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diff --git a/28463-8.txt b/28463-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4cd955b --- /dev/null +++ b/28463-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21055 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Not Like Other Girls, by Rosa N. Carey + +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: Not Like Other Girls + +Author: Rosa N. Carey + +Release Date: March 31, 2009 [EBook #28463] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS + +BY + +ROSA N. CAREY + +AUTHOR OF + +"Aunt Diana," "Averil," "Lover or Friend," "Merle's Crusade," +"Esther," "Mary St. John," "Queenie's Whim," "We Wifie," Etc., Etc. + +CHICAGO + +M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY + +407-429 Dearborn Street + + + + +[Illustration] + + +M.A. DONOHUE & CO. +CHICAGO. + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. Five-o'clock Tea. 7 + II. Dick objects to the Mountains. 14 + III. Mr. Mayne makes Himself Disagreeable. 22 + IV. Dick's Fête. 28 + V. "I am Quite Sure of Him." 35 + VI. Mr. Trinder's Visit. 41 + VII. Phillis's Catechism. 48 + VIII. "We should have to carry Parcels." 55 + IX. A Long Day. 62 + X. The Friary. 68 + XI. "Tell us all about it, Nan." 77 + XII. "Laddie" puts in an Appearance. 85 + XIII. "I must have Grace." 91 + XIV. "You can dare to tell me These Things." 99 + XV. A Van in the Braidwood Road. 108 + XVI. A Visit to the White House. 118 + XVII. "A Friend in Need." 124 + XVIII. Dorothy brings in the Best China. 132 + XIX. Archie is in a Bad Humor. 139 + XX. "You are Romantic." 147 + XXI. Breaking the Peace. 154 + XXII. "Trimmings, not Squails." 162 + XXIII. "Bravo, Atalanta!" 167 + XXIV. Mothers are Mothers. 174 + XXV. Mattie's New Dress. 181 + XXVI. "Oh, You are Proud!" 189 + XXVII. A Dark Hour. 196 + XXVIII. The Mysterious Stranger. 202 + XXIX. Mrs. Williams's Lodger. 210 + XXX. "Now we understand Each Other." 219 + XXXI. Dick thinks of the City. 226 + XXXII. "Dick is to be our Real Brother." 232 + XXXIII. "This is Life and Death to Me." 240 + XXXIV. Miss Mewlstone has an Interruption. 248 + XXXV. "Barby, don't You recollect Me?" 255 + XXXVI. Motes in the Sunshine. 262 + XXXVII. "A Man has a Right to His Own Thoughts." 268 + XXXVIII. About Nothing Particular. 277 + XXXIX. "How do you do, Aunt Catherine?" 283 + XL. Alcides. 292 + XLI. Sir Harry Bides his Time. 299 + XLII. "Come, now, I call that Hard." 307 + XLIII. "I will write no such Letter." 315 + XLIV. Mr. Mayne orders a Basin of Gruel. 321 + XLV. An Uninvited Guest. 328 + XLVI. A New Invasion of the Goths. 336 + XLVII. "It was so Good of You to ask me Here." 343 + XLVIII. Mrs. Sparsit's Poodle. 349 + XLIX. Mattie in a New Character. 356 + L. Phillis's Favorite Month. 362 + + + + +NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FIVE-O'CLOCK TEA. + + +Five-o'clock tea was a great institution in Oldfield. + +It was a form of refreshment to which the female inhabitants of that +delightful place were strongly addicted. In vain did Dr. Weatherby, +the great authority in all that concerned the health of the +neighborhood, lift up his voice against the mild feminine +dram-drinking of these modern days, denouncing it in no measured +terms: the ladies of Oldfield listened incredulously, and, softly +quoting Cowper's lines as to the "cup that cheers and not inebriates," +still presided over their dainty little tea-tables, and vied with one +another in the beauty of their china and the flavor of their +highly-scented Pekoe. + +In spite of Dr. Weatherby's sneers and innuendoes, a great deal of +valuable time was spent in lingering in one or another of the pleasant +drawing-rooms of the place. As the magic hour approached, people +dropped in casually. The elder ladies sipped their tea and gossiped +softly; the younger ones, if it were summer-time, strolled out through +the open windows into the garden. Most of the houses had +tennis-grounds, and it was quite an understood thing that a game +should be played before they separated. + +With some few exceptions, the inhabitants of Oldfield were wealthy +people. Handsome houses standing in their own grounds were dotted here +and there among the lanes and country roads. Some of the big houses +belonged to very big people indeed; but these were aristocrats who +only lived in their country houses a few months in the year, and whose +presence added more to the dignity than to the hilarity of the +neighborhood. + +With these exceptions, the Oldfield people were highly gregarious and +hospitable; in spite of a few peculiarities, they had their good +points; a great deal of gossip prevailed, but it was in the main +harmless and good-natured. There was a wonderful simplicity of dress, +too, which in these days might be termed a cardinal virtue. The girls +wore their fresh cambrics and plain straw hats: no one seemed to +think it necessary to put on smart clothing when they wished to visit +their friends. People said this Arcadian simplicity was just as +studied: nevertheless, it showed perfection of taste and a just +appreciation of things. + +The house that was considered the most attractive in Oldfield, and +where, on summer afternoons, the sound of youthful voices and laughter +were the loudest, was Glen Cottage, a small white house adjoining the +long village street, belonging to a certain Mrs. Challoner, who lived +here with her three daughters. + +This may be accounted strange in the first instance, since the +Challoners were people of the most limited income,--an income so small +that nothing but the most modest of entertainments could be furnished +to their friends; very different from their neighbors at Longmead, the +large white house adjoining, where sumptuous dinners and regular +evening parties were given in the dark days when pleasures were few +and tennis impossible. + +People said it was very good-natured of the Maynes; but then when +there is an only child in the case, an honest, pleasure-loving, gay +young fellow, on whom his parents dote, what is it they will not do to +please their own flesh and blood? and, as young Richard Mayne--or +Dick, as he was always called--loved all such festive gatherings, Mrs. +Mayne loved them too; and her husband tried to persuade himself that +his tastes lay in the same direction, only reserving certain groans +for private use, that Dick could not be happy without a houseful of +young people. + +But no such entertainments were possible at Glen Cottage: +nevertheless, the youth of the neighborhood flocked eagerly into the +pleasant drawing-room where Mrs. Challoner sat tranquilly summer and +winter to welcome her friends, or betook themselves through the open +French windows into the old-fashioned garden, in which mother and +daughters took such pride. + +On hot afternoons the tea-table was spread under an acacia-tree, low +wicker-chairs were brought out, and rugs spread on the lawn, and Nan +and her sisters dispensed strawberries and cream, with the delicious +home-made bread and butter; while Mrs. Challoner sat among a few +chosen spirits knitting and talking in her pleasant low-toned voice, +quite content that the burden of responsibility should rest upon her +daughters. + +Mrs. Challoner always smiled when people told her that she ought to be +proud of her girls. No daughters were ever so much to their mother as +hers; she simply lived in and for them; she saw with their eyes, +thought with their thoughts,--was hardly herself at all, but Nan and +Phillis and Dulce, each by turns. + +Long ago they had grown up to her growth. Mrs. Challoner's nature was +hardly a self-sufficing one. During her husband's lifetime she had +been braced by his influence and cheered by his example, and had +sought to guide her children according to his directions; in a word, +his manly strength had so supported her that no one, not even her +shrewd young daughters, guessed at the interior weakness. + +When her stay was removed, Mrs. Challoner ceased to guide, and came +down to her children's level. She was more like their sister than +their mother, people said; and yet no mother was more cherished than +she. + +Her very weakness made her sacred in her daughters' eyes; her +widowhood, and a certain failure of health, made her the subject of +their choicest care. + +It could not be said that there was much amiss, but years ago a doctor +whom Mrs. Challoner had consulted had looked grave, and mentioned the +name of a disease of which certain symptoms reminded him. There was no +ground for present apprehension; the whole thing was very shadowy and +unsubstantial,--a mere hint,--a question of care; nevertheless the +word had been said, and the mischief done. + +From that time Mrs. Challoner was wont to speak gloomily of her +health, as of one doomed. She was by nature languid and lymphatic, but +now her languor increased; always averse to effort, she now left all +action to her daughters. It was they who decided and regulated the +affairs of their modest household, and rarely were such wise young +rulers to be found in girls of their age. Mrs. Challoner merely +acquiesced, for in Glen Cottage there was seldom a dissentient voice, +unless it were that of Dorothy, who had been Dulce's nurse, and took +upon herself the airs of an old servant who could not be replaced. + +They were all pretty girls, the three Misses Challoner, but Nan was +_par excellence_ the prettiest. No one could deny that fact who saw +them together. Her features were more regular than her sisters', and +her color more transparent. She was tall too, and her figure had a +certain willowy grace that was most uncommon; but what attracted +people most was a frankness and unconsciousness of manner that was +perfectly charming. + +Phillis, the second sister, was not absolutely pretty, perhaps, but +she was nice-looking, and there was something in her expression that +made people say she was clever; she could talk on occasions with a +fluency that was quite surprising, and that would cast Nan into the +shade. "If I were only as clever as Phillis!" Nan would sigh. + +Then there was Dulce, who was only just eighteen, and whom her sisters +treated as the family pet; who was light and small and nimble in her +movements, and looked even younger than she really was. + +Nobody ever noticed if Dulce were pretty; and one questioned if her +features were regular or not, or cared to do such a thing. Only when +she smiled, the prettiest dimple came into her cheek, and her eyes had +a fearless child-like look in them; for the rest, she was just Dulce. + +The good-looking daughters of a good-looking mother, as somebody +called them; and there was no denying Mrs. Challoner was still +wonderfully well preserved, and, in spite of her languor and invalid +airs, a very pretty woman. + +Five-o'clock tea had long been over at the cottage this afternoon, and +a somewhat lengthy game of tennis had followed; after which the +visitors had dispersed as usual, and the girls had come in to prepare +for the half-past seven-o'clock dinner; for Glen Cottage followed the +fashion of its richer neighbors, and set out its frugal meal with a +proper accompaniment of flower-vases and evening toilet. + +The three sisters came up the lawn together, but Nan carried her +racquet a little languidly; she looked a trifle grave. + +Mrs. Challoner laid down her knitting and looked at them, and then she +regarded her watch plaintively. + +"Is it late, mother?" asked Nan, who never missed any of her mother's +movements. "Ten minutes past seven! No wonder the afternoon seemed +long." + +"No one found it long but Nan," observed Dulce, with an arch glance at +her sister at which Nan slightly colored, but took no further notice. +"By the bye," she continued, as though struck by a sudden +recollection, "what can have become of Dick this afternoon? he so +seldom fails us without telling us beforehand." + +"That will soon be explained," observed Phillis, oracularly, as the +gate-bell sounded, and was immediately followed by sharp footsteps on +the gravel and the unceremonious entrance of a young man through the +open window. + +"Better late than never," exclaimed two of the girls. Nan said, "Why, +what has made you play truant, Dick?" in a slightly injured voice. But +Mrs. Challoner merely smiled at him, and said nothing; young men were +her natural enemies, and she knew it. She was civil to them and +endured their company, and that was all. + +Dick Mayne was not a formidable-looking individual; he was a strong, +thick-set young fellow, with broad shoulders, not much above middle +height, and decidedly plain, except in his mother's eyes; and she +thought even Dick's sandy hair beautiful. + +But in spite of his plainness he was a pleasant, well-bred young +fellow, with a fund of good humor and drollery, and a pair of honest +eyes that people learned to trust. Every one liked him, and no one +ever said a word in his dispraise; and for the rest, he could +tyrannize as royally as any other young man who is his family's sole +blessing. + +"It was all my ill luck," grumbled Dick. "Trevanion of Exeter came +over to our place, and of course the mater pressed him to stay for +luncheon, and then nothing would do but a long walk over Hillberry +Downs." + +"Why did you not bring him here?" interrupted Dulce, with a pout. "You +tiresome Dick, when you must know what a godsend a strange young man +is in these wilds!" + +"My dear!" reproved her mother. + +"Oh, but it is true, mamma," persisted the outspoken Dulce. "Think how +pleased Carrie and Sophy Paine would have been at the sight of a fresh +face! it was horrid of you, sir!" + +"I wanted him to come," returned the young man, in a deprecating +voice. "I told him how awfully jolly it always is here, and that he +would be sure to meet a lot of nice people, but there was no +persuading him: he wanted a walk and a talk about our fellows. That is +the worst of Trevanion, he always will have his own way." + +"Never mind," returned Nan, pleasantly; she seemed to have recovered +her sprightliness all at once. "It is very good of you to come so +often; and we had Mr. Parker and his cousin to look after the +Paines." + +"Oh, yes! we did very well," observed Phillis, tranquilly. "Mother, +now Dick has come so late, he had better stay." + +"If I only may do so?" returned Dick; but his inquiry was directed to +Nan. + +"Oh, yes, you may stay," she remarked, carelessly, as she moved away; +but there was a little pleased smile on her face that he failed to +see. She nodded pleasantly to him as he darted forward to open the +door. It was Nan who always dispensed the hospitalities of the house, +whose decision was unalterable. Dick had learned what it was to be +sent about his business; only once had he dared to remain without her +sovereign permission, and on that occasion he had been treated by her +with such dignified politeness that he would rather have been sent to +Coventry. + +This evening the fates were propitious, and Dick understood that the +sceptre of favor was to be extended to him. When the girls had flitted +into the little dusky hall he closed the door, and sat down happily +bedside Mrs. Challoner, to whom he descanted eloquently of the +beauties of Hilberry and the virtues of Ned Trevanion. + +Mrs. Challoner listened placidly as the knitting-needles flashed +between her long white fingers. She was very fond of Dick, after her +temperate fashion; she had known him from a child, and had seen him +grow up among them until he had become like a son of the house. Dick, +who had no brothers and sisters of his own, and whose parents had not +married until they were long past youth, had adopted brotherly airs +with the Challoner girls; they called each other by their Christian +names, and he reposed in them the confidences that young men are wont +to give to their belongings. + +With Nan this easy familiarity had of late merged into something +different: a reserve, a timidity, a subtile suspicion of change had +crept into their intimacy. Nan felt that Dick's manner had altered, +but somehow she liked it better: his was always a sweet bountiful +nature, but now it seemed to have deepened into greater manliness. +Dick was growing older; Oxford training was polishing him. After each +one of his brief absences Nan saw a greater change, a more marked +deference, and secretly hoped that no one else noticed it. When the +young undergraduate wrote dutiful letters home the longest messages +were always for Nan; when he carried little offerings of flowers to +his young neighbors, Nan's bouquet was always the choicest; he +distinguished her, too, on all occasions by those small nameless +attentions which never fail to please. + +Nan kept her own counsel, and never spoke of these things. She said +openly that Dick was very nice and very much improved, and that they +always missed him sadly during the Oxford terms; but she never +breathed a syllable that might make people suspect that this very +ordinary young man with the sandy hair was more to her than other +young men. Nevertheless Phillis and Dulce knew that such was the case, +and Mrs. Challoner understood that the most dangerous enemy to her +peace was this lively-spoken Dick. + +Dick was very amusing, for he was an eloquent young fellow: +nevertheless Mrs. Challoner sighed more than once, and her attention +visibly wandered; seeing which, Dick good-humoredly left off talking, +and began inspecting the different articles in Nan's work-basket. + +"I am afraid I have given your mother a headache," he said when they +were sitting round the circular table in the low, oddly-shaped +dining-room. There was a corner cut off, and the windows were in +unexpected places, which made it unlike other rooms; but Dick loved it +better than the great dining-room at Longmead; and somehow it never +had looked cosier to him than it did this evening. It was somewhat +dark, owing to the shade of the veranda: so the lamp was lighted, and +the pleasant scent of roses and lilies came through the open windows. +A belated wasp hovered round the specimen glasses that Nan had filled; +Dick tried to make havoc of the enemy with his table-napkin. The +girls' white dresses suited their fresh young faces. Nan had fastened +a crimson rose in her gown; Phillis and Dulce had knots of blue +ribbon. "Trevanion does not know what he lost by his obstinacy," +thought Dick, as he glanced round the table. + +"What were you and the mother discussing?" asked Dulce, curiously. + +"Dick was telling me about his friend. He seemed a very superior young +man," returned Mrs. Challoner. "I suppose you have asked him for your +party next week?" + +Dick turned very red at this question. "Mater asked him, you may trust +her for that. If it were not for father, I think she would turn the +whole house out of the windows: every day some one fresh is invited." + +"How delightful! and all in your honor," exclaimed Dulce, +mischievously. + +"That spoils the whole thing," grumbled the heir of the Maynes: "it +is a perfect shame that a fellow cannot come of age quietly, without +his people making this fuss. I begin to think I was a fool for my +pains to refuse the ball." + +"Yes, indeed; just because you were afraid of the supper speeches," +laughed Dulce, "when we all wanted it so." + +"New mind," returned Dick, sturdily; "the mater shall give us one in +the winter, and we will have Godfrey's band, and I will get all our +fellows to come." + +"That will be delightful," observed Nan, and her eyes sparkled,--already +she saw herself led out for the first dance by the son of the house,--but +Dulce interrupted her: + +"But all the same I wish Dick had not been so stupid about it. No one +knows what may happen before the winter. I hate put-off things." + +"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,--eh, Miss Dulce?" + +"Yes, indeed; that proverb is truer than people think," she replied, +with a wise nod of her head. "Don't you remember, Nan, when the +Parkers' dance was put off, and then old Mr. Parker died; and nearly +the same thing happened with the Normatons, only it was an uncle in +that case." + +"Moral: never put off a dance, in case somebody dies." + +"Oh, hush, please!" groaned Nan, in a shocked voice; "I don't like to +hear you talk about such dreadful things. After all, it is such +delicious weather that I am not sure a garden-party will not be more +enjoyable; and you know, Dulce, that we are to dance on the lawn if we +like." + +"And supposing it should rain," put in that extremely troublesome +young person, at which suggestion Dick looked very gloomy. + +"In that case I think we must persuade Mrs. Mayne to clear a room for +us," returned Nan, cheerfully. "If your mother consults me," she +continued, addressing Dick, who visibly brightened at this, "I shall +recommend her to empty the front drawing-room as much as possible. +There is the grand piano, or the band might come in-doors; there will +be plenty of room for the young people, and the non-dancers can be +drafted off into the inner drawing-room and conservatory." + +"What a head you have!" exclaimed Dick, admiringly; and Phillis, who +had not joined in the argument, was pleased to observe that she was +quite of Nan's opinion: dancing was imperative, and if the lawns were +wet they must manage in-doors somehow. "It would never do for people +to be bored and listless," finished the young lady, sententiously, and +such was Phillis's cleverness that it was understood at once that the +oracle had spoken; but then it was never known for Nan and Phillis to +differ. + +Things being thus amicably arranged, the rest of the conversation +flowed evenly on every other point, such as the arrangements of the +tennis-matches in the large meadow, and the exact position of the +marquees; but just as they were leaving the table Dick said another +word to Nan in a somewhat low voice: + +"It is all very well, but this sort of thing does make a fellow feel +such a conceited fool." + +"If I were you I would not think about it at all," she returned, in +her sensible way. "The neighborhood will expect something of the kind, +and we owe a little to other people; then it pleases your mother to +make a fuss, as you call it, and it would be too ungrateful to +disappoint her." + +"Well, perhaps you are right," he returned, in a slightly mollified +tone, for he was a modest young fellow, and the whole business had +occasioned him some soreness of spirit. "Take it all in all, one has +an awful lot to go through in life: there are the measles, you know, +and whooping cough, and the dentist, and one's examination, and no end +of unpleasant things; but to be made by one's own mother to feel like +an idiot for a whole afternoon! Never mind; it can be got through +somehow," finished the young philosopher, with a sigh that sent Nan +into a fit of laughter. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +DICK OBJECTS TO THE MOUNTAINS. + + +"Shall we have our usual stroll?" asked Phillis, as Nan and Dick +joined her at the window. + +This was one of the customs at Glen Cottage. When any such fitting +escort offered itself, the three girls would put on their hats, and, +regardless of the evening dews and their crisp white dresses, would +saunter, under Dick's guidance through the quiet village, or down and +up the country roads "just for a breath of air," as they would say. + +It is only fair to Mrs. Challoner's views of propriety to say that she +would have trusted her three pretty daughters to no other young man +but Dick; and of late certain prudential doubts had crossed her mind. +It was all very well for Phillis to say Dick was Dick, and there was +an end of it. After all, he belonged to the phalanx of her enemies, +those shadowy invaders of her hearth that threatened her maternal +peace. Dick was not a boy any longer; he had outgrown his hobbledehoy +ways; the slight sandy moustache that he so proudly caressed was not a +greater proof of his manhood than the undefinable change that had +passed over his manners. + +Mrs. Challoner began to distrust these evening strolls, and to turn +over in her own mind various wary pretexts for detaining Nan on the +next occasion. + +"Just this once, perhaps, it does not matter," she murmured to +herself, as she composed herself to her usual nap. + +"We shall not be long, little mother; so you must not be dull," Dulce +had said, kissing her lightly over her eyes. This was just one of the +pleasant fictions at the cottage,--one of those graceful little +deceptions that are so harmless in families. + +Dulce knew of those placid after-dinner naps. She knew her mother's +eyes would only unclose when Dorothy brought in the tea-tray; but she +was also conscious that nothing would displease her mother more than +to notice this habit. When they lingered in-doors, and talked in +whispers so as not to disturb her, Mrs. Challoner had an extraordinary +facility for striking into the conversation in a way that was somewhat +confusing. + +"I don't agree with you at all," she would say, in a drowsy voice. "Is +it not time for Dorothy to bring in the tea? I wish you would all talk +louder. I must be getting a little deaf, I think, for I don't hear +half you say." + +"Oh, it was only nonsense talk, mammie," Dulce would answer; and the +sisterly chit-chat would recommence, and her mother's head nid-nodded +on the cushions until the next interruption. + +"We shall not have many more of these strolls," observed Dick, +regretfully, as they all walked together through the village, and then +branched off into a long country road, where the air blew freshly in +their faces and low mists hung over the meadow land. Though it was not +quite dark, there was a tiny moon, and the glimmer of a star or two; +and there was a pleasant fragrance as of new-mown grass. + +They were all walking abreast, and keeping step, and Dick was in the +middle, with Nan beside him. Dulce was hanging on to her arm, and +every now and then breaking into little snatches of song. + +"How I envy you!" exclaimed Phillis. "Think of spending three whole +months in Switzerland. Oh, you lucky Dick!" + +For the Maynes had decided to pass the long vacation in the Engadine. +Some hints had been dropped that Nan should accompany them, but Mrs. +Challoner had regarded the invitation with some disfavor, and Mrs. +Mayne had not pressed the point. If only Nan had known! but her mother +had in this matter kept her own counsel. + +"I don't know about that," dissented Dick; he was rather given to +argue from the mere pleasure of opposition. "Mountains and glaciers +are all very well in their way; but I think, on the whole, I would as +soon be here. You see, I am so accustomed to mix with a lot of +fellows, that I am afraid of finding the pater's sole company rather +slow." + +"For shame!" remarked his usual monitress. But she spoke gently: in +her heart she knew why Dick failed to find the mountains alluring. + +"Why could not one of you girls join us?" he continued, wrathfully. +The rogue had fairly bullied the unwilling Mrs. Mayne into giving that +invitation. + +"Do ask her, mother; she will be such a nice companion for you when +the pater and I are doing our climbing; do, there's a dear good soul!" +he had coaxed. And the dear good soul, who was secretly jealous of +Nan, and loved her about as much as mothers usually love an only son's +choice, had bewailed her hard fate in secret; and had then stepped +over to the cottage with a bland and cheerful exterior, which grew +more cheerful as Mrs. Challoner's reluctance made itself felt. + +"It is not wise; it will throw them so much together," Nan's mother +had said. "If it were only Phillis or Dulce; but you must have +noticed----" + +"Oh, yes, I have noticed!" returned Mrs. Mayne, hastily. She was a +stout, comely-looking woman, but beside Mrs. Challoner she looked like +a housekeeper dressed in her mistress's smart clothes. Mrs. Mayne's +dresses never seemed to belong to her; it could not be said that they +fitted her ill, but there was a want of adaptability,--a lack of taste +that failed to accord with her florid style of beauty. + +She had been a handsome woman when Richard Mayne married her, but a +certain deepening of tints and broadening of contour had not improved +the mistress of Longmead. Her husband was a decided contrast: he was a +small, wiry man, with sharp features that expressed a great deal of +shrewdness. Dick had got his sandy hair; but Richard Mayne the elder +had not his son's honest, kindly eyes. Mr. Mayne's were small and +twinkling; he had a way of looking at people between his half-closed +lids, in a manner half sharp and half jocular. + +He was not vulgar, far from it; but he had a homely air about him that +spoke of the self-made man. He was rather fond of telling people that +his father had been in trade in a small way and that he himself had +been the sole architect of his fortune. "Look at Dick," he would say; +"he would never have a penny, that fellow, unless I made it for him: +he has come into the world to find his bread ready buttered. I had to +be content with a crust as I could earn it. The lad's a cut above us +both, though he has the good taste to try and hide it." + +This sagacious speech was very true. Dick would never have succeeded +as a business man; he was too full of crotchets and speculations to be +content to run in narrow grooves. The notion of money-making was +abhorrent to him; the idea of a city life, with its hard rubs and +drudgery, was utterly distasteful to him. "One would have to mix with +such a lot of cads," he would say. "English, pure and undefiled, is +not always spoken. If I must work, I would rather have a turn at law +or divinity; the three old women with the eye between them knows +which." + +It could not be denied that Dick winced a little at his father's +homely speeches; but in his heart he was both proud and fond of him, +and was given to assert to a few of his closest friends "that, take it +all in all, and looking at other fellows' fathers, he was a rattling +good sort, and no mistake." + +When Mrs. Challoner had entered her little protest against her +daughter's acceptance of the invitation, Mrs. Mayne had risen and +kissed her with some effusion as she took her leave. + +"It is so nice of you to say this to me; of course I should have been +pleased, delighted to have had Nan with us" (oh, Mrs. Mayne, fie for +shame! when you want your boy to yourself), "but all the same I think +you are so wise." + +"Poor child! I am afraid I am refusing her a great treat," returned +Mrs. Challoner, in a tone of regret. It was the first time since her +husband's death that she had ever decided anything without reference +to her daughters; but for once her maternal fears were up in arms, and +drove her to sudden resolution. + +"Yes, but, as you observed, it would throw them so entirely together; +and Dick is so young. Richard was only saying the other night that he +hoped the boy would not fancy himself in love for the next two years, +as he did not approve of such early engagements." + +"Neither do I," returned Mrs. Challoner, quickly. "Nothing would annoy +me more than for one of my daughters to entangle herself with so young +a man. We know the world too well for that, Mrs. Mayne. Why, Dick may +fall in and out of love half a dozen times before he really makes up +his mind." + +"Ah, that is what Richard says," returned Dick's mother, with a sigh; +in her heart she was not quite of her husband's opinion. She +remembered how that long waiting wasted her own youth,--waiting for +what? For comforts that she would gladly have done without,--for a +well-furnished house, when she would have lived happily in the poorest +lodging with the Richard Mayne who had won her heart,--for whom she +would have toiled and slaved with the self-abnegating devotion of a +loving woman; only he feared to have it so. + +"'When poverty enters the door, love flies out of the window:' we had +better make up our minds to wait, Bessie. I can better work in single +than double harness just now." That was what he said to her, and +Bessie waited,--not till she grew thin, but stout, and the spirit of +her youth was gone; and it was a sober, middle-aged woman who took +possession of the long-expected home. + +Mrs. Mayne loved her husband, but during that tedious engagement her +ardor had a little cooled, and it may be doubted whether the younger +Richard was not dearer to her than his father; which was ungrateful, +to say the least of it, as Mr. Mayne doted on his comely wife, and +thought Bessie as handsome now as in the days when she came out +smiling to welcome him, a slim young creature with youthful roses in +her cheeks. + +From this brief conversation it may be seen that none of the elders +quite approved of this budding affection. Mrs. Challoner, who +belonged to a good old family, found it hard to forgive the Maynes' +lowliness of birth; and though she liked Dick, she thought Nan could +do better for herself. Mr. Mayne pooh-poohed the whole thing so +entirely that the women could only speak of it among themselves. + +"Dick is a clever fellow; he ought to marry money," he would say. "I +am not a millionaire, and a little more would be acceptable;" and +though he was always kind to Nan and her sisters, he was forever +dealing sly hits at her. "Phillis has the brains of the family," he +would say: "that is the girl for my money. I call her a vast deal +better looking than Nan, though people make such a fuss about the +other one;" a speech he was never tired of repeating in his son's +presence, and at which Dick snapped his fingers metaphorically and +said nothing. + +When Dick wished that one of them were going to Switzerland, Nan +sighed furtively. Dick was going away for three months, for the +remainder of the long vacation. After next week they would not see him +until Christmas,--nearly six months. A sense of dreariness, as new as +it was strange, swept momentarily over Nan as she pondered this. The +summer months would be grievously clouded. Dick had been the moving +spirit of all the fun; the tennis-parties, the pleasant dawdling +afternoons, would lose their zest when he was away. + +She remembered how persistently he had haunted their footsteps. When +they paid visits to the Manor House, or Gardenhurst, or Fitzroy Lodge, +Dick was sure to put in an appearance. People had nicknamed him the +"Challoners' Squire;" but now Nan must go squireless for the rest of +the summer, unless she took compassion on Stanley Parker, or that +dreadful chatterbox his cousin. + +The male population was somewhat sparse at Oldfield. There were a few +Eton boys, and one or two in that delightful transition age when youth +is most bashful and uninteresting,--a sort of unfledged manhood, when +the smooth boyish cheek contradicts the deepened bass of the +voice,--an age that has not ceased to blush, and which is full of +aggravating idosyncrasies and unexpected angles. + +To be sure, Lord Fitzroy was a splendid specimen of a young guardsman, +but he had lately taken to himself a wife; and Sir Alfred Mostyn, who +was also somewhat attractive and a very pleasant fellow, and +unattached at present, had a tiresome habit of rushing off to Norway, +or St. Petersburg, or Niagara, or the Rocky Mountains, for what he +termed sport, or a lark. + +"It seems we are very stupid this evening," observed Phillis for Dick +had waxed almost as silent as Nan. "I think the mother must nearly +have finished her nap, so I propose we go back and have some tea;" +and, as Nan languidly acquiesced they turned their faces towards the +village again, Dulce still holding firmly to Nan's arm. By and by Dick +struck out in a fresh direction. + +"I say, don't you wish we could have last week over again?" + +"Yes! oh, yes! was it not too delicious?" from the three girls; and +Nan added, "I never enjoyed anything so much in my life," in a tone so +fervent that Dick was delighted. + +"What a brick your mother was, to be sure, to spare you all!" + +"Yes; and she was so dull, poor dear, all the time we were away. +Dorothy gave us quite a pitiful account when we got home." + +"It was a treat one ought to remember all one's life," observed +Phillis, quite solemnly; and then ensued a most animated discussion. + +The treat to which Phillis alluded had been simply perfect in the +three girls' eyes. Dick, who never forgot his friends, had so worked +upon his mother that she had consented to chaperon the three sisters +during Commemoration; and a consent being fairly coaxed out of Mrs. +Challoner, the plan was put into execution. + +Dick, who was in the seventh heaven of delight, found roomy lodgings +in the High Street, in which he installed his enraptured guests. + +The five days that followed were simply hours snatched out of +fairyland to these four happy young creatures. No wonder envious looks +were cast at Dick as he walked in Christ Church Meadows with Nan and +Dulce, Phillis bringing up the rear somewhat soberly with Mrs. Mayne. + +"One pretty face would content most fellows," his friends grumbled; +"but when you come to three, and not his own sisters either, why, it +isn't fair on other folk." And to Dick they said, "Come, it is no use +being so awfully close. Of course we see what's up: you are a lucky +dog. Which is it, Mayne?--the pretty one with the pink and white +complexion or the quiet one in gray, or the one with the mischievous +eyes?" + +"Faix, they are all darlints and jewels, bless their purty faces!" +drawled one young rogue, in his favorite brogue. "Here's the top of +the morning to ye, Mayne; and it is mavourneen with the brown eyes and +the trick of the smile like the sunshine's glint that has stolen poor +Paddy's heart." + +"Oh, shut up, you fellows!" returned Dick, in a disgusted voice. "What +is the good of your pretending to be Irish, Hamilton, when you are a +canny Scotchman?" + +"Hoots, man, mind your clavers! You need not grizzle at a creature +because he admires a wee gairl that is just beyond the lave,--a sonsie +wee thing with a glint in her een like diamonds." + +"Hamilton, will you leave off this foolery?" + +"Nae doubt, nae doubt; would his honor pe axing if he pe wrang in the +head, puir thing? Never mind that, put pe giving me the skene-dhu, or +I will fight with proud-swords like a gentleman for the bit lassie;" +but here a wary movement on Dick's part extinguished the torrent of +Highland eloquence, and brought the canny Scotchman to the ground. + +Perfectly oblivious of all these compliments, the Challoners enjoyed +themselves with the zest of healthy, happy English girls. They were +simply indefatigable: poor Mrs. Mayne succumbed utterly before the +fine days were over. + +They saw the procession of boats; they were at the flower-show at +Worcester; Sunday afternoon found them in the Broad Walk; and the next +night they were dancing at the University ball. + +They raved about the beauty of Magdalen cloisters; they looked down +admiringly into the deer-park; Addison's Walk became known to them, +and the gardens of St. John's. Phillis talked learnedly about Cardinal +Wolsey as she stood in Christ Church hall: and in the theatre "the +young ladies in pink" invoked the most continuous cheers. + +"Can they mean us?" whispered Dulce, rather alarmed, to their faithful +escort Dick. "I don't see any other pink dresses!" + +And Dick said, calmly,-- + +"Well, I suppose so. Some of those fellows up there are such a +trumpery lot." + +So Dulce grew more reassured. + +But the greatest fun of all was the afternoon spent in Dick's room, +when all his special friends were bidden to five o'clock tea, over +which Nan, in her white gown, presided so gracefully. + +What a dear, shabby old room it was, with old-fashioned window-seats, +where one could look down into the quadrangle. Dick was an Oriel man, +and thought his college superior even to Magdalen. + +It became almost too hot and crowded at last, so many were the +invitations given; but then, as Dick said afterwards, "he was such a +soft-hearted beggar that he could not refuse the fellows that pestered +him for invitations." + +Mrs. Mayne, looking very proud and happy, sat fanning herself in one +of these windows. Phillis and Dulce were in the other attended by that +rogue Hamilton and half a dozen more. Nan was the centre of another +clique, who hemmed her and the tea-table in so closely that Dick had +to wander disconsolately round the outskirts: there was no getting a +look from Nan that afternoon. + +How hot it was! It was a grand _coup_ when the door opened and the +scout made his appearance carrying a tray of ices. + +"It is well to be Mayne!" half grumbled young Hamilton, as Dulce took +one gratefully from his hand. "He is treating us like a prince, +instead of the thin bread-and-butter entertainment he led us to +expect. Put down that tea, Miss Challoner. I see iced claret-cup and +strawberries in the corner. There is nothing like being an only child; +doting parents are extremely useful articles. I am one of ten; would +you believe it?" continued the garrulous youth. "When one has six +brothers older than one's self, I will leave you to imagine the +consequences." + +"How nice!" returned Dulce, innocently; "I have always so longed for a +brother. If it had not been for Dick, we should have had no one to do +things for us." + +"Oh, indeed! Mayne is a sort of adopted brother!" observed her +companion, looking at her rather sharply. + +"We have always looked upon him as one. We do just as we like with +him,--scold and tease him, and send him on our errands;" which +intelligence fairly convinced the envious Hamilton that the youngest +Miss Challoner was not his friend's fancy. + +Dick always recalled that evening with a sense of pride. How well and +gracefully Nan had fulfilled her duties! how pretty she had looked, in +spite of her flushed cheeks! He had never seen a girl to compare with +her,--not he! + +They were so full of these delightful reminiscences that they were at +the cottage gate before they knew it; and then Dick astonished them by +refusing to come in. He had quite forgotten, he said, but his mother +had asked him to come home early, as she was not feeling just the +thing. + +"Quite right; you must do as she wishes," returned Nan, dismissing him +far too readily, as he thought; but she said "Good-night!" with so +kind a smile after that, that the foolish young fellow felt his pulses +quicken. + +Dick lingered at the corner until the cottage door was closed, and +then he raced down the Longmead shrubbery and set the house-bell +pealing. + +"They are in the library, I suppose?" he asked of the butler who +admitted him; and, on receiving an answer in the affirmative, he +dashed unceremoniously into the room, while his mother held up her +finger and smiled at the truant. + +"You naughty boy, to be so late; and now you have spoiled you father's +nap!" she said, pretending to scold him. + +"Tut! tut! what nonsense you talk sometimes!" said Mr. Mayne, rather +crossly, as he stood on the hearth-rug rubbing his eyes. "I was not +asleep, I will take my oath of that; only I wish Dick could sometimes +enter a room without making people jump;" by which Dick knew that his +father was in one of his contrary moods, when he could be very +cross,--very cross indeed! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MR. MAYNE MAKES HIMSELF DISAGREEABLE. + + +The library at Longmead was a very pleasant room, and it was the +custom of the family to retire thither on occasions when guests were +not forthcoming, and Mr. Mayne could indulge in his favorite nap +without fear of interruption. + +A certain simplicity, not to say homeliness, of manners prevailed in +the house. It was understood among them that the dining-room was far +too gorgeous for anything but occasions of ceremony. Mrs. Mayne, +indeed, had had the good taste to cover the satin couches with pretty, +fresh-looking cretonne, and had had arranged hanging cupboards of old +china until it had been transformed into a charming apartment, +notwithstanding which the library was declared to be the family-room, +where the usual masculine assortment of litter could be regarded with +indulgent eyes, and where papers and pamphlets lay in delightful +confusion. + +Longmead was not a pretentious house--it was a moderate-sized +residence, adapted to a gentleman of moderate means; but in summer no +place could be more charming. The broad gravel walk before the house +had a background of roses; hundreds of roses climbed up the railings +or twined themselves about the steps: a tiny miniature lake, garnished +with water-lilies, lay in the centre of the lawn; a group of old +elm-trees was beside it; behind the house lay another lawn, and beyond +were meadows where a few sheep were quietly grazing. Mr. Mayne, who +found time hang a little heavily on his hands, prided himself a good +deal on his poultry-yard and kitchen-garden. A great deal of his spare +time was spent among his favorite Bantams and Dorkings, and in +superintending his opinionated old gardener--on summer mornings he +would be out among the dews in his old coat and planter's hat, weeding +among the gooseberry-bushes. + +"It is the early bird that finds the worm," he would say, when Dick +sauntered into the breakfast-room later on; for, in common with the +youth of his generation, he had a wholesome horror of early rising, +which he averred was one of the barbarous usages of the dark ages in +which his elders had been bred. + +"I never took any interest in worms, sir," returned Dick, helping +himself to a tempting rasher that had just been brought in hot for the +pampered youth. "By the bye, have you seen Darwin's work on 'The +Formation of Vegetable Mould'? he declares that worms have played a +more important part in the history of the world than most people +would at first suppose: they were our earliest ploughmen." + +"Oh, ah! indeed, very interesting!" observed his father, dryly; "but +all the same, I beg to observe, no one succeeded in life who was not +an early riser." + +"A sweeping assertion, and one I might be tempted to argue, if it were +not for taking up your valuable time," retorted Dick, lazily, but with +a twinkle in his eye. "I know my constitution better than to trust +myself out before the world is properly aired and dried. I am thinking +it is less a case of worms than of rheumatism some early birds will be +catching;" to which Mr. Mayne merely returned an ungracious "Pshaw!" +and marched off, leaving his son to enjoy his breakfast in peace. + +When Dick entered the library on the evening in question, Mr. Mayne's +querulous observation as to the noisiness of his entrance convinced +him at once that his father was in a very bad humor indeed, and that +on this account it behooved him to be exceedingly cool. + +So he kissed his mother, who looked at him a little anxiously, and +then sat down and turned out her work-basket, as he had done Nan's two +or three hours ago. + +"You are late after all, Dick," she said, with a little reproach in +her voice. It was hardly a safe observation, to judge by her husband's +cloudy countenance; but the poor thing sometimes felt her evenings a +trifle dull when Dick was away. Mr. Mayne would take up his paper, but +his eyes soon closed over it; that habit of seeking for the early worm +rather disposed him to somnolent evenings, during which his wife +knitted and felt herself nodding off out of sheer _ennui_ and dulness. +These were not the hours she had planned during those years of +waiting; she had told herself that Richard would read to her or talk +to her as she sat over her work, that they would have so much to say +to each other; but now, as she regarded his sleeping countenance +evening after evening, it may be doubted whether matrimony was quite +what she expected, since its bliss was so temperate and so strongly +infused with drowsiness. + +Dick looked up innocently. "Am I late, mother?" + +"Oh, of course not," returned his father, with a sneer; "it is not +quite time to ring for Nicholson to bring our candles. Bessie, I think +I should like some hot water to-night; I feel a little chilly." And +Bessie rang the bell obediently, and without any surprise in her +manner. Mr. Mayne often woke up chilly from his long nap. + +"Are you going to have a 'drap of the cratur'?" asked his son, with +alacrity. "Well, I don't mind joining you, and that's the truth, for +we have been dawdling about, and I am a trifle chilly myself." + +"You know I object to spirits for young men," returned Mr. Mayne, +severely: nevertheless he pushed the whiskey to Dick as soon as he +had mixed his own glass, and his son followed his example. + +"I am quite of your opinion, father," he observed, as he regarded the +handsome cut-glass decanter somewhat critically; "but there are +exceptions to every rule, and when one is chilly----" + +"I wish you would make an exception and stay away from the cottage +sometimes," returned Mr. Mayne, with ill-suppressed impatience. "It +was all very well when you were all young things together, but it is +high time matters should be different." + +Dick executed a low whistle of surprise and dismay. He had no idea his +father's irritability had arisen from any definite cause. What a fool +he had been to be so late! it might lead to some unpleasant +discussion. Well, after all, if his father chose to be so disagreeable +it was not his fault; and he was no longer a boy, to be chidden, or +made to do this or that against his own will. + +Mr. Mayne was sufficiently shrewd to see that his son was somewhat +taken aback by this sudden onslaught, and he was not slow to press his +advantage. He had wanted to give Dick a bit of his mind for some time, +and after all there is no time like the present. + +"Yes, it was all very well when you were a lot of children together," +he continued. "Of course, it is hard on you, Dick, having no brothers +and sisters to keep you company; your mother and I were always sorry +about that for your sake." + +"Oh, don't mention it," interrupted Dick: "on the whole, I am best +pleased as it is." + +"But it would have been better for you," returned his father, sharply: +"we should not have had all this fooling and humbug if you had had +sisters of your own." + +"Fooling and humbug!" repeated Dick, hotly; "I confess, sir, I don't +quite understand to what you are referring." He was growing very +angry, but his mother flung herself between the combatants. + +"Don't, my boy, don't; you must not answer your father in that way. +Richard, what makes you so hard on him to-night? It must be the gout, +Dick: we had better send for Dr. Weatherby in the morning," continued +the anxious woman, with tears in her eyes, "for your dear father would +never be so cross to you as this unless he were going to be ill." + +"Stuff and nonsense, Bessie! Dr. Weatherby indeed!" but his voice was +less wrathful. "What is it but fooling, I should like to know, for +Dick to be daundering his time away with a parcel of girls as he does +with these Challoners!" + +"I suppose you were never a young man yourself, sir." + +"Oh, yes, I was, my boy," and the corners of Mr. Mayne's mouth relaxed +in spite of his efforts to keep serious. "I fell in love with your +mother, and stuck to her for seven or eight years; but I did not make +believe that I was brother to a lot of pretty girls, and waste all my +time dancing attendance on them and running about on their errands." + +"You ought to have taken a lesson out of my book," returned his son, +readily. + +"No, I ought to have done no such thing, sir!" shouted back Mr. Mayne, +waxing irate again. It could not be denied that Dick could be +excessively provoking when he liked. "Don't I tell you it is time this +sort of thing was stopped? Why, people will begin to talk, and say you +are making up to one of them, it is not right, Dick; it is not, +indeed," with an attempted pathos. + +"I don't care that for what people say," returned the young fellow, +snapping his fingers. "Is it not a pity you are saying all this to me +just when I am going away and am not likely to see any of them for the +next six months? You are very hard on me to-night, father; and I can't +think what it is all about." + +Mr. Mayne was silent a moment, revolving his son's pathetic speech. It +was true he had been cross, and had said more than he had meant to +say. He had not wished to hinder Dick's innocent enjoyments; but if he +were unknowingly picking flowers at the edge of a precipice, was it +not his duty as a father to warn him? + +"I think I have been a little hard, my lad," he said, candidly, "but +there, you and your mother know my bark is worse than my bite. I only +wanted to warn you; that's all, Dick." + +"Warn me!--against what, sir?" asked the young man, quickly. + +"Against falling in love, really, with one of the Challoner girls!" +returned Mr. Mayne, trying to evade the fire of Dick's eyes, and +blustering a little in consequence. "Why, they have not a penny, one +of them, and, if report be true, Mrs. Challoner's money is very +shakily invested. Paine told me so the other day. He said he should +never wonder if a sudden crash came any minute." + +"Is this true, Richard?" + +"Paine declares it is; and think of Dick saddling himself with the +support of a whole family!" + +"It strikes me you are taking things very much for granted," returned +his son, trying to speak coolly, but flushing like a girl over his +words. "I think you might wait, father, until I proposed bringing you +home a daughter-in-law." + +"I am only warning you, Dick, that the Challoner connection would be +distasteful to me," replied Mr. Mayne, feeling that he had gone a +little too far. "If you had brothers and sisters it would not matter +half so much; but it would be too hard if my only son were to cross my +wishes." + +"Should you disinherit me, father?" observed Dick, cheerfully. He had +recovered his coolness and pluck, and began to feel more equal to the +occasion. + +"We should see about that, but I hardly think it would be for your +advantage to oppose me too much," returned his father with an ominous +pucker of his eyebrows, which warned Dick, that it was hardly safe to +chaff the old boy too much to-night. + +"I think I will go to bed, Richard," put in poor Mrs. Mayne. She had +wisely forborne to mix in the discussion, fearing that it would bring +upon her the vials of her husband's wrath. Mr. Mayne was as choleric +as a Welshman, and had a reserve force of sharp cynical sayings that +were somewhat hard to bear. He was disposed to turn upon her on such +occasions, and to accuse her of spoiling Dick and taking his part +against his father; between the two Richards she sometimes had a very +bad time indeed. + +Dick lighted his mother's candle, and bade her good-night; but all the +same she knew she had not seen the last of him. A few minutes +afterwards there was a hasty tap at the bedroom door, and Dick thrust +in his head. + +"Come in, my dear; I have been expecting you," she said, with a +pleased smile. He always came to her when he was ruffled or put out, +and brought her all his grievances; surely this was the very meaning +and essence of her motherhood,--this healing and comfort that lay in +her power of sympathy. + +When he was a little fellow, had she not extracted many a thorn and +bound up many a cut finger? and now he was a man, would she be less +helpful to him when he wanted a different kind of comfort? + +"Come in, my son," she said, beckoning him to the low chair beside +her, into which Dick threw himself with a petulant yawn. + +"Mother, what made the pater so hard on me to-night? he cut up as +rough as though I had committed some crime." + +"I don't think he is quite himself to-night," returned Mrs. Mayne, in +her soft, motherly voice. "I fancy he misses you, Dick, and is half +jealous of the Challoners for monopolizing you. You are all we have, +that's where it is," she finished, stroking the sandy head with her +plump hand; but Dick jerked away from her with a little impatience. + +"I think it rather hard that a fellow is to be bullied for doing +nothing at all," replied Dick, with a touch of sullenness. "When the +pater is in this humor it is no use saying anything to him; but you +may as well tell him, mother, that I mean to choose my wife for +myself." + +"Oh, my dear, I dare not tell him anything of the kind," returned Mrs. +Mayne, in an alarmed voice; and then, as she glanced at her son, her +terror merged into amusement. There was something so absurdly boyish +in Dick's appearance, such a ludicrous contrast between the manliness +of his speech and his smooth cheek; the little fringe of hirsute +ornament, of which Dick was so proud, was hardly visible in the dim +light; his youthful figure, more clumsy than graceful, had an +unfledged air about it, nevertheless, the boldness of his words took +away her breath. + +"Every man has a right to his own choice in such a matter," continued +Dick, loftily. "You may as well tell him, mother, that I intend to +select my own wife." + +"My dear, I dare not for worlds----" she began; and then she stopped, +and laid her hand on his shoulder. "Why do you say this to me? there +is plenty of time," she went on hastily; "that is what your father +says, and I think he is right. You are too young for this sort of +thing yet. You must see the world; you must look about you; you must +have plenty of choice," continued the anxious mother. "I shall be hard +to please, Dick, for I shall think no one good enough for my boy; that +is the worst of having only one, and he the best son that ever lived," +finished Mrs. Mayne, with maternal pride in her voice. + +Dick took this effusion very coolly. He was quite used to all this +sort of worship; he did not think badly of himself; he was not +particularly humble-minded or given to troublesome introspection; on +the whole, he thought himself a good fellow, and was not at all +surprised that people appreciated him. + +"There are such a lot of cads in the world, one is always glad to fall +in with a different sort," he would say to himself. He was quite of +his mother's opinion, that an honest, God-fearing young fellow, who +spoke the truth and shamed the devil, who had no special vices but a +dislike for early rising, who had tolerable brains, and more than his +share of muscle, who was in the Oxford eleven, and who had earned his +blue ribbon,--that such a one might be considered to set an example to +his generation. + +When his mother told him she would be hard to please, Dick looked a +little wicked, and thought of Nan; but the name was not mentioned +between them. Nevertheless, Mrs. Mayne felt with unerring maternal +instinct that, in spite of his youth, Dick's choice was made, and +sighed to herself at the thought of the evil days that were to come. + +Poor woman, she was to have little peace that night! Hardly had Dick +finished his grumble and sauntered away, before her husband's step was +heard in his dressing-room. + +"Bessie," he called out to her, "why do you allow that boy to keep you +up so late at night? Do you know that it is eleven, and you are still +fully dressed?" + +"Is it so late, Richard?" + +"Yes, of course," he snapped; "but that is the care you take of your +health; and the way you cosset and spoil that boy is dreadful." + +"I don't think Dick is easily spoiled," plucking up a little spirit to +answer him. + +"That shows how little you understand boys," returned her husband. +Evidently the whiskey, though it was the best Glenlivat, had failed to +mollify him. It might be dangerous to go too far with Dick, for he had +a way of turning around and defending himself that somewhat +embarrassed Mr. Mayne, but with his wife there would be no such +danger. He would dominate her by his sharp speeches, and reduce her to +abject submission in a moment, for Bessie was the meekest of wives. +"Take care how you side with him," he continued, in a threatening +voice. "He thinks that I am not serious in what I said just now, and +is for carrying it off with a high hand; but I tell you, and you had +better tell him, that I was never more in earnest in my life. I won't +have one of those Challoner girls for a daughter-in-law!" + +"Oh, Richard! and Nan is such a sweet girl!" returned his wife, with +tears in her eyes. She was awfully jealous of Nan, at times she almost +dreaded her; but for her boy's sake she would have taken her now to +her heart and defied even her formidable husband. "She is such a +pretty creature, too; no one can help loving her." + +"Pshaw!" returned her husband; "pretty creature indeed! that is just +your soft-hearted nonsense. Phillis is ten times prettier, and has +heaps more sense. Why couldn't Dick have taken a fancy to her?" + +"Because I am afraid he cares for the other one," returned Mrs. Mayne, +sadly. She had no wish to deceive her husband and she knew that the +golden apple had rolled to Nan's feet. + +"Stuff and rubbish!" he responded, wrathfully. "What is a boy of his +age to know about such things? Tell him from me to put this nonsense +out of his head for the next year or two; there is plenty of time to +look out for a wife after that. But I won't have him making up his +mind until he has left Oxford." And Mrs. Mayne, knowing that her +husband had spoken his last word, thankfully withdrew, feeling that in +her heart she secretly agreed with him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +DICK'S FÊTE. + + +As Mr. Mayne's wrath soon evaporated, and Dick was a sweet-tempered +fellow and bore no malice, this slight altercation produced no lasting +effect, except that Dick, for the next few days, hurried home to his +dinner, talked a good deal about Switzerland, and never mentioned a +Challoner in his father's hearing. + +"We must keep him in a good temper for the 25th," he said to his +mother, with a touch of the Mayne shrewdness. + +That day was rapidly approaching, and all sorts of festive +preparations were going on at Longmead. Dick himself gravely +superintended the rolling of the tennis-ground in the large meadow, +and daubed himself plentifully with lime in marking out the courts, +while Mr. Mayne stood with his hands in the pockets of his +shooting-coat watching him. The two were a great deal together just +then: Dick rather stuck to his father during one or two mornings; the +wily young fellow knew that Nan was closeted with his mother, helping +her with all sorts of feminine arrangements, and he was determined to +keep them apart. Nan wondered a great deal why Dick did not come to +interrupt or tease them as usual, and grew a little absent over Mrs. +Mayne's rambling explanations. When the gong sounded, no one asked her +to stay to luncheon. Mrs. Mayne saw her put on her hat without +uttering a single protest. + +"It is so good of you to help me, dear," she said, taking the girl +into her embrace. "You are quite sure people won't expect a sit-down +supper?" + +"Oh no; the buffet system is best," returned Nan, decidedly. "Half the +people will not stay, and you need not make a fuss about the rest. It +is an afternoon party, you must remember that; only people who are +very intimate will remain for the fun of the thing. Tell Nicholson to +have plenty of ices going; people care most for that sort of +refreshment." + +"Yes, dear; I will be sure to remember," returned her friend, meekly. + +She was very grateful to Nan for these hints, and was quite willing to +follow her guidance in all such matters; but when Nan proposed once +sending for Dick to ask his opinion on some knotty point that baffled +their women's wits, Mrs. Mayne demurred. + +"It is a pity to disturb him; he is with his father; and we can settle +these things by ourselves," she replied, not venturing to mar the +present tranquillity by sending such a message to Dick. Mr. Mayne +would have accompanied his son, and the consultation would hardly have +ended peaceably. "Men have their hobbies. We had better settle all +this together, you and I," she said hurriedly. + +Nan merely nodded, and cut the Gordian knot through somewhat +ruthlessly; but on that occasion she put on her hat before the gong +sounded. + +"You must be very busy, for one never has a glimpse of you in the +morning," she could not help saying to Dick, as he came in that +afternoon to escort them to Fitzroy Lodge. + +"Well, yes, I am tolerably busy," he drawled. "I am never free to do +things in the afternoons,"--a fact that Nan felt was unanswerable. + +When Nan and her sisters woke on the morning of the memorable day, the +bright sunshine of a cloudless June day set all their fears at rest. +If the sun smiled on Dick's fête, all would be well. If Nan's +devotions were longer than usual that morning, no one was the wiser; +if she added a little clause, calling down a blessing on a certain +head, no one would be the poorer for such pure prayers; indeed, it +were well if many such were uttered for the young men who go forth +morning after morning into the temptations of life. + +Such prayers might stretch like an invisible shield before the +countless foes that environ such a one; fiery darts may be caught upon +it; a deadly thrust may be turned away. What if the blessing would +never reach the ear of the loved one, who goes out unconscious of +sympathy? His guardian angel has heard it, and perchance it has +reached the very gate of heaven. + +Nan came down, smiling and radiant, to find Dick waiting for her in +the veranda and chattering to Phillis and Dulce. + +"Why, Dick!" she cried, blushing with surprise and pleasure, "to think +of your being here on your birthday morning!" + +"I only came to thank you and the girls for your lovely presents," +returned Dick, becoming rather incoherent and red at the sight of +Nan's blush. "It was so awfully good of you all, to work all those +things for me;" for Nan had taken secret measurements in Dick's room, +and had embroidered a most exquisite mantelpiece valance, and Phillis +and Dulce had worked the corners of a green cloth with wonderful +daffodils and bulrushes to cover Dick's shabby table: and Dick's soul +had been filled with ravishment at the sight of these gifts. + +Nan would not let him go on, but all the same his happy face delighted +her. + +"No, don't thank us, we liked doing it," she returned, rather coolly. +"You know we owed you something after all your splendid hospitality, +and work is never any trouble to us." + +"But I never saw anything I liked better," blurted out Dick. "All the +fellows will be jealous of me. I am sure I don't know what Hamilton +will say. It was awfully good of you, Nan, and so it was of the +others: and if I don't make it up to you somehow, my name is not +Dick:" and he smiled round at them as he spoke. "Fancy putting in all +those stitches for me!" he thought to himself. + +"We are so glad you are pleased," returned Nan, with one of her sweet, +straightforward looks; "that is what we wanted to give you,--a little +surprise on your birthday. Now you must tell us about your other +presents." And Dick, nothing loath, launched into eloquent +descriptions of the silver-fitted dressing-case from his mother, and +the gun and thorough-bred collie that had been his father's gifts. + +"He is such a fine fellow; I must show him to you this afternoon," +went on Dick, eagerly. "His name is Vigo, and he has such a superb +head. Was it not good of the pater? he knew I had a fancy for a +collie, and he has been in treaty for one ever so long. Is he not a +dear old boy?" cried Dick, rapturously. But he did not tell his +friends of the crisp bundle of bank-notes with which Mr. Mayne had +enriched his son; only as Dick fingered them lovingly, he wondered +what pretty foreign thing he could buy for Nan, and whether her mother +would allow her to accept it. + +After this Nan dismissed him somewhat peremptorily; he must go back to +his breakfast, and allow them to do the same. + +"Mind you come early," were Dick's last words as he waved his straw +hat to them. How often the memory of that morning recurred to him as +he stood solitarily and thoughtful, contemplating some grand sketch of +Alpine scenery! + +The snow peaks and blue glaciers melted away before his eyes; in their +place rose unbidden a picture framed in green trellis-work, over which +roses were climbing. + +Fresh girlish faces smiled back at him; the brightest and kindest of +glances met his. "Good-bye, Dick; a thousand good wishes from us all." +A slim white hand had gathered a rose-bud for him; how proudly he had +worn it all that day! Stop, he had it still; it lay all crushed and +withered in his pocket-book. He had written the date under it; one day +he meant to show it to her. Oh, foolish days of youth, so prodigal of +minor memories and small deeds of gifts, when a withered flower can +hold the rarest scent, and in a crumpled roseleaf there is a whole +volume of ecstatic meaning! Oh, golden days of youth, never to be +surpassed! + +Never in the memory of Oldfield had there been a more delicious day. + +The sky was cloudless; long purple shadows lay under the elm-trees; a +concert of bird-music sounded from the shrubberies: in the green +meadows flags were waving, tent-draperies fluttering; the house-doors +stood open, showing a flower-decked hall and vista of cool shadowy +rooms. + +Dick, looking bright and trim, wandering restlessly over the place, +and Mr. Mayne fidgeted after him; while Mrs. Mayne sat fanning herself +under the elm-trees and hoping the band would not be late. + +No there it was turning in now at the stable-entrance, and playing +"The girl I left behind me;" and there at the same moment was Nan +coming up the lawn in her white gown, closely followed by her mother +and sisters. + +"Are we the first?" she asked, as Dick darted across the grass to meet +her. "That is nice; we shall see all the people arrive. How +inspiriting that music is, and how beautiful everything looks!" + +"It is awfully jolly of you to be the first," whispered Dick; "and how +nice you look, Nan! You always do, you know, but to-day you are +first-rate. Is this a new gown?" casting an approving look over Nan's +costume, which was certainly very fresh and pretty. + +"Oh, yes; we have all new dresses in your honor, and we made them +ourselves," returned Nan, carelessly. "Mother has got her old silk, +but for her it does not so much matter; at least that is what she +says." + +"And she is quite right. She is always real splendid, as the Yankees +say, whatever she wears," returned Dick, wishing secretly that his +mother in her new satin dress looked half so well as Mrs. Challoner in +her old one. But it was no use. Mrs. Mayne never set off her handsome +dresses; with her flushed, good-natured face and homely ways, she +showed to marked disadvantage beside Mrs. Challoner's faded beauty. +Mrs. Challoner's gown might be antique, but nothing could surpass the +quiet grace of her carriage, or the low pleasant modulations of her +voice. Her figure was almost as slim as her daughters', and she could +easily have passed for their elder sister. + +Lady Fitzroy, who was a Burgoyne by birth,--and every one knows that +for haughtiness and a certain exclusive intoleration none could match +the Burgoynes,--always distinguished Mrs. Challoner by the marked +attention she paid her. + +"A very lady-like woman, Percival. Certainly the most lady-like person +in the neighborhood," she would say to her husband, who was not quite +so exclusive, and always made himself pleasant to his neighbors; and +she would ask very graciously after her brother-in-law, Sir Francis +Challoner. "He is still in India, I suppose?" + +"Oh, yes; he is still in India," Mrs. Challoner would reply, rather +curtly. She had not the faintest interest in her husband's brother, +whom she had never seen more than twice in her life, and who was +understood to be small credit to his family. The aforesaid Sir Francis +Challoner had been the poorest of English baronets. His property had +dwindled down until it consisted simply of a half ruined residence in +the north of England. + +In his young days Sir Francis had been a prodigal, and, like the +prodigal in the parable, he had betaken himself into far countries, +not to waste his substance, for he had none, but if possible to glean +some of the Eastern riches. + +Whether he had been successful or not Mrs. Challoner hardly knew. That +he had married and settled in Calcutta,--that he had a son named +Harry, who had once written to her in round hand and subscribed +himself as her affectionate nephew, Henry Ford Challoner--this she +knew; but what manner of person Lady Challoner might be, or what sort +of home her brother-in-law had made for himself, those points were +enveloped in mystery. + +"I suppose she is so civil to me because of your uncle Francis," she +used to say to her girls, which was attributing to Lady Fitzroy a +degree of snobbishness that was quite undeserved. Lady Fitzroy really +liked Mrs. Challoner and found intercourse with her very pleasant and +refreshing. When one is perfectly well-bred, there is a subtile charm +in harmony of voice and manner. Mrs. Challoner might have dressed in +rags if she liked, and the young countess would still have aired her +choicest smiles for her. + +It was lucky Nan had those few words from Dick, for they fell apart +after this, and were separated the greater portion of the afternoon. + +Carriages began to drive in at the gates; groups of well-dressed +people thronged the lawn, and were drafted off to the field where the +band was playing. + +Nan and her sisters had their work cut out for them; they knew +everybody and they were free of the house. It was they who helped Dick +arrange the tennis-matches, who pointed out to the young men of the +party which was the tea-tent, and where the ices and claret-cup were +to be found. They marshalled the elder ladies into pleasant nooks, +where they could be sheltered from the sun and see all that was going +on. + +"No, thank you; I shall not play tennis this afternoon; there are too +many of us, and I am so busy," Nan said, dismissing one after another +who came up to her. "If you want a partner, there is Carrie Paine, who +is dying for a game." + +Dick, who was passing with Lady Fitzroy on his arm, whom he was +hurrying somewhat unceremoniously across the field, threw her a +grateful glance as he went by. + +"What a sweet-looking girl that is!" said Lady Fitzroy, graciously, as +she panted a little over her exertion. + +"Who?--Nan? Yes; isn't she a brick?--and the others too?" for Phillis +and Dulce were just as self-denying in their labors. As Mr. Mayne said +afterwards, "They were just everywhere, those Challoners, like a hive +of swarming bees;" which, as it was said in a grumbling tone, was +ungrateful, to say the least of it. + +Dick worked like a horse too; he looked all the afternoon as though he +had a tough job in hand that required the utmost gravity and despatch. +He was forever hurrying elderly ladies across the field towards the +refreshment-tent, where he deposited them, panting and heated, in all +sorts of corners. + +"Are you quite comfortable? May I leave you now? or shall I wait and +take you back again?" asked Dick, who was eager for a fresh convoy. + +"No, no; I would rather stay here a little," returned Mrs. Paine, who +was not desirous of another promenade with the hero of the day. "Go +and fetch some one else, Dick: I am very well off where I am," +exchanging an amused glance with one of her friends, as Dick, hot and +breathless, started off on another voyage of discovery. + +Dick's behavior had been simply perfect all the afternoon in his +father's eyes; but later on, when the band struck up a set of +quadrilles, he committed his first solecism in manners: instead of +asking Lady Fitzroy to dance with him, he hurried after Nan. + +"This is our dance; come along," he said, taking her unwilling hand; +but she held back a moment. + +"Are you sure? Is there not some one else you ought to choose?--Lady +Fitzroy, for example?" questioned Nan, with admirable forethought. + +"Bother Lady Fitzroy!" exclaimed Dick, under his breath; he had had +quite enough of that lady. "Why are you holding back, Nan, in this +fashion?" a cloud coming over his face. "Haven't you promised weeks +ago to give me the first dance?" And Nan, seeing the cloud on his +face, yielded without another word. Dick always managed to have his +own way somehow. + +"Dick! Dick!" cried his father, in a voice of agony, as they passed +him. + +"All in good time; coming presently," returned the scapegrace, +cheerfully. "Now, Nan, this is our place. We will have Hamilton and +Dulce for our _vis-a-vis_. What a jolly day; and isn't this +first-rate?" exclaimed Dick, rubbing his hands, and feeling as though +he were only just beginning to enjoy himself. + +Nan was not quite so easy in her mind. + +"Your father does not look very pleased. I am afraid, after all, you +ought to have asked Lady Fitzroy," she said, in a low voice; but Dick +turned a deaf ear. He showed her the rose in his buttonhole; and when +Nan told him it was withered, and wanted him to take it out, he gave +her a reproachful look that made her blush. + +They were very happy after this; and, when the dance was over, Dick +gave her his arm, and carried her off to see Vigo, who was howling a +deep mournful bass at the back of the gardener's cottage. + +Nan made friends with him, and stroked his black curly head, and +looked lovingly into his deep melancholy eyes; and then, as her +flowers were fading, they strolled off into the conservatory, where +Dick gathered her a fresh bouquet and then sat down and watched her +arrange it. + +"What clever fingers you have got!" he said, looking at them +admiringly, as Nan sorted the flowers in her lap; and at this unlucky +moment they were discovered by Mr. Mayne, who was bringing Lady +Fitzroy to see a favorite orchid. + +He shot an angry suspicious glance at his son. + +"Dick, your mother is asking for you," he said, rather abruptly; but +Dick growled something in an undertone, and did not move. + +Nan gave him a frightened nudge. Why was he so imprudent? + +"I cannot move, because of my flowers; do go, Dick. You must indeed, +if your mother wants you;" and she looked at him in such a pleading +way that Dick dared not refuse. It was just like his father to come +and disturb his first happy moments and to order him off to go and do +something disagreeable. He had almost a mind to brave it out, and +remain in spite of him; but there was Nan looking at him in a +frightened, imploring way. + +"Oh, do go, Dick," giving him a little impatient push in her +agitation; "if your mother wants you, you must not keep her waiting." +But Nan in her heart knew, as Dick did in his, that the message was +only a subterfuge to separate them. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +"I AM QUITE SURE OF HIM." + + +Nan would willingly have effected her escape too, but she was detained +by the flowers that Dick had tossed so lightly into her lap. She was +rather dismayed at her position, and her fingers trembled a little +over their work. There was a breath--a sudden entering current--of +antagonism and prejudice that daunted her. Lady Fitzroy cast an +admiring look at the girl as she sat there with glowing cheeks and +downcast lids. + +"How pretty she is!" she said, in a low voice, as Mr. Mayne pointed +out his favorite orchid. "She is like her mother; there is just the +same quiet style, only I suspect Mrs. Challoner was even better +looking in her time." + +"Humph! yes, I suppose so," returned her host, in a dissatisfied tone. +He had not brought Lady Fitzroy there to talk of the Challoners, but +to admire his orchids. Then he shot another glance at Nan between his +half-closed eyes, and a little spice of malice flavored his next +words. + +"Shall we sit here a moment? Let me see: you were asking me, Lady +Fitzroy, about Dick's prospects. I was talking to his mother about +them the other day. I said to her then, Dick must settle in life well; +he must marry money." + +"Indeed?" replied Lady Fitzroy, somewhat absently; she even indulged +in a slight yawn behind her fan. She liked Dick well enough, as every +one else did, but she was not partial to his father. How tiresome it +was of Fitzroy to insist so much on their neighborly duties! + +Mr. Mayne was not "one of them," as she would have phrased it; he did +not speak their language or lead their life; their manners and +customs, their little tricks and turns of thought were hieroglyphics +to him. + +A man who had never had a grandfather,--at least a grandfather worth +knowing,--whose father's hands had dabbled in trade,--actually +trade,--such a one might be a very worthy man, an excellent citizen, +an exemplary husband and father, but it behooved a woman in her +position not to descend too freely to his level. + +"Percival is such a sad Radical," she would say to herself; "he does +not make sufficient distinction between people. I should wish to be +neighborly, but I cannot bring myself to be familiar with these +Maynes;" which was perhaps the reason why Lady Fitzroy was not as +popular at Longmead and in other places as her good-natured husband. + +"Oh, indeed?" she said, with difficulty repressing another slight yawn +behind her fan, but speaking in a fatigued voice: but Mr. Mayne was +too intent on his purpose to notice it. + +"If Dick had brothers and sisters it would not matter so much; but +when one has only a single hope--eh, Lady Fitzroy?--things must be a +little different then." + +"He will have plenty of choice," she returned, with an effort at +graciousness. "Oldfield is rich in pretty girls:" and she cast another +approving glance at poor Nan, but Mr. Mayne interrupted her almost +rudely. + +"Ah, as to that," he returned, with a sneer, "we want no such nonsense +for Dick. Here are the facts of the case. Here is an honest, +good-tempered young fellow, but with no particular push in him; he has +money, you say,--yes, but not enough to give him the standing I want +him to have. I am ambitious for Dick. I want him to settle in life +well. Why, he might be called to the bar; he might enter Parliament; +there is no limit to a man's career nowadays. I will do what I can for +him, but he must meet me half-way." + +"You mean," observed Lady Fitzroy, with a little perplexity in her +tone, "that he must look out for an heiress." She was not in the +secret, and she could not understand why her host was treating her to +this outburst of confidence. "It was so disagreeable to be mixed up +with this sort of thing," as she told her husband afterwards. "I never +knew him quite so odious before; and there was that pretty Miss +Challoner sitting near us, and he never let me address a word to +her." + +Nan began to feel she had had enough of it. She started up hastily as +Lady Fitzroy said the last words, but the entrance of some more young +people compelled her to stand inside a moment, and she heard Mr. +Mayne's answer distinctly: "Well, not an heiress exactly; but the girl +I have in view for him has a pretty little sum of money, and the +connection is all that could be wished; she is nice-looking, too, and +is a bright, talking little body----" But here Nan made such a +resolute effort to pass, that the rest of the sentence was lost upon +her. + +Dick, who was strolling up and down the lawn rather discontentedly, +hurried up to her as she came out. + +"They are playing a valse; come, Nan," he said, holding out his hand +to her with his usual eagerness; but she shook her head. + +"I cannot dance; I am too tired: there are others you ought to ask." +She spoke a little ungraciously, and Dick's face wore a look of +dismay, as she walked away from him with quick even footsteps. + +Tired! Nan tired! he had never heard of such a thing. What had put her +out? The sweet brightness had died out of her eyes, and her cheeks +were flaming. Should he follow her and have it out with her, there and +then? But, as he hesitated, young Hamilton came over the grass and +linked his arm in his. + +"Come and introduce me to that girl in blue gauze, or whatever you +call that flimsy manufacture. Come along, there's a good fellow," he +said, coaxingly; and Dick's opportunity was lost. + +But he was wrong; for once in her life Nan was tired; the poor girl +felt a sudden quenching of her bright elasticity that amounted to +absolute fatigue. + +She had spoken to Dick sharply; but that was to get rid of him and to +recall him to a sense of his duty. Not for worlds would she be seen +dancing with him, or even talking to him, again! + +She sat down on a stump of a tree in the shrubbery, and wondered +wearily what had taken it out of her so much. And then she recalled, +sentence by sentence, everything that had passed in the conservatory. + +She had found out quite lately that Mr. Mayne did not approve of her +intimacy with Dick. His manner had somewhat changed to her, and +several times he had spoken to her in a carping, fault-finding +way,--little cut-and-dried sentences of elderly wisdom that she had +not understood at the time. + +She had not pleased him of late, somehow, and all her little efforts +and overtures had been lost upon him. Nan had been quite aware of +this, but it had not troubled her much: it was a way he had, and he +meant nothing by it. Most men had humors that must be respected, and +Dick's father had his. So she bore herself very sweetly towards him, +treating his caustic remarks as jokes, and laughing pleasantly at +them, never taking his hints in earnest; he would know better some +day, that was all; but she had no idea of any deeply-laid plan against +their happiness. She felt as though some one had struck her hard; she +had received a blow that set all her nerves tingling. It was very +funny, what he said; it was so droll that it almost made her laugh; +and yet her eyes smarted, and her cheeks felt on fire. + +"'Dick must marry money.' Why must he?--that was so droll. 'Well, not +an heiress exactly, but a pretty little sum of money, and a bright, +taking little body.' Who was this mysterious person whom he had in +view, whose connections were so desirable, who was to be Dick's future +wife? Dick's future wife!" repeated Nan, with an odd little quiver of +her lip. "And was it not droll, settling it all for him like that?" + +Nan fell into a brown study, and then woke up with a little gasp. It +was all clear to her now, all these cut-and-dried sentences,--all +those veiled sneers and innuendoes. + +They were poor,--poor as church-mice,--and Dick must marry money. Mr. +Mayne had laid his plans for his son, and was watching their growing +intimacy with disapproving eyes. Perhaps "the bright, taking little +body" might accompany them to Switzerland; perhaps among the mountains +Dick would forget her, and lend a ready acquiescence to his father's +plans. Who was she? Had Nan ever seen her? Could she be here this +afternoon, this future rival and enemy of her peace? + +"Ah, what nonsense I am thinking!" she exclaimed to herself, starting +up with a little shame and impatience at her own thoughts. "What has +this all got to do with me? Let them settle it between +them,--money-bags and all. Dick is Dick, and after all, I am not +afraid!" And Nan marched back to the company, with her head higher, +and a great assumption of cheerfulness, and a little gnawing feeling +of discomfort at her heart, to which she would not have owned for +worlds. + +Nan was the gayest of the gay that evening, but she would not dance +again with Dick: she sent the poor boy away from her with a decision +and peremptoriness that struck him with fresh dismay. + +"You are not tired now, Nan; and have been waltzing ever so long with +Cathcart and Hamilton." + +"Never mind about me to-night: you must go and ask Lady Fitzroy. No, I +am not cross. Do you think I would be cross to you on your birthday? +but all the same I will not have you neglect your duties. Go and ask +her this moment, sir!" And Nan smiled in his face in the most +bewitching way, and gave a little flutter to her fan. She accepted Mr. +Hamilton's invitation to a valse under Dick's very eyes, and whirled +away on his arm, while Dick stood looking at her ruefully. + +Just at the very last moment Nan's heart relented. + +"Walk down to the gate with us," she whispered, as she passed him on +her way to the cloak-room. + +Dick, who was by this time in a somewhat surly humor, make no sort of +response; nevertheless Nan found him out on the gravel path waiting +for them in company with Cathcart and Hamilton. + +Nan shook off the latter rather cleverly, and took Dick's arm, in +cheerful unconsciousness of his ill-humor. + +"It is so good of you to come with us. I wanted to get you a moment to +myself, to congratulate you on the success of the evening. It was +admirably managed; every one says so: even Lady Fitzroy was pleased, +and her ladyship is a trifle fastidious. Have the band in-doors, and +set them to dancing,--that is what I said; and it has turned out a +complete success," finished Nan, with a little gush of enthusiasm; but +she did not find Dick responsive. + +"Oh! bother the success and all that!" returned that very misguided +young man; "it was the slowest affair to me, I assure you, and I am +thankful it is over. You have spoiled the evening to me, and that is +what you have done," grumbled Dick, in his most ominous voice. + +"I spoiled your evening, you ungrateful boy!" replied Nan, innocently; +but she smiled to herself in the darkness, and the reproach was sweet +to her. They had entered the garden of Glen Cottage by this time, and +Dick was fiercely marching her down a side-path that led to the +kitchen. The hall door stood open. Cathcart and Hamilton were +chattering with the girls in the porch, while Mrs. Challoner went +inside. They peered curiously into the summer dusk, as Dick's +impatient footsteps grated on the gravel path. + +"I spoiled your evening!" repeated Nan, lifting her bright eyes with +the gleam of fun still in them. + +"Yes," blurted out Dick. "Why have you kept me at such a distance all +the evening? Why would you not dance with me? and you gave Hamilton +three valses. It was not like you, Nan, to treat me so,--and on my +birthday too," went on the poor fellow, with a pathos that brought +another sort of gleam to Nan's eyes, only she still laughed. + +"Ah, you foolish boy!" she said, and gave his coat-sleeve a coaxing +little pat. "I would rather have danced with you than Mr. Hamilton, +though he does reverse beautifully, and I never knew any one who +waltzed more perfectly." + +"Oh, I do not presume to rival Hamilton," began Dick hotly, but she +silenced him. + +"Listen to me, you foolish Dick! I would have danced with you, and +willingly, but I knew my duty better, or rather I knew yours. You were +a public man to-day; the eyes of the county were upon you. You had to +pay court to the big ladies, and to take no notice of poor little me. +I sent you away for your own good, and because I valued your duty +above my pleasure," continued this heroic young person, in a perfectly +satisfied tone. + +"And you wanted to dance with me, Nan, and not with that goose of a +Hamilton?" in a wheedling voice. + +"Yes, Dick; but he is not a goose for all that: he is more of a swan +in my opinion." + +"He is a conceited ass!" was the very unexpected reply, which was a +little hard on Dick's chum, who was in many ways a most estimable +young man and vastly his superior. "Why are you laughing, when you +know I hate prigs? and Hamilton is about the biggest I ever knew." But +this did not mend matters, and Nan's laugh still rang merrily in the +darkness. + +"What are those two doing?" asked Phillis, trying to peep between the +lilac-bushes, but failing to discover more than the white glimmer of +Nan's shawl. + +Nan's laugh, though it was full of sweet triumph, only irritated Dick; +the lord of the evening was still too sore and humiliated by all these +rebuffs and repulses to take the fun in good part. + +"What is it that amuses you so?" he asked, rather crossly. "That is +the worst of you girls; you are always so ready to make merry at a +fellow's expense. You are taking Hamilton's part against me, Nan,--I, +who am your oldest friend, who have always been faithful to you ever +since you were a child," continued the young man, with a growing sense +of aggravation. + +"Oh, Dick!" and Nan's voice faltered a little; she was rather touched +at this. + +Dick took instant note of the change of key, and went on in the same +injured voice: + +"Why should I look after all the big people and take no notice of you? +Have I not made it my first duty to look after you as long as I can +remember? Though the whole world were about us, would you not be the +first and the principal to me?" + +"Don't, Dick," she said, faintly, trying to repress him; "you must not +talk in that way, and I must not listen to you; your father would not +like it." The words were sweet to her,--precious beyond +everything,--but she must not have him speak them. But Dick, in his +angry excitement, was not to be repressed. + +"What does it matter what he likes? This is between you and me, Nan; +no one shall meddle between us two." But what imprudent speech Dick +was about to add was suddenly quenched in light-pealing laughter. At +this critical moment they were met and surrounded; before them was the +red glow of Cathcart's cigar, the whiteness of Phillis's gown; behind +were two more advancing figures. In another second the young people +had joined hands: a dusky ring formed round the startled pair. + +"Fairly caught!" cried Dulce's sunshiny voice; the mischievous little +monkey had no idea of the sport she was spoiling. None of the young +people thought of anything but fun; Dick was just Dick, and he and Nan +were always together. + +Dick muttered something inaudible under his breath; but Nan was quite +equal to the occasion; she was still palpitating a little with the +pleasure Dick's words had given her, but she confronted her tormentors +boldly. + +"You absurd creatures," she said, "to steal a march on us like that! +Dick and I were having a quarrel; we were fighting so hard that we did +not hear you." + +"I enjoy a good fight above everything," exclaimed Cathcart, throwing +away his cigar. He was a handsome dark-eyed boy, with no special +individuality, except an overweening sense of fun. "What's the odds, +Mayne? and who is likely to be the winner?" + +"Oh, Nan, of course," returned Dick, trying to recover himself. "I am +the captive of her spear and of her bow: she is in possession of +everything, myself included." + +The rest laughed at Dick's jest, as they thought it; and Mr. Hamilton +said, "Bravo, Miss Challoner! we will help to drag him at your +chariot-wheels." But Nan changed color in the darkness. + +They went in after this, and the young men took their leave in the +porch. Dick's strong grip of the hand conveyed his meaning fully to +Nan: "Remember, I meant it all," it seemed to say to her. + +"What did it matter? I am quite sure of him. Dick is Dick," thought +Nan, as she laid her head happily on the pillow. + +As for Dick, he had a long ordeal before him ere he could make his +escape to the smoking-room, where his friends awaited him. Mr. Mayne +had a great deal to say to him about the day, and Dick had to listen +and try to look interested. + +"I am sure Dick behaved beautifully," observed Mrs. Mayne, when the +son and heir had at last lounged off to his companions. + +"Well, yes; he did very well on the whole," was the grudging response; +"but I must say those Challoner girls made themselves far too +conspicuous for my taste;" but to this his wife prudently made no +reply. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +MR. TRINDER'S VISIT. + + +The next few days passed far too quickly for Nan's pleasure, and +Dick's last morning arrived. The very next day the Maynes were to +start for Switzerland, and Longmead was to stand empty for the +remainder of the summer. It was a dreary prospect for Nan, and in +spite of her high spirits her courage grew somewhat low. Six months! +who could know what might happen before they met again? Nan was not +the least bit superstitious, neither was it her wont to indulge in +useless speculations or forebodings; but she could not shake off this +morning a strange uncanny feeling that haunted her in spite of +herself--a presentiment that things were not going to be just as she +would have them,--that Dick and she would not meet again in exactly +the same manner. + +"How silly I am!" she thought, for the twentieth time, as she brushed +out her glossy brown hair and arranged it in her usual simple +fashion. + +Nan and her sisters were a little behind the times in some ways; they +had never thought fit to curl their hair _en garcon_, or to mount a +pyramid of tangled curls in imitation of a poodle; no pruning scissors +had touched the light-springing locks that grew so prettily about +their temples; in this, as in much else, they were unlike other girls, +for they dared to put individuality before fashion, and good taste and +a sense of beauty against the specious arguments of the multitude. + +"How silly I am!" again repeated Nan. "What can happen, what should +happen, except that I shall have a dull summer, and shall be very glad +when Christmas and Dick come together;" and then she shook her little +basket of housekeeping keys until they jingled merrily, and ran +downstairs with a countenance she meant to keep bright for the rest of +the day. + +They were to play tennis at the Paines' that afternoon, and afterwards +the three girls were to dine at Longmead. Mrs. Challoner had been +invited also; but she had made some excuse, and pleaded for a quiet +evening. She was never very ready to accept these invitations; there +was nothing in common between her and Mrs. Mayne; and in her heart she +agreed with Lady Fitzroy in thinking the master of Longmead odious. + +It was Mr. Mayne who had tendered this parting hospitality to his +neighbors, and he chose to be much offended at Mrs. Challoner's +refusal. + +"I think it is very unfriendly of your mother, when we are such old +neighbors, and on our last evening, too," he said to Nan, as she +entered the drawing-room that evening bringing her mother's excuses +wrapped up in the prettiest words she could find. + +"Mother is not quite well; she does not feel up to the exertion of +dining out to-night," returned Nan, trying to put a good face on it, +but feeling as though things were too much for her this evening. It +was bad enough for Mr. Mayne to insist on them all coming up to a long +formal dinner, and spoiling their chances of a twilight stroll; but it +was still worse for her mother to abandon them after this fashion. + +The new novel must have had something to do with this sudden +indisposition; but when Mrs. Challoner had wrapped herself up in her +white shawl, always a bad sign with her, and had declared herself +unfit for any exertion, what could a dutiful daughter do but deliver +her excuses as gracefully as she could? Nevertheless, Mr. Mayne +frowned and expressed himself ill pleased. + +"I should have thought an effort could have been made on such an +occasion," was his final thrust, as he gave his arm ungraciously to +Nan, and conducted her with ominous solemnity to the table. + +It was not a festive meal, in spite of all Mrs. Mayne's efforts. Dick +looked glum. He was separated from Nan by a vast silver epergne, that +fully screened her from view. Another time she would have peeped +merrily round at him and given him a sprightly nod or two; but how was +she to do it when Mr. Mayne never relaxed his gloomy muscles, and when +he insisted on keeping up a ceremonious flow of conversation with her +on the subjects of the day? + +When Dick tried to strike into their talk, he got so visibly snubbed +that he was obliged to take refuge with Phillis. + +"You young fellows never know what you are talking about," observed +Mr. Mayne, sharply, when Dick had hazarded a remark about the +Premier's policy; "you are a Radical one day, and a Conservative +another. That comes of your debating societies. You take contrary +sides, and mix up a balderdash of ideas, until you don't know whether +you are standing on your head or your heels;" and it was after this +that Dick found his refuge with Phillis. + +It was little better when they were all in the drawing-room together. +If Mr. Mayne had invited them there for the purpose of keeping them +all under his own eyes and making them uncomfortable, he could not +have managed better. When Dick suggested a stroll in the garden, he +said,-- + +"Pshaw! what nonsense proposing such a thing, when the dews are heavy +and the girls will catch their deaths of cold!" + +"We do it every evening of our life," observed Nan, hardily; but even +she dared not persevere in the face of this protest, though she +exchanged a rebellious look with Dick that did him good and put him in +a better humor. + +They found their way into the conservatory after that, but were hunted +out on pretence of having a little music; at least Nan would have it +that it was pretence. + +"Your father does not care much for music, I know," she whispered, as +she placed herself at the grand piano, while Dick leaned against it +and watched her. It was naughty of Nan, but there was no denying that +she found Mr. Mayne more aggravating than usual this evening. + +"Come, come, Miss Nancy!" he called out,--he always called her that +when he wished to annoy her, for Nan had a special dislike to her +quaint, old-fashioned name; it had been her mother's and grandmother's +name; in every generation there had been a Nancy Challoner,--"come, +come, Miss Nancy! we cannot have you playing at hide-and-seek in this +fashion. We want some music. Give us something rousing, to keep us all +awake." And Nan had reluctantly placed herself at the piano. + +She did her little best according to orders, for she dared not offend +Dick's father. None of the Challoners were accomplished girls. Dulce +sang a little, and so did Nan, but Phillis could not play the simplest +piece without bungling and her uncertain little warblings, which were +sweet but hardly true, were reserved for church. + +Dulce sang very prettily, but she could only manage her own +accompaniments or a sprightly valse. Nan, who did most of the +execution of the family, was a very fair performer from a young lady's +point of view, and that is not saying much. She always had her piece +ready if people wanted her to play. She sat down without nervousness +and rose without haste. She had a choice little repertory of old songs +and ballads, that she could produce without hesitation from +memory,--"My mother bids me bind my hair," or "Bid your faithful Ariel +fly," and such-like old songs, in which there is more melody than in a +hundred new ones, and which she sang in a simple, artless fashion that +pleased the elder people greatly. Dulce could do more than this, but +her voice had never been properly tutored, and she sang her bird-music +in bird-fashion, rather wildly and shrilly, with small respect to +rule and art, nevertheless making a pleasing noise, a young foreigner +once told her. + +When Nan had exhausted her little stock, Mr. Mayne peremptorily +invited them to a round game; and the rest of the evening was spent in +trying to master the mysteries of a new game, over the involved rules +of which Mr. Mayne as usual, wrangled fiercely with everybody, while +Dick shrugged his shoulders and shuffled his cards with such evident +ill-humor that Nan hurried her sisters away half an hour before the +usual time, in terror of an outbreak. + +It was an utterly disappointing evening; and, to make matters worse, +Mr. Mayne actually lit his cigar and strolled down the garden-paths, +keeping quite close to Nan, and showing such obvious intention of +accompanying them to the very gate of the cottage that there could be +no thought of any sweet lingering in the dusk. + +"I will be even with him," growled Dick, who was in a state of +suppressed irritation under this unexpected surveillance; and in the +darkest part of the road he twitched Nan's sleeve to attract her +attention, and whispered, in so low a voice that his father could not +hear him, "This is not good-bye. I will be round at the cottage +to-morrow morning;" and Nan nodded hurriedly, and then turned her head +to answer Mr. Mayne's last question. + +If Dick had put all his feelings in his hand-shake, it could not have +spoken to Nan more eloquently of the young man's wrath and chagrin and +concealed tenderness. Nan shot him one of her swift straightforward +looks in answer. + +"Nevermind," it seemed to say; "we shall have to-morrow;" and then she +bade them cheerfully good-night. + +Dorothy met her in the hall, and put down her chamber-candlestick. + +"Has the mother gone to bed yet, Dorothy?" questioned the young +mistress, speaking still with that enforced cheerfulness. + +"No, Miss Nan; she is still in there," jerking her head in the +direction of the drawing-room. "Mr. Trinder called, and was with her a +long time. I thought she seemed a bit poorly when I took in the +lamp." + +"Mamsie is never fit for anything when that old ogre has been," broke +in Dulce, impatiently. "He always comes and tells her some nightmare +tale or other to prevent her sleeping. Now we shall not have the new +gowns we set our hearts on, Nan." + +"Oh, never mind the gowns," returned Nan, rather wearily. + +What did it matter if they had to wear their old ones when Dick would +not be there to see them? And Dorothy, who was contemplating her +favorite nursling with the privileged tenderness of an old servant, +chimed in with the utmost cheerfulness: + +"It does not matter what she wears; does it, Miss Nan? She looks just +as nice in an old gown as a new one; that is what I say of all my +young ladies; dress does not matter a bit to them." + +"How long are you all going to stand chattering with Dorothy?" +interrupted Phillis, in her clear decided voice. "Mother will wonder +what conspiracy we are hatching, and why we leave her so long alone." +And then Dorothy took up her candlestick, grumbling a little, as she +often did, over Miss Phillis's masterful ways, and the girls went +laughingly into their mother's presence. + +Though it was summer-time, Mrs. Challoner's easy-chair was drawn up in +front of the rug, and she sat wrapped in her white shawl, with her +eyes fixed on the pretty painted fire-screen that hid the blackness of +the coals. She did not turn her head or move as her daughters entered; +indeed, so motionless was her attitude that Dulce thought she was +asleep, and went on tiptoe round her chair to steal a kiss. But Nan, +who had caught sight of her mother's face, put her quickly aside. + +"Don't, Dulce; mother is not well. What is the matter, mammie, +darling?" kneeling down and bringing her bright face on a level with +her mother's. She would have taken her into her vigorous young arms, +but Mrs. Challoner almost pushed her away. + +"Hush, children! Do be quiet, Nan; I cannot talk to you. I cannot +answer questions to-night." And then she shivered, and drew her shawl +closer round her, and put away Nan's caressing hands, and looked at +them all with a face that seemed to have grown pinched and old all at +once, and eyes full of misery. + +"Mammie, you must speak to us," returned Nan, not a whit daunted by +this rebuff, but horribly frightened all the time. "Of course, Dorothy +told us that Mr. Trinder has been here, and of course we know that it +is some trouble about money." Then, at the mention of Mr. Trinder's +name, Mrs. Challoner shivered again. + +Nan waited a moment for an answer: but, as none came, she went on in +coaxing voice: + +"Don't be afraid to tell us, mother darling; we can all bear a little +trouble, I hope. We have had such happy lives, and we cannot go on +being happy always," continued the girl, with the painful conviction +coming suddenly into her mind that the brightness of these days was +over. "Money is very nice, and one cannot do without it, I suppose; +but as long as we are together and love each other----" + +Then Mrs. Challoner fixed her heavy eyes on her daughter and took up +the unfinished sentence: + +"Ah, if we could only be together!--if I were not to be separated from +my children! it is that--that is crushing me!" and then she pressed +her dry lips together, and folded her hands with a gesture of despair; +"but I know that it must be, for Mr. Trinder has told me everything. +It is no use shutting our eyes and struggling on any longer; for we +are ruined--ruined!" her voice sinking into indistinctness. + +Nan grew a little pale. If they were ruined, how would it be with her +and Dick! And then she thought of Mr. Mayne, and her heart felt faint +within her. Nan, who had Dick added to her perplexities, was hardly +equal to the emergency; but it was Phillis who took the domestic helm +as it fell from her sister's hand. + +"If we be ruined, mother," she said, briskly, "it is not half so bad +as having you ill. Nan, why don't you rub her hands! she is shivering +with cold, or with the bad news, or something. I mean to set Dorothy +at defiance, and to light a nice little fire, in spite of the clean +muslin curtains. When one is ill or unhappy, there is nothing so +soothing as a fire," continued Phillis as she removed the screen and +kindled the dry wood, not heeding Mrs. Challoner's feeble +remonstrances. + +"Don't, Phillis: we shall not be able to afford fires now;" and then +she became a little hysterical. But Phillis persisted, and the red +glow was soon coaxed into a cheerful blaze. + +"That looks more comfortable. I feel chilly myself; these summer +nights are sometimes deceptive. I wonder what Dorothy will say to us; +I mean to ask her to make us all some tea. No, mamma, you are not to +interfere; it will do you good, and we don't mean to have you ill if +we can help it." And then she looked meaningly at Nan, and withdrew. + +There was no boiling water, of course, and the kitchen fire was raked +out; and Dorothy was sitting in solitary state, looking very grim. + +"It is time for folks to be in their beds, Miss Phillis," she said, +very crossly. "I don't hold with tea myself so late: it excites +people, and keeps them awake." + +"Mother is not just the thing, and a cup of tea will do her good. +Don't let us keep you up, Dorothy," replied Phillis, blandly. "I have +lighted the drawing-room-fire, and I can boil the kettle in there. If +mother has got a chill, I would not answer for the consequences." + +Dorothy grew huffy at the mention of the fire, and would not aid or +abet her young lady's "fad," as she called it. + +"If you don't want me, I think I will go to bed, Miss Phillis. Susan +went off a long time ago." And, as Phillis cheerfully acquiesced in +this arrangement, Dorothy decamped with a frown on her brow, and left +Phillis mistress of the situation. + +"There, now, I have got rid of the cross old thing," she observed, in +a tone of relief, as she filled the kettle and arranged the little +tea-tray. + +She carried them both into the room, poising the tray skilfully in her +hand. Nan looked up in a relieved way as she entered. Mrs. Challoner +was stretching out her chilled hands to the blaze. Her face had lost +its pinched unnatural expression; it was as though the presence of +her girls fenced her in securely, and her misfortune grew more shadowy +and faded into the background. She drank the tea when it was given to +her, and even begged Nan to follow her example. Nan took a little to +please her, though she hardly believed its solace would be great; but +Phillis and Dulce drank theirs in a business-like way, as though they +needed support and were not ashamed to own it. It was Nan who put down +her cup first, and leaned her cheek against her mother's hand. + +"Now, mother dear, we want to hear all about it. Does Mr. Trinder say +we are really so dreadfully poor?" + +"We have been getting poorer for along time," returned her mother, +mournfully; "but if we had only a little left us I would not complain. +You see, your father would persist in these investments in spite of +all Mr. Trinder could say, and now his words have come true." But this +vague statement did not satisfy Nan; and patiently, and with +difficulty, she drew from her mother all that the lawyer had told +her. + +Mr. Challoner had been called to the bar early in life, but his career +had hardly been a successful one. He had held few briefs, and, though +he worked hard, and had good capabilities, he had never achieved +fortune; and as he lived up to his income, and was rather fond of the +good things of this life, he got through most of his wife's money, +and, contrary to the advice of older and wiser heads, invested the +remainder in the business of a connection who only wanted capital to +make his fortune and Mr. Challoner's too. + +It was a grievous error; and yet, if Mr. Challoner had lived, those +few thousands would hardly have been so sorely missed. He was young in +his profession, and if he had been spared, success would have come to +him as to other men; but he was cut off unexpectedly in the prime of +life, and Mrs. Challoner gave up her large house at Kensington, and +settled at Glen Cottage with her three daughters, understanding that +life was changed for her, and that they should have to be content with +small means and few wants. + +Hitherto they had had sufficient; but of late there had been dark +whispers concerning that invested money; things were not quite square +and above-board; the integrity of the firm was doubted. Mr. Trinder, +almost with tears in his eyes, begged Mrs. Challoner to be prudent and +spend less. The crash which he had foreseen, and had vainly tried to +avert, had come to-night. Gardiner & Fowler were bankrupt, and their +greatest creditor, Mrs. Challoner, was ruined. + +"We cannot get our money. Mr. Trinder says we never shall. They have +been paying their dividends correctly, keeping it up as a sort of +blind, he says: but all the capital is eaten away. George Gardiner, +too, your father's cousin, the man he trusted above every one,--he to +defraud the widow and the fatherless, to take our money--my children's +only portion--and to leave us beggared." And Mrs. Challoner, made +tragical by this great blow, clasped her hands and looked at her girls +with two large tears rolling down her face. + +"Mother, are you sure? is it quite as bad as that?" asked Nan; and +then she kissed away the tears, and said something rather brokenly +about having faith, and trying not to lose courage; then her voice +failed her, and they all sat quiet together. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PHILLIS'S CATECHISM. + + +A veil of silence fell over the little party. After the first few +moments of dismay, conjecture, and exclamation, there did not seem to +be much that any one could say. Each girl was busy with her own +thoughts and private interpretation of a most sorrowful enigma. What +were they to do? How were they to live without separation, and without +taking a solitary plunge into an unknown and most terrifying world? + +Nan's frame of mind was slightly monotonous. What would Dick say, and +how would this affect certain vague hopes she had lately cherished? +Then she thought of Mr. Mayne, and shivered, and a sense of coldness +and remote fear stole over her. + +One could hardly blame her for this sweet dual selfishness, that was +not selfishness. She was thinking less of herself than of a certain +vigorous young life that was becoming strongly entwined with hers. It +was all very well to say that Dick was Dick; but what could the most +obstinate will of even that most obstinate young man avail against +such a miserable combination of adverse influences,--"when the stars +in their courses fought against Sisera"? And at this juncture of her +thoughts she could feel Phillis's hand folding softly over hers with a +most sisterly pressure of full understanding and sympathy. Phillis had +no Dick to stand sentinel over her private thoughts; she was free to +be alert and vigilant for others. Nevertheless, her forehead was +puckered up with hard thinking, and her silence was so very expressive +that Dulce sat and looked at her with grave unsmiling eyes, the +innocent child-look in them growing very pathetic at the +speechlessness that had overtaken them. As for Mrs. Challoner, she +still moaned feebly from time to time, as she stretched her numb hands +towards the comforting warmth. They were fine delicate hands, with the +polished look of old ivory, and there were diamond rings on them that +twinkled and shone as she moved them in her restlessness. + +"They shall all go; I will keep nothing," she said, regarding them +plaintively; for they were heirlooms, and highly valued as relics of a +wealthy past. "It is not this sort of thing that I mind. I would live +on a crust thankfully, if I could only keep my children with me." And +she looked round at the blooming faces of her girls with eyes brimming +over with maternal fondness. + +Poor Dulce's lips quivered, and she made a horrified gesture. + +"Oh, mamsie, don't talk so. I never could bear crusts, unless they +were well buttered. I like everything to be nice, and to have plenty +of it,--plenty of sunshine, and fun, and holiday-making, and friends; +and--and now you are talking as though we must starve, and never have +anything to wear, and go nowhere and be miserable forever?" And here +Dulce broke into actual sobs; for was she not the petted darling? and +had she not had a life so gilded by sunshine that she had never seen +the dark edge of a single cloud? So that even Nan forgot Dick for a +moment, and looked at her young sister pityingly; but Phillis +interposed with bracing severity: + +"Don't talk such nonsense, Dulce. Of course we must eat to live, and +of course we must have clothes to wear. Aren't Nan and I thinking +ourselves into headaches by trying to contrive how even the crusts you +so despise are to be bought?" which was hardly true as far as Nan was +concerned, for she blushed guiltily over this telling point in +Phillis's eloquence. "It only upsets mother to talk like this." And +then she touched the coals skilfully, till they spluttered and blazed +into fury. "There is the Friary, you know," she continued, looking +calmly round on them, as though she felt herself full of resources. +"If Dulce chooses to make herself miserable about the crusts, we have, +at least, a roof to shelter us." + +"I forgot the Friary," murmured Nan, looking at her sister with +admiration; and, though Mrs. Challoner said nothing, she started a +little as though she had forgotten it too. But Dulce was not to be +comforted. + +"That horrid, dismal, pokey old cottage!" she returned, with a shrill +rendering of each adjective. "You would have us go and live in that +damp, musty, fusty place?" + +Phillis gave a succession of quick little nods. + +"I don't think it particularly dismal, or Nan either," she returned, +in her brisk way. Phillis always answered for Nan, and was never +contradicted. "It is not dear Glen Cottage, of course, but we could +not begin munching our crusts here," she continued, with a certain +grim humor. Things were apparently at their worst; but at least +she,--Phillis,--the clever one, as she had heard herself called, would +do her best to keep the heads of the little family above water. "It is +a nice little place enough if we were only humble enough to see it; +and it is not damp, and it is our own," running up the advantages as +well as she could. + +"The Friary!" commented her mother, in some surprise: "to think of +that queer old cottage coming into your head! And it so seldom lets. +And people say it is dear at forty pounds a year; and it is so dull +that they do not care to stay." + +"Never mind all that, mammy," returned Phillis, with a grave +business-like face. "A cottage, rent-free, that will hold us, is not +to be despised; and Hadleigh is a nice place, and the sea always suits +you. There is the house, and the furniture, that belongs to us; and we +have plenty of clothes for the present. How much did Mr. Trinder think +we should have in hand?" + +Then her mother told her, but still mournfully, that they might +possibly have about a hundred pounds. "But there are my rings and that +piece of point-lace that Lady Fitzroy admired so----" but Phillis +waved away that proposition with an impatient frown. + +"There is plenty of time for that when we have got through all the +money. Not that a hundred pounds would last long, with moving, and +paying off the servants, and all that sort of thing." + +Then Nan, who had worn all along an expression of admiring confidence +in Phillis's resources, originated an idea of her own. + +"The mother might write to Uncle Francis, perhaps;" but at this +proposition Mrs. Challoner sat upright and looked almost offended. + +"My dear Nan, what a preposterous idea! Your uncle Francis!" + +"Well, mammy, he is our uncle; and I am sure he would be sorry if his +only brother's children were to starve." + +"You are too young to know any better," returned Mrs. Challoner, +relapsing into alarmed feebleness; "you are not able to judge. But I +never liked my brother-in-law,--never; he was not a good man. He was +not a person whom one could trust," continued the poor lady, trying to +soften down certain facts to her innocent young daughters. + +Sir Francis Challoner had been a black sheep,--a very black sheep +indeed: one who had dyed himself certainly to a most sable hue; and +though, for such prodigals, there may be a late repentance and much +killing of fatted calves, still Mrs. Challoner was right in refusing +to intrust herself and her children to the uncertain mercies of such a +sinner. + +Now, Nan knew nothing about the sin; but she did think that an uncle +who was a baronet threw a certain reflected glory or brightness over +them. Sir Francis might be that very suspicious character, a black +sheep; he might be landless, with the exception of that ruined +tenement in the North; nevertheless, Nan loved to know that he was of +their kith and kin. It seemed to settle their claims to +respectability, and held Mr. Mayne in some degree of awe; and he knew +that his own progenitors had not the faintest trace of blue blood, and +numbered more aldermen than baronets. + +It would have surprised and grieved Nan, especially just now, if she +had known that no such glory remained to her,--that Sir Francis +Challoner had long filled the cup of his iniquities, and lay in his +wife's tomb in some distant cemetery, leaving a certain red-headed Sir +Harry to reign in his stead. + +"I don't think we had better talk anymore," observed Phillis, somewhat +brusquely: and then she exchanged meaning looks with Nan. The two +girls were somewhat dismayed at their mother's wan looks; her +feebleness and uncertainty of speech, the very vagueness of her +lamentations, filled them with sad forebodings for the future. How +were they to leave her, when they commenced that little fight with the +world? She had leaned on them so long that her helplessness had become +a matter of habit. + +Nan understood her sister's warning glance, and she made no further +allusion to Sir Francis; she only rose with assumed briskness, and +took her mother in charge. + +"Now I am going to help you to bed, mammy darling," she said, +cheerfully. "Phillis is quite right: we will not talk any more +to-night; we shall want all our strength for to-morrow. We will just +say our prayers, and try and go to sleep, and hope that things may +turn out better than we expect." And, as Mrs. Challoner was too +utterly spent to resist this wise counsel, Nan achieved her pious +mission with some success. She sat down by the bedside and leaned her +head against her mother's pillow, and soon had the satisfaction of +hearing the even breathing that proved that the sleeper had forgotten +her troubles for a little while. + +"Poor dear mother! how exhausted she must have been!" thought Nan, as +she closed the door softly. She was far too anxious and wide awake +herself to dream of retiring to rest. She was somewhat surprised to +find her sisters' room dark and empty as she passed. They must be +still downstairs, talking over things in the firelight: they were as +little inclined for sleep as she was. Phillis's carefully decocted tea +must have stimulated them to wakefulness. + +The room was still bright with firelight. Dulce was curled up in her +mother's chair, and had evidently been indulging in what she called "a +good cry." Phillis, sombre and thoughtful, was pacing the room, with +her hands clasped behind her head,--a favorite attitude of hers when +she was in any perplexity. She stopped short as Nan regarded her with +some astonishment from the threshold. + +"Oh, come in, Nan: it will be such a relief to talk to a sensible +person. Dulce is so silly, she does nothing but cry." + +"I can't help it," returned Dulce, with another sob; "everything is so +horrible, and Phillis will say such dreadful things." + +"Poor little soul!" said Nan, in a sympathetic voice, sitting down on +the arm of the chair and stroking Dulce's hair; "it is very hard for +her and for us all," with a pent-up sigh. + +"Of course it is hard," retorted Phillis, confronting them rather +impatiently from the hearth-rug; "it is bitterly hard. But it is not +worse for Dulce than for the rest of us. Crying will not mend matters, +and it is a sheer waste of tears. As I tell her, what we have to do +now is to make the best of things, and see what is to be done under +the circumstances." + +"Yes, indeed," repeated Nan, meekly; but she put her arm round Dulce, +and drew her head against her shoulder. The action comforted Dulce, +and her tears soon ceased to flow. + +"I am thinking about mother," went on Phillis, pondering her words +slowly as she spoke; "she does look so ill and weak. I do not see how +we are to leave her." + +Mrs. Challoner's moral helplessness and dread of responsibility were +so sacred in her daughters' eyes that they rarely alluded to them +except in this vague fashion. For years they had shielded and petted +her, and given way to her little fads and fancies, until she had +developed into a sort of gentle hypochondriac. + +"Mother cannot bear this; we always keep these little worries from +her," Nan had been accustomed to say; and the others had followed her +example. + +The unspoken thought lay heavy upon them now. How were they to prevent +the rough winds of adversity from blowing too roughly upon their +cherished charge? The roof, and perhaps the crust, might be theirs; +but how were they to contrive that she should not miss her little +comforts? They would gladly work; but how, and after what fashion? + +Phillis was the first to plunge into the unwelcome topic, for Nan felt +almost as helpless and bewildered as Dulce. + +"We must go into the thing thoroughly," began Phillis, drawing a chair +opposite to her sisters. She was very pale, but her eyes had a certain +brightness of determination. She looked too young for that quiet +care-worn look that had come so suddenly to her; but one felt she +could be equal to any emergency. "We are down-hearted, of course; but +we have plenty of time for all that sort of thing. The question is, +how are we to live?" + +"Just so," observed Nan, rather dubiously; and Dulce gave a little +gasp. + +"There is the Friary standing empty; and there is the furniture; and +there will be about fifty pounds, perhaps less, when every thing is +settled. And we have clothes enough to last some time, and----" here +Dulce put her hands together pleadingly, but Phillis looked at her +severely, and went on: "Forty or fifty pounds will soon be spent, and +then we shall be absolutely penniless; we have no one to help us. +Mother will not hear of writing to Uncle Francis; we must work +ourselves or starve." + +"Couldn't we let lodgings?" hazarded Dulce, with quavering voice; but +Phillis smiled grimly. + +"Let lodgings at the Friary! why, it is only big enough to hold us. We +might get a larger house in Hadleigh; but no, it would be ruinous to +fail, and perhaps we should not make it answer. I cannot fancy mother +living in the basement story; she would make herself wretched over it. +We are too young. I don't think that would answer, Nan: do you?" + +Nan replied faintly that she did not think it would. The mere +proposition took her breath away. What would Mr. Mayne say to that? +Then she plucked up spirit and went into the question vigorously. + +There were too many lodging-houses in Hadleigh now; it would be a +hazardous speculation, and one likely to fail; they had not sufficient +furniture for such a purpose, and they dare not use up their little +capital too quickly. They were too young, too, to carry out such a +thing, Nan did not add "and too pretty," though she colored and +hesitated here. Their mother could not help them; she was not strong +enough for housework or cooking. She thought that plan must be given +up. + +"We might be daily governesses, and live at home," suggested Dulce, +who found a sort of relief in throwing out feelers in every direction. +Nan brightened up visibly at this, but Phillis's moody brow did not +relax for a moment. + +"That would be nice," acquiesced Nan, "and then mother would not find +the day so long if we came home in the evening; she could busy herself +about the house, and we could leave her little things to do, and she +would not find the hours so heavy. I like that idea of yours, Dulce; +and we are all so fond of children." + +"The idea is as nice as possible," replied Phillis, with an ominous +stress on the noun, "if we could only make it practicable." + +"Phil is going to find fault," pouted Dulce, who knew every inflection +of Phillis's voice. + +"Oh, dear, no, nothing of the kind!" she retorted, briskly. "Nan is +quite right: we all dote on children. I should dearly like to be a +governess myself; it would be more play than work; but I am only +wondering who would engage us." + +"Who?