosa Elsworthy herself. A change had passed upon the +little girl's rosy, dewy, April beauty. Her pretty dark eyes were +enlarged and anxious, and full of tears; her cheeks had paled out of +their sweet colour, her red lips were pressed tightly together. Passion +and shame had set their marks upon the child's forehead--lightly, it is +true, but still the traces were there; but beyond all other sentiments, +anxiety, restless, breathless, palpitating, had possession of Mr +Wentworth's all-important witness. It was very clear that, whatever +might be the opinion of her judges, Rosa's case was anything but +hopeless in her own eyes. She came in drooping, shrinking, and abashed, +as was natural; but her shame was secondary in Rosa's mind, even in the +moment of her humiliation. She came to a dead stop when she had made a +few steps into the room, and cast furtive glances at the dread +tribunal, and began to cry. She was trembling with nervous eagerness, +with petulance and impatience. Almost all her judges, except the Rector +and Mr Proctor, had been known to Rosa from her earliest years. She was +not afraid of them, nor cast down by any sense of overwhelming +transgression--on the contrary, she cast an appealing look round her, +which implied that they could still set everything right if they would +exert themselves; and then she began to cry. + +"Gentlemen, before you ask any questions," said Miss Leonora +Wentworth, "I should like to explain why I am here. I came not because +I approve of _her_, but because it is right that my nephew should have +a respectable woman to take charge of the witness. She was brought to +my house last night, and has been in my charge ever since;--and I come +with her now, not because I approve of her, but because she ought to +be in charge of some woman," said Miss Leonora, sitting down abruptly +in the chair some one had placed for her. The chair was placed close +by the spot where Rosa stood crying. Poor, pretty, forsaken child! +Perhaps Miss Leonora, who sat beside her, and occupied the position of +her protector, was of all the people present the only one who had not +already forgiven Rosa, the only one who would have still been disposed +to punish her, and did not pardon the weeping creature in her heart. + +"Now that you're here, Rosa," said Dr Marjoribanks, "the only sensible +thing you can do is to dry your eyes and answer the questions that +have to be put to you. Nobody will harm you if you speak the truth. +Don't be frightened, but dry your eyes, and let us hear what you have +to say." + +"Poor little thing," said old Mr Western; "of course she has done very +wrong. I don't mean to defend her--but, after all, she is but a child. +Poor little thing! Her mother died, you know, when she was a baby. She +had nobody to tell her how to behave.--I don't mean to defend her, for +she has done very wrong, poor little--" + +"We are falling into mere conversation," said the Rector, severely. +"Rosa Elsworthy, come to the table. The only thing you can do to make +up for all the misery you have caused to your friends, is to tell the +truth about everything. You are aged--how much? eighteen years?" + +"Please, sir, only seventeen," said Rosa; "and oh, please, sir, I +didn't mean no harm. I wouldn't never have gone, no, not a step, if he +hadn't a-promised that we was to be married. Oh, please, sir--" + +"Softly a little," said John Brown, interfering. "It is not you who +are on your trial, Rosa. We are not going to question you about your +foolishness; all that the Rector wants you to tell him is the name of +the man who persuaded you to go away." + +At which question Rosa cried more and more. "I don't think he meant no +harm either," cried the poor little girl. "Oh, if somebody would +please speak to him! We couldn't be married then, but now if anybody +would take a little trouble! I told him Mr Wentworth would, if I was +to ask him; but then I thought perhaps as Mr Wentworth mightn't like +to be the one as married me," said Rosa, with a momentary gleam of +vanity through her tears. The little simper with which the girl spoke, +the coquettish looks askance at the Perpetual Curate, who stood grave +and unmoved at a distance, the movement of unconscious self-deception +and girlish vanity which for a moment distracted Rosa, had a great +effect upon the spectators. The judges looked at each other across the +table, and Dr Marjoribanks made a commentary of meditative nods upon +that little exhibition. "Just so," said the Doctor; "maybe Mr +Wentworth might have objected. If you tell me the man's name, _I_'ll +speak to him, Rosa," said the old Scotsman, grimly. As for the Rector, +he had put down his pen altogether, and looked very much as if he were +the culprit. Certainly his shame and confusion and self-disgust were +greater than that of any one else in the room. + +"Oh, Doctor, please don't be angry. Oh, if somebody would only speak +to him!" cried poor Rosa. "Oh, please, it wasn't my fault--I haven't +got no--nobody to speak for me!" At this moment she got a glimpse of +her uncle's face, dark and angry, looming behind the Rector's chair. +Rosa shrank back with a frightened movement, and caught fast hold of +Miss Leonora's dress. "Oh, please, don't let him kill me!" cried the +terrified girl. She sank down at Miss Wentworth's feet, and held +tightly by her unwilling protectress. She was a frightened child, +afraid of being whipped and punished; she was not an outraged woman, +forsaken and miserable. Nobody knew what to do with her as she +crouched down, panting with fright and anxiety, by Miss Leonora's +side. + +"We must know who this man is," said John Brown. "Look here, Rosa; if +anybody is to do you good, it is necessary to know the man. Rise up +and look round, and tell me if you can see him here." + +After a moment's interval Rosa obeyed. She stood up trembling, resting +her hand to support herself on Miss Leonora's chair--almost, she +trembled so, on Miss Leonora's shoulder. Up to this moment the ignorant +little creature had scarcely felt the shame of her position; she had +felt only the necessity of appealing to the kindness of people who knew +her--people who were powerful enough to do very nearly what they pleased +in Carlingford; for it was in this light that Rosa, who knew no better, +regarded the Doctor and her other judges. This time her eye passed +quickly over those protectors. The tears were still hanging on her +eyelashes; her childish bosom was still palpitating with sobs. Beyond +the little circle of light round the table, the room was comparatively +in shadow. She stood by herself, her pretty face and anxious eyes +appearing over Miss Wentworth's head, her fright and her anxiety both +forgotten for the moment in the sudden hope of seeing her betrayer. +There was not a sound in the room to disturb the impartiality of her +search. Every man kept still, as if by chance he might be the offender. +Rosa's eyes, bright with anxiety, with eagerness, with a feverish hope, +went searching into the shadow, gleaming harmless over the Wentworth +brothers, who were opposite. Then there was a start and a loud cry. She +was not ashamed to be led before the old men, who were sorry for her, +and who could protect her; but now at last the instinct of her womanhood +seized upon the unfortunate creature. She had made an involuntary rush +towards him when she saw him first. Then she stopped short, and looked +all round her with a bewildered sudden consciousness. The blood rushed +to her face, scorching and burning; she uttered a sudden cry of anguish +and shame. "Oh, don't forsake me!--don't forsake me!--listen to the +gentlemen!" cried poor Rosa, and fell down in a sudden agony of +self-comprehension at Wodehouse's feet. + +For a few minutes after there was nothing but confusion in the room. +Elsworthy had been standing behind backs, with a half-fiendish look of +rage and disappointment on his commonplace features. "Let them help her +as likes; I washes my hands of her," he cried bitterly, when he saw her +fall; and then rushed into the midst of the room, thrusting the others +out of his way. The man was beside himself with mortification, with +disgust, and fury, and at the same time with a savage natural affection +for the creature who had baffled and disgraced him, yet still was his +own. "Let alone--let alone, I tell you! There's nobody as belongs to her +but me!" cried Elsworthy, pushing up against the Doctor, who had lifted +her from the ground. As for Wodehouse, he was standing scowling down +upon the pretty figure at his feet: not that the vagabond was utterly +heartless, or could look at his victim without emotion; on the contrary, +he was pale with terror, thinking he had killed her, wondering in his +miserable heart if they would secure him at once, and furtively watching +the door to see if he had a chance of escape. When Mr Waters seized his +arm, Wodehouse gave a hoarse outcry of horror. "I'll marry her--oh, +Lord, I'll marry her! I never meant anything else," the wretched man +cried, as he sank back again into his chair. He thought she was dead, as +she lay with her upturned face on the carpet, and in his terror and +remorse and cowardice his heart seemed to stop beating. If he could have +had a chance of escaping, he would not have hesitated to dash the old +Doctor out of his way, and rush over the body of the unhappy girl whom +he thought he had murdered. But Waters held him fast; and he sank back, +panting and horrified, on his seat. "I never touched her; nobody can say +I touched her," muttered the poor wretch to himself; and watched with +fascinated eyes and the distinct apprehension of terror every movement +and change of position, calculating how he might dart out when the +window was opened--having forgotten for the moment that Jack Wentworth, +as well as the companion who kept immediate watch over him, was in the +room. + +"She'll come to herself presently," said Dr Marjoribanks. "We'll carry +her up-stairs. Yes, I know you don't approve of her, Miss Wentworth; +nobody said you were to approve of her. Not that I think she's a +responsible moral agent myself," said the Doctor, lifting her up in +his vigorous arms; "but in the mean time she has to be brought to +life. Keep out of my way, Elsworthy; you should have looked better +after the little fool. If she's not accountable for her actions, _you_ +are," he went on with a growl, thrusting away with his vigorous +shoulder the badly-hung frame of Rosa's uncle, who was no match for +the Doctor. Thus the poor little girl was carried away in a kind of +procession, Miss Leonora going first. "Not that I think her worth all +this fuss, the vain little fool," said Miss Leonora; "she'll come to +herself, no fear of her;" but, notwithstanding her protest, the +strong-minded woman led the way. When the room was cleared, the +gentlemen who remained took their seats mechanically, and stared at +each other. In the shame and confusion of the moment nobody could find +anything to say, and the Curate was magnanimous, and did not take +advantage of his triumph. The silence was broken by the Rector, who +rose up solemnly from his chair to speak. Probably no one in the room +had suffered so acutely as Mr Morgan; his face was crimson, his eyes +suffused and angry. Frank Wentworth rose involuntarily at the same +moment, expecting, he could not tell why, to be addressed, but sat +down again in a little confusion when he found that the Rector had +turned his eyes in a totally different direction. Mr Morgan put the +lamp out of the way, that he might be able to transfix with the full +glow of his angry eyes the real offender, who sat only half conscious, +absorbed with his own terror, by the lawyer's side. + +"Sir!" said the Rector, in a tone which, severe as his voice was by +nature, nobody had ever heard from his lips before, "you have put us +all in a most ridiculous and painful position to-night. I don't know +whether you are capable of feeling the vileness of your own misconduct +as regards the unhappy girl who has just been carried out of the room, +but you certainly shall not leave the house without hearing--" + +Wodehouse gave such a start at these words that Mr Morgan paused a +moment. The Rector was quite unaware of the relief, the sense of +safety, which he had inadvertently conveyed to the mind of the shabby +rascal whom he was addressing. He was then to be allowed to leave the +house? "I'll leave the d----d place to-night, by Jove!" he muttered in +his beard, and immediately sat up upon his chair, and turned round +with a kind of sullen vivacity to listen to the remainder of Mr +Morgan's speech. + +"You shall not leave this house," said the Rector, more peremptorily +still, "without hearing what must be the opinion of every gentleman, +of every honest man. You have been the occasion of bringing an utterly +unfounded accusation against a--a young clergyman," said Mr Morgan, +with a succession of gasps, "of--of the very highest character. You +have, as I understand, sir, abused his hospitality, and--and done your +utmost to injure him when you owed him gratitude. Not content with +that, sir," continued the Rector, "you have kept your--your very +existence concealed, until the moment when you could injure your +sisters. You may perhaps be able to make a miserable amends for the +wrong you have done to the unfortunate girl up-stairs, but you can +never make amends to me, sir, for betraying me into a ridiculous +position, and leading me to do--an--an absurd and--and incredible +injustice--to a--to my--to Mr Frank Wentworth. Sir, you are a +scoundrel!" cried Mr Morgan, breaking down abruptly in an access of +sudden fury. When the Rector had recovered himself, he turned with +great severity to the rest of the company: "Gentlemen, my wife will be +glad to see you up-stairs," said Mr Morgan. The sound of this +hospitable invitation was as if he had ordered the entire assembly to +the door; but nevertheless most of the company followed him as he +rose, and, without condescending to look round again, marched out of +the library. The Squire rose with the rest, and took the hand of his +son Frank and grasped it closely. Somehow, though he believed Frank +before, Mr Wentworth was easier in his mind after the Rector's speech. + +"I think I will go up-stairs and shake hands with him," said the +Squire, "and you had better come too, Frank. No doubt he will expect +it. He spoke up very well at the last, and I entirely agree with the +Rector," he said, looking sternly, but with a little curiosity, at the +vagabond, who stood recovering himself, and ready to resume his +hopeless swagger. It was well for Mr Wentworth that he left the room +at once, and went cheerfully up-stairs to pay his respects to Mrs +Morgan. The Squire said, "Thank God!" quietly to himself when he got +out of the library. "Things are mending, surely--even Jack--even +Jack," Mr Wentworth said, under his breath; and the simple gentleman +said over a part of the general thanksgiving, as he went slowly, with +an unusual gladness, up the stair. He might not have entered Mrs +Morgan's drawing-room with such a relieved and brightened countenance +had he stayed ten minutes longer in the library, and listened to the +further conversation there. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + + +"Now, Mr Wodehouse," said Jack Wentworth, "it appears that you and I +have a word to say to each other." They had all risen when the other +gentlemen followed Mr Morgan out of the room, and those who remained +stood in a group surrounding the unhappy culprit, and renewing his +impression of personal danger. When he heard himself thus addressed, +he backed against the wall, and instinctively took one of the chairs +and placed it before him. His furtive eye sought the door and the +window, investigating the chances of escape. When he saw that there +was none, he withdrew still a step further back, and stood at bay. + +"By Jove! I aint going to stand all this," said Wodehouse; "as if +every fellow had a right to bully me--it's more than flesh and blood +can put up with. I don't care for that old fogey that's gone +up-stairs; but, by Jove! I won't stand any more from men that eat my +dinners, and win my money, and--" + +Jack Wentworth made half a step forward with a superb smile--"My good +fellow, you should never reproach a man with his good actions," he said; +"but at the same time, having eaten your dinners, as you describe, I +have a certain claim on your gratitude. We have had some--a--business +connection--for some years. I don't say you have reason to be actually +grateful for that; but, at least, it brought you now and then into the +society of gentlemen. A man who robs a set of women, and leaves the poor +creature he has ruined destitute, is a sort of cur we have nothing to +say to," said the heir of the Wentworths, contemptuously. "We do not +pretend to be saints, but we are not blackguards; that is to say," said +Jack, with a perfectly calm and harmonious smile, "not in theory, nor in +our own opinion. The fact accordingly is, my friend, that you must +choose between _us_ and those respectable meannesses of yours. By Jove! +the fellow ought to have been a shopkeeper, and as honest as--Diogenes," +said Jack. He stood looking at his wretched associate with the +overwhelming impertinence of a perfectly well-bred man, no way +concealing the contemptuous inspection with which his cool eyes +travelled over the disconcerted figure from top to toe, seeing and +exaggerating all its tremors and clumsy guiltiness. The chances are, had +Jack Wentworth been in Wodehouse's place, he would have been master of +the position as much as now. He was not shocked nor indignant like his +brothers. He was simply contemptuous, disdainful, not so much of the +wickedness as of the clumsy and shabby fashion in which it had been +accomplished. As for the offender, who had been defiant in his sulky +fashion up to this moment, his courage oozed out at his finger-ends +under Jack Wentworth's eye. + +"I am my own master," he stammered, "nowadays. I aint to be dictated +to--and I shan't be, by Jove! As for Jack Wentworth, he's well known +to be neither more nor less--" + +"Than what, Mr Wodehouse?" said the serene and splendid Jack. "Don't +interest yourself on my account, Frank. This is my business at +present. If you have any prayer-meetings in hand, we can spare +you--and don't forget our respectable friend in your supplications. +Favour us with your definition of Jack Wentworth, Mr Wodehouse. He is +neither more nor less--?" + +"By Jove! I aint going to stand it," cried Wodehouse; "if a fellow's +to be driven mad, and insulted, and have his money won from him, and +made game of--not to say tossed about as I've been among 'em, and made +a drudge of, and set to do the dirty work," said the unfortunate +subordinate, with a touch of pathos in his hoarse voice;--"I don't +mean to say I've been what I ought; but, by Jove! to be put upon as +I've been, and knocked about; and at the last they haven't the pluck +to stand by a fellow, by Jove!" muttered Mr Wodehouse's unlucky heir. +What further exasperation his smiling superior intended to heap upon +him nobody could tell; for just as Jack Wentworth was about to speak, +and just as Wodehouse had again faced towards him, half-cowed, +half-resisting, Gerald, who had been looking on in silence, came +forward out of the shadow. He had seen all and heard all, from that +moral deathbed of his, where no personal cares could again disturb +him; and though he had resigned his office, he could not belie his +nature. He came in by instinct to cherish the dawn of compunction +which appeared, as he thought, in the sinner's words. + +"The best thing that can happen to you," said Gerald, at the sound of +whose voice everybody started, "is to find out that the wages of sin are +bitter. Don't expect any sympathy or consolation from those who have +helped you to do wrong. My brother tries to induce you to do a right act +from an unworthy motive. He says your former associates will not +acknowledge you. My advice to you is to forsake your former associates. +My brother," said Gerald, turning aside to look at him, "would do +himself honour if he forsook them also--but for you, here is your +opportunity. You have no temptation of poverty now. Take the first step, +and forsake them. I have no motive in advising you--except, indeed, that +I am Jack Wentworth's brother. He and you are different," said Gerald, +involuntarily glancing from one to the other. "And at present you have +the means of escape. Go now and leave them," said the man who was a +priest by nature. The light returned to his eye while he spoke; he was +no longer passive, contemplating his own moral death; his natural office +had come back to him unawares. He stretched his arm towards the door, +thinking of nothing but the escape of the sinner. "Go," said Gerald. +"Refuse their approbation; shun their society. For Christ's sake, and +not for theirs, make amends to those you have wronged. Jack, I command +you to let him go." + +Jack, who had been startled at first, had recovered himself long +before his brother ceased to speak. "Let him go, by all means," he +said, and stood superbly indifferent by Gerald's side, whistling under +his breath a tripping lively air. "No occasion for solemnity. The +sooner he goes the better," said Jack. "In short, I see no reason why +any of us should stay, now the business is accomplished. I wonder +would his reverence ever forgive me if I lighted my cigar?" He took +out his case as he spoke, and began to look over its contents. There +was one in the room, however, who was better acquainted with the +indications of Jack Wentworth's face than either of his brothers. This +unfortunate, who was hanging in an agony of uncertainty over the chair +he had placed before him, watched every movement of his leader's face +with the anxious gaze of a lover, hoping to see a little corresponding +anxiety in it, but watched in vain. Wodehouse had been going through a +fever of doubt and divided impulses. The shabby fellow was open to +good impressions, though he was not much in the way of practising +them; and Gerald's address, which, in the first place, filled him with +awe, moved him afterwards with passing thrills of compunction, mingled +with a kind of delight at the idea of getting free. When his admonitor +said "Go," Wodehouse made a step towards the door, and for an instant +felt the exhilaration of enfranchisement. But the next moment his eye +sought Jack Wentworth's face, which was so superbly careless, so +indifferent to him and his intentions, and the vagabond's soul +succumbed with a canine fidelity to his master. Had Jack shown any +interest, any excitement in the matter, his sway might have been +doubtful; but in proportion to the sense of his own insignificance and +unimportance Wodehouse's allegiance confirmed itself. He looked +wistfully towards the hero of his imagination, as that skilful +personage selected his cigar. He would rather have been kicked again +than left alone, and left to himself. After all, it was very true what +Jack Wentworth said. They might be a bad lot, but they were gentlemen +(according to Wodehouse's understanding of the word) with whom he had +been associated; and beatific visions of peers and baronets and +honourables, amongst whom his own shabby person had figured, without +feeling much below the common level, crossed his mind with all the +sweetness which belongs to a past state of affairs. Yet it was still +in his power to recall these vanishing glories. Now that he was rich, +and could "cut a figure" among the objects of his admiration, was that +brilliant world to be closed upon him for ever by his own obstinacy? +As these thoughts rushed through his mind, little Rosa's beauty and +natural grace came suddenly to his recollection. Nobody need know how +he had got his pretty wife, and a pretty wife she would be--a creature +whom nobody could help admiring. Wodehouse looked wistfully at Jack +Wentworth, who took no notice of him as he chose his cigar. Jack was +not only the ideal of the clumsy rogue, but he was the doorkeeper of +that paradise of disreputable nobles and ruined gentlemen which was +Wodehouse's idea of good society; and from all this was he about to be +banished? Jack Wentworth selected his cigar with as much care as if +his happiness depended on it, and took no notice of the stealthy +glances thrown at him. "I'll get a light in the hall," said Jack; +"good evening to you," and he was actually going away. + +"Look here," said Wodehouse, hastily, in his beard; "I aint a man to +forsake old friends. If Jack Wentworth does not mean anything +unreasonable, or against a fellow's honour--Hold your tongue, Waters; +by Jove! I know my friends. I know you would never have been one of +them but for Jack Wentworth. He's not the common sort, I can tell you. +He's the greatest swell going, by Jove!" cried Jack's admiring +follower, "and through thick and thin he's stood by me. I aint going +to forsake him now--that is, if he don't want anything that goes +against a fellow's honour," said the repentant prodigal, again sinking +the voice which he had raised for a moment. As he spoke he looked more +wistfully than ever towards his leader, who said "Pshaw!" with an +impatient gesture, and put back his cigar. + +"This room is too hot for anything," said Jack; "but don't open the +window, I entreat of you. I hate to assist at the suicide of a set of +insane insects. For heaven's sake, Frank, mind what you're doing. As +for Mr Wodehouse's remark," said Jack, lightly, "I trust I never could +suggest anything which would wound his keen sense of honour. I advise +you to marry and settle, as I am in the habit of advising young men; +and if I were to add that it would be seemly to make some provision +for your sisters--" + +"Stop there!" said the Curate, who had taken no part in the scene up +to this moment. He had stood behind rather contemptuously, determined +to have nothing to do with his ungrateful and ungenerous protege. But +now an unreasonable impulse forced him into the discussion. "The less +that is said on that part of the subject the better," he said, with +some natural heat. "I object to the mixing up of names which--which no +one here has any right to bandy about--" + +"That is very true," said Mr Proctor; "but still they have their +rights," the late Rector added after a pause. "We have no right to +stand in the way of their--their interest, you know." It occurred to +Mr Proctor, indeed, that the suggestion was on the whole a sensible +one. "Even if they were to--to marry, you know, they might still be +left unprovided for," said the late Rector. "I think it is quite just +that some provision should be made for that." + +And then there was a pause. Frank Wentworth was sufficiently aware after +his first start of indignation that he had no right to interfere, as Mr +Proctor said, between the Miss Wodehouses and their interest. He had no +means of providing for them, of setting them above the chances of +fortune. He reflected bitterly that it was not in his power to offer a +home to Lucy, and through her to her sister. What he had to do was to +stand by silently, to suffer other people to discuss what was to be done +for the woman whom he loved, and whose name was sacred to him. This was +a stretch of patience of which he was not capable. "I can only say +again," said the Curate, "that I think this discussion has gone far +enough. Whatever matters of business there may be that require +arrangement had better be settled between Mr Brown and Mr Waters. So far +as private feeling goes--" + +"Never fear, I'll manage it," said Jack Wentworth, "as well as a dozen +lawyers. Private feeling has nothing to do with it. Have a cigar, +Wodehouse? We'll talk it over as we walk home," said the condescending +potentate. These words dispersed the assembly, which no longer had any +object. As Jack Wentworth sauntered out, his faithful follower pressed +through the others to join him. Wodehouse was himself again. He gave a +sulky nod to the Curate, and said, "Good-night, parson, I don't owe much +to you," and hastened out close upon the heels of his patron and leader. +All the authorities of Carlingford, the virtuous people who conferred +station and respectability by a look, sank into utter insignificance in +presence of Jack. His admiring follower went after him with a swell of +pride. He was a poor enough rogue himself, hustled and abused by +everybody, an unsuccessful and shabby vagabond, notwithstanding his new +fortune; but Jack was the glorified impersonation of cleverness and +wickedness and triumph to Wodehouse. He grew insolent when he was +permitted to put his arm through that of his hero, and went off with him +trying to copy, in swagger and insolence, his careless step and +well-bred ease. Perhaps Jack Wentworth felt a little ashamed of himself +as he emerged from the gate of the Rectory with his shabby and +disreputable companion. He shrugged his shoulders slightly as he looked +back and saw Gerald and Frank coming slowly out together. "_Coraggio!