--oh, anybody!" returned Nan, feeling puzzled by the smothered +satire of Phillis's speech. "Of course we are not certificated, and I +for one could only teach young children; but----" here Phillis +interrupted her: + +"Don't think me horrid if I ask you and Dulce some questions, but +do--do answer me just as though I were going through the Catechism: we +are only girls, but we must sift the whole thing thoroughly. Are we +fit for governesses? what can you and I and Dulce teach?" + +"Oh, anything!" returned Nan, still more vaguely. + +"My dear Nanny, anything won't do. Come, I am really in earnest; I +mean to catechise you both thoroughly." + +"Very well," returned Nan, in a resigned voice; but Dulce looked a +little frightened. As for Phillis, she sat erect, with her finger +pointed at them in a severely ominous fashion. + +"How about history, Nan? I thought you could never remember dates; you +used to jumble facts in the most marvellous manner. I remember your +insisting that Anne of Cleves was Louis XII.'s second wife; and you +shocked Miss Martin dreadfully by declaring that one of Marlborough's +victories was fought at Cressy." + +"I never could remember historical facts," returned Nan, humbly. +"Dulce always did better than I; and so did you, Phillis. When I teach +the children I can have the book before me." But Phillis only shook +her head at this, and went on: + +"Dulce was a shade better, but I don't believe she could tell me the +names of the English sovereigns in proper sequence;" but Dulce +disdained to answer. "You were better at arithmetic, Nan. Dulce never +got through her rule of three; but you were not very advanced even at +that. You write a pretty hand, and you used to talk French very +fluently." + +"Oh, I have forgotten my French!" exclaimed Nan, in a panic-stricken +voice. "Dulce, don't you remember me quite settled to talk in French +over our work three times a week, and we have always forgotten it; and +we were reading Madame de Sevigne's 'Letters' together, and I found +the book the other day quite covered with dust." + +"I hate French," retuned Dulce, rebelliously. "I began German with +Phillis, and like it much better." + +"True, but we are only beginners," returned the remorseless Phillis: +"it was very nice, of course, and the Taugenichts' was delicious; but +think how many words in every sentence you had to hunt out in the +dictionary. I am glad you feel so competent, Dulce; but I could not +teach German myself, or French either. I don't remember enough of the +grammar; and I do not believe Nan does either, though she used to +chatter so to Miss Martin." + +"Did I not say she would pick our idea to pieces?" returned Dulce, +with tears in her eyes. + +"My dear little sister don't look so dreadfully pathetic. I am quite +as disheartened and disappointed as you are. Nan says she has +forgotten her French, and she will have to teach history with an open +book before her; we none of us draw--no, Dulce please let me finish +our scanty stock of accomplishments. I only know my notes,--for no one +cares to hear me lumber through my pieces,--and I sing at church. You +have the sweetest voice Dulce, but it is not trained; and I cannot +compliment you on your playing. Nan sings and plays very nicely, and +it is a pleasure to listen to her; but I am afraid she knows little +about the theory of music, harmony and thorough-bass: you never did +anything in that way, did you, Nan?" + +Nan shook her head sadly. She was too discomfited for speech. Phillis +looked at them both thoughtfully; her trouble was very real, but she +could not help a triumphant inflection in her voice. + +"Dear Nan, please do not look so unhappy. Dulce, you shall not begin +to cry again. Don't you remember what mother was reading to us the +other day, about the country being flooded with incompetent +governesses,--half-educated girls turned loose on the world to earn +their living? I can remember one sentence of that writer, word for +word: 'The standard of education is so high at the present day, and +the number of certificated reliable teachers so much increased, that +we can afford to discourage the crude efforts to teach, or un-teach, +our children.' And then he goes on to ask, 'What has become of womanly +conscientiousness, when such ignorance presses forward to assume such +sacred responsibilities? Better the competent nurse than the +incompetent governess.' 'Why do not these girls,' he asks, 'who, +through their own fault or the fault of circumstances, are not +sufficiently advanced to educate others--why do they not rather +discharge the exquisitely feminine duties of the nursery? What an +advantage to parents to have their little ones brought into the +earliest contact with refined speech and cultivated manners,--their +infant ears not inoculated by barbarous English!'" but here Phillis +was arrested in her torrent of reflected wisdom by an impatient +exclamation from Dulce. + +"Oh, Nan, do ask her to be quiet! She never stops when she once +begins. How can we listen to such rubbish, when we are so wretched? +You may talk for hours, Phil, but I never, never will be a nurse!" And +Dulce hid her face on Nan's shoulder in such undisguised distress that +her sisters had much ado to comfort her. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"WE SHOULD HAVE TO CARRY PARCELS." + + +It was hard work to tranquillize Dulce. + +"I never, never will be a nurse!" she sobbed out at intervals. + +"You little goose, who ever thought of such a thing? Why will you +misunderstand me so?" sighed Phillis, almost in despair at her +sister's impracticability. "I am only trying to prove to you and Nan +that we are not fit for governesses." + +"No, indeed; I fear you are right there," replied poor Nan, who had +never realized her deficiences before. They were all bright, taking +girls, with plenty to say for themselves, lady-like, and well-bred. +Who would have thought that, when weighed in the balance, they would +have been found so wanting? "I always knew I was a very stupid person; +but you are different,--you are so clever, Phil." + +"Nonsense, Nanny! It is a sort of cleverness for which there is no +market. I am fond of reading. I remember things, and do a great deal +of thinking; but I am destitute of accomplishments: my knowledge of +languages is purely superficial. We are equal to other girls,--just +young ladies, and nothing more; but when it comes to earning our +bread-and-butter----" Here Phillis paused, and threw out her hands +with a little gesture of despair. + +"But you work so beautifully; and so does Nan," interrupted Dulce, who +was a little comforted, now she knew Phillis had no prospective +nurse-maid theory in view. "I am good at it myself," she continued, +modestly, feeling that, in this case, self-praise was allowable. "We +might be companions,--some nice old lady who wants her caps made, and +requires some one to read to her," faltered Dulce, with her child-like +pleading look. + +Nan gave her a little hug; but she left the answer to Phillis, who +went at once into a brown study, and only woke up after a long +interval. + +"I am looking at it all round," she said, when Nan at last pressed for +her opinion; "it is not a bad idea. I think it very possible that +either you or I, Nan,--or both, perhaps,--might find something in that +line to suit us. There are old ladies everywhere; and some of them are +rich and lonely and want companions." + +"You have forgotten me?" exclaimed Dulce, with natural jealousy, and a +dislike to be overlooked, inherent in most young people. "And it is I +who have always made mammy's caps and you know how Lady Fitzroy +praised the last one." + +"Yes, yes; we know all that," returned Phillis, impatiently. "You are +as clever as possible with your fingers; but one of us must stop with +mother, and you are the youngest, Dulce; that is what I meant by +looking at it all round. If Nan and I were away, it would never do for +you and mother to live at the Friary. We could not afford a servant, +and we should want the forty pounds a year to pay for bare +necessaries; for our salary would not be very great. You would have to +live in lodgings,--two little rooms, that is all; and even then I am +afraid you and mother would be dreadfully pinched, for we should have +to dress ourselves properly in other people's houses." + +"Oh, Phillis, that would not do at all!" exclaimed Nan, in a voice of +despair. She was very pale by this time: full realization of all this +trouble was coming to her, as it had come to Phillis. "What shall we +do? Who will help us to any decision? How are you and I to go away and +live luxuriously in other people's houses, and leave mother and Dulce +pining in two shabby little rooms, with nothing to do, and perhaps not +enough to eat, and mother fretting herself ill, and Dulce losing her +bloom? I could not rest; I could not sleep for thinking of it. I would +rather take in plain needlework, and live on dry bread if we could +only be together, and help each other." + +"So would I," returned Phillis, in an odd, muffled voice. + +"And I too," rather hesitatingly from Dulce. + +"If we could only live at the Friary, and have Dorothy to do all the +rough work," sighed Nan, with a sudden yearning towards even that very +shabby ark of refuge: "if we could only be together, and see each +other every day, things would not be quite so dreadful." + +"I am quite of your opinion," was Phillis's curt observation: but +there was a sudden gleam in her eyes. + +"I have heard of ladies working for fancy-shops; do you think we could +do something of that kind?" asked Nan, anxiously. "Even mother could +help us in that; and Dulce does work so beautifully. It is all very +well to say we have no accomplishments," went on Nan, with apathetic +little laugh, "but you know that no other girls work as we do. We have +always made our own dresses. And Lady Fitzroy asked me once who was +our dressmaker, because she fitted us so exquisitely; and I was so +proud of telling her that we always did our own, with Dorothy to +help----" + +"Nan," interrupted Phillis, eagerly, and there was a great softness in +her whole mien, and her eyes were glistening,--"dear Nan, do you love +us all so that you could give up the whole world for our sakes,--for +the sake of living together, I mean?" + +Nan hesitated. Did the whole world involve Dick, and could even her +love for her sisters induce her voluntarily to give him up? Phillis, +who was quick-witted, read the doubt in a moment, and hastened to +qualify her words: + +"The outside world, I mean,--mere conventional acquaintances, not +friends. Do you think you could bear to set society at defiance, to +submit to be sent to Coventry for our sakes; to do without it, in fact +to live in a little world of our own and make ourselves happy in it?" + +"Ah, Phillis, you are so clever, and I don't understand you," faltered +Nan. It was not Dick she was to give up; but what could Phillis mean? +"We are all fond of society; we are like other girls, I suppose. But +if we are to be poor and work for our living, I dare say people will +give us up." + +"I am not meaning that," returned her sister, earnestly; "it is +something far harder, something far more difficult, something that +will be a great sacrifice and cost us all tremendous efforts. But if +we are to keep a roof over our heads, if we are to live together in +anything like comfort, I don't see what else we can do, unless we go +out as companions and leave mother and Dulce in lodgings." + +"Oh, no, no; pray don't leave us!" implored Dulce, feeling that all +her strength and comfort lay near Nan. + +"I will not leave you, dear, if I can possibly help it," returned Nan, +gently. "Tell us what you mean, Phillis, for I see you have some sort +of plan in your head. There is nothing,--nothing," she continued, more +firmly, "that I would not do to make mother and Dulce happy. Speak +out; you are half afraid that I shall prove a coward, but you shall +see." + +"Dear Nan, no; you are as brave as possible. I am rather a coward +myself. Yes; I have a plan; but you have yourself put it into my head +by saying what you did about Lady Fitzroy." + +"About Lady Fitzroy?" + +"Yes; your telling her about our making our own dresses. Nan, you are +right: needlework is our forte; nothing is a trouble to us. Few girls +have such clever fingers, I believe; and then you and Dulce have such +taste. Mrs. Paine once told me that we were the best-dressed girls in +the neighborhood, and she wished Carrie looked half as well. I am +telling you this, not from vanity, but because I do believe we can +turn our one talent to account. We should be miserable governesses; we +do not want to separate and seek situations as lady helps or +companions; we do not mean to fail in letting lodgings; but if we do +not succeed as good dressmakers, never believe me again." + +"Dressmakers!" almost shrieked Dulce. But Nan, who had expressed +herself willing to take in plain needlework, only looked at her sister +with mute gravity; her little world was turned so completely upside +down, everything was so unreal, that nothing at this moment could have +surprised her. + +"Dressmakers!" she repeated, vaguely. + +"Yes, yes," replied Phillis, still more eagerly. The inspiration had +come to her in a moment, full-fledged and grown up, like Minerva from +the head of Jupiter. Just from those chance words of Nan's she had +grasped the whole thing in a moment. Now, indeed she felt that she was +clever; here at least was something striking and original; she took no +notice of Dulce's shocked exclamation; she fixed her eyes solemnly on +Nan. "Yes, yes; what does it matter what the outside world says? We +are not like other girls; we never were; people always said we were so +original. Necessity strikes out strange paths some times. We could not +do such a thing here; no, no, I never could submit to that myself," as +Nan involuntarily shuddered; "but at Hadleigh, where no one knows us, +where we shall be among strangers. And then, you see, Miss Monks is +dead." + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! what does she mean?" cried Dulce, despairingly; +"and what do we care about Miss Monks, if the creature be dead, or +about Miss Anybody, if we have got to do such dreadful things?" + +"My dear," returned Phillis, with compassionate irony, "if we had to +depend upon you for ideas----" and here she made an eloquent pause. +"Our last tenant for the Friary was Miss Monks, and Miss Monks was a +dressmaker; and, though perhaps I ought not to say it, it does seem a +direct leading of Providence, putting such a thought into my head." + +"I am afraid Dulce and I are very slow and stupid," returned Nan, +putting her hair rather wearily from her face: her pretty color had +quite faded during the last half-hour. "I think if you would tell us +plainly, exactly what you mean, Phillis, we should be able to +understand everything better." + +"My notion is this," began Phillis, slowly: "remember, I have not +thought it quite out, but I will give you my ideas just as they occur +to me. We will not say anything to mother just yet, until we have +thoroughly digested our plan. You and I, Nan, will run down to the +Friary, and reconnoitre the place, judge of its capabilities, and so +forth; and when we come back we will hold a family council." + +"That will be best," agreed Nan, who remembered, with sudden feelings +of relief, that Dick and his belongings would be safe in the Engadine +by that time. "But, Phillis, do you really and truly believe that we +could carry out such a scheme?" + +"Why not?" was the bold answer. "If we can work for ourselves, we can +for other people. I have a presentiment that we shall achieve a +striking success. We will make the old Friary as comfortable as +possible," she continued, cheerfully. "The good folk of Hadleigh will +be rather surprised when they see our pretty rooms. No horse-hair +sofa; no crochet antimacassars or hideous wax flowers; none of the +usual stock-in-trade. Dorothy will manage the house for us; and we +will all sit and work together, and mother will help us, and read to +us. Aren't you glad, Nan, that we all saved up for that splendid +sewing-machine?" + +"I do believe there is something, after all, in what you say," was +Nan's response; but Dulce was not so easily won over. + +"Do you mean to say that we shall put up a brass plate on the door, +with 'Challoner, dressmaker,' on it?" she observed, indignantly. A red +glow mounted to Nan's forehead; and even Phillis looked disconcerted. + +"I never thought of that: well, perhaps not. We might advertise at the +Library, or put cards in the shops. I do not think mother would ever +cross the threshold if she saw a brass plate." + +"No, no; I could not bear that," said Nan, faintly. A dim vision of +Dick standing at the gate, ruefully contemplating their name--her +name--in juxtaposition with "dressmaker," crossed her mind directly. + +"But we should have to carry parcels, and stand in people's halls, and +perhaps fit Mrs. Squails, the grocer's wife,--that fat old thing, you +know. How would you like to make a dress for Mrs. Squails, Phil?" +asked Dulce, with the malevolent desire of making Phillis as +uncomfortable as possible; but Phillis, who had rallied from her +momentary discomfiture, was not to be again worsted. + +"Dulce, you talk like a child; you are really a very silly little +thing. Do you think any work can degrade us or that we shall not be as +much gentlewomen at Hadleigh as we are here?" + +"But the parcels?" persisted Dulce. + +"I do not intend to carry any," was the imperturbable reply, "Dorothy +will do that; or we will hire a boy. As for waiting in halls, I don't +think any one will ask me to do that, as I should desire to be shown +into a room at once; and as for Mrs. Squails, if the poor old woman +honors me with her custom, I will turn her out a gown that shall be +the envy of Hadleigh." + +Dulce did not answer this, but the droop of her lip was piteous; it +melted Phillis at once. + +"Oh, do cheer up, you silly girl!" she said, with a coaxing face. +"What is the good of making ourselves more miserable than we need? If +you prefer the two little rooms with mother, say so; and Nan and I +will look out for old ladies at once." + +"No! no! Oh, pray don't leave me!" still more piteously. + +"Well, what will you have us do? we cannot starve; and we don't mean +to beg. Pluck up a little spirit, Dulce; see how good Nan is! You have +no idea how comfortable we should be!" she went on, with judicious +word-painting. "We should all be together,--that is the great thing. +Then we could talk over our work; and in the afternoon, when we felt +dreary, mother could read some interesting novel to us,"--a tremulous +sigh from Nan at this point. + +What a contrast to the afternoons at Glen Cottage,--tennis, and +five-o'clock tea, and the company of their young friends! Phillis +understood the sigh, and hurried on. + +"It will not be always work. We will have long country walks in the +evening; and then, there will be the garden and the sea-shore. Of +course we must have exercise and recreation, I am afraid we shall have +to do without society, for no one will visit ladies under such +circumstances; but I would rather do without people than without each +other, and so would Nan." + +"Yes, indeed!" broke in Nan; and now the tears were in her eyes. + +Dulce grew suddenly ashamed of herself. She got up in a little flurry, +and kissed them both. + +"I was very naughty; but I did not mean to be unkind. I would rather +carry parcels, and stand in halls,--yes, and even make gowns for Mrs. +Squails,--than lose you both. I will be good. I will not worry you any +more, Phil, with my nonsense; and I will work; you will see how I will +work," finished Dulce, breathlessly. + +"There's a darling!" said Nan; and then she added, in a tired voice, +"But it is two o'clock; and Dick is coming this morning to say +good-bye; and I want to ask you both particularly not to say a word to +him about this. Let him go away and enjoy himself, and think we are +going on as usual; it would spoil his holiday; and there is always +time enough for bad news," went on Nan, with a little tremble of her +lip. + +"Dear Nan, we understand," returned Phillis, gently; "and you are +right, as you always are. And now to bed,--to bed," she continued, in +a voice of enforced cheerfulness; and then they all kissed each other +very quietly and solemnly, and crept up as noiselessly as possible to +their rooms. + +Phillis and Dulce shared the same room; but Nan had a little chamber +to herself very near her mother's: a door connected the two rooms. Nan +closed this carefully, when she had ascertained that Mrs. Challoner +was still sleeping, and then sat down by the window, and looked out +into the gray glimmering light that preceded the dawn. + +Sleep; how could she sleep with all these thoughts surging through her +mind, and knowing that in a few hours Dick would come and say +good-bye? and here Nan broke down, and had such a fit of crying as she +had not had since her father died,--nervous, uncontrollable tears, +that it was useless to stem in her tired, overwrought state. + +They exhausted her, and disposed her for sleep. She was so chilled and +weary that she was glad to lie down in bed at last and close her eyes; +and she had scarcely done so before drowsiness crept over her, and she +knew no more until she found the sunshine flooding her little room, +and Dorothy standing by her bed asking rather crossly why no one +seemed disposed to wake this beautiful morning. + +"Am I late? Oh, I hope I am not late!" exclaimed Nan, springing up in +a moment. She dressed herself in quite a flurry, for fear she should +keep any one waiting. It was only at the last moment she remembered +the outburst of the previous night, and wondered with some dismay what +Dick would think of her pale cheeks and the reddened lines round her +eyes, and only hoped that he would not attribute them to his going +away. Nan was only just in time, for as she entered the breakfast-room +Dick came through the veranda and put in his head at the window. + +"Not at breakfast yet? and where are the others?" he asked in some +surprise, for the Challoners were early people, and very regular in +their habits. + +"We sat up rather late last night, talking," returned Nan, giving him +her hand without looking at him, and yet Dick showed to advantage this +morning in his new tweed travelling suit. + +"Well, I have only got ten minutes. I managed to give the pater the +slip: he will be coming after me, I believe, if I stay longer. This is +first-rate, having you all to myself this last morning. But what's up, +Nan? you don't seem quite up to the mark. You are palish, you know, +and----" here Dick paused in pained embarrassment. Were those traces +of tears? had Nan really been crying? was she sorry about his going +away? And now there was an odd lump in Dick's throat. + +Nan understood the pause and got frightened. + +"It is nothing. I have a slight headache; there was a little domestic +worry that wanted putting to right," stammered Nan; "it worried me, +for I am stupid at such things, you know." + +She was explaining herself somewhat lamely, and to no purpose, for +Dick did not believe her in the least. "Domestic worry!" as though she +cared for such rubbish as that; as though any amount could make her +cry,--her, his bright, high spirited Nan! No; she had been fretting +about their long separation, and his father's unkindness, and the +difficulties ahead of them. + +"I want you to give me a rose," he said, suddenly, _a propos_ of +nothing, as it seemed; but looking up, Nan caught a wistful gleam in +his eyes, and hesitated. Was it not Dick who had told her that +anecdote about the queen, or was it Lothair? and did not a certain +meaning attach to this gift? Dick was forever picking roses for her; +but he had never given her one, except with that meaning look on his +face. + +"You are hesitating," he said, reproachfully; "and on my last morning, +when we shall not see each other for months;" And Nan moved towards +the veranda slowly, and gathered a crimson one without a word, and put +it in his hand. + +"Thank you," he said, quite quietly; but he detained the hand as well +as the rose for a moment. "One day I will show you this again, and +tell you what it means if you do not know; and then we shall see, ah, +Nan, my----" He paused as Phillis's step entered the room, and said +hurriedly, in a low voice, "Good-bye; I will not go in again. I don't +want to see any of them, only you,--only you. Good-bye: take care of +yourself for my sake, Nan." And Dick looked at her wistfully, and +dropped her hand. + +"Has he gone?" asked Phillis, looking up in surprise as her sister +came through the open window; "has he gone without finding anything +out?" + +"Yes, he has gone, and he does not know anything," replied Nan, in a +subdued voice, as she seated herself behind the urn. It was over now, +and she was ready for anything. "Take care of yourself for my sake, +Nan!"--that was ringing in her ears; but she had not said a word in +reply. Only the rose lay in his hand,--her parting gift, and perhaps +her parting pledge. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A LONG DAY. + + +Nan never recalled the memory of that "long gray day," as she inwardly +termed it, without a shiver of discomfort. + +Never but once in her bright young life had she known such a day, and +that was when her dead father lay in the darkened house, and her +widowed mother had crept weeping into her arms as to her only +remaining refuge; but that stretched so far back into the past that it +had grown into a vague remembrance. + +It was not only that Dick was gone, though the pain of that separation +was far greater than she would have believed possible, but a moral +earthquake had shattered their little world, involving them in utter +chaos. + +It was only yesterday that she was singing ballads in the Longmead +drawing-room,--only yesterday; but to-day everything was changed. The +sun shone, the birds sang, every one ate and drank and moved about as +usual. Nan talked and smiled, and no stranger would have guessed that +much was amiss; nevertheless, a weight lay heavy on her spirits, and +Nan knew in her secret heart that she could never be again the same +light-hearted, easy-going creature that she was yesterday. + +Later on, the sisters confessed to each other that the day had been +perfectly interminable; the hours dragged on slowly; the sun seemed as +though it never meant to set; and to add to their trouble, their +mother looked so ill when she came downstairs, wrapped in her soft +white shawl in spite of the heat, that Nan thought of sending for a +doctor, and only refrained at the remembrance that they had no right +to such luxuries now except in cases of necessity. + +Then Dorothy was in one of her impracticable moods, throwing cold +water on all her young mistress's suggestions, and doing her best to +disarrange the domestic machinery. Dorothy suspected a mystery +somewhere; her young ladies had sat up half the night, and looked pale +and owlish in the morning. If they chose to keep her in the dark and +not take her into their confidence, it was their affair; but she meant +to show them what she thought of their conduct. So she contradicted +and snapped, until Nan told her wearily that she was a disagreeable +old thing, and left her and Susan to do as they liked. She knew Mr. +Trinder was waiting for her in the dining-room, and, as Mrs. Challoner +was not well enough to see him, she and Phillis must entertain him. + +He had slept at a friend's house a few miles from Oldfield, and was to +lunch at Glen Cottage and take the afternoon train to London. + +He was not sorry when he heard that Mrs. Challoner was too indisposed +to receive him. In spite of his polite expressions of regret, he had +found the poor lady terribly trying on the previous evening. She was a +bad manager, and had muddled her affairs, and she did not seem to +understand half of what he told her; and her tears and lamentations +when she had realized the truth had been too much for the soft hearted +old bachelor, though people did call him a woman-hater. + +"But I never could bear to see a woman cry; it is as bad as watching +an animal in pain," he half growled, as he drew out his red +pocket-handkerchief and used it rather noisily. + +It was easier work to explain everything to these two bright, sensible +girls. Phillis listened and asked judicious questions; but Nan sat +with downcast face, plaiting the table-cloth between her restless +fingers, and thinking of Dick at odd intervals. + +She took it all in, however, and roused up in earnest when Mr. Trinder +had finished his explanations, and Phillis began to talk in her turn; +she was actually taking the old lawyer into her confidence, and +detailing their scheme in the most business-like way. + +"The mother does not know yet,--this is all in confidence; but Nan and +I have made up our minds to take this step," finished the young +philosopher, calmly. + +"Bless my soul," ejaculated Mr. Trinder,--he had given vent to this +expression at various intervals, but had not further interrupted her. +"Bless my soul! my dear young ladies, I think--but excuse me if I am +too abrupt, but you must be dreaming." + +Phillis shook her head smilingly; and as Dorothy came into the room +that moment to lay the luncheon, she proposed a turn in the garden, +and fetched Mr. Trinder's hat herself, and guided him to a side-walk, +where they could not be seen from the drawing-room windows. Nan +followed them, and tried to keep step with Mr. Trinder's shambling +footsteps, as he walked between the girls with a hot perplexed face, +and still muttering to himself at intervals. + +"It is all in confidence," repeated Phillis, in the same calm voice. + +"And you are actually serious? you are not joking?" + +"Do your clients generally joke when they are ruined?" returned +Phillis, with natural exasperation. "Do you think Nan and I are in +such excellent spirits that we could originate such a piece of +drollery? Excuse me, Mr. Trinder, but I must say I do not think your +remark quite well timed." And Phillis turned away with a little +dignity. + +"No, no! now you are put out, and no wonder!" returned Mr. Trinder, +soothingly; and he stood quite still on the gravel path, and fixed his +keen little eyes on the two young creatures before him,--Nan, with her +pale cheeks and sad eyes, and Phillis, alert, irritated, full of +repressed energy. "Dear, dear! what a pity!" groaned the old man; "two +such bonnie lasses and to think a little management and listening to +my advice would have kept the house over your heads, if only your +mother would have hearkened to me!" + +"It is too late for all that now, Mr. Trinder," replied Phillis, +impatiently: "isn't it waste of time crying over spilt milk when we +must be taking our goods to market? We must make the best of our +little commodities," sighed the girl. "If we were only clever and +accomplished, we might do better; but now----" and Phillis left her +sentence unfinished, which was a way she had, and which people thought +very telling. + +"But, my dear young lady, with all your advantages, and----" Here +Phillis interrupted him rather brusquely. + +"What advantages? do you mean we had a governess? Well, we had three, +one after the other; and they were none of them likely to turn out +first-rate pupils. Oh, we are well enough, compared to other girls: if +we had not to earn our own living, we should not be so much amiss. +But, Nan, why don't you speak? why do you leave me all the hard work? +Did you not tell us last night that you were not fit for a +governess?" + +Nan felt rather ashamed of her silence after this. It was true that +she was leaving all the onus of their plan on Phillis, and it was +certainly time for her to come to her rescue. So she quietly but +rather shyly endorsed her sister's speech, and assured Mr. Trinder +that they had carefully considered the matter from every point of +view, and, though it was a very poor prospect and involved a great +deal of work and self-sacrifice, she, Nan, thought that Phillis was +right, and that it was the best--indeed the only--thing they could do +under the circumstances. + +"For myself, I prefer it infinitely to letting lodgings," finished +Nan: and Phillis looked at her gratefully. + +But Mr. Trinder was obstinate and had old-fashioned views, and argued +the whole thing in his dictatorial masculine way. They sat down to +luncheon, and presently sent Dorothy away,--a piece of independence +that bitterly offended that crabbed but faithful individual,--and +wrangled busily through the whole of the meal. + +Mr. Trinder never could remember afterwards whether it was lamb or +mutton he had eaten; he had a vague idea that Dulce had handed him the +mint-sauce, and that he had declined it and helped himself to salad. +The doubt disturbed him for the first twenty miles of his homeward +journey. "Good gracious! for a man not to know whether he is eating +lamb or mutton!" he soliloquized, as he vainly tried to enjoy his +usual nap; "but then I never was so upset in my life. Those pretty +creatures, and Challoners too,--bless my soul!" And here the lawyer's +cogitations became confused and misty. + +Nan, who had more than once seen tears in the lawyer's shrewd little +gray eyes, had been very gentle and tolerant over the old man's +irritability; but Phillis had resented his caustic speeches somewhat +hotly. Dulce, who was on her best behavior, was determined not to +interfere or say a word to thwart her sisters: she even went so far as +to explain to Mr. Trinder that they would not have to carry parcels, +as Phillis meant to hire a boy. She had no idea that this magnanimous +speech was in a figurative manner the last straw that broke the +camel's back. Mr. Trinder pushed back his chair hastily, made some +excuse that his train must be due, and beat a retreat an hour before +the time, unable to pursue such a painful subject any longer. + +Nan rose, with a sigh of relief, as soon as the door closed upon their +visitors, and took refuge in the shady drawing-room with her mother, +whom she found in a very tearful, querulous state, requiring a great +deal of soothing. They had decided that no visitors were to be +admitted that afternoon. + +"You may say your mistress is indisposed with a bad headache, Dorothy, +and that we are keeping the house quiet," Nan remarked, with a little +dignity, with the remembrance of that late passage of arms. + +"Very well, Miss Nan," returned the old servant. However, she was a +little cowed by Nan's manner: such an order had never before been +given in the cottage. Mrs. Challoner's headaches were common events in +every-day life, and had never been known before to interfere with +their afternoon receptions. A little eau de Cologne and extra petting, +a stronger cup of tea served up to her in her bedroom, had been the +only remedies; the girls had always had their tennis as usual, and the +sound of their voices and laughter had been as music in their mother's +ears. + +"Very well, Miss Nan," was all Dorothy ventured to answer; but she +withdrew with a face puckered up with anxiety. She took in the +tea-tray unbidden at an earlier hour than usual; there were Dulce's +favorite hot cakes, and some rounds of delicately-buttered toast, "for +the young ladies have not eaten above a morsel at luncheon," said +Dorothy in explanation to her mistress. + +"Never mind us," returned Nan, with a friendly nod at the old woman: +"it has been so hot to-day," And then she coaxed her mother to eat, +and made believe herself to enjoy the repast while she wondered how +many more evenings they would spend in the pretty drawing-room on +which they had expended so much labor. + +Nan had countermanded the late dinner, which they all felt would be a +pretence and mockery; and as Mrs. Challoner's headache refused to +yield to the usual remedies, she was obliged to retire to bed as soon +as the sun set, and the three girls went out in the garden, and walked +up and down the lawn with their arms interlaced, while Dorothy watched +them from the pantry window, and wiped away a tear or two, as she +washed up the tea-things. + +"How I should like a long walk?" exclaimed Dulce, impatiently. "It is +so narrow and confined here; but it would never do: we should meet +people." + +"No, it would never do," agreed her sisters, feeling a fresh pang that +such avoidance was necessary. They had never hidden anything before, +and the thought that this mystery lay between them and their friends +was exquisitely painful. + +"I feel as though I never cared to see one of them again!" sighed poor +Nan, for which speech she was rather sharply rebuked by Phillis. + +They settled a fair amount of business before they went to bed that +night; and when Dorothy brought in the supper-tray, bearing a little +covered dish in triumph, which she set down before Nan, Nan looked at +her with grave, reproachful eyes, in there was a great deal of +kindness. + +"You should not do this, Dorothy," she said, very gently: "we cannot +afford such delicacies now." + +"It is your favorite dish, Miss Nan," returned Dorothy, quite ignoring +this remark. "Susan has cooked it to a nicety; but it will be spoiled +if it is not eaten hot." And she stood over them, while Nan dispensed +the dainty. "You must eat it while it is hot," she kept saying, as she +fidgeted about the room, taking up things and putting them down again. +Phillis looked at Nan with a comical expression of dismay. + +"Dorothy, come here," she exclaimed, at last, pushing away her plate. +"Don't you see that Susan is wasting all her talents on us, and that +we can't eat to-day?" + +"Every one can eat if they try, Miss Phillis," replied Dorothy, +oracularly. "But a thing like that must be hot, or it is spoiled." + +"Oh, never mind about it being hot," returned Phillis, beginning to +laugh. She was so tired, and Dorothy was such a droll old thing; and +how were even stewed pigeons to be appetizing under the +circumstances? + +"Oh, you may laugh," began Dorothy, in an offended tone; but Phillis +took hold of her and nearly shook her. + +"Oh, what a stupid old thing you are! Don't you know what a silly, +aggravating old creature you can be when you like? If I laugh, it is +because everything is so ludicrous and wretched. Nan and Dulce are not +laughing." + +"No, indeed," put in Dulce; "we are far, far too unhappy!" + +"What is it, Miss Nan?" asked Dorothy, sidling up to her in a coaxing +manner. "I am only an old servant, but it was me that put Miss Dulce +in her father's arms,--'the pretty lamb,' as he called her, and she +with a skin like a lily. If there is trouble, you would not keep it +from her old nurse, surely?" + +"No, indeed, Dorothy: we want to tell you," returned Nan touched by +this appeal; and then she quietly recapitulated the main points that +concerned their difficulties,--their mother's loss, their future +poverty, the necessity for leaving Glen Cottage and settling down at +the Friary. + +"We shall all have to work," finished Nan, with prudent vagueness, not +daring to intrust their plan to Dorothy: "the cottage is small, and, +of course, we can only keep one servant." + +"I dare say I shall be able to manage if you will help me a little," +returned Dorothy, drying her old eyes with the corner of her apron. +"Dear, dear! to think of such an affliction coming upon my mistress +and the dear young ladies! It is like an earthquake or a flood, or +something sudden and unexpected,--Lord deliver us! And to think of my +speaking crossly to you Miss Nan, and you with all this worry on your +mind!" + +"We will not think of that," returned Nan, soothingly. "Susan's +quarter will be up shortly, and we must get her away as soon as +possible. My great fear is that the work may be too much for you, poor +Dorothy; and that--that--we may have to keep you waiting sometimes for +your wages," she added, rather hesitatingly fearing to offend +Dorothy's touchy temper, and yet determined to put the whole matter +clearly before her. + +"I don't think we need talk about that," returned Dorothy, with +dignity. "I have not saved up my wages for nineteen years without +having a nest-egg laid up for rainy days. Wages,--when I mention the +word, Miss Nan," went on Dorothy, waxing somewhat irate, "it will be +time enough to enter upon that subject. I haven't deserved such a +speech; no, that I haven't," went on Dorothy, with a sob. "Wages, +indeed!" + +"Now, nursey, you shan't be cross with Nan," cried Dulce, throwing her +arms round the old woman; for, in spite of her eighteen years, she was +still Dorothy's special charge. "She's quite right; it may be an +unpleasant subject, but we will not have you working for us for +nothing." + +"Very well, Miss Dulce," returned Dorothy, in a choked voice preparing +to withdraw; but Nan caught hold of the hard work-worn hand, and held +her fast. + +"Oh, Dorothy, you would not add to our trouble now, when we are so +terribly unhappy! I never meant to hurt your feelings by what I said. +If you will only go to the Friary and help us to make the dear mother +comfortable, I, for one, will be deeply grateful." + +"And you will not talk of wages?" asked Dorothy, mollified by Nan's +sweet, pleading tones. + +"Not until we can afford to do so," returned Nan, hastily, feeling +that this was a safe compromise, and that they should be eked out +somehow. And then, the stewed pigeons being regarded as a failure, +Dorothy consented to remove the supper tray, and the long day was +declared at an end. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE FRIARY. + + +Oldfield was rather mystified by the Challoners' movements. There were +absolutely three afternoons during which Nan and her sisters were +invisible. There was a tennis-party at the Paines' on one of these +days, but at the last minute they had excused themselves. Nan's +prettily-worded note was declared very vague and unsatisfactory, and +on the following afternoon there was a regular invasion of the +cottage,--Carrie Paine, and two of the Twentyman girls, and Adelaide +Sartoris and her young brother Albert. + +They found Dulce alone, looking very sad and forlorn. + +Nan and Phillis had gone down to Hadleigh that morning, she explained +in rather a confused way: they were not expected back until the +following evening. + +On being pressed by Miss Sartoris as to the reason of this sudden +trip, she added, rather awkwardly, that it was on business; her mother +was not well,--oh, very far from well; and they had to look at a house +that belonged to them, as the tenant had lately died. + +This was all very plausible; but Dulce's manner was so constrained, +and she spoke with such hesitation, that Miss Sartoris was convinced +that something lay behind. They went out in the garden, however, and +chose sides for their game of tennis; and, though Dulce had never +played so badly in her life, the fresh air and exercise did her good, +and at the end of the afternoon she looked a little less drooping. + +It was felt to be a failure, however, by the whole party; and when tea +was over, there was no mention of a second game. "No, we will not stay +any longer," observed Isabella Twentyman, kissing the girl with much +affection. "Of course we understand that you will be wanting to sit +with your mother." + +"Yes, and if you do not come in to-morrow we shall quite know how it +is," added Miss Sartoris, good-naturedly, for which Dulce thanked her +and looked relieved. + +She stood at the hall door watching them as they walked down the +village street, swinging their racquets and talking merrily. + +"What happy girls!" she thought, with a sigh. Miss Sartoris was an +heiress, and the Twentymans were rich, and every one knew that Carrie +and Sophy Paine would have money. "None of them will have to work," +said poor Dulce sorrowfully to herself: "they can go on playing tennis +and driving and riding and dancing as long as they like." And then she +went up to her mother's room with lagging footsteps and a cloudy +brow. + +"You may depend upon it there is something amiss with those +Challoners," said Miss Sartoris, as soon as they were out of sight of +the cottage; "no one has seen anything of them for the last three or +four days, and I never saw Dulce so unlike herself." + +"Oh, I hope not," returned Carrie, gravely, who had heard enough from +her father to guess that there was pecuniary embarrassment at the +bottom. "Poor little thing, she did seem rather subdued. How many +people do you expect to muster to-morrow, Adelaide?" and then Miss +Sartoris understood that the subject was to be changed. + +While Dulce was trying to entertain her friends, Nan and Phillis were +reconnoitring the Friary. + +They had taken an early train to London, and had contrived to reach +Hadleigh a little before three. They went first to Beach House,--a +small unpretending house on the Parade, kept by a certain Mrs. Mozley, +with whom they had once lodged after Dulce had the measles. + +The good woman received them with the utmost cordiality. Her place was +pretty nearly filled, she told them proudly; the drawing-room had been +taken for three months, and an elderly couple were in the +dining-room. + +"But there is a bedroom I could let you have for one night," finished +Mrs. Mozley, "and there is the little side parlor where you could have +your tea and breakfast." And when Nan had thanked her, and suggested +the addition of chops to their evening meal, they left their modest +luggage and set out for the Friary. + +Phillis would have gone direct to their destination, but Nan pleaded +for one turn on the Parade. She wanted a glimpse of the sea, and it +was such a beautiful afternoon. + +The tide was out, and the long black breakwaters were uncovered; the +sun was shining on the wet shingles and narrow strip of yellow sand. +The sea looked blue and unruffled, with little sparkles and gleams of +light, and white sails glimmered on the horizon. Some boatmen were +dragging a boat down the beach; it grated noisily over the pebbles. A +merry party were about to embark,--a tall man in a straw hat, and two +boys in knickerbockers. Their sisters were watching them. "Oh, Reggie, +do be careful!" Nan heard one of the girls say, as he waded knee-deep +into the water. + +"Come, Nan, we ought not to dawdle like this!" exclaimed Phillis, +impatiently; and they went on quickly, past the long row of +old-fashioned white houses with the green before them and that sweet +Sussex border of soft feathery tamarisk, and then past the +cricket-field, and down to the whitewashed cottage of the Preventive +Station; and then they turned back and walked towards the Steyne, and +after that Nan declared herself satisfied. + +There were plenty of people on the Parade, and most of them looked +after the two girls as they passed. Nan's sweet bloom and graceful +carriage always attracted notice; and Phillis, although she generally +suffered from comparison with her sister, was still very +uncommon-looking. + +"I should like to know who those young ladies are," observed a +military-looking man with a white moustache, who was standing at the +Library door waiting for his daughter to make some purchases. "Look at +them, Elizabeth: one of them is such a pretty girl, and they walk so +well." + +"Dear father, I suppose they are only some new-comers: we shall see +their names down in the visitors' list by and by;" and Miss Middleton +smiled as she took her father's arm, for she was slightly lame. She +knew strangers always interested him, and that he would make it his +business for the next few days to find out everything about them. + +"Did you see that nice-looking woman?" asked Phillis, when they had +passed. "She was quite young, only her hair was gray: fancy, a +gray-haired girl!" + +"Oh, she must be older than she looks," returned Nan, indifferently. + +She was not looking at people: she was far too busily engaged +identifying each well-remembered spot. + +There was the shabby little cottage, where she and her mother had once +stayed after an illness of Mrs. Challoner's. What odd little rooms +they had occupied, looking over a strip of garden-ground full of +marigolds! "Marigolds-all-in-a-row Cottage," she had named it in her +home letters. It was nearly opposite the White House where Mrs. Cheyne +lived. Nan remembered her,--a handsome, sad-looking woman, who always +wore black, and drove out in such handsome carriages. + +"Always alone; how sad!" Nan thought; and she wondered, as they walked +past the low stone walls with grassy mounds slopping from them, and a +belt of shrubbery shutting out views of the house, whether Mrs. Cheyne +lived there still. + +They had reached a quiet country corner now; there was a clump of +trees, guarded by posts and chains; a white house stood far back. +There were two or three other houses, and a cottage dotted down here +and there. The road looked shady and inviting. Nan began to look about +her more cheerfully. + +"I am glad it is so quiet, and so far away from the town, and that our +neighbors will not be able to overlook us." + +"I was just thinking of that as a disadvantage," returned Phillis, +with placid opposition. "It is a pity, under the circumstances, that +we are not nearer the town." And after that Nan held her peace. + +They were passing an old-fashioned house with a green door in the +wall, when it suddenly opened, and a tall, grave looking young man, in +clerical attire, came out quickly upon them, and then drew back to let +them pass. + +"I suppose that is the new vicar?" whispered Phillis, when they had +gone a few steps. "You know poor old Dr. Musgrave is dead, and most +likely that is his successor." + +"I forgot that was the vicarage," returned Nan. But happily she did +not turn round to look at it again; if she had done so, she would have +seen the young clergyman still standing by the green door watching +them. "It is a shabby, dull old house in front; but I remember that +when mother and I returned Mrs. Musgrave's call we were shown into +such a dear old-fashioned drawing-room, with windows looking out on +such a pleasant garden. I quite fell in love with it." + +"Well, we shall be near neighbors," observed Phillis, somewhat +shortly, as she paused before another green door, set in a long blank +wall; "for here we are at the Friary, and I had better just run over +the way and get the key from Mrs. Crump." + +Nan nodded, and then stood like an image of patience before the +shabby green door. Would it open and let them into a new untried life? +What sort of fading hopes, of dim regrets, would be left outside when +they crossed the threshold? The thought of the empty rooms, not yet +swept and garnished, made her shiver: the upper windows looked blankly +at her, like blind, unrecognizing eyes. She was quite glad when +Phillis joined her again, swinging the key on her little finger, and +humming a tune in forced cheerfulness. + +"What a dull, shut-in place! I think the name of Friary suits it +exactly," observed Nan, disconsolately, as they went up the little +flagged path, bordered with lilac-bushes. "It feels like a miniature +convent or prison: we might have a grating in the door, and answer all +outsiders through it." + +"Nonsense!" returned Phillis, who was determined to take a bright view +of things. "Don't go into the house just yet, I want to see the +garden." And she led the way down a gloomy side-path, with unclipped +box and yews, that made it dark and decidedly damp. This brought them +to a little lawn, with tall, rank grass that might have been mown for +hay, and some side-beds full of old fashioned flowers, such as lupins +and monkshood, pinks and small pansies; a dreary little greenhouse, +with a few empty flower-pots and a turned-up box was in one corner, +and an attempt at a rockery, with a periwinkle climbing over it, and +an undesirable number of oyster-shells. + +An old medlar tree, very warped and gnarled, was at the bottom of the +lawn, and beyond this a small kitchen-garden, with abundance of +gooseberry and currant-bushes, and vast resources in the shape of +mint, marjoram, and lavender. + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! what a wretched little place after our dear old +Glen Cottage garden!" And in spite of her good resolutions, Nan's eyes +grew misty. + +"Comparisons are odious," retorted Phillis, briskly. "We have just to +make the best of things,--and I don't deny they are horrid,--and put +all the rest away, between lavender, on the shelves of our memory." +And she smiled grimly as she picked one of the gray spiky flowers. + +And then, as they walked round the weedy paths, she pointed out how +different it would look when the lawn was mown, and all the weeds and +oyster-shells removed, and the box and yews clipped, and a little +paint put on the greenhouse. + +"And look at that splendid passion-flower, growing like a weed over +the back of the cottage," she remarked, with a wave of her hand: "it +only wants training and nailing up. Poor Miss Monks has neglected the +garden shamefully; but then she was always ailing." + +They went into the cottage after this. The entry was rather small and +dark. The kitchen came first: it was a tolerable-sized apartment, with +two windows looking out on the lilacs and the green door and the blank +wall. + +"I am afraid Dorothy will find it a little dull," Nan observed, +rather ruefully. And again she thought the name of Friary was well +given to this gruesome cottage; but she cheered up when Phillis opened +cupboards and showed her a light little scullery, and thought that +perhaps they could make it comfortable for Dorothy. + +The other two rooms looked upon the garden: one had three windows, and +was really a very pleasant parlor. + +"This must be our work-room," began Phillis, solemnly, as she stood in +the centre of the empty room, looking round her with bright knowing +glances. "Oh, what an ugly paper, Nan! but we can easily put up a +prettier one. The smaller room must be where we live and take our +meals: it is not quite so cheerful as this. It is so nice having this +side-window; it will give us more light, and we shall be able to see +who comes in at the door." + +"Yes, that is an advantage," assented Nan. She was agreeably surprised +to find such a good-sized room in the cottage; it was decidedly low, +and the windows were not plate-glass, but she thought that on summer +mornings they might sit there very comfortably looking out at the lawn +and the medlar-tree. + +"We shall be glad of these cupboards," she suggested, after a pause, +while Phillis, took out sundry pieces of tape from her pocket and +commenced making measurements in a business-like manner. "Our work +will make such a litter, and I should like things to be as tidy as +possible. I am thinking," she continued, "we might have mother's great +carved wardrobe in the recess behind the door. It is really a +magnificent piece of furniture, and in a work-room it would not be so +out of place; we could hang up the finished and unfinished dresses in +it out of the dust. And we could have the little drawing-room +chiffonnier between the windows for our pieces, and odds and ends in +the cupboards. It is a pity our table is round; but perhaps it will +look all the more comfortable. The sewing-machine must be in the +side-window," added Nan, who was quite in her element now, for she +loved all housewifely arrangements; "and mother's easy-chair and +little table must stand by the fireplace. My davenport will be useful +for papers and accounts." + +"It is really a very convenient room," returned Phillis, in a +satisfied voice, when they had exhausted its capabilities; and, though +the second parlor was small and dull in comparison, even Nan dropped +no disparaging word. + +Both of them agreed it would do very well. There was a place for the +large roomy couch that their mother so much affected, and their +favorite chairs and knick-knacks would soon make it look cosey: and +after this they went upstairs hand in hand. + +There were only four bedrooms, and two of these were not large; the +most cheerful one was, of course, allotted to their mother, and the +next in size must be for Phillis and Dulce. Nan was to have a small +one next to her mother. + +The evening was drawing on by the time they had finished their +measurements and left the cottage. Nan, who was tired and wanted her +tea, was for hurrying on to Beach House; but Phillis insisted on +calling at the Library. She wanted to put some questions to Miss +Milner. To-morrow they would have the paper-hanger, and look out for a +gardener, and there was Mrs. Crump to interview about cleaning down +the cottage. + +"Oh, very well," returned Nan, wearily, and she followed Phillis into +the shop, where good-natured bustling Miss Milner came to them at +once. + +Phillis put the question to her in a low voice, for there were other +customers exchanging books over the counter. The same young clergyman +they had before noticed had just bought a local paper, and was waiting +evidently for a young lady who was turning over some magazines quite +close to them. + +"Do we know of a good dressmaker in the place?" repeated Miss Milner, +in her loud cheerful voice, very much to Nan's discomfort, for the +clergyman looked up from his paper at once. "Miss Monks was a +tolerable fit, but, poor thing! she died a few weeks ago; and Mrs. +Slasher, who lives over Viner's the haberdasher's, cannot hold a +candle to her. Miss Masham there,"--pointing to a smart ringleted +young person, evidently her assistant,--"had her gown ruined by her: +hadn't you, Miss Masham?" + +Miss Masham simpered, but her reply was inaudible; but the young lady +who was standing near them suddenly turned round: + +"There is Mrs. Langley, who lives just by. I shall be very happy to +give these ladies her address, for she is a widow with little +children, and I am anxious to procure her work--" and then she looked +at Nan, and hesitated; "that is, if you are not very particular," she +added, with sudden embarrassment, for even in her morning dress there +was a certain style about Nan that distinguished her from other +people. + +"Thank you, Miss Drummond," returned Miss Milner, gratefully. "Shall I +write down the address for you, ma'am?" + +"Yes,--no,--thank you very much, but perhaps it does not matter," +returned Nan, hurriedly, feeling awkward for the first time in her +life. But Phillis, who realized all the humor of the situation, +interposed: + +"The address will do us no harm, and we may as well have it, although +we should not trouble Mrs. Langley. I will call in again, Miss Milner, +to-morrow morning, and then I will explain what it is we really want. +We are in a hurry now," continued Phillis, loftily, turning away with +a dignified inclination of her head toward the officious stranger. + +Phillis was not prepossessed in her favor. She was a dark, wiry little +person, not exactly plain, but with an odd, comical face; and she was +dressed so dowdily and with such utter disregard of taste that Phillis +instinctively felt Mrs. Langley was not to be dreaded. + +"What a queer little body! Do you think she belongs to him?" she asked +Nan, as they walked rapidly toward Beach House. + +"What in the world made you strike in after that fashion?" demanded +the young man, as he and his companion followed more slowly in the +strangers' footsteps. "That is just your way, Mattie, interfering and +meddling in other folks' affairs. Why cannot you mind your own +business sometimes," he continued, irritably, "instead of putting your +foot into other people's?" + +"You are as cross as two sticks this afternoon, Archie," returned his +sister, composedly. She had a sharp little pecking voice that seemed +to match her, somehow; for she was not unlike a bright-eyed bird, and +had quick pouncing movements. "Wait a moment: my braid has got torn, +and is dragging." + +"I wish you would think a little more of my position, and take greater +pains with your appearance," returned her brother, in an annoyed +voice. "What would Grace say to see what a fright you make of +yourself? It is a sin and a shame for a woman to be untidy or careless +in her dress; it is unfeminine! it is unlady-like!" hurling each +separate epithet at her. + +Perhaps Miss Drummond was used to these compliments, for she merely +pinned her braid without seeming the least put out. + +"I think I am a little shabby," she remarked, tranquilly, as they at +last walked on. "Perhaps Mrs. Langley had better make me a dress too," +with a laugh, for, in spite of her sharp voice, she was an +even-tempered little body; but this last remark only added fuel to his +wrath. + +"You really have less sense than a child. The idea of recommending a +person like Mrs. Langley to those young ladies,--a woman who works for +Miss Masham!" + +"They were very plainly dressed, Archie," returned poor Mattie, who +felt this last snub acutely; for, if there was one thing upon which +she prided herself, it was her good sense. "They had dark print +dresses,--not as good as the one I have on,--and nothing could be +quieter." + +"Oh, you absurd little goose!" exclaimed her brother, and he burst +into a laugh, for the drollery of the comparison restored him to +instant good humor. "If you cannot see the difference between that +frumpish gown of yours, with its little bobtails and fringes, and +those pretty dresses before us, I must say you are as blind as a bat, +Mattie." + +"Oh, never mind my gown," returned Mattie, with a sigh. + +She had had these home-thrusts to meet and parry nearly every day, +ever since she had come to keep house for this fastidious brother. She +was a very active, bustling little person, who had done a great deal +of tough work in her day, but she never could be made to see that +unless a woman add the graces of life to the cardinal virtues she is, +comparatively speaking, a failure in the eyes of the other sex. + +So, though Mattie was a frugal housekeeper, and worked from morning to +night in his service,--the veriest little drudge that was ever +seen,--she was a perpetual eyesore to her brother, who loved feminine +grace and repose,--whose tastes were fastidious and somewhat +arbitrary. And so it was poor Mattie had more censure than praise, and +wrote home piteous letters complaining that nothing she did seemed to +satisfy Archie, and that her mother had made a great mistake in +sending her, and not Grace, to preside over his bachelor +establishment. + +"Oh, Phillis, how shall we have courage to publish our plan?" +exclaimed Nan, when they were at last discussing the much-needed tea +and chops in the little parlor at Beach House. + +The window was wide open. The returning tide was coming in with a +pleasant ripple and wash over the shingle. The Parade was nearly +empty; but some children's voices sounded from the green space before +the houses. The brown sail of a fishing craft dipped into the horizon. +It was so cool, so quiet, so restful; but Nan's eyes were weary, and +she put the question wistfully. + +Phillis looked into the teapot to gain a moment's reprieve; the +corners of her mouth had an odd pucker in them. + +"I never said it was not hard," she burst out at last. "I felt like a +fool myself while I was speaking to Miss Milner; but then that +clergyman was peeping at us between the folds of his paper. He seemed +a nice-looking, gentlemanly sort of man. Do you think that queer +little lady in the plaid dress could be his wife? Oh, no; I remember +Miss Milner addressed her as Miss Drummond. Then she must be his +sister: how odd!" + +"Why should it be odd?" remarked Nan, absently, who had not +particularly noticed them. + +"Oh, she was such a dowdy little thing, not a bit nice-looking, and he +was quite handsome, and looked rather distinguished. You know I always +take stock of people, and make up my mind about them at once. And then +we are to be such close neighbors." + +"I don't suppose we shall see much of them," was Nan's somewhat +depressed reply; and then, as they had finished their tea they placed +themselves at the open window, and began to talk about the business of +next day; and, in discussing cupboards and new papers, Nan forgot her +fatigue, and grew so interested that it was quite late before they +thought of retiring to rest. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"TELL US ALL ABOUT IT, NAN." + + +Nan overslept herself, and was rather late the next morning; but as +she entered the parlor, with an exclamation of penitence for her +tardiness, she found her little speech was addressed to the empty +walls. A moment after, a shadow crossed the window, and Phillis came +in. + +She went up to Nan and kissed her, and there was a gleam of fun in her +eyes. + +"Oh, you lazy girl!" she said; "leaving me all the hard work to do. Do +you know, I have been around to the Library, and have had it all out +with Miss Milner; and in the Steyne I met the clergyman again, +and--would you believe it; he looked quite disappointed because you +were not there!" + +"Nonsense!" returned Nan, sharply. She never liked this sort of joking +speeches: they seemed treasonable to Dick. + +"Oh, but he did," persisted Phillis, who was a little excited and +reckless after her morning's work. "He threw me a disparaging glance, +which said, as plainly as possible, 'Why are you not the other one?' +That comes from having a sister handsomer than one's self." + +"Oh, Phillis! when people always think you so nice, and when you are +so clever!" + +Phillis got up and executed a little courtesy in the prettiest way, +and then she sank down upon her chair in pretended exhaustion. + +"What I have been through! But I have come out of it alive. Confess, +now, there's a dear, that you could not have done it!" + +"No; indeed," with an alarmed air. "Do you really mean to say that you +actually told Miss Milner what we meant to do?" + +"I told her everything. There, sit down and begin your breakfast, Nan, +or we shall never be ready. I found her alone in the shop. Thank +goodness, that Miss Masham was not there. I have taken a dislike to +that simpering young person, and would rather make a dress for Mrs. +Squails any day than for her. I told her the truth, without a bit of +disguise. Would you believe it, the good creature actually cried about +it! she quite upset me too. 'Such young ladies! dear, dear: one does +not often see such,' she kept saying over and over again. And then she +put out her hand and stroked my dress, and said, 'Such a beautiful +fit, too; and to think you have made it yourself! such a clever young +lady! Oh, dear! whatever will Mr. Drummond and Miss Mattie say?' +Stupid old thing! as though we cared what he said!" + +"Oh, Phillis! and she cried over it?" + +"She did indeed. I am not exaggerating. Two big round tears rolled +down her cheeks. I could have kissed her for them. And then she made +me sit down in the little room behind the shop, where she was having +her breakfast, and poured me out a cup of tea and----" But here Nan +interrupted her, and there was a trace of anxiety in her manner. + +"Poured you out a cup of tea! Miss Milner! And you drank it!" + +"Of course I drank it; it was very good, and I was thirsty." + +But here Nan pounced upon her unexpectedly, and dragged her to the +window. + +"Your fun is only make-believe: there is no true ring about it. Let me +see your eyes. Oh, Phil, Phil! I thought so! You have been crying, +too!" + +Phillis looked a little taken aback. Nan was too sharp for her. She +tried to shake herself free a little pettishly. + +"Well, if I choose to make a fool of myself for once in my life, you +need not be silly about it; the old thing was so upsetting, and--and +it was so hard to get it out." Phillis would not have told for worlds +how utterly she had broken down over that task of hers; how the +stranger's sympathy had touched so painful a chord that, before she +knew what she was doing, she had laid her head down on the counter and +was crying like a baby,--all the more that she had so bravely pent up +her feelings all these days that she might not dishearten her +sisters. + +But, as Nan petted and praised her, she did tell how good Miss Milner +had been to her. + +"Fancy a fat old thing like that having such fine feelings," she said, +with an attempt to recover her sprightliness. "She was as good as a +mother to me,--made me sit in the easy-chair, and brought me some +elder-flower water to bathe my eyes, and tried to cheer me up by +saying that we should have plenty of work. She has promised not to +tell any one just yet about us; but when we are really in the Friary +she will speak to people and recommend us: and--" here Phillis gave a +little laugh--"we are to make up a new black silk for her that her +brother has just sent her. Oh, dear, what will mother say to us, Nan?" +And Phillis looked at her in an alarmed, beseeching way, as though in +sore need of comfort. + +Nan looked grave; but there was no hesitation in her answer: + +"I am afraid it is too late to think of that now, Phil: it has to be +done, and we must just go through with it." + +"You are right, Nanny darling, we must just go through with it," +agreed Phillis; and then they went on with their unfinished breakfast, +and after that the business of the day began. + +It was late in the evening when they reached home. Dulce who was at +the gate looking out for them, nearly smothered them with kisses. + +"Oh, you dear things! how glad I am to get you back," she said, +holding them both. "Have you really only been away since yesterday +morning? It seems a week at least." + +"You ridiculous child! as though we believe that! But how is mother?" + +"Oh, pretty well: but she will be better now you are back. Do you +know," eying them both very gravely, "I think it was a wise thing of +you to go away like that? it has shown me that mother and I could not +do without you at all: we should have pined away in those lodgings; it +has quite reconciled me to the plan," finished Dulce, in a loud +whisper that reached her mother's ears. + +"What plan? What are you talking about, Dulce? and why do you keep +your sisters standing in the hall?" asked Mrs. Challoner, a little +irritably. But her brief nervousness vanished at the sight of their +faces: she wanted nothing more, she told herself, but to see them +round her, and hear their voices. + +She grew quite cheerful when Phillis told her about the new papers, +and how Mrs. Crump was to clean down the cottage, and how Crump had +promised to mow the grass and paint the greenhouse, and Jack and +Bobbie were to weed the garden-paths. + +"It is a perfect wilderness now, mother: you never saw such a place." + +"Never mind, so that it will hold us, and that we shall all be +together," she returned, with a smile. "But Dulce talked of some plan: +you must let me hear it, my dears; you must not keep me in the dark +about anything. I know we shall all have to work," continued the poor +lady; "but if we be all together, if you will promise not to leave me, +I think I could bear anything." + +"Are we to tell her!" motioned Nan with her lips to Phillis; and as +Phillis nodded, "Yes," Nan gently and quietly began unfolding their +plan. + +But, with all her care and all Phillis's promptings, the revelation +was a great shock to Mrs. Challoner; in her weakened state she seemed +hardly able to bear it. + +Dulce repented bitterly her incautious whisper when she saw her +sisters' tired faces, and their fruitless attempts to soften the +effects of such a blow. For a little while, Mrs. Challoner seemed on +the brink of despair; she would not listen; she abandoned herself to +lamentations; she became so hysterical at last that Dorothy was +summoned from the kitchen and taken into confidence. + +"Mother, you are breaking our hearts," Nan said, at last. She was +kneeling at her feet, chafing her hands, and Phillis was fanning her; +but she pushed them both away from her with weak violence. + +"It is I whose heart is breaking! Why must I live to see such things? +Dorothy, do you know my daughters are going to be dressmakers?--my +daughters, who are Challoners,--who have been delicately +nurtured,--who might hold up their heads with any one?" + +"Dorothy, hold your tongue!" exclaimed Phillis, peremptorily. "You are +not to speak; this is for us to decide, and no one else. Mammy, you +are making Nan look quite pale: she is dreadfully tired, and so am I. +Why need we decide anything to-night? Every one is upset and excited, +and when that is the case one can never arrive at any proper +conclusion. Let us talk about it to-morrow, when we are rested." And, +though Mrs. Challoner would not allow herself to be comforted, Nan's +fatigue and paleness were so visible to her maternal eyes that they +were more eloquent than Phillis's words. + +"I must not think only of myself. Yes, yes, I will do as you wish. +There will be time enough for this sort of talk to-morrow. Dorothy, +will you help me? The young ladies are tired; they have had a long +journey. No, my dear, no," as Dulce pressed forward; "I would rather +have Dorothy." And, as the old servant gave them a warning glance, +they were obliged to let her have her way. + +"Mammy has never been like this before," pouted Dulce, when they were +left alone. "She drives us away from her as though we had done +something purposely to vex her." + +"It is because she cannot bear the sight of us to-night," returned +Phillis, solemnly. "It is worse for her than for us; a mother feels +things for her children more than for herself; it is nature, that is +what it is," she finished philosophically; "but she will be better +to-morrow." And after this the miserable little conclave broke up. + +Mrs. Challoner passed a sleepless night, and her pillow was sown with +thorns. To think of the Challoners falling so low as this! To think of +her pretty Nan, her clever, bright Phillis, her pet Dulce coming to +this; "oh, the pity of it!" she cried in the dark hours, when vitality +runs lowest, and thoughts seem to flow involuntarily towards a dark +centre. + +But with the morning came sunshine, and her girl's faces,--a little +graver than usual, perhaps, but still full of youth and the brightness +of energy; and the sluggish nightmare of yesterday's grief began to +fade a little. + +"Now, mammy, you are not going to be naughty to-day!" was Dulce's +morning salutation as she seated herself on the bed. + +Mrs. Challoner smiled faintly: + +"Was I very naughty last night, Dulce?" + +"Oh, as bad as possible. You pushed poor Nan and Phillis away, and +would not let any one come near you but that cross old Dorothy, and +you never bade us good-night; but if you promise to be good, I will +forgive you and make it up," finished Dulce, with those light +butterfly kisses to which she was addicted. + +"Now, Chatterbox, it is my turn," interrupted Phillis; and then she +began a carefully concocted little speech, very carefully drawn out to +suit her mother's sensitive peculiarities. + +She went over the old ground patiently point by point. Mrs. Challoner +shuddered at the idea of letting lodgings. + +"I knew you would agree with us," returned Phillis, with a convincing +nod; and then she went on to the next clause. + +Mrs. Challoner argued a great deal about the governess scheme. She was +quite angry with Phillis, and seemed to suffer a great deal of +self-reproach, when the girl spoke of their defective education and +lack of accomplishments. Nan had to come to her sister's rescue; but +the mother was slow to yield the point: + +"I don't know what you mean. My girls are not different from other +girls. What would your poor father say if he were alive? It is cruel +to say this to me, when I stinted myself to give you every possible +advantage, and I paid Miss Martin eighty pounds a year," she +concluded, tearfully, feeling as though she were the victim of a +fraud. + +She was far more easily convinced that going out as companions would +be impracticable under the circumstances. "Oh, no, that will never +do!" she cried, when the two little rooms with Dulce were proposed; +and after this Phillis found her task less difficult. She talked her +mother over at last to reluctant acquiescence. "I never knew how I +came to consent," she said, afterwards, "but they were too much for +me." + +"We cannot starve. I suppose I must give in to you," she said, at +last; "but I shall never hold up my head again." And she really +believed what she said. + +"Mother, you must trust us," replied Phillis, touched by this victory +she had won. "Do you know what I said to Dulce? Work cannot degrade +us. Though we are dressmakers, we are still Challoners. Nothing can +make us lose our dignity and self-respect as gentlewomen." + +"Other people will not recognize it," returned her mother, with a +sigh. "You will lose caste. No one will visit you. Among your equals +you will be treated as inferiors. It is this that bows me to the earth +with shame." + +"Mother, how can you talk so?" cried Nan, in a clear, indignant voice. +"What does it matter if people do not visit us? We must have a world +of our own, and be sufficient for ourselves, if we can only keep +together. Is not that what you have said to us over and over again? +Well, we shall be together, we shall have each other. What does the +outside world matter to us after all?" + +"Oh, you are young; you do not know what complications may arise," +replied Mrs. Challoner, with the gloomy forethought of middle age. +She thought she knew the world better than they, but in reality she +was almost as guileless and ignorant as her daughters. "Until you +begin, you do not know the difficulties that will beset you," she went +on. + +But notwithstanding this foreboding speech, she was some what +comforted by Nan's words: "they would be together!" Well, if +Providence chose to inflict this humiliation and afflictive +dispensation on her, it could be borne as long as she had her children +around her. + +Nan made one more speech,--a somewhat stern one for her. + +"Our trouble will be a furnace to try our friends. We shall know the +true from the false. Only those who are really worth the name will be +faithful to us." + +Nan was thinking of Dick; but her mother misunderstood her, and grew +alarmed. + +"You will not tell the Paines and the other people about here what you +intend to do, surely? I could not bear that! no, indeed, I could not +bear that!" + +"Do not be afraid, dear mother," returned Nan, sadly, "we are far too +great cowards to do such a thing, and, after all, there is no need to +put ourselves to needless pain. If the Maynes were here we might not +be able to keep it from them, perhaps, and so I am thankful they are +away." + +Nan said this quite calmly, though her mother fixed her eyes upon her +in a most tenderly mournful fashion. She had quite forgotten their +Longmead neighbors, but now, as Nan recalled them to her mind, she +remembered Mr. Mayne, and her look had become compassionate. + +"It will be all over with those poor children," she thought to +herself: "the father will never allow it,--never; and I cannot wonder +at him." And then her heart softened to the memory of Dick, whom she +had never thought good enough for Nan, for she remembered now with a +sore pang that her pride was laid low in the dust, and that she could +not hope now that her daughters would make splendid matches: even Dick +would be above them, though his father had been in trade, and though +he had no grandfather worth mentioning. + +A few days after their return from Hadleigh, there was an other long +business interview with Mr. Trinder, in which every thing was settled. +A tenant had already been found for the cottage. A young couple, on +the eve of their marriage, who had long been looking for a suitable +house in the neighborhood had closed at once with Mr. Trinder's offer, +and had taken the lease off their hands. The gentleman was a cousin of +the Paines and, partly for the convenience of the in-coming tenants, +and partly because the Challoners wished to move as soon as possible, +there was only a delay of a few weeks before the actual flitting. + +It would be impossible to describe the dismay of the neighborhood when +the news was circulated. + +Immediately after their return from Hadleigh, Nan and Phillis took +counsel together, and, summoning up their courage, went from one to +another of their friends and quietly announced their approaching +departure. + +"Mother has had losses, and we are now dreadfully poor, and we are +going to leave Glen Cottage and go down to a small house we have at +Hadleigh," said Nan, who by virtue of an additional year of age was +spokeswoman on this occasion. She had fully rehearsed this little +speech, which she intended to say at every house in due rotation. "We +will not disguise the truth; we will let people know that we are poor, +and then they will not expect impossibilities," she said, as they +walked down the shady roads towards the Paines' house,--for the Paines +were their most intimate friends and had a claim to the first +confidence. + +"I think that will be sufficient; no one has any right to know more," +she continued, decidedly, fully determined that no amount of coaxing +and cross-examination should wring from her one unnecessary word. + +But she little knew how difficult it would be to keep their own +counsel. The Paines were not alone: they very seldom were. Adelaide +Sartoris was there, and the younger Miss Twentyman, and a young widow, +a Mrs. Forbes, who was a distant connection of Mrs. Paine. + +Nan was convinced that they had all been talking about them, for there +was rather an embarrassed pause as she and Phillis entered the room. +Carrie looked a little confused as she greeted them. + +Nan sat down by Mrs. Paine, who was rather deaf, and in due time made +her little speech. She was rather pale with the effort, and her voice +faltered a little, but every word was heard at the other end of the +room. + +"Leave Glen Cottage, my dear? I can't have heard you rightly. I am +very deaf, to-day,--very. I think I must have caught cold." And Mrs. +Paine turned a mild face of perplexity on Nan; but, before she could +reiterate her words, Carrie was on the footstool at her feet, and Miss +Sartoris, with a grave look of concern on her handsome features, was +standing beside her: + +"Oh, Nan! tell us all about it! Of course we saw something was the +matter. Dulce was so strange that afternoon; and you have all been +keeping yourselves invisible for ever so long." + +"There is very little to tell," returned Nan, trying to speak +cheerfully. "Mother has had bad news. Mr. Gardiner is bankrupt, and +all our invested money is gone. Of course we could not go on living at +Glen Cottage. There is some talk, Carrie, of your cousin, Mr. +Ibbetson, coming to look at it: it will be nice for us if he could +take the lease off our hands, and then we should go down to the +Friary." + +"How I shall hate to see Ralph there!--not but what it will suit him +and Louisa well enough, I dare say. But never mind him: I want to +know all about yourselves," continued Carrie, affectionately. "This is +dreadful, Nan! I can hardly believe it. What are we to do without you? +and where is the Friary? and what is it like? and what will you do +with yourselves when you get there?" + +"Yes, indeed, that is what we want to know," agreed Miss Sartoris, +putting her delicately-gloved hand on Nan's shoulder; and then Sophy +Paine joined the little group, and Mrs. Forbes and Miss Twentyman left +off talking to Phillis, and began listening; with all their might. Now +it was that Nan began to foresee difficulties. + +"The Friary is very small," she went on, "but it will just hold us and +Dorothy. Dorothy is coming with us, of course. She is old, but she +works better than some of the young ones. She is a faithful +creature----" + +But Carrie interrupted her impatiently: + +"But, Nan, what will you do with yourselves? Hadleigh is a nice place, +I believe. Mamma, we must all go down there next summer, and stay +there,--you shall come with us, Adelaide,--and then we shall be able +to cheer these poor things up; and Nan, you and Phillis must come and +stay with us. We don't mean to give you up like this. What does it +matter about being poor? We are all old friends together. You shall +give us tea at the Friary; and I dare say there are tennis-grounds at +Hadleigh, and we will have nice times together." + +"Of course we will come and see you," added Miss Sartoris, with a +friendly pressure of Nan's shoulder; but the poor girl only colored up +and looked embarrassed, and then it was that Phillis, who was watching +her opportunity, struck in: + +"You are all very good; but, Carrie, I don't believe you understand +Nan one bit. When people lose their money they have to work. We shall +all have to put our shoulder to the wheel. We would give you tea, of +course, but as for paying visits and playing tennis, it is only idle +girls like yourselves who have time for that sort of thing. It will be +work and not play, I fear, with us." + +"Oh, Phillis!" exclaimed poor Carrie, with tears in her eyes, and Miss +Sartoris looked horrified, for she had West-Indian blood in her veins +and was by nature somewhat indolent and pleasure-loving. + +"Do you mean you will have to be governesses?" she asked, with a touch +of dismay in her voice. + +"We shall have to work," returned Phillis, vaguely. "When we are +settled at the Friary we must look round us and do the best we can." +This was felt to be vague by the whole party; but Phillis's manner was +so bold and well assured that no one suspected that anything lay +beyond the margin of her speech. They had not made up their minds, +perhaps; Sir Francis Challoner would assist them; or there were other +sources of help: they must move into the new house first, and then see +what was to be done. It was so plausible, so sensible, that every one +was deceived. + +"Of course you cannot decide in such a hurry: you must have so much to +do just now," observed Carrie. "You must write and tell us all your +plans, Phillis, and if there be anything we can do to help you. Mamma, +we might have Mrs. Challoner here while the cottage is dismantled. Do +spare her to us, Nan, and we will take such care of her!" And they +were still discussing this point, and trying to overrule Nan's +objections,--who knew nothing would induce her mother to leave +them,--when other visitors were announced, and in the confusion they +were allowed to make their escape. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"LADDIE" PUTS IN AN APPEARANCE. + + +"I think we have managed that as well as possible!" exclaimed Phillis, +when they found themselves outside the gates. "What a good thing +Adelaide and Mrs. Forbes and Lily were there! Now we need only call at +those three houses to say good-bye. How hot you look, Nan! and how +they all hemmed you in! I was obliged to come to your rescue, you were +so beset; but I think I have put them off the scent." + +"Yes, for the present; but think, Phil, if Carrie really carries out +her intention, and all the Paine tribe and Adelaide come down to +Hadleigh next summer! No wonder I am hot; the bare idea suffocates +me." + +"Something may turn up before then; it is no good looking so far +ahead," was the philosophical rejoinder. "Adelaide is rather +formidable, certainly, and, in spite of her good nature, one does not +feel at home with her. There is a flavor of money about her, I think; +she dresses, talks, and lives in such a gilded way one finds her +heavy; but she may get married before then. Mr. Dalrymple certainly +seemed to mean it when he was down here last winter, and he will be a +good match for her. But here we are at Fitzroy Square. I wonder what +sort of humor her ladyship will be in?" + +Lady Fitzroy received them very graciously. She had just been +indulging in a slight dispute with her husband, and the interruption +was welcome to both of them; besides, she was always gracious to the +Challoners. + +"You have just come in time, for we were boring each other +dreadfully," she said, in her pretty languid way, holding out a hand +to each of them. "Percival, will you ring the bell, please? I cannot +think why Thorpe does not bring up the tea as usual!" + +Lord Fitzroy obeyed his wife's behest, and then he turned with a +relieved air to his old friend Phillis. She was the clever one; and +though some people called her quiet, that was because they did not +draw her out, or she had no sympathy with them. He had always found +her decidedly amusing and agreeable in the days of his bachelorhood. + +He had married the beauty of a season, but the beauty was not without +her little crotchets and tempers; and though he was both fond and +proud of his wife, he found Phillis's talk a relief this afternoon. + +But Phillis was a little _distraite_ on this occasion: she wanted to +hear what Nan was saying in a low voice across the room, and Thorpe +and his subordinate were setting the tea-table, and Lord Fitzroy would +place himself just before her. + +"Now look here, Miss Challoner," he was saying, "I want to tell you +all about it;" but here Thorpe left the room, and Lady Fitzroy +interrupted them: + +"Oh, Percival, what a pity! Do you hear?--we are going to lose our +nicest neighbors? Dear little Glen Cottage is to be empty in a week or +so!" + +"Mr. Ralph Ibbetson will decide to take it, I think; and he and Miss +Blake are to be married on the 16th of next month," returned Nan, +softly. + +"Ibbetson at Glen Cottage! that red-headed fellow! My dear Miss +Challoner, what sacrilege!--what desecration! What do you mean by +forsaking us in this fashion? Are you all going to be married? Has Sir +Francis died and left you a fortune? In the name of all that is +mysterious, what is the meaning of this?" + +"If you will let a person speak, Percival," returned his wife, with +dignity, "you shall have an answer:" and then she looked up in his +handsome, good-natured face, and her manner softened insensibly. "Poor +dear Mrs. Challoner has had losses! Some one has played her false, and +they are obliged to leave Glen Cottage. But Hadleigh is a nice place," +she went on, turning to Nan: "it is very select." + +"Where did you say, Evelyn?" inquired her husband, eagerly. "Hadleigh, +in Sussex? Oh, that is a snug little place; no Toms and Harries go +down there on a nine hours' trip. I was there myself once, with the +Shannontons. Perhaps Lady Fitzroy and I may run down one day and have +a look at you," he continued, with a friendly look at Phillis. It was +only one of his good-natured speeches, but his wife took umbrage at +it. + +"The sea never agrees with me. I thought you knew that, Percival!" +rather reproachfully; "but I dare say we shall often see you here," +she went on, fearing Nan would think her ungracious. "You and the +Paines are so intimate that they are sure to have you for weeks +together; it is so pleasant revisiting an old neighborhood, is it not? +I know I always feel that with regard to Nuneaton." + +"Nuneaton never suits my constitution. I thought you would have +remembered that, Evelyn," returned her husband, gravely; and then they +both laughed. Lord Fitzroy was not without a sense of humor, and often +restored amity by a joking word after this fashion, and then the +conversation proceeded more smoothly. + +Nan and Phillis felt far more at their ease here than they had felt at +the Paines'. There were no awkward questions asked: Lady Fitzroy was +far too well bred for that. If she wondered at all how the Challoners +were to live after they had lost their money, she kept such remarks +for her husband's private ear. + +"Those girls ought to marry well," observed Lord Fitzroy, when he +found himself alone again with his wife. "Miss Challoner is as pretty +a creature as one need see, but Miss Phillis has the most in her." + +"How are they to meet people if they are going to bury themselves in a +little sea-side place?" she returned, regretfully. "Shall I put on my +habit now, Percy? do you think it will be cool enough for our ride?" + +"Yes, run along, my pet, and don't keep me too long waiting." +Nevertheless, Lord Fitzroy did not object when his wife made room for +him a moment beside her on the couch, while she made it up to him for +her cross speeches, as she told him. + +"There, little mother, it is all done!" exclaimed Phillis, in a tone +of triumph, as later on in the afternoon they returned to the cottage; +but in spite of her bravado, both the girls looked terribly jaded, and +Nan especially seemed out of spirits; but then they had been round the +Longmead garden, and had gathered some flowers in the conservatory, +and this alone would have been depressing work to Nan. + +From that time they lived in a perpetual whirl, a bustle of activity +that grew greater; and not less, from day to day. Mrs. Challoner had +quietly but decidedly refused the Paines' invitation. Nan was right; +nothing would have induced her to leave her girls in their trouble: +she made light of their discomfort, forgot her invalid airs, and +persisted in fatiguing herself to an alarming extent. + +"You must let me do things; I should be wretched to sit with my hands +before me, and not help you," she said with tears in her eyes, and +when they appealed in desperation to Dorothy, she took her mistress's +side: + +"Working hurts less than worrying. Don't you be fretting about the +mistress too much, or watching her too closely. It will do her no +harm, take my word for it." And Dorothy was right. + +But there was one piece of work that Nan set her mother to do before +they left the cottage. + +"Mother," she said to her one day when they were alone together. "Mrs. +Mayne will be wondering why you do not answer her letter. I think you +had better write, and tell her a little about things. We must not put +it off any longer, or she will be hurt with us." And Mrs. Challoner +very reluctantly set about her unpleasant task. + +But, after all, it was Nan who furnished the greater part of the +composition. Mrs. Challoner was rather verbose and descriptive in her +style. Nan cut down her sentences ruthlessly, and so pruned and +simplified the whole epistle that her mother failed to trace her own +handiwork: and at the last she added a postscript in her own pretty +handwriting. + +Mrs. Challoner was rather dissatisfied with the whole thing. + +"You have said so little, Nan! Mrs. Mayne will be quite affronted at +our reticence." + +"What is the use of harrowing people's feelings?" was Nan's response. + +It was quite true she had dwelt as little as possible on their +troubles. + +The few opening sentences had related solely to their friends' +affairs. + +"You will be sorry to hear," Mrs. Challoner wrote after this, "that I +have met with some severe losses. I dare say Mr. Mayne will remember +that my poor husband invested our little income in the business of his +cousin, Mark Gardiner. We have just heard the unwelcome news that +Gardiner & Fowler have failed for a large amount. Under these +circumstances, we think it more prudent to leave Glen Cottage as soon +as possible, and settle at Hadleigh, where we have a small house +belonging to us called the Friary. Fortunately for us, Mr. Trinder has +found us a tenant, who will take the remainder of the lease off our +hands. Do you remember Mr. Ralph Ibbetson, the Paines' cousin, that +rather heavy-looking young man, with reddish hair, who was engaged to +that pretty Miss Blake?--well, he has taken Glen Cottage; and I hope +you will find them nice neighbors. Tell Dick he must not be too sorry +to miss his old friends, but of course you will understand this is a +sad break to us. Settling down in a new place is never very pleasant; +and as my girls will have to help themselves, and we shall all have to +learn to do without things, it will be somewhat of a discipline to us; +but as long as we are together, we all feel, such difficulties can be +easily borne. + +"Tell Mr. Mayne that, if I had foreseen how things were to turn out, I +would have conquered my indisposition, and not have forfeited my last +evening at Longmead." + +And in the postscript Nan wrote hurriedly,-- + +"You must not be too sorry for us, dear Mrs. Mayne, for mother is as +brave as possible, and we are all determined to make the best of +things. + +"Of course it is very sad leaving dear Glen Cottage, where we have +spent such happy, happy days; but, though the Friary is small, we +shall make it very comfortable. Tell Dick the garden is a perfect +wilderness at present, and that there are no roses,--only a splendid +passion-flower that covers the whole back of the house." + +Nan never knew why she wrote this. Was it to remind him vaguely that +the time of roses was over, and that from this day things would be +different with them? + +Nan was quite satisfied when she had despatched this letter. It told +just enough, and not too much. It sorely perplexed and troubled Dick; +and yet neither he nor his father had the least idea how things really +were with the Challoners. + +"Didn't I tell you so, Bessie?" exclaimed Mr. Mayne, almost in a voice +of triumph, as he struck his hand upon the letter. "Paine was right +when he spoke of a shaky investment. That comes of women pretending to +understand business. A pretty mess they seem to have made of it!" + +"Mother," said poor Dick, coming up to her when he found himself alone +with her for a moment, "I don't understand this letter. I cannot read +between the lines, somehow, and yet there seems something more than +meets the eye." + +"I am sure it is bad enough," returned Mrs. Mayne, who had been +quietly crying over Nan's postscript. "Think of them leaving Glen +Cottage, and of these poor dear girls having to make themselves +useful!" + +"It is just that that bothers me so," replied Dick, with a frowning +brow. "The letter tells us so little; it is so constrained in tone; as +though they were keeping something from us. Of course they have +something to live upon, but I am afraid it is very little." + +"Very likely they will only have one servant,--just Dorothy and no one +else; and the girls will have to help in the house," returned his +mother, thoughtfully. "That will not do them any harm, Dick: it always +improves girls to make them useful. I dare say the Friary is a very +small place, and then I am sure, with a little help, Dorothy will do +very well." + +"But, mother," pleaded Dick, who was somewhat comforted by this +sensible view of the matter, "do write to Nan or Phillis and beg of +them to give us fuller particulars." And, though Mrs. Mayne promised +she would do so, and kept her word, Dick was not satisfied, but sat +down and scrawled a long letter to Mrs. Challoner, so incoherent in +its expressions of sympathy and regret that it quite mystified her; +but Nan thought it perfect, and took possession of it, and read it +every day, until it got quite thin and worn. One sentence especially +pleased her. "I don't intend ever to cross the threshold of the +cottage again," wrote Dick: "in fact, Oldfield will be hateful without +you all. Of course I shall run down to Hadleigh at Christmas and look +you up, and see for myself what sort of a place the Friary is. Tell +Nan I will get her lots of roses for her garden so she need not +trouble about that; and give them my love, and tell them how awfully +sorry I am about it all." + +Poor Dick! the news of his friends' misfortunes took off the edge of +his enjoyment for a long time. Thanks to Nan's unselfishness, he did +not in the least realize the true state of affairs; nevertheless, his +honest heart was heavy at the thought of the empty cottage, and he was +quite right in saying Oldfield had grown suddenly hateful to him, and, +though he kept these thoughts to himself as much as possible, Mr. +Mayne saw that his son was depressed and ill at ease, and sent him +away to the Swiss Tyrol, with a gay party of young people, hoping a +few weeks' change would put the Challoners out of his head. Meanwhile +Nan and her sisters worked busily, and their friends crowded round +them, helping or hindering, according to their nature. + +On the last afternoon there was a regular invasion of the cottage. The +drawing-room carpet was up, and the room was full of packing-cases. +Carrie Paine had taken possession of one and her sister Sophy and Lily +Twentyman had a turned-up box between them. Miss Sartoris and Gussie +Scobell had wicker chairs. Dorothy had just brought in tea, and had +placed before Nan a heterogeneous assemblage of kitchen cups and +saucers, mugs, and odds and ends of crockery, when Lady Fitzroy +entered in her habit, accompanied by her sister, the Honorable Maud +Burgoyne, both of whom seemed to enjoy the picnic excessively. + +"Do let me have the mug," implored Miss Burgoyne: she was a pretty +little brunette with a _nez retrousse_. "I have never drunk out of one +since my nursery days. How cool it is, after the sunny roads! I think +carpets ought to be abolished in the summer. When I have a house of my +own, Evelyn, I mean to have Indian matting and nothing else in the +warm weather." + +"I am very fond of Indian matting," returned her sister, sipping her +tea contentedly. "Fitzroy hoped to have looked in this afternoon, Mrs. +Challoner, to say good-bye, but there is an assault-at-arms at the +Albert Hall, and he is taking my young brother Algernon to see it. He +is quite inconsolable at the thought of losing such pleasant +neighbors, and sent all sorts of pretty messages," finished Lady +Fitzroy, graciously. + +"Here is Edgar," exclaimed Carrie Paine; "he told us that he meant to +put in an appearance; but I am afraid the poor boy will find himself +_de trop_ among so many ladies." + +Edgar was the youngest Paine,--a tall Eton boy, who looked as though +he would soon be too big for jackets, and an especial friend of +Nan's. + +"How good of you to come and say good-bye, Gar!" she said summoning +him to her side, as the boy looked round him blushing and half +terrified. "What have you got there under your jacket?" + +"It is the puppy I promised you," returned Edgar, eagerly; "don't you +know?--Nell's puppy? Father said I might have it." And he deposited a +fat black retriever puppy at Nan's feet. The little beast made a +clumsy rush at her and then rolled over on its back. Nan took it up +in high delight, and showed it to her mother. + +"Isn't it good of Gar, mother? and when we all wanted a dog so! We +have never had a pet since poor old Juno died; and this will be such a +splendid fellow when he grows up. Look at his head and curly black +paws; and what a dear solemn face he has got!" + +"I am glad you like him," replied Edgar, who was now perfectly at his +ease. "We have christened him 'Laddie:' he is the handsomest puppy of +the lot, and our man Jake says he is perfectly healthy." And then, as +Nan cut him some cake, he proceeded to enlighten her on the treatment +of this valuable animal. + +The arrival of "Laddie" made quite a diversion, and, when the +good-byes were all said, Nan took the little animal in her arms and +went with Phillis for the last time to gather flowers in the Longmead +garden, and when the twilight came on the three girls went slowly +through the village, bidding farewell to their old haunts. + +It was all very sad, and nobody slept much that night in the cottage. +Nan's tears were shed very quietly, but they fell thick and fast. + +"Oh, Dick, it is hard--hard!" thought the poor girl, burying her face +in the pillow; "but I have not let you know the day, so you will not +be thinking of us. I would not pain you for worlds, Dick, not more +than I can help." And then she dried her eyes and told herself that +she must be brave for all their sakes to-morrow; but, for all her good +resolutions, sleep would not come to her any more than it did to +Phillis, who lay open-eyed and miserable until morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +"I MUST HAVE GRACE." + + +When the Rev. Archibald Drummond was nominated to the living of +Hadleigh in Sussex, it was at once understood by his family that he +had achieved a decided success in life. + +Hadleigh until very recently had been a perpetual curacy, and the +perpetual curate in charge had lived in the large, shabby house with +the green door on the Braidwood Road, as it was called. There had been +some talk of a new vicarage, but as yet the first brick had not been +laid, the building-committee had fallen out on the question of the +site, and nothing had been definitely arranged: there was a good deal +of talk, too, about the church restoration, but at the present moment +nothing had been done. + +Mr. Drummond had not been disturbed in his mind by the delay of the +building-committee in the matter of the new vicarage, but on the topic +of the church restoration he had been heard to say very bitter +things,--far too bitter, it was thought, to proceed from the lips of +such a new-comer. It is not always wise to be outspoken, and when Mr. +Drummond expressed himself a little too frankly on the ugliness of the +sacred edifice, which until lately had been a chapel-of-ease, he had +caused a great deal of dissatisfaction in the mind of his hearers; but +when the young vicar, still strongly imbued with the beauties of +Oxford architecture, had looked round blankly on the great square pews +and galleries, and then at the wooden pulpit, and the Ten Commandments +that adorned the east end, he was not quite so sure in his mind that +his position was as enviable as that of other men. + +Church architecture was his hobby, and, if the truth must be told, he +was a little "High" in his views; without attaching himself to the +Ultra-Ritualistic party, he was still strongly impregnated with many +of their ideas; he preferred Gregorian to Anglican chants, and would +have had no objection to incense if his diocesan could have been +brought to appreciate it too. + +An ornate service was decidedly to his taste. It was, therefore, a +severe mortification when he found himself compelled to minister +Sunday after Sunday in a building that was ugly enough for a +conventicle, and to listen to the florid voices of a mixed choir, +instead of the orderly array of men and boys in white surplices to +which he had been accustomed. If he had been combative by nature,--one +who loved to gird his armor about him and to plunge into every sort of +_melee_,--he would have rejoiced after a fashion at the thought of the +work cut out for him, of bringing order and beauty out of this chaos; +but he was by nature too impatient. He would have condemned and +destroyed instead of trying to renovate. + +"Why not build a new church at once?" he said, with a certain youthful +intolerance that made people angry. "Never mind the vicarage; the old +house will last my time: but a place like this--a rising place--ought +to have a church worthy of it. It will be money thrown away to restore +this one," finished the young vicar, looking round him with sorely +troubled eyes; and it was this outspoken frankness that had lost him +popularity at first. + +But, if the new vicar had secret cause for discontent in the Drummond +family there was nothing but the sweetness of triumph. + +"Archie has never given me a moment's trouble from his birth," his +proud mother was wont to declare; and it must be owned that the young +man had done very fairly for himself. + +There had been plenty of anxiety in the Drummond household while +Archibald was enjoying his first Oxford term. Things had come to a +climax: his father, who was a Leeds manufacturer, had failed most +utterly, and to a large amount. The firm of Drummond & Drummond, once +known as a most respectable and reliable firm, had come suddenly, but +not unexpectedly to the ground; and Archibald Drummond the elder had +been compelled to accept a managership in the very firm that, by +competition and underselling, had helped to ruin him. + +It was a heavy trial to a man of Mr. Drummond's proud temperament; but +he went through with it in a tough, dogged way that excited his wife's +admiration. True, his bread was bitter to him for a long time, and the +sweetness of life, as he told himself, was over for him; but he had a +large family to maintain, sons and daughters growing up around him, +and the youngest was not yet six months old; under such circumstances +a man may be induced to put his pride in his pocket. + +"Your father has grown quite gray, and has begun to stoop. It makes my +heart quite ache to see him sometimes," Mrs. Drummond wrote to her +eldest son; "but he never says a word to any of us. He just goes +through with it day after day." + +At that time Archie was her great comfort. He had begun to make his +own way early in life, understanding from the first that his parents +could do very little for him. He had worked well at school, and had +succeeded in obtaining one or two scholarships. When his university +life commenced, and the household at Leeds became straitened in their +circumstances, he determined not to encumber them with his presence. + +He soon became known in his college as a reading-man and a steady +worker; he was fortunate, too, in obtaining pupils for the long +vacation. By and by he became a fellow and tutor of his college, and +before he was eight-and-twenty the living of Hadleigh was offered to +him. It was not at all a rich living,--not being worth more than three +hundred a year,--and some of his Oxford friends would have dissuaded +him from accepting it; but Archibald Drummond was not of their +opinion. Oxford did not suit his constitution; he was never well +there. Sussex air, and especially the sea-side, would give him just +the tone he required. He liked the big old-fashioned house that would +be allotted to him. He could take pupils and add to his income in that +way; at present he had his fellowship. It was only in the event of his +marriage that his income might not be found sufficient. At the present +moment he had no matrimonial intentions: there was only one thing on +which he was determined, and that was, that Grace must live with him +and keep his house. + +Grace was the sister next to him in age. Mattie,--or Matilda, as her +mother often called her,--was the eldest of the family, and was two +years older than Archibald. Between him and Grace there were two +brothers, Fred and Clyde, and beyond Grace a string of girls ending in +Dottie, who was not yet ten. Archibald used to forget their ages and +mix them up in the most helpless way; he was never quite sure if +Isabel were eighteen or twenty, or whether Clara or Susie came next. +He once forgot Laura altogether, and was only reminded of her +existence by the shock of surprise at seeing the awkward-looking, +ungainly girl standing before him, looking shyly up in his face. + +Archibald was never quite alive to the blessing of having seven +sisters, none of them with any pretension to beauty, unless it were +Grace, though he was obliged to confess on his last visit to Leeds +that Isabel was certainly passable-looking. He tried to take a proper +amount of interest in them and be serenely unconscious of their want +of grace and polish; but the effort was too manifest, and neither +Clara nor Susie nor Laura regarded their grave elder brother with any +lively degree of affection. Mrs. Drummond was a somewhat stern and +exacting mother, but she was never so difficult to please as when her +eldest son was at home. + +"Home is never so comfortable when Archie is in it," Susie would +grumble to her favorite confidante, Grace. "Every one is obliged to be +on their best behavior; and yet mother finds fault from morning to +night. Dottie is crying now because she has been scolded for coming +down to tea in a dirty pinafore." + +"Oh, hush, Susie dear! you ought not to say such things," returned +Grace, in her quiet voice. + +Poor Grace! these visits of Archie were her only pleasures. The +brother and sister were devoted to each other. In Archie's eyes not +one of the others was to be compared to her; and in this he was +perfectly right. + +Grace Drummond was a tall, sweet-looking girl of two-and-twenty,--not +pretty, except in her brother's opinion, but possessing a soft, fair +comeliness that made her pleasant to look upon. In voice and manner +she was extremely quiet,--almost grave; and only those who lived with +her had any idea of the repressed strength and energy of her +character, and the almost masculine clearness of intellect that lay +under the soft exterior. One side of her nature was hidden from every +one but her brother, and to him only revealed by intermittent flashes, +and that was the passionate absorption of her affection in him. To her +parents she was dutiful and submissive, but when she grew up the yoke +of her mother's will was felt to be oppressive. Her father's nature +was more in sympathy with her own; but even with him she was reticent. +She was good to all her brothers and sisters, and especially devoted +to Dottie; but her affection for them was so strongly pervaded by +anxiety and the overweight of responsibility that its pains +overbalanced its pleasures. She loved them, and toiled in their +service from morning to night; but as yet she had not felt herself +rewarded by any decided success. But in Archie her pride was equal to +her love; she was critical, and her standard was somewhat high, but he +satisfied her. What other people recognized as faults, she regarded +as the merest blemishes. Without being absolutely faultless, which was +of course impossible in a creature of flesh and blood, he was still as +near perfection, she thought, as he could be. Perhaps her affection +for him blinded her somewhat, and cast a sort of loving glamour over +her eyes; for it must be owned that Archibald was by no means +extraordinary in either goodness or cleverness. From a boy she had +watched his career with dazzled eyes, rejoicing in every stroke of +success that came to him as though it were her own. Her own life was +dull and laborious, spent in the overcrowded house in Lowder Street, +but she forgot it in following his. Now and then bright days came to +her,--few in number, but absolutely golden, when this dearly-loved +brother came on a brief visit,--when they had snatches of delicious +talk in the empty school-room at the top of the house, or he took her +out with him for a long, quiet walk. + +Mrs. Drummond always made some dry sarcastic remark when they came in, +for she was secretly jealous of Archie's affection for Grace. Hers was +rather a monopolizing nature, and she would willingly have had the +first share in her son's affections. It somewhat displeased her to see +him so wrapt up in the one sister to the exclusion of all the others, +as she told him. + +"I think you might have asked Matilda or Isabel to accompany you. The +poor girls never see anything of you, Archie," she would say +plaintively to her son. But to Grace she would speak somewhat sharply, +bidding her fulfil some neglected duty, which another could as well +have performed, and making her at once understand by her manner that +she was to blame in leaving Mattie at home. + +"Mother," Archibald said to her one day, when she had spoken with +unusual severity, and the poor girl had retreated from the room, +feeling as though she had been convicted of selfishness, "we must +settle the matter about which I spoke to you last night. I have been +thinking about it ever since. Mattie will not do at all. I must have +Grace!" + +Mrs. Drummond looked up from her mending, and her thin lips settled +into a hard line that they always took when her mind was made up on a +disagreeable subject. She had a pinafore belonging to Dottie in her +hand; there was a jagged rent in it, and she sighed impatiently as she +put it down; though she was not a woman who shirked any of her +maternal duties, she had often been heard to say that her work was +never done, and that her mending-basket was never empty. + +"But if I cannot spare Grace," she said, rather shortly, as she +meditated another lecture to the delinquent Dottie. + +"But, mother, you must spare her!" returned her son, eagerly, leaning +his elbow on the mantelpiece, and watching her rapid manipulations +with apparent interest. "Look here; I am quite in earnest. I have set +my heart on having Grace. She is just the one to manage a clergyman's +household. She would be my right hand in the parish." + +"She is our right hand too, Archie; but I suppose we are to cut it +off, that it may benefit you and your parish." + +Mrs. Drummond seldom spoke so sharply to her eldest son; but this +request of his was grievous to her. + +"I think Grace ought to be considered, too, in the matter," he +returned, somwhat sullenly. "She works harder than any paid governess, +and gets small thanks for her trouble." + +"She does her duty," returned Mrs. Drummond, coldly,--she very seldom +praised any of her children,--"but not more than Mattie does hers. You +are prejudiced strongly against your sister, Archie; you are not fair +to her in any way. Mattie is a capital little housekeeper. She is +economical, and full of clever contrivances. It is not as though I +asked you to try Isabel. She is well enough, too, in her way, but a +little flighty, and rather too pretty, perhaps--" but here a laugh +from Archie grated on her ear. + +"Too pretty!--what an absurd idea! The girl is passable-looking, and I +will not deny that she has improved lately; but, mother, there is not +one of the girls that can be called pretty except Grace." + +Mrs. Drummond winced at her son's outspoken words. The plainness of +her daughters was a sore subject. + +She had never understood why her girls were so ordinary-looking. She +had been a handsome girl in her time, and was still a fine-looking +woman. Her husband, too, had had a fair amount of good looks, and, +though he stooped, was still admirable in her eyes. The boys, too, +were thoroughly fine fellows. Fred was decidedly handsome, and so was +Clyde; and as for her favorite Archie, Mrs. Drummond glanced up at him +as he stood beside her. + +He certainly looked a model young clergyman. His features were good, +but the lower part of his face was quite hidden by the fair mustache +and the soft silky beard. He had thoughtful gray eyes, which could +look as severe as hers sometimes; and, though his shoulders were +somewhat too sloping, there could be no fault found with his figure. +He was as nice-looking as possible, she thought, and no mother could +have been better satisfied. But why, with the exception of Grace and +Isabel, were her girls so deficient in outward graces? It could not be +denied that they were very ordinary girls. Laura was overgrown and +freckled, and had red hair; Susie was sickly-looking, and so +short-sighted that they feared she would have to take to spectacles; +and Clara was stolid and heavy-looking, one of those thick-set girls +that dress never seems to improve. Dottie had a funny little face; but +one could not judge of her yet. And Mattie,--Mrs. Drummond sighed +again as she thought of her eldest daughter,--Mattie was thirty; and +her mother felt she would never marry. It was not that she was so +absolutely plain,--people who liked her said Mattie had a nice +face,--but she was so abrupt, so uncouth in her awkwardness, such a +stranger to the minor morals of life, that it would be a wonder indeed +if she could find favor in any man's eyes. + +"I do think you are too hard on your sisters," returned Mrs. Drummond, +stung by her son's remark. "Isabel was very much admired at her first +party last week. Mrs. Cochrane told me so, and so did Miss Blair." She +could have added that her maternal interest had been strongly stirred +by the mention of a certain Mr. Ellis Burton, who she had understood +had paid a great deal of attention that evening to Isabel, and who was +the eldest son of a wealthy manufacturer in Leeds. But Mrs. Drummond +had some good old-fashioned notions, and one of these was never to +speak on such delicate subjects as the matrimonial prospects of her +daughters: indeed, she often thanked heaven she was not a match-making +mother,--which was as well, under the circumstances. + +"Well, well, we are not talking about Isabel," returned her son, +impatiently. "The question is about Grace, mother. I really do wish +very much that you and my father would stretch a point for me here. I +want her more than I can say." + +"But, Archie, you must be reasonable. Just think a moment. Your father +cannot afford to send the girls to school, or to pay for a good +finishing governess. We have given Grace every advantage; and just as +she is making herself really useful to me in the school-room, you want +to deprive me of her services." + +"You know I offered to pay for Clara's schooling," returned her son, +reproachfully. "She is more than sixteen, is she not! Surely Mattie +could teach the others?" + +But Mrs. Drummond's clear, concise voice interrupted him: + +"Archie, how can you talk such nonsense? You know poor Mattie was +never good at book-learning. She would hardly do for Dottie. Ask +Grace, if you doubt my word." + +"Of course I do not doubt it, mother," in rather an aggravated voice, +for he felt he was having the worst of the argument. + +"Then why do you not believe me when I tell you the thing you ask is +impossible?" replied his mother more calmly. "I am sorry for you if +you are disappointed, Archie; but you undervalue Mattie,--you do +indeed. She will make you a nice little housekeeper, and, though she +is not clever, she is so amiable that nothing ever puts her out; and +visiting the poor and sick-nursing are more in her line than in +Grace's. Mrs. Blair finds her invaluable. She wanted her for one of +her district visitors, and I said she had too much to do at home." + +Archie shrugged his shoulders. Mrs. Blair was the wife of the vicar of +All Saints', where the Drummonds attended, and from a boy she had been +his pet aversion. She was a bustling, managing woman, and of course +Mattie was just to her taste. He did not see much use in continuing +the conversation; with all his affection for his mother,--and she was +better loved by her sons than by her daughters,--he knew her to be as +immovable as a rock when she had once made up her mind. He thought at +first of appealing to his father on Grace's behalf, but abandoned this +notion after a few minutes' reflection. His father was decided and +firm in all matters relating to business, but for many years past he +had abandoned the domestic reins to his wife's capable hands. Perhaps +he had proved her worth and prudence; perhaps he thought the +management of seven daughters too much for any man. Anyhow, he +interfered less and less as the years went on; and if at any time he +differed from his wife, she could always talk him over, as her son +well knew. + +When the subject had been first mooted in the household, he had said a +word or two to his father, and had found him very reluctant to +entertain the idea of parting with Grace. She was his favorite +daughter, and he thought how he should miss her when he came home +weary and jaded at night. + +"I don't think it will do at all," he had said, in an undecided +dissatisfied tone. "Won't one of the other girls serve your turn? +There's Mattie, or that little monkey Isabel, she is as pert and +lively as possible. But Grace; why, she is every one's right hand. +What would the mother or the young ones do without her?" + +No; it was no use appealing to his father, Archie thought, and might +only make mischief in the house. He and Grace must make up their mind +to a few more years' separation. He turned away after his mother's +last speech, and finally left the room without saying another word. +There was a cloud on his face, and Mrs. Drummond saw that he was much +displeased; but, though she sighed again as she took up a pair of +Clyde's socks and inspected them carefully, there was no change in her +resolution that Mattie, and not Grace, should go to the vicarage for +the year's visit that was all Archie had asked. + +There are mothers and mothers in this world,--some who are capable of +sacrificing their children to Moloch, who will barter their own flesh +and blood in return for some barren heritage or other. There are those +who will exact from those dependent on them heavy tithes of daily +patience and uncomplaining drudgery; while others, who are "mothers +indeed" give all, asking for nothing in return. + +Mrs. Drummond was a good woman. She had many virtues and few faults. +She was lady-like, industrious and self-denying in her own personal +comforts, an exemplary wife, and a tolerant mistress; but she was +better understood by her sons than by her daughters. + +Her maternal instincts were very strong, and no mother had more +delighted in her nursery than she had in hers. As long as there was a +baby in the house the tenderness of her love was apparent enough. She +wore herself out tending her infants, and no one ever heard her say a +harsh word in her nursery. + +But as her children grew up, there was much clashing of wills in the +household. Her sons did not fear her in the least; but with her +daughters it was otherwise. They felt the mother's strong will +repressive; it threatened to dwarf their individuality and cramp that +free growth that is so necessary to young things. + +Dottie, who by virtue of being the last baby had had more than her +fair amount of petting, was only just beginning to learn her lesson of +unquestioning obedience; and, as she was somewhat spoiled, her lesson +was hard one. But Laura and Susie and Clara had not yet found out that +their mother loved them and wished to be their friend; they were timid +and reserved with her, and took all their troubles to Grace. Even +Mattie, who was her first-born, and who was old enough to be her +mother's companion, quailed and blushed like a child under the dry +caustic speeches at which Clyde and Fred only laughed. + +"You don't understand the mother. Her bark is worse than her bite," +Clyde would say to his sister sometimes. "She is an awfully clever +woman, and it riles her to see herself surrounded by such a set of +ninnies. Now, don't sulk, Belle. You know Mattie's a duffer compared +to Grace; aren't you, Matt?" + +At which truism poor Mattie would hang her head. + +"Yes, Clyde; I know I am dreadfully stupid sometimes, and that makes +mother angry." + +Mrs. Drummond often complained bitterly of her daughters' want of +confidence in her, but she never blamed herself for the barrier that +seemed between them. She was forever asserting maternal authority, +when such questions might have been safely laid to rest between her +and her grown-up daughters. Mrs. Challoner's oneness of sympathy with +her girls, her lax discipline, her perfect equality, would have +shocked a woman of Mrs. Drummond's calibre. She would not have +tolerated or understood it for a moment. + +"My girls must do as I wish," was a very ordinary speech in her mouth. +"I always do as my girls wish," Mrs. Challoner would have said. And, +indeed, the two mothers were utterly dissimilar; but it may be doubted +whether the Challoner household were not far happier than the family +in Lowder Street. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +"YOU CAN DARE TO TELL ME THESE THINGS." + + +Archibald Drummond had left his mother's presence with a cloud on his +brow. He had plenty of filial affection for her, but it was not the +first time that he had found her too much for him. She had often +angered him before by her treatment of Grace, but he had told himself +that she was his mother, that a man could have but one, and so he had +brought himself to forgive her. But this time she had set herself +against the cherished plan of years. He had always looked forward to +the time when he could have Grace to live with him; they had made all +sorts of schemes together, and all their talk had concentrated itself +towards this point; the disappointment would place a sort of blankness +before them; they would be working separately, far away from each +other, and the distance would not be bridged for years. + +He stood for a moment in the dark, narrow hall, thinking intently over +all this, and then he went slowly upstairs. He knew where he should +find Grace. His mother had paid an unwonted visit to the school-room +during their walk, and on their return had expressed herself with some +degree of sharpness on the disorder she had found there. Grace would +be busily engaged in putting everything to rights. It was Clara's +business, but she had gone out, and had, as usual, forgotten all about +it. Grace had taken the blame upon herself, of course: she was always +shielding her younger sisters. + +Everything was done when he entered the room, and Grace was sitting by +the window, with her hands folded in her lap, indulging in a few +minutes' rare idleness. She looked up eagerly as her brother made his +appearance. + +The school-room was a large, bare-looking room at the top of the +house, with two narrow windows looking out over a lively prospect of +roofs and chimney-pots. Mrs. Drummond had done her utmost to give it +an air of comfort, but it was, on the whole, a dull, uncomfortable +apartment, in spite of the faded Turkey carpet, and the curtains that +had once been so handsome, but had now merged into unwholesome neutral +tints. + +Laura, who was the wit of the family, had nicknamed it the Hospital, +for it seemed to be a receptacle for all the maimed and rickety chairs +of the household, footstools in a dilapidated condition, and odd +pieces of lumber that had no other place. Archibald regarded it with a +troubled gaze; somehow, its dinginess had never before so impressed +him; and then as he looked at his sister the frown deepened on his +face. + +"Well, Archie?" + +"Oh, Grace, it is no use! I have talked myself hoarse, but the mother +is dead against it: one might as well try to move a rock. We shall +have to make up our minds to bear our disappointment as well as we +can." + +"I knew it was hopeless from the first," returned Grace, slowly; but, +as she spoke, a sort of dimness and paleness crept over her face, +belying her words. + +She was young, and in youth hope never dies. Beyond the gray daily +horizon there is always a possible gleam, a new to-morrow; youth +abounds in infinite surprises, in probabilities which are as large as +they are vague. Grace told herself that she never hoped much from +Archie's mission; yet when he came to her with his ill success +plainly stamped upon his countenance, the dying out of her dream was +bitter to her. + +"I knew it was hopeless from the first," had been her answer, and then +breath for further words failed her, and she sat motionless, with her +hands clasped tightly together, while Archie placed himself on the +window-seat beside her and looked out ruefully at the opposite +chimneys. + +Well, it was all over, this dearly-cherished scheme of theirs; she +must go on now with the dull routine of daily duties, she must stoop +her neck afresh to the yoke she had long found so galling; this +school-room must be her world, she must not hope any longer for wider +vistas, for more expansive horizons, for tasks that should be more +congenial to her, for all that was now made impossible. + +Mattie, not she, must go and keep Archie's house, and here for a +moment she closed her eyes, the pain was so bitter; she thought of the +old vicarage, of the garden where she and Archie were to have worked, +of the shabby old study where he meant to write his sermons, while she +was to sit beside him with her book or needlework, of the evenings +when he had promised to read to her, of the walks they were to have +taken together, of all the dear delightful plans they had made. + +And now her mother had said them nay; it was Mattie who was to be his +housekeeper, who would sit opposite to him and pour out his coffee, +who would mend his socks and do all the thousand-and-one things that a +woman delights in doing for the mankind dependent on her for comfort. + +Mattie would visit his poor people, and teach in the schools, +entertain his friends, and listen to his voice every Sunday; here +tears slowly gathered under the closed eyelids. Yes, Mattie would do +all that, but she would not be his chosen friend and companion; there +would be no long charming talks for her in the study or the sunny +garden; he would be as lonely, poor fellow, in his way as she would be +in hers, and for this her mother was to blame. + +"Well, Gracie, haven't you a word to say?" asked her brother, at last, +surprised at her long silence. + +"No, Archie; it does not bear talking about," she returned, so +passionately that he turned round to look at her. "I must not even +think of it. I must try and shut it all out of my mind, or I shall be +no good to any one. But it is hard--hard!" with a quiver of her lip. + +"I call it a shame for my father and mother to sacrifice you in this +way!" he burst out, moved to bitter indignation at the sight of her +trouble. "I shall tell my father what I think about it pretty +plainly!" + +But this speech recalled Grace to her senses. + +"Oh, no, dear! you must do no such thing: promise me you will not. It +would be no good at all; and it would only make mother so angry. You +know he always thinks as she does about things, so it would be no +use. I suppose"--with an impatient sigh--"that I ought to feel myself +complimented at knowing I cannot be spared. Some girls would be proud +to feel themselves their mother's right hand; but to me it does not +seem much of a privilege." + +"Don't talk in that way, Grace: it makes me miserable to hear you. I +am more sorry for you than I am for myself, and yet I am sorry for +myself too. If it were not that my mother would be too deeply +offended, I would refuse to have Mattie at all. We never have got on +well together. She is a good little thing in her way, but her +awkwardness and left-handed ways will worry me incessantly. And then +we have not an idea in common----" but here Grace generously +interposed: + +"Poor old fellow! as though I did not know all that; but you must not +vent it on poor Mattie. She is not to blame for our disappointment. +She would gladly give it up to me if she could. I know she will do her +utmost to please you, Archie, and she is so good and amiable that you +must overlook her little failings and make the best of her." + +"It will be rather difficult work, I am afraid," returned her brother, +grimly. "I shall always be drawing invidious comparisons between you +both, and thinking what you would do in her place." + +"All the same you must try and be good to her for my sake, for I am +very fond of Mattie," she returned, gently; but he could not help +feeling gratified at the assurance that he would miss her. And then +she put her hand on his coat-sleeve, and stroked it, a favorite caress +with her. "It does not bear talking about: does it, Archie? It only +makes it feel worse. I think it must be meant as a discipline for me, +because I am so wicked, and that it would not do at all for me to be +too happy." And here she pressed his arm, and looked up in his face, +with an attempt at a smile. + +"No, you are right: talking only makes it worse," he returned, +hurriedly; and then he stooped--for he was a tall man--and kissed her +on the forehead just between her eyes, and then walked to the door, +whistling a light air. + +Grace did not think him at all abrupt in thus breaking off the +conversation. She had caught his meaning in a moment, and knew the +whole business was so painful to him that he did not care to dwell on +it. When the tea-bell rang, she prepared herself at once to accompany +him downstairs. + +It was Archibald's last evening at home, and all the family were +gathered round the long tea-table. Since Mr. Drummond's misfortunes, +late dinners had been relinquished, and more homely habits prevailed +in the household. Mrs. Drummond had, indeed, apologized to her son +more than once for the simplicity of their mode of life. + +"You are accustomed to a late dinner, Archie. I wish I could have +managed it for you; but your father objects to any alteration being +made in our usual habits." + +"He is quite right; and I should have been much distressed if you had +thought such alteration necessary," returned her son, very much +surprised at this reference to his father. For Mrs. Drummond rarely +consulted her husband on such matters. In this case, however, she had +done so, and Mr. Drummond had been unusually testy--indeed, +affronted--at such a question being put to him. + +"I don't know what you mean, Isabella," he had replied; "but I suppose +what is good enough for me is good enough for Archie." And then Mrs. +Drummond knew she had made a mistake, for her husband had felt +bitterly the loss of his late dinner. So Archie tried to fall in with +the habits of his family, and to enjoy the large plum or seed-cake +that invariably garnished the tea-table; and, though he ate but +sparingly of the supper, which always gave him indigestion, Grace was +his only confidante in the matter. Mr. Drummond, indeed, looked at his +son rather sharply once or twice, as though he suspected him of +fastidiousness. "I cannot compliment you on your appetite," he would +say, as he helped himself to cold meat; "but perhaps our home fare is +not so tempting as Oxford living?" + +"I always say your meat is unusually good," returned Archibald, +amicably. "If there be any fault, it is in my appetite; but that +Hadleigh air will soon set right." But, though he answered his father +after this tolerant fashion, he always added, in a mental aside, that +nine-o'clock suppers were certainly barbarous institutions, and +peculiarly deleterious to the constitution of an Oxford fellow. + +Mrs. Drummond looked at them both somewhat keenly as they entered. In +spite of her resolution, she was secretly uncomfortable at the thought +that Archie was displeased with her: her daughter's vexation was a +burden that could be more easily borne; but her maternal heart yearned +for some token that her boy was not estranged from her. But no such +consolation was to be vouchsafed to her. She had kept his usual place +vacant beside her; Archie showed no intention of taking it. He placed +himself by his father, and began talking to him of a change of +ministry that was impending, and which would overthrow the +Conservative party. Mrs. Drummond, who was one of those women who can +never be made to take any interest in politics, was reduced to the +necessity of talking to Mattie in an undertone, for the other boys +never put in an appearance at this meal; but as she talked she took +stock of Grace's pale, abstracted looks as she sat with her plate +before her, not pretending to eat, and taking no notice of Susie and +Laura, who chatted busily across her. + +It was not a festive meal; on the contrary, there was an unusual air +of restraint over the whole party. The younger members felt +instinctively that there was something amiss. Archie looked decidedly +glum; and there was an expression on the mother's face that they were +not slow to interpret. No one could hear what it was she was saying to +Mattie that made her look so red and nervous all at once; but +presently she addressed herself abruptly to her husband: + +"It is all settled, father. I have arranged with Archie that Matilda +should go down to Hadleigh next month." + +Archie stroked his beard, but did not look up or make any remark, +though poor Mattie looked at him beseechingly across the table, as +though imploring a word. His mother would carry her point; but he +would not pretend for a moment that he was otherwise than displeased, +or that Mattie would be welcome. + +His silence attracted Mr. Drummond's attention. + +"Oh, what, you have settled it, you say? I hope you are satisfied, +Archie, and properly grateful to your mother for sparing Mattie. She +is to go for a year. Well, it will be a grand change for her. I should +not be surprised if you were to pick up a husband, Miss Mattie;" for +Mr. Drummond was a man who, in spite of his cares, was not without his +joke; but, as usual, it was instantly frowned down by his wife: + +"I wonder at you, father, talking such nonsense before the children. +Why are you giggling, Laura? It is very unseemly and ill-behaved. I +hope no daughter of mine has such unmaidenly notions. Mattie is going +to Hadleigh to be a comfort to her brother, and to keep his house as a +clergyman's house ought to be kept." + +"And you are satisfied, Archie?" asked Mr. Drummond, not quite pleased +at his wife's reprimand, and struck anew by his son's silence. + +"I consider these questions somewhat unnecessary. You know my wishes, +sir, on the subject, and my mother also," was the somewhat +uncompromising remark; "but it appears that they are not to be met in +this instance. I hope Mattie will be comfortable and not miss her +sisters;" but he did not look at the poor girl, and the tears came +into her eyes. + +"Oh, Archie, I am so sorry! I never meant-----" she stammered; but her +mother interrupted her: + +"There is no occasion for you to be sorry about anything; you had far +better be silent, Mattie. But you have no tact. Father, if you have +finished your tea, I suppose you and Archie are going out." And then +Archie rose from the table, and followed his father out of the room. + +It was Isabel's business to put Dottie to bed. The other girls had to +prepare their lessons for the next day, and went up to the +school-room. Mattie made some excuse, and went with them, and Mrs. +Drummond and Grace were left alone. + +Grace had some delicate work to finish, and she placed herself by the +lamp. Her mother had returned to her mending-basket; but as the door +closed upon Mattie, she cleared her throat, and looked at her +daughter. + +"Grace, I must say I am surprised at you!" + +"Why, mother?" But Grace did not look up from the task she was running +with such fine even stitches. + +"I am more than surprised!" continued Mrs. Drummond, severely. "I am +disappointed to see in what a bad spirit you have received my +decision. I did not think a daughter of mine would have been so blind +to her sense of duty!" + +"I have said nothing to make you think that." + +"No, you have said nothing, but looks can be eloquent sometimes. I am +not speaking of Archie, though I can see he is put out too, for he is +a man, and men are not always reasonable; but that you should place +yourself in such silent opposition to my wishes, it is that that +shocks me." + +There was an ominous sparkle in Grace's gray eyes, and then she +deliberately put down her work on the table. She had hoped that her +mother would have been contented with her victory, and not have spoken +to her on the subject. But if she were so attacked, she would at least +defend herself. + +"You have no right to speak to me in this way, mother!" + +"No right, Grace?" Mrs. Drummond could hardly believe her ears. Never +once had a daughter of hers questioned her right in anything. + +"No; for I have said nothing to bring all this upon me! I have been +perfectly quiet, and have tried to bear the bitterness of my +disappointment as well as I could. No one is answerable for their +looks, and I, at least, will not plead guilty on that score." + +"Grace, you are answering me very improperly." + +"I cannot say that I think so, mother. I would have been silent, if +you had permitted such silence; but when you drive me to speech, I +must say what I feel to be the truth,--that I have not been well +treated in this matter." + +"Grace!" And Mrs. Drummond paused in awful silence. Never before had a +recusant daughter braved her to her face. + +"I have not been well treated," continued Grace, firmly, "in a thing +that concerns me more than any one else. I have not even been +consulted. You have arranged it all, mother, without reference to me +or my feelings. Perhaps I ought to be grateful for being spared so +painful a decision; but I think such a decision should have been +permitted to me." + +"You can dare to tell me such things to my very face!" + +"Why should I not tell them?" returned Grace, meeting her mother's +angry glance unflinchingly. "It seems to me that one should speak the +truth to one's mother. You have treated me like a child; and I have a +right to feel sore and indignant. Why did you not put the whole thing +before me, and tell me that you and my father did not see how you +could spare me? Do you really believe that I should have been so +wanting to my sense of duty as to follow my own pleasure?" + +"Grace, I insist upon your silence! I will not discuss the matter with +you." + +"If you insist upon silence, you must be obeyed, mother: but it is you +who have raised the question between us. But when you attack me +unjustly, I must defend myself." + +"You are forgetting yourself strangely. Your words are most +disrespectful and unbecoming in a daughter. You tell me to my face +that I am unjust--I, your mother--because I have been compelled to +thwart your wishes." + +"No, no--not because of that!" returned Grace, in a voice of +passionate pain; "why will you misunderstand me so?--but because you +have no faith in me. You treat me like a child. You dispute my +privilege to decide in a matter that concerns my own happiness. You +bid me work for you, and you give me no wage--not a word of praise; +and because I remonstrate for once in my life, you insist on my +silence." + +"It seems that I am not to be obeyed." + +"Oh, yes; you will be obeyed, mother. After to-night I will not open +my lips to offend you again. If I have said more than I ought to have +said as a daughter, I will ask your pardon now; but I cannot take back +one of my words. They are true,--true!" + +"I must say your apology is tardy, Grace." + +"Nevertheless, it is an apology; for, though you have hurt me, I must +not forget you are my mother. I know my life will be harder after +this, because of what I have said; and yet I would not take back one +of my words!" + +"I am more displeased with you than I can say," returned her mother, +taking up her neglected work; and her mouth looked stern and hard. + +Never had her aspect been so forbidding, and yet never had her +daughter feared her less. + +"Then, if you are displeased with me, I will go away," replied Grace, +moving from her seat with gentle dignity. "I wish you had not +compelled me to speak, mother, and then I should not have offended +you: but as it is there is no help for it." And then she gathered up +her work and walked slowly out of the room. + +Mrs. Drummond sat moodily in the empty room that had somehow never +seemed so empty before. Her attitude was as rigid and uncompromising +as usual; but there was a perplexed frown on her brow. For the first +time in her life one of her girls had dared to assert her own will and +to speak the truth to her; and she was utterly nonplussed. It was not +too much to say that she had received a blow. Her justice and sense of +fairness had been questioned,--her very maternal authority +impugned,--and that by one of her own children! Mattie, who was eight +years older, would not have ventured to cross her mother's will. +Grace had so dared; and she was bitterly angry with her. And yet she +had never so admired her before. + +How honestly and bravely she had battled for her rights! her gray eyes +had shone with fire, her pale cheeks had glowed with the passion of +her words: for once in her life the girl had looked superbly +handsome. + +"You have no faith in me; you treat me like a child." Well, she was +right; it was no child, it was a proud woman who was flinging those +hard words at her. For the first time Mrs. Drummond recognized the +possibility of a will as strong as her own. In spite of all her +authority, Grace had been a match for her mother: Mrs. Drummond knew +this, and it added fuel to her bitterness. + +"I know my life will be harder for what I have said." Ah, Grace was +right there; it would be long before her mother would forgive her for +all those words, true as they were; and yet in her heart she had never +so feared and admired her daughter. Grace went up to her own room, +where Dottie was asleep in a little bed very near her sister's: it was +dark and somewhat cold, but the atmosphere was less frigid than the +parlor downstairs. Grace's frame was trembling with the force of her +emotion; her face was burning, and her hands cold. It was restful and +soothing to put down her aching head on the hard window-ledge and +close her eyes and think out the pain! It seemed hours before Isabel +came to summon her to supper, but she made an excuse that she was not +hungry, and refused to go downstairs. + +"But you ate nothing at tea, and your head is aching!" persisted +Isabel, who was a bright, good-natured girl, and, in spite of Archie's +strictures, decidedly pretty. "Do let me bring you something. Mother +will not know." + +But Grace refused: she could not eat, and the sight of food would +distress her. + +"Why not go to bed at once, then?" suggested Isabel,--which was +certainly sensible counsel. But Grace demurred to this; she knew +Archie would be up presently to say good-night to her: so, when Isabel +had gone, she lighted the candle, shading it carefully from Dottie's +eyes, and then she bathed her hot face, and smoothed her hair, and +took up her work again. + +Archie found her quite calm and busy, but he was not so easily +deceived. + +"Now, Gracie, you have got one of your headaches: it is the +disappointment and the bother, and my going away to-morrow. Poor +little Gracie!" + +"Oh, Archie, I feel as though I shall never miss you so much!" +exclaimed the poor girl, throwing down her work and clinging to him. +"When shall I see your dear face again?--not until Christmas?" + +"And not then, I expect. I shall most likely run down some time in +January, and then I shall try hard to take you back with me, just for +a visit. Mattie will be dull, and wanting to see some of you, and I +will not have one of the others until you have been." + +"I don't believe mother will spare me even for that," returned Grace, +with a sudden conviction that her mother's memory was retentive, and +that she would be punished in that way for her sins of this evening; +"but promise me, Archie, that you will come, if it be only for a few +days." + +"Oh, I will promise you that. I cannot last longer without seeing you, +Grace!" And he stroked her soft hair as she still clung to him. + +The next day Archibald bade his family good-bye: his manner had not +changed toward his mother, and Mrs. Drummond thought his kiss +decidedly cold. + +"You will be good to Mattie, and try to make the poor girl happy; you +will do at least as much as this," she said, detaining him as he was +turning from her to see Grace. + +"Oh, yes, I will be good to her," he returned, indifferently, "but I +cannot promise that she will not find her life dull." And then he took +Grace in his arms, and whispered to her to be patient, and that all +would be well one day; and Mrs. Drummond, though she did not hear the +whisper, saw the embrace and the long lingering look between the +brother and sister, and pressed her thin lips together and went back +to her parlor and mending-basket, feeling herself an unhappy mother, +whose love was not requited by her children, and disposed to be harder +than ever towards Grace, who had inflicted this pain on her. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A VAN IN THE BRAIDWOOD ROAD. + + +One bright July morning, Mattie Drummond walked rapidly up the +Braidwood Road, and, unlatching the green door in the wall, let +herself into the large square hall of the vicarage. This morning it +looked invitingly cool, with its summer matting and big wicker-work +chairs; but Mattie was in too great haste to linger; she only stopped +to disencumber herself of the various parcels with which she was +ladened, and then she knocked at the door of her brother's study, and, +without waiting for the reluctant "Come in" that always answered her +hasty rap, burst in upon him. + +It was now three months since Mattie had entered upon her new duties, +and it must be confessed that Archie's housekeeper had rather a hard +time of it. As far as actual management went, Mattie fully justified +her mother's eulogiums in her household arrangements: she was orderly +and methodical,--far more so than Grace would have been in her place; +the meals were always punctual and well served, the domestic machinery +worked well and smoothly. Archie never had to complain of a missing +button or a frayed wrist-band. Nevertheless, Mattie's presence at the +vicarage was felt by her brother as a sore burden. There was nothing +in common between them, nothing that he cared to discuss with her, or +on which he wished to know her opinion; he was naturally a frank, +outspoken man, one that demanded sympathy from those belonging to him; +but with Mattie he was reticent, and as far as possible restrained in +speech. + +One reason for this might be that Mattie, with all her virtues,--and +she was really a most estimable little person,--was sadly deficient in +tact. She never knew when she was treading on other people's pet +prejudices. She could not be made to understand that her presence was +not always wanted, and that it was as well to keep silence sometimes. + +She would intrude her advice when it was not needed, in her +good-natured way; she had always interfered with everything and +everybody. "Meddlesome Mattie" they had called her at home. + +She was so wonderfully elastic, too, in her temperament, that nothing +long depressed her. She took all her brother's snubbings in excellent +part: if he scolded her at dinner-time, and made the ready tears come +to her eyes,--for it was not the least of Mattie's sins that she cried +easily and on every possible occasion,--she had forgotten it by +tea-time, and would chatter to him as happily as ever. + +She was just one of those persevering people who seem bound to be +snubbed; one cannot help it. It was as natural to scold Mattie as it +was to praise other people; and yet it was impossible not to like the +little woman, though she had no fine feelings, as Archie said, and was +not thin-skinned. Grace always spoke a good word for her; she was very +kind to Mattie in her way,--though it must be owned that she showed +her small respect as an elder sister. None of her brothers and sisters +respected Mattie in the least; they laughed at her, and took liberties +with her, presuming largely on her good nature. "It is only Mattie; +nobody cares what she thinks," as Clyde would often say. "Matt the +Muddler," as Frederick named her. + +"I wonder what Mattie would say if any one ever fell in love with +her?" Grace once observed in fun to Archie. "Do you know, I think she +would be all her life, thanking her husband for the unexpected honor +he had done her, and trying to prove to him that he had not made such +a great mistake, after all." + +"Mattie's husband! He must be an odd sort of person, I should think." +And then Archie laughed, in not the politest manner. Certainly Mattie +was not appreciated by her family. She was not looking her best this +morning when she went into her brother's study. She wore the +offending plaid dress,--a particular large black-and-white check that +he thought especially ugly. Her hat-trimmings were frayed, and the +straw itself was burnt brown by the sun, and her hair was ill arranged +and rough, for she never wasted much time on her own person, and, to +crown the whole, she looked flushed and heated. + +Archie, who was sitting at his writing-table in severely-cut +ecclesiastical garments, looking as trim and well-appointed a young +clergyman as one might wish to see, might be forgiven for the tone of +ill-suppressed irritation with which he said,-- + +"Oh, Mattie! what a figure you look! I am positively ashamed that any +one should see you. That hat is only fit to frighten the birds." + +"Oh, it will do very well for the mornings," returned Mattie, +perfectly undisturbed at these compliments. "Nobody looks at me: so +what does it matter?" But this remark, which she made in all +simplicity, only irritated him more. + +"If you have no proper pride, you might at least consider my feelings. +Do you think a man in my position likes his sister to go about like an +old beggar-woman? You are enough to try any one's patience, Mattie; +you are, indeed!" + +"Oh, never mind me and my things," returned Mattie coaxingly; "and +don't go on writing just yet," for Archie had taken up his pen again +with a great show of being busy. "I want to tell you something that I +know will interest you. There are some new people come to the +Friary." + +"What on earth do you mean?--what Friary? I am sure I never heard of +such a place." + +"Dear me, Archie, how cross you are this morning!" observed Mattie, in +a cheerful voice, as she fidgeted the papers on the table. "Why, the +Friary is that shabby little cottage just above us,--not a stone's +throw from this house." + +"Indeed? Well, I cannot say I am much interested in the movements of +my neighbors. I am not a gossip like you, Mattie!"--another fling at +poor Mattie. "I wish you would leave those papers alone. You know I +never allow my things to be tidied, as you call it, and I am really +very busy just now. I am in the middle of accounts, and I have to +write to Grace and----" + +"Well, I thought you would like to know." And Mattie looked rather +crestfallen and disappointed. "You talked so much about those young +ladies some weeks ago, and seemed quite sorry not to see them again; +and now----" but here Archie's indifference vanished, and he looked up +eagerly. + +"What young ladies? Not those in Milner's Library, who asked about the +dressmaker?" + +"The very same," returned his sister, delighted at this change of +manner. "Oh, I have so much to tell you that I must sit down," +planting herself comfortably on the arm of an easy-chair near him. +Another time Archie would have rebuked her for her unlady-like +attitude, and told her, probably, that Grace never did such things; +but now his interest was so excited that he let it pass for once. He +even suffered her to take off her old hat and deposit it unreproved on +the top of his cherished papers. "I was over at Crump's this morning, +to speak to Bobbie about weeding the garden, when I was surprised to +see a railway-van unloading furniture at the Friary." + +"What an absurd name!" _sotto voce_ from Archie: but he offered no +further check to Mattie's gossip. + +"I asked Mrs. Crump, as a matter of course, the name of the new +people; and she said it was Challoner. There was a mother and three +daughters, she believed. She had seen two of them,--pretty, +nice-spoken young creatures, and quite ladies. They had been down +before to see the cottage and to have it done up. It looks quite a +different place already,--nicely painted, and the shrubs trimmed. The +door was open, and as I stood at Mrs. Crump's window, peeping between +her geraniums, I saw such a respectable gray-haired woman, like an +upper servant, carrying something into the house; and a moment after +one of those young ladies we saw in the Library--not the pretty one, +but the other--came to the door and spoke to the men." + +"Are you sure you did not make a mistake, Mattie?" asked her brother, +incredulously. "You are very short-sighted: perhaps you did not see +correctly. How can those stylish-looking girls live in such a shabby +place? I can hardly believe it possible." + +"Oh, it was the same, I am positive about that. She was in the same +cambric dress you admired. I could see distinctly. I watched her for a +long time; and then the pretty one came out and joined her. She is +pretty, Archie, she has such a lovely complexion." + +"But are they poor?--they don't look so. What on earth can it mean?" +he asked, in a perplexed voice; but Mattie only shook her head, and +went on: + +"We must find out all about them by and by. They are worth knowing, I +am sure of that. Poor?--well, they cannot be rich, certainly, to live +in the Friary; but they are gentle-people, one can see that in a +moment." + +"Of course! who doubted it?" was the somewhat impatient answer. + +"Well, but that is not all," went on Mattie, too delighted with her +brother's interest to try to curtail her story. "Of course I could not +stand long watching them, so I did my errand and came away; and then I +met Miss Middleton, and we walked down to the Library together to +change those books. Miss Milner was talking to some ladies when we +first went in and, as Miss Masham was not in the shop, we had to wait +our turn, so I had a good look at them. The elder one was such a +pretty, aristocratic-looking woman,--a little too languid, perhaps +for my taste; and the younger one was a little like Isabel, only +nicer-looking. I shouldn't have stared at them so much,--at least, I +am afraid I stared," went on Mattie, forgetting for the moment how +often she had been taken to task for this very thing,--"but something +Miss Milner said attracted my attention, 'I am not to send it to the +Friary, then, ma'am?' 'Well, no,' the lady returned, rather +hesitatingly. She had such a nice voice and manner, Archie. 'My +youngest daughter and I are at Beach House at present; I am rather an +invalid, and the bustle would be too much for me. Dulce, we had better +have these things sent to Beach House.' And then the young lady +standing by her said, 'Oh, yes, mother; we shall want them this +evening.' And then they went out." + +"There is a third sister, then?" observed Archie, not pretending to +disguise his interest in Mattie's recital. + +"Yes, there is a third one: she is certainly a little like Isabel; she +has a dimple like hers, and is of the same height. I asked Miss +Milner, when they were out of hearing, if their name were Challoner, +and if they were the new people who were coming to live at the empty +cottage on the Braidwood Road. I thought she did not seem much +disposed to give me information. Yes, their name was Challoner, and +they had taken the Friary; but they were quite strangers in the town, +and no one knew anything about them. And then Miss Middleton chimed +in; she said her father had noticed the young ladies some weeks ago, +and had called her attention to them. They were very pretty girls, and +had quite taken his fancy; he had not forgotten them, and had spoken +of them that very morning. She supposed Mrs. Challoner must be a +widow, and not very well off: did Miss Milner know. Would you believe +it, Archie? Miss Milner got quite red, and looked confused. You know +how she enjoys a bit of gossip generally; but the questions seemed to +trouble her. 'They were not at all well off, she knew that, but nicer +young ladies she had never seen, or wished to see; and she hoped every +one would be kind to them, and not forget they were real born ladies, +in spite of----' And here the old thing got more confused than ever, +and came to a full stop, and begged to know how she could serve us." + +"It is very strange,--very strange indeed," returned her brother, in a +meditative voice; but, as Mattie had nothing more to tell him, he did +not discuss the matter any further, only thanked her for her news, and +civilly dismissed her on the plea that his business was at a +stand-still. + +But he did not resume his accounts for sometime after he was left +alone. Instead of doing so, he walked to the window and looked out in +a singularly absent manner. Mattie's news was somewhat exciting. The +idea of having such pleasant neighbors located within a stone's throw +of the vicarage was in itself disturbing to the imagination of a young +man of eight-and-twenty, even though a clergyman. And then, it must be +confessed, Nan's charming face and figure had never been forgotten: +he had looked out for the sisters many times since his chance +encounter with Phillis, and had been secretly disappointed at their +total disappearance. And now they proved not mere visitors, but +positively inhabitants of Hadleigh. He would meet them every day; and, +as there was but one church in the place, they would of course be +numbered among his flock. As their future clergyman he would have a +right of entrance to the cottage. + +"How soon do you think we ought to call upon them, Mattie?" he asked, +when he was seated opposite to his sister at the luncheon-table. The +accounts had not progressed very favorably, and the letter to Grace +was not yet commenced. Mattie's news had been a sad interruption to +his morning's work. + +"Whom do you mean, Archie," she returned, a little bewildered at this +abrupt remark; and then, as he frowned at her denseness, she bethought +herself of the new people. It was not often Archie asked her advice +about anything, but on this occasion the young vicar felt himself +incompetent to decide. + +"I suppose you mean the new folk at the Friary," she continued, +carelessly. "Oh, they are only moving in to-day, and they will be in a +muddle for a week, I should think. I don't think we can intrude for +ten days or so." + +"Not if you think it will be intrusive," he returned, rather +anxiously; "but they are strangers in the place, and all ladies--there +does not seem to be a man belonging to them--would it not be +neighborly, as we live so close, just to call, not in a formal way, +you know, but just to volunteer help? There are little things you +could do for them, Mattie; and, as a clergyman, they could not regard +my visit as an intrusion, I should think. Do you not agree with me?" +looking at his sister rather gravely. + +"Well, I don't know," replied Mattie, bluntly: "I should not care for +strangers prying into my concerns, if I were in their place. And yet, +as you say, we are such close neighbors, and one would like to be kind +to the poor things, for they must be lonely, settling in a strange new +place. I'll tell you what, Archie," as his face fell at this +matter-of-fact speech: "it is Thursday, and they will be sure to be at +church on Sunday; we shall see them there, and that will be an excuse +for us to call on Monday. We can say then that we are neighbors, and +that we would not wait until they were all in order. We can offer to +send them things from the vicarage, or volunteer help in many little +ways. I think that would be best." + +"Yes, perhaps you are right, and we will wait until Monday," returned +Archie, taking off his soft felt hat. "Now I must go on my rounds, and +not waste any more time chattering." But, though he spoke with unusual +good nature, he did not invite Mattie to be his companion, and the +poor little woman betook herself to the solitary drawing-room and some +plain sewing for the rest of the afternoon. + +The young clergyman stood for a moment irresolutely at the green door, +and cast a longing glance in the direction of the Friary, where the +van was still unloading, and then he bethought himself that, though +Mattie had given orders about the weeding of the garden-paths, it +would be as well to speak to Crump about the wire fence that was +wanted for the poultry-yard; and as soon as he had made up his mind on +this point he walked on briskly. + +The last piece of furniture had just been carried in; but, as Mr. +Drummond was picking his way through the straw and debris that +littered the side-path, two girlish figures came out of the doorway +full upon him. + +He raised his hat involuntarily, but they drew back at once, and, as +he went out, confused at this sudden rencontre, the sound of a light +laugh greeted his ear. + +"How annoying that we should always be meeting him!" observed Nan, +innocently. "Don't laugh, Phillis: he will hear you." + +"My dear, it must be fate," returned Phillis solemnly. "I shall think +it my duty to warn Dick if this goes on." But, in spite of her +mischievous speech, she darted a quick, interested look after the +handsome young clergyman as he walked on. Both the girls stood in the +porch for some minutes after they had made their retreat. They had +come out to cool themselves and to get a breath of air, until a July +sun and Mr. Drummond's sudden appearance defeated their intention. +They had no idea that they were watched from behind the screening +geraniums in Mrs. Crump's window. Both of them were enveloped in +Dorothy's bib-aprons, which hid their pretty rounded figures. +Phillis's cheeks were flushed, and her arms were bare to the dimpled +elbows; and Nan's brown hair was slightly dishevelled. + +"We look just like cooks!" exclaimed Phillis, regarding her coarse +apron with disfavor; but Nan stretched her arms with a little +indifference and weariness. + +"What does it matter how we look,--like cooks or housemaids? I am +dreadfully tired; but we must go in and work, Phil. I wonder what has +become of Dulce?" And then the charming vision disappeared from the +young clergyman's eyes, and he was free to fix his mind on the wire +fence that was required for the poultry-yard. + +As soon as he had accomplished his errand he set his face towards the +vicarage, for he made up his mind suddenly that he would call on the +Middletons, and perhaps on Mrs. Cheyne. The latter was a duty that he +owed to his pastoral conscience; but there was no need for him to go +to the Middletons'. Nevertheless, the father and daughter were his +most intimate friends, and on all occasions he was sure of Miss +Middleton's sympathy. They lived at Brooklyn,--a low white house a +little below the vicarage. It was a charming house, he always thought, +so well arranged and well managed; and the garden--that was the +colonel's special hobby--was as pretty as a garden could be. The +drawing-room looked shady and comfortable, for the French windows +opened into a cool veranda, fitted up with flower-baskets and wicker +chairs; and beyond lay the trim lawn, with beds of blazing verbenas +and calceolarias. Miss Middleton's work-table was just within one of +the windows; but the colonel, in his gray summer suit, reclined in a +lounging-chair in the veranda. He was reading the paper to his +daughter, and was just in the middle of last night's debate; +nevertheless, he threw it aside, well pleased at the interruption. + +"I knew how I should find you occupied," observed Mr. Drummond, as he +exchanged a smile with Miss Middleton. He was fully aware that +politics were not to her taste, and yet every afternoon she listened +to such reading, well content even with the sound of her father's +voice. + +Elizabeth Middleton was certainly a charming person. Phillis had +called her the "gray-haired girl," and the title suited her. She was +not a girl by any means, having reached her six-and-thirtieth year; +but her hair was as silvery as an old woman's, gray and plentiful, and +soft as silk, and contrasted strangely with her still youthful face. + +Without being handsome, Elizabeth Middleton was beautiful. Her +expression was sweet and restful, and attracted all hearts. People who +were acquainted with her said she was the happiest creature they +knew,--that she simply diffused sunshine by her mere presence; such a +contrast, they would add, to her neighbor Mrs. Cheyne, who bore all +her troubles badly and was of a proud, fretful disposition. But then +Mrs. Cheyne had lost her husband and her two children, and led such a +sad, lonely life; and no such troubles had fallen to Miss Middleton. + +Elizabeth Middleton could afford to be happy, they said, for she was +the delight of her father's eyes. Her young half-brother, Hammond, who +was with his regiment in India, was not nearly so dear to the old man; +and of course that was why she had never married, that her father's +house might not be left desolate. + +This is how people talked; but not a single person in Hadleigh knew +that Elizabeth Middleton had had a great sorrow in her life. + +She had been engaged for some years most happily, and with her +father's consent, to one of his brother officers. Captain Sedgwick was +of good family, but poor; and they were waiting for his promotion, for +at that time Colonel Middleton would have been unable to give his +daughter any dowry. Elizabeth was young and happy, and she could +afford to wait. No girl ever gloried in her lover more than she did in +hers. Capel Sedgwick was not only brave and singularly handsome, but +he bore a reputation through the whole regiment for having a higher +standard of duty than most men. + +Promotion came at last, and, just as Elizabeth was gayly making +preparations for her marriage, fatal tidings were brought to her. +Major Sedgwick had gone to visit an old servant in the hospital who +had been struck down with cholera; he had remained with him some time, +and on his return to his bungalow the same fell disease had attacked +him, and before many hours were over he was dead. The shock was a +terrible one; in the first moments of her bitter loss, Elizabeth cried +out that her misery was too great,--that all happiness was over for +her in this world, and that she only prayed that she might be buried +in the same grave with Capel. + +The light had not yet come to the poor soul that felt itself afflicted +past endurance and could find no reason for such pain. It could not be +said that Elizabeth bore her trouble better than other girls would +have borne theirs under like circumstances. She fretted and grew thin, +and dashed herself wildly against the inevitable, only reproaching +herself for her selfishness and want of submission when she looked at +her father's care-worn face. + +But then came a time when light and peace revisited the wrecked +heart,--when confused reasonings no longer beset the poor weak brain +and filled it with dismay and doubt,--when the Divine will became her +will, and there was no longer submission, but a most joyful surrender. +And no one, and least of all she herself, knew when the darkness was +vanquished by that clear uprising of pure radiance, or how those +brooding wings of peace settled on her soul. From that time, every +human being that came within her radius was welcome as a new object of +love. To give and yet to give, and never to be satisfied, was a daily +necessity of life to Elizabeth. "Now there is some one more to love," +she would say to herself, when a new acquaintance was brought to her; +and, as the old adage is true that tells us love begets love, there +was no more popular person in Hadleigh than Elizabeth Middleton. She +had something to say in praise of every one; not that she was blind to +the faults of her neighbors, but she preferred to be silent and ignore +them. + +And she was especially kind to Mattie. In the early days of their +intimacy, the young vicar would often speak to her of his sister Grace +and lament their enforced separation from each other. Miss Middleton +listened sympathetically, with the same sweet attention that she gave +to every man, woman, and child that laid claim to it; but once, when +he had finished, she said, rather gravely,-- + +"Do you know, Mr. Drummond, that I think your mother was right?" + +"Right in dooming Grace to such a life?" he said, pausing in utter +surprise at her remark. + +"Pardon me; it is not her mother who dooms her," returned Miss +Middleton, quickly, "but duty,--her own sense of right,--everything +that is sacred. If Mrs. Drummond had not decided that she could not be +spared, I am convinced from all you tell me, that Grace would still +have remained at home: her conscience would have been too strong for +her." + +"Well, perhaps you are right," he admitted, reluctantly. "Grace is a +noble creature, and capable of any amount of self-sacrifice." + +"I am sure of it," returned Miss Middleton, with sparkling eyes. "How +I should like to know her! it would be a real pleasure and privilege; +but I am very fond of your sister Mattie, too." + +"Fond of Mattie!" It was hardly brotherly, but he could not help that +incredulous tone in his voice. How could such a superior woman as Miss +Middleton be even tolerant of Mattie? + +"Oh, yes," she replied, quite calmly; "I have a great respect for your +sister. She is so unselfish and amiable, and there is something so +genuine in her. Before everything one wants truth," finished +Elizabeth, taking up her work. + +Now, as the young clergyman entered the room, she stretched out her +hand to him with her usual beaming smile. + +"This is good of you, to come so soon again," she said, making room +for him between her father and herself. "But why have you not brought +Mattie?" and Archie felt as though he had received a rebuke. + +"She is finishing some work," he returned, a little confused; "that +is, what you ladies call work. It is not always necessary for the +clergywoman to pay visits, is it?" + +"The clergywoman, as you call her, is doing too much. I was scolding +her this morning for not sparing herself more: I thought she was not +looking quite well, Mr. Drummond." + +"Oh, Mattie is well enough," he replied, carelessly. He had not come +to talk about his sister: a far more interesting subject was in his +mind. "Do you know, colonel," he went on, with some animation, "that +you and I have new neighbors? Do you remember the young ladies in the +blue cambric dresses?" And at this question the colonel threw aside +his paper at once. + +"Elizabeth has been telling me. I remember the young ladies perfectly. +I could not help noticing them. They walked so well,--heads up, and as +neat and trim as though they were on parade; pretty creatures, both of +them. Elizabeth pretends not to be interested, but she is quite +excited. Look at her!" + +"Nay, father, it is you who can talk of nothing else; but it will be +very nice to have such pleasant neighbors. How soon do you think we +may call on them?" + +And then Archie explained, with some little embarrassment, that he and +Mattie thought of calling the following Monday and offering their +services. + +"That is very thoughtful of Mattie. She is such a kind-hearted little +creature, and is always ready to serve everybody." + +And then they entered into a discussion on the new-comers that lasted +so long that the tea-things made their appearance; and shortly +afterwards Mr. Drummond announced that he must go and call on Mrs. +Cheyne. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE. + + +Hitherto Mr. Drummond had acknowledged his afternoon to be a success. +He had obtained a glimpse of the new-comers through Mrs. Crump's +screen of geraniums, and had listened with much interest to Colonel +Middleton's innocent gossip, while Miss Middleton had poured out their +tea. Indeed, his attention had quite flattered his host. + +"Really, Drummond is a very intelligent fellow," he observed to his +daughter, when they were at last left alone,--"a very intelligent +fellow, and so thoroughly gentlemanly." + +"Yes, he is very nice," returned Elizabeth; "and he seems wonderfully +interested in our new neighbors." And here she smiled a little +archly. + +There was no doubt that Mr. Drummond had fully enjoyed his visit. +Nevertheless, as he left Brooklyn, and set his face towards the White +House, his manner changed, and his face became somewhat grave. + +He had told himself that he owed it to his pastoral conscience to call +on Mrs. Cheyne; but, notwithstanding this monition, he disliked the +duty, for he always felt on these occasions that he was hardly up to +his office, and that this solitary member of his flock was not +disposed to yield herself to his guidance. He was ready to pity her if +she would allow herself to be pitied; but any expression of sympathy +seemed repugnant to her. Any one so utterly lonely, so absolutely +without interest in existence, he had never seen or thought to see; +and yet he could not bring himself to like her, or to say more than +the mere commonplace utterances of society. Though he was her +clergyman, and bound by the sacredness of his office to be specially +tender to the bruised and maimed ones of his flock, he could not get +her to acknowledge her maimed condition to him, or to do anything but +listen to him with cold attention, when he hinted vaguely that all +human beings are in need of sympathy. Perhaps she thought him too +young, and feared to find his judgments immature and one-sided; but +certainly his visits to the White House were failures. Mrs. Cheyne was +still young enough and handsome enough to need some sort of +chaperonage: and though she professed to mock at conventionality, she +acknowledged its claims in this respect by securing the permanent +services of Miss Mewlstone--a lady of uncertain age and uncertain +acquirements. It must be confessed that every one wondered at Mrs. +Cheyne and her choice, for no one could be less companionable than +Miss Mewlstone. + +She was a stout, sleepy-looking woman, with a soft voice, and in +placidity and a certain cosyness of exterior somewhat resembled a +large white cat. Some people declared she absolutely purred, and +certainly her small blue eyes were ready to close on all occasions. +She always dressed in gray,--a very unbecoming color to a stout +person,--and when not asleep or reading (for she was a great reader) +she seemed always busy with a mass of soft fleecy wool. No one heard +her ever voluntarily conversing with her patroness. They would drive +together for hours, or pass whole evenings in the same room, scarcely +exchanging a word. "Just so, my dear," she would say, in return to any +observation made to her by Mrs. Cheyne. "Just so Mewlstone," a young +wag once nicknamed her. + +People stared incredulously when Mrs. Cheyne assured them her +companion was a very superior woman. They thought it was only her +satire, and did not believe her in the least. They would have stared +still more if they had really known the extent of Miss Mewlstone's +acquirements. + +"She seems so stupid, as though she cannot talk," one of Mrs. Cheyne's +friends said. + +"Oh, yes, she can talk, and very well too," returned that lady, +quietly, "but she knows that I do not care about it; her silence is +her great virtue in my eyes. And then she has tact, and knows when to +keep out of the way," finished Mrs. Cheyne, with the utmost frankness; +and, indeed, it may be doubted whether any other person would have +retained her position so long at the White House. + +Mrs. Cheyne was no favorite with the young pastor, nevertheless she +was an exceedingly handsome woman. Before the bloom of her youth had +worn off she had been considered absolutely beautiful. As regarded the +form of her features, there was no fault to be found, but her +expression was hardly pleasing. There was a hardness that people found +a little repelling,--a bitter, dissatisfied droop of the lip, a +weariness of gloom in the dark eyes, and a tendency to satire in her +speech, that alienated people's sympathy. + +"I am unhappy, but pity me if you dare!" seemed to be written legibly +upon her countenance; and those who knew her best held their peace in +her presence, and then went away and spoke softly to each other of the +life that seemed wasted and the heart that was so hardened with its +trouble. "What would the world be if every one were to bear their +sorrows so badly?" they would say. "There is something heathenish in +such utter want of resignation. Oh, yes, it was very sad, her losing +her husband and children, but it all happened four or five years ago; +and you know"--And here people's voices dropped a little ominously, +for there were vague hints afloat that things had not always gone on +smoothly at the White House, even when Mrs. Cheyne had her husband. +She had been an only child, and had married the only survivor of a +large family. Both were handsome, self-willed young people; neither +had been used to contradiction. In spite of their love for each other, +there had been a strife of wills and misunderstandings from the +earliest days of their marriage. Neither knew what giving up meant, +and before many months were over the White House witnessed many +painful scenes. Herbert Cheyne was passionate, and at times almost +violent; but there was no malice in his nature. He stormed furiously +and forgave easily. A little forbearance would have turned him into a +sweet-natured man; but his wife's haughtiness and resentment lasted +long; she never acknowledged herself in the wrong, never made +overtures of peace, but bore herself on every occasion as a +sorely-injured wife, a state of things singularly provoking to a man +of Herbert Cheyne's irritable temperament. + +There was injudicious partisanship as regarded their children: while +Mrs. Cheyne idolized her boy, her husband lavished most of his +attentions on the baby girl,--"papa's girl," as she always called +herself in opposition to "mother's boy." + +Mrs. Cheyne really believed she loved her boy best, but when +diphtheria carried off her little Jane also, she was utterly +inconsolable. Her husband was far away when it happened: he had been a +great traveller before his marriage, and latterly his matrimonial +relations with his wife had been so unsatisfactory that virtual +separation had ensued. Two or three months before illness, and then +death, had devastated the nursery at the White House, he had set out +for a long exploring expedition in Central Africa. + +"You make my life so unbearable that, but for the children, I would +never care to set foot in my home again," he had said to her, in one +of his violent moods; and, though he repented of this speech +afterwards, she could not be brought to believe that he had not meant +it, and her heart had been hard against him even in their parting. + +But before many months were over she would have given all she +possessed--to her very life--to have recalled him to her side. She was +childless, and her health was broken; but no such recall was possible. +Vague rumors reached her of some miserable disaster: people talked of +a missing Englishman. One of the little party had already succumbed to +fever and hardship; by and by another followed; and the last news that +reached them was that Herbert Cheyne lay at the point of death in the +kraal of a friendly tribe. Since then the silence had been of the +grave: not one of the party had survived to bring the news of his last +moments: there had been illness and disaster from the first. + +When Mrs. Cheyne recovered from the nervous disorder that had +attacked her on the receipt of this news, she put on widow's mourning, +and wore it for two years; then she sent for Miss Mewlstone, and set +herself to go through with the burden of her life. If she found it +heavy, she never complained: she was silent on her own as on other +people's troubles. Only at the sight of a child of two or three years +of age she would turn pale, and draw down her veil, and if it ran up +to her, as would sometimes happen, she would put it away from her +angrily, pushing it away almost with violence, and no child was ever +suffered to cross her threshold. + +The drawing-room at the White House was a spacious apartment, with +four long windows opening on the lawn. Mrs. Cheyne was sitting in her +low chair, reading, with Miss Mewlstone at the farther end of the +room, with her knitting-basket beside her; two or three grayhounds +were grouped near her. They all rushed forward with furious barks as +Mr. Drummond was announced, and then leaped joyously round him. Mrs. +Cheyne put down her book, and greeted him with a frosty smile. + +She had laid aside her widow's weeds, but still dressed in black, the +sombreness of her apparel harmonizing perfectly with her pale, creamy +complexion. Her dress was always rich in material, and most carefully +adjusted. In her younger days it had been an art with her,--almost a +passion,--and it had grown into a matter of custom. + +"You are very good to come again so soon, Mr. Drummond," she said, as +she gave him her hand. The words were civil, but a slight inflection +on the word "soon" made Mr. Drummond feel a little uncomfortable. Did +she think he called too often? He wished he had brought Mattie; only +last time she had been so satirical, and had quizzed the poor little +thing unmercifully; not that Mattie had found out that she was being +quizzed. + +"I hardly thought I should find you at home, it is so fine an +afternoon; but I made the attempt, you see," he continued, a little +awkwardly. + +"Your parochial conscience was uneasy, I suppose, because I was +missing at church?" she returned, somewhat slyly. "You would make a +capital overseer, Mr. Drummond,"--with a short laugh. "A headache is a +good excuse, is it not? I had a headache, had I not, Miss Mewlstone?" + +"Yes, my dear, just so," returned Miss Mewlstone. She always called +her patroness "my dear." + +"Miss Mewlstone gave me the heads of the sermon, so it was not quite +labor lost, as regards one of your flock. I am afraid you think me a +black sheep because I stay away so often,--a very black sheep, eh, Mr. +Drummond?" + +"It is not for me to judge," he said, still more awkwardly. "Headaches +are very fair excuses; and if one be not blessed with good +health----" + +"My health is perfect," she returned, interrupting him ruthlessly. "I +have no such convenient plea under which to shelter myself. Miss +Mewlstone suffers far more from headaches than I do. Don't you, Miss +Mewlstone?" + +"Just so; yes, indeed, my dear," proceeded softly from the other end +of the room. + +"I am sorry to hear it," commenced Mr. Drummond, in a sympathizing +tone of voice. But his tormentor again interrupted him. + +"I am a sad backslider, am I not? I wonder if you have a sermon ready +for me? Do you lecture your parishioners, Mr. Drummond, rich as well +as poor? What a pity it is you are so young! Lectures are more +suitable with gray hair; a hoary head might have some chance against +my satire. A woman's tongue is a difficult thing to keep in order, is +it not? I dare say you find that with Miss Mattie?" + +Mr. Drummond was literally on thorns. He had no repartee ready. She +was secretly exasperating him as usual, making his youth a reproach, +and rendering it impossible for him to be his natural frank self with +her. In her presence he was always at a disadvantage. She seemed to +take stock of his learning and to mock at the idea of his pastoral +claims. It was not the first time she had called herself a black +sheep, or had spoken of her scanty attendances at church. But as yet +he had not dared to rebuke her; he had a feeling that she might fling +back his rebuke with a jest, and his dignity forbade this. Some day he +owed it to his conscience to speak a word to her,--to tell her of the +evil effects of such an example; but the convenient season had not yet +arrived. + +He was casting about in his own mind for some weighty sentence with +which to answer her; but she again broke in upon his silence: + +"It seems that I am to escape to-day. I hope you are not a lax +disciplinarian; that comes of being young. Youth is more tolerant, +they say, of other people's errors: it has its own glass houses to +mind." + +"You are too clever for me, Mrs. Cheyne," returned the young man, with +a deprecating smile that might have disarmed her. "No, I have not come +to lecture: my mission is perfectly peaceful, as befits this lovely +afternoon. I wonder what you ladies find to do all day?" he continued, +abruptly changing the subject, and trying to find something that would +not attract her satire. + +Mrs. Cheyne seemed a little taken aback by this direct question; and +then she drew up her beautiful head a little haughtily, and laughed. + +"Ah, you are cunning, Mr. Drummond. You found me disposed to take the +offensive in the matter of church-going, and now you are on another +track. There is a lecture somewhere in the background. How doth the +little busy bee, etc. Now, don't frown,"--as Mr. Drummond knitted his +brows and really looked annoyed: "I will not refuse to be +catechised." + +"I should not presume to catechise you," he returned, hastily. "I +appeal to Miss Mewlstone if my question were not a very innocent +one." + +"Just so; just so," replied Miss Mewlstone; but she looked a little +alarmed at this appeal. "Oh, very innocent; oh, very so." + +"With two against me I must yield," returned Mrs. Cheyne, with a curl +of her lip. "What do we do with our time, Miss Mewlstone? Your +occupation speaks for itself: it is exquisitely feminine. Don't tell +Miss Mattie, Mr. Drummond, but I never work. I would as soon arm +myself with a dagger as a needle or a pair of scissors. When I am not +in the air, I paint. I only lay aside my palette for a book." + +"You paint!" exclaimed Archie, with sudden interest. It was the first +piece of information he had yet gleaned. + +"Yes," she returned, indifferently: "one must do something to kill +time, and music was never my forte. I sketch and draw and paint after +my own sweet will. There are portfolios full of my sketches in +there,"--with a movement of her hand towards a curtained recess. "No, +I know what you are going to say: you will ask to see them; but I +never show them to any one." + +"For what purpose, then, do you paint them?" were the words on his +lips; but he forbore to utter them. But she read the question in his +eyes. + +"Did I not say one must kill time?" she returned, rather irritably: +"the occupation is soothing: surely that is reason enough." + +"It is a good enough reason, I suppose," he replied, reluctantly, for +surely he must say a word here; "but one need not talk about killing +time, with so much that one could do." + +Then there came a gleam of suppressed mischief in her eyes: + +"Yes, I know: you may spare me that. I will listen to it all next +Sunday, if you will, when you have it your own way, and one cannot sin +against decorum and answer you. Yes, yes, there is so much to do, is +there not?