_" +said Jack to himself, "it is I who am the true philanthropist. Let us do +evil that good may come." Notwithstanding, he was very thankful not to +be seen by his father, who had wished to consult him as a man of the +world, and had shown certain yearnings towards him, which, to Jack's +infinite surprise, awakened responsive feelings in his own unaccustomed +bosom. He was half ashamed of this secret movement of natural affection, +which, certainly, nobody else suspected; but it was with a sensation of +relief that he closed the Rectory gate behind him, without having +encountered the keen inquiring suspicious glances of the Squire. The +others dispersed according to their pleasure--Mr Waters joining the +party up-stairs, while Mr Proctor followed Jack Wentworth and Wodehouse +to the door with naive natural curiosity. When the excellent man +recollected that he was listening to private conversation, and met +Wodehouse's look of sulky insolence, he turned back again, much +fluttered and disturbed. He had an interest in the matter, though the +two in whose hands it now lay were the last whom he would have chosen as +confidants; and to do him justice, he was thinking of Lucy only in his +desire to hear what they decided upon. "Something might happen to me," +he said to himself; "and, even if all was well, she would be happier not +to be wholly dependent upon her sister;" with which self-exculpatory +reflection, Mr Proctor slowly followed the others into the drawing-room. +Gerald and Frank, who were neither of them disposed for society, went +away together. They had enough to think of, without much need of +conversation, and they had walked half-way down Grange Lane before +either spoke. Then it was Frank who broke the silence abruptly with a +question which had nothing to do with the business in which they had +been engaged. + +"And what do you mean to do?" said Frank, suddenly. It was just as +they came in sight of the graceful spire of St Roque's; and perhaps it +was the sight of his own church which roused the Perpetual Curate to +think of the henceforth aimless life of his brother. "I don't +understand how you are to give up your work. To-night even--" + +"I did not forget myself," said Gerald; "every man who can distinguish +good from evil has a right to advise his fellow-creature. I have not +given up that common privilege--don't hope it, Frank," said the +martyr, with a momentary smile. + +"If I could but understand why it is that you make this terrible +sacrifice!" said the Curate--"No, I don't want to argue--of course, +you are convinced. I can understand the wish that our unfortunate +division had never taken place; but I can't understand the sacrifice +of a man's life and work. Nothing is perfect in this world; but at +least to do something in it--to be good for something--and with your +faculties, Gerald!" cried the admiring and regretful brother. "Can +abstract right in an institution, if that is what you aim at, be worth +the sacrifice of your existence--your power of influencing your +fellow-creatures?" This Mr Wentworth said, being specially moved by +the circumstances in which he found himself--for, under any other +conditions, such sentiments would have produced the warmest opposition +in his Anglican bosom. But he was so far sympathetic that he could be +tolerant to his brother who had gone to Rome. + +"I know what you mean," said Gerald; "it is the prevailing theory in +England that all human institutions are imperfect. My dear Frank, I +want a Church which is not a human institution. In England it seems to +be the rule of faith that every man may believe as he pleases. There +is no authority either to decide or to punish. If you can foresee what +that may lead us to, I cannot. I take refuge in the true Church, where +alone there is certainty--where," said the convert, with a heightened +colour and a long-drawn breath, "there is authority clear and +decisive. In England you believe what you will, and the result will +be one that I at least fear to contemplate; in Rome we believe +what--we must," said Gerald. He said the words slowly, bowing his head +more than once with determined submission, as if bending under the +yoke. "Frank, it is salvation!" said the new Catholic, with the +emphasis of a despairing hope. And for the first time Frank Wentworth +perceived what it was which had driven his brother to Rome. + +"I understand you now," said the Perpetual Curate; "it is because +there is no room for our conflicting doctrines and latitude of belief. +Instead of a Church happily so far imperfect, that a man can put his +life to the best account in it, without absolutely delivering up his +intellect to a set of doctrines, you seek a perfect Church, in which, +for a symmetrical system of doctrine, you lose the use of your +existence!" Mr Wentworth uttered this opinion with all the more +vehemence, that it was in direct opposition to his own habitual ideas; +but even his veneration for his "Mother" yielded for the moment to his +strong sense of his brother's mistake. + +"It is a hard thing to say," said Gerald, "but it is true. If you but +knew the consolation, after years of struggling among the problems of +faith, to find one's self at last upon a rock of authority, of +certainty--one holds in one's hand at last the interpretation of the +enigma," said Gerald. He looked up to the sky as he spoke, and +breathed into the serene air a wistful lingering sigh. If it was +certainty that echoed in that breath of unsatisfied nature, the sound +was sadly out of concord with the sentiment. His soul, notwithstanding +that expression of serenity, was still as wistful as the night. + +"Have you the interpretation?" said his brother; and Frank, too, +looked up into the pure sky above, with its stars which stretched over +them serene and silent, arching over the town that lay behind, and of +which nobody knew better than he the human mysteries and wonderful +unanswerable questions. The heart of the Curate ached to think how +many problems lay in the darkness, over which that sky stretched +silent, making no sign. There were the sorrowful of the earth, +enduring their afflictions, lifting up pitiful hands, demanding of God +in their bereavements and in their miseries the reason why. There were +all the inequalities of life, side by side, evermore echoing dumbly +the same awful question; and over all shone the calm sky which gave no +answer. "Have you the interpretation?" he said. "Perhaps you can +reconcile freewill and predestination--the need of a universal +atonement and the existence of individual virtue? But these are not to +me the most difficult questions. Can your Church explain why one man +is happy and another miserable?--why one has everything and abounds, +and the other loses all that is most precious in life? My sister Mary, +for example," said the Curate, "she seems to bear the cross for our +family. Her children die and yours live. Can you explain to her why? I +have heard her cry out to God to know the reason, and He made no +answer. Tell me, have you the interpretation?" cried the young man, on +whom the hardness of his own position was pressing at the moment. They +went on together in silence for a few minutes, without any attempt on +Gerald's part to answer. "You accept the explanation of the Church in +respect to doctrines," said the Curate, after that pause, "and consent +that her authority is sufficient, and that your perplexity is +over--that is well enough, so far as it goes: but outside lies a world +in which every event is an enigma, where nothing that comes offers any +explanation of itself; where God does not show Himself always kind, +but by times awful, terrible--a God who smites and does not spare. It +is easy to make a harmonious balance of doctrine; but where is the +interpretation of life?" The young priest looked back on his memory, +and recalled, as if they had been in a book, the daily problems with +which he was so well acquainted. As for Gerald, he bowed his head a +little, with a kind of reverence, as if he had been bowing before the +shrine of a saint. + +"I have had a happy life," said the elder brother. "I have not been +driven to ask such questions for myself. To these the Church has but +one advice to offer: Trust God." + +"We say so in England," said Frank Wentworth; "it is the grand scope +of our teaching. Trust God. He will not explain Himself, nor can we +attempt it. When it is certain that I must be content with this answer +for all the sorrows of life, I am content to take my doctrines on the +same terms," said the Perpetual Curate; and by this time they had come +to Miss Wentworth's door. After all, perhaps it was not Gerald, except +so far as he was carried by a wonderful force of human sympathy and +purity of soul, who was the predestined priest of the family. As he +went up to his own room, a momentary spasm of doubt came upon the new +convert--whether, perhaps, he was making a sacrifice of his life for a +mistake. He hushed the thought forcibly as it rose; such impulses were +no longer to be listened to. The same authority which made faith +certain, decided every doubt to be sin. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + + +Next morning the Curate got up with anticipations which were far from +cheerful, and a weary sense of the monotony and dulness of life. He had +won his little battle, it was true; but the very victory had removed +that excitement which answered in the absence of happier stimulations to +keep up his heart and courage. After a struggle like that in which he +had been engaged, it was hard to come again into the peaceable routine +without any particular hope to enliven or happiness to cheer it, which +was all he had at present to look for in his life; and it was harder +still to feel the necessity of being silent, of standing apart from Lucy +in her need, of shutting up in his own heart the longing he had towards +her, and refraining himself from the desperate thought of uniting his +genteel beggary to hers. That was the one thing which must not be +thought of, and he subdued himself with an impatient sigh, and could not +but wonder, as he went down-stairs, whether, if Gerald had been less +smoothly guided through the perplexing paths of life, he would have +found time for all the difficulties which had driven him to take refuge +in Rome. It was with this sense of hopeless restraint and incapacity, +which is perhaps of all sensations the most humbling, that he went +down-stairs, and found lying on his breakfast table, the first thing +that met his eye, the note which Lucy Wodehouse had written to him on +the previous night. As he read it, the earth somehow turned to the sun; +the dubious light brightened in the skies. Unawares, he had been +wondering never to receive any token of sympathy, any word of +encouragement, from those for whom he had made so many exertions. When +he had read Lucy's letter, the aspect of affairs changed considerably. +To be sure, nothing that she had said or could say made any difference +in the facts of the case; but the Curate was young, and still liable to +those changes of atmosphere which do more for an imaginative mind than +real revolutions. He read the letter several times over as he lingered +through his breakfast, making on the whole an agreeable meal, and +finding himself repossessed of his ordinary healthful appetite. He even +canvassed the signature as much in reading as Lucy had done in writing +it--balancing in his mind the maidenly "truly yours" of that +subscription with as many ingenious renderings of its possible meaning +as if Lucy's letter had been articles of faith. "Truly mine," he said to +himself, with a smile; which indeed meant all a lover could require; and +then paused, as if he had been Dr Lushington or Lord Westbury, to +inquire into the real force of the phrase. For after all, it is not only +when signing the Articles that the bond and pledge of subscription means +more than is intended. When Mr Wentworth was able to tear himself from +the agreeable casuistry of this self-discussion, he got up in much +better spirits to go about his daily business. First of all, he had to +see his father, and ascertain what were the Squire's intentions, and how +long he meant to stay in Carlingford; and then--It occurred to the +Perpetual Curate that after that, politeness demanded that he should +call on the Miss Wodehouses, who had, or at least one of them, expressed +so frankly their confidence in him. He could not but call to thank her, +to inquire into their plans, perhaps to back aunt Leonora's invitation, +which he was aware had been gratefully declined. With these ideas in his +mind he went down-stairs, after brushing his hat very carefully and +casting one solicitous glance in the mirror as he passed--which +presented to him a very creditable reflection, an eidolon in perfect +clerical apparel, without any rusty suggestions of a Perpetual Curacy. +Yet a Perpetual Curacy it was which was his sole benefice or hope in his +present circumstances, for he knew very well that, were all other +objections at an end, neither Skelmersdale nor Wentworth could be kept +open for him; and that beyond these two he had not a hope of +advancement--and at the same time he was pledged to remain in +Carlingford. All this, however, though discouraging enough, did not +succeed in discouraging Mr Wentworth after he had read Lucy's letter. He +went down-stairs so lightly that Mrs Hadwin, who was waiting in the +parlour in her best cap, to ask if he would pardon her for making such a +mistake, did not hear him pass, and sat waiting for an hour, forgetting, +or rather neglecting to give any response, when the butcher came for +orders--which was an unprecedented accident. Mr Wentworth went +cheerfully up Grange Lane, meeting, by a singular chance, ever so many +people, who stopped to shake hands with him, or at least bowed their +good wishes and friendly acknowledgments. He smiled in himself at these +evidences of popular penitence, but was not the less pleased to find +himself reinstated in his place in the affections and respect of +Carlingford. "After all, it was not an unnatural mistake," he said to +himself, and smiled benignly upon the excellent people who had found out +the error of their own ways. Carlingford, indeed, seemed altogether in a +more cheerful state than usual, and Mr Wentworth could not but think +that the community in general was glad to find that it had been +deceived, and so went upon his way, pleasing himself with those maxims +about the ultimate prevalence of justice and truth, which make it +apparent that goodness is always victorious, and wickedness punished, in +the end. Somehow even a popular fallacy has an aspect of truth when it +suits one's own case. The Perpetual Curate went through his aunts' +garden with a conscious smile, feeling once more master of himself and +his concerns. There was, to tell the truth, even a slight shade of +self-content and approbation upon his handsome countenance. In the +present changed state of public opinion and private feeling, he began to +take some pleasure in his sacrifice. To be sure, a Perpetual Curate +could not marry; but perhaps Lucy--in short, there was no telling what +might happen; and it was accordingly with that delicious sense of +goodness which generally attends an act of self-sacrifice, mingled with +an equally delicious feeling that the act, when accomplished, might turn +out no such great sacrifice after all--which it is to be feared is the +most usual way in which the sacrifices of youth are made--that the +Curate walked into the hall, passing his aunt Dora's toy terrier without +that violent inclination to give it a whack with his cane in passing +which was his usual state of feeling. To tell the truth, Lucy's letter +had made him at peace with all the world. + +When, however, he entered the dining-room, where the family were still +at breakfast, Frank's serenity was unexpectedly disturbed. The first +thing that met his eyes was his aunt Leonora, towering over her +tea-urn at the upper end of the table, holding in her hand a letter +which she had just opened. The envelope had fallen in the midst of the +immaculate breakfast "things," and indeed lay, with its broad black +edge on the top of the snow-white lumps, in Miss Leonora's own +sugar-basin; and the news had been sufficiently interesting to suspend +the operations of tea-making, and to bring the strong-minded woman to +her feet. The first words which were audible to Frank revealed to him +the nature of the intelligence which had produced such startling +effects. + +"He was always a contradictory man," said Miss Leonora; "since the +first hour he was in Skelmersdale, he has made a practice of doing +things at the wrong time. I don't mean to reproach the poor man now +he's gone; but when he has been so long of going, what good could it +do him to choose this particular moment, for no other reason that I +can see, except that it was specially uncomfortable to us? What my +brother has just been saying makes it all the worse," said Miss +Leonora, with a look of annoyance. She had turned her head away from +the door, which was at the side of the room, and had not perceived the +entrance of the Curate. "As long as we could imagine that Frank was to +succeed to the Rectory, the thing looked comparatively easy. I beg +your pardon, Gerald. Of course, you know how grieved I am--in short, +that we all feel the deepest distress and vexation; but, to be sure, +since you have given it up, somebody must succeed you--there can be no +doubt of that." + +"Not the least, my dear aunt," said Gerald. + +"I am glad you grant so much. It is well to be sure of something," said +the incisive and peremptory speaker. "It would have been a painful thing +for us at any time to place another person in Skelmersdale while Frank +was unprovided for; but, of course," said Miss Leonora, sitting down +suddenly, "nobody who knows me could suppose for a minute that I would +let my feelings stand in the way of my public duty. Still it is very +awkward just at this moment when Frank, on the whole, has been behaving +very properly, and one can't help so far approving of him--" + +"I am much obliged to you, aunt Leonora," said the Curate. + +"Oh, you are there, Frank," said his sensible aunt; and strong-minded +though she was, a slight shade of additional colour appeared for a +moment on Miss Leonora's face. She paused a little, evidently diverted +from the line of discourse which she had contemplated, and wavered like +a vessel disturbed in its course. "The fact is, I have just had a letter +announcing Mr Shirley's death," she continued, facing round towards her +nephew, and setting off abruptly, in face of all consequences, on the +new tack. + +"I am very sorry," said Frank Wentworth; "though I have an old grudge +at him on account of his long sermons; but as you have expected it for +a year or two, I can't imagine your grief to be overwhelming," said +the Curate, with a touch of natural impertinence to be expected under +the circumstances. Skelmersdale had been so long thought interesting +to him, that now, when it was not in the least interesting, he got +impatient of the name. + +"I quite agree with you, Frank," said Miss Wentworth. Aunt Cecilia had +not been able for a long time to agree with anybody. She had been, on +the contrary, shaking her head and shedding a few gentle tears over +Gerald's silent submission and Louisa's noisy lamentations. Everything +was somehow going wrong; and she who had no power to mend, at least +could not assent, and broke through her old use and wont to shake her +head, which was a thing very alarming to the family. The entire party +was moved by a sensation of pleasure to hear Miss Cecilia say, "I +quite agree with you, Frank." + +"You are looking better this morning, my dear aunt," said Gerald. They +had a great respect for each other these two; but when Miss Cecilia +turned to hear what her elder nephew was saying, her face lost the +momentary look of approval it had worn, and she again, though very +softly, almost imperceptibly, began to shake her head. + +"We were not asking for your sympathy," said Miss Leonora, sharply. +"Don't talk like a saucy boy. We were talking of our own +embarrassment. There is a very excellent young man, the curate of the +parish, whom Julia Trench is to be married to. By the way, of course, +this must put it off; but I was about to say, when you interrupted me, +that to give it away from you at this moment, just as you had been +doing well--doing--your duty," said Miss Leonora, with unusual +hesitation, "was certainly very uncomfortable, to say the least, to +us." + +"Don't let that have the slightest influence on you, I beg," cried the +Perpetual Curate, with all the pride of his years. "I hope I have been +doing my duty all along," the young man added, more softly, a moment +after; upon which the Squire gave a little nod, partly of satisfaction +and encouragement to his son--partly of remonstrance and protest to +his sister. + +"Yes, I suppose so--with the flowers at Easter, for example," said +Miss Leonora, with a slight sneer. "I consider that I have stood by +you through all this business, Frank--but, of course, in so important +a matter as a cure of souls, neither relationship, nor, to a certain +extent, approval," said Miss Leonora, with again some hesitation, "can +be allowed to stand against public duty. We have the responsibility of +providing a good gospel minister--" + +"I beg your pardon for interrupting you, Leonora," said the Squire, +"but I can't help thinking that you make a mistake. I think it's a +man's bounden duty, when there is a living in the family, to educate +one of his sons for it. In my opinion, it's one of the duties of +property. You have no right to live off your estate, and spend your +money elsewhere; and no more have you any right to give less +than--than your own flesh and blood to the people you have the charge +of. You've got the charge of them to--to a certain extent--soul and +body, sir," said the Squire, growing warm, as he put down his 'Times,' +and forgetting that he addressed a lady. "I'd never have any peace of +mind if I filled up a family living with a stranger--unless, of +course," Mr Wentworth added in a parenthesis--an unlikely sort of +contingency which had not occurred to him at first--"you should happen +to have no second son.--The eldest the squire, the second the rector. +That's my idea, Leonora, of Church and State." + +Miss Leonora smiled a little at her brother's semi-feudal, semi-pagan +ideas. "I have long known that we were not of the same way of thinking," +said the strong-minded aunt, who, though cleverer than her brother, was +too wise in her own conceit to perceive at the first glance the noble, +simple conception of his own duties and position, which was implied in +the honest gentleman's words. "Your second son might be either a fool or +a knave, or even, although neither, might be quite unfit to be intrusted +with the eternal interests of his fellow-creatures. In my opinion, the +duty of choosing a clergyman is one not to be exercised without the +gravest deliberation. A conscientious man would make his selection +dependent, at least, upon the character of his second son--if he had +one. We, however--" + +"But then his character is _so_ satisfactory, Leonora," cried Miss +Dora, feeling emboldened by the shadow of visitors under whose shield +she could always retire. "Everybody knows what a good clergyman he +is--I am sure it would be like a new world in Skelmersdale if you were +there, Frank, my dear--and he preaches such beautiful sermons!" said +the unlucky little woman, upon whom her sister immediately descended, +swift and sudden, like a storm at sea. + +"We are generally perfectly of accord in our conclusions," said Miss +Leonora; "as for Dora, she comes to the same end by a roundabout way. +After what my brother has been saying--" + +"Yes," said the Squire, with uncomfortable looks, "I was saying to +your aunt, Frank, what I said to you about poor Mary. Since Gerald +_will_ go, and since you don't want to come, the best thing to do +would be to have Huxtable. He's a very good fellow on the whole, and +it might cheer her up, poor soul, to be near her sisters. Life has +been hard work to her, poor girl--very hard work, sir," said the +Squire, with a sigh. The idea was troublesome and uncomfortable, and +always disturbed his mind when it occurred to him. It was indeed a +secret humiliation to the Squire, that his eldest daughter possessed +so little the characteristic health and prosperity of the Wentworths. +He was very sorry for her, but yet half angry and half ashamed, as if +she could have helped it; but, however, he had been obliged to admit, +in his private deliberations on the subject, that, failing Frank, +Mary's husband had the next best right to Wentworth Rectory--an +arrangement of which Miss Leonora did not approve. + +"I was about to say that we have no second son," she said, taking up the +thread of her discourse where it had been interrupted. "Our duty is +solely towards the Christian people. I do not pretend to be infallible," +said Miss Leonora, with a meek air of self-contradiction; "but I should +be a very poor creature indeed, if, at my age, I did not know what I +believed, and was not perfectly convinced that I am right. Consequently +(though, I repeat, Mr Shirley has chosen the most inconvenient moment +possible for dying), it can't be expected of me that I should appoint my +nephew, whose opinions in most points are exactly the opposite of mine." + +"I wish, at least, you would believe what I say," interrupted the +Curate, impatiently. "There might have been some sense in all this +three months ago; but if Skelmersdale were the high-road to everything +desirable in the Church, you are all quite aware that I could not +accept it. Stop, Gerald; I am not so disinterested as you think," said +Frank; "if I left Carlingford now, people would remember against me +that my character had been called in question here. I can remain a +perpetual curate," said the young man, with a smile, "but I can't +tolerate any shadow upon my honour. I am sorry I came in at such an +awkward moment. Good morning, aunt Leonora. I hope Julia Trench, when +she has the Rectory, will always keep of your way of thinking. She +used to incline a little to mine," he said, mischievously, as he went +away. + +"Come back, Frank, presently," said the Squire, whose attention had +been distracted from his 'Times.' Mr Wentworth began to be tired of +such a succession of exciting discussions. He thought if he had Frank +quietly to himself he could settle matters much more agreeably; but +the 'Times' was certainly an accompaniment more tranquillising so far +as a comfortable meal was concerned. + +"He can't come back presently," said aunt Leonora. "You speak as if he +had nothing to do; when, on the contrary, he has everything to +do--that is worth doing," said that contradictory authority. "Come +back to lunch, Frank; and I wish you would eat your breakfast, Dora, +and not stare at me." + +Miss Dora had come down to breakfast as an invalid, in a pretty little +cap, with a shawl over her dressing-gown. She had not yet got over her +adventure and the excitement of Rosa's capture. That unusual accident, +and all the applauses of her courage which had been addressed to her +since, had roused the timid woman. She did not withdraw her eyes from +her sister, though commanded to do so; on the contrary, her look grew +more and more emphatic. She meant to have made a solemn address, +throwing off Leonora's yoke, and declaring her intention, in this grave +crisis of her nephew's fortunes, of acting for herself; but her feelings +were too much for Miss Dora. The tears came creeping to the corners of +her eyes, and she could not keep them back; and her attempt at dignity +broke down. "I am never consulted," she said, with a gasp. "I don't mean +to pretend to know better than Leonora; but--but I think it is very +hard that Frank should be disappointed about Skelmersdale. You may call +me as foolish as you please," said Miss Dora, with rising tears, "I know +everybody will say it is my fault; but I must say I think it is very +hard that Frank should be disappointed. He was always brought up for it, +as everybody knows; and to disappoint him, who is so good and so nice, +for a fat young man, buttered all over like--like--a pudding-basin," +cried poor Miss Dora, severely adhering to the unity of her desperate +metaphor. "I don't know what Julia Trench can be thinking of; I--I don't +know what Leonora means." + +"I am of the same way of thinking," said aunt Cecilia, setting down, +with a little gentle emphasis, her cup of tea. + +Here was rebellion, open and uncompromised. Miss Leonora was so much +taken by surprise, that she lifted the tea-urn out of the way, and +stared at her interlocutors with genuine amazement. But she proved +herself, as usual, equal to the occasion. + +"It's unfortunate that we never see eye to eye just at once," she +said, with a look which expressed more distinctly than words could +have done the preliminary flourish of his whip by means of which a +skilful charioteer gets his team under hand without touching them; +"but it is very lucky that we always come to agree in the end," she +added, more significantly still. It was well to crush insubordination +in the bud. Not that she did not share the sentiment of her sisters; +but then they were guided like ordinary women by their feelings; +whereas Miss Leonora had the rights of property before her, and the +approval of Exeter Hall. + +"And he wants to marry, poor dear boy," said Miss Dora, pale with +fright, yet persevering; "and she is a dear good girl--the very person +for a clergyman's wife; and what is he to do if he is always to be +Curate of St Roque's? You may say it is my fault, but I cannot help it. +He always used to come to me in all his little troubles; and when he +wants anything very particular, he knows there is nothing I would not do +for him," sobbed the proud aunt, who could not help recollecting how +much use she had been to Frank. She wiped her eyes at the thought, and +held up her head with a thrill of pride and satisfaction. Nobody could +blame her in that particular at least. "He knew he had only to tell me +what he wanted," said Miss Dora, swelling out her innocent plumes. Jack, +who was sitting opposite, and who had been listening with admiration, +thought it time to come in on his own part. + +"I hope you don't mean to forsake _me_, aunt Dora," he said. "If a +poor fellow cannot have faith in his aunt, whom can he have faith in? +I thought it was too good to last," said the neglected prodigal. "You +have left the poor sheep in the wilderness and gone back to the +ninety-and-nine righteous men who need no repentance." He put up his +handkerchief to his eyes as he spoke, and so far forgot himself as to +look with laughter in his face at his brother Gerald. As for the +Squire, he was startled to hear his eldest son quoting Scripture, and +laid aside his paper once more to know what it meant. + +"I am sure I beg your pardon, Jack," said aunt Dora, suddenly stopping +short, and feeling guilty. "I never meant to neglect you. Poor dear +boy, he never was properly tried with female society and the comforts +of home; but then you were dining out that night," said the simple +woman, eagerly. "I should have stayed with you, Jack, _of course_, had +you been at home." + +From this little scene Miss Leonora turned away hastily, with an +exclamation of impatience. She made an abrupt end of her tea-making, +and went off to her little business-room with a grim smile upon her +iron-grey countenance. She too had been taken in a little by Jack's +pleasant farce of the Sinner Repentant; and it occurred to her to feel a +little ashamed of herself as she went up-stairs. After all, the +ninety-and-nine just men of Jack's irreverent quotation were worth +considering now and then; and Miss Leonora could not but think with a +little humiliation of the contrast between her nephew Frank and the +comfortable young Curate who was going to marry Julia Trench. He _was_ +fat, it could not be denied; and she remembered his chubby looks, and +his sermons about self-denial and mortification of the flesh, much as a +pious Catholic might think of the Lenten oratory of a fat friar. But +then he was perfectly sound in his doctrines, and it was undeniable that +the people liked him, and that the appointment was one which even a +Scotch ecclesiastical community full of popular rights could scarcely +have objected to. According to her own principles, the strong-minded +woman could not do otherwise. She threw herself into her arm-chair with +unnecessary force, and read over the letter which Miss Trench herself +had written. "It is difficult to think of any consolation in such a +bereavement," wrote Mr Shirley's niece; "but still it is a little +comfort to feel that I can throw myself on your sympathy, my dear and +kind friend." "Little calculating thing!" Miss Leonora said to herself +as she threw down the mournful epistle; and then she could not help +thinking again of Frank. To be sure, he was not of her way of thinking; +but when she remembered the "investigation" and its result, and the +secret romance involved in it, her Wentworth blood sent a thrill of +pride and pleasure through her veins. Miss Leonora, though she was +strong-minded, was still woman enough to perceive her nephew's motives +in his benevolence to Wodehouse; but these motives, which were strong +enough to make him endure so much annoyance, were not strong enough to +tempt him from Carlingford and his Perpetual Curacy, where his honour +and reputation, in the face of love and ambition, demanded that he +should remain. "It would be a pity to balk him in his self-sacrifice," +she said to herself, with again a somewhat grim smile, and a comparison +not much to the advantage of Julia Trench and _her_ curate. She shut +herself up among her papers till luncheon, and only emerged with a +stormy front when that meal was on the table; during the progress of +which she snubbed everybody who ventured to speak to her, and spoke to +her nephew Frank as if he might have been suspected of designs upon the +plate-chest. Such were the unpleasant consequences of the struggle +between duty and inclination in the bosom of Miss Leonora; and, save for +other unforeseen events which decided the matter for her, it is not by +any means so certain as, judging from her character, it ought to have +been, that duty would have won the day. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + + +Frank Wentworth once more went up Grange Lane, a thoughtful and a sober +man. Exhilaration comes but by moments in the happiest of lives--and +already he began to remember how very little he had to be elated about, +and how entirely things remained as before. Even Lucy; her letter very +probably might be only an effusion of friendship; and at all events, +what could he say to her--what did he dare in honour say? And then his +mind went off to think of the two rectories, between which he had fallen +as between two stools: though he had made up his mind to accept neither, +he did not the less feel a certain mortification in seeing that his +relations on both sides were so willing to bestow their gifts elsewhere. +He could not tolerate the idea of succeeding Gerald in his own person, +but still he found it very disagreeable to consent to the thought that +Huxtable should replace him--Huxtable, who was a good fellow enough, but +of whom Frank Wentworth thought, as men generally think of their +brothers-in-law, with a half-impatient, half-contemptuous wonder what +Mary could ever have seen in so commonplace a man. To think of him as +rector of Wentworth inwardly chafed the spirit of the Perpetual Curate. +As he was going along, absorbed in his own thoughts, he did not +perceive how his approach was watched for from the other side of the way +by Elsworthy, who stood with his bundle of newspapers under his arm and +his hat in his hand, watching for "his clergyman" with submission and +apology on the surface, and hidden rancour underneath. Elsworthy was not +penitent; he was furious and disappointed. His mistake and its +consequences were wholly humiliating, and had not in them a single +saving feature to atone for the wounds of his self-esteem. The Curate +had not only baffled and beaten him, but humbled him in his own eyes, +which is perhaps, of all others, the injury least easy to forgive. It +was, however, with an appearance of the profoundest submission that he +stood awaiting the approach of the man he had tried so much to injure. + +"Mr Wentworth, sir," said Elsworthy, "if I was worth your while, I +might think as you were offended with me; but seeing I'm one as is so +far beneath you"--he went on with a kind of grin, intended to +represent a deprecatory smile, but which would have been a snarl had +he dared--"I can't think as you'll bear no malice. May I ask, sir, if +there's a-going to be any difference made?" + +"In what respect, Elsworthy?" said the Curate, shortly. + +"Well, sir, I can't tell," said the clerk of St Roque's. "If a +clergyman was to bear malice, it's in his power to make things very +unpleasant. I don't speak of the place at church, which aint either +here nor there--it's respectable, but it aint lucrative; but if you +was to stretch a point, Mr Wentworth, by continuing the papers and +suchlike--it aint that I value the money," said Elsworthy, "but I've +been a faithful servant; and I might say, if you was to take it in a +right spirit, an 'umble friend, Mr Wentworth," he continued, after a +little pause, growing bolder. "And now, as I've that unfortunate +creature to provide for, and no one knowing what's to become of her--" + +"I wonder that you venture to speak of her to me," said the Curate, +with a little indignation, "after all the warnings I gave you. But +you ought to consider that you are to blame a great deal more than she +is. She is only a child; if you had taken better care of her--but you +would not pay any attention to my warning;--you must bear the +consequences as you best can." + +"Well, sir," said Elsworthy, "if you're a-going to bear malice, I +haven't got nothing to say. But there aint ten men in Carlingford as +wouldn't agree with me that when a young gentleman, even if he is a +clergyman, takes particklar notice of a pretty young girl, it aint +just for nothing as he does it--not to say watching over her paternal +to see as she wasn't out late at night, and suchlike. But bygones is +bygones, sir," said Elsworthy, "and is never more to be mentioned by +me. I don't ask no more, if you'll but do the same--" + +"You won't ask no more?" said the Curate, angrily; "do you think I am +afraid of you? I have nothing more to say, Elsworthy. Go and look +after your business--I will attend to mine; and when we are not forced +to meet, let us keep clear of each other. It will be better both for +you and me." + +The Curate passed on with an impatient nod; but his assailant did not +intend that he should escape so easily. "I shouldn't have thought, +sir, as you'd have borne malice," said Elsworthy, hastening on after +him, yet keeping half a step behind. "I'm a humbled man--different +from what I ever thought to be. I could always keep up my head afore +the world till now; and if it aint your fault, sir--as I humbly beg +your pardon for ever being so far led away as to believe it was--all +the same it's along of you." + +"What do you mean?" said the Curate, who, half amused and half +indignant at the change of tone, had slackened his pace to listen to +this new accusation. + +"What I mean, sir, is, that if you hadn't been so good and so +kind-hearted as to take into your house the--the villain as has done +it all, him and Rosa could never have known each other. I allow as it +was nothing but your own goodness as did it; but it was a black day +for me and mine," said the dramatist, with a pathetic turn of voice. +"Not as I'm casting no blame on you, as is well known to be--" + +"Never mind what I'm well known to be," said the Curate; "the other day +you thought _I_ was the villain. If you can tell me anything you want me +to do, I will understand that--but I am not desirous to know your +opinion of me," said the careless young man. As he stood listening +impatiently, pausing a second time, Dr Marjoribanks came out to his door +and stepped into his brougham to go off to his morning round of visits. +The Doctor took off his hat when he saw the Curate, and waved it to him +cheerfully with a gesture of congratulation. Dr Marjoribanks was quite +stanch and honest, and would have manfully stood by his intimates in +dangerous circumstances; but somehow he preferred success. It was +pleasanter to be able to congratulate people than to condole with them. +He preferred it, and nobody could object to so orthodox a sentiment. +Most probably, if Mr Wentworth had still been in partial disgrace, the +Doctor would not have seen him in his easy glance down the road; but +though Mr Wentworth was aware of that, the mute congratulation had yet +its effect upon him. He was moved by that delicate symptom of how the +wind was blowing in Carlingford, and forgot all about Elsworthy, though +the man was standing by his side. + +"As you're so good as to take it kind, sir," said the clerk of St +Roque's--"and, as I was a-saying, it's well known as you're always +ready to hear a poor man's tale--perhaps you'd let bygones be bygones, +and not make no difference? That wasn't all, Mr Wentworth," he +continued eagerly, as the Curate gave an impatient nod, and turned to +go on. "I've heard as this villain is rich, sir, by means of robbing +of his own flesh and blood;--but it aint for me to trust to what folks +says, after the experience I've had, and never can forgive myself for +being led away," said Elsworthy; "it's well known in Carlingford--" + +"For heaven's sake come to the point and be done with it," said the +Curate. "What is it you want me to do?" + +"Sir," said Elsworthy, solemnly, "you're a real gentleman, and you +don't bear no malice for what was a mistake--and you aint one to turn +your back on an unfortunate family--and Mr Wentworth, sir, you aint +a-going to stand by and see me and mine wronged, as have always wished +you well. If we can't get justice of him, we can get damages," cried +Elsworthy. "He aint to be let off as if he'd done no harm--and seeing +as it was along of you--" + +"Hold your tongue, sir!" cried the Curate. "I have nothing to do with +it. Keep out of my way, or at least learn to restrain your tongue. No +more, not a word more," said the young man, indignantly. He went off +with such a sweep and wind of anger and annoyance, that the slower and +older complainant had no chance to follow him. Elsworthy accordingly +went off to the shop, where his errand-boys were waiting for the +newspapers, and where Rosa lay up-stairs, weeping, in a dark room, where +her enraged aunt had shut her up. Mrs Elsworthy had shut up the poor +little pretty wretch, who might have been penitent under better +guidance, but who by this time had lost what sense of shame and wrong +her childish conscience was capable of in the stronger present sense of +injury and resentment and longing to escape; but the angry aunt, though +she could turn the key on poor Rosa's unfortunate little person, could +not shut in the piteous sobs which now and then sounded through and +through the house, and which converted all the errand-boys without +exception into indignant partisans of Rosa, and even moved the heart of +Peter Hayles, who could hear them at the back window where he was making +up Dr Marjoribanks's prescriptions. As the sense of injury waxed +stronger and stronger in Rosa's bosom, she availed herself, like any +other irrational, irresponsible creature, of such means of revenging +herself and annoying her keepers as occurred to her. "Nobody ever took +no care of me," sobbed Rosa. "I never had no father or mother. Oh, I +wish I was dead!--and nobody wouldn't care!" These utterances, it may be +imagined, went to the very heart of the errand-boys, who were collected +in a circle, plotting how to release Rosa, when Elsworthy, mortified and +furious, came back from his unsuccessful assault on the Curate. They +scattered like a covey of little birds before the angry man, who tossed +their papers at them, and then strode up the echoing stairs. "If you +don't hold your d----d tongue," said Elsworthy, knocking furiously at +Rosa's door, "I'll turn you to the door this instant, I will, by--." +Nobody in Carlingford had ever before heard an oath issue from the +respectable lips of the clerk of St Roque's. When he went down into the +shop again, the outcries sank into frightened moans. Not much wonder +that the entire neighbourhood became as indignant with Elsworthy as it +ever had been with the Perpetual Curate. The husband and wife took up +their positions in the shop after this, as far apart as was possible +from each other, both resenting in silent fury the wrong which the world +in general had done them. If Mrs Elsworthy had dared, she would have +exhausted her passion in abuse of everybody--of the Curate for not being +guilty, of her husband for supposing him to be so, and, to be sure, of +Rosa herself, who was the cause of all. But Elsworthy was dangerous, not +to be approached or spoken to. He went out about noon to see John Brown, +and discuss with him the question of damages; but the occurrences which +took place in his absence are not to be mixed up with the present +narrative, which concerns Mr Frank Wentworth's visit to Lucy Wodehouse, +and has nothing to do with ignoble hates or loves. + +The Curate went rapidly on to the green door, which once more looked +like a gate of paradise. He did not know in the least what he was +going to do or say--he was only conscious of a state of exaltation, a +condition of mind which might precede great happiness or great misery, +but had nothing in it of the common state of affairs in which people +ask each other "How do you do?" Notwithstanding, the fact is, that +when Lucy entered that dear familiar drawing-room, where every feature +and individual expression of every piece of furniture was as well +known to him as if they had been so many human faces, it was only "How +do you do?" that the Curate found himself able to say. The two shook +hands as demurely as if Lucy had indeed been, according to the +deceptive representation of yesterday, as old as aunt Dora; and then +she seated herself in her favourite chair, and tried to begin a little +conversation about things in general. Even in these three days, nature +and youth had done something for Lucy. She had slept and rested, and +the unforeseen misfortune which had come in to distract her grief had +roused all the natural strength that was in her. As she was a little +nervous about this interview, not knowing what it might end in, Lucy +thought it her duty to be as composed and self-commanding as possible, +and, in order to avoid all dangerous and exciting subjects, began to +talk of Wharfside. + +"I have not heard anything for three or four days about the poor woman +at No. 10," she said; "I meant to have gone to see her to-day, but +somehow one gets so selfish when--when one's mind is full of affairs +of one's own." + +"Yes," said the Curate; "and speaking of that, I wanted to tell you +how much comfort your letter had been to me. My head, too, has been +very full of affairs of my own. I thought at one time that my friends +were forsaking me. It was very good of you to write as you did." + +Upon which there followed another little pause. "Indeed the goodness +was all on your side," said Lucy, faltering. "If I had ever dreamt how +much you were doing for us! but it all came upon me so suddenly. It is +impossible ever to express in words one-half of the gratitude we owe +you," she said, with restrained enthusiasm. She looked up at him as +she spoke with a little glow of natural fervour, which brought the +colour to her cheek and the moisture to her eyes. She was not of the +disposition to give either thanks or confidence by halves; and even +the slight not unpleasant sense of danger which gave piquancy to this +interview, made her resolute to express herself fully. She would not +suffer herself to stint her gratitude because of the sweet suspicion +which would not be quite silenced, that possibly Mr Wentworth looked +for something better than gratitude. Not for any consequences, however +much they might be to be avoided, could she be shabby enough to +refrain from due acknowledgment of devotion so great. Therefore, while +the Perpetual Curate was doing all he could to remind himself of his +condition, and to persuade himself that it would be utterly wrong and +mean of him to speak, Lucy looked up at him, looked him in the face, +with her blue eyes shining dewy and sweet through tears of gratitude +and a kind of generous admiration; for, like every other woman, she +felt herself exalted and filled with a delicious pride in seeing that +the man of her unconscious choice had proved himself the best. + +The Curate walked to the window, very much as Mr Proctor had done, in +the tumult and confusion of his heart, and came back again with what +he had to say written clear on his face, without any possibility of +mistake. "I must speak," said the young man; "I have no right to +speak, I know; if I had attained the height of self-sacrifice and +self-denial, I might, I would be silent--but it is impossible now." He +came to a break just then, looking at her to see what encouragement he +had to go on; but as Lucy did nothing but listen and grow pale, he had +to take his own way. "What I have to say is not anything new," said +the Curate, labouring a little in his voice, as was inevitable when +affairs had come to such a crisis, "if I were not in the cruelest +position possible to a man. I have only an empty love to lay at your +feet; I tell it to you only because I am obliged--because, after all, +love is worth telling, even if it comes to nothing. I am not going to +appeal to your generosity," continued the young man, kneeling down at +the table, not by way of kneeling to Lucy, but by way of bringing +himself on a level with her, where she sat with her head bent down on +her low chair, "or to ask you to bind yourself to a man who has +nothing in the world but love to offer you; but after what has been +for years, after all the hours I have spent here, I cannot--part--I +cannot let you go--without a word--" + +And here he stopped short. He had not asked anything, so that Lucy, +even had she been able, had nothing to answer; and as for the young +lover himself, he seemed to have come to the limit of his eloquence. +He kept waiting for a moment, gazing at her in breathless expectation +of a response for which his own words had left no room. Then he rose +in an indescribable tumult of disappointment and mortification--unable +to conclude that all was over, unable to keep silence, yet not knowing +what to say. + +"I have been obliged to close all the doors of advancement upon +myself," said the Curate, with a little bitterness; "I don't know if +you understand me. At this moment I have to deny myself the dearest +privilege of existence. Don't mistake me, Lucy," he said, after +another pause, coming back to her with humility, "I don't venture to +say that you would have accepted anything I had to offer; but this I +mean, that to have a home for you now--to have a life for you ready to +be laid at your feet, whether you would have had it or not;--what +right have I to speak of such delights?" cried the young man. "It does +not matter to you; and as for me, I have patience--patience to console +myself with--" + +Poor Lucy, though she was on the verge of tears, which nothing but the +most passionate self-restraint could have kept in, could not help a +passing sensation of amusement at these words. "Not too much of that +either," she said, softly, with a tremulous smile. "But patience +carries the lilies of the saints," said Lucy, with a touch of the sweet +asceticism which had once been so charming to the young Anglican. It +brought him back like a spell to the common ground on which they used to +meet; it brought him back also to his former position on his knee, +which was embarrassing to Lucy, though she had not the heart to draw +back, nor even to withdraw her hand, which somehow happened to be in Mr +Wentworth's way. + +"I am but a man," said the young lover. "I would rather have the roses +of life--but, Lucy, I am only a perpetual curate," he continued, with +her hand in his. Her answer was made in the most heartless and +indifferent words. She let two big drops--which fell like hail, though +they were warmer than any summer rain--drop out of her eyes, and she +said, with lips that had some difficulty in enunciating that heartless +sentiment, "I don't see what it matters to me--" + +Which was true enough, though it did not sound encouraging; and it +is dreadful to confess that, for a little while after, neither +Skelmersdale, nor Wentworth, nor Mr Proctor's new rectory, nor the +no-income of the Perpetual Curate of St Roque's, had the smallest place +in the thoughts of either of these perfectly inconsiderate young people. +For half an hour they were an Emperor and Empress seated upon two +thrones, to which all the world was subject; and when at the end of that +time they began to remember the world, it was but to laugh at it in +their infinite youthful superiority. Then it became apparent that to +remain in Carlingford, to work at "the district," to carry out all the +ancient intentions of well-doing which had been the first bond between +them, was, after all, the life of lives;--which was the state of mind +they had both arrived at when Miss Wodehouse, who thought they had been +too long together under the circumstances, and could not help wondering +what Mr Wentworth could be saying, came into the room, rather flurried +in her own person. She thought Lucy must have been telling the Curate +about Mr Proctor and his hopes, and was, to tell the truth, a little +curious how Mr Wentworth would take it, and a little--the very +least--ashamed of encountering his critical looks. The condition of mind +into which Miss Wodehouse was thrown when she perceived the real state +of affairs would be difficult to describe. She was very glad and very +sorry, and utterly puzzled how they were to live; and underneath all +these varying emotions was a sudden, half-ludicrous, half-humiliating +sense of being cast into the shade, which made Mr Proctor's _fiancee_ +laugh and made her cry, and brought her down altogether off the +temporary pedestal upon which she had stepped, not without a little +feminine satisfaction. When a woman is going to be married, especially +if that marriage falls later than usual, it is natural that she should +expect, for that time at least, to be the first and most prominent +figure in her little circle. But, alas! what chance could there be for a +mild, dove-coloured bride of forty beside a creature of half her age, +endued with all the natural bloom and natural interest of youth? + +Miss Wodehouse could not quite make out her own feelings on the subject. +"Don't you think if you had waited a little it would have been wiser?" +she said, in her timid way; and then kissed her young sister, and said, +"I am so glad, my darling--I am sure dear papa would have been pleased," +with a sob which brought back to Lucy the grief from which she had for +the moment escaped. Under all the circumstances, however, it may well be +supposed that it was rather hard upon Mr Wentworth to recollect that he +had engaged to return to luncheon with the Squire, and to prepare +himself after this momentous morning's work, to face all the +complications of the family, where still Skelmersdale and Wentworth were +hanging in the balance, and where the minds of his kith and kin were +already too full of excitement to leave much room for another event. He +went away reluctantly enough out of the momentary paradise where his +Perpetual Curacy was a matter of utter indifference, if not a tender +pleasantry, which rather increased than diminished the happiness of the +moment--into the ordinary daylight world, where it was a very serious +matter, and where what the young couple would have to live upon became +the real question to be considered. Mr Wentworth met Wodehouse as he +went out, which did not mend matters. The vagabond was loitering about +in the garden, attended by one of Elsworthy's errand-boys, with whom he +was in earnest conversation, and stopped in his talk to give a sulky nod +and "Good morning," to which the Curate had no desire to respond more +warmly than was necessary. Lucy was thinking of nothing but himself, and +perhaps a little of the "great work" at Wharfside, which her father's +illness and death had interrupted; but Mr Wentworth, who was only a man, +remembered that Tom Wodehouse would be his brother-in-law with a +distinct sensation of disgust, even in the moment of his triumph--which +is one instance of the perennial inequality between the two halves of +mankind. He had to brace himself up to the encounter of all his people, +while she had to meet nothing less delightful than her own dreams. This +was how matters came to an issue in respect of Frank Wentworth's +personal happiness. His worldly affairs were all astray as yet, and he +had not the most distant indication of any gleam of light dawning upon +the horizon which could reconcile his duty and honour with good fortune +and the delights of life. Meanwhile other discussions were going on in +Carlingford, of vital importance to the two young people who had made up +their minds to cast themselves upon Providence. And among the various +conversations which were being carried on about the same moment in +respect to Mr Wentworth--whose affairs, as was natural, were extensively +canvassed in Grange Lane, as well as in other less exclusive +quarters--it would be wrong to omit a remarkable consultation which took +place in the Rectory, where Mrs Morgan sat in the midst of the great +bouquets of the drawing-room carpet, making up her first matrimonial +difficulty. It would be difficult to explain what influence the +drawing-room carpet in the Rectory had on the fortunes of the Perpetual +Curate; but when Mr Wentworth's friends come to hear the entire outs and +ins of the business, it will be seen that it was not for nothing that +Mr Proctor covered the floor of that pretty apartment with roses and +lilies half a yard long. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + + +These were eventful days in Grange Lane, when gossip was not nearly +rapid enough to follow the march of events. When Mr Wentworth went to +lunch with his family, the two sisters kept together in the +drawing-room, which seemed again re-consecrated to the purposes of +life. Lucy had not much inclination just at that moment to move out of +her chair; she was not sociable, to tell the truth, nor disposed to +talk even about the new prospects which were brightening over both. +She even took out her needlework, to the disgust of her sister. "When +there are so many things to talk about, and so much to be considered," +Miss Wodehouse said, with a little indignation; and wondered within +herself whether Lucy was really insensible to "what had happened," or +whether the sense of duty was strong upon her little sister even in +the height of her happiness. A woman of greater experience or +discrimination might have perceived that Lucy had retired into that +sacred silence, sweetest of all youthful privileges, in which she +could dream over to herself the wonderful hour which had just come to +an end, and the fair future of which it was the gateway. As for Miss +Wodehouse herself, she was in a flutter, and could not get over the +sense of haste and confusion which this last new incident had brought +upon her. Things were going too fast around her, and the timid woman +was out of breath. Lucy's composure at such a moment, and, above all, +the production of her needlework, was beyond the comprehension of the +elder sister. + +"My dear," said Miss Wodehouse, with an effort, "I don't doubt that +these poor people are badly off, and I am sure it is very good of you +to work for them; but if you will only think how many things there are +to do! My darling, I am afraid you will have to--to make your own +dresses in future, which is what I never thought to see," she said, +putting her handkerchief to her eyes; "and we have not had any talk +about anything, Lucy, and there are so many things to think of!" Miss +Wodehouse, who was moving about the room as she spoke, began to lift +her own books and special property off the centre table. The books +were principally ancient Annuals in pretty bindings, which no +representation on Lucy's part could induce her to think out of date; +and among her other possessions was a little desk in Indian mosaic, of +ivory, which had been an institution in the house from Lucy's earliest +recollection. "And these are yours, Lucy dear," said Miss Wodehouse, +standing up on a chair to take down from the wall two little pictures +which hung side by side. They were copies both, and neither of great +value; one representing the San Sisto Madonna, and the other a sweet +St Agnes, whom Lucy had in her earlier days taken to her heart. Lucy's +slumbering attention was roused by this sacrilegious act. She gave a +little scream, and dropped her work out of her hands. + +"What do I mean?" said Miss Wodehouse; "indeed, Lucy dear, we must +look it in the face. It is not our drawing-room any longer, you know." +Here she made a pause, and sighed; but somehow a vision of the other +drawing-room which was awaiting her in the new rectory, made the +prospect less doleful than it might have been. She cleared up in a +surprising way as she turned to look at her own property on the table. +"My cousin Jack gave me this," said the gentle woman, brushing a +little dust off her pretty desk. "When it came first, there was +nothing like it in Carlingford, for that was before Colonel Chiley and +those other Indian people had settled here. Jack was rather fond of +me in those days, you know, though I never cared for him," the elder +sister continued, with a smile. "Poor fellow! they said he was not +very happy when he married." Though this was rather a sad fact, Miss +Wodehouse announced it not without a certain gentle satisfaction. +"And, Lucy dear, it is our duty to put aside our own things; they were +all presents, you know," she said, standing up on the chair again to +reach down the St Agnes, which, ever since Lucy had been confirmed, +had hung opposite to her on the wall. + +"Oh, don't, don't!" cried Lucy. In that little bit of time, not more +than five minutes as it appeared, the familiar room, which had just +heard the romance of her youth, had come to have a dismantled and +desolate look. The agent of this destruction, who saw in her mind's +eye a new scene, altogether surpassing the old, looked complacently +upon her work, and piled the abstracted articles on the top of each +other, with a pleasant sense of property. + +"And your little chair and work-table are yours," said Miss Wodehouse; +"they were always considered yours. You worked the chair yourself, +though perhaps Miss Gibbons helped you a little; and the table you +know, was sent home the day you were eighteen. It was--a present, you +remember. Don't cry, my darling, don't cry; oh, I am sure I did not +mean anything!" cried Miss Wodehouse, putting down the St Agnes and +flying to her sister, about whom she threw her arms. "My hands are all +dusty, dear," said the repentant woman; "but you know, Lucy, we must +look it in the face, for it is not our drawing-room now. Tom may come +in any day and say--oh, dear, dear, here is some one coming +up-stairs!" + +Lucy extricated herself from her sister's arms when she heard +footsteps outside. "If it is anybody who has a right to come, I +suppose we are able to receive them," she said, and sat erect over her +needlework, with a changed countenance, not condescending so much as +to look towards the door. + +"But what if it should be Tom? Oh, Lucy dear, don't be uncivil to +him," said the elder sister. Miss Wodehouse even made a furtive +attempt to replace the things, in which she was indignantly stopped by +Lucy. "But, my dear, perhaps it is Tom," said the alarmed woman, and +sank trembling into a chair against the St Agnes, which had just been +deposited there. + +"It does not matter who it is," said Lucy, with dignity. For her own +part, she felt too much aggrieved to mention his name--aggrieved by +her own ignorance, by the deception that had been practised upon her, +by the character of the man whom she was obliged to call her brother, +and chiefly by his existence, which was the principal grievance of +all. Lucy's brief life had been embellished, almost ever since she had +been capable of independent action, by deeds and thoughts of mercy. +With her whole heart she was a disciple of Him who came to seek the +lost; notwithstanding, a natural human sentiment in her heart +protested against the existence of this man, who had brought shame and +distress into the family without any act of theirs, and who injured +everybody he came in contact with. When the thought of Rosa Elsworthy +occurred to her, a burning blush came upon Lucy's cheek--why were such +men permitted in God's world? To be sure, when she came to be aware of +what she was thinking, Lucy felt guilty, and called herself a +Pharisee, and said a prayer in her heart for the man who had upset all +her cherished ideas of her family and home; but, after all, _that_ was +an after-thought, and did not alter her instinctive sense of repulsion +and indignation. All this swept rapidly through her mind while she sat +awaiting the entrance of the person or persons who were approaching +the door. "If it is the--owner of the house, it will be best to tell +him what things you mean to remove," said Lucy; and before Miss +Wodehouse could answer, the door was opened. They started, however, to +perceive not Wodehouse, but a personage of very different appearance, +who came in with an easy air of polite apology, and looked at them +with eyes which recalled to Lucy the eyes which had been gazing into +her own scarcely an hour ago. "Pardon me," said this unlooked-for +visitor; "your brother, Miss Wodehouse, finds some difficulty in +explaining himself to relations from whom he has been separated so +long. Not to interfere with family privacy, will you let me assist at +the conference?" said Jack Wentworth. "My brother, I understand, is a +friend of yours, and your brother--is a--hem--friend of mine," the +diplomatist added, scarcely able to avoid making a wry face over the +statement. Wodehouse came in behind, looking an inch or two taller for +that acknowledgment, and sat down, confronting his sisters, who were +standing on the defensive. The heir, too, had a strong sense of +property, as was natural, and the disarrangement of the room struck +him in that point of view, especially as Miss Wodehouse continued to +prop herself up against the St Agnes in the back of her chair. +Wodehouse looked from the wall to the table, and saw what appeared to +him a clear case of intended spoliation. "By Jove! they didn't mean to +go empty-handed," said the vagabond, who naturally judged according to +his own standard, and knew no better. Upon which Lucy, rising with +youthful state and dignity, took the explanation upon herself. + +"I do not see why we should have the mortification of a spectator," +said Lucy, who already, having been engaged three-quarters of an hour, +felt deeply disinclined to reveal the weak points of her own family to +the inspection of the Wentworths. "All that there is to explain can be +done very simply. Thank you, I will not sit down. Up to this time we +may be allowed to imagine ourselves in our own--in our father's house. +What we have to say is simple enough." + +"But pardon me, my dear Miss Wodehouse--" said Jack Wentworth. + +"My sister is Miss Wodehouse," said Lucy. "What there is to settle had +better be arranged with our--our brother. If he will tell us precisely +when he wishes us to go away, we shall be ready. Mary is going to be +married," she went on, turning round so as to face Wodehouse, and +addressing him pointedly, though she did not look at him--to the +exclusion of Jack, who, experienced man as he was, felt disconcerted, +and addressed himself with more precaution to a task which was less easy +than he supposed. + +"Oh, Lucy!" cried Miss Wodehouse, with a blush worthy of eighteen. It +was perhaps the first time that the fact had been so broadly stated, +and the sudden announcement made before two men overwhelmed the timid +woman. Then she was older than Lucy, and had picked up in the course +of her career one or two inevitable scraps of experience, and she +could not but wonder with a momentary qualm what Mr Proctor might +think of his brother-in-law. Lucy, who thought Mr Proctor only too +well off, went on without regarding her sister's exclamation. + +"I do not know when the marriage is to be--I don't suppose they have +fixed it yet," said Lucy; "but it appears to me that it would save us +all some trouble if we were allowed to remain until that time. I do +not mean to ask any favour," she said, with a little more sharpness +and less dignity. "We could pay rent for that matter, if--if it were +desired. She is your sister," said Lucy, suddenly looking Wodehouse in +the face, "as well as mine. I daresay she has done as much for you as +she has for me. I don't ask any favour for her--but I would cut off my +little finger if that would please her," cried the excited young +woman, with a wildness of illustration so totally out of keeping with +the matter referred to, that Miss Wodehouse, in the midst of her +emotion, could scarcely restrain a scream of terror; "and you too +might be willing to do something; you cannot have any kind of feeling +for me," Lucy continued, recovering herself; "but you might perhaps +have some feeling for Mary. If we can be permitted to remain until her +marriage takes place, it may perhaps bring about--a feeling--more +like--relations; and I shall be able to--" + +"Forgive you," Lucy was about to say, but fortunately stopped herself +in time; for it was the fact of his existence that she had to forgive, +and naturally such an amount of toleration was difficult to explain. +As for Wodehouse himself, he listened to this appeal with very mingled +feelings. Some natural admiration and liking woke in his dull mind as +Lucy spoke. He was not destitute of good impulses, nor of the ordinary +human affections. His little sister was pretty, and a lady, and clever +enough to put Jack Wentworth much more in the background than usual. +He said, "By Jove" to himself three or four times over in his beard, +and showed a little emotion when she said he could have no feeling for +her. At that point of Lucy's address he moved about uneasily in his +chair, and plucked at his beard, and felt himself anything but +comfortable. "By Jove! I never had a chance," the prodigal said, in +his undertone. "I might have cared a deal for her if I had had a +chance. She might have done a fellow good, by Jove!" mutterings of +which Lucy took no manner of notice, but proceeded with her speech. +When she had ended, and it became apparent that an answer was expected +of him, Wodehouse flushed all over with the embarrassment of the +position. He cleared his throat, he shifted his eyes, which were +embarrassed by Lucy's gaze, he pushed his chair from the table, and +made various attempts to collect himself, but at last ended by a +pitiful appeal to Jack Wentworth, who had been looking seriously on. +"You might come to a fellow's assistance!" cried Wodehouse. "By Jove! +it was for that you came here." + +"The Miss Wodehouses evidently prefer to communicate with their brother +direct," said Jack Wentworth, "which is a very natural sentiment. If I +interfere, it is simply because I have had the advantage of talking the +matter over, and understanding a little of what you mean. Miss +Wodehouse, your brother is not disposed to act the part of a domestic +tyrant. He has come here to offer you the house, which must have so many +tender associations for you, not for a short period, as you wish, but +for--" + +"I didn't know she was going to be married!" exclaimed Wodehouse--"that +makes all the difference, by Jove! Lucy will marry fast enough; but as +for Mary, I never thought she would hook any one at her time of life," +said the vagabond, with a rude laugh. He turned to Lucy, not knowing any +better, and with some intention of pleasing her; but being met by a look +of indignation under which he faltered, he went back to his natural role +of sulky insolence. "By Jove! when I gave in to make such an offer, I +never thought she had a chance of getting married," said the heir. "I +aint going to give what belongs to me to another man--" + +"Your brother wishes," said Jack Wentworth, calmly, "to make over the +house and furniture as it stands to you and your sister, Miss Wodehouse. +Of course it is not to be expected that he should be sorry to get his +father's property; but he is sorry that there should be no--no provision +for you. He means that you should have the house--" + +"But I never thought she was going to be married, by Jove!" protested +the rightful owner. "Look here, Molly; you shall have the furniture. +The house would sell for a good bit of money. I tell you, Wentworth--" + +Jack Wentworth did not move from the mantlepiece where he was standing, +but he cast a glance upon his unlucky follower which froze the words on +his lips. "My good fellow, you are quite at liberty to decline my +mediation in your affairs. Probably you can manage them better your own +way," said Wodehouse's hero. "I can only beg the Miss Wodehouses to +pardon my intrusion." Jack Wentworth's first step towards the door let +loose a flood of nameless terrors upon the soul of his victim. If he +were abandoned by his powerful protector, what would become of him? His +very desire of money, and the avarice which prompted him to grudge +making any provision for his sisters, was, after all, not real avarice, +but the spendthrift's longing for more to spend. The house which he was +sentenced to give up represented not so much gold and silver, but so +many pleasures, fine dinners, and bad company. He could order the +dinners by himself, it is true, and get men like himself to eat them; +but the fine people--the men who had once been fine, and who still +retained a certain tarnished glory--were, so far as Wodehouse was +concerned, entirely in Jack Wentworth's keeping. He made a piteous +appeal to his patron as the great man turned to go away. + +"I don't see what good it can do _you_ to rob a poor fellow!" cried +Wodehouse. "But look here, I aint going to turn against your advice. +I'll give it them, by Jove, for life--that is, for Mary's life," said +the munificent brother. "She's twenty years older than Lucy--" + +"How do you dare to subject us to such insults?" cried the indignant +Lucy, whose little hand clenched involuntarily in her passion. She had +a great deal of self-control, but she was not quite equal to such an +emergency; and it was all she could do to keep from stamping her foot, +which was the only utterance of rage possible to a gentlewoman in her +position. "I would rather see my father's house desecrated by you +living in it," she cried, passionately, "than accept it as a gift from +your hands. Mary, we are not obliged to submit to this. Let us rather +go away at once. I will not remain in the same room with this man!" +cried Lucy. She was so overwhelmed with her unwonted passion that she +lost all command of the position, and even of herself, and was false +for the moment to all her sweet codes of womanly behaviour. "How dare +you, sir!" she cried in the sudden storm for which nobody was prepared. +"We will remove the things belonging to us, with which nobody has any +right to interfere, and we will leave immediately. Mary, come with me!" +When she had said this, Lucy swept out of the room, pale as a little +fury, and feeling in her heart a savage female inclination to strike +Jack Wentworth, who opened the door for her, with her little white +clenched hand. Too much excited to remark whether her sister had +followed her, Lucy ran up-stairs to her room, and there gave way to the +inevitable tears. Coming to herself after that was a terribly humbling +process to the little Anglican. She had never fallen into a "passion" +before that she knew of, certainly never since nursery times; and often +enough her severe serene girlhood had looked reproving and surprised +upon the tumults of Prickett's Lane, awing the belligerents into at +least temporary silence. Now poor Lucy sat and cried over her downfall; +she had forgotten herself; she had been conscious of an inclination to +stamp, to scold, even to strike, in the vehemence of her indignation; +and she was utterly overpowered by the thought of her guiltiness. +"The very first temptation!" she said to herself; and made terrible +reflections upon her own want of strength and endurance. To-day, too, +of all days, when God had been so good to her! "If I yield to the first +temptation like this, how shall I ever endure to the end?" cried Lucy, +and in her heart thought, with a certain longing, of the sacrament of +penance, and tried to think what she could do that would be most +disagreeable, to the mortifying of the flesh. Perhaps if she had +possessed a more lively sense of humour, another view of the subject +might have struck Lucy; but humour, fortunately for the unity of human +sentiment, is generally developed at a later period of life, and Lucy's +fit of passion only made her think with greater tenderness and +toleration of her termagants in Prickett's Lane. + +The three who were left down-stairs were in their different ways +impressed by Lucy's passion. Jack Wentworth, being a man of humour and +cultivation, was amused, but respectful, as having still a certain +faculty of appreciating absolute purity when he saw it. As for +Wodehouse, he gave another rude laugh, but was cowed, in spite of +himself, and felt involuntarily what a shabby wretch he was, +recognising that fact more impressively from the contempt of Lucy's +pale face than he could have done through hours of argument. Miss +Wodehouse, for her part, though very anxious and nervous, was not +without an interest in the question under discussion. _She_ was not +specially horrified by her brother, or anything he could say or do. He +was Tom to her--a boy with whom she had once played, and whom she had +shielded with all her sisterly might in his first transgressions. She +had suffered a great deal more by his means than Lucy could ever +suffer, and consequently was more tolerant of him. She kept her seat +with the St Agnes in the chair behind, and watched the course of +events with anxious steadiness. She did not care for money any more +than Lucy did; but she could not help thinking it would be very +pleasant if she could produce one good action on "poor Tom's" part to +plead for him against any possible criticisms of the future. Miss +Wodehouse was old enough to know that her Rector was not an ideal +hero, but an ordinary man, and it was quite possible that he might +point a future moral now and then with "that brother of yours, my +dear." The elder sister waited accordingly, with her heart beating +quick, to know the decision, very anxious that she might have at least +one generous deed to record to the advantage of poor Tom. + +"I think we are quite decided on the point," said Jack Wentworth. +"Knowing your sentiments, Wodehouse, I left directions with Waters +about the papers. I think you will find him to be trusted, Miss +Wodehouse, if you wish to consult him about letting or selling--" + +"By Jove!" exclaimed Wodehouse, under his breath. + +"Which, I suppose," continued the superb Jack, "you will wish to do +under the pleasant circumstances, upon which I beg to offer you my +congratulations. Now, Tom, my good fellow, I am at your service. I +think we have done our business here." + +Wodehouse got up in his sulky reluctant way like a lazy dog. "I +suppose you won't try to move the furniture now?" he said. These were +the only adieux he intended to make, and perhaps they might have been +expressed with still less civility, had not Jack Wentworth been +standing waiting for him at the door. + +"Oh, Tom! I am so thankful you have done it!" cried Miss Wodehouse. +"It is not that I care for the money; but oh, Tom, I am so glad to +think nobody can say anything now." She followed them wistfully to the +door, not giving up hopes of a kinder parting. "I think it is very +kind and nice of you, and what dear papa would have wished," said the +elder sister, forgetting how all her father's plans had been brought +to nothing; "and of course you will live here all the same?" she said, +with a little eagerness, "that is, till--till--as long as we are +here--" + +"Good-bye, Miss Wodehouse," said Jack Wentworth. "I don't think either +your brother or I will stay much longer in Carlingford. You must +accept my best wishes for your happiness all the same." + +"You are very kind, I am sure," said the embarrassed bride; "and oh, +Tom, you will surely say good-bye? Say good-bye once as if you meant +it; don't go away as if you did not care. Tom, I always was very fond +of you; and don't you feel a little different to us, now you've done +us a kindness?" cried Miss Wodehouse, going out after him to the +landing-place. But Wodehouse was in no humour to be gracious. Instead +of paying any attention to her, he looked regretfully at the property +he had lost. + +"Good-bye," he said, vaguely. "By Jove! I know better than Jack +Wentworth does the value of property. We might have had a jolly month at +Homburg out of that old place," said the prodigal, with regret, as he +went down the old-fashioned oak stair. That was his farewell to the +house which he had entered so disastrously on the day of his father's +funeral. He followed his leader with a sulky aspect through the garden, +not venturing to disobey, but yet feeling the weight of his chains. And +this was how Wodehouse accomplished his personal share in the gift to +his sisters, of which Miss Wodehouse told everybody that it was "so good +of Tom!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + + +"Going to be married!" said the Squire; "and to a sister of--I thought +you told me she was as old as Dora, Frank? I did not expect to meet with +any further complications," the old man said, plaintively: "of course +you know very well I don't object to your marrying; but why on earth did +you let me speak of Wentworth Rectory to Huxtable?" cried Mr Wentworth. +He was almost more impatient about this new variety in the family +circumstances than he had been of more serious family distresses. "God +bless me, sir," said the Squire, "what do you mean by it? You take means +to affront your aunts and lose Skelmersdale; and then you put it into my +head to have Mary at Wentworth; and then you quarrel with the Rector, +and get into hot water in Carlingford; and, to make an end of all, you +coolly propose to an innocent young woman, and tell me you are going to +marry--what on earth do you mean?" + +"I am going to marry some time, sir, I hope," said the Perpetual +Curate, with more cheerfulness than he felt; "but not at the present +moment. Of course we both know that is impossible. I should like you +to come with me and see her before you leave Carlingford. She would +like it, and so should I." + +"Well, well," said the Squire. Naturally, having been married so often +himself, he could not refuse a certain response to such a call upon his +sympathy. "I hope you have made a wise choice," said the experienced +father, not without a sigh; "a great deal depends upon that--not only +your own comfort, sir, but very often the character of your children and +the credit of the family. You may laugh," said Mr Wentworth, to whom it +was no laughing matter; "but long before you are as old as I am, you +will know the truth of what I say. Your mother, Frank, was a specimen of +what a woman ought to be--not to speak of her own children, there was +nobody else who ever knew how to manage Gerald and Jack. Of course I am +not speaking of Mrs Wentworth, who has her nursery to occupy her," said +the Squire, apologetically. "I hope you have made a judicious choice." + +"I hope so, too," said Frank, who was somewhat amused by this view of +the question--"though I am not aware of having exercised any special +choice in the matter," he added, with a laugh. "However, I want you to +come with me and see her, and then you will be able to judge for +yourself." + +The Squire shook his head, and looked as if he had travelled back into +the heavy roll of family distresses. "I don't mean to upbraid you, +Frank," he said--"I daresay you have done what you thought was your +duty--but I think you might have taken a little pains to satisfy +your aunt Leonora. You see what Gerald has made of it, with all +his decorations and nonsense. That is a dreadful drawback with you +clergymen. You fix your eyes so on one point that you get to think +things important that are not in the least important. Could you imagine +a man of the world like Jack--he is not what I could wish, but still he +is a man of the world," said the Squire, who was capable of contradicting +himself with perfect composure without knowing it. "Can you imagine +_him_ risking his prospects for a bit of external decoration? I don't +mind it myself," said Mr Wentworth, impartially--"I don't pretend to +see, for my own part, why flowers at Easter should be considered more +superstitious than holly at Christmas; but, bless my soul, sir, when +your aunt thought so, what was the good of running right in her face for +such a trifle? I never could understand you parsons," the Squire said, +with an impatient sigh--"nobody, that I know of, ever considered me +mercenary; but to ruin your own prospects, all for a trumpery bunch of +flowers, and then to come and tell me you want to marry--" + +This was before luncheon, when Frank and his father were together in +the dining-room waiting for the other members of the family, who began +to arrive at this moment, and prevented any further discussion. After +all, perhaps, it was a little ungenerous of the Squire to press his +son so hard on the subject of those innocent Easter lilies, long ago +withered, which certainly, looked at from this distance, did not +appear important enough to sacrifice any prospects for. This was all +the harder upon the unfortunate Curate, as even at the time his +conviction of their necessity had not proved equal to the satisfactory +settlement of the question. Miss Wentworth's cook was an _artiste_ so +irreproachable that the luncheon provided was in itself perfect; but +notwithstanding it was an uncomfortable meal. Miss Leonora, in +consequence of the contest going on in her own mind, was in an +explosive and highly dangerous condition, not safe to be spoken to; +and as for the Squire, he could not restrain the chance utterances of +his impatience. Frank, who did his best to make himself agreeable as +magnanimity required, had the mortification of hearing himself +discussed in different tones of disapprobation while he ate his cold +beef; for Mr Wentworth's broken sentences were not long of putting the +party in possession of the new event, and the Perpetual Curate found +himself the object of many wondering and pitying glances, in none of +which could he read pure sympathy, much less congratulation. Even +Gerald looked at him with a little elevation of his eyebrows, as if +wondering how anybody could take the trouble to occupy his mind with +such trifling temporal affairs as love and marriage. It was a +wonderful relief to the unfortunate Curate when Miss Leonora had +finished her glass of madeira, and rose from the table. He had no +inclination to go up-stairs, for his own part. "When you are ready, +sir, you will find me in the garden," he said to his father, who was +to leave Carlingford next morning, and whom he had set his heart on +taking to see Lucy. But his walk in the garden was far from being +delightful to Frank. It even occurred to him, for a moment, that it +would be a very good thing if a man could cut himself adrift from his +relations at such a crisis of his life. After all, it was his own +business--the act most essentially personal of his entire existence; +and then, with a little softening, he began to think of the girls at +home--of the little sister, who had a love-story of her own; and of +Letty, who was Frank's favourite, and had often confided to him the +enthusiasm she would feel for his bride. "If she is nice," Letty was +in the habit of adding, "and of course she will be nice,"--and at that +thought the heart of the young lover escaped, and put forth its wings, +and went off into that heaven of ideal excellence and beauty, more +sweet, because more vague, than anything real, which stands instead of +the old working-day skies and clouds at such a period of life. He had +to drop down from a great height, and get rid in all haste of his +celestial pinions, when he heard his aunt Dora calling him; and his +self-command was not sufficient to conceal, as he obeyed that summons, +a certain annoyed expression in his face. + +"Frank," said Miss Dora, coming softly after him with her handkerchief +held over her head as a defence from the sun--"oh, Frank, I want to +speak to you. I couldn't say anything at lunch because of everybody +being there. If you would only stop a moment till I get my breath. +Frank, my dear boy, I wish you joy. I do wish you joy with all my +heart. I should so like just to go and kiss her, and tell her I shall +love her for your sake." + +"You will soon love her for her own sake," said Frank, to whom even +this simple-minded sympathy was very grateful; "she is a great deal +better than I am." + +"There is just one thing," said Miss Dora. "Oh, Frank, my dear, you +know I don't pretend to be clever, like Leonora, or able to give you +advice; but there _is_ one thing. You know you have nothing to marry +upon, and all has gone wrong. You are not to have Wentworth, and you +are not to have Skelmersdale, and I think the family is going out of +its senses not to see who is the most worthy. You have got nothing to +live upon, my dear, dear boy!" said Miss Dora, withdrawing the +handkerchief from her head in the excitement of the moment to apply it +to her eyes. + +"That is true enough," said the Perpetual Curate; "but then we have +not made up our minds that we must marry immediately--" + +"Frank," said aunt Dora, with solemnity, breaking into his speech, +"there is just _one_ thing; and I can't hold my tongue, though it may +be very foolish, and they will all say it is my fault." It was a very +quiet summer-day, but still there was a faint rustle in the branches +which alarmed the timid woman. She put her hand upon her nephew's arm, +and hastened him on to the little summer-house in the wall, which was +her special retirement. "Nobody ever comes here," said Miss Dora; +"they will never think of looking for us here. I am sure I never +interfere with Leonora's arrangements, nor take anything upon myself; +but there is one thing, Frank--" + +"Yes," said the Curate, "I understand what you mean: you are going to +warn me about love in a cottage, and how foolish it would be to marry +upon nothing; but, my dear aunt, we are not going to do anything rash; +there is no such dreadful haste; don't be agitated about it," said the +young man, with a smile. He was half amused and half irritated by the +earnestness which almost took away the poor lady's breath. + +"You _don't_ know what I mean," said aunt Dora. "Frank, you know very +well I never interfere; but I can't help being agitated when I see +you on the brink of such a precipice. Oh, my dear boy, don't be +over-persuaded. There _is_ one thing, and I must say it if I should +die." She had to pause a little to recover her voice, for haste and +excitement had a tendency to make her inarticulate. "Frank," said +Miss Dora again, more solemnly than ever, "whatever you may be obliged +to do--though you were to write novels, or take pupils, or do +translations--oh, Frank, don't look at me like that, as if I was going +crazy. Whatever you may have to do, oh my dear, there is one +thing--don't go and break people's hearts, and put it off, and put it +off, till it never happens!" cried the trembling little woman, with a +sudden burst of tears. "Don't say you can wait, for you can't wait, and +you oughtn't to!" sobbed Miss Dora. She subsided altogether into her +handkerchief and her chair as she uttered this startling and wholly +unexpected piece of advice, and lay there in a little heap, all +dissolving and floating away, overcome with her great effort, while her +nephew stood looking at her from a height of astonishment almost too +extreme for wondering. If the trees could have found a voice and +counselled his immediate marriage, he could scarcely have been more +surprised. + +"You think I am losing my senses too," said aunt Dora; "but that is +because you don't understand me. Oh Frank, my dear boy, there was once +a time!