--hungry people to be fed, and sick to visit,--all sorts of +disagreeables that people call duties. Ah, I am a sad sinner! I only +draw for my own amusement, and leave the poor old world to get on +without me. What a burden I must be on your conscience, Mr. +Drummond,--heavier than all the rest of your parish. What, are you +going already? and Miss Mewlstone has never given you any tea." + +Then Archie explained, very shortly, that he had partaken of that +beverage at Brooklyn, and his leave-taking was rather more formal than +usual. He was very much surprised, as he stood at the hall door, that +always stood open in the summer, to hear the low sweep of a dress over +the tessellated pavement behind him, and to see a white pudgy hand +laid on his coat-sleeve. + +"My dear Miss Mewlstone, how you startled me!" + +"Just so; yes, I am afraid I did, Mr. Drummond; but I just wanted to +say, never mind all that nonsense; come again: she likes to see you; +she does, indeed. It is only her way to talk so; she means no harm, +poor dear,--oh, none at all!" + +"Excuse me," returned Archie, in a hurt voice, "but I think you are +mistaken. Mrs. Cheyne does not care for my visits, and shows me she +does not: if it were not my duty, I should not come so often." + +"No, no; just so, but all the same it rouses her and does her good. It +is a bad day with her, poor dear!--the very day the darlings were +taken ill, four years ago. Now, don't go away and fancy things, don't, +there's a dear young man; come as often as you can, and try and do her +good." + +"Oh, if I only knew how that is to be done!" returned Archie, slowly; +but he was mollified in spite of himself. There were tears in Miss +Mewlstone's little blue eyes: perhaps she was a good creature after +all. + +"I will come again, but not just yet," he said, nodding to her +good-humoredly; but as he walked down the road he told himself that +Mrs. Cheyne had never before made herself so disagreeable, and that it +would be long before he set foot in the White House again. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +"A FRIEND IN NEED." + + +Human nature is weak, and we are told there are mixed motives to be +found even in the holiest actions. Mr. Drummond never could be brought +to acknowledge even to himself the reason why he took so much pains to +compose his sermon for that Sunday. Without possessing any special +claim to eloquence, he had always been earnest and painstaking, +bestowing much labor on the construction and finish of his sentences, +which were in consequence more elaborate than original. At times, when +he took less pains and was simpler in style, he seldom failed to +satisfy his hearers. His voice was pleasant and well modulated, and +his delivery remarkably quiet and free from any tricks of gestures. + +But on this occasion his subject baffled him; he wrote and rewrote +whole pages, and then grew discontented with his work. On the Sunday +in question he woke with the conviction that something out of the +common order of events distinguished the day from other days; but even +as this thought crossed his mind he felt ashamed of himself, and was +in consequence a little more dictatorial than usual at the +breakfast-table. + +The inhabitants of Hadleigh were well accustomed to the presence of +strangers in their church. In the season there was a regular influx +of visitors that filled the lodging-houses to overflowing. Hadleigh +had always prided itself on its gentility, as a watering-place it was +select and exclusive; only the upper middle classes, and a sprinkling +of the aristocracy, were the habitual frequenters of the little town. +It was too quiet; it offered too few attractions to draw the crowds +that flocked to other places. Mr. Drummond's congregation was well +used by this time to see new faces in the strangers' pew; +nevertheless, a little thrill of something like surprise and +excitement moved a few of the younger members as Nan and her sisters +walked down the aisle, with their mother following them. + +"The mother is almost as good-looking as her daughters," thought +Colonel Middleton, as he regarded the group through his gold-mounted +eye-glasses, and Miss Middleton looked up for an instant from her +prayer-book. Even Mrs. Cheyne roused from the gloomy abstraction which +was her usual approach to devotion, and looked long and curiously at +the three girlish faces before her. It was refreshing even to her to +see anything so fresh and bright-looking. + +Nan and her sisters were perfectly oblivious of the sensation they +were making. Nan's pretty face was a trifle clouded: the strange +surroundings, the sight of all those people unknown to them, instead +of the dear, familiar faces that had always been before her, gave the +girl a dreary feeling of oppression and dismay. Her voice quavered +audibly as she sang, and one or two drops fell on her prayer-book as +she essayed to join in the petitions. + +"Why is there not a special clause in the Litany for those who are +perplexed and in poverty? It is not only from murder and sudden death +one need pray to be delivered," thought Nan, with much sinking of +heart. "Oh, how helpless they were,--so young, and only girls, with a +great unknown world before them, and Dick away, ignorant of their +worst troubles, and too youthful a knight to win his spurs and pledge +himself to their service!" + +Nan's sweet downcast face drew many eyes in the direction of the great +square pew in which they sat. Phillis intercepted some of these looks, +as her attention insensibly wandered during the service. It was wrong, +terribly wrong of course, but her thoughts would not concentrate +themselves on the lesson the young vicar was reading in his best +style. She was not heavy-hearted like Nan; on the contrary, little +thrills of excitement, of impatience, of repressed amusement, pervaded +her mind, as she looked at the strange faces round her "They would not +be long strange," she thought: "some of them would be her neighbors. +What would they say, all these people, when they knew----" And here +Phillis held her breath a moment. People were wondering even now who +they were. They had dressed themselves that morning, rehearsing their +parts, as it were, with studied simplicity. The gown Nan wore was as +inexpensive as a gown could be; her hat was a model of neatness and +propriety: nevertheless, Phillis groaned in spirit as she glanced at +her. Where had she got that style? She looked like a young princess +who was playing at Arcadia. Would people ever dare to ask her to work +for them? Would they not beg her pardon, and cry shame on themselves +for entertaining such a thought for a moment? Phillis almost envied +Nan, who was shedding salt tears on her prayer-book. She thought she +was absorbed in her devotions, while her own thoughts would wander so +sadly; and then a handsome face in the opposite pew attracted her +attention. Surely that must be Mrs. Cheyne, who lived in the White +House near them, of whom Nan had talked,--the poor woman who had lost +husband and children and who lived in solitary state. The sermon had +now commenced, but Phillis turned a deaf ear to the sentences over +which Mr. Drummond had expended so much labor: her attention was +riveted by the gloomy beautiful face before her, which alternately +attracted and repelled her. + +As though disturbed by some magnetic influence, Mrs. Cheyne raised her +eyes slowly and looked at Phillis. Something in the girl's keen-eyed +glance seemed to move her strangely. The color crept into her pale +face, and her lip quivered: a moment afterwards she drew down her veil +and leaned back in her seat and Phillis, somewhat abashed, endeavored +fruitlessly to gather up the thread of the sermon. + +"There! it is over! We have made our _debut_," she said, a little +recklessly, as they walked back to Beach House, where Mrs. Challoner +and Dulce were still staying. And as Nan looked at her, a little +shocked and mystified by this unusual flippancy, she continued in the +same excited way: + +"Was it not strange Mr. Drummond choosing that text, 'Consider the +lilies'? He looked at us; I am sure he did, mother. It was quite a +tirade against dress and vanity; but I am sure no one could find fault +with us." + +"It was a very good sermon, and I think he seems a very clever young +man," returned Mrs. Challoner, with a sigh, for the service had been a +long weariness for her. She had not been unmindful of the attention +her girls had caused; but if people only knew--And here the poor lady +had clasped her hands and put up petitions that were certainly not in +the Litany. + +Phillis seemed about to say something, but she checked herself, and +they were all a little silent until they reached the house. This first +Sunday was an infliction to them all: it was a day of enforced +idleness. There was too much time for thought and room for regret. In +spite of all Phillis's efforts,--and she rattled on cheerily most of +the afternoon,--Mrs. Challoner got one of her bad headaches, from +worry, and withdrew to her room, attended by Dulce, who volunteered to +bathe her head and read her to sleep. + +The church-bells were just ringing for the evening service, and Nan +rose, as usual, to put on her hat; but Phillis stopped her: + +"Oh, Nan, do not let us go to church again this evening. I am terribly +wicked to-day, I know, but somehow I cannot keep my thoughts in order. +So what is the use of making the attempt? Let us take out our +prayer-books and sit on the beach: it is low tide, and a walk over the +sands would do us good after our dreadful week." + +"If you are sure it would not be wrong," hesitated Nan, whose +conscience was a little hard to convince in such matters. + +"No, no. And the run will do Laddie good. The poor little fellow has +been shut up in this room all day. We need not tell the mother. She +would be shocked, you know. But we never have stayed away from church +before, have we? And, to tell you the truth," continued Phillis, with +an unsteady laugh that betrayed agitation to her sister's ear, "though +I faced it very well this morning, I do not feel inclined to go +through it again. People stared so. And I could not help thinking all +the time, 'If they only knew!'--that was the thought that kept buzzing +in my head. If only Mr. Drummond and all those people knew!" + +"What does it matter what people think?" returned Nan. But she said it +languidly. In her heart she was secretly dismayed at this sudden +failure of courage. Phillis had been quite bold and merry all the day, +almost reckless in her speeches. + +"I am glad we came. This will do us both good," said Nan, gently, as +they left the parade behind them, and went slowly over the shelving +beach, with Laddie rolling like a clumsy black ball about their feet. +Just before them there was a pretty black-timbered cottage, covered +with roses, standing quite low on the shore, and beyond this was +nothing but shingly beach, and a stretch of wet, yellow sand, on which +the sun was shining. There was a smooth white boulder standing quite +alone, on which the girls seated themselves. The tide was still going +out; and the low wash of waves sounded pleasantly in their ears as +they advanced and then receded. A shimmer of silvery light played upon +the water, and a rosy tinge began to tint the horizon. + +"How quiet and still it is!" said Phillis, in an awe-struck voice. +"When we are tired we must come here to rest ourselves. How prettily +those baby waves seem to babble! it is just like the gurgle of baby +laughter. And look at Laddie splashing in that pool: he is after that +poor little crab. Come here, you rogue!" But Laddie, intent upon his +sport, only cocked his ear restlessly and refused to obey. + +"Yes, it is lovely," returned Nan. "There is quite a silvery path over +the water; by and by the sunset clouds will be beautiful. But what is +the matter, dear?" as Phillis sighed and leaned heavily against her; +and then, as she turned, she saw the girl's eyes were wet. + +"Oh, Nan! shall we have strength for it? That is what I keep asking +myself to-day. No you must not look so frightened. I am brave enough +generally, and I do not mean to lose pluck; but now and then the +thought will come to me, Shall we have strength to go through with +it?" + +"We must think of each other; that must keep us up," returned Nan, +whose ready sympathy fully understood her sister's mood. Only to Nan +would Phillis ever own her failure of courage or fears for the future. +But now and then the brave young heart needed comfort, and always +found it in Nan's sympathy. + +"It was looking at your dear beautiful face that made me feel so +suddenly bad this morning," interrupted Phillis, with a sort of sob. +"It was not the people so much; they only amused and excited me, and I +kept thinking, 'If they only knew!' But, Nan, when I looked at +you--oh, why are you so nice and pretty, if you have got to do this +horrid work?" + +"I am not a bit nicer than you and Dulce," laughed Nan, embracing her, +for she never could be made to understand that by most people she was +considered their superior in good looks. The bare idea made her angry. +"It is worse for you, Phillis, because you are so clever and have so +many ideas. But there! we must not go on pitying each other, or else, +indeed, we shall undermine our little stock of strength." + +"But don't you feel terribly unhappy sometimes?" persisted Phillis. +Neither of them mentioned Dick, and yet he was in both their minds. + +"Perhaps I do," returned Nan, simply; and then she added, with +quaintness that was pathetic, "You see, we are so unused to the +feeling, and it is over-hard at first: by and by we shall be more used +to not having our own way in things." + +"I think I could give up that readily, if I could be sure you and +Dulce were not miserable," sighed Phillis. + +"That is what I say," returned Nan. "Don't you see how simple and +beautiful that is? Thinking of each other gives us strength to go +through with it all. This evening trying to cheer you up has done me +good. I do not feel the least afraid of people to-night. Looking at +that sea and sky makes one feel the littleness and unreality of all +these worries. What does it matter--what does anything matter--if we +only do our duty and love each other, and submit to the Divine will?" +finished Nan, reverently, who seldom spoke of her deeper feelings, +even to Phillis. + +"Nan, you are a saint," returned Phillis, enthusiastically. The +worried look had left her eyes; they looked clear and bright as usual. +"Oh, what a heathen I have been to-day! but, as Dulce is so fond of +saying, 'I am going to be good. I will read the evening Psalms to you, +in token of my resolution, if you like. But wait: is there not some +one coming across the sand! How eerie it looks, such a tall black +figure standing between the earth and sky!" + +Phillis had good sight, or she would hardly have distinguished the +figure, which was now motionless, at such a distance. In another +moment she even announced that its draperies showed it to be a woman, +before she opened her book and commenced reading. + +There is something very striking in a lonely central figure in a +scene, the outline cuts so sharply against the horizon. Nan's eyes +seemed riveted on it as she listened to Phillis's voice; it seemed to +her as immovable as a Sphinx, its rigidity lending a sort of +barrenness and forlornness to the landscape, a black edition of human +nature set under a violet and opal sky. + +She almost started when it moved, at last, with a steady bearing, as +it seemed, towards them; then curiosity quickened into interest, and +she touched Phillis's arm, whispering breathlessly,-- + +"The Sphinx moves! Look--is not that Mrs. Cheyne, the lady who lives +at the White House near us, who always looks so lonely and unhappy?" + +"Hush!" returned Phillis, "she will hear you;" and then Mrs. Cheyne +approached with the same swift even walk. She looked at them for a +moment, as she passed, with a sort of well-bred surprise in her air, +as though she marvelled to see them there; her black dress touched +Laddie, and he caught at it with an impotent bark. + +The sisters must have made a pretty picture, as they sat almost +clinging together on the stone: one of Nan's little white hands rested +on Laddie's head, the other lay on Phillis's lap. Phillis glanced up +from her book, keen-eyed and alert in a moment; she turned her head to +look at the stranger that had excited her interest, and then rose to +her feet with a little cry of dismay. + +"Oh, Nan, I am afraid she has hurt herself! She gave such a slip just +now. I wonder what has happened? She is leaning against the +breakwater, too. Shall we go and ask her if she feels ill or +anything?" + +"You may go," was Nan's answer. Nevertheless, she followed Phillis. + +Mrs. Cheyne looked up at them a little sharply as they came towards +her. Her face was gray and contracted with pain. + +"I have slipped on a wet stone, and my foot has somehow turned on me," +she said, quickly, as Phillis ran up to her. "It was very stupid. I +cannot think how it happened; but I have certainly sprained my ankle. +It gives me such pain. I cannot move." + +"Oh, dear, I am so sorry!" returned Phillis, good-naturedly; and, in +the most natural manner, she knelt down on the beach, and took the +injured foot in her hands. "Yes, I can feel it is swelling dreadfully: +we must try and get your boot off before the attempt gets too +painful." And she commenced unfastening it with deft fingers. + +"How am I to walk without my boot?" observed Mrs. Cheyne, a little +drily, as she looked down on the girl; but here Nan interposed in her +brisk sensible way: + +"You must not walk; you must not think of such a thing. We will wet +our handkerchiefs in the salt water, and bind up your ankle as well as +we can; and then one of us will walk over to the White House for +assistance. Your servants could easily obtain a wheeled chair." + +"You knew I lived at the White House, then?" returned Mrs. Cheyne, +arching her eyebrows in some surprise; but she offered no opposition +to Nan's plan. The removal of the boot had brought on a sensation of +faintness, and she sat perfectly still and quiet while the girls +swathed the foot in wet bandages. + +"It is a little easier now," she observed, gratefully. "How neatly you +have done it! you must be used to such work. I am really very much +obliged to you both for your kindly help; and now I am afraid I must +trouble you further if I am ever to reach home." + +"I will go at once," returned Nan, cheerfully; "but I will leave my +sister for fear you should feel faint again: besides, it is so +lonely." + +"Oh, I am used to loneliness!" was the reply, as a bitter expression +crossed her face. + +Phillis, who was still holding the sprained foot in her lap, looked up +in her eager way. + +"I think one gets used to everything; that is a merciful dispensation; +but all the same I hope you will not send me away. I dearly like to be +useful; and at present my object is to prevent your foot coming into +contact with these stones. Are you really in less pain now?--you look +dreadfully pale." + +"Oh, that is nothing!" she returned, with a smile so sudden and sweet +that it quite startled Phillis, for it lit up her face like sunshine; +but almost before she caught it, it was gone. "How good you are to me! +and yet I am a perfect stranger!" and then she added, as though with +an afterthought, "But I saw you in church this morning." + +Phillis nodded: the question certainly required no answer. + +"If I knew you better, I should ask why your eyes questioned me so +closely this morning. Do you know, Miss--Miss----" And here she +hesitated and smiled, waiting for Phillis to fill up the blank. + +"My name is Challoner,--Phillis Challoner," replied Phillis, coloring +a little; and then she added, frankly, "I am afraid you thought me +rude, and that I stared at you, but my thoughts were all topsy-turvy +this morning and refused to be kept in order. One feels curious, +somehow, about the people among whom one has come to live." + +"Have you come to live here?" asked Mrs. Cheyne, eagerly, and a gleam +of pleasure shot into her dark eyes,--"you, and your mother and +sisters?" + +"Yes; we have just come to the Friary,--a little cottage standing on +the Braidwood Road." + +Her manner became a little constrained and reserved as she said this: +the charming frankness disappeared. + +"The Friary!" echoed Mrs. Cheyne; and then she paused for a moment, +and her eyes rested searchingly on Phillis. "That shabby little +cottage!" was the thought that filled up the outline of her words; +but, though she felt inward surprise and a momentary disappointment, +there was no change in the graciousness of her manner. Never before +had she so thawed to any one: but the girl's sweet ministry had won +her heart. "Then you will be near me,--just at my gates? We shall be +close neighbors. I hope you will come and see me, Miss Challoner." + +Poor Phillis! the blood suddenly rushed over her face at this. How was +she to answer without appearing ungracious?--and yet at this moment +how could she explain? + +"If you please, we are dressmakers." Oh, no! such words as these would +not get themselves said. It was too abrupt, too sudden, altogether: +she was not prepared for such a thing. Oh, why had she not gone to the +White House instead of Nan? Her officiousness had brought this on her. +She could not put the poor foot off her lap and get up and walk away +to cool her hot cheeks. + +"Thank you; you are very good," she stammered, feeling herself an +utter fool: she,--Phillis,--the clever one! + +Mrs. Cheyne seemed rather taken aback by the girl's sudden reserve and +embarrassment. + +"I suppose you think I should call first, and thank you for your +kindness," she returned, quickly; "but I was afraid my foot would keep +me too long a prisoner. And, as we are to be neighbors, I hardly +thought it necessary to stand on ceremony; but if you would rather +wait----" + +"Oh, no," replied Phillis, in despair; "we will not trouble you to do +that! Nan and I will call and ask after your foot, and then we will +explain. There is a little difficulty: you might not care to be +friends with us if you knew," went on Phillis with burning cheeks; +"but we will call and explain. Oh, yes, Nan and I will call!" + +"Do; I shall expect you," returned Mrs. Cheyne, half amused and half +mystified at the girl's obvious confusion. What did the child mean? +They were gentle-people,--one could see that at a glance. They were in +reduced circumstances: they had come down to Hadleigh to retrench. +Well, what did that matter? People's wealth or poverty never affected +her; she would think none the less well of them for that; she would +call at the Friary and entertain them at the White House with as much +pleasure as though they lived in a palace. The little mystery piqued +her, and yet excited her interest. It was long since she had +interested herself so much in anything. To Miss Middleton she had +always been cold and uncertain. Mr. Drummond she treated with a +mixture of satire and haughtiness that aroused his ire. Phillis's +frankness and simplicity had won her for a moment to her earlier and +better self: she conceived an instantaneous liking for the girl who +looked at her with such grave kindly glances. "I shall expect you, +remember," she repeated, as Nan at that moment appeared in sight. + +"Oh, yes, Nan and I will come," returned Phillis, slowly, and almost +solemnly; but an instant afterwards a flicker of amusement played +round her mouth. It was painful, of course; but, still, how droll it +was! + +"How long you have been, Nan!" she exclaimed, a little unreasonably, +as Nan ran towards them, flushed and breathless from her haste. + +"It has not been long to me," observed Mrs. Cheyne, pointedly. She +talked more to Nan than to Phillis after this, until the servants +appeared with the wheeled chair; but nevertheless her last words were +for Phillis. "Remember your promise," was all she said, as she held +out her hand to the girl; and Phillis tried to smile in answer, though +it was rather a failure after all. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +DOROTHY BRINGS IN THE BEST CHINA. + + +"What a fool I made of myself yesterday! but to-day Richard is himself +again," said Phillis, as she gathered up another muslin curtain in her +arms ready to hand to Nan, who was mounted on some steps. It was only +Monday afternoon, but the girls had done wonders: the work-room, as +they called it, was nearly finished. The great carved wardrobe and +mahogany table had been polished by Dorothy's strong hands. Mrs. +Challoner's easy-chair and little work-table at one window looked +quite inviting; the sewing-machine and Nan's rosewood davenport were +in their places. A hanging cupboard of old china, and a few well-bound +books, gave a little coloring and finish, and one or two fine old +prints that had hung in the dining-room at Glen Cottage had been +disposed with advantage on the newly-papered walls. An inlaid clock +ticked on the mantelpiece, and some handsome ruby-colored vases stood +on either side of it. Nan was quite right when she had glanced round +her a few minutes ago in a satisfied manner and said no one need be +ashamed of living in such a room. + +"Our pretty things make it look almost too nice for the purpose," she +continued, handling a precious relic, a Sevres cup and saucer, that +had been her especial pride in old days. "I think you were wrong, +Phil, not to have the china in the other room." + +"No, indeed; I want people to see it and be struck with our taste," +was Phillis's frank answer. "Think what pleasure it will give the poor +ladies when their dresses are being tried on. Don't you remember the +basket of wax fruit at Miss Slinders's, when we were small children? I +thought it the loveliest work of art, and feasted my eyes all the time +Miss Slinders was fitting my pink frock. Now, our pictures and china +will refresh people's eyes in the same way." + +Nan smiled and shook her head, as she dusted and arranged her +treasures. The china was very dear to her,--far more than the books +Phillis was arranging on the chiffonnier. The Dresden figures that +Dick had given to her mother were among them. She did not care for +strangers to look at them and appraise their value. They were home +treasures,--sacred relics of their past. The last time she had dusted +them, a certain young man of her acquaintance had walked through the +open window whistling "Blue bonnets over the Border," and had taken up +his station beside her, hindering her work with his chattering. Dulce +was in the upper regions, unpacking a box in her mother's room. Mrs. +Challoner was coming home the next day, and Dorothy and she were hard +at work getting things in order. + +When Phillis made her downright speech, Nan looked down from her lofty +perch, and held out her arms for the curtain. + +"Richard is always himself, my dear," she said, softly. "Do you know +when you are down, Phil, I feel as though we are all at a stand-still, +and there's no getting on at all? and then at one of your dear droll +speeches the sunshine comes out again, and we are all as right as +possible." + +"Don't talk nonsense," was Phillis's blunt answer; but she could not +help being pleased at the compliment. She looked up archly at Nan, as +the mass of soft white drapery lay between them; and then they both +broke into a laugh, just as two shadows seemed to glide past the +window, and a moment afterwards the house-bell sounded. +"Visitors!--oh, Nan!" And Phillis glanced down at the neat bib apron +that she wore over her cambric dress. + +"Don't be afraid; Dorothy will have too much sense to admit them," +returned Nan, quite indifferently, as she went up a step higher to +hang up the curtain. + +Phillis was still holding it; but her manner was not quite so well +assured. She thought she heard Dulce's voice in confabulation with the +stranger. A moment afterwards Dulce came briskly into the room. + +"Nan, Mr. Drummond and his sister have kindly called to see us. We are +not in order, of course. Oh, dear!" as Nan looked down on them with +startled eyes, not venturing to descend from her perch. "I ought not +to have brought them in here," looking half mischievously and half +guiltily at the young clergyman, who stood hat in hand on the +threshold. + +"It is I who ought not to have intruded," he began, in a perfect agony +of embarrassment, blushing over his face like a girl as Nan looked +down at him in much dignity, but Mattie, who was behind him, pushed +forward in her usual bustling way. + +"Oh, Miss Challoner, it is too bad! I told Archie that we ought not to +come too soon----" but Phillis stopped her with an outstretched hand +of welcome. + +"What is too bad? I call it very kind and friendly of you both: one +hardly expected to find such good neighbors. Nan, if that curtain is +finished I think you had better come down. Take care; those steps are +rickety: perhaps Mr. Drummond will help you." + +"Let me do the other ones for you. I don't think those steps are +safe!" exclaimed Archie, with sudden inspiration. + +No one at home would have believed such a thing of him. Mattie's eyes +grew quite round and fixed with astonishment at the sight. He had not +even shaken hands with Nan, yet there he was, mounted in her place, +slipping in the hooks with dexterous hands, while Nan quietly held up +the curtain. + +Months afterwards the scene came back on Archibald Drummond with a +curious thrill half of pain and half of amusement. How had he done it? +he wondered. What had made him all at once act in a way so unlike +himself?--for, with the best intention, he was always a little stiff +and constrained with strangers. Yet there he was laughing as though he +had known them all his life, because Nan had rebuked him gravely for +slipping two hooks into one ring. Months afterwards he recalled it +all: Nan glancing up at him with quietly amused eyes, Phillis standing +apart, looking quaint and picturesque in her bib-apron, Dulce with the +afternoon sunshine lighting up her brown hair; the low old-fashioned +room, with the great carved wardrobe, and the cupboard of dainty +china; the shady little lawn outside, with Laddie rolling among the +daisies. What made it suddenly start up in his memory like a picture +one has seen and never quite forgotten? + +"Thank you, Mr. Drummond. You have done it so nicely," said Nan, with +the utmost gravity, as he lingered, almost unwilling to descend to +conventionality again. Dulce and Phillis were busily engaged looping +up the folds. "Now we will ask Dorothy to remove the steps and then we +can sit down comfortably." + +But here Archie interposed: + +"Why need you call any one? Tell me where I shall put them." Mattie +broke into a loud laugh. She could not help it. It was too droll of +Archie. She must write and tell Grace. + +Archie heard the laugh as he marched out of the room with his burden, +and it provoked him excessively. He made some excuse about admiring +Laddie, and went out on the lawn for a few minutes, accompanied by +Nan. When they came back, the curtains were finished and the two girls +were talking to Mattie. Mattie seemed quite at ease with them. + +"We have such a dear old garden at the vicarage," she was saying, as +her brother came into the room. "I am not much of a gardener myself +but Archie works for hours at a time. He talks of getting a set of +tennis down from town. We think it will help to bring people together. +You must promise to come and play sometimes of an afternoon when you +have got the cottage in order." + +"Thank you," returned Phillis; and then Nan and she exchanged looks. A +sort of blankness came over the sisters' faces,--a sudden dying out of +the brightness and fun. + +Mr. Drummond grew a little alarmed: + +"I hope you will not disappoint my sister. She has few friends, and is +rather lonely, missing so many sisters; and you are such close +neighbors." + +"Yes, we are close neighbors," returned Phillis. But her voice was a +little less clear than usual; and, to Archie's astonishment,--for they +all seemed talking comfortably together,--her face had grown suddenly +pale. "But you must not think us unkind if we refuse your +hospitality," she went on, looking straight at him, and not at Mattie. +"Owing to painful circumstances, we have made up our minds that no +such pleasure are in store for us. We must learn to do without things: +must we not, Nan?" + +"Yes, indeed," returned Nan, very gravely. And then the tears came +into Dulce's eyes. Was Phillis actually going to tell them? She would +have run away, only she was ashamed of such cowardice. + +"I hope you do not mean to do without friends," stammered Archie. +"That would be too painful to bear." He thought they were excusing +themselves from partaking of their neighbors' hospitality because they +were too poor to return it, and wanted to set them at their ease. "You +may have reasons for wishing to be quiet. Perhaps Mrs. Challoner's +health, and--and--parties are not always desirable," he went on, +floundering, a little in his speech, and signing to Mattie to come to +his help, which she did at once, breathlessly: + +"Parties! Oh, dear, no! They are such a trouble and expense. But +tennis and tea on the lawn is just nothing,--nothing at all. One can +give a little fruit and some home-made cake. No one need scruple at +that. Archie is not rich,--clergymen never are, you know,--but he +means to entertain his friends as well as he can. I should like you to +see Miss Middleton. She is a charming person. And the colonel is as +nice as possible. We will just ask them to meet you in a quiet way, +and, if your mother is not too much of an invalid, I hope she will +give us the pleasure of her company, for when people are such close +neighbors it is stupid to stand on ceremony," finished Mattie, +bringing herself rapidly to a full stop. + +"You are very kind. But you do not understand," returned Phillis. And +then she stopped, and a gleam of fun came into her eyes. Her sharp +ears had caught the rattle of cups and saucers. Actually, that absurd +Dorothy was bringing in tea in the old way, making believe that they +were entertaining their friends in Glen Cottage fashion! She must get +out the truth somehow before the pretty purple china made its +appearance. "Oh," she went on, with a sort of gulp, as though she felt +the sudden touch of cold water, "you come here meaning kindly, and +asking us to your house, and taking compassion upon us because we are +strangers and lonely, and you do not know that we are poor, and that +we have lost our money, and----" But here Mr. Drummond was absolutely +rude enough to interrupt her: + +"What does that matter, my dear Miss Challoner? Do you think that is +of any consequence in mine or my sister's eyes? I suppose if I be your +clergyman----" And then he stopped, and stroked his beard in an +embarrassed way; for though Phillis's face was pale, there was +laughter in her eyes. + +"Oh, if this be a parochial visit," she began, demurely; "but you +should not have talked of tennis, Mr. Drummond. How do you know we are +not Roman Catholics, or Wesleyans, or even Baptists, or Bible +Christians? We might have gone to your church out of curiosity on +Sunday, or to see the fashions. There is not a Quaker cut about us; +but, still, we might be Unitarians, and people would not find it out," +continued Phillis, looking with much solemnity at the bewildered young +Anglican. + +The situation was too absurd; there was no knowing to what length +Phillis's recklessness and sense of humor would have brought her, only +Nan's good sense came to the rescue: + +"Phillis is only in fun, Mr. Drummond. Of course we are Church-people: +and of course we hope to attend your services. I am sure my mother +will be pleased to see you, when you are kind enough to call. At +Oldfield we were always good friends with our clergyman: he was such a +dear old man." + +"Do you mean to forbid my sister's visits, then?" asked Archie, +looking anxiously at her sweet face; Nan looked so pretty, in spite of +her discomposure. + +"Oh, no! we do not mean to be so rude: do we, Phillis? We shall be so +glad to see Miss Drummond; but--but," faltered Nan, losing breath a +little, "we have been unfortunate, and must work for our living; and +your sister perhaps would not care to visit dressmakers." + +"What!" exclaimed Archie: he almost jumped out of his chair in his +surprise. + +Phillis had uttered a faint "Bravo, Nan!" but no one heard her. +Dulce's cheeks were crimson, and she would not look at any one; but +Nan, who had got out the dreaded word, went on bravely, and was well +hugged by Phillis in private afterwards. + +"We are not clever enough for governesses," continued Nan, with a +charming smile, addressing Mattie, who sat and stared at her, "and +there was nothing we dreaded so much as to separate: so, as we had +capable fingers and were fond of work, my sister Phillis planned this +for us. Now you see, Miss Drummond, why we could not accept your kind +hospitality. Whatever we have been, we cannot expect people to visit +us now. If you would be good enough to recommend us, and help us in +our efforts to make ourselves independent, that is all we can ask of +you." + +"Well, I don't know," returned Mattie, bluntly: "as far as I am +concerned, I am never ashamed of any honest calling. What do you say, +Archie?" + +"I say it is all very proper and laudable," he returned, hesitating; +"but surely--surely there must be some other way more suitable to +ladies in your position! Let me call again when your mother comes, and +see if there is nothing that I can do or recommend better than this. +Yes, I am sure if I can only talk to your mother, we could find some +other way than this." + +"Indeed, Mr. Drummond, you must do nothing of the kind," replied +Phillis, in an alarmed voice: "the poor dear mother must not be +disturbed by any such talk! You mean it kindly, but we have made up +our own minds, Nan and I: we mean to do without the world and live in +one of our own; and we mean to carry out our plan in defiance of +everything and everybody; and, though you are our clergyman and we are +bound to listen to your sermons, we cannot take your advice in this." + +"But--but I would willingly act as a friend," began the young man, +confusedly, looking not at her, but at Nan. + +He was so bewildered, so utterly taken aback, he hardly knew what he +said. + +"Here comes Dorothy with the tea," interrupted Nan, pleasantly, as +though dismissing the subject: "she has not forgotten our old customs. +Friends always came around us in the afternoon. Mr. Drummond, perhaps +you will make yourself useful and cut the cake. Dorothy, you need not +have unpacked the best silver teapot." Nan was moving about in her +frank hospitable way. Laddie was whining for cake, and breaking into +short barks of impatience. "This is one of our Glen Cottage cakes. +Susan always prides herself on the recipe," said Nan, calmly, as she +pressed it on her guests. + +Mr. Drummond almost envied his sister as she praised the cake and +asked for the recipe. He had always found fault with her manners; but +now nothing could be finer than her simplicity. Pure good nature and +innate womanliness were teaching Mattie something better than tact. +Nan had dropped a painful subject, and she would not revive it in her +brother's presence. There would be plenty of time for her to call and +talk it over with them quietly. Help them!--of course she would help +them. They should have her new silk dress that Uncle Conway had just +sent her. It was a risk, for perhaps they might spoil it; but such +fine creatures should have a chance. At present she would only enjoy +the nice tea, and talk to poor little frightened Dulce, who seemed +unable to open her lips after her sister's disclosure. + +Archie could not emulate her ease: a man is always at a disadvantage +in such a case. His interest had sustained no shock: it was even +stimulated by what he had just heard; but his sympathy seemed all at +once congealed, and he could find no vent for it. In spite of his best +efforts his manner grew more and more constrained every moment. + +Nan looked at him more than once with reproachful sweetness. She +thought they had lost caste in his eyes; but Phillis, who was shrewd +and sharp-set in her wits, read him more truly. She knew--having +already met a score of such--how addicted young Englishmen are to +_mauvaise honte_, and how they will hide acute sensibilities under +blunt and stolid exteriors; and there was a certain softness in Mr. +Drummond's eye that belied his stiffness. Most likely he was very +sorry for them, and did not know how to show it; and in this she was +right. + +Mr. Drummond was very sorry for them; but he was still more grieved +for himself. The Oxford fellow had not long been a parish priest, and +he could not at all understand the position in which he found +himself,--taking tea with three elegant young dressmakers who talked +the purest English and had decided views on tennis and horticulture. +He had just been congratulating himself on securing such companionship +for his sister and himself. Being rather classical-minded, he had been +calling them the gray-eyed Graces, and one of them at least "a +daughter of the gods,--divinely tall and most divinely fair;" for +where had he seen anything to compare with Nan's bloom and charming +figure? Dressmakers!--oh, if only Grace were at hand, that he might +talk to her, and gain her opinion how he was to act in such case! +Grace had the stiff-necked Drummond pride as well as he, and would +hesitate long behind the barriers of conventionality. No wonder, with +all these thoughts passing through his mind, that Nan, with her bright +surface talk, found him a little vague. + +It was quite a relief to all the party when Mattie gave the signal for +departure and the bell was rung for Dorothy to show them out. + +"Well, Nan, what do you think of our visitors?" asked Phillis, when +the garden-door had clanged noisily after them, and she had treated +Nan to the aforesaid hugs; "for you were so brave, darling, and +actually took the wind out of my sails!" exclaimed the enthusiastic +Phillis. "Miss Drummond is not so bad, after all, is she, in spite of +her dowdiness and fussy ways?" + +"No; she means well; and so does her brother. He is very nice, only +his self-consciousness spoils him," returned Nan, in a calm, +discursive tone, as though they were discussing ordinary visitors. + +It was impossible for these young girls to see that their ordinary +language was not humble enough for their new circumstances. They would +make mistakes at every turn, like Dorothy, who got out the best china +and brewed her tea in the melon-shaped silver teapot. + +Phillis opened her eyes rather widely at this. Nan was not often so +observant. It was true: self-consciousness was a torment to Archibald +Drummond, a Frankenstein of his own creation, that had grown +imperceptibly with his growth to the fell measure of his manhood, as +inseparable as the shadow from the substance. Phillis had recognized +it at once; but then, as she said, no one was faultless; and then, he +was so handsome. "Very handsome" chimed in Dulce, whose opinions were +full-fledged in such matters. + +"Is he? Well, I never cared for a man with a long fair beard," +observed Nan, carelessly. Poor Archie! how his vanity would have +suffered if he had heard her! for, in a masculine way, he prided +himself excessively on the soft silky appendage that Grace had so +often praised. A certain boyish countenance, with kindly honest eyes +and a little sandy moustache, was more to Nan's taste than the +handsome young Anglican. + +"Oh, we all know Nan's opinion in such matters," said Dulce, slyly; +and then Nan blushed, and suddenly remembered that Dorothy was waiting +for her in the linen-closet, and hurried away, leaving her sisters to +discuss their visitors to their hearts' content. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +ARCHIE IS IN A BAD HUMOR. + + +"Oh, Archie, I was never more astonished in my life!" exclaimed +Mattie, as she tried to adapt her uneven trot to her brother's long +swinging footsteps; and then she glanced up in his face to read his +mood: but Archie's features were inscrutable and presented an +appalling blank. In his mind he was beginning his letter to Grace, and +wondering what he should say to her about their new neighbors. +"Writing is such a nuisance when one wants to talk to a person," he +thought, irritably. + +"Oh, Archie, won't you tell me what we are to do?" went on Mattie, +excitedly. She would not take Archie's silence as a hint that he +wanted to keep his thoughts to himself. "Those poor girls! oh, how +nice and pretty they all are, especially the eldest! and is not the +youngest--Dulce, I think they called her--the very image of Isabel?" + +"Isabel! not a bit. That is so like you, Mattie. You always see +likenesses when other people cannot trace the faintest resemblance," +for this remark was sure to draw out his opposition. Isabel was a +silly flirting little thing in her brother's estimation, and, he +thought, could not hold a candle to the youngest Miss Challoner. + +"Oh dear! now I have made you cross!" sighed poor Mattie, who +especially wanted to keep him in good humor. "And yet every one but +you thinks Isabel so pretty. I am sure, from what Grace said in her +last letter, that Mr. Ellis Burton means to propose to her." + +"And I suppose you will all consider that a catch," sneered Archie. +"That is so like a parcel of women, thinking every man who comes to +the house and makes a few smooth-tongued speeches--is, in fact, +civil--must be after a girl. Of course you have all helped to instill +this nonsense into the child's head." + +"Dear me, how you talk, Archie!" returned Mattie, feeling herself +snubbed as usual. Why, Archie had been quite excited about it only the +other day, and had said quite seriously that with seven girls in a +family, it would be a great blessing if Isabel could make such a +match; for it was very unlikely that Laura and Susie, or even Clara, +would do much for themselves in that way, unless they decidedly +improved in looks. + +"Well, it is nothing to me," he returned in a chilling manner; "we all +know our own mind best. If an angular lantern-jawed fellow like +Burton, who, by the bye, does not speak the best English, is to +Isabel's taste, let her have him by all means: he is well-to-do, and I +dare say will keep a carriage for her by and by: that is what you +women think a great advantage," finished Archie, who certainly seemed +bent on making himself disagreeable. + +Mattie heaved another great sigh, but she did not dare to contradict +him. Grace would have punished him on the spot by a dose of satire +that would have brought him to reason and good nature in a moment; but +Mattie ventured only on those laborious sighs which she jerked up from +the bottom of her honest little heart. + +Archie heard the sigh, and felt ashamed of his bad temper. He did not +know himself why he felt so suddenly cross; some secret irritation was +at work within him, and he could scarcely refrain from bidding Mattie +quite roughly to hold her tongue and not tease him with her chatter. +If she expected him in his present state of mind, which was at once +contradictory and aggressive, to talk to her about the Challoners, she +must just make up her mind to be disappointed, for he could not bring +himself to speak of them to her just now: he wanted to hold counsel +with his own thoughts and with Grace. He would call at the Friary +again and see Mrs. Challoner, and find out more of this strange +matter; but as to talking it over with Mattie, he quite shrugged his +shoulders as he swung open the green door. + +"Are you going in?" faltered Mattie, as she noticed this movement. + +"Well, yes; I have letters to write, and it is too hot for a longer +walk," he returned, decidedly; and then, as Mattie stood hesitating +and wistful in the middle of the road, he strode off, leaving the door +to close noisily after him, and not caring to inquire into her further +movements, such being the occasional graceless manners of brothers +when sisterly friendship is not to their liking. + +Mattie felt snubbed; but for the first time in her life, she did not +take her snubbing meekly. It was too much to expect of her, who was +only a woman and not one of Archie's divinities, that she should +follow him into the house and hold her tongue just because he was +pleased to refrain from speaking. Water must find its vent; and +Mattie's tongue could not be silenced in this way. If Archie would not +talk to her, Miss Middleton would: so at once she trotted off for +Brooklyn, thereby incurring Archie's wrath if he could only have known +her purpose; for gossip was to him as the sin of witchcraft, unless he +stooped to it himself, and then it was amiable sociability. + +Miss Middleton was listening to her father's reading as usual, but she +welcomed Mattie with open arms, literally as well as metaphorically, +for she kissed Mattie on either cheek, and then scolded her tenderly +for looking so flushed and tired; "for somebody who is always looking +after other people, and never has time to spare for herself, is +growing quite thin; is she not, father? and we must write to Grace if +this goes on," finished Miss Middleton, with one of her kind looks. + +All this was cordial to poor Mattie, who, though she was used to +snubbing, and took as kindly to it as a spaniel to water, yet felt +herself growing rather like a thread-paper and shabby with every-day +worries and never an encouraging word to inspirit her. + +So she gave Elizabeth a misty little smile,--Mattie's smile was +pretty, though her features were ordinary,--and then sat up straight +and began to enjoy herself,--that is, to talk,--never noticing that +Colonel Middleton looked at his paper in a crestfallen manner, not +much liking the interruption and the cessation of his own voice. + +"Oh, dear!" began Mattie: she generally prefaced her remarks by an +"Oh, dear!" ("That was one of her jerky ways," as Archie said.) "I +could not help coming straight to you, for Archie would not talk, and +I felt I must tell somebody. Oh, dear, Miss Middleton! What do you +think? We have just called at the Friary--and----" but here Colonel +Middleton's countenance relaxed, and he dropped his paper. + +"Those young ladies, eh? Come, Elizabeth, this is interesting. Well, +what sort of place is the Friary, seen from the inside, eh, Miss +Drummond?" + +"Oh, it is very nice," returned Mattie, enthusiastically. "We were +shown into such a pretty room, looking out on the garden. They have so +many nice things,--pictures, and old china, and handsomely-bound +books, and all arranged so tastefully. And before we went away, the +old servant--she seems really quite a superior person--brought in an +elegant little tea-tray: the cups and saucers were handsomer even than +yours, Miss Middleton,--dark-purple and gold. Just what I admire +so----" + +"Ah, reduced in circumstances! I told you so, Elizabeth," ejaculated +the colonel. + +"I never saw Archie enjoy himself so much or seem so thoroughly at +home anywhere. Somehow, the girls put us so at our ease. Though they +were hanging up curtains when we went in,--and any one else would have +been annoyed at our intruding so soon,--actually, before we were in +the room a moment, Archie was on the steps, helping the eldest Miss +Challoner fasten the hooks." + +Miss Middleton exchanged an amused look with her father. Mattie's +narrative was decidedly interesting. + +"Oh, don't tell him I repeated that, for he is always calling me +chatterbox!" implored Mattie, who feared she had been indiscreet, and +that the colonel was not to be trusted, which was quite true as far as +jokes were concerned. No one understood the art of teasing better than +he, and the young vicar had already had a taste of his kindly satire. +"Archie only meant to be good-natured and put every one at their +ease." + +"Quite right. Mr. Drummond is always kind," returned Elizabeth, +benignly. She had forgotten Mattie's frequent scoldings, and the poor +little thing's tired face, or she would never have hazarded such a +compromise with truth. But somehow Elizabeth always forgot people's +weaknesses, especially when they were absent. It was so nice and easy +to praise people; and if she always believed what she said, that was +because her faith was so strong, and charity that is love was her +second nature. + +"Oh, yes, of course," returned Mattie, innocently. She was far too +loyal a little soul to doubt Archie's kindness for a moment. Was he +not the pride and ornament of the family,--the domestic pope who +issued his bulls without possibility of contradiction? Whatever Archie +did must be right. Was not that their domestic creed?--a little +slavish, perhaps, but still so exquisitely feminine. Mattie was of +opinion that--well, to use a mild term--irritability was a necessary +adjunct of manhood. All men were cross sometimes. It behooved their +womankind, then, to throw oil on the troubled waters,--to speak +peaceably, and to refrain from sour looks, or even the shadow of a +frown. Archie was never cross with Grace: therefore it must be she, +Mattie, on whom the blame lay; she was such a silly little thing, And +so on. There is no need to follow the self-accusation of one of the +kindest hearts that ever beat. + +"Did not your visit end as pleasantly as it began?" asked Elizabeth, +who, though she was over-merciful in her judgments, was not without a +good deal of sagacity and shrewdness. Something lay beyond the margin +of Mattie's words, she could see that plainly; and then her father was +getting impatient. + +"Well, you see, that spoiled everything," returned Mattie, jumbling +her narrative in the oddest manner. "Archie was so sorry, and so was +I; and he got quite--you know his way when he feels uncomfortable. I +thought Miss Challoner was joking at first,--that it was just a bit of +make-believe fun,--until I saw how grave Miss Phillis, that is the +second one, looked: and then the little one--at least, she is not +little, but somehow one fancies she is--seemed as though she were +going to cry." + +"But what did Miss Challoner say to distress you and Mr. Drummond so?" +asked Elizabeth, trying patiently to elicit facts and not vague +statements from Mattie. + +"Oh, she said--no, please don't think I am exaggerating, for it is all +true--that they had lost their money, and were very poor, and, that +she and her sisters were dressmakers." + +"Dressmakers!" shouted the colonel, and his ruddy face grew almost +purple with the shock: his very moustache seemed to bristle. +"Dressmakers! my dear Miss Drummond, I don't believe a word of it! +Those girls! It is a hoax!--a bit of nonsense from beginning to end!" + +"Hush, father! you are putting Mattie out," returned Elizabeth, +mildly. It was one of her idiosyncrasies to call people as soon as +possible by their Christian names, though no one but her father and +brother ever called her Elizabeth. Perhaps her gray hair, and a +certain soft dignity that belonged to her, forbade such freedom. "Dear +father, we must let Mattie speak." But even Elizabeth let her work lie +unheeded in her lap in the engrossing interest of the subject. + +"I do not mean they have been dressmakers all this time, but this is +their plan for the future. Miss Challoner said they were not clever +enough for governesses, and that they did not want to separate. But +that is what they mean to do,--to make dresses for people who are not +half so good as themselves." + +"Preposterous! absurd!" groaned the colonel. "Where is their +mother? What can the old lady be thinking about?" Mrs. Challoner +was not an old lady by any means; but then the choleric colonel had +never seen her, or he would not have applied that term to the +aristocratic-looking gentlewoman whom Mattie had admired in Miss +Milner's shop. + +"I had a good look round the room afterwards," went on Mattie, +letting this pass. "They had got a great carved wardrobe,--I thought +that funny in a sitting-room; but of course it was for the +dresses,"--another groan from the colonel,--"and there was a +sewing-machine, and a rosewood davenport for accounts, and a +chiffonnier of course for the pieces. Oh, they mean business; and I +should not be surprised if they understand their work well," went on +Mattie, warming up to her subject and thinking of the breadths of +green silk that reposed so snugly between silver paper in her +drawers at the vicarage,--the first silk dress she had ever owned, +for the Drummond finances did not allow of such luxuries,--the new +color, too; such a soft, invisible, shadowy green, like an autumn +leaf shrivelled by the sun's richness. "Oh, if they should spoil it!" +thought Mattie, with a sigh, as the magnitude of her intended +sacrifice weighed heavily upon her mind. + +"It is sheer girlish nonsense,--I might say foolery; and the mother +must be a perfect idiot!" began the colonel, angrily. + +He was an excitable man; and his wrath at the intelligence was really +very great. He had taken a fancy to the new-comers, and was prepared +to welcome them heartily in his genial way; but now his old-fashioned +prejudices were grievously wounded. It was against his nice code of +honor that women should do anything out of the usual beaten groove: +innovations that would make them conspicuous were heinous sins in his +eyes. + +"Come, Mattie, you and I will have a chat about this by ourselves," +observed Elizabeth, cheerfully, as she noticed her father's vexation. +He would soon cool down if left to himself: she knew that well. +"Suppose we go down to Miss Milner, and hear what she has to say: you +may depend upon it that it was this that made her so reserved with us +the other day." + +"Oh, do you think so?" exclaimed Mattie; but she was charmed at the +idea of fresh gossip. And then they set off together. + +Miss Milner seemed a little surprised to see them so soon, for Mattie +had already paid her a visit that day; but at Miss Middleton's first +words a look of annoyance passed over her good-natured face. + +"Dear, dear! to think of that leaking out already," she said, in a +vexed voice; "and I have not spoken to a soul, because the young +ladies asked me to keep their secret a few days longer. 'You must give +us till next Monday,' one of them said this very morning: 'by that +time we shall be in order, and then we can set to work.'" + +"It was Miss Challoner who told me herself," observed Mattie, in a +deprecating manner. "My brother and I called this afternoon: you see, +being the clergyman, and such close neighbors, he thought we might be +of some use to the poor things." + +"Poor things indeed!" ejaculated Miss Milner. "I cannot tell you how +bad I felt," she went on, her little gray curls bobbing over her high +cheek-bones with every word, "when that dear young lady put down her +head there"--pointing to a spot about as big as a half-crown on the +wooden counter--"and cried like a baby. 'Oh, how silly I am!' she +said, sobbing-like; 'and what would my sisters say to me? But you are +so kind, Miss Milner; and it does seem all so strange and horrid.' I +made up my mind, then and there," finished the good woman, solemnly, +"that I would help them to the best of my powers. I have got their +bits of advertisements to put about the shop; and there's my new black +silk dress, that has laid by since Christmas, because I knew Miss +Slasher would spoil it; not but what they may ruin it finely for me; +but I mean to shut my eyes and take the risk," with a little smile of +satisfaction over her own magnanimity. + +Elizabeth stretched out her hand across the counter. + +"Miss Milner, you are a good creature," she said, softly. "I honor you +for this. If people always helped each other and thought so little of +a sacrifice, the world would be a happier place." And then, without +waiting for a reply from the gratified shopwoman, she went out of the +library with a thoughtful brow. + +"Miss Milner has read me a lesson," she said, by and by, when Mattie +had marvelled at her silence a little. "Conventionality makes cowards +of the best of us. I am not particularly worldly-minded," she went on, +with a faint smile, "but all the same I must plead guilty to feeling a +little shocked myself at your news; but when I have thought a little +more about it, I dare say I shall see things by a truer light, and be +as ready to admire these girls as I am now to wonder at them." And +after this she bade Mattie a kindly good-bye. + +Meanwhile, Phillis was bracing herself to undergo another ordeal. Mr. +Drummond and his sister had only just left the cottage when a footman +from the White House brought a note for her. It was from Mrs. Cheyne, +and was worded in a most friendly manner. + +She thanked the sisters gracefully for their timely help on the +previous evening, and, though making light of her accident, owned that +it would keep her a prisoner to her sofa for a few days; and then she +begged them to waive ceremony and come to her for an hour or two that +evening. + +"I will not ask you to dinner, because that will perhaps inconvenience +you, as you must be tired or busy," she wrote; "but if one or both of +you would just put on your hats and walk up in the cool of the evening +to keep Miss Mewlstone and myself company, it would be a real boon to +us both." And then she signed herself "Magdalene Cheyne." + +Phillis wore a perplexed look on her face as she took the note to Nan, +who was still in the linen-closet. + +"Very kind; very friendly," commented Nan, when she had finished +reading it; "but I could not possibly go, Phil. As soon as I have done +this I have promised to sit with mother. She has been alone all day. +You could easily send an excuse, for Mrs. Cheyne must know we are +busy." + +"I don't feel as though an excuse will help us here," returned +Phillis, slowly. "When an unpleasant thing has to be done, it is as +well to get it over: thinking about it only hinders one's sleep." + +"But you will surely not go alone!" demanded Nan, in astonishment. +"You are so tired, Phil: you have been working hard all day. Give it +up, dear, and sit and rest in the garden a little." + +"Oh, no," returned Phillis, disconsolately. "I value my night's rest +too much to imperil it so lightly: besides, I owe it to myself for a +penance for being such a coward this afternoon." And then, without +waiting for any further dissuasion, she carried off the letter and +wrote a very civil but vague reply, promising to walk up in the +evening and inquire after the invalid; and then she dismissed the +messenger, and went up to her room with a heavy heart. + +Dulce came to help her, like a dutiful sister, and chattered on +without intermission. + +"I suppose you will put on your best dress?" she asked, as she dived +down into the recesses of a big box. + +Phillis, who was sitting wearily on the edge of her bed, roused up at +this: + +"My best blue silk and cashmere, that we wore last at Fitzroy Lodge? +Dulce, how can you be so absurd! Anything will do,--the gray stuff, or +the old foulard. No, stop; I forgot: the gray dress is better made and +newer in cut. We must think of that. Oh, what a worry it is going out +when one is tired to death!" she continued, with unusual irritation. + +Dulce respected her sister's mood, and held her peace, though she knew +the gray dress was the least becoming to Phillis, who was pale, and +wanted a little color to give her brightness. + +"There, now, you look quite nice," she said, in a patronizing voice, +as Phillis put on her hat and took her gloves. Phillis nodded her +thanks rather sadly, and then bethought herself and came back and +kissed her. + +"Thank you, dear Dulce; I am not nearly so tired now; but it is +getting late, and I must run off." And so she did until she had turned +the corner, and then, in spite of herself, her steps became slower and +more lagging. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +"YOU ARE ROMANTIC." + + +Human nature is prone to argument; a person will often in the course +of a few moments bring himself or herself to the bar of conscience, +and accuse, excuse, and sum up the case in the twinkling of an eye. + +On arriving at the lodge-gates Phillis began to take herself to task. +Conscience, that "makes cowards of us all," began its small inner +remonstrance; then followed self-flagellation and much belaboring of +herself with many remorseful terms. She was a pitiful thing compared +to Nan; she was conventional; there were no limits to her pride. Where +were that freedom and nobility of soul which she once fancied would +sweep over worldly prejudices, and carry her into purer air? She was +still choking in the fogs of mere earthly exhalations; no wonder Nan +was a little disappointed in her, though she was far too kind to say +so. Well, she was disappointed in herself. + +By this time she had reached the hall door; and now she began to hold +up her head more boldly, and to look about her; when a very +solemn-looking butler confronted her, she said to herself, "It will be +all the same a hundred years hence, and I am determined this time not +to be beaten;" and then she asked for Mrs. Cheyne with something of +her old sprightliness, and nothing could exceed the graceful ease of +her entrance. + +All the Challoners walked well. There was a purity of health about +them that made them delight in movement and every bodily exercise,--an +elasticity of gait that somehow attracted attention. + +No girls danced better than they. And when they had the chance, which +was seldom, they could ride splendidly. Their skating was a joy to +see, and made one wish that the ice would last forever, that one could +watch such light, skimming practice; and as for tennis, no other girl +had a chance of being chosen for a partner unless the Challoners +good-naturedly held aloof, which ten times out of twelve they were +sure to do. + +Phillis, who, from her pale complexion, was supposed to possess the +least vitality, delighted in exercise for its own sake. "It is a +pleasure only to be alive and to know it," was a favorite speech with +her on summer mornings, when the shadows were blowing lightly hither +and thither, and the birds had so much to say that it took them until +evening to finish saying it. + +Mrs. Cheyne, who was lying on her couch, watched with admiring eyes +the girl's straightforward walk, so alert and business-like, so free +from fuss and consciousness, and held out her hand with a more +cordial welcome than she was accustomed to show her visitors. + +It was a long room; and as the summer dusk was falling, and there was +only a shaded lamp beside Mrs. Cheyne, it was full of dim corners. +Nevertheless, Phillis piloted herself without hesitation to the +illuminated circle. + +"This is good of you, Miss Challoner, to take me at my word. But where +is your sister? I wanted to look at her again, for it is long since I +have seen any one so pretty. Miss Mewlstone, this is the good +Samaritan who bound up my foot so cleverly." + +"Ah, just so," returned Miss Mewlstone. And a soft, plump hand touched +Phillis's, and then she went on picking up stitches and taking no +further notice. + +"Nan could not come," observed Phillis. "She had to run down to Beach +House to report progress to mother. We hope she is coming home +to-morrow. But, as you were so kind as to write, I thought I would +just call and inquire about your foot. And then it would be easier to +explain things than to write about it." + +"Oh! so your mother is coming home!" returned Mrs. Cheyne, with so +much interest in her voice that Miss Mewlstone left off counting to +look at her. ("Just so, just so," Phillis heard her mutter.) "You must +have worked hard to get ready for her so soon. When my foot will allow +me to cross a room without hobbling, I will do myself the pleasure of +calling on her. But that will be neither this week nor the next, I am +afraid. But I shall see a good deal of you and your sister before +then," she concluded, with the graciousness of one who knows she is +conferring an unusual honor. + +"I do not know," faltered Phillis. And then she sat upright, and +looked her hostess full in the face. "That will be for you to decide +when you hear what I have to say. But I fear"--with a very poor +attempt at a smile--"that we shall see very little of each other in +the future." + +"Oh, there is a mystery, is there?" returned Mrs. Cheyne, with a +little scorn in her manner; and her mouth took one of the downward +curves that Mr. Drummond so thoroughly disliked. She had taken an odd +fancy to these girls, especially to Phillis, and had thought about +them a good deal during a sleepless, uneasy night. Their simplicity, +their straightforward unconsciousness, had attracted her in spite of +her cynicism. But at the first suspicion of mystery she withdrew into +herself rather haughtily. "Do speak out, I beg, Miss Challoner; for if +there be one thing that makes me impatient, it is to have anything +implied." + +"I am quite of your opinion," replied Phillis, with equal haughtiness, +only it sat more strangely on her girlishness. "That is why I am here +to-night,--just to inquire after your foot and explain things." + +"Well?" still more impatiently, for this woman was a spoiled child, +and hated to be thwarted, and was undisciplined and imperious enough +to ruin all her own chances of happiness. + +"I told you that we were very poor," went on Phillis, in a sweet and +steady voice; "but that did not seem to impress you much, and I +thought how noble that was,"--catching her breath an instant; "but it +will make a difference and shock you dreadfully, as it did Mr. +Drummond, when I tell you we are dressmakers,--Nan and Dulce and I: at +least that will be our future occupation." + +"Ah, just so!" ejaculated Miss Mewlstone; but she said it with her +lips far apart, and a mistiness came into her sleepy blue eyes. +Perhaps, though she was stout and middle-aged and breathed a little +too heavily at times, she remembered--long ago when she was young and +poor and had to wage a bitter war with the world--when she ate the dry +bread and drank the bitter water of dependence and felt herself ill +nourished by such unpalatable sustenance. "Oh, just so, poor thing!" +And a little round tear dripped on to the ball of scarlet fleecy +wool. + +But Mrs. Cheyne listened to the announcement in far different mood. +There was an incredulous stare at Phillis, as though she suspected her +of a joke; and then she laughed, a dry, harsh laugh, that was not +quite pleasant to hear. + +"Oh, this is droll, passing droll!" she said, and leaned back on her +cushions, and drew her Indian cashmere round her and frowned a +little. + +"I am glad you find it so," returned Phillis, who was nonplussed at +this, and did not know what to say, and was a little angry in +consequence; and then she got up from her chair with a demonstration +of spirit. "I am glad you find it so; but to us it is sad +earnestness!" + +"What! are you going?" asked Mrs. Cheyne, with a keen glance through +her half-shut eyes at poor Phillis standing so tall and straight +before her. "And you have not told me the reason for taking so strange +a step!" + +"The reason lies in our poverty and paucity of resources," was +Phillis's curt reply. + +"It is not to make a sensation, then? no, I did not mean that," as +Phillis shot an indignant glance at her,--"not exactly; but there is +no knowing what the emancipated girl will do. Of course I have no +right to question, who was a stranger to you four-and-twenty hours +ago, and had never heard the name of Challoner, except that it was a +good and an old name; but when one sees young things like you about to +forfeit caste and build up a barrier between yourselves and your +equals that the bravest will fear to pass, it seems as though one must +lift up one's voice in protest." + +"Thank you; but it will be of no use," returned Phillis, coldly. + +"You are determined to make other people's dresses?" And here her lip +curled a little, perhaps involuntarily. + +"We must must make dresses or starve; for our fingers are cleverer +than our brains," replied Phillis, defiantly; for she knew nothing +about it, and her powers were so immature and unfledged that she had +never tried her wings, and had no notion whether she could fly or not, +and yet no girl had a clearer head. "We have chosen work that we know +we can do well, and we mean not to be ashamed of our occupation. In +the old days ladies used to spin and weave, and no one blamed them, +though they were noble; and if my work will bring me money, and keep +the mother comfortable, I see nothing that will prevent my doing it." + +"Ah, you are romantic, Miss Challoner; you will soon be taught +matter-of-fact!" + +"I am willing to learn anything, but I must choose my teachers," +retorted Phillis, with a little heat, for the word "romantic," and the +satirical droop of Mrs. Cheyne's lip made her decidedly cross. "But I +must not detain you any more with our uninteresting affairs," dropping +a little courtesy, half in pique and half in mockery, for her spirits +were rising under this rough treatment. + +"It is far from uninteresting; I have not heard anything so exciting +for a long time. Well, perhaps you had better go before I say anything +very rude, for I am terribly outspoken, and I think you are all silly +self-willed young people." Then, as Phillis bridled her neck like an +untamed colt, she caught hold of the girl's dress to detain her, and +the sharpness passed out of her eyes. "Now, don't go away and believe +that I think any worse of you for telling me this. I am a +cross-grained body, and contradiction makes me worse. I don't know how +I shall act: I must have time to consider this extraordinary bit of +news. But all the same, whatever I do, whether I know you or do not +know you, I shall always think you the very bravest girl I ever saw." +And then she let her go, and Phillis, with her head in the air and her +thoughts all topsy-turvy, marched out of the room. + +But when she reached the end of the corridor there was a soft but +distinctly audible breathing behind her, and, as in Mr. Drummond's +case Miss Mewlstone's shadowy gray gown swept between her and the +door. + +"Miss Mewlstone, how you startled me! but the carpets are so soft and +thick!" + +"Yes, indeed! just so, my dear; but Phillips must be asleep as he does +not answer the bell, and so I thought I would let you out. You are +young to walk alone: shall I throw a shawl over my cap, and walk down +the road with you?" + +"Not for worlds, my dear Miss Mewlstone;" but Phillis was quite +touched at this unexpected kindness. Miss Mewlstone did not look +sleepy now; her small blue eyes were wide open, and her round placid +face wore a most kindly expression, and there was a tremulous movement +of her hands, as though they were feeling after something. "It is +only such a little bit of road; and though the trees make it dark, I +am not the least afraid of going alone." + +"Ah! just so. When we are young, we are brave; it is the old who are +afraid of the grasshopper. I like your spirit, my dear; and so does +she, though she is a little taken aback and disappointed; but anything +that interests and rouses her is welcome. Even this may do her good; +for it will give her something to think about besides her own +troubles." + +"I have heard of her troubles----" began Phillis; but a moving door +arrested Miss Mewlstone's attention, and she interrupted her +hurriedly: + +"Ah! there is Phillips at last. Just so; you shall hear from me again. +It is a gray satin,--one of her presents,--but I have never had it +made up; for what is the use, when we keep no company?" went on Miss +Mewlstone incoherently. "Oh! is that you, Phillips? Please go with +this young lady to the lodge-gate.--You shall make it after your own +fashion," she whispered in Phillis's ear; "and I am not as particular +as other people. There is Magdalene now. Ah! just so. Good-night, my +dear; and mind the scraper by the gate." + +Phillis was almost sorry when the obsequious Phillips left her; for +the road certainly looked terribly dark. There was no moon, and the +stars chose to be invisible; and there was a hot thundery feeling in +the air that suggested a storm. And she moved aside with a slight +sensation of uneasiness--not fear, of course not fear--as a tall, +gloomy-looking figure bore swiftly down on her; for, even if a girl be +ever so brave, a very tall man walking fast on a dark night with a +slouching hat like a conspirator's is rather a terrifying object; and +how could she know that it was only Archie Drummond in his old +garden-hat, taking a constitutional? + +But he brought himself up in front of her with a sudden jerk. + +"Miss Challoner!--alone at this time of night!" + +"Why, it is not ten; and I could not wait for Dorothy to fetch me," +returned Phillis, bound to defend herself, and quite palpitating with +relief; not that she was afraid--not a bit of it!--but still, Mr. +Drummond's presence was very welcome. + +"I suppose I shall do as well as Dorothy?" he returned veering round +with the greatest ease, just as though he were Dick, and bound to +escort a Challoner. "Challoners' Squire,"--that was Dick's name among +people. + +"Oh poor Dick!" thought Phillis, with a sudden rush of tenderness for +her old playmate; and then she said, demurely but with a spice of +malice,-- + +"Thank you, Mr. Drummond. The road is so gloomy that I shall be glad +of your escort this evening, but we shall have to do without that sort +of thing now, for our business may often bring us out after dark, and +we must learn not to be too particular." + +"Oh, this must not be!" he returned, decidedly; and, though it was too +dark to see his face, she knew by his voice that he was dreadfully +shocked. "I must see your mother and talk to her about this; for it +would never do for you to run such risks. I could not allow it for a +moment; and as your clergyman"--coming down from his high horse, and +stammering a little,--"I have surely--surely a right----" But Phillis +snapped him up in a moment, and pretty sharply too, for she had no +notion of a young man giving himself airs and torturing her. + +"Oh, no right at all!" she assured him: "clergymen could only rebuke +evil-doers, to which class she and her sisters did not belong, thank +heaven!" to which Mr. Drummond devoutly said an "amen." "And would he +please tell her if dressmakers were always met two and two, like the +animals in the ark? and how would it sound when she or Nan had been +fitting on a dress, on a winter's evening, if they were to refuse to +leave the house until Dorothy fetched them? and how----" But here Mr. +Drummond checked her, and the darkness hid his smile. + +"Now you are beyond me, Miss Challoner. In a matter of detail, a man, +even a parson, is often at fault. Is there no other way of managing +this odious business? Forgive me; the word slipped out by accident! +Could you not do the fitting, or whatever you call it, by daylight, +and stay at home quietly in the evening like other young ladies?" + +"Of course not," returned Phillis, promptly. She had not the least +idea why it could not be done; indeed, if she had been perfectly +cool--which she was not, for Mrs. Cheyne had decidedly stroked her the +wrong way and ruffled her past endurance--she would have appreciated +the temperate counsel vouchsafed her, and acquiesced in it without a +murmur; but now she seemed bent on contradiction. + +"Our opinions seem to clash to-night," returned Mr. Drummond, +good-humoredly, but feeling that the young lady beside him had +decidedly a will of her own. "She is very nice, but she is not as +gentle as her sister," he said to himself; which was hard on Phillis, +who, though she was not meek, being a girl of spirit, was wholesomely +sweet and sound to the heart's core. + +"One may be supposed to know one's business best," she replied rather +dryly to this. And then, fearing that she might seem ungracious to a +stranger, who did not know her and her little ways, she went on in a +more cordial tone: "I am afraid you think me a little cross to-night; +but I have been having a stand-up fight, and am rather tired. Trying +to battle against other people's prejudices makes one irritable. And +then, because I am down and out of heart about things, our clergyman +thinks fit to lecture me on propriety." + +"Only for your good. You must forgive me if I have taken too much upon +myself," returned Mr. Drummond, with much compunction. "You seem so +lonely,--no father or brother; at least--pardon me--I believe you have +no brother?" + +"Oh, no; we have no brother," sighed Phillis. Their acquaintance was +in too early a stage to warrant her in bringing in Dick's name. +Besides, that sort of heterogeneous relationship is so easily +misconstrued. And then she added, "I see. You meant to be very kind, +and I was very ungrateful." + +"I only wish I could find some way of helping you all," was his reply +to this. But it was said with such frank kindness that Phillis's brief +haughtiness vanished. They were standing at the gate of the Friary by +this time; but Mr. Drummond still lingered. It was Phillis who +dismissed him. + +"Good-night, and many thanks," she said, brightly. "It is too late to +ask you in, for you see, even dressmakers have their notions of +propriety." And as she uttered this malicious little speech, the young +man broke into a laugh that was heard by Dorothy in her little +kitchen. + +"Oh, that is too bad of you, Miss Challoner," he said, as soon as he +recovered himself; but, nevertheless, he liked the girl better for her +little joke. + +Mr. Drummond's constitutional had lasted so long that Mattie grew +quite frightened, and came down in her drab dressing-gown to wait for +him. It was not a becoming costume, but it was warm and comfortable; +but then Mattie never considered what became her. If any one had +admired her, or cared how she looked or what she wore, or had taken an +interest in her for her own sake, she would doubtless have developed +an honest liking for pretty things. But what did it matter under the +present circumstances? Mr. Drummond was lighting his chamber candle +when Mattie rushed out on him,--a grotesque little figure, all capes +and frills. + +"Oh, Archie, how you frightened me! Where have you been?" + +Archie shrugged his shoulders at this. + +"I am not aware, Matilda,"--for in severe moods he would call her by +her full name, a thing she especially disliked from him,--"I did not +know before that I was accountable to you for my actions. Neither am I +particularly obliged to you for spying upon me in this way." For the +sight of Mattie at this time of night was peculiarly distasteful. Why +was he to be watched in his own house? + +"Oh, dear, Archie! How can you say such things? Spy on you, indeed! +when there is a storm coming up, and I was so anxious." + +"I am very much obliged to you," returned Archie, ironically; "but, as +you see I am safe, don't you think you had better take off that +thing"--pointing to the obnoxious garment--"and go to bed?" And such +was his tone that poor Mattie fled without a word, and cried a little +in her dark room, because Archie would not be kind to her and let her +love him, but was always finding fault with one trifle or other. +To-night it was her poor old dressing-gown, which had been her +mother's, and had been considered good enough for Mattie. And then he +had called her a spy. And here she gave a sob that caught Archie's +ears as he passed her door. + +"Good-night, you little goose!" he called out, for the sound made him +uncomfortable; and though the words were contemptuous, the voice was +not, and Mattie at once dried her eyes and was comforted. + +But before Archie went to sleep that night he made up his mind that it +was his duty as a clergyman and a Christian to look over Phillis's +wilfulness, and to befriend to the utmost of his power the strangers, +widow and fatherless, that Providence had placed at his very gates. + +"They are so very lonely, poor things!" he said to himself; "not a +man about them. By the bye, I noticed she did not wear an +engagement-ring." But which was the "she" he meant, was an enigma +known only to himself. "Not a man about them!" he repeated, in a +satisfied manner, for as yet the name of Dick had not sounded in his +ear. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +BREAKING THE PEACE. + + +Nan went to Beach House to fetch her mother home, escorted by Laddie, +who was growing a most rollicking and friendly little animal, and a +great consolation to his mistress, whom he loved with all his doggish +heart. + +They all three came back in an old fly belonging to their late host, +and found Phillis waiting for them on the door-step, who made her +mother the following little speech: + +"Now, mammie, you are to kiss us, and tell us what good industrious +girls we have been; and then you are to shut your eyes and look at +nothing, and then sit down in your old arm-chair, and try and make the +best of everything." + +"Welcome home, dearest mother," said Nan, softly kissing her. "Home is +home, however poor it may be; and thank God for it," finished the +girl, reverently. + +"Oh, my darlings!" exclaimed the poor mother; and then she cried a +little, and Dulce came up and put a rose-bud in her hand; and Dorothy +executed an old-fashioned courtsey, and hoped that her mistress and +the dear young ladies would try and make themselves as happy as +possible. + +"Happy, you silly old Dorothy! of course we mean to be as busy as +bees, and as frolicsome as kittens!" returned Phillis, who had +recovered her old sprightliness, and was ready to-day for a dozen Mrs. +Cheynes and all the clergy of the diocese. "Now, mammie, you are only +to peep into this room: this is our work-room, and those are the +curtains Mr. Drummond was kind enough to hang. In old days," continued +Phillis, with mock solemnity, "the parson would have pronounced a +benediction; but the modern Anglican performs another function, and +with much gravity ascends the steps, and hooks up the curtains of the +new-comers." + +"Oh, Phillis, how can you be so absurd! I am sure it was very +good-natured of him. Come, mother, dear, we will not stand here +listening to her nonsense." And Nan drew the mother to the parlor. + +It was a very small room, but still snug and comfortable, and full of +pretty things. Tea was laid on the little round table that would +hardly hold five, as Nan once observed, thinking of Dick; and the +evening's sunshine was stealing in, but not too obtrusively. Mrs. +Challoner tried not to think it dull, and endeavored to say a word of +praise at the arrangements Dulce pointed out to her; but the thought +of Glen Cottage, and her pretty drawing-room, and the veranda with its +climbing roses, and the shady lawn with the seat under the +acacia-trees, almost overpowered her. That they should come to this! +That they should be sitting in this mean little parlor, where there +was hardly room to move, looking out at the little strip of grass, and +the medlar-tree, and the empty greenhouse! Nan saw her mother's lip +quiver, and adroitly turned the subject to their neighbors. She had so +much to say about Mr. Drummond and his sister that Mrs. Challoner grew +quite interested; nevertheless, it was a surprise even to Nan when +Dorothy presently opened the door, and Mr. Drummond coolly walked in +with a magnificent basket of roses in his hand. + +Nan gravely introduced him to her mother, and the young man accosted +her; but there was a little surprise on his face. He had taken it into +his head that Mrs. Challoner would be a far older-looking and more +homely person; but the stately-looking woman before him might have +been an older and faded edition of Nan. Somehow, her appearance +confused him; and he commenced with an apology for his intrusion: + +"I ought not to have been so unceremonious. I am afraid, as you have +just arrived, my visit will seem an intrusion; but my sister thought +you would like some of our roses,"--he had obliged poor Mattie to say +so,--"and, as we had cut some fine ones, we thought you ought to have +them while they are fresh." + +"Thank you; this is very kind and neighborly," returned Mrs. +Challoner; but, though her tone was perfectly civil, Nan thought her +manner a little cold, and hastened to interpose with a few glowing +words of admiration. + +"The roses were lovely; they were finer than those at Longmead, or +even at Fitzroy Lodge, though Lady Fitzroy prided herself on her +roses." Archie pricked up his ears at this latter name, which escaped +quite involuntarily from Nan. "And was it not good of Miss Drummond to +spare them so many, and of Mr. Drummond to carry them?" all of which +Nan said with a sweet graciousness that healed the young man's +embarrassment in a moment. + +"Yes, indeed!" echoed Mrs. Challoner, obedient, as usual, to her +daughter's lead. "And you must thank your sister, Mr. Drummond, and +tell her how fond my girls are of flowers." But, though Mrs. Challoner +said this, the roses were not without thorns for her. Why had not Miss +Drummond brought them herself? She was pleased indeed that, under +existing circumstances, any one should be civil to her girls; but was +there not a little patronage intended? She was not quite sure that she +rejoiced in having such neighbors. Mr. Drummond was nice and +gentlemanly, but he was far too young and handsome for an unmarried +clergyman; at least, that was her old-fashioned opinion; and when one +has three very good-looking daughters, and dreads the idea of losing +one, one may be pardoned for distrusting even a basket of roses. + +If Mr. Drummond perceived her slight coldness, he seemed quite +determined to overcome it. He took small notice of Nan, who busied +herself at once arranging the flowers under his eyes; even Phillis, +who looked good and demure this evening, failed to obtain a word. He +talked almost exclusively to Mrs. Challoner, plying her with artful +questions about their old home, which he now learned was at Oldfield, +and gaining scraps of information that enabled him to obtain a pretty +clear insight into their present circumstances. + +Mrs. Challoner, who was a soft hearted woman, was not proof against so +much sympathy. She perceived that Mr. Drummond was sorry for them, and +she began to warm a little towards him. His manner was so respectful, +his words so discreet; and then he behaved so nicely, taking no notice +of the girls, though Nan was looking so pretty, but just talking to +her in a grave responsible way, as though he were a gray-haired man of +sixty. + +Phillis was not quite sure she approved of it: in the old days she had +never been so excluded from conversation: she would have liked a word +now and then. But Nan sat by quite contented: it pleased her to see +her mother roused and interested. + +When Mr. Drummond took his leave, she accompanied him to the door, and +thanked him quite warmly. + +"You have done her so much good, for this first evening is such a +trial to her, poor thing!" said Nan, lifting her lovely eyes to the +young man's face. + +"I am so glad! I will come again," he said, rather incoherently. And +as he went out of the green door he told himself that it was his clear +duty to befriend this interesting family. He ought to have gone home +and written to Grace, for it was long past the time when she always +expected to hear from him. But the last day or two he had rather +shirked this duty. It would be difficult to explain to Grace. She +might be rather shocked, for she was a little prim in such things, +being her mother's daughter. He thought he would ask Mattie to tell +her about the Challoners, and that he was busy and would write soon; +and when he had made up his mind to this, he went down to the +sea-shore and amused himself by sitting on a breakwater and staring at +the fishing-smacks,--which of course showed how very busy he was. + +"I think I shall like Mr. Drummond," observed Mrs. Challoner, in a +tolerant tone, when Nan had accompanied the young vicar to the door. +"He seems an earnest, good sort of young man." + +"Yes, mammie dear. And I am sure he has fallen in love with you," +returned Phillis, naughtily, "for he talked to no one else. And you +are so young-looking and pretty that of course no one could be +surprised if he did." But though Mrs. Challoner said, "Oh, Phillis!" +and looked dreadfully shocked in a proper matronly way, what was the +use of that, when the mischievous girl burst out laughing in her +face? + +But the interruption had done them all good, and the evening passed +less heavily than they had dared to hope. And when Mrs. Challoner +complained of fatigue and retired early, escorted by Dorothy, who was +dying for a chat with her mistress, the three girls went out in the +garden, and walked, after their old fashion, arm in arm up and down +the lawn, with Nan in the middle; though Dulce pouted and pretended +that the lawn was too narrow, and that Phillis was pushing her on the +gravel path. + +Their mother's window was open, and they could have heard snatches of +Dorothy's conversation if they had chosen to listen. Dulce stood still +a moment, and wafted a little kiss towards her mother's room. + +"Dear old mamsie! She has been very good this evening, has she not, +Nan? She has only cried the least wee bit, when you kissed her." + +"Yes, indeed. And somebody else has been good too. What do you say, +Phillis? Has not Dulce been the best child possible?" + +"Oh, Nan, I should be ashamed to be otherwise," returned Dulce, in +such an earnest manner that it made her sisters laugh, "Do you think I +could see you both so good and cheerful, making the best of things, +and never complaining, even when the tears are in your eyes,--as yours +are often, Nan, when you think no one is looking,--and not try and +copy your example? I am dreadfully proud of you both,--that is what I +am," continued the warm-hearted girl. "I never knew before what was in +my sisters. And now I feel as though I want the whole world to come +and admire my Phillis and Nan!" + +"Little flatterer!" but Nan squeezed Dulce's arm affectionately. And +Phillis said, in a joking tone,-- + +"Ah, it was not half so bad. This evening there was mother looking so +dear and pretty: and there were you girls; and, though the nest is +small, it feels warm and cosy. And if we could only forget Glen +Cottage, and leave off missing the old faces, which I never shall--" +("Nor I," echoed Nan, with a deep sigh, fetched from somewhere)--"and +root ourselves afresh, we should contrive not to be unhappy." + +"I think it is our duty to cultivate cheerfulness," added Nan, +seriously; and after this they fell to a discussion on ways and means. +As usual, Phillis was chief spokeswoman, but to Nan belonged the +privilege of the casting vote. + +The next few days were weary ones to Mrs. Challoner: there was still +much to be done before the Friary could be pronounced in order. The +girls spent most of the daylight hours unpacking boxes, sorting and +arranging their treasures, and, if the truth must be told, helping +Dorothy to polish furniture and wash glass and china. + +Mrs. Challoner, who was not strong enough for these household labors, +found herself condemned to hem new dusters and mend old table-linen, +to the tune of her own sad thoughts. Mr. Drummond found her sorting a +little heap on the parlor table when he dropped in casually one +morning,--this time with some very fine cherries that his sister +thought Mrs. Challoner would enjoy. + +When Mr. Drummond began his little speech he could have sworn that +there were tears on the poor lady's cheeks; but when he had finished +she looked up at him with a smile, and thanked him warmly, and then +they had quite a nice chat together. + +Mr. Drummond's visit was quite a godsend, she told him, for her girls +were busy and had no time to talk to her; and "one's thoughts are not +always pleasant companions," she added, with a sigh. And Mr. Drummond, +who had caught sight of the tears, was at once sympathetic, and +expressed himself in such feeling terms--for he was more at ease in +the girls' absence--that Mrs. Challoner opened out in the most +confiding way, and told him a great deal that he had been anxious to +learn. + +But she soon found out, to her dismay, that he disapproved of her +girls' plans; for he told her so at once, and in the coolest manner. +The opportunity for airing his views on the subject was far too good +to be lost. Mrs. Challoner was alone; she was in a low, dejected mood; +the rulers of the household were gathered in an upper chamber. What +would Phillis have said, as she warbled a rather flat accompaniment to +Nan's "Bonnie Dundee," which she was singing to keep up their spirits +over a piece of hard work, if she had known that Mr. Drummond was at +that moment in possession of her mother's ear? + +"Oh, Mr. Drummond, this is very sad, if every one should think as you +do about my poor girls! and Phillis does so object to being called +romantic;" for he had hinted in a gentlemanly way that he thought the +whole scheme was crude and girlish and quixotic to a degree. + +"I hope you will not tell her, then," returned Mr. Drummond in a +soothing tone, for Mrs. Challoner was beginning to look agitated. "I +am afraid nothing I say will induce Miss Challoner to give up her pet +scheme; but I felt, as your clergyman, it was my duty to let you know +my opinion." And here Archie looked so very solemn that Mrs. +Challoner, being a weak woman, and apt to overvalue the least +expression of masculine opinion, grew more and more alarmed. + +"Oh, yes!" she faltered; "it is very good--very nice of you to tell me +this." Phillis would have laughed in his face and Mrs. Cheyne would +have found something to say about his youth; but in Mrs. Challoner's +eyes, though she was an older woman, Archie's solemnity and Oriental +beard carried tremendous weight with them. He might be young, +nevertheless she was bound to listen meekly to him, and to respect his +counsel as one who had a certain authority over her. "Oh, you are very +good! and if only my girls had not made up their minds so quickly! but +now what can I do but feel very uncomfortable after you have told me +this?" + +"Oh, as to that, there is always time for everything; it is never too +late to mend," returned Mr. Drummond, tritely. "I meant from the first +to tell you what I thought, if I should ever have an opportunity of +speaking to you alone. You see, we Oxford men have our own notions +about things: we do not always go with the tide. If your daughters--" +here he hesitated and grew red, for he was a modest, honest young +fellow in the main--"pardon me, but I am only proposing an +hypothesis--if they wanted to make a sensation and get themselves +talked about, no doubt they would achieve a success, for the +novelty----" But here he stopped, reduced to silence by the shocked +expression of Mrs. Challoner's face. + +"Mr. Drummond! my girls--make a sensation--be talked about?" she +gasped; and all the spirit of her virtuous matronhood, and all the +instinctive feeling that years of culture and ingrained refinement of +nature had engendered, shone in her eyes. Her Nan and Phillis and +Dulce to draw this on themselves! + +Now, at this unlucky moment, when the maternal fires were all alight, +who should enter but Phillis, wanting "pins, and dozens of +them,--quickly, please," and still warbling flatly that refrain of +"Bonnie Dundee!" + +"Oh, Phillis! Oh, my darling child!" cried Mrs. Challoner, quite +hysterically; "do you know what your clergyman says? and if he should +say such things, what will be the world's opinion? No, Mr. Drummond, I +did not mean to be angry. Of course you are telling us this for our +good; but I do not know when I have been so shocked." + +"Why, what is this?" demanded Phillis, calmly; but she fixed her eyes +on the unlucky clergyman, who began to wish that that last speech had +not been uttered. + +"He says it is to make a sensation--to be talked about--that you are +going to do this," gasped Mrs. Challoner, who was far too much upset +to weigh words truly. + +"What!" Phillis only uttered that very unmeaning monosyllable: +nevertheless, Archie jumped from his seat as though he had been shot. + +"Mrs. Challoner, really this is too bad! No, you must allow me to +explain," as Phillis turned aside with a curling lip, as though she +would leave them. He actually went between her and the door, as though +he meant to prevent her egress forcibly. There is no knowing to what +lengths he would have gone in his sudden agitation. "Only wait a +moment, until I explain myself. Your mother has misunderstood me +altogether. Never has such a thought entered my mind!" + +"Oh," observed Phillis. But now she stood still and began to collect +her pins out of her mother's basket. "Perhaps, as this is rather +unpleasant, you will have the kindness to tell me what it was you said +to my mother?" And she spoke like a young princess who had just +received an insult. + +"I desire nothing more," returned Archie, determined to defend himself +at all costs. "I had been speaking to Mrs. Challoner about all this +unfortunate business. She was good enough to repose confidence in me, +and, as your clergyman, I felt myself bound to tell her exactly my +opinions on the subject." + +"I do not quite see the necessity; but no doubt you know best," was +Phillis's somewhat sarcastic answer. + +"At least, I did it for the best," returned the young man, humbly. "I +pointed out things to Mrs. Challoner, as I told you I should. I warned +her what the world would say,--that it would regard your plan as very +singular and perhaps quixotic. Surely there is nothing in this to +offend you?" + +"You have not touched on the worst part of all," returned Phillis, +with a little disdain in her voice. "About making a sensation, I +mean." + +"There it was that your mother so entirely misunderstood. What I said +was this: If this dressmaking scheme were undertaken just to make a +sensation, it would of course, achieve success, for I thought the +novelty might take. And then I added that I was merely stating an +hypothesis by way of argument, and then Mrs. Challoner looked shocked, +and you came in." + +"Is that all?" asked Phillis, coming down from her stilts at once, for +she knew of old how her mother would confuse things sometimes; and, if +this were the truth, she, Phillis, had been rather too hard on him. + +"Yes. Do you see now any necessity for quarrelling with me?" returned +Mr. Drummond, breathing a little more freely as the frown lessened on +Phillis's face. He wanted to be friends with these girls, not to turn +them against him. + +"Well, no, I believe not," she answered, quite gravely. "And I am sure +I beg your pardon if I was rude." But this Archie would not allow for +a moment. + +"But, Mr. Drummond, one word before peace is quite restored," went on +Phillis, with something of her old archness, "or else I will fetch my +sisters, and you will have three of us against you." + +"Oh, do, Phillis, my dear," interrupted her mother; "let them come and +hear what Mr. Drummond thinks." + +"Mammy, how dare you!--how dare you be so contumacious, after all the +trouble we have taken to set your dear fidgety mind at rest? Just look +what you have done, Mr. Drummond," turning upon him. "Now I am not +going to forgive you, and we will not trust the mother out of our +sight, unless you promise not to say this sort of thing to her when we +are not here to answer them." + +"But, Miss Challoner, my pastoral conscience!" but his eyes twinkled a +little. + +"Oh, never mind that!" she retorted, mischievously. "I will give you +leave to lecture us collectively, but not individually: that must not +be thought about for a moment." She had not a notion what the queer +expression on Mr. Drummond's face meant, and he did not know himself; +but he had the strongest desire to laugh at this. + +They parted after this the best of friends; and Phillis tasted the +cherries, and pronounced them very good. + +"You have quite forgiven me?" Mr. Drummond said, as she accompanied +him to the door before rejoining her sisters. "You know I have +promised not to do it again until the next time." + +"Oh, we shall see about that!" returned Phillis, good-humoredly. +"Forewarned is forearmed; and there is a triple alliance against +you." + +"Good heavens, what mockery it seems! I never saw such girls,--never!" +thought Mr. Drummond, as he took long strides down the road. "But +Mattie is right: they mean business, and nothing in the world would +change that girl's determination if she had set herself to carry a +thing out. I never knew a stronger will!" And in this he was tolerably +right. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +"TRIMMINGS, NOT SQUAILS." + + +The longest week must have an end; and so at last the eventful Monday +morning arrived,--"Black Monday," as Dulce called it, and then sighed +as she looked out on the sunshine and the waving trees, and thought +how delicious a long walk or a game of tennis would be, instead of +stitch, stitch, stitching all day. But Dulce was an unselfish little +soul, and kept all these thoughts to herself, and dressed herself +quickly; for she had overslept herself, and Phillis had long been +downstairs. + +Nan was locking up the tea-caddy as she entered the parlor, and +Phillis was standing by the table, drawing on her gloves, and her lips +were twitching a little,--a way they had when Phillis was nervous. + +Nan went up and kissed her, and gave her an encouraging pat. + +"This is for luck, my dear; and mind you make the best of poor Miss +Milner's dumpy, roundabout little figure. There I have put the +body-lining, and the measuring-tape, and a paper of pins in this +little black bag; and I have not forgotten the scissors,--oh, dear, +no! I have not forgotten the scissors," went on Nan, with such +surprising cheerfulness that Phillis saw through it, and was down on +her in a moment. + +"No, Nan; there! I declare I will not be such a goose. I am not +nervous,--not one bit; it is pure fun, that's what it is. Dulce, what +a naughty child you are to oversleep yourself this morning, and I had +not the heart to wake you, you looked so like a baby: and we never +wake babies because they are sure to squall!" + +"Oh, Phil, are you going to Miss Milner's? I would have walked with +you if I had had my breakfast; but I am so hungry." + +"I could not possibly wait," returned Phillis; "punctuality is one of +the first duties of--hem!--dressmakers; all orders executed promptly, +and promises performed with undeviating regularity: those are my +maxims. Eat a good breakfast, and then see if mammy wants any help, +for Nan must be ready for me at the work-table, for she is our head +cutter-out." And then Phillis nodded briskly, and walked away. + +By a singular chance, Mr. Drummond was watering his ferns in the front +court as Phillis passed, and in spite of her reluctance, for somehow +he was the last person she wanted to encounter that day, she was +obliged to wish him good-morning. + +"Good-morning! Yes, indeed, it is a glorious morning," observed +Archie, brightly. "And may I ask where you are going so early?" + +"Only to the Library," returned Phillis, laconically; but the color +mounted to her forehead. "We begin business to-day." + +And then Archie took up his watering-pot and refrained from any more +questions. It was absurd, perhaps, but at the moment he had forgotten, +and the remembrance was not pleasing. + +Phillis felt quite brave after this, and walked into the Library as +though the place belonged to her. When it came to details, Miss Milner +was far more nervous than she. + +She would keep apologizing to Phillis for making her stand so long, +and she wanted to hold the pins and to pick up the scissors that +Phillis had dropped; and when the young dressmaker consulted her about +the trimmings, she was far too humble to intrude her opinions. + +"Anything you think best, Miss Challoner, for you have such beautiful +taste as never was seen; and I am sure the way you have fitted that +body-lining is just wonderful, and would be a lesson to Miss Slasher +for life. No, don't put the pins in your mouth, there's a dear." + +For, in her intense zeal, Phillis had thought herself bound to follow +the manner of Mrs. Sloper, the village factotum, and she always did +so, though Nan afterwards assured her that it was not necessary, and +that in this particular they might be allowed to deviate from +example. + +But she was quite proud of herself when she had finished, for the +material seemed to mould under her fingers in the most marvellous way, +and she knew the fit would be perfect. She wanted to rush off at once +and set to work with Nan; but Miss Milner would not let her off so +easily. There was orange wine and seed-cake of her own making in the +back parlor, and she had just one question--a very little question--to +ask. And here Miss Milner coughed a little behind her hand to gain +time and recover her courage. + +"The little papers were about the shop, and Mrs. Trimmings saw one, +and--and----" Here Phillis came promptly to her relief. + +"And Mrs. Trimmings wants to order a dress, does she?" And Phillis +bravely kept down the sudden sinking of heart at the news. + +Mrs. Trimmings was the butcher's wife,--the sister of that very Mrs. +Squails of whom Dulce once made mention,--well known to be the +dressiest woman in Hadleigh, who was much given to imitate her +betters. The newest fashions, the best materials, were always to be +found on Mrs. Trimmings's portly figure. + +"What could I do?" observed Miss Milner, apologetically: "the papers +were about the shop, and what does the woman do but take one up? 'I +wonder what sort of dressmakers these are?' she said, careless-like; +'there is my new blue silk that Andrew brought himself from London +and paid five-and-sixpence a yard for in St. Paul's Churchyard; and I +daren't let Miss Slasher have it, for she made such a mess of that +French merino. She had to let it out at every seam before I could get +into it, and it is so tight for me now that I shall be obliged to cut +it up for Mary Anne. I wonder if I dare try these new people?" + +"And what did you say, Miss Milner?" + +"What could I do then, my dear young lady, but speak up and say the +best I could for you? for though Mrs. Trimmings is not high,--not one +of the gentry, I mean,--and has a rough tongue sometimes, still she +knows what good stuff and good cutting-out means, and a word from her +might do you a power of good among the townfolks, for her gowns are +always after the best patterns." + +"All right!" returned Phillis, cheerfully: "one must creep before one +runs, and, until the gentry employ us, we ought to think ourselves +fortunate to work for the townpeople. I am not a bit above making a +dress for Mrs. Trimmings, though I would rather make one for you, Miss +Milner, because you have been so kind to us." + +"There, now! didn't I say there never were such young ladies!" +exclaimed Miss Milner, quite affected at this. "Well, if you are sure +you don't mind, Miss Challoner dear, will you please go to Mrs. +Trimmings's this morning? for though I told her my dress was to be +finished first, still Trimmings's isn't a stone's-throw from here; and +you may as well settle a thing when you are about it." + +"And I will take the silk, Miss Milner, if you will kindly let me have +a nice piece of brown paper." + +"Indeed and you will do no such thing, Miss Challoner; and there is +Joseph going down with the papers to Mr. Drummond's, and will leave it +at the Friary as he passes." + +"Oh, thank you," observed Phillis, gratefully. "Then I will pencil a +word to my sister, to let her know why I am detained." And she +scrawled a line to Nan: + +"Trimmings, not Squails: here beginneth the first chapter. Expect me +when you see me, and do nothing until I come." + +There was no side-door at Trimmings's, and Mrs. Trimmings was at the +desk, jotting down legs of mutton, and entries of gravy-beef and suet, +with a rapidity that would have tried the brain of any other woman +than a butcher's wife. + +When Phillis approached, she looked up at her suavely, expecting +custom. + +"Just half a moment, ma'am," she said, civilly. "Yes, Joe, wing-rib +and half of suet to Mrs. Penfold, and a loin of lamb and sweet-bread +for No. 12, Albert Terrace. Now, ma'am, what can I do for you?" + +"I have only come about your dress, Mrs. Trimmings," returned Phillis, +in a very small voice; and then she tried not to laugh, as Mrs. +Trimmings regarded her with a broad stare of astonishment, which took +her in comprehensively, hat, dress, and neat dogskin gloves. + +"You might have taken up my pen and knocked me down with it," was Mrs. +Trimmings's graphic description of her feelings afterwards, as she +carved a remarkably fine loin of veal, with a knuckle of ham and some +kidney-beans to go with it. "There was the colonel standing by the +desk, Andrew; and he turned right round and looked at us both. 'I've +come about your dress, Mrs. Trimmings,' she said, as pertlike as +possible. Law, I thought I should have dropped, I was that taken +aback." + +Phillis's feelings were none of the pleasantest when Colonel Middleton +turned round and looked at her. There was an expression almost of +sorrow in the old man's eyes, as he so regarded her, which made her +feel hot and uncomfortable. It was a relief when Mrs. Trimmings roused +from her stupefaction and bustled out of the desk. + +"This way, miss," she said, with a jerk of her comely head. But her +tone changed a little, and became at once sharp and familiar. "I hope +you understand your business, for I never could abide waste; and the +way Miss Slasher cut into that gray merino,--and it only just meets, +so to say,--and the breadths are as scanty as possible; and it would +go to my heart to have a beautiful piece of silk spoiled, +flve-and-sixpence a yard, and not a flaw in it." + +"If I thought I should spoil your dress I would not undertake it," +returned Phillis, gently. She felt she must keep herself perfectly +quiet with this sort of people. "My sister and I have just made up +some very pretty silk and cashmere costumes, and they fitted as +perfectly as possible." + +"Oh, indeed!" observed Mrs. Trimmings, in a patronizing tone. She had +no idea that the costumes of which Phillis spoke had been worn by the +young dressmakers at one of Lady Fitzroy's afternoon parties. She was +not quite at her ease with Phillis; she thought her a little +high-and-mighty in her manner. "A uppish young person," as she said +afterwards; "but her grand airs made no sort of difference to me, I +can assure you." + +There was no holding pins or picking up scissors in this case. On the +contrary, Mrs. Trimmings watched with a vigilant eye, and was ready to +pounce on Phillis at the least mistake or oversight, seeing which +Phillis grew cooler and more off-hand every moment. There was a great +deal of haggling over the cut of the sleeve and arrangement of the +drapery. "If you will kindly leave it to me," Phillis said once; but +nothing was further from Mrs. Trimmings's intention. She had not a +silk dress every day. And she had always been accustomed to settle all +these points herself, while Miss Slasher had stood by humbly turning +over the pages of her fashion-books, and calling her, at every +sentence, "Ma'am," a word that Phillis's lips had not yet uttered. +Phillis's patience was almost tired out, when she was at last allowed +to depart with a large brown-paper parcel under her arm. Mrs. +Trimmings would have wrapped it up in newspaper, but Phillis had so +curtly refused to have anything but brown paper that her manner rather +overawed the woman. + +Poor Phillis! Yes, it had really come to pass, and here she was, +actually walking through Hadleigh in the busiest time of the day, with +a large, ugly-looking parcel and a little black bag! She had thought +of sending Dorothy for the dress, but she knew what a trial it would +have been to the old woman to see one of her young ladies reduced to +this, and she preferred ladening herself to hurting the poor old +creature's feelings. So she walked out bravely in her best style. But +nevertheless her shapely neck would turn itself now and then from side +to side, as though in dread of some familiar face. And there were +little pin-pricks all over her of irritation and mortified self-love. +"A thing is all very well in theory, but it may be tough in practice," +she said to herself. And she felt an irresistible desire to return the +offending dress to that odious Trimmings and tell her she would have +nothing to do with her,--"a disagreeable old cat," I am afraid Phillis +called her, for one is not always charitable and civil-spoken in one's +thoughts. + +"We are going the same way. May I carry that formidable-looking parcel +for you?" asked a voice that was certainly becoming very familiar. + +Poor Phillis started and blushed; but she looked more annoyed than +pleased at the rencontre. + +"Mr. Drummond, are you omnipresent?--one is forever encountering you!" +she said, quite pettishly; but, when Archie only laughed, and tried to +obtain possession of the parcel, she resisted, and would have none of +his assistance. + +"Oh, dear, no!" she said: "I could not think of such a thing! Fancy +the vicar of Hadleigh condescending to carry home Mrs. Trimmings's +dress!" + +"Mrs. Trimmings's dress?" repeated Mr. Drummond, in a rapid crescendo. +"Oh, Miss Challoner! I declare this beats everything!" + +Phillis threw him a glance. She meant it to be cool, but she could not +keep the sadness out of her eyes; they did so contradict the assumed +lightness of her words: + +"Miss Milner was far more considerate: she made Joseph carry hers to +the Friary when he left your papers. Was he not a benevolent Joseph? +Mrs. Trimmings wanted to wrap up her silk in newspaper; but I said to +myself, 'One must draw the line somewhere;' and so I held out for +brown paper. Do you think you could have offered to carry a parcel in +newspaper, Mr. Drummond? Oh, by the bye, how can you condescend to +walk with a dressmaker? But this is a quiet road, and no one will see +you." + +"Pardon me if I contradict you, but there is Colonel Middleton looking +over his garden palings this moment," returned Mr. Drummond, who had +just become painfully aware of the fact. + +"Don't you think you had better go and speak to him, then? for you see +I am in no need of help," retorted Phillis, who was sore all over, and +wanted to get rid of him, and yet would have been offended if he had +taken her at her word. But Mr. Drummond, who felt his position an +uncomfortable one, and was dreadfully afraid of the colonel's banter, +was not mean enough to take advantage of her dismissal. He had joined +himself to her company out of pure good nature, for it was a hot day +and the parcel was heavy, but she would have none of his assistance. + +So he only waved his hand to his friend, who took off his old felt hat +very solemnly in return, and watched them with a grieved expression +until they were out of sight. + +"Now I will bid you good-bye," he said, when they had reached the +vicarage. + +Phillis said nothing; but she held out her hand, and there was a +certain brightness in her eyes that showed she was pleased. + +"He is a gentleman, every inch of him; and I won't quarrel with him +any more," she thought, as she walked up to the Friary. "Oh, how nice +it would have been if we were still at Glen Cottage and he could see +us at our best, and we were able to entertain him in our old fashion! +How Carrie and the other girls would have liked him! and how jealous +Dick would have been! for he never liked our bringing strange young +men to the house, and always found fault with them if he could," and +here Phillis sighed, and for the moment Mrs. Trimmings was forgotten. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +"BRAVO, ATALANTA!" + + +Phillis received quite an ovation as soon as she crossed the +threshold. Dulce, who was listening for her footsteps, rushed out into +the little hall, and dragged her in, as though she were too weary to +have any movement or volition of her own. And then Nan came up, in her +calm elder-sisterly way, and put her arm round her, and hoped she was +not so very tired, and there was so much to say, and so much to do, +and she wanted her advice, and so on. + +And on Nan's forehead lay a thoughtful pucker; and on the centre-table +were sundry breadths of green silk, crisp-looking and faintly bronzed, +like withered leaves with the sun on them. + +"Oh, dear! has Miss Drummond been here in my absence?" asked Phillis, +with the overwhelmed feeling of a beginner, who has not yet learned to +separate and classify, or the rich value of odd moments. "Three +dresses to be done at once!" + +"One at a time. But never mind Miss Drummond's this moment. Mother is +safe in the store-cupboard for the next half-hour, and we want to know +what you mean by your ridiculous message, 'Trimmings, not Squails.' +Dulce is dying of curiosity, and so am I." + +"Yes; but she looks so hot and tired that she must refresh herself +first." And Dulce placed on her sister's lap a plate of yellow plums, +perfectly bedded in moss, which had come from the vicarage garden. And +as Phillis enjoyed the dainty repast and poured out her morning's +experiences in the ears of her astonished auditors, lo, the +humiliation and the sting were forgotten, and only an intense sense of +the humor of the situation remained. + +It was Dulce whose pink cheeks were burning now. + +"Oh, Phillis! how could you? It is too dreadful even to think about! +That fat old thing, too! Why, she is twice as big as Mrs. Squails!" + +"Beggars cannot be choosers, my dear," replied Phillis, airily; for +rest was pleasant, and the fruit was good, and it was so delicious to +feel all that was over and she was safe in her nest again; and then +the pleasure of talking it all over! "Do you know--?" she began, in a +disconnected manner, and then sat and stared at her sisters with +luminous gray eyes, until they begged to know what the new idea was. + +"Oh, nothing," she replied, and colored a little. And then she blurted +out, in an oddly-ashamed way, "it was talking to you two dears that +put it in my head. But I could not help thinking that moment that if +one is ever good enough to get to heaven, one of the greatest +pleasures will be to talk about all our past miseries and +difficulties, and how the angels helped us! and, though you may laugh +at me,"--they were doing nothing of the kind, only admiring her with +all their might,--"I have a kind of fancy that even my 'Trimmings, not +Squails' episode may have a different look up there!" + +"My dear," returned Nan, gently, for she loved all speeches of this +sort, being a devout little soul and truly pious, "nothing was further +from my thoughts than to laugh at you, for the more we think in this +way the grander our work will appear to us. Mrs. Trimmings may be fat +and vulgar, but when you were measuring her and answering her so +prettily--and I know how nicely you would speak, Phil--I think you +were as brave as one of those old knights--I cannot remember their +names--who set out on some lofty quest or other!" + +"I suppose the child means Sir Galahad," observed Phillis, with a +groan at Nan's ignorance. "Oh, Nannie, I wish I could say,-- + + "'My strength is as the strength of ten, + Because my heart is pure;'" + +and then she softly chanted,--for quotation never came amiss to her, +and her head was crammed with choice selections from the poets,-- + + "'All armed I ride, whate'er betide, + Until I find the Holy Grail.'" + +"Yes, the Sangreal, or the Quest. It does not matter what, for it was +only an allegory," returned Nan, who had plenty of ideas, only she +confused them sometimes, and was not as clever in her definitions as +Phillis. "It only meant that those grand old knights had some holy +purpose and aim in their lives, for which they trained and toiled and +fought. Don't you see?--the meaning is quite clear. We can have our +Quest too." + +"Bless her dear heart, if she is not travelling thousands of years and +miles from Mrs. Trimmings!" exclaimed Phillis, who never could be +serious long. "Well, Nannie, I understand you, though you are a trifle +vague. We will have our Quest and our unattainable standard; and I +will be your maiden knight--yours and Dulce's. + + "'How sweet are looks that ladies bend + On whom their favors fall! + For them I'll battle till the end, + To save from shame and thrall.'" + +And when she had repeated this she rose, laughing, and said they were +all a little demented; and what did they mean by wasting their time +when there were three dresses to be cut out? and Dulce must have the +work fixed for the sewing-machine. + +For the next hour there was little talk, only the snipping sound of +scissors and the rustling of silken breadths, and sometimes the swish +and the tearing of sundry materials, and then the whirring and burning +and tappings of Dulce's sewing machine, like a dozen or two of +woodpeckers at work on an iron tree. And no one quoted any more +poetry, for prose was heaped up everywhere about them, and their heads +were full of business. + +But in the afternoon, when things were in progress and looked +promising, and Mrs. Challoner had had her nap, and was busy over some +sleeves that they had given her to keep her quiet and satisfy her +maternal conscience that she was helping her girls, Phillis did hear a +little about Miss Drummond's visit. The sewing machine, which they +worked by turns, had stopped for a time, and they were all three round +the table, sewing and fixing as busily as possible: and Phillis, +remembering Sir Galahad, dared not say she was tired, only she looked +out on the lengthening shadows with delight, and thought about tea and +an evening walk just to stretch her cramped muscles. And if one day +seemed so long, how would a week of days appear before the blessed +Sunday gave them a few hours of freedom? + +It was at this moment that Nan, with fine tact, broke the silence that +was good for work, but was apt to wax drowsy in time: + +"Miss Milner's dress is getting on well. How fast you two girls work! +and mammie is doing the sleeves beautifully. Another afternoon you +must let the work rest, mammie, and read to us, or Phillis will get +restive. By the bye, Dulce, we have not told her a word about Miss +Drummond's visit." + +"No, indeed: was it not good of her to come so soon?" exclaimed Dulce. +"She told us she wanted to be our first customer, and seemed quite +disappointed when we said that we were bound in honor and mere +gratitude to send Miss Milner's dress home first. 