--perhaps everybody has forgotten it except me, but I have not +forgotten it. They treated me like a baby, and Leonora had everything +her own way. I don't mean to say it was not for the best," said the +aggrieved woman. "I know everything is for the best, if we could but +see it: and perhaps Leonora was right when she said I never could have +struggled with--with a family, nor lived on a poor man's income. My +dear, it was before your uncle Charley died; and when we became rich, +it--didn't matter," said Miss Dora; "it was all over before then. Oh +Frank! if I hadn't experience I wouldn't say a word. I don't interfere +about your opinions, like Leonora. There is just _one_ thing," cried +the poor lady through her tears. Perhaps it was the recollection of +the past which overcame Miss Dora, perhaps the force of habit which +had made it natural for her to cry when she was much moved; but the +fact is certain, that the Squire, when he came to the door of the +summer-house in search of Frank, found his sister weeping bitterly, +and his son making efforts to console her, in which some sympathy was +mingled with a certain half-amusement. Frank, like Lucy, felt tempted +to laugh at the elderly romance; and yet his heart expanded warmly to +his tender little foolish aunt, who, after all, might once have been +young and in love like himself, though it was so odd to realise it. Mr +Wentworth, for his part, saw no humour whatever in the scene. He +thought nothing less than that some fresh complication had taken +place. Jack had committed some new enormity, or there was bad news +from Charley in Malta, or unpleasant letters had come from home. +"Bless my soul, sir, something new has happened," said the Squire; and +he was scarcely reassured, when Miss Dora stumbled up from her chair in +great confusion, and wiped the tears from her eyes. He was suspicious of +this meeting in the summer-house, which seemed a quite unnecessary +proceeding to Mr Wentworth; and though he flattered himself he +understood women, he could not give any reasonable explanation to +himself of Dora's tears. + +"It is nothing--nothing at all," said Miss Dora: "it was not Frank's +doing in the least; he is always so considerate, and such a dear +fellow. Thank you, my dear boy; my head is a little better; I think I +will go in and lie down," said the unlucky aunt. "You are not to mind +me now, for I have quite got over my little attack; I always was so +nervous," said Miss Dora; "and I sometimes wonder whether it isn't the +Wentworth complaint coming on," she added, with a natural female +artifice which was not without its effect. + +"I wish you would not talk nonsense," said the Squire. "The Wentworth +complaint is nothing to laugh at, but you are perfectly aware that it +never attacks women." Mr Wentworth spoke with a little natural +irritation, displeased to have his prerogative interfered with. When a +man has all the suffering attendant upon a special complaint, it is +hard not to have all the dignity. He felt so much and so justly +annoyed by Miss Dora's vain pretensions, that he forgot his anxiety +about the secret conference in the summer-house. "Women take such +fantastic ideas into their heads," he said to his son as they went +away together. "Your aunt Dora is the kindest soul in the world; but +now and then, sir, she is very absurd," said the Squire. He could not +get this presumptuous notion out of his head, but returned to it again +and again, even after they had got into Grange Lane. "It has been in +our family for two hundred years," said Mr Wentworth; "and I don't +think there is a single instance of its attacking a woman--not even +slightly, sir," the Squire added, with irritation, as if Frank had +taken the part of the female members of the family, which indeed the +Curate had no thought of doing. + +Miss Dora, for her part, having made this very successful diversion, +escaped to the house, and to her own room, where she indulged in a +headache all the afternoon, and certain tender recollections which +were a wonderful resource at all times to the soft-hearted woman. "Oh, +my dear boy, don't be over-persuaded," she had whispered into Frank's +ear as she left him; and her remonstrance, simple as it was, had no +doubt produced a considerable effect upon the mind of the Perpetual +Curate. He could not help thinking, as they emerged into the road, +that it was chiefly the impatient and undutiful who secured their +happiness. Those who were constant and patient, and able to deny +themselves, instead of being rewarded for their higher qualities, +were, on the contrary, put to the full test of the strength that was +in them; while those who would not wait attained what they wanted, and +on the whole, as to other matters, got on just as well as their +stronger-minded neighbours. This germ of thought, it may be supposed, +was stimulated into very warm life by the reflection that Lucy would +have to leave Carlingford with her sister, without any definite +prospect of returning again; and a certain flush of impatience came +over the young man, not unnatural in the circumstances. It seemed to +him that everybody else took their own way without waiting; and why +should it be so certain that he alone, whose "way" implied harm to no +one, should be the only man condemned to wait? Thus it will be seen +that the "just one thing" insisted on by Miss Dora was far from being +without effect on the mind of her nephew; upon whom, indeed, the +events of the morning had wrought various changes of sentiment. When +he walked up Grange Lane for the first time, it had been without any +acknowledged intention of opening his mind to Lucy, and yet he had +returned along the same prosaic and unsympathetic line of road her +accepted lover; her accepted lover, triumphant in that fact, but +without the least opening of any hope before him as to the conclusion +of the engagement, which prudence had no hand in making. Now the +footsteps of the Perpetual Curate fell firmly, not to say a little +impatiently, upon the road over which he had carried so many varying +thoughts. He was as penniless as ever, and as prospectless; but in the +tossings of his natural impatience the young man had felt the reins +hang loosely about his head, and knew that he was no more restrained +than other men, but might, if he chose it, have his way like the rest +of the world. It was true enough that he might have to pay for it +after, as other people had done; but in the mean time the sense that +he was his own master was sweet, and to have his will for once seemed +no more than his right in the world. While these rebellious thoughts +were going on in the Curate's mind, his father, who suspected nothing, +went steadily by his side, not without a little reluctance at the +thought of the errand on which he was bound. "But they can't marry for +years, and nobody can tell what may happen in that time," Mr Wentworth +said to himself, with the callousness of mature age, not suspecting +the different ideas that were afloat in the mind of his son. Perhaps, +on the whole, he was not sorry that Skelmersdale was destined +otherwise, and that Huxtable had been spoken to about Wentworth +Rectory; for, of course, Frank would have plunged into marriage at +once if he had been possessed of anything to marry on; and it looked +providential under the circumstances, as the Squire argued with +himself privately, that at such a crisis the Perpetual Curate should +have fallen between two stools of possible preferment, and should +still be obliged to content himself with St Roque's. It was hard for +Mr Wentworth to reconcile himself to the idea that the wife of his +favourite son should be the sister of--; for the Squire forgot that +his own girls were Jack Wentworth's sisters, and as such might be +objected to in their turn by some other father. So the two gentlemen +went to see Lucy, who was then in a very humble frame of mind, just +recovered from her passion--one of them rather congratulating himself +on the obstacles which lay before the young couple, the other tossing +his youthful head a little in the first impulses of self-will, feeling +the reins lie loose upon him, and making up his mind to have his own +way. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + + +While Mr Frank Wentworth's affairs were thus gathering to a crisis, +other events likely to influence his fate were also taking place in +Carlingford. Breakfast had been served a full half-hour later than +usual in the Rectory, which had not improved the temper of the +household. Everything was going on with the most wonderful quietness +in that well-arranged house; but it was a quietness which would have +made a sensitive visitor uncomfortable, and which woke horrible +private qualms in the mind of the Rector. As for Mrs Morgan, she +fulfilled all her duties with a precision which was terrible to +behold: instead of taking part in the conversation as usual, and +having her own opinion, she had suddenly become possessed of such a +spirit of meekness and acquiescence as filled her husband with dismay. +The Rector was fond of his wife, and proud of her good sense, and her +judgment, and powers of conversation. If she had been angry and found +fault with him, he might have understood that mode of procedure; but +as she was not angry, but only silent, the excellent man was terribly +disconcerted, and could not tell what to do. He had done all he could +to be conciliatory, and had already entered upon a great many +explanations which had come to nothing for want of any response; and +now she sat at the head of the table making tea with an imperturbable +countenance, sometimes making little observations about the news, +perfectly calm and dignified, but taking no part in anything more +interesting, and turning off any reference that was made to her in the +most skilful manner. "Mr Morgan knows I never take any part in the +gossip of Carlingford," she said to Mr Proctor, without any intention +of wounding that good man; and he who had been in the midst of +something about Mr Wentworth came to an abrupt stop with the sense of +having shown himself as a gossip, which was very injurious to his +dignity. The late Rector, indeed, occupied a very uncomfortable +position between the married people thus engaged in the absorbing +excitement of their first quarrel. The quiet little arrows, which Mrs +Morgan intended only for her husband, grazed and stung him as they +passed, without missing at the same time their intended aim; and he +was the auditor, besides, of a great deal of information intended by +the Rector for his wife's benefit, to which Mrs Morgan paid no manner +of attention. Mr Proctor was not a man of very lively observation, but +he could not quite shut his eyes to the position of affairs; and the +natural effect upon his mind, in the circumstances, was to turn his +thoughts towards his mild Mary, whom he did not quite recognise as yet +under her Christian name. He called her Miss Wodehouse in his heart +even while in the act of making comparisons very unfavourable to the +Rector's wife, and then he introduced benevolently the subject of his +new rectory, which surely must be safe ground. + +"It is a pretty little place," Mr Proctor said, with satisfaction: "of +course it is but a small living compared to Carlingford. I hope you +will come and see me, after--it is furnished," said the bashful +bridegroom: "it is a nuisance to have all that to look after for one's +self--" + +"I hope you will have somebody to help you," said Mrs Morgan, with a +little earnestness; "gentlemen don't understand about such things. +When you have one piece of furniture in bad taste, it spoils a whole +room--carpets, for instance--" said the Rector's wife. She looked at +Mr Proctor so severely that the good man faltered, though he was not +aware of the full extent of his guiltiness. + +"I am sure I don't know," he said: "I told the man here to provide +everything as it ought to be; and I think we were very successful," +continued Mr Proctor, with a little complacency: to be sure, they were +in the dining-room at the moment, being still at the breakfast-table. +"Buller knows a great deal about that sort of thing, but then he is too +ecclesiological for my taste. I like things to look cheerful," said the +unsuspicious man. "Buller is the only man that could be reckoned on if +any living were to fall vacant. It is very odd nowadays how indifferent +men are about the Church. I don't say that it is not very pleasant at +All-Souls; but a house of one's own, you know--" said Mr Proctor, +looking with a little awkward enthusiasm at his recently-married +brother; "of course I mean a sphere--a career--" + +"Oh, ah, yes," said Mr Morgan, with momentary gruffness; "but +everything has its drawbacks. I don't think Buller would take a +living. He knows too well what's comfortable," said the suffering man. +"The next living that falls will have to go to some one out of the +college," said Mr Morgan. He spoke with a tone of importance and +significance which moved Mr Proctor, though he was not rapid in his +perceptions, to look across at him for further information. + +"Most people have some crotchet or other," said the Rector. "When a +man's views are clear about subscription, and that sort of thing, he +generally goes as far wrong the other way. Buller might go out to +Central Africa, perhaps, if there was a bishopric of Wahuma--or what +is the name, my dear, in that Nile book?" + +"I have not read it," said Mrs Morgan, and she made no further remark. + +Thus discouraged in his little attempt at amity, the Rector resumed +after a moment, "Wentworth's brother has sent in his resignation to +his bishop. There is no doubt about it any longer. I thought that +delusion had been over, at all events; and I suppose now Wentworth +will be provided for," said Mr Morgan, not without a little anxiety. + +"No; they are all equally crotchety, I think," said Mr Proctor. "I +know about them, through my--my connection with the Wodehouses, you +know. I should not wonder, for my own part, if he went after his +brother, who is a very intelligent man, though mistaken," the late +Rector added, with respect. "As for Frank Wentworth, he is a little +hot-headed. I had a long conversation the other night with the elder +brother. I tried to draw him out about Burgon's book, but he declined +to enter into the question. Frank has made up his mind to stay in +Carlingford. I understand he thinks it right on account of his +character being called in question here; though, of course, no one in +his senses could have had any doubt how _that_ would turn out," said +Mr Proctor, forgetting that he himself had been very doubtful about +the Curate. "From what I hear, they are all very crotchety," he +continued, and finished his breakfast calmly, as if that settled the +question. As for Mrs Morgan, even this interesting statement had no +effect upon her. She looked up suddenly at one moment as if intending +to dart a reproachful glance at her husband, but bethought herself in +time, and remained passive as before; not the less, however, was she +moved by what she had just heard. It was not Mr Wentworth she was +thinking of, except in a very secondary degree. What occupied her, and +made her reflections bitter, was the thought that her husband--the man +to whom she had been faithful for ten weary years--had taken himself +down off the pedestal on which she had placed him. "To make idols, and +to find them clay," she said plaintively in her own mind. Women were +all fools to spend their time and strength in constructing such +pedestals, Mrs Morgan thought to herself with bitterness; and as to +the men who were so perpetually dethroning themselves, how were they +to be designated? To think of her William, of whom she had once made a +hero, ruining thus, for a little petty malice and rivalry, the +prospects of another man! While these painful reflections were going +through her mind, she was putting away her tea-caddy, and preparing to +leave the gentlemen to their own affairs. "We shall see you at dinner +at six," she said, with a constrained little smile, to Mr Proctor, and +went up-stairs with her key-basket in her hand without taking any +special notice of the Rector. Mr Leeson was to come to dinner that day +legitimately by invitation, and Mrs Morgan, who felt it would be a +little consolation to disappoint the hungry Curate for once, was +making up her mind, as she went up-stairs, not to have the All-Souls +pudding, of which he showed so high an appreciation. It almost seemed +to her as if this spark of ill-nature was receiving a summary +chastisement, when she heard steps ascending behind her. Mrs Morgan +objected to have men lounging about her drawing-room in the morning. +She thought Mr Proctor was coming to bestow a little more of his +confidence upon her, and perhaps to consult her about his furnishing; +and being occupied by her own troubles, she had no patience for a +tiresome, middle-aged lover, who no doubt was going to disappoint and +disenchant another woman. She sat down, accordingly, with a sigh of +impatience at her work-table, turning her back to the door. Perhaps, +when he saw her inhospitable attitude, he might go away and not bother +her. And Mrs Morgan took out some stockings to darn, as being a +discontented occupation, and was considering within herself what +simple preparation she could have instead of the All-Souls pudding, +when, looking up suddenly, she saw, not Mr Proctor, but the Rector, +standing looking down upon her within a few steps of her chair. When +she perceived him, it was not in nature to refrain from certain +symptoms of agitation. The thoughts she had been indulging in brought +suddenly a rush of guilty colour to her face; but she commanded +herself as well as she could, and went on darning her stockings, with +her heart beating very loud in her breast. + +"My dear," said the Rector, taking a seat near her, "I don't know what +it is that has risen between us. We look as if we had quarrelled; and +I thought we had made up our minds never to quarrel." The words were +rather soft in their signification, but Mr Morgan could not help +speaking severely, as was natural to his voice; which was perhaps, in +the present case, all the better for his wife. + +"I don't know what you may consider quarrelling, William," said Mrs +Morgan, "but I am sure I have never made any complaint." + +"No," said the Rector; "I have seen women do that before. You don't +make any complaint, but you look as if you disapproved of everything. +I feel it all the more just now because I want to consult you; and, +after all, the occasion was no such--" + +"I never said there was any occasion. I am sure I never made any +complaint. You said you wanted to consult me, William?" Mrs Morgan +went on darning her stockings while she was speaking, and the Rector, +like most other men, objected to be spoken to by the lips only. He +would have liked to toss the stocking out of the window, though it +was his own, and the task of repairing it was one of a devoted wife's +first duties, according to the code of female proprieties in which +both the husband and wife had been brought up. + +"Yes," said the Rector, with a sigh. "The truth is, I have just got a +letter from Harry Scarsfield, who was my pet pupil long ago. He tells +me my father's old rectory is vacant, where we were all brought up. +There used to be a constant intercourse between the Hall and the Rectory +when I was a lad. They are very nice people the Scarsfields--at least +they used to be very nice people; and Harry has his mother living with +him, and the family has never been broken up, I believe. We used to +know everybody about there," said Mr Morgan, abandoning himself to +recollections in a manner most mysterious to his wife. "There is the +letter, my dear," and he put it down upon her table, and began to play +with the reels of cotton in her workbox unconsciously, as he had not +done for a long time; which, unawares to herself, had a softening +influence upon Mrs Morgan's heart. + +"I do not know anything about the Scarsfields," she said, without +taking up the letter, "and I cannot see what you have to do with this. +Does he wish you to recommend some one?" Mrs Morgan added, with a +momentary interest; for she had, of course, like other people, a +relation in a poor living, whom it would have been satisfactory to +recommend. + +"He says I may have it if I have a mind," said the Rector curtly, +betraying a little aggravation in his tone. + +"You, William?" said Mrs Morgan. She was so much surprised that she laid +down her stocking and looked him straight in the face, which she had not +done for many days; and it was wonderful how hard she found it to keep up +her reserve, after having once looked her husband in the eyes. "But it is +not much more than six months since you were settled in Carlingford," +she said, still lost in amazement. "You cannot possibly mean to make a +change so soon? and then the difference of the position," said the +Rector's wife. As she looked at him, she became more and more aware of +some meaning in his face which she did not understand; and more and more, +as it became necessary to understand him, the reserves and self-defences +of the first quarrel gave way and dispersed. "I don't think I quite know +what you mean," she said, faltering a little. "I don't understand why +you should think of a change." + +"A good country living is a very good position," said the Rector; "it is +not nearly so troublesome as a town like Carlingford. There is no +Dissent that I know of, and no--" (here Mr Morgan paused for a moment, +not knowing what word to use)--"no disturbing influences: of course I +would not take such a step without your concurrence, my dear," the +Rector continued; and then there followed a bewildering pause. Mrs +Morgan's first sensation after the astonishment with which she heard +this strange proposal was mortification--the vivid shame and vexation of +a woman when she is obliged to own to herself that her husband has been +worsted, and is retiring from the field. + +"If you think it right--if you think it best--of course I can have +nothing to say," said the Rector's wife; and she took up her stocking +with a stinging sense of discomfiture. She had meant that her husband +should be the first man in Carlingford--that he should gain everybody's +respect and veneration, and become the ideal parish-priest of that +favourite and fortunate place. Every kind of good work and benevolent +undertaking was to be connected with his name, according to the visions +which Mrs Morgan had framed when she came first to Carlingford, not +without such a participation on her own part as should entitle her to +the milder glory appertaining to the good Rector's wife. All these hopes +were now to be blotted out ignominiously. Defeat and retreat and failure +were to be the conclusion of their first essay at life. "You are the +best judge of what you ought to do," she said, with as much calmness as +she could muster, but she could have dropped bitter tears upon the +stocking she was mending if that would have done any good. + +"I will do nothing without your consent," said the Rector. "Young +Wentworth is going to stay in Carlingford. You need not look up so +sharply, as if you were vexed to think _that_ had anything to do with +it. If he had not behaved like a fool, I never could have been led +into such a mistake," said Mr Morgan, with indignation, taking a +little walk to the other end of the room to refresh himself. "At the +same time," said the Rector, severely, coming back after a pause, "to +show any ill-feeling would be very unchristian either on your side or +mine. If I were to accept Harry Scarsfield's offer, Proctor and I +would do all we could to have young Wentworth appointed to +Carlingford. There is nobody just now at All-Souls to take the living; +and however much you may disapprove of him, my dear," said Mr Morgan, +with increasing severity, "there is nothing that I know to be said +against him as a clergyman. If you can make up your mind to consent to +it, and can see affairs in the same light as they appear to me, that +is what I intend to do--" + +Mrs Morgan's stocking had dropped on her knees as she listened; then it +dropped on the floor, and she took no notice of it. When the Rector had +finally delivered himself of his sentiments, which he did in the voice +of a judge who was condemning some unfortunate to the utmost penalties +of the law, his wife marked the conclusion of the sentence by a sob of +strange excitement. She kept gazing at him for a few moments without +feeling able to speak, and then she put down her face into her hands. +Words were too feeble to give utterance to her feelings at such a +supreme moment. "Oh, William, I wonder if you can ever forgive me," +sobbed the Rector's wife, with a depth of compunction which he, good +man, was totally unprepared to meet, and knew no occasion for. He was +even at the moment a little puzzled to have such a despairing petition +addressed to him. "I hope so, my dear," he said, very sedately, as he +came and sat down beside her, and could not refrain from uttering a +little lecture upon temper, which fortunately Mrs Morgan was too much +excited to pay any attention to. "It would be a great deal better if you +did not give way to your feelings," said the Rector; "but in the mean +time, my dear, it is your advice I want, for we must not take such a +step unadvisedly," and he lifted up the stocking that had fallen, and +contemplated, not without surprise, the emotion of his wife. The +excellent man was as entirely unconscious that he was being put up again +at that moment with acclamations upon his pedestal, as that he had at a +former time been violently displaced from it, and thrown into the +category of broken idols. All this would have been as Sanscrit to the +Rector of Carlingford; and the only resource he had was to make in his +own mind certain half-pitying, half-affectionate remarks upon the +inexplicable weakness of women, and to pick up the stocking which his +wife was darning, and finally to stroke her hair, which was still as +pretty and soft and brown as it had been ten years ago. Under such +circumstances a man does not object to feel himself on a platform of +moral superiority. He even began to pet her a little, with a pleasant +sense of forgiveness and forbearance. "You were perhaps a little cross, +my love, but you don't think I am the man to be hard upon you," said the +Rector. "Now you must dry your eyes and give me your advice--you know +how much confidence I have always had in your advice--" + +"Forgive me, William. I don't think there is any one so good as you are; +and as long as we are together it does not matter to me where we are," +said the repentant woman. But as she lifted up her head, her eye fell on +the carpet, and a gleam of sudden delight passed through Mrs Morgan's +mind. To be delivered from all her suspicions and injurious thoughts +about her husband would have been a deliverance great enough for one +day; but at the same happy moment to see a means of deliverance from the +smaller as well as the greater cross of her existence seemed almost too +good to be credible. She brightened up immediately when that thought +occurred to her. "I think it is the very best thing you could do," she +said. "We are both so fond of the country, and it is so much nicer to +manage a country parish than a town one. We might have lived all our +lives in Carlingford without knowing above half of the poor people," +said Mrs Morgan, growing in warmth as she went on; "it is so different +in a country parish. I never liked to say anything," she continued, with +subtle feminine policy, "but I never--much--cared for Carlingford." She +gave a sigh as she spoke, for she thought of the Virginian creeper and +the five feet of new wall at that side of the garden, which had just +been completed, to shut out the view of the train. Life does not contain +any perfect pleasure. But when Mrs Morgan stooped to lift up some stray +reels of cotton which the Rector's clumsy fingers had dropped out of her +workbox, her eye was again attracted by the gigantic roses and tulips on +the carpet, and content and satisfaction filled her heart. + +"I have felt the same thing, my dear," said Mr Morgan. "I don't say +anything against Mr Finial as an architect, but Scott himself could make +nothing of such a hideous church. I don't suppose Wentworth will mind," +said the Rector, with a curious sense of superiority. He felt his own +magnanimous conduct at the moment almost as much as his wife had done, +and could not help regarding Carlingford Church as the gift-horse which +was not to be examined too closely in the mouth. + +"No," said Mrs Morgan, not without a passing sensation of doubt on +this point; "if he had only been frank and explained everything, there +never could have been any mistake; but I am glad it has all happened," +said the Rector's wife, with a little enthusiasm. "Oh, William, I have +been such a wretch--I have been thinking--but now you are heaping +coals of fire on his head," she cried, with a hysterical sound in her +throat. It was no matter to her that she herself scarcely knew what +she meant, and that the good Rector had not the faintest understanding +of it. She was so glad, that it was almost necessary to be guilty of +some extravagance by way of relieving her mind. "After all Mr Proctor's +care in fitting the furniture, you would not, of course, think of +removing it," said Mrs Morgan; "Mr Wentworth will take it as we did; and +as for Mrs Scarsfield, if you like her, William, you may be sure I +shall," the penitent wife said softly, in the flutter and tremor of her +agitation. As he saw himself reflected in her eyes, the Rector could not +but feel himself a superior person, elevated over other men's shoulders. +Such a sense of goodness promotes the amiability from which it springs. +The Rector kissed his wife as he got up from his seat beside her, and +once more smoothed down, with a touch which made her feel like a girl +again, her pretty brown hair. + +"That is all settled satisfactorily," said Mr Morgan, "and now I must +go to my work again. I thought, if you approved of it, I would write +at once to Scarsfield, and also to Buller of All-Souls." + +"Do," said the Rector's wife--and she too bestowed, in her middle-aged +way, a little caress, which was far from being unpleasant to the +sober-minded man. He went down-stairs in a more agreeable frame of +mind than he had known for a long time back. Not that he understood +why she had cried about it when he laid his intentions before her. Had +Mr Morgan been a Frenchman, he probably would have imagined his wife's +heart to be touched by the graces of the Perpetual Curate; but, being +an Englishman, and rather more certain, on the whole, of her than of +himself, it did not occur to him to speculate on the subject. He was +quite able to content himself with the thought that women were +incomprehensible, as he went back to his study. To be sure, it was +best to understand them, if you could; but if not, it did not so very +much matter, Mr Morgan thought; could in this pleasant condition of +mind he went down-stairs and wrote a little sermon, which ever after +was a great favourite, preached upon all special occasions, and always +listened to with satisfaction, especially by the Rector's wife. + +When Mrs Morgan was left alone she sat doing nothing for an entire +half-hour, thinking of the strange and unhoped-for change that in a +moment had occurred to her. Though she was not young, she had that +sense of grievousness, the unbearableness of trouble, which belongs to +youth; for, after all, whatever female moralists may say on the +subject, the patience of an unmarried woman wearing out her youth in +the harassments of a long engagement, is something very different from +the hard and many-sided experience of actual life. She had been +accustomed for years to think that her troubles would be over when the +long-expected event arrived; and when new and more vexatious troubles +still sprang up after that event, the woman of one idea was not much +better fitted to meet them than if she had been a girl. Now that the +momentary cloud had been driven off, Mrs Morgan's heart rose more +warmly than ever. She changed her mind in a moment about the All-Souls +pudding, and even added, in her imagination, another dish to the +dinner, without pausing to think that _that_ also was much approved by +Mr Leeson; and then her thoughts took another turn, and such a vision +of a perfect carpet for a drawing-room--something softer and more +exquisite than ever came out of mortal loom; full of repose and +tranquillity, yet not without seducing beauties of design; a carpet +which would never obtrude itself, but yet would catch the eye by +dreamy moments in the summer twilight or over the winter fire--flashed +upon the imagination of the Rector's wife. It would be sweet to have a +house of one's own arranging, where everything would be in harmony; +and though this sweetness was very secondary to the other satisfaction +of having a husband who was not a clay idol, but really deserved his +pedestal, it yet supplemented the larger delight, and rounded off all +the corners of Mrs Morgan's present desires. She wished everybody as +happy as herself, in the effusion of the moment, and thought of Lucy +Wodehouse, with a little glow of friendliness in which there was still +a tincture of admiring envy. All this that happy girl would have +without the necessity of waiting for it; but then was it not the +Rector, the rehabilitated husband, who would be the means of producing +so much happiness? Mrs Morgan rose up as lightly as a girl when she +had reached this stage, and opened her writing-desk, which was one of +her wedding-presents, and too fine to be used on common occasions. She +took out her prettiest paper, with her monogram in violet, which was +her favourite colour. One of those kind impulses which are born of +happiness moved her relieved spirit. To give to another the +consolation of a brighter hope, seemed at the moment the most natural +way of expressing her own thankful feelings. Instead of going +down-stairs immediately to order dinner, she sat down instead at the +table, and wrote the following note:-- + + + "MY DEAR MR WENTWORTH,--I don't know whether you will think me a + fair-weather friend seeking you only when everybody else is seeking + you, and when you are no longer in want of support and sympathy. + Perhaps you will exculpate me when you remember the last conversation + we had; but what I write for at present is to ask if you would waive + ceremony and come to dinner with us to-night. I am aware that your + family are still in Carlingford, and of course I don't know what + engagements you may have; but if you are at liberty, pray come. If Mr + Morgan and you had but known each other a little better things could + never have happened which have been a great grief and vexation to me; + and I know the Rector _wishes very much_ to have a little conversation + with you, and has something to speak of in which you would be + interested. Perhaps my husband might feel a little strange in asking + you to overstep the barrier which somehow has been raised between you + two; but I am sure if you knew each other better you would understand + each other, and this is one of the things we women ought to be good + for. I will take it as a proof that you consider me a friend if you + accept my invitation. Our hour is half-past six.--Believe me, very + sincerely, yours, + + "M. MORGAN." + + +When she had written this note Mrs Morgan went down-stairs, stopping +at the library door in passing. "I thought I might as well ask Mr +Wentworth to come to us to-night, as we are to have some people to +dinner," she said, looking in at the door. "I thought you might like +to talk to him, William; and if his people are going away to-day, I +daresay he will feel rather lonely to-night." Such was the Jesuitical +aspect in which she represented the flag of truce she was sending. Mr +Morgan was a little startled by action so prompt. + +"I should like to hear from Buller first," said the Rector; "he might +like to come to Carlingford himself, for anything I can tell; but, to +be sure, it can do no harm to have Wentworth to dinner," said Mr +Morgan, doubtfully; "only Buller, you know, might wish--and in that +case it might not be worth our trouble to make any change." + +In spite of herself, Mrs Morgan's countenance fell; her pretty scheme +of poetic justice, her vision of tasteful and appropriate furniture, +became obscured by a momentary mist. "At least it is only right to ask +him to dinner," she said, in subdued tones, and went to speak to the +cook in a frame of mind more like the common level of human +satisfaction than the exultant and exalted strain to which she had +risen at the first moment. Then she put on a black dress, and went to +call on the Miss Wodehouses, who naturally came into her mind when she +thought of the Perpetual Curate. As she went along Grange Lane she +could not but observe a hackney cab, one of those which belong to the +railway station, lounging--if a cab could ever be said to lounge--in +the direction of Wharfside. Its appearance specially attracted Mrs +Morgan's attention in consequence of the apparition of Elsworthy's +favourite errand-boy, who now and then poked his head furtively +through the window, and seemed to be sitting in state inside. When she +had gone a little further she encountered Wodehouse and Jack +Wentworth, who had just come from paying their visit to the sisters. +The sight of these two revived her sympathies for the lonely women who +had fallen so unexpectedly out of wealth into poverty; but yet she +felt a little difficulty in framing her countenance to be partly +sorrowful and partly congratulatory, as was necessary under these +circumstances; for though she knew nothing of the accident which had +happened that morning, when Lucy and the Perpetual Curate saw each +other alone, she was aware of Miss Wodehouse's special position, and +was sympathetic as became a woman who had "gone through" similar +experiences. When she had got through her visit and was going home, it +struck her with considerable surprise to see the cab still lingering +about the corner of Prickett's Lane. Was Elsworthy's pet boy +delivering his newspapers from that dignified elevation? or were they +seizing the opportunity of conveying away the unfortunate little girl +who had caused so much annoyance to everybody? When she went closer, +with a little natural curiosity to see what else might be inside +besides the furtive errand-boy, the cab made a little rush away from +her, and the blinds were drawn down. Mrs Morgan smiled a little to +herself with dignified calm. "As if it was anything to me!" she said +to herself; and so went home to put out the dessert with her own +hands. She even cut a few fronds of her favourite maidenhair to +decorate the peaches, of which she could not help being a little +proud. "I must speak to Mr Wentworth, if he comes, to keep on +Thompson," she said to herself, and then gave a momentary sigh at the +thought of the new flue, which was as good as her own invention, and +which it had cost her both time and money to arrange to her +satisfaction. The peaches were lovely, but who could tell what they +might be next year if a new Rector came who took no interest in the +garden?--for Thomson, though he was a very good servant, required to +be looked after, as indeed most good servants do. Mrs Morgan sighed a +little when she thought of all her past exertions and the pains, of +which she was scarcely yet beginning to reap the fruit. One man +labours, and another enters into his labours. One thing, however, was +a little consolatory, that she could take her ferns with her. But on +the whole, after the first outburst of feeling, the idea of change, +notwithstanding all its advantages, was in itself, like most human +things, a doubtful pleasure. To be sure, it was only through its +products that her feelings were interested about the new flue, whereas +the drawing-room carpet was a standing grievance. When it was time to +dress for dinner, the Rector's wife was not nearly so sure as before +that she had never liked Carlingford. She began to forget the thoughts +she had entertained about broken idols, and to remember a number of +inconveniences attending a removal. Who would guarantee the safe +transit of the china, not to speak of the _old_ china, which was one +of the most valuable decorations of the Rectory? This kind of +breakage, if not more real, was at least likely to force itself more +upon the senses than the other kind of fracture which this morning's +explanation had happily averted; and altogether it was with mingled +feelings that Mrs Morgan entered the drawing-room, and found it +occupied by Mr Leeson, who always came too early, and who, on the +present occasion, had some sufficiently strange news to tell. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + + +Mr Wentworth did not accept Mrs Morgan's sudden invitation, partly +because his "people" did not leave Carlingford that evening, and +partly because, though quite amiably disposed towards the Rector, whom +he had worsted in fair fight, he was not sufficiently interested in +anything he was likely to hear or see in Mr Morgan's house to move him +to spend his evening there. He returned a very civil answer to the +invitation of the Rector's wife, thanking her warmly for her +friendliness, and explaining that he could not leave his father on the +last night of his stay in Carlingford; after which he went to dinner +at his aunts', where the household was still much agitated. Not to +speak of all the events which had happened and were happening, Jack, +who had begun to tire of his new character of the repentant prodigal, +had shown himself in a new light that evening, and was preparing to +leave, to the relief of all parties. The prodigal, who no longer +pretended to be penitent, had taken the conversation into his own +hands at dinner. "I have had things my own way since I came here," +said Jack; "somehow it appears I have a great luck for having things +my own way. It is you scrupulous people who think of others and of +such antiquated stuff as duty, and so forth, that get yourselves into +difficulties. My dear aunt, I am going away; if I were to remain an +inmate of this house--I mean to say, could I look forward to the +privilege of continuing a member of this Christian family--another +day, I should know better how to conduct myself; but I am going back +to my bad courses, aunt Dora; I am returning to the world--" + +"Oh! Jack, my dear, I hope not," said aunt Dora, who was much +bewildered, and did not know what to say. + +"Too true," said the relapsed sinner; "and considering all the lessons +you have taught me, don't you think it is the best thing I could do? +There is my brother Frank, who has been carrying other people about on +his shoulders, and doing his duty; but I don't see that you good +people are at all moved in his behalf. You leave him to fight his way +by himself, and confer your benefits elsewhere, which is an odd sort +of lesson for a worldling like me. As for Gerald, you know he's a +virtuous fool, as I have heard you all declare. There is nothing in +the world that I can see to prevent him keeping his living and doing +as he pleases, as most parsons do. However, that's his own business. +It is Frank's case which is the edifying case to me. If my convictions +of sin had gone just a step farther," said the pitiless critic, "if I +had devoted myself to bringing others to repentance, as is the first +duty of a reformed sinner, my aunt Leonora would not have hesitated to +give Skelmersdale to me--" + +"Jack, hold your tongue," said Miss Leonora; but though her cheeks +burned, her voice was not so firm as usual, and she actually failed in +putting down the man who had determined to have his say. + +"Fact, my dear aunt," said Jack; "if I had been a greater rascal than +I am, and gone a little farther, you and your people would have +thought me quite fit for a cure of souls. I'd have come in for your +good things that way as well as other ways; but here is Frank, who +even I can see is a right sort of parson. I don't pretend to fixed +theological opinions," said this unlooked-for oracle, with a comic +glance aside at Gerald, the most unlikely person present to make any +response; "but, so far as I can see, he's a kind of fellow most men +would be glad to make a friend of when they were under a cloud--not +that he was ever very civil to me. I tell you, so far from rewarding +him for being of the true sort, you do nothing but snub him, that I +can see. He looks to me as good for work as any man I know; but +you'll give your livings to any kind of wretched make-believe before +you'll give them to Frank. I am aware," said the heir of the +Wentworths, with a momentary flush, "that I have never been considered +much of a credit to the family; but if I were to announce my intention +of marrying and settling, there is not one of the name that would not +lend a hand to smooth matters. That is the reward of wickedness," said +Jack, with a laugh; "as for Frank, he's a perpetual curate, and may +marry perhaps fifty years hence; that's the way you good people treat +a man who never did anything to be ashamed of in his life; and you +expect me to give up my evil courses after such a lesson? I trust I am +not such a fool," said the relapsed prodigal. He sat looking at them +all in his easy way, enjoying the confusion, the indignation, and +wrath with which his address was received. "The man who gets his own +way is the man who takes it," he concluded, with his usual composure, +pouring out Miss Leonora's glass of claret as he spoke. + +Nobody had ever before seen the strong-minded woman in so much +agitation. "Frank knows what my feelings are," she said, abruptly. "I +have a great respect for himself, but I have no confidence in his +principles. I--I have explained my ideas about Church patronage--" + +But here the Squire broke in. "I always said, sir," said the old man, +with an unsteady voice, "that if I ever lived to see a thing or two +amended that was undoubtedly objectionable, your brother Jack's advice +would be invaluable to the family as a--as a man of the world. I have +nothing to say against clergymen, sir," continued the Squire, without +it being apparent whom he was addressing, "but I have always expressed +my conviction of--of the value of your brother Jack's advice as--as a +man of the world." + +This speech had a wonderful effect upon the assembled family, but most +of all upon the son thus commended, who lost all his ease and +composure as his father spoke, and turned his head stiffly to one +side, as if afraid to meet the Squire's eyes, which indeed were not +seeking his, but were fixed upon the table, as was natural, +considering the state of emotion in which Mr Wentworth was. As for +Jack, when he had steadied himself a little, he got up from his seat +and tried to laugh, though the effort was far from being a successful +one. + +"Even my father applauds me, you see, because I am a scamp and don't +deserve it," he said, with a voice which was partially choked. +"Good-bye, sir; I am going away." + +The Squire rose too, with the hazy bewildered look of which his other +children were afraid. + +"Good-bye, sir," said the old man, and then made a pause before he +held out his hand. "You'll not forget what I've said, Jack," he added, +with a little haste. "It's true enough, though I haven't that +confidence in you that--that I might have had. I am getting old, and I +have had two attacks, sir," said Mr Wentworth, with dignity; "and +anyhow, I can't live for ever. Your brothers can make their own way in +the world, but I haven't saved all that I could have wished. When I am +gone, Jack, be just to the girls and the little children," said the +Squire; and with that took his son's hand and grasped it hard, and +looked his heir full in the face. + +Jack Wentworth was not prepared for any such appeal; he was still less +prepared to discover the unexpected and inevitable sequence with which +one good sentiment leads to another. He quite faltered and broke down +in this unlooked-for emergency. "Father," he said unawares, for the +first time for ten years, "if you wish it, I will join you in breaking +the entail." + +"No such thing, sir," said the Squire, who, so far from being pleased, +was irritated and disturbed by the proposal. "I ask you to do your +duty, sir, and not to shirk it," the head of the house said, with +natural vehemence, as he stood with that circle of Wentworths round +him, giving forth his code of honour to his unworthy heir. + +While his father was speaking, Jack recovered a little from his +momentary _attendrissement_. "Good-bye, sir; I hope you'll live a +hundred years," he said, wringing his father's hand, "if you don't +last out half-a-dozen of me, as you ought to do. But I'd rather not +anticipate such a change. In that case," the prodigal went on with a +certain huskiness in his voice, "I daresay I should not turn out so +great a rascal as--as I ought to do. To-day and yesterday it has even +occurred to me by moments that I was your son, sir," said Jack +Wentworth; and then he made an abrupt stop and dropped the Squire's +hand, and came to himself in a surprising way. When he turned towards +the rest of the family, he was in perfect possession of his usual +courtesy and good spirits. He nodded to them all round--with superb +good-humour. "Good-bye, all of you; I wish you better luck, Frank, and +not so much virtue. Perhaps you will have a better chance now the lost +sheep has gone back to the wilderness. Good-bye to you all. I don't +think I've any other last words to say." He lighted his cigar with his +ordinary composure in the hall, and whistled one of his favourite airs +as he went through the garden. "Oddly enough, however, our friend +Wodehouse can beat me in that," he said, with a smile, to Frank, who +had followed him out, "perhaps in other things too, who knows? +Good-bye, and good-luck, old fellow." And thus the heir of the +Wentworths disappeared into the darkness, which swallowed him up, and +was seen no more. + +But naturally there was a good deal of commotion in the house. Miss +Leonora, who never had known what it was to have nerves in the entire +course of her existence, retired to her own room with a headache, to +the entire consternation of the family. She had been a strong-minded +woman all her life, and managed everybody's affairs without being +distracted and hampered in her career by those doubts of her own +wisdom, and questions as to her own motives, which will now and then +afflict the minds of weaker people when they have to decide for +others. But this time an utterly novel and unexpected accident had +befallen Miss Leonora; a man of no principles at all had delivered his +opinion upon her conduct--and so far from finding his criticism +contemptible, or discovering in it the ordinary outcry of the wicked +against the righteous, she had found it true, and by means of it had +for perhaps the first time in her life seen herself as others saw her. +Neither was the position in which she found herself one from which she +could get extricated even by any daring arbitrary exertion of will, +such as a woman in difficulties is sometimes capable of. To be sure, +she might still have cut the knot in a summary feminine way; might +have said "No" abruptly to Julia Trench and her curate, and, after +all, have bestowed Skelmersdale, like any other prize or reward of +virtue, upon her nephew Frank--a step which Miss Dora Wentworth would +have concluded upon at once without any hesitation. The elder sister, +however, was gifted with a truer perception of affairs. Miss Leonora +knew that there were some things which could be done, and yet could +not be done--a piece of knowledge difficult to a woman. She recognised +the fact that she had committed herself, and got into a corner from +which there was but one possible egress; and as she acknowledged this +to herself, she saw at the same time that Julia Trench (for whom she +had been used to entertain a good-humoured contempt as a clever sort +of girl enough) had managed matters very cleverly, and that, instead of +dispensing her piece of patronage like an optimist to the best, she had, +in fact, given it up to the most skilful and persevering angler, as any +other woman might have done. The blow was bitter, and Miss Leonora did +not seek to hide it from herself, not to say that the unpleasant +discovery was aggravated by having been thus pointed out by Jack, who in +his own person had taken her in, and cheated his sensible aunt. She felt +humbled, and wounded in the tenderest point, to think that her reprobate +nephew had seen through her, but that she had not been able to see +through him, and had been deceived by his professions of penitence. The +more she turned it over in her mind, the more Miss Leonora's head ached; +for was it not growing apparent that she, who prided herself so much on +her impartial judgment, had been moved, not by heroic and stoical +justice and the love of souls, but a good deal by prejudice and a good +deal by skilful artifice, and very little indeed by that highest motive +which she called the glory of God? And it was Jack who had set all this +before her clear as daylight. No wonder the excellent woman was +disconcerted. She went to bed gloomily with her headache, and would +tolerate no ministrations, neither of sal-volatile nor eau-de-Cologne, +nor even of green tea. "It always does Miss Dora a power of good," said +the faithful domestic who made this last suggestion; but Miss Leonora +answered only by turning the unlucky speaker out of the room, and +locking the door against any fresh intrusion. Miss Dora's innocent +headaches were articles of a very different kind from this, which +proceeded neither from the heart nor the digestion, but from the +conscience, as Miss Leonora thought--with, possibly, a little aid from +the temper, though she was less conscious of that. It was indeed a long +series of doubts and qualms, and much internal conflict, which resulted +through the rapidly-maturing influences of mortification and humbled +self-regard, in this ominous and awe-inspiring Headache which startled +the entire assembled family, and added fresh importance to the general +crisis of Wentworth affairs. + +"I should not wonder if it was the Wentworth complaint," said Miss +Dora, with a sob of fright, to the renewed and increased indignation +of the Squire. + +"I have already told you that the Wentworth complaint never attacks +females," Mr Wentworth said emphatically, glad to employ what sounded +like a contemptuous title for the inferior sex. + +"Yes, oh yes; but then Leonora is not exactly what you would call--a +female," said poor Miss Dora, from whom an emergency so unexpected +had taken all her little wits. + +While the house was in such an agitated condition, it is not to be +supposed that it could be very comfortable for the gentlemen when they +came up-stairs to the drawing-room, and found domestic sovereignty +overthrown by a headache which nobody could comprehend, and chaos +reigning in Miss Leonora's place. Naturally there was, for one of the +party at least, a refuge sweet and close at hand, to which his +thoughts had escaped already. Frank Wentworth did not hesitate to +follow his thoughts. Against the long years when family bonds make up +all that is happiest in life, there must always be reckoned those +moments of agitation and revolution, during which the bosom of a +family is the most unrestful and disturbing place in existence, from +which it is well to have a personal refuge and means of escape. The +Perpetual Curate gave himself a little shake, and drew a long breath, +as he emerged from one green door in Grange Lane and betook himself to +another. He shook himself clear of all the Wentworth perplexities, all +the family difficulties and doubts, and betook himself into the +paradise which was altogether his own, and where there were no +conflicting interests or differences of opinion. He was in such a +hurry to get there that he did not pay any attention to the general +aspect of Grange Lane, or to the gossips who were gathered round +Elsworthy's door: all that belonged to a previous stage of existence. +At present he was full of the grand discovery, boldly stated by his +brother Jack--"The man who gets his own way is the man who _takes_ +it." It was not an elevated doctrine, or one that had hitherto +commended itself specially to the mind of the Perpetual Curate; but he +could not help thinking of his father's pathetic reliance upon Jack's +advice as a man of the world, as he laid up in his mind the prodigal's +maxim, and felt, with a little thrill of excitement, that he was about +to act on it; from which manner of stating the case Mr Wentworth's +friends will perceive that self-will had seized upon him in the worst +form; for he was not going boldly up to the new resolution with his +eyes open, but had resigned himself to the tide, which was gradually +rising in one united flux of love, pride, impatience, sophistry, and +inclination; which he watched with a certain passive content, knowing +that the stormy current would carry him away. + +Mr Wentworth, however, reckoned without his host, as is now and then +the case with most men, Perpetual Curates included. He walked into the +other drawing-room, which was occupied only by two ladies, where the +lamp was burning softly on the little table in the corner, and the +windows, half open, admitted the fragrant air, the perfumed breath and +stillness and faint inarticulate noises of the night. Since the visit +of Wodehouse in the morning, which had driven Lucy into her first fit +of passion, an indescribable change had come over the house, which had +now returned to the possession of its former owners, and looked again +like home. It was very quiet in the familiar room which Mr Wentworth +knew so well, for it was only when excited by events "beyond their +control," as Miss Wodehouse said, that the sisters could forget what +had happened so lately--the loss which had made a revolution in their +world. Miss Wodehouse, who for the first time in her life was busy, +and had in hand a quantity of mysterious calculations and lists to +make out, sat at the table in the centre of the room, with her desk +open, and covered with long slips of paper. Perhaps it was to save her +Rector the trouble that the gentle woman gave herself so much labour; +perhaps she liked putting down on paper all the things that were +indispensable for the new establishment. At all events, she looked up +only to give Mr Wentworth a smile and sisterly nod of welcome as he +came in and made his way to the corner where Lucy sat, not +unexpectant. Out of the disturbed atmosphere he had just left, the +Perpetual Curate came softly into that familiar corner, feeling that +he had suddenly reached his haven, and that Eden itself could not +have possessed a sweeter peace. Lucy in her black dress, with traces +of the exhaustion of nature in her face, which was the loveliest face +in the world to Mr Wentworth, looked up and welcomed him with that +look of satisfaction and content which is the highest compliment one +human creature can pay to another. His presence rounded off all the +corners of existence to Lucy for that moment at least, and made the +world complete and full. He sat down beside her at her work-table with +no further interruption to the _tete-a-tete_ than the presence of the +kind elder sister at the table, who was absorbed in her lists, and +who, even had that pleasant business been wanting, was dear and +familiar enough to both to make her spectatorship just the sweet +restraint which endears such intercourse all the more. Thus the +Perpetual Curate seated himself, feeling in some degree master of the +position; and surely here, if nowhere else in the world, the young man +was justified in expecting to have his own way. + +"They have settled about their marriage," said Lucy, whose voice was +sufficiently audible to be heard at the table, where Miss Wodehouse +seized her pen hastily and plunged it into the ink, doing her best to +appear unconscious, but failing sadly in the attempt. "Mr Proctor is +going away directly to make everything ready, and the marriage is to +be on the 15th of next month." + +"And ours?" said Mr Wentworth, who had not as yet approached that +subject. Lucy knew that this event must be far off, and was not +agitated about it as yet; on the contrary, she met his look +sympathetically and with deprecation after the first natural blush, +and soothed him in her feminine way, patting softly with her pretty +hand the sleeve of his coat. + +"Nobody knows," said Lucy. "We must wait, and have patience. We have +more time to spare than they have," she added, with a little laugh. +"We must wait." + +"I don't see the _must_," said the Perpetual Curate. "I have been +thinking it all over since the morning. I see no reason why I should +always have to give in, and wait; self-sacrifice is well enough when +it can't be helped, but I don't see any reason for postponing my +happiness indefinitely. Look here, Lucy. It appears to me at present +that there are only two classes of people in the world--those who will +wait, and those who won't. I don't mean to enrol myself among the +martyrs. The man who gets his own way is the man who takes it. I don't +see any reason in the world for concluding that I _must_ wait." + +Lucy Wodehouse was a very good young woman, a devoted Anglican, and +loyal to all her duties; but she had always been known to possess a +spark of spirit, and this rebellious quality came to a sudden blaze at +so unlooked-for a speech. "Mr Wentworth," said Lucy, looking the +Curate in the face with a look which was equivalent to making him a +low curtsy, "I understood there were two people to be consulted as to +the must or must not;" and having entered this protest, she withdrew +her chair a little farther off, and bestowed her attention absolutely +upon the piece of needlework in her hand. + +If the ground had suddenly been cut away underneath Frank Wentworth's +feet, he could not have been more surprised; for, to tell the truth, +it had not occurred to him to doubt that he himself was the final +authority on this point, though, to be sure, it was part of the +conventional etiquette that the lady should "fix the day." He sat +gazing at her with so much surprise that for a minute or two he could +say nothing. "Lucy, I am not going to have you put yourself on the +other side," he said at last; "there is not to be any opposition +between you and me." + +"That is as it may be," said Lucy, who was not mollified. "You seem to +have changed your sentiments altogether since the morning, and there +is no change in the circumstances, at least that I can see." + +"Yes, there is a great change," said the young man. "If I could have +sacrificed myself in earnest and said nothing--" + +"Which you were quite free to do," interrupted Lucy, who, having given +way to temper once to-day, found in herself an alarming proclivity +towards a repetition of the offence. + +"Which I was quite free to do," said the Perpetual Curate, with a +smile, "but could not, and did not, all the same. Things are +altogether changed. Now, be as cross as you please, you belong to me, +_Lucia mia_. To be sure, I have no money--" + +"I was not thinking of that," said the young lady, under her breath. + +"Of course one has to think about it," said Mr Wentworth; "but the +question is, whether we shall be happier and better going on separate +in our usual way, or making up our minds to give up something for the +comfort of being together. Perhaps you will forgive me for taking +_that_ view of the question," said the Curate, with a little +enthusiasm. "I have got tired of ascetic principles. I don't see why +it must be best to deny myself and postpone myself to other things and +other people. I begin to be of my brother Jack's opinion. The children +of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of +light. A man who will wait has to wait. Providence does not invariably +reward him after he has been tried, as we used to suppose. I am +willing to be a poor man because I can't help it; but I am not willing +to wait and trust my happiness to the future when it is in my reach +now," said the unreasonable young man, to whom it was of course as +easy as it was to Lucy to change the position of his chair, and +prevent the distance between them being increased. Perhaps he might +have carried his point even at that moment, had not Miss Wodehouse, +who had heard enough to alarm her, come forward hastily in a fright on +the prudential side. + +"I could not help hearing what you were saying," said the elder +sister. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, I hope you don't mean to say that you can't +trust Providence? I am sure that is not Lucy's way of thinking. I +would not mind, and I am sure she would not mind, beginning very +quietly; but then you have nothing, next to nothing, neither of you. +It might not matter, just at the first," said Miss Wodehouse, with +serious looks; "but then--afterwards, you know," and a vision of a +nursery flashed upon her mind as she spoke. "Clergymen always have +such large families," she said half out before she was aware, and +stopped, covered with confusion, not daring to look at Lucy to see +what effect such a suggestion might have had upon her. "I mean," cried +Miss Wodehouse, hurrying on to cover over her inadvertence if +possible, "I have seen such cases; and a poor clergyman who has to +think of the grocer's bill and the baker's bill instead of his parish +and his duty--there are some things you young people know a great deal +better than I do, but you don't know how dreadful it is to see that." + +Here Lucy, on her part, was touched on a tender point, and interposed. +"For a man to be teased about bills," said the young housekeeper, with +flushed cheeks and an averted countenance, "it must be not his +poverty, but his--his wife's fault." + +"Oh, Lucy, don't say so," cried Miss Wodehouse; "what is a poor woman +to do, especially when she has no money of her own, as you wouldn't +have? and then the struggling, and getting old before your time, and +all the burdens--" + +"Please don't say any more," said Lucy; "there was no intention on--on +any side to drive things to a decision. As for me, I have not a high +opinion of myself. I would not be the means of diminishing anyone's +comforts," said the spiteful young woman. "How can I be sure that I +might not turn out a very poor compensation? We settled this morning +how all that was to be, and I for one have not changed my mind--as +yet," said Lucy. That was all the encouragement Mr Wentworth got when +he propounded his new views. Things looked easy enough when he was +alone, and suffered himself to drift on pleasantly on the changed and +heightened current of personal desires and wishes; but it became +apparent to him, after that evening's discussion, that even in Eden +itself, though the dew had not yet dried on the leaves, it would be +highly incautious for any man to conclude that he was sure of having +his own way. The Perpetual Curate returned a sadder and more doubtful +man to Mrs Hadwin's, to his own apartments; possibly, as the two +states of mind so often go together, a wiser individual too. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + + +The dinner-party at the Rectory, to which Mr Wentworth did not go, was +much less interesting and agreeable than it might have been had he been +present. As for the Rector and his wife, they could not but feel +themselves in a somewhat strange position, having between them a secret +unsuspected by the company. It was difficult to refrain from showing a +certain flagging of interest in the question of the church's +restoration, about which, to be sure, Mr Finial was just as much +concerned as he had been yesterday; though Mr Morgan, and even Mrs +Morgan, had suffered a great and unexplainable diminution of enthusiasm. +And then Mr Leeson, who was quite unaware of the turn that things had +taken, and who was much too obtuse to understand how the Rector could be +anything but exasperated against the Perpetual Curate by the failure of +the investigation, did all that he could to make himself disagreeable, +which was saying a good deal. When Mrs Morgan came into the +drawing-room, and found this obnoxious individual occupying the most +comfortable easy-chair, and turning over at his ease the great book of +ferns, nature-printed, which was the pet decoration of the table, her +feelings may be conceived by any lady who has gone through a similar +trial; for Mr Leeson's hands were not of the irreproachable purity which +becomes the fingers of a gentleman when he goes out to dinner. "I know +some people who always wear gloves when they turn over a portfolio of +prints," Mrs Morgan said, coming to the Curate's side to protect her +book if possible, "and these require quite as much care;" and she had to +endure a discussion upon the subject, which was still more trying to her +feelings, for Mr Leeson pretended to know about ferns on the score of +having a Wardian case in his lodgings (which belonged to his landlady), +though in reality he could scarcely tell the commonest spleenwort from a +lycopodium. While Mrs Morgan went through this trial, it is not to be +wondered at if she hugged to her heart the new idea of leaving +Carlingford, and thought to herself that whatever might be the character +of the curate (if there was one) at Scarsfield, any change from Mr +Leeson must be for the better. And then the unfortunate man, as if he +was not disagreeable enough already, began to entertain his unwilling +hostess with the latest news. + +"There is quite a commotion in Grange Lane," said Mr Leeson. "Such +constant disturbances must deteriorate the property, you know. Of +course, whatever one's opinion may be, one must keep it to one's self, +after the result of the investigation; though I can't say _I_ have +unbounded confidence in trial by jury," said the disagreeable young +man. + +"I am afraid I am very slow of comprehension," said the Rector's wife. +"I don't know in the least what you mean about trial by jury. Perhaps +it would be best to put the book back on the table; it is too heavy +for you to hold." + +"Oh, it doesn't matter," said Mr Leeson--"I mean about Wentworth, of +course. When a man is popular in society, people prefer to shut their +eyes. I suppose the matter is settled for the present, but you and I +know better than to believe--" + +"I beg you will speak for yourself, Mr Leeson," said Mrs Morgan, with +dignity. "I have always had the highest respect for Mr Wentworth." + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," said the disagreeable Curate. "I forgot; +almost all the ladies are on Mr Wentworth's side. It appears that +little girl of Elsworthy's has disappeared again; that was all I was +going to say." + +And, fortunately for the Curate, Colonel Chiley, who entered the room +at the moment, diverted from him the attention of the lady of the +house; and after that there was no opportunity of broaching the +subject again until dinner was almost over. Then it was perhaps the +All-Souls pudding that warmed Mr Leeson's soul; perhaps he had taken a +little more wine than usual. He took sudden advantage of that curious +little pause which occurs at a well-conducted dinner-table, when the +meal is concluded, and the fruit (considered apparently, in orthodox +circles, a paradisiacal kind of food which needs no blessing) alone +remains to be discussed. As soon as the manner of thanks from the foot +of the table was over, the Curate incautiously rushed in before +anybody else could break the silence, and delivered his latest +information at a high pitch of voice. + +"Has anyone heard about the Elsworthys?" said Mr Leeson; "something +fresh has happened there. I hope your verdict yesterday will not be +called in question. The fact is, I believe that the girl has been +taken away again. They say she has gone and left a letter saying that +she is to be made a lady of. I don't know what we are to understand by +that. There was some private service or other going on at St Roque's +very early in the morning. Marriage is a sacrament, you know. Perhaps +Mr Wentworth or his brother--" + +"They are a queer family, the Wentworths," said old Mr Western, "and +such lots of them, sir--such lots of them. The old ladies seem to have +settled down here. I am not of their way of thinking, you know, but +they're very good to the poor." + +"Mr Frank Wentworth is going to succeed his brother, I suppose," said +Mr Leeson; "it is very lucky for a man who gets himself talked of to +have a family living to fall back upon--" + +"No such thing--no such thing," said Mr Proctor, hastily. "Mr Frank +Wentworth means to stay here." + +"Dear me!" said the disagreeable Curate, with an elaborate pause of +astonishment. "Things must be bad indeed," added that interesting +youth, with solemnity, shaking the devoted head, upon which he did not +know that Mrs Morgan had fixed her eyes, "if his own family give him +up, and leave him to starve here. They would never give him up if they +had not very good cause. Oh, come; I shouldn't like to believe that! +_I_ know how much a curate has to live on," said Mr Leeson, with a +smile of engaging candour. "Before they give him up like that, with +two livings in the family, they must have very good cause." + +"Very good cause indeed," said Mrs Morgan, from the head of the table. +The company in general had, to tell the truth, been a little taken +aback by the Curate's observations; and there was almost the entire +length of the table between the unhappy man and the Avenger. "So good +a reason, that it is strange how it should not have occurred to a +brother clergyman. That is the evil of a large parish," said the +Rector's wife, with beautiful simplicity; "however hard one works, one +never can know above half of the poor people; and I suppose you have +been occupied in the other districts, and have not heard what a great +work Mr Wentworth is doing. I have reason to know," said Mrs Morgan, +with considerable state, "that he will remain in Carlingford, in a +very different position from that which he has filled hitherto. Mr +Leeson knows how much a curate has to live upon, but I am afraid that +is all he does know of such a life as Mr Wentworth's." Mrs Morgan +paused for a moment to get breath, for her excitement was +considerable, and she had many wrongs to avenge. "There is a great +deal of difference in curates as well as in other things," said the +indignant woman. "I have reason to know that Mr Wentworth will remain +in Carlingford in quite a different position. Now and then, even in +this world, things come right like a fairy tale--that is, when the +authority is in the right hands;" the Rector's wife went on, with a +smile at her husband, which disarmed that astonished man. "Perhaps if +Mr Leeson had the same inducement as Mr Wentworth, he too would make +up his mind to remain in Carlingford." Mrs Morgan got up, as she made +this speech, with a rustle and sweep of drapery which seemed all +addressed to the unhappy Curate, who stumbled upon his feet like the +other gentlemen, but dared not for his life have approached her to +open the door. Mr Leeson felt that he had received his _conge_, as he +sank back into his chair. He was much too stunned to speculate on the +subject, or ask himself what was going to happen. Whatever was going +to happen, there was an end of _him_. He had eaten the last All-Souls +pudding that he ever would have presented to him under _that_ roof. He +sank back in the depth of despair upon his seat, and suffered the +claret to pass him in the agony of his feelings. Mr Wentworth and Mrs +Morgan were avenged. + +This was how it came to be noised abroad in Carlingford that some great +change of a highly favourable character was about to occur in the +circumstances and position of the Curate of St Roque's. It was discussed +next day throughout the town, as soon as people had taken breath after +telling each other about Rosa Elsworthy, who had indisputably been +carried off from her uncle's house on the previous night. When the +Wentworth family were at dinner, and just as the board was being spread +in the Rectory, where Mrs Morgan was half an hour later than usual, +having company, it had been discovered in Elsworthy's that the prison +was vacant, and the poor little bird had flown. Mr Wentworth was aware +of a tumult about the shop when he went to the Miss Wodehouses, but +was preoccupied, and paid no attention; but Mr Leeson, who was not +preoccupied, had already heard all about it when he entered the Rectory. +That day it was all over the town, as may be supposed. The poor, little, +wicked, unfortunate creature had disappeared, no one knew how, at the +moment, apparently, when Elsworthy went to the railway for the evening +papers, a time when the errand-boys were generally rampant in the +well-conducted shop. Mrs Elsworthy, for her part, had seized that moment +to relieve her soul by confiding to Mrs Hayles next door how she was +worrited to death with one thing and another, and did not expect to be +alive to tell the tale if things went on like this for another month, +but that Elsworthy was infatuated like, and wouldn't send the hussy +away, his wife complained to her sympathetic neighbour. When Elsworthy +came back, however, he was struck by the silence in the house, and sent +the reluctant woman up-stairs--"To see if she's been and made away with +herself, I suppose," the indignant wife said, as she obeyed, leaving Mrs +Hayles full of curiosity on the steps of the door. Mrs Elsworthy, +however uttered a shriek a moment after, and came down, with a +frightened face, carrying a large pin-cushion, upon which, skewered +through and through with the biggest pin she could find, Rosa had +deposited her letter of leave-taking. This important document was read +over in the shop by an ever-increasing group, as the news got +abroad--for Elsworthy, like his wife, lost his head, and rushed about +hither and thither, asking wild questions as to who had seen her last. +Perhaps, at the bottom, he was not so desperate as he looked, but was +rather grateful than angry with Rosa for solving the difficulty. This is +what the poor little runaway said:-- + + + "DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT,--I write a line to let you know that them as can + do better for me than any belonging to me has took me away for good. + Don't make no reflections, please, nor blame nobody; for I never could + have done no good nor had any 'appiness at Carlingford after all as + has happened. I don't bear no grudge, though aunt has been so unkind; + but I forgive her, and uncle also. My love to all friends; and you may + tell Bob Hayles as I won't forget him, but will order all my physic + regular at his father's shop.--Your affectionate niece, + + "ROSA." + + "_P.S._--Uncle has no occasion to mind, for them as has took charge of + me has promised to make a lady of me, as he always said I was worthy + of; and I leave all my things for aunt's relations, as I can't wear + such poor clothes in my new station of life." + + +Such was the girl's letter, with its natural impertinences and natural +touch of kindness; and it made a great commotion in the neighbourhood, +where a few spasmodic search-parties were made up with no real +intentions, and came to nothing, as was to be expected. It was a +dreadful thing to be sure, to happen to a respectable family; but when +things had gone so far, the neighbours, on the whole, were inclined to +believe it was the best thing Rosa could have done; and the Elsworthys, +husband and wife, were concluded to be of the same opinion. When +Carlingford had exhausted this subject, and had duly discussed the +probabilities as to where she had gone, and whether Rosa could be the +lady in a veil who had been handed into the express night-train by two +gentlemen, of whom a railway porter bore cautious testimony, the other +mysterious rumour about Mr Wentworth had its share of popular attention. +It was discussed in Masters's with a solemnity becoming the occasion, +everybody being convinced of the fact, and nobody knowing how it was to +be. One prevailing idea was, that Mr Wentworth's brother, who had +succeeded to his mother's fortune (which was partly true, like most +popular versions of family history, his mother's fortune being now +Gerald's sole dependence), intended to establish a great brotherhood, +upon the Claydon model, in Carlingford, of which the Perpetual Curate +was to be the head. This idea pleased the imagination of the town, which +already saw itself talked of in all the papers, and anticipated with +excitement the sight of English brothers of St Benedict walking about in +the streets, and people from the 'Illustrated News' making drawings of +Grange Lane. To be sure, Gerald Wentworth had gone over to the Church of +Rome, which was a step too far to be compatible with the English +brotherhood; but popular imagination, when puzzled and in a hurry, does +not take time to master all details. Then, again, opinion wavered, and +it was supposed to be the Miss Wentworths who were the agents of the +coming prosperity. They had made up their mind to endow St Roque's and +apply to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to have it erected into a +parochial district, rumour reported; and the senior assistant in +Masters's, who was suspected of Low-Church tendencies, was known to be a +supporter of this theory. Other ideas of a vague character floated +through the town, of which no one could give any explanation; but +Carlingford was unanimous in the conviction that good fortune was coming +somehow to the popular favourite, who a week ago had occupied +temporarily the position of the popular _bete noire_ and impersonation +of evil. "But the real sort always triumphs at the last," was the +verdict of Wharfside, which like every primitive community, believed +in poetic justice; and among the bargemen and their wives much +greater elevation than that of a district church or the headship of a +brotherhood was expected "for the clergyman." If the Queen had sent +for him immediately, and conferred upon him a bishopric, or at least +appointed him her private chaplain, such a favour would have excited no +surprise in Wharfside, where indeed the public mind was inclined to the +opinion that the real use of queens and other such dignitaries was to +find out and reward merit. Mr Wentworth himself laughed when the gossip +reached his ears. "My people have given away all they had to give," he +said to somebody who had asked the question; "and I know no prospect I +have of being anything but a perpetual curate, unless the Queen sends +for me and appoints me to a bishopric, as I understand is expected in +Prickett's Lane. If I come to any advancement," said the Curate of St +Roque's, "it must be in social estimation, and not in worldly wealth, +which is out of my way;" and he went down to Wharfside rather cheerfully +than otherwise, having begun to experience that pertinacity carries the +day, and that it might be possible to goad Lucy into the experiment of +how much her housekeeping talents were good for, and whether, with a +good wife, even a Perpetual Curate might be able to live without any +particular bother in respect to the grocer's bill. Mr Wentworth being at +present warmly engaged in this business of persuasion, and as intent as +ever on having his own way, was not much affected by the Carlingford +gossip. He went his way to Wharfside all the same, where the service was +conducted as of old, and where all the humble uncertain voices were +buoyed up and carried on by the steady pure volume of liquid sound which +issued from Lucy Wodehouse's lips into the utterance of such a +'Magnificat' as filled Mr Wentworth's mind with exultation. It was the +woman's part in the worship--independent, yet in a sweet subordination; +and the two had come back--though with the difference that their love +was now avowed and certain, and they were known to belong to each +other--to much the same state of feeling in which they were before the +Miss Wentworths came to Carlingford, or anything uncomfortable had +happened. They had learned various little lessons, to be sure, in the +interim, but experience had not done much more for them than it does for +ordinary human creatures, and the chances are that Mr Wentworth would +have conducted himself exactly in the same manner another time had he +been placed in similar circumstances; for the lessons of experience, +however valuable, are sometimes very slow of impressing themselves upon +a generous and hasty temperament, which has high ideas of honour and +consistency, and rather piques itself on a contempt for self-interest +and external advantages--which was the weakness of the Curate of St +Roque's. He returned to the "great work" in Wharfside with undiminished +belief in it, and a sense of being able to serve his God and his +fellow-creatures, which, though it may seem strange to some people, was +a wonderful compensation to him for the loss of Skelmersdale. "After +all, I doubt very much whether, under any circumstances, we could have +left such a work as is going on here," he said to Lucy as they came up +Prickett's Lane together, where the poor woman had just died peaceably +in No. 10, and got done with it, poor soul; and the Sister of Mercy, in +her grey cloak, lifted towards him the blue eyes which were full of +tears, and answered with natural emphasis, "Impossible! it would have +been deserting our post," and drew a step closer to him in the twilight +with a sense of the sweetness of that plural pronoun which mingled so +with the higher sense that it was impossible to disjoin them. And the +two went on under the influence of these combined sentiments, taking +comfort out of the very hardness of the world around them, in which +their ministrations were so much needed, and feeling an exaltation in +the "duty," which was not for one, but for both, and a belief in the +possibility of mending matters, in which their love for each other bore +a large share; for it was not in human nature thus to begin the ideal +existence, without believing in its universal extension, and in the +amelioration of life and the world. + +"That is all they think of," said poor Miss Wodehouse, who, between +her wondering inspection of the two "young people" and her own +moderate and sensible love-affairs, and the directions which it was +necessary to give to her Rector about the furnishing of the new house, +was more constantly occupied than she had ever been in her life; "but +then, if they marry, what are they to live upon? and if they don't +marry--" + +"Perhaps something will turn up my dear," said old Mrs Western, who had +an idea that Providence was bound to provide for two good young people +who wanted to marry; and thus the two ladies were forced to leave the +matter, where, indeed, the historian of events in Carlingford would +willingly leave it also, not having much faith in the rewards of virtue +which come convenient in such an emergency. But it is only pure fiction +which can keep true to nature, and weave its narrative in analogy with +the ordinary course of life--whereas history demands exactness in +matters of _fact_, which are seldom true to nature, or amenable to any +general rule of existence. + +Before proceeding, however, to the narrative of the unexpected +advancement and promotion which awaited the Perpetual Curate, it may be +as well to notice that the Miss Wentworths, who during the summer had +kindly given their house at Skelmersdale to some friends who had +returned in the spring from India, found themselves now in a position to +return to their own proper dwelling-place, and made preparations +accordingly for leaving Carlingford, in which, indeed, they had no +further occupation; for, to be sure, except to the extent of that +respect which a man owes to his aunts, they had no special claim upon +Frank Wentworth, or right to supervise his actions, save on account of +Skelmersdale, which was now fully disposed of and given away. It cannot +be said that Miss Leonora had ever fully recovered from the remarkable +indisposition which her nephew Jack's final address had brought upon +her. The very next morning she fulfilled her pledges as a woman of +honour, and bestowed Skelmersdale positively and finally upon Julia +Trench's curate, who indeed made a creditable enough rector in his way; +but after she had accomplished this act, Miss Leonora relapsed into one +unceasing watch upon her nephew Frank, which was far from dispelling the +tendency to headache which she showed at this period for the first and +only time in her life. She watched him with a certain feeling of +expiation, as she might have resorted to self-flagellation had she lived +a few hundred years before, and perhaps suffered more acute pangs in +that act of discipline than could be inflicted by any physical scourge. +The longer she studied the matter the more thoroughly was Miss Leonora +convinced not only that the Perpetual Curate was bent on doing his duty, +but that he _did_ it with all the force of high faculties, and a mind +much more thoroughly trained, and of finer material than was possessed +by the man whom she had made rector of Skelmersdale. The strong-minded +woman bore quietly, with a kind of defiance, the sharp wounds with +which her self-esteem was pierced by this sight. She followed up her +discovery, and made herself more and more certain of the mistake she had +made, not sparing herself any part of her punishment. As she pursued her +investigations, too, Miss Leonora became increasingly sensible that it +was not his mother's family whom he resembled, as she had once thought, +but that he was out and out a Wentworth, possessed of all the family +features; and this was the man whom by her own act she had disinherited +of his natural share in the patronage of the family, substituting for +her own flesh and blood an individual for whom, to tell the truth, she +had little respect! Perhaps if she had been able to sustain herself with +the thought that it was entirely a question of "principle," the +retrospect might not have been so hard upon Miss Leonora; but being a +woman of very distinct and uncompromising vision, she could not conceal +from herself either Julia Trench's cleverness or her own mixed and +doubtful motives. Having this sense of wrong and injustice, and general +failure of the duty of kindred towards Frank, it might have been +supposed a little comfort to Miss Leonora to perceive that he had +entirely recovered from his disappointment, and was no longer in her +power, if indeed he had ever been so. But the fact was, that if anything +could have aggravated her personal smart, it would have been the fact +of Frank's indifference and cheerfulness, and evident capability of +contenting himself with his duty and his favourite district, and his +Lucy--whom, to be sure, he could not marry, being only a perpetual +curate. The spectacle came to have a certain fascination for Miss +Wentworth. She kept watching him with a grim satisfaction, punishing +herself, and at the same time comforting herself with the idea that, +light as he made of it, he must be suffering too. She could not bear to +think that he had escaped clean out of her hands, and that the decision +she had come to, which produced so much pain to herself, was innoxious +to Frank; and at the same time, though she could not tolerate his +composure, and would have preferred to see him angry and revengeful, his +evident recovery of spirits and general exhilaration increased Miss +Leonora's respect for the man she had wronged. In this condition of mind +the strong-minded aunt lingered over her preparations for removal, +scorning much the rumour in Carlingford about her nephew's advancement, +and feeling that she could never forgive him if by any chance promotion +should come to him after all. "He will stay where he is. He will be a +perpetual curate," Miss Leonora said, uttering what was in reality a +hope under the shape of a taunt; and things were still in this position +when Grange Lane in general and Miss Dora in particular (from the window +of the summer-house) were startled much by the sight of the Rector, in +terribly correct clerical costume, as if he were going to dine with the +bishop, who walked slowly down the road like a man charged with a +mission, and, knocking at Mrs Hadwin's door, was admitted immediately to +a private conference with the Curate of St Roque's. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + + +It was the same afternoon that Mr Wentworth failed to attend, as he had +never been known to fail before, at the afternoon's school which he had +set up in Prickett's Lane for the young bargemen, who between the +intervals of their voyages had a little leisure at that hour of the day. +It is true there was a master provided, and the presence of the +Perpetual Curate was not indispensable; but the lads, among whom, +indeed, there were some men, were so much used to his presence as to get +restless at their work on this unprecedented emergency. The master knew +no other resource than to send for Miss Lucy Wodehouse, who was known to +be on the other side of Prickett's Lane at the moment, superintending a +similar educational undertaking for the benefit of the girls. It was, as +may be supposed, embarrassing to Lucy to be called upon to render an +account of Mr Wentworth's absence, and invited to take his place in this +public and open manner; but then the conventional reticences were +unknown in Wharfside, and nobody thought it necessary to conceal his +certainty that the Curate's movements were better known to Lucy than to +anybody else. She had to make answer with as much composure as possible +in the full gaze of so many pairs of curious eyes, that she did not know +why Mr Wentworth was absent--"Somebody is sick, perhaps," said Lucy, +repeating an excuse which had been made before for the Perpetual Curate; +"but I hope it does not make any difference," she went on, turning round +upon all the upturned heads which were neglecting their work to stare at +her. "Mr Wentworth would be grieved to think that his absence did his +scholars any injury." Lucy looked one of the ringleaders in the eyes as +she spoke, and brought him to his senses--all the more effectually, to +be sure, because she knew all about him, and was a familiar figure to +the boy, suggesting various little comforts, for which, in Prickett's +Lane, people were not ungrateful. But when she went back again to her +girls, the young lady found herself in a state of excitement which was +half annoyance and half a kind of shy pleasure. To be sure, it was quite +true that they did belong to each other; but at the same time, so long +as she was Lucy Wodehouse, she had no right to be called upon to +represent "the clergyman," even in "the district" which was so important +to both. And then it occurred to her to remember that if she remained +Lucy Wodehouse that was not the Curate's fault--from which thought she +went on to reflect that going away with Mr and Mrs Proctor when they +were married was not a charming prospect, not to say that it involved a +renunciation of the district for the present at least, and possibly for +ever; for if Mr Wentworth could not marry as long as he was a perpetual +curate, it followed of necessity that he could not marry until he had left +Carlingford--an idea which Lucy turned over in her mind very seriously +as she walked home, for this once unattended. A new light seemed to be +thrown upon the whole matter by this thought. To consent to be married +simply for her own happiness, to the disadvantage in any respect of her +husband, was an idea odious to this young woman, who, like most young +women, preferred to represent even to herself that it was for _his_ +happiness that she permitted herself to be persuaded to marry; but if +duty were involved, that was quite another affair. It was quite evident +to Lucy, as she walked towards Grange Lane, that the Curate would not be +able to find any one to take her place in the district; perhaps +also--for she was honest even in her self-delusions--Lucy was aware that +she might herself have objections to the finding of a substitute; and +what then? Was the great work to be interrupted because she could not +bear the idea of possibly diminishing some of his external comforts by +allowing him to have his way, and to be what he considered happy? Such +was the wonderful length to which her thoughts had come when she reached +the garden-door, from which Mr Wentworth himself, flushed and eager, +came hastily out as she approached. So far from explaining his +unaccountable absence, or even greeting her with ordinary politeness, +the young man seized her by the arm and brought her into the garden with +a rapidity which made her giddy. "What is it--what do you mean?" Lucy +cried with amazement as she found herself whirled through the sunshine +and half carried up the stairs. Mr Wentworth made no answer until he had +deposited her breathless in her own chair, in her own corner, and then +got down on his knee beside her, as men in his crazy circumstances are +not unapt to do. + +"Lucy, look here. I was a perpetual curate the other day when you said +you would have me," said the energetic lover, who was certainly out of +his wits, and did not know what he was saying--"and you said you did +not mind?" + +"I said it did not matter," said Lucy, who was slightly piqued that he +did not recollect exactly the form of so important a decision. "I knew +well enough you were a perpetual curate. Has anything happened, or are +you going out of your mind?" + +"I think it must be that," said Mr Wentworth. "Something so +extraordinary has happened that I cannot believe it. Was I in Prickett's +Lane this afternoon as usual, or was I at home in my own room talking to +the Rector--or have I fallen asleep somewhere, and is the whole thing a +dream?" + +"You were certainly not in Prickett's Lane," said Lucy. "I see what it +is. Miss Leonora Wentworth has changed her mind, and you are going to +have Skelmersdale after all. I did not think you could have made up +your mind to leave the district. It is not news that gives me any +pleasure," said the Sister of Mercy, as she loosed slowly off from her +shoulders the grey cloak which was the uniform of the district. Her +own thoughts had been so different that she felt intensely mortified +to think of the unnecessary decision she had been so near making, and +disappointed that the offer of a living could have moved her lover to +such a pitch of pleasure. "All men are alike, it seems," she said to +herself, with a little quiver in her lip--a mode of forestalling his +communications which filled the Perpetual Curate with amazement and +dismay. + +"What are you thinking of?" he said. "Miss Leonora Wentworth has not +changed her mind. That would have been a natural accident enough, but +this is incredible. If you like, Lucy," he added, with an unsteady +laugh, "and will consent to my original proposition, you may marry on +the 15th, not the Perpetual Curate of St Roque's, but the Rector of +Carlingford. Don't look at me with such an unbelieving countenance. It +is quite true." + +"I wonder how you can talk so," cried Lucy, indignantly; "it is all a +made-up story; you know it is. I don't like practical jokes," she went +on, trembling a little, and taking another furtive look at him--for +somehow it was too wonderful not to be true. + +"If I had been making up a story, I should have kept to what was +likely," said Mr Wentworth. "The Rector has been with me all the +afternoon--he says he has been offered his father's rectory, where he +was brought up, and that he has made up his mind to accept it, as he +always was fond of the country;--and that he has recommended me to his +College for the living of Carlingford." + +"Yes, yes," said Lucy, impatiently, "that is very good of Mr Morgan; +but you know you are not a member of the College, and why should you +have the living? I knew it could not be true." + +"They are all a set of old--Dons," said the Perpetual Curate; "that is, +they are the most accomplished set of fellows in existence, Lucy--or at +least they ought to be--but they are too superior to take an ordinary +living, and condescend to ordinary existence. Here has Carlingford been +twice vacant within a year--which is an unprecedented event--and Buller, +the only man who would think of it, is hanging on for a colonial +bishopric, where he can publish his book at his leisure. Buller is a +great friend of Gerald's. It is incredible, _Lucia mia_, but it is +true." + +"Is it true? are you _sure_ it is true?" cried Lucy; and in spite of +herself she broke down and gave way, and let her head rest on the first +convenient support it found, which turned out, naturally enough, to be +Mr Wentworth's shoulder, and cried as if her heart was breaking. It is +so seldom in this world that things come just when they are wanted; and +this was not only an acceptable benefice, but implied the entire +possession of the "district" and the most conclusive vindication of the +Curate's honour. Lucy cried out of pride and happiness and glory in him. +She said to herself, as Mrs Morgan had done at the beginning of her +incumbency, "He will be such a Rector as Carlingford has never seen." +Yet at the same time, apart from her glorying and her pride, a certain +sense of pain, exquisite though shortlived, found expression in Lucy's +tears. She had just been making up her mind to accept a share of his +lowliness, and to show the world that even a Perpetual Curate, when his +wife was equal to her position, might be poor without feeling any of the +degradations of poverty; and now she was forestalled, and had nothing to +do but accept his competence, which it would be no credit to manage +well! Such were the thoughts to which she was reduced, though she had +come home from Prickett's Lane persuading herself that it was duty only, +and the wants of the district, which moved her. Lucy cried, although not +much given to crying, chiefly because it was the only method she could +find of giving expression to the feelings which were too varied and too +complicated for words. + +All Carlingford knew the truth about Mr Wentworth's advancement that +evening, and on the next day, which was Sunday, the Church of St +Roque's was as full as if the plague had broken out in Carlingford, +and the population had rushed out, as they might have done in medieval +times, to implore the succour of the physician-saint. The first +indication of the unusual throng was conveyed to Mr Wentworth in his +little vestry after the choristers had filed into the church in their +white surplices, about which, to tell the truth, the Perpetual Curate +was less interested than he had once been. Elsworthy, who had been +humbly assisting the young priest to robe himself, ventured to break +the silence when they were alone. + +"The church is very full, sir," said Elsworthy; "there's a deal of +people come, sir, after hearing the news. I don't say I've always been +as good a servant as I ought to have been; but it was all through +being led away, and not knowing no better, and putting my trust where +I shouldn't have put it. I've had a hard lesson, sir, and I've learnt +better," he continued, with a sidelong glance at the Curate's face; +"it was all a mistake." + +"I was not finding fault with you, that I am aware of," said Mr +Wentworth, with a little surprise. + +"No, sir," said Elsworthy, "I am aware as you wasn't finding no fault; +but there's looks as speaks as strong as words, and I can feel as you +haven't the confidence in me as you once had. I aint ashamed to say +it, sir," continued the clerk of St Roque's. "I'm one as trusted in +that girl's innocent looks, and didn't believe as she could do no +harm. She's led me into ill-feeling with my clergyman, sir, and done +me a deal o' damage in my trade, and now she's gone off without as +much as saying 'Thank you for your kindness.' It's a hard blow upon a +man as was fond of her, and I didn't make no difference, no more than +if she had been my own child." + +"Well, well," said the Curate, "I daresay it was a trial to you; but +you can't expect me to take much interest in it after all that has +passed. Let bygones be bygones," said Mr Wentworth, with a smile, "as +indeed you once proposed." + +"Ah! sir, that was my mistake," sighed the penitent. "I would have +'umbled myself more becoming, if I had known all as I know now. You're +a-going off to leave St Roque's, where we've all been so happy," said +Mr Elsworthy, in pathetic tones. "I don't know as I ever was as 'appy, +sir, as here, a-listening to them beautiful sermons, and a-giving my +best attention to see as the responses was well spoke out, and things +done proper. Afore our troubles began, sir, I don't know as I had a +wish in the world, unless it was to see an 'andsome painted window in +the chancel, which is all as is wanted to make the church perfect; and +now you're a-going to leave, and nobody knows what kind of a gentleman +may be sent. If you wouldn't think I was making too bold," said +Elsworthy, "it aint my opinion as you'll ever put up with poor old +Norris as is in the church. Men like Mr Morgan and Mr Proctor as had +no cultivation doesn't mind; but for a gentleman as goes through the +service as you does it, Mr Wentworth--" + +Mr Wentworth laughed, though he was fully robed and ready for the +reading-desk, and knew that his congregation was waiting. He held his +watch in his hand, though it already marked the half minute after +eleven. "So you would like to be clerk in the parish church?" he said, +with what seemed a quite unnecessary amount of amusement to the +anxious functionary by his side. + +"I think as you could never put up with old Norris, sir," said +Elsworthy; "as for leading of the responses, there aint such a thing +done in Carlingford Church. I don't speak for myself," said the +public-spirited clerk, "but it aint a right thing for the rising +generation; and it aint everybody as would get into your way in a +minute--for you have a way of your own, sir, in most things, and if +you'll excuse me for saying of it, you're very particular. It aint +every man, sir, as could carry on clear through the service along of +you, Mr Wentworth; and you wouldn't put up with old Norris, not for a +day." + +Such was the conversation which opened this memorable Sunday to Mr +Wentworth. Opposite to him, again occupying the seat where his wife +should have been, had he possessed one, were the three Miss Wentworths, +his respected aunts, to whose opinion, however, the Curate did not feel +himself bound to defer very greatly in present circumstances; and a +large and curious congregation ranged behind them, almost as much +concerned to see how Mr Wentworth would conduct himself in this moment +of triumph, as they had been in the moment of his humiliation. It is, +however, needless to inform the friends of the Perpetual Curate that the +anxious community gained very little by their curiosity. It was not the +custom of the young Anglican to carry his personal feelings, either of +one kind or another, into the pulpit with him, much less into the +reading-desk, where he was the interpreter not of his own sentiments or +emotions, but of common prayer and universal worship. Mr Wentworth +did not even throw a little additional warmth into his utterance of +the general thanksgiving, as he might have done had he been a more +effusive man; but, on the contrary, read it with a more than ordinary +calmness, and preached to the excited people one of those terse little +unimpassioned sermons of his, from which it was utterly impossible to +divine whether he was in the depths of despair or at the summit and +crown of happiness. People who had been used to discover a great many of +old Mr Bury's personal peculiarities in his sermons, and who, of recent +days, had found many allusions which it was easy to interpret in the +discourses of Mr Morgan, retired altogether baffled from the clear and +succinct brevity of the Curate of St Roque's. He was that day in +particular so terse as to be almost epigrammatic, not using a word +more than was necessary, and displaying that power of saying a great +deal more than at the first moment he appeared to say, in which Mr +Wentworth's admirers specially prided themselves. Perhaps a momentary +human gratification in the consciousness of having utterly baffled +curiosity, passed through the Curate's mind as he took off his robes +when the service was over; but he was by no means prepared for the +ordeal which awaited him when he stepped forth from the pretty porch of +St Roque's. There his three aunts were awaiting him, eager to hear all +about it, Miss Dora, for the first time in her life, holding the +principal place. "We are going away to-morrow, Frank, and of course you +are coming to lunch with us," said aunt Dora, clinging to his arm. "Oh, +my dear boy, I am so happy, and so ashamed, to hear of it. To think you +should be provided for, and nobody belonging to you have anything to do +with it! I don't know what to say," said Miss Dora, who was half crying +as usual; "and as for Leonora, one is frightened to speak to her. Oh, I +wish you would say something to your aunt Leonora, Frank. I don't know +whether she is angry with us or with you or with herself, or what it is; +or if it is an attack on the nerves--though I never imagined she had any +nerves; but, indeed, whatever my brother may say, it looks very +like--dreadfully like--the coming-on of the Wentworth complaint. Poor +papa was just like that when he used to have it coming on; and Leonora +is not just--altogether--what you would call a female, Frank. Oh, my +dear boy, if you would only speak to her!" cried Miss Dora, who was a +great deal too much in earnest to perceive anything comical in what she +had said. + +"I should think it must be an attack on the temper," said the Curate, +who, now that it was all over, felt that it was but just his aunt +Leonora should suffer a little for her treatment of him. "Perhaps some +of her favourite colporteurs have fallen back into evil ways. There was +one who had been a terrible blackguard, I remember. It is something that +has happened among her mission people, you may be sure, and nothing +about me." + +"You don't know Leonora, Frank. She is very fond of you, though she +does not show it," said Miss Dora, as she led her victim in +triumphantly through the garden-door, from which the reluctant young +man could see Lucy and her sister in their black dresses just arriving +at the other green door from the parish church, where they had +occupied their usual places, according to the ideas of propriety which +were common to both the Miss Wodehouses. Mr Wentworth had to content +himself with taking off his hat to them, and followed his aunts to the +table, where Miss Leonora took her seat much with the air of a judge +about to deliver a sentence. She did not restrain herself even in the +consideration of the presence of Lewis the butler, who, to be sure, +had been long enough in the Wentworth family to know as much about its +concerns as the members of the house themselves, or perhaps a little +more. Miss Leonora sat down grim and formidable in her bonnet, which +was in the style of a remote period, and did not soften the severity +of her personal appearance. She pointed her nephew to a seat beside +her, but she did not relax her features, nor condescend to any +ordinary preliminaries of conversation. For that day even she took +Lewis's business out of his astonished hands, and herself divided the +chicken with a swift and steady knife and anatomical precision; and it +was while occupied in this congenial business that she broke forth +upon Frank in a manner so unexpected as almost to take away his +breath. + +"I suppose this is what fools call poetic justice," said Miss Leonora, +"which is just of a piece with everything else that is poetical--weak +folly and nonsense that no sensible man would have anything to say to. +How a young man like you, who know how to conduct yourself in some +things, and have, I don't deny, many good qualities, can give in to +come to an ending like a trashy novel, is more than I can understand. +You are fit to be put in a book of the Good-child series, Frank, as an +illustration of the reward of virtue," said the strong-minded woman, +with a little snort of scorn; "and, of course, you are going to +marry, and live happy ever after, like a fairy tale." + +"It is possible I may be guilty of that additional enormity," said the +Curate, "which, at all events, will not be your doing, my dear aunt, if +I might suggest a consolation. You cannot help such things happening, +but, at least, it should be a comfort to feel you have done nothing to +bring them about." + +To which Miss Leonora answered by another hard breath of mingled disdain +and resentment. "Whatever I have brought about, I have tried to do what +I thought my duty," she said. "It has always seemed to me a very poor +sort of virtue that expects a reward for doing what it ought to do. I +don't say you haven't behaved very well in this business, but you've +done nothing extraordinary; and why I should have rushed out of my way +to reward you for it--Oh, yes, I know you did not expect anything," said +Miss Leonora; "you have told me as much on various occasions, Frank. You +have, of course, always been perfectly independent, and scorned to +flatter your old aunts by any deference to their convictions; and, to be +sure, it is nothing to you any little pang they may feel at having to +dispose otherwise of a living that has always been in the family. You +are of the latest fashion of Anglicanism, and we are only a parcel of +old women. It was not to be expected that our antiquated ideas could be +worth as much to you as a parcel of flowers and trumpery--" + +These were actually tears which glittered in Miss Leonora's eyes of +fiery hazel grey--tears of very diminutive size, totally unlike the +big dewdrops which rained from Miss Dora's placid orbs and made them +red, but did _her_ no harm--but still a real moisture, forced out of a +fountain which lay very deep down and inaccessible to ordinary +efforts. They made her eyes look rather fiercer than otherwise for the +moment; but they all but impeded Miss Leonora's speech, and struck +with the wildest consternation the entire party at the table, +including even Lewis, who stood transfixed in the act of drawing a +bottle of soda-water, and, letting the cork escape him in his +amazement, brought affairs to an unlooked-for climax by hitting Miss +Wentworth, who had been looking on with interest without taking any +part in the proceedings. When the fright caused by this unintentional +shot had subsided, Miss Leonora was found to have entirely recovered +herself; but not so the Perpetual Curate, who had changed colour +wonderfully, and no longer met his accuser with reciprocal disdain. + +"My dear aunt," said Frank Wentworth, "I wish you would not go back to +that. I suppose we parsons are apt sometimes to exaggerate trifles +into importance, as my father says. But, however, as things have +turned out, I could not have left Carlingford," the Curate added, in a +tone of conciliation; "and now, when good fortune has come to me +unsought--" + +Miss Leonora finished her portion of chicken in one energetic gulp, +and got up from the table. "Poetic justice!" she said, with a furious +sneer. "I don't believe in that kind of rubbish. As long as you were +getting on quietly with your work I felt disposed to be rather proud +of you, Frank. But I don't approve of a man ending off neatly like a +novel in this sort of ridiculous way. When you succeed to the Rectory +I suppose you will begin fighting, like the other man, with the new +curate, for working in your parish?" + +"When I succeed to the Rectory," said Mr Wentworth, getting up in his +turn from the table, "I give you my word, aunt Leonora, no man shall +work in _my_ parish unless I set him to do it. Now I must be off to my +work. I don't suppose Carlingford Rectory will be the end of me," the +Perpetual Curate added, as he went away, with a smile which his aunts +could not interpret. As for Miss Leonora, she tied her bonnet-strings +very tight, and went off to the afternoon service at Salem Chapel by +way of expressing her sentiments more forcibly. "I daresay he's bold +enough to take a bishopric," she said to herself; "but fortunately +we've got _that_ in our own hands as long as Lord Shaftesbury lives;" +and Miss Leonora smiled grimly over the prerogatives of her party. But +though she went to the Salem Chapel that afternoon, and consoled herself +that she could secure the bench of bishops from any audacious invasion +of Frank Wentworth's hopes, it is true, notwithstanding, that Miss +Leonora sent her maid next morning to London with certain obsolete +ornaments, of which, though the fashion was hideous, the jewels were +precious; and Lucy Wodehouse had never seen anything so brilliant as +the appearance they presented when they returned shortly after +reposing upon beds of white satin in cases of velvet--"Ridiculous +things," as Miss Leonora informed her, "for a parson's wife." + +It was some time after this--for, not to speak of ecclesiastical +matters, a removal, even when the furniture is left behind and there +are only books, and rare ferns, and old china, to convey from one +house to another, is a matter which involves delays--when Mr Wentworth +went to the railway station with Mrs Morgan to see her off finally, +her husband having gone to London with the intention of joining her in +the new house. Naturally, it was not without serious thoughts that the +Rector's wife left the place in which she had made the first beginning +of her active life, not so successfully as she had hoped. She could +not help recalling, as she went along the familiar road, the hopes so +vivid as to be almost certainties with which she had come into +Carlingford. The long waiting was then over, and the much-respected +era had arrived and existence had seemed to be opening in all its +fulness and strength before the two who had looked forward to it so +long. It was not much more than six months ago; but Mrs Morgan had +made a great many discoveries in the mean time. She had found out the +wonderful difference between anticipation and reality; and that life, +even to a happy woman married after long patience to the man of her +choice, was not the smooth road it looked, but a rough path enough +cut into dangerous ruts, through which generations of men and women +followed each other without ever being able to mend the way. She was +not so sure as she used to be of a great many important matters which +it is a wonderful consolation to be certain of--but, notwithstanding, +had to go on as if she had no doubts, though the clouds of a defeat, +in which, certainly, no honour, though a good deal of the _prestige_ +of inexperience had been lost, were still looming behind. She gave a +little sigh as she shook Mr Wentworth's hand at parting. "A great many +things have happened in six months," she said--"one never could have +anticipated so many changes in what looks so short a period of one's +life"--and as the train which she had watched so often rushed past that +new bit of wall on which the Virginian creeper was beginning to grow +luxuriantly, which screened the railway from the Rectory windows, there +were tears in Mrs Morgan's eyes. Only six months and so much had +happened!--what might not happen in all those months, in all those years +of life which scarcely looked so hopeful as of old? She preferred +turning her back upon Carlingford, though it was the least comfortable +side of the carriage, and put down her veil to shield her eyes from the +dust, or perhaps from the inspection of her fellow-travellers: and once +more the familiar thought returned to her of what a different woman she +would have been had she come to her first experiences of life with the +courage and confidence of twenty or even of five-and-twenty, which was +the age Mrs Morgan dwelt upon most kindly. And then she thought with a +thrill of vivid kindness and a touch of tender envy of Lucy Wodehouse, +who would now have no possible occasion to wait those ten years. + +As for Mr Wentworth, he who was a priest, and knew more about +Carlingford than any other man in the place, could not help thinking, +as he turned back, of people there, to whom these six months had +produced alterations far more terrible than any that had befallen the +Rector's wife:--people from whom the light of life had died out, and +to whom all the world was changed. He knew of men who had been +cheerful enough when Mr Morgan came to Carlingford, who now did not +care what became of them; and of women who would be glad to lay down +their heads and hide them from the mocking light of day. He knew it, +and it touched his heart with the tenderest pity of life, the +compassion of happiness; and he knew too that the path upon which he +was about to set out led through the same glooms, and was no ideal +career. But perhaps because Mr Wentworth was young--perhaps because he +was possessed by that delicate sprite more dainty than any Ariel who +puts rosy girdles round the world while his time of triumph lasts--it +is certain that the new Rector of Carlingford turned back into Grange +Lane without the least shadow upon his mind or timidity in his +thoughts. He was now in his own domains, an independent monarch, as +little inclined to divide his power as any autocrat; and Mr Wentworth +came into his kingdom without any doubts of his success in it, or of +his capability for its government. He had first a little journey to +make to bring back Lucy from that temporary and reluctant separation +from the district which propriety had made needful; but, in the mean +time, Mr Wentworth trode with firm foot the streets of his parish, +secure that no parson nor priest should tithe or toll in his +dominions, and a great deal more sure than even Mr Morgan had been, +that henceforth no unauthorised evangelisation should take place in +any portion of his territory. This sentiment, perhaps, was the +principal difference perceptible by the community in general between +the new Rector of Carlingford and the late Perpetual Curate of St +Roque's. + + + + +FOOTNOTE + +[1] She was the daughter of old Sir Jasper Shelton, a poor family, but +very respectable, and connected with the Westerns. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + +Contemporary spellings have been retained even when inconsistent. A +small number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected and +missing punctuation has been silently added. + +The following additional changes have been made to the text: + + the news with which her heart was the news with which her heart was + beating were beating was + + neither here not there neither here nor there + + the trouble which has overtaken the trouble which had overtaken + + wiled the night away whiled the night away + + his handkerchief to this eyes his handkerchief to his eyes + + Notwithstanding, that fact is, that Notwithstanding, the fact is, that + + than ever come out of mortal loom than ever came out of mortal loom + + Thomson Thompson + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Perpetual Curate, by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERPETUAL CURATE *** + +***** This file should be named 28006.txt or 28006.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/0/28006/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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