'Not that I am in a +hurry for my dress, for nobody cares what I wear,' she said, quite +cheerfully; 'but I wanted to be the first on your list.' I wish we +could oblige her, for she is a nice, unaffected little thing, and I am +beginning to like her, though she is a little fussy." + +"But she was as meek as a lamb about her dress," added Nan, who was a +first-rate needle-woman, and could work rapidly while she talked. +"Just fancy, Phil! she wanted to have a jacket with tabs and loose +sleeves, just for comfort and coolness." + +"Loose sleeves and a jacket!" almost gasped Phillis, for the princess +skirts were then worn, and jackets were consigned to oblivion for the +time being. "I hope you told her, Nan, that we had never worked for +Mrs. Noah, neither had Mrs. Shem ever honored us by her custom." + +"Well, no, Phillis; I was not quite so impertinent, and clever +speeches of that sort never occur to me until you say them. But I told +Miss Drummond that I could not consent to spoil her lovely dress in +that way; and then she laughed and gave in, and owned she knew nothing +about fashions, and that her sister Grace always ordered her clothes +for her, because she chose such ugly things. She sat and chatted such +a long time with us; she had only just gone when you came home." + +"And she told us such a lot about this wonderful Grace," went on +Dulce: "she says Archie quite worships her.--Well, mammie," as Mrs. +Challoner poised her needle in mid-air and regarded her youngest +daughter with unfeigned astonishment, "I am only repeating Miss +Drummond's words; she said 'Archie.'" + +"But, my dear, there was no need to be so literal," returned Mrs. +Challoner, reprovingly; for she was a gentlewoman of the old school, +and nothing grieved her more than slipshod English or any idiom or +idiotcy of modern parlance in the mouths of her bright young +daughters: to speak of any young man except Dick without the +ceremonious prefix was a heinous misdemeanor in her eyes. Dulce would +occasionally trespass, and was always rebuked with much gravity. "You +could have said 'her brother,' could you not?" + +"Oh, mammie, I am sure Providence intended you for an old maid, and +you have not fulfilled your destiny," retorted Dulce, who was rarely +awed by her mother's solemnity. "All that fuss because I said +'Archie!' Oh, I forgot, that name is sacred: the Rev. Archibald +Drummond adores his sister Grace." + +"And she must be very nice," returned Mrs. Challoner with an indulgent +smile at her pet Dulce. "I am sure, from what Miss Drummond told us +this morning, that she must be a most superior person. Why, Phillis, +she teaches all her four younger sisters, and one of them is sixteen. +Miss Drummond says she is never out of the school-room, except for an +hour or two in the evening, when her father and brothers come home. +There are two more brothers, I think she said. Dear what a large +family! and Miss Drummond hinted that they were not well off." + +"I should like to know that Grace," began Phillis; and then she shook +her head reflectively. "No, depend upon it, we should be disappointed +in her: family paragons are generally odious to other folk. Most +likely she wears spectacles, and is a thin thread-papery sort of +person." + +"On the contrary, she is a sweet-looking girl, with large melancholy +eyes; for Miss Drummond showed us her photograph. So much for your +imagination, Phil?" and Dulce looked triumphant. "And she is only +twenty-two, and, though not pretty, just the sort of face one could +love." + +"Some people's swans turn out to be geese in the end," remarked +Phillis, provokingly; but she registered at the same time a mental +resolve that she would cross-examine Mr. Drummond on the earliest +opportunity about this wonderful sister of his. Oh, it was no marvel +if he did look down on them when they had not got brains enough to +earn their living except in this way! and Phillis stuck her needle +into Miss Milner's body-lining so viciously that it broke. + +The sharp click roused Nan's vigilance, and she looked up, and was at +once full of pity for Phillis's pale face. + +"You are tired, Phil, and so are we all," she said, brightly; "and, as +it is our first day of work, we will not overdo ourselves. Mammie, if +you will make the tea, we will just tidy up, and look out the patterns +for you to match the trimmings and buttons to-morrow;" for this same +business of matching was rather hailed by Mrs. Challoner as a relief +and amusement. + +Phillis grumbled a little over this additional labor, though, at the +same time, no one worked harder than she; but she was careful to +explain that it was her right, as a freeborn Britoness, to grumble, +and that it was as much a relief to her peculiar constitution as a +good long yawn is to some people. + +"And it answers two purposes," as she observed; "for it airs the +lungs, and relieves the mind, and no one takes any more notice than if +I set the wind blowing. And thankful I am, and every mother's child of +us, that Dorothy is approaching this room with her dust-pan and brush. +Dorothy, I have a nice little sum for you to do. How many snippets of +green and black silk go to a dust-pan? Count them, and subtract all +the tacking-thread, and Dulce's pins." + +"Phillis, you are just feverish from overfatigue and sitting so long +in one place, for you are used to running about." And Nan took her by +the shoulders, and marched her playfully to the small parlor, where +Mrs. Challoner was waiting for them. + +"Come, girls!" she said, cheerfully. "Dorothy has baked your favorite +little cakes, and there are new-laid eggs for those who are hungry; +and I am sure you all earned your tea, darlings. And, oh, Phillis! how +tired you look!" And Mrs. Challoner looked round on each face in turn, +in the unwise but loving way of mothers. + +This was too much for Phillis; and she interlaced her fingers and put +them suddenly and sternly over her mother's eyes. + +"Now, mammie, promise." + +"Phillis, my dear, how can you be so absurd!" but Mrs. Challoner +strove in vain to release herself. Phillis's fingers had iron tenacity +in them when she chose. + +"A thing like this must be nipped in the bud," pronounced Phillis, +apostrophizing her laughing sisters. "You must not look at us in that +fashion every evening, as though we were sheep in a pen, or rabbits +for sale. You will be weighing us next; and my nerves will not stand +it. No, mother; here I strike. I will not be looked at in that +manner." + +"But, Phillis--Oh, you nonsensical child!" + +"Personal remarks are to be tabooed from this moment. You must not +say, 'How tired you look!' or 'How pale you are!' It is not manners at +the Friary, and it is demoralizing. I am ten times more tired this +minute than I was before you told me so." + +"Very well, Phillis; but you must let me pour out the tea." And then +Phillis subsided. But she had started the fun, and Dulce soon took it +up and set the ball rolling. And Dorothy, working hard with her +dust-pan and brushes, heard the merriment, and her old face lighted +up. + +"Bless their sweet faces!--pretending to be happy, just to cheer up +the mistress, and make believe it is only a game they are having!" +muttered the old woman, as she paused to listen. "But, if I am not +mistaken, Miss Phillis, poor dear, is just ready to drop with fatigue. +Only to hear her, one would think she was as perky as possible." + +When the evening meal was over, Mrs. Challoner leaned back in her +chair and made a little speech to her daughters: + +"Thank you, my dears. You have done me so much good. Now, if you want +to please me, you will all three put on your hats and take a nice long +walk together." + +The girls looked at each other, and every pair of eyes said, as +plainly as possible, "What a delicious idea! But only two can go, and +I intend to be the filial victim." But Mrs. Challoner was too quick +for them. "I said all three," she remarked, very decidedly. "If one +offers to stay with me, I shall just put myself to bed and lock the +door; but if you will be good, and enjoy this lovely evening, I will +take my book in the garden and be quite happy until you come back to +me." And when they saw that she meant it, and would only be worried by +a fuss, they went off as obediently as possible. + +They walked very sedately down the Braidwood Road, and past the White +House; but when they got into the town, Phillis hurried them on a +little: "I don't want people. It is air and exercise and freedom for +which I am pining." And she walked so fast that they had some trouble +to keep up with her. + +But when they had left every trace of human habitation behind them, +and were strolling down the rough, uneven beach, towards a narrow +strip of sand, that would soon be covered by the advancing tide, +Phillis said, in an odd, breathless way, "Nan, just look round and see +if there be any one in sight, before, behind, or around us;" and Nan, +though in some little surprise, did at once as she was bidden, in the +most thorough manner. For she looked up at the sky first, as though +she were afraid of balloons or possible angels; and then at the sea, +which she scanned narrowly, so that not even a fish could escape her; +and after that she beat the boundaries of the land. + +"No, there is not a creature in sight except ourselves and Laddie," +she answered. + +"Very well," answered Phillis promptly. "Then, if it be all safe, and +the Hadleigh wits are away wool gathering, and you will not tell +mother, I mean to have a race with Dulce, as far as we can run along +the shore; and if I do not win----" And here she pursed up her lips +and left her sentence unfinished, as though determined to be +provoking. + +"We shall see about that," returned Dulce, accepting the challenge in +a moment; for she was always ready to follow a good lead. + +"Oh, you foolish children?" observed Nan, in her staid fashion. But +she did not offer the slightest remonstrance, knowing of old that +unless Phillis found some safety-valve she would probably wax +dangerous. So she called Laddie to her, and held him whining and +struggling, for he wanted to stretch his little legs too; thinking a +race was good for dogs as well as for girls. But Nan would not hear of +it for a moment: he might trip them up and cause another sprained +ankle. + +"Now, Nan, you must be umpire, and say, One, two, three!" And Nan +again obeys, and then watches them with interest. Oh, how pretty it +was, if only any one could have seen it, except the crabs and the +star-fish, and they never take much notice: the foreground of the +summer sea coming up with little purple rushes and a fringe of foam; +the yellow sand, jagged, uneven, with salt-water pools here and there; +the two girls in their light dresses skimming over the ground with +swift feet, skirting the pools, jumping lightly over stones, even +climbing a breakwater, then running along another level piece of +sand,--Dulce a little behind, but Phillis as erect and sure-footed as +Atalanta. + +Now Nan has lost them, and puts Laddie down and prepares to follow. In +spite of her staidness, she would have dearly loved a run too; only +she thinks of Dick, and forbears. + +Dulce, who is out of breath, fears she must give up the race, and +begins to pant and drop behind in earnest, and to wish salt water were +fresh, and then to dread the next breakwater as a hopeless obstacle; +but Phillis, who is still as fresh as possible, squares her elbows as +she has seen athletes do, and runs lightly up to it, unmindful and +blissfully ignorant of human eyes behind a central hole. + +Some one who is of a classical turn has been thinking of the daughter +of Iasus and Clymene, and cries out, "Bravo, Atalanta! but where is +Milanion, that he has forgotten the golden apples?" And Phillis, +stricken dumb by the question and the sudden apparition of a bearded +face behind the breakwater, remains standing as though she were carved +in stone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +MOTHERS ARE MOTHERS. + + +"Mr. Drummond! Oh dear! is one never to be free from pastoral +supervision?" muttered Phillis, half sulkily, when she roused from her +stupefaction and had breath to take the offensive. And what would he +think of her? But that was a question to be deferred until later, when +nightmares and darkness and troublesome thoughts harass the unwary +soul. "Like a dog, he hunts in dreams," she might have said to +herself, quoting from "Locksley Hall." But she did nothing of the +kind,--only looked at the offending human being with such an outraged +dignity in her bearing that Mr. Drummond nearly committed himself by +bursting out laughing. + +He refrained with difficulty, and said rather dryly,-- + +"That was a good race; but I saw you would win from the first; and you +jumped that stone splendidly. I suppose you know the story of +Atalanta?" + +"Oh, yes," responded Phillis, gloomily; but she could not help showing +off her knowledge all the same; and she had always been so fond of +heathen mythology, and had even read translations of Homer and Virgil. +"She had a she-bear for a nurse, and was eventually turned into a +lion; and I always thought her very stupid for being such a baby and +stopping to pick up the golden apple." + +"Nevertheless, the subject is a charming one for a picture," returned +Archie, with admirable readiness, for he saw Phillis was greatly hurt +by this untoward accident, and he liked the girl all the better for +her spirit. He would not have discovered himself at all, only in +another moment she must have seen him; and if she would only have +believed how fully he entered into the fun, and how graceful and +harmless he thought it, there would have been no pang of wounded +self-esteem left. But girls, especially if they be worthy of the name, +are so sensitive and prickly on such matters. + +Dulce had basely deserted her sister, and, at the sight of the +clerical felt hat, had fled to Nan's side for protection. + +"Oh, never mind," Nan had said, consoling her: "it is only Mr. +Drummond. And he will know how it was, and that we thought there was +not a creature in sight." Nevertheless, she felt a little sorry in her +heart that such a thing had happened. It would spoil Phillis's mirth, +for she was very proud; and it might shock their mother. + +"Oh, he will think us such tomboys for grown-up young ladies!" sighed +Dulce, who was only just grown up. + +"Never mind what he thinks," returned Nan, walking fast, for she was +anxious to come to Phillis's relief. She joined them very quietly, and +held out her hand to Archie as though nothing had happened. + +"Is this a favorite walk of yours, Mr. Drummond? We thought we had it +all to ourselves, and so the girls had a race. They will be dreadfully +troubled at having a spectator; but it might be worse, for you already +know us well enough not to misconstrue a little bit of fun." + +"I am glad you judge me so truly," returned Archie, with a gleam of +pleasure in his eyes. Phillis certainly looked uncommonly handsome, as +she stood there, flushed and angry. But how sweet and cool Nan +looked!--not a hair ruffled nor a fold of her dress out of order; +whereas Dulce's brown locks were all loose about her shoulders, shaken +down by the exercise. Nevertheless, at that moment Phillis looked the +most striking. + +"I am afraid my sudden appearance has put your sister out dreadfully. +I assure you I would have made myself into thin air if I could," went +on Archie, penitently; "but all the same it was impossible not to +applaud the winner. I felt inclined to wave my hat in the air, and +cry, 'Bravo, Atalanta!' half a dozen times. You made such pretty +running, Miss Challoner; and I wish Grace could have seen it." + +The last word acted like magic on Phillis's cloudy brow. She had +passed over two delicately-implied compliments with a little scorn. +Did he think her, like other girls, to be mollified by sugar-plums and +sweet speeches? He might keep all that for the typical young lady of +Hadleigh. At Oldfield the young men knew her better. + +It must be owned that the youth of that place had been slightly in awe +of Phillis. One or two had even hinted that they thought her +strong-minded. "She has stand-off ways, and rather laughs at a fellow, +and makes one feel sometimes like a fool," they said; which did not +prove much, except that Phillis showed herself above nonsense, and +had a knowledge of shams, and would not be deceived, and, being the +better horse of the two, showed it; and no man likes to be taken down +in his class. + +As Phillis would not flirt,--not understanding the art, but Dulce +proved herself to be a pretty apt pupil,--they left off trying to make +her, and talked sensibly to her instead, which she liked better. But, +though more than one had admired her, no one had ventured to persuade +himself or her that he was in love; but for that there was plenty of +time, Phillis not being the sort of girl to remain long without a +lover. + +So when she heard Grace's name she pricked up her ears, and the proud +look left her face; and she said, a little archly, but in a way that +pleased Mr. Drummond,-- + +"All the same, I am glad your sister was not here, for she would think +Dulce and me such tomboys!" using Dulce's very expression. + +Archie shook his head very decidedly at this. + +"Ah! you do not know Grace, and how she loves a bit of fun; only she +never gets it, poor girl!" sighing in a marked manner, for he saw how +interested Phillis looked. "If you could only hear her laugh; but +please sit down a moment and rest yourselves," continued the artful +young man, who had not dared to purpose such a thing before. + +Nan hesitated; but a glance at Phillis's hot face decided her. + +"Just for five minutes," she said, "and then we must go back to +mother;" for she had already determined that they must cut their walk +short for the purpose of getting rid of Mr. Drummond. + +And then they sat down on the beach, and Dulce retired behind the +breakwater to take off her hat and tuck up her hair; while Archie, +taking no notice, leaned against the other side, and felt well +contented with his position,--three such pretty girls, and all the +world well away! + +"Is Grace your favorite sister?" asked Phillis, suddenly, as she +menaced Laddie with a small pebble. + +This was a lucky opening for Archie. He was never seen to more +advantage than when he was talking about Grace. There was no +constraint or consciousness about him at such times, but he would +speak with a simple earnestness that made people say, "What a good +fellow he is!" + +"Oh, she has always been that, you know," he said, brightly, "ever +since she was a little thing, and I used to carry her about in my +arms, and string horse-chestnuts for her, when she was the funniest, +merriest little creature, and so clever. I suppose when a man has +seven sisters he may be allowed to have a favorite among them? and +there is not one of them to compare with Grace." + +"Seven sisters!" repeated Nan, with a smile; and then she added "you +are very lucky, Mr. Drummond." + +Archie shrugged his shoulders at this: he had never quite recognized +his blessings in this respect. Isabel and Dottie might be tolerated, +but he could easily have dispensed with Susie and Laura and Clara; he +had a knack of forgetting their existence when he was absent from +them, and when he was at home he did not always care to be reminded of +their presence. He was one of those men who are very exacting to their +women-kind, who resent it as a personal injury if they fail in good +looks or are not pleasant to the eye. He did not go so far as to say +to himself that he could dispense with poor Mattie too, but he +certainly acted on most occasions as though he thought so. + +"Are you not fond of all your sisters?" asked Phillis, rather +maliciously, for she had remarked the shrug. + +"Oh, as to that," replied the young man, coloring a little, "one +cannot expect to be interested in a lot of school-girls. I am afraid I +know very little about the four youngest, except that they are working +Grace to death. Just fancy, Miss Challoner!" he continued, addressing +Nan, and quite disregarding Phillis's sympathetic looks. "Grace has +actually no life of her own at all; she teaches those girls, sits with +them, walks with them, helps them mend their clothes, just like a +daily or rather a nursery governess, except that she is not paid, and +has no holidays. I cannot think how my mother can find it in her heart +to work her so hard!" finished Archie, excited to wrath at the +remembrance of Grace's wrongs. + +"Well, do you know," returned Nan, thoughtfully, as he seemed to +expect an answer to this, and Phillis for a wonder was silent, "I +cannot think your sister an object of pity. Think what a good and +useful life she is leading! She must be a perfect treasure to her +mother; and I dare say they all love her dearly." + +"The girls do," was the somewhat grudging response: "they follow her +about like four shadows, and even Isabel can do nothing without her +advice. When I am at home I can scarcely get her for a moment to +myself; it is 'Grace, come here,' and 'Grace, please do this for me,' +until I wonder she is not worn out." + +"Oh, how happy she must be!" responded Nan, softly, for to her no lot +seemed sweeter than this. To be the centre and support of a large +family circle,--the friend and trusted confidante of each! What a +wonderful creature this Grace must be! and how could he speak of her +in that pitying tone? "No life of her own!" Well, what life could she +want better than this? To be the guide and teacher of her younger +sisters, and to be loved by them so dearly! "Oh, I think she is to be +envied! her life must be so full of interest," she said, addressing +the astonished Archie, who had certainly never taken this view of it. +And when she had said this, she gave a slight signal to her sisters, +which they understood at once; and then they paced slowly down the +beach, with their faces towards the town, talking as they went. + +They did not walk four abreast, as they used to do in the Oldfield +lanes; but Nan led the way with Mr. Drummond, and Phillis and Dulce +dropped behind. + +Archie was a little silent; but presently he said, quite frankly, as +though he had known her for years,--but from the first moment he had +felt strangely at home with these girls,-- + +"Do you know, you have thrown a fresh light on a vexed subject? I have +been worrying myself dreadfully about Grace. I wanted her to live with +me because there was more sympathy between us than there ever will be +between my sister Mattie and myself. We have more in common, and think +the same on so many subjects; and I knew how happy I could have made +her." + +"Yes, I see," returned Nan; and she looked up at him in such an +interested way that he found no difficulty in going on: + +"We had planned for years to live together; but when I accepted the +living, and the question was mooted in the family council, my mother +would not hear of it for a moment. She said Grace could not possibly +be spared." + +"Well, I suppose not, after what you have told me. But it must have +been a great disappointment to you both," was Nan's judicious reply. + +"I have never ceased to regret my mother's decision," he returned, +warmly; "and as for Grace, I fear she has taken the disappointment +grievously to heart." + +"Oh, I hope not!" + +"Isabel writes to my sister Mattie that Grace is looking thin and pale +and has lost her appetite, and she thinks the mother is getting uneasy +about her; and I cannot help worrying myself about it, and thinking +how all this might have been averted." + +"I think you are wrong in that," was the unexpected answer. "When one +has acted rightly to the very best of one's power, it is of no use +worrying about consequences." + +"How do you mean?" asked Archie, very much surprised at the decided +tone in which Nan spoke. He had thought her too soft in manners to +possess much energy and determination of character; but he was +mistaken. + +"It would be far worse if your sister had not recognized her duty and +refused to remain at home. One cannot find happiness if one moves out +of one's allotted niche; but of course you know all this better than +I, being a clergyman. And, oh! how beautifully you spoke to us last +Sunday!" finished Nan, remembering all at once that she was usurping +his place and preaching a little sermon of her own. + +"Never mind that," he replied, impatiently: "tell me what you mean. +There is something behind your speech: you think I am wrong in pitying +poor Grace so much?" + +"If you ask me so plainly, I must say yes, though perhaps I am not +competent to judge; but, from what you tell me, I think you ought not +to pity her at all. She is fulfilling her destiny. Is she not doing +the work given her to do? and what can any girl want more? You should +trust your mother, I think, Mr. Drummond; for she would not willingly +overwork her. Mothers are mothers: you need not be afraid," said Nan, +looking up in her clear honest way. + +"Thank you; you have taken a weight off my mind," returned Archie, +more moved by this than he cared to own. That last speech had gone +home: he must trust his mother. In a moment scales seemed to fall from +the young man's eyes as he walked along gravely, and silently by Nan. +"Why, what manner of girls could these be?" he thought; "frolicsome as +kittens, and yet possessing the wisdom of mature womanhood?" And those +few simple words of Nan abided long with him. + +What if he and Grace were making a mistake, and there was no hardship +in her case at all, but only clear duty, and a most high privilege, as +Nan hinted? What if his mother were right, and only they were wrong? + +The idea was salutary, but hardly pleasant; for he had certainly aided +and abetted Grace in her discontent, and had doubtless increased her +repinings at her dull surroundings. Surely Grace's talents had been +given her for a purpose; else why was she so much cleverer than the +others,--so gifted with womanly accomplishments? And that clear head +of hers,--she had a genius for teaching, he had never denied that. Was +his mother, a sensible large-sighted woman in her way, to be secretly +condemned as a tyrant, and wanting in maternal tenderness for Grace, +because she had made use of this gifted daughter for the good of her +other children, and had refused to part with her at Archie's request? + +Archie began to feel uncomfortable, for conscience was waxing warm +within him; and there had been a grieved hurt tone in his mother's +letters of late, as though she had felt herself neglected by him. + +"Mothers are mothers: you need not be afraid," Nan had said, with +simple wholesome faith in the instincts of motherhood; and the words +had come home to him with the strongest power. + +His poor harassed mother,--what a hard life hers had been! Archie +began to feel his heart quite tender towards her; perhaps she was a +little severe and exacting with the girls, but they none of them +understood her in the least, "for her bark was always worse than her +bite," thought Archie; and girls, at least the generality of them, are +sometimes aggravating. + +He thought of the weary times she must have had with his father,--for +Mr. Drummond could make himself disagreeable to his wife when things +went wrong with him, and the sullen fortitude with which he bore his +reversal of fortune gave small opening to her tenderness; the very +way in which he shirked all domestic responsibilities, leaving on her +shoulders the whole weight of the domestic machinery and all the +home-management, had hardened and embittered her. + +A large family and small means, little support from her husband,--who +interfered less and less with domestic matters,--all this had no doubt +fostered the arbitrary will that governed the Drummond household. If +her husband had only kept her in check,--if he had supported her +authority, and not left her to stand alone,--she would have been, not +a better woman, for Archie knew his mother was good, but she would +have been softer and more lovable, and her children would have seen +deeper into her heart. + +Some such thoughts as these passed through Archie's mind as he walked +beside Nan; but he worked them out more carefully when he was alone +that night. Just before they reached the Friary, he had started +another subject; for, turning to Phillis and Dulce, whom he had +hitherto ignored, he asked them whether he might enroll one or all of +them among his Sunday-school teachers. + +Phillis's eyes sparkled at this. + +"Oh, Nan, how delightful! it will remind us of Oldfield." + +"Yes, indeed:" chimed in Dulce, who had left her infant-class with +regret; but, to their surprise, Nan demurred. + +"At Oldfield things were very different," she said, decidedly: "we +played all the week, and it was no hardship to teach the dear children +on Sunday; but now we shall have to work so hard that we shall be glad +of one day's rest." + +"But surely you might spare us one hour or two in the afternoon?" +returned Archie, putting on what Grace called "his clerical face." + +"In the afternoons mother will be glad of our company, and sometimes +we shall indulge in a walk. No, Mr. Drummond, our week-days are too +full of work, and we shall need all the rest we can get on Sunday." +And, with a smile, Nan dismissed the subject. + +Phillis spoke regretfully of it when he had left them. + +"It would have been so nice," she pleaded; but Nan was inexorable. + +"You can go if you like, Phil; but I think mother is entitled to that +one afternoon in the week, and I will not consent to any parish work +on that account; and then I am sure we shall often be so tired." And +Nan's good sense, as usual, carried the day. + +After that they all grouped round the window in the little parlor, and +repeated to their mother every word of their conversation with Mr. +Drummond. + +Mrs. Challoner grew alarmed and tearful in a moment. + +"Oh, my darlings, promise me to be more careful for the future!" she +pleaded. "Of course it was only fun, Phillis and he will not think +anything of it. Still, in a strange place, where no one knows +you----" + +"Dulce and I will never run a race again, I think I can promise you +that," replied Phillis, very grimly, who felt that "Bravo, Atalanta!" +would haunt her in her dreams. + +"And--and I would not walk about with Mr. Drummond, though he is our +clergyman and a very gentlemanly person. People might talk: and in +your position, my poor dears"--Mrs. Challoner hesitated, for she was +very nice in her scruples, and not for worlds would she have hinted to +her daughters that Mr. Drummond was young and unmarried, and a very +handsome man in the bargain: "You see, I cannot always be with you, +and, as you have to work for your living, and cannot be guarded like +other girls, you have all the more need to be circumspect. You don't +think me over strict, do you, darlings?" + +"No, dear mother, you are perfectly right," returned Nan, kissing her. +"I knew how you would feel, and so we came home directly to get rid of +him: it would never do for the vicar of the parish to be seen walking +about with dressmakers." + +"Don't, Nan!" exclaimed Phillis, with a shudder. Nevertheless, as she +turned away she remembered how she had enjoyed that walk down the +Braidwood Road that very morning, when he offered to carry home Mrs. +Trimmings's dress and she would not let him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +MATTIE'S NEW DRESS. + + +The remainder of the week passed harmlessly and without any special +event to mark it, and, thanks to Nan's skilful management and +Phillis's pride, there were no further _contretemps_ to shock Mrs. +Challoner's sense of propriety. The work progressed with astonishing +rapidity: in the mornings the young dressmakers were sufficiently +brisk and full of zeal, and in the afternoons, when their energies +flagged and their fingers grew weary, Dulce would sing over her task, +or Mrs. Challoner would read to them for the hour together; but, +notwithstanding the interest of the tale, there was always great +alacrity manifested when the tea-bell gave them the excuse for putting +away their work. + +On one or two evenings they gardened, and Mrs. Challoner sat under the +mulberry-tree and watched them; on another occasion they took a long +country walk, and lost themselves, and came back merry and tired, and +laden with primrose-roots and ferns: they had met no one, except a +stray laborer,--had seen glow-worms, picked wild flowers, and declared +themselves mightily refreshed. One evening Phillis, who was not to be +repressed, contrived a new amusement. + +"Life is either a mill-pond or a whirlpool," she said, rather +sententiously: "we have been stagnant for three days, and I begin to +feel flat. Races are tabooed: besides, we cannot always leave mother +alone. I propose we go out in the garden and have a game of battledore +and shuttlecock;" for this had been a winter pastime with them at the +cottage. + +Nan, who was always rather sober-minded now, demurred to this. She +would have preferred gardening a little, or sitting quietly with her +mother under the mulberry-tree; but Phillis, who was in a wild mood, +overruled all her objections, and by and by the battle began, and the +shuttlecocks flew through the air. + +The week's work was finished, and the three dresses lay in their +wrappers, waiting for Dorothy to convey them to their several owners. +Nan who was really an _artiste_ at heart, had called her mother +proudly into the room to admire the result of their labors. Mrs. +Challoner was far too accustomed to her daughter's skilfulness to +testify any surprise, but she at once pronounced Miss Drummond's dress +the _chef-d'oeuvre_. Nan's taste was faultless; and the trimmings she +had selected harmonized so well with the soft tints of the silk. + +"They are all very nice; and Mrs. Trimmings will be charmed with her +blue silk," observed Mrs. Challoner, trying to throw a little interest +into her voice, and to suppress a sigh; and then she helped Nan to +adjust the wrappers, and to pin the neatly-written bills inside each. + +"I am sure that is business-like," said Nan, with a satisfied nod, for +she never could do anything by halves; and she was so interested in +her work that she would have been heart-broken if she thought one of +the dresses would be a misfit; and then it was that Phillis, who had +been watching her very closely, brightened up and proposed a game. + +It was a very pretty sight, the mother thought, as she followed her +girls' movements; the young figures swayed so gracefully as they +skimmed hither and thither over the lawn with light butterfly +movements, the three eager faces upturned in the evening light, their +heads held well back. + +"Two hundred, two hundred and one, two hundred and two--don't let it +drop, Dulce!" panted Phillis, breathlessly. + +"Oh, my darlings, don't tire yourselves!" exclaimed Mrs. Challoner, as +her eyes followed the white flutter of the shuttlecocks. + +This was the picture that Mr. Drummond surveyed. Dorothy, who was just +starting on her round, and was in no mood for her errand, had admitted +him somewhat churlishly. + +"Yes, the mistress and the young ladies were in; and would he step +into the parlor, as her hands were full?" + +"Oh, yes, I know the way," Mr. Drummond had returned, quite undaunted +by the old woman's sour looks. + +But the parlor was empty, save for Laddie, who had been shut up there +not to spoil sport, and who was whining most piteously to be let out. +He saluted Archie with a joyous bark, and commenced licking his boots +and wagging his tail with mute petition to be released from this +durance vile. + +Archie patted and fondled him, for he was good to all dumb creatures. + +"Poor little fellow! I wonder why they have shut you up here?" he +said; and then he took him up in his arms, and stepped to the window +to reconnoitre. + +And then he stood and looked, perfectly fascinated by the novel sight. +His sisters played battledore and shuttlecock in the school-room +sometimes, or out in the passages on a winter's afternoon. He had once +caught Susie and Clara at it, and had laughed at them in no measured +terms for indulging in such a babyish game. "I should have thought +Dottie might have played at that," he had said, rather contemptuously. +"I suppose you indulge in skipping-ropes sometimes." And the poor +girls had paused in their game, feeling ashamed of themselves. Archie +would think them such hoydens. + +He remembered his reprimand with a strange feeling of compunction, as +he stood by the window trying vainly to elude Laddie's caresses. What +a shame of him to have spoiled those poor children's game with his +sneer, when they had so little fun in their lives! and yet, as he +recalled Clara's clumsy gestures and Susie's short-sighted attempts, +he was obliged to confess that battledore and shuttlecock wore a +different aspect now. Could anything surpass Phillis's swift-handed +movements, brisk, graceful, alert, or Nan's attitude, as she sustained +the duel? Dulce, who seemed dodging in between them in a most +eccentric way, had her hair loose as usual, curling in brown lengths +about her shoulders. She held it with one hand, as she poised her +battledore with the other. This time Archie thought of Nausicaa and +her maidens tossing the ball beside the river, after washing the +wedding-garments. Was it in this way the young dressmakers disported +themselves during the evenings? + +It was Phillis who first discovered the intruder. The shuttlecocks had +become entangled, and fallen to the ground. As she stooped to pick +them up, her quick eyes detected a coat-sleeve at the window; and an +indefinable instinct, for she could not see his face, made her call +out,-- + +"Mother, Mr. Drummond is in the parlor. Do go to him, while Dulce puts +up her hair." And then she said, severely, "I always tell you not to +wear your hair like that, Dulce. Look at Nan and me; we are quite +unruffled; but yours is always coming down. If you have pretty hair, +you need not call people's attention to it in this way." At which +speech Dulce tossed her head and ran away, too much offended to +answer. + +When Archie saw Mrs. Challoner crossing the lawn with the gait of a +queen, he knew he was discovered: so he opened the window, and stepped +out in the coolest possible way. + +"I seem always spoiling sport," he said, with a mischievous glance at +Phillis, which she received with outward coolness and an inward +twinge. "Bravo, Atalanta!" sounded in her ears again. "Your maid +invited me in; but I did not care to disturb you." + +"I am glad you did not open the window before," returned Nan, speaking +with that directness and fine simplicity that always put things to +rights at once: "it would have startled us before we got to the five +hundred, and then Phillis would have been disappointed. Mother, shall +we bring out some more chairs instead of going into the parlor? It is +so much pleasanter out here." And as Mrs. Challoner assented, they +were soon comfortably established on the tiny lawn; and Archie, very +much at his ease, and feeling himself unaccountably happy, proceeded +to deliver some trifling message from his sister, that was his +ostensible reason for his intrusion. + +"Why does she not deliver her messages herself?" thought Phillis; but +she kept this remark to herself. Only, that evening she watched the +young clergyman a little closely, as though he puzzled her. Phillis +was the man of the family; and it was she who always stood upon guard +if Nan or Dulce needed a sentinel. She was beginning to think Mr. +Drummond came very often to see them, considering their short +acquaintance. If it were Miss Mattie, now, who ran in and out with +little offerings of flowers and fruit in a nice neighborly fashion! +But for this very dignified young man to burden himself with these +slight feminine messages,--a question about new-laid eggs, which even +Nan had forgotten. + +Phillis was quite glad when her mother said,-- + +"You ought to have brought your sister, Mr. Drummond: she must be so +dull all alone,"--forgetting all about the dressmaking, poor soul! but +Phillis remembered it a moment afterwards, with a rush of bitter +feeling. + +Perhaps, after all, that was why he came in so often, because he was +so sorry for them, and wished to help them, as he said. A clergyman +has more privileges than other men: perhaps she was wrong to suspect +him. He might not wish his sister to visit them, except in a purely +business-like way; but with him it was different. Most likely he had +tea with Mrs. Trimmings sometimes, just to show he was not proud; he +might even sit and chat with Mrs. Squails, and not feel compromised in +the least. Oh, yes! how stupid she was to think he admired Nan, +because she had intercepted a certain glance! That was her mania, +thinking every one must be after Nan. Things were different now. + +Of course he would be their only link with civilized society,--the +only cultivated mind with which they could hold converse; and here +Phillis ceased to curl her lip, and her gray eyes took a sombre +shade, and she sighed so audibly that Archie broke off an interesting +discussion on last Commemoration, and looked at her in unfeigned +surprise. + +"Oh, yes! we were there," returned Nan, innocently, who loved to talk +of those dear old times; "and we were at the _fête_ at Oriel, and at +the concert at Magdalen also. Ah! do you remember, Dulce?" And then +she faltered a little, and flushed,--not because Mr. Drummond was +looking at her so intently but at certain thoughts that began to +intrude themselves, which entwined themselves with the moonlighted +cloisters. + +"I was to have been there too, only at the last moment I was +prevented," replied Archie; but his tone was inexplicable to the girl, +it was at once so regretful and awe-struck. Good heavens! if he had +met them, and been introduced to them in proper form! They had +mentioned a Mr. Hamilton: well, Hamilton had been a pupil of his; he +had coached him during a term. "You know Hamilton?" he had said, +staring at her; and then he wondered what Hamilton would say if he +came down to stay with him next vacation. + +These reflections made him rather absent; and even when he took his +leave, which was not until the falling dews and the glimmer of a late +dusk drove Mrs. Challoner into the house, these thoughts still pursued +him. Nothing else seemed to have taken so strong a hold on him as +this. + +"Good heavens!" he kept repeating to himself, "to think that the +merest chance--just the incidental business of a friend--prevented me +from occupying my old rooms during Commemoration! to think I might +have met them in company with Hamilton and the other fellows!" + +The sudden sense of disappointment, of something lost and irremediable +in his life, of wasted opportunities, of denied pleasure, came over +the young man's mind. He could not have danced with Nan at the +University ball, it is true: clergymen, according to his creed, must +not dance. But there was the _fête_ at Oriel, and the Magdalen +concert, and the Long Walk in the Christchurch meadows, and doubtless +other opportunities. + +He never asked himself if these girls would have interested him so +much if he had met them first in ordinary society: from the very first +moment they had attracted him strangely. Had he only known them a +fortnight? Good heavens! it seemed months, years, a lifetime! These +revolutions of mind are not to be measured by time. It had come to +this that the late fellow of Oriel, so aristocratic in his tastes, so +temperate in his likings, had entered certain devious paths, where +hidden pitfalls and thorny enclosures warn the unwary traveller of +unknown dangers, and in which he was walking, not blindfold, but by +strongest will and intent, led by impulse like a mere boy, and not +daring to raise his eyes to the future. "And what Grace would have +said!" And for the first time in his life Archie felt that in this +case he could not ask Grace's advice. He was loath to turn in at his +own gate; but Mattie was standing there watching for him. She ran out +into the road to meet him, and then he could see there were letters in +her hand. + +"Oh, dear, Archie, I thought you were never coming home!" she +exclaimed. "And I have such news to tell you! There is a letter for +you from Grace, and mother has written to me; and there is a note from +Isabel inside, and she is engaged--really and truly engaged--to Mr. +Ellis Burton; and the wedding is to be in six weeks, and you and I are +to go down to it, and--oh, dear----" Here Mattie broke down, and began +to sob with excitement and pleasure and the longing for sympathy. + +"Well, well, there is nothing to cry about!" returned Archie, roughly; +and then his manner changed and softened in spite of himself; for +after all, Isabel was his sister, and this was the first wedding in +the family, and he could not hear such a piece of news unmoved. "Let +me hear all about it," he said, by and by; and then he took poor +hysterical little Mattie into the house, and gave her some wine, and +was very kind to her, and listened to his mother's letter and Isabel's +gushing effusion without a single sneer. "Poor little Belle; she does +seem very happy!" he said, quite affectionately, as he turned up the +lamp still more, and began Grace's letter. + +Mattie sat and gazed at him in a sort of ecstasy; but she did not +venture to ask him to read it to her. How nice he was to-night, and +how handsome he looked! there never was such a brother as Archie. But +suddenly, as though he was conscious of being watched, he sat down by +the table, and shaded his face with his hand. + +No, Mattie, was right in her surmise: he would not have cared to show +that letter to any one. + +The first sheet was all about Isabel. "Dear little Isabel has just +left me," wrote Grace. "The child looks so pretty in her new +happiness, you would hardly know her. She has just been showing me the +magnificent hoop of diamonds Ellis has given her. She says we must all +call him Ellis now. 'Chacun a son gout:' Poor Ellis is not very +brilliant, certainly: I remember we used to call him clownish and +uncultivated. But he has a good heart, and he is really very fond of +Isabel; and as she is satisfied, I suppose we need not doubt the +wisdom of her choice. Mother is radiant, and makes so much of the +little bride-elect that she declares her head is quite turned. The +house is quite topsy-turvy with the excitement of this first wedding +in the family. Isabel is very young to be married, and I tell mother +six weeks is far too short for an engagement; but it seems Ellis will +not listen to reason, and he has talked mother over. Perhaps I am +rather fastidious, but, if I were Isabel, I should hate to receive my +trousseau from my lover; and yet Ellis wants his mother to get +everything for his _fiancee_. I believe there is to be a sort of +compromise, and Mrs. Burton is to select heaps of pretty +things,--dresses and mantles and Paris bonnets. They are rolling in +riches. Ellis has taken a large house in Sloane Square, and his father +has bought him a landau and a splendid pair of horses; +everything--furniture, plate and ornaments--is to be as massive and +expensive as possible. If I were Isabel I should feel smothered by all +these grand things but the little lady takes it all quite coolly. + +"When I get a moment to myself I sit down and say, 'In six weeks I +shall see Archie!' Oh, my darling! this is almost too good news to be +true! Only six weeks, and then I shall really see you! Now do you +know, I am longing for a good clearing-up talk? for your letters +lately have not satisfied me at all. Perhaps I am growing fanciful, +but I cannot help feeling as though something has come between us. The +current of sympathy seems turned aside, somehow. No, do not laugh, or +put me off with a jest, for I am really in earnest; and but for fear +of your scolding me I should own to being just a little unhappy. +Forgive me, Archie, if I vex you; but there is something, I am +thoroughly convinced of that. You have some new interest or worry that +you are keeping from me. Is this quite in accordance with our old +compact, dear? Who are these Challoners Mattie mentions in her +letters? She told me a strange rigmarole about them the other +day,--that they were young ladies who had turned dressmakers. What an +eccentric idea! They must be very odd young ladies, I should think, to +emancipate themselves so completely from all conventionalities. I wish +they had not established themselves at Hadleigh and so near the +vicarage. Mattie says you are so kind to them. Oh, Archie! dear +brother! do be careful! I do not half like the idea of these girls; +they sound rash and designing, and you are so chivalrous in your +notions. Why not let Mattie be kind to them instead of you? In a +parish like Hadleigh you need to be careful. Mother is calling me, so +I will just close this with my fondest love. + + "GRACE." + +Archie threw down the letter with a frown. For the first time he was +annoyed with Grace. + +Nan and her sisters rash and designing! "Odd young ladies"! She was +sorry they had established themselves at Hadleigh! It was really too +bad of Grace to condemn them in this fashion. But of course it must be +Mattie's fault: she had written a pack of nonsense, exaggerating +things as much as possible. + +Poor Mattie would have had to bear the brunt of his wrath as usual, +only, as he turned to her with the frown black on his forehead, his +eyes caught sight of her dress. Hitherto the room had been very dimly +lighted; but now, as he looked at her in the soft lamplight, his anger +vanished in amazement. + +"Why, Mattie, what have you done to yourself? We are not expecting +company this evening: it is nearly ten o'clock." + +Mattie blushed and laughed, and then she actually bridled with +pleasure: + +"Oh, no, Archie; of course not. I only put on my new dress just to see +how it would fit; and then I thought you might like to see it. It is +the one uncle gave me; and is it not beautifully made? I am sure Mrs. +Cheyne's dresses never fit better. You and Grace may say what you like +about the Challoners, but if they can make dresses like this, it would +be tempting Providence not to use such a talent, and just because they +were too fine ladies to work." + +"I do believe you are right, Mattie," returned Archie, in a low voice. +"Turn round and let me look at you, girl. Do you mean--that she--that +they made that?" + +Mattie nodded as she slowly pivoted on one foot, and then revolved +like the figures one used to see on old-fashioned barrel-organs; then, +as she stood still, she panted out the words,-- + +"Is it not just lovely, Archie?" for in all the thirty years of her +unassuming life Mattie had never had such a dress, so no wonder her +head was a little turned. + +"Yes, indeed; I like it excessively," was Archie's comment; and then +he added, with the delicious frankness common to brothers, "It makes +you look quite a different person, Mattie: you are almost nice-looking +to-night." + +"Oh, thank you, dear!" cried poor Mattie, quite moved by this +compliment; for if Archie thought her almost nice-looking he must be +pleased with her. Indeed, she even ventured to raise herself on tiptoe +and kiss him in gratitude, which was taking a great liberty; only +Archie bore it for once. + +"She really looked very well, poor little woman!" thought Archie, when +Mattie had at last exhausted her raptures and bidden him good-night. +"She would not be half so bad-looking if some one would take her in +hand and dress her properly. The women must be right, after all, and +there is a power in dress. Those girls do nothing by halves," he +continued, walking up and down the room. "I would not have believed +they had made it, if Mattie had not told me. 'Rash and designing,' +indeed! just because they are not like other girls,--because they are +more natural, more industrious, more courageous, more religious in +fact." And then the young clergyman softly quoted to himself the words +of the wise old king, words that Nan and her sisters had ever loved +and sought to practise: + +"Whatsoever thy hands findeth to do, do it with thy might." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +"OH, YOU ARE PROUD!" + + +On the following Monday morning, Nan said in rather a curious voice to +Phillis,-- + +"If no customers call to-day, our work-room will be empty. I wonder +what we shall do with ourselves?" + +To which Phillis replied, without a moment's hesitation,-- + +"We will go down and bathe, and Dulce and I will have a +swimming-match; and after that we will sit on the beach and quiz the +people. Most likely there will be a troupe of colored minstrels on the +Parade, and that will be fun." + +"Oh, I hope no one will come!" observed Dulce, overjoyed at the idea +of a holiday; but, seeing Nan's face was full of rebuke at this +outburst of frivolity, she said no more. + +It was decided at last that they should wait for an hour to see if any +orders arrived, and after that they would consider themselves at +liberty to amuse themselves for the remainder of the day. But, alas +for Dulce's hopes! long before the appointed hour had expired, the +gate-bell rang, and Miss Drummond made her appearance with a large +paper parcel, which she deposited on the table with a radiant face. + +The story was soon told. Her silk dress was such a success, and dear +Archie was so charmed with it--here Mattie, with a blush, deposited a +neatly-sealed little packet in Nan's hand--that he had actually +proposed that she should have another gown made after the same pattern +for every-day wear. And he had taken her himself directly after +breakfast down to Mordant's, and had chosen her this dress. He had +never done such a thing before, even for Grace: so no wonder Mattie +was in the seventh heaven of delight. + +"It is very pretty," observed Nan, critically: "your brother has good +taste." Which speech was of course retailed to Archie. + +Mattie had only just left the cottage, when another customer appeared +in the person of Miss Middleton. + +Nan, who had just begun her cutting-out, met her with a pleased glance +of recognition, and then, remembering her errand, bowed rather +gravely. But Miss Middleton, after a moment's hesitation, held out her +hand. + +She had not been able to make up her mind about these girls. Her +father's shocked sense of decorum, and her own old-fashioned +gentlewoman's idea, had raised certain difficulties in her mind, which +she had found it hard to overcome. "Recollect, Elizabeth, I will not +have those girls brought here," the colonel had said to her that very +morning. "They may be all very well in their way, but I have changed +my opinion of them. There's poor Drummond: now mark my words, there +will be trouble by and by in that quarter." For Colonel Middleton had +groaned in spirit ever since the morning he had seen the young vicar +walking with Phillis down the Braidwood Road, when she was carrying +Mrs. Trimmings's dress. Elizabeth answered this gentle protest by one +of her gentle smiles. "Very well, dear father: I will ask no one to +Brooklyn against your wish, you may be sure of that; but I suppose +they may make my new dress? Mattie's has been such a success; they +certainly understand their business." + +"You have a right to select your own dressmaker, Elizabeth," returned +the colonel, with a frigid wave of his hand, for he had not got over +his disappointment about the girls. "I only warn you because you are +very quixotic in your notions; but we must take the world as we find +it, and make the best of it; and there is your brother coming home by +and by. We must be careful, for Hammond's sake." And, as Elizabeth's +good sense owned the justice of her father's remark, there was nothing +more said on the subject. + +But it was not without a feeling of embarrassment that Miss Middleton +entered the cottage: her great heart was yearning over these girls, +whom she was compelled to keep at a distance. True, her father was +right, Hammond was coming home, and a young officer of +seven-and-twenty was not to be trusted where three pretty girls were +concerned: it would never do to invite them to Brooklyn or to make too +much of them. Miss Middleton had ranged herself completely on her +father's side, but at the sight of Nan's sweet face and her grave +little bow she forgot all her prudent resolutions, and her hand was +held out as though to an equal. + +"I have come to ask you if you will be good enough to make me a +dress," she said, with a charming smile. "You have succeeded so well +with Miss Drummond that I cannot help wishing to have one too." And +when she had said this she looked quietly round her, and surveyed the +pretty work-room, and Dulce sitting at the sewing-machine, and lastly +Phillis's bright, intelligent face, as she stood by the table turning +over some fashion-books. + +At that moment Mrs. Challoner entered the room with her little +work-basket, and placed herself at the other window. Miss Middleton +began talking to her at once, while Nan measured and pinned. + +"I don't think I ever spent a pleasanter half-hour," she told her +father afterwards. "Mattie was right in what she said: they have made +the work-room perfectly lovely with pictures and old china: and +nothing could be nicer than their manners,--so simple and unassuming, +yet with a touch of independence too." + +"And the old lady?" inquired the colonel, maliciously, for he had seen +Mrs. Challoner in church, and knew better than to speak of her so +disrespectfully. + +"Old lady, father! why, she is not old at all. She is an exceedingly +pleasing person, only a little stately in her manner; one would not +venture to take a liberty with her. We had such a nice talk while the +eldest daughter was fitting me. Is it not strange, father dear, that +they know the Paines? and Mrs. Sartoris is an old acquaintance of +theirs. I think they were a little sorry when they heard we knew them +too, for the second girl colored up so when I said Adelaide was your +goddaughter." + +"Humph? we will have Adelaide down here, and hear all about them," +responded her father, briskly. + +"Well, I don't know; I am afraid that would be painful to them, under +their changed circumstances. Just as we were talking about Adelaide, +Miss Mewlstone came in; and then they were so busy that I did not like +to stay any longer. Ah, there is Mr. Drummond coming to interrupt us, +as usual." + +And then the colonel retailed all this for Archie's benefit. He had +come in to glean a crumb or two of intelligence, if he could, about +the Challoners' movements, and the colonel's garrulity furnished him +with a rich harvest. + +Phillis had taken Miss Mewlstone in hand at once in the intervals of +business: she had inquired casually after Mrs. Cheyne's injured +ankle. + +"It is going on well: she can stand now," returned Miss Mewlstone. +"The confinement has been very trying for her, poor thing, and she +looks sadly the worse for it. Don't take out those pins, my dear: what +is the good of taking so much pains with a fat old thing like me and +pricking your pretty fingers? Well, she is always asking me if I have +seen any of you when I come home." + +"Mrs. Cheyne asks after us!" exclaimed Phillis, in a tone of +astonishment. + +"Ah, just so. She has not forgotten you. Magdalene never forgets any +one in whom she takes interest; not that she likes many people, poor +dear! but then so few understand her. They will not believe that it is +all on the surface, and that there is a good heart underneath." + +"You call her Magdalene," observed Phillis, rather curiously, looking +up into Miss Mewlstone's placid face. + +"Ah, just so; I forgot. You see, I knew her as a child,--oh, such a +wee toddling mite! younger than dear little Janie. I remember her just +as though it were yesterday; the loveliest little creature,--prettier +even than Janie!" + +"Was Janie the child who died?" + +"Yes, the darling! She was just three years old; a perfect angel of a +child! and Bertie was a year older. Poor Magdalene! it is no wonder +she is as she is,--no husband and children! When she sent for me I +came at once, though I knew how it would be." + +"You knew how it would be?" repeated Phillis, in a questioning voice, +for Miss Mewlstone had come to a full stop here. She looked a little +confused at this repetition of her words. + +"Oh, just so--just so. Thank you, my dear. You have done that +beautifully, I am sure. Never mind what an old woman says. When people +are in trouble like that, they are often ill to live with. Magdalene +has her moods; so have we all, my dear, though you are too young to +know that; but no one understands her better than her old Bathsheba; +that is my name, and a funny old name too, is it not?" continued Miss +Mewlstone, blinking at Phillis with her little blue eyes. "The worst +of having such a name is that no one will use it; even father and +mother called me Barby, as Magdalene does sometimes still." + +Bathsheba Mewlstone! Phillis's lip curled with suppressed amusement. +What a droll old thing she was! and yet she liked her, somehow. + +"If she takes it into her head to come and see you, you will try and +put up with her sharp speeches?" continued Miss Mewlstone, a little +anxiously, as she tied on her bonnet. "Mr. Drummond does not +understand her at all: and I will not deny that she is hard on the +poor young man, and makes fun of him a bit; but, bless you, it is only +her way! She torments herself and other people, just because time will +not pass quickly enough and let her forget. If we had children +ourselves we should understand it better, and how in Ramah there must +be lamentation," finished Miss Mewlstone, with a vague and peculiar +reference to the martyred innocents which was rather inexplicable to +Phillis, as in this case there was certainly no Herod, but an ordinary +visitation of Providence; but then she did not know that Miss +Mewlstone was often a little vague. + +After this hint, Phillis was not greatly surprised when, one morning, +a pair of gray ponies stopped before the Friary, and Mrs. Cheyne's +tall figure came slowly up the flagged path. + +It must be owned that Phillis's first feelings were not wholly +pleasurable. Nan had gone out: an invalid lady staying at Seaview +Cottage had sent for a dressmaker rather hurriedly, and Miss Milner +had of course recommended them. Nan had gone at once, and, as Dulce +looked pale, she had taken her with her for a walk. They might not be +back for another hour; and a _tete-a-tete_ with Mrs. Cheyne after +their last interview was rather formidable. + +Dorothy preceded her with a parcel, which she deposited rather +gingerly on the table. As Mrs. Cheyne entered the room she looked at +Phillis in a cool, off-hand manner. + +"I am come on business," she said with a little nod. "How do you do, +Miss Challoner? You are looking rather pale, I think." And then her +keen glance travelled round the room. + +The girl flushed a little over this abruptness, but she did not lose +her courage. + +"Is this the dress?" she asked, opening the parcel; but her fingers +would tremble a little, in spite of her will. And then, as the rich +folds of the black brocade came into view, she asked, in a +business-like tone, in what style Mrs. Cheyne would wish it made, and +how soon she required it. To all of which Mrs. Cheyne responded in the +same dry, curt manner; and then the usual process of fitting began. + +Never had her task seemed so tedious and distasteful to Phillis. Even +Mrs. Trimmings was preferable to this: she hardly ventured to raise +her eyes, for fear of meeting Mrs. Cheyne's cold, satirical glance; +and yet all the time she knew she was being watched. Mrs. Cheyne's +vigilant silence meant something. + +If only her mother would come in! but she was shelling peas for +Dorothy. To think Nan should have failed her on such an occasion! even +Dulce would have been a comfort, though she was so easily frightened. +She started almost nervously when Mrs. Cheyne at last broke the +silence: + +"Yes, you are decidedly paler,--a little thinner, I think, and that +after only a fortnight's work." + +Phillis looked up a little indignantly at this; but she found Mrs. +Cheyne was regarding her not unkindly. + +"I am well enough," she returned, rather ungraciously; "but we are not +used to so much confinement and the weather is hot. We shall grow +accustomed to it in time." + +"You think restlessness is so easily subdued?" with a sneer. + +"No; but I believe it can be controlled," replied poor Phillis, who +suffered more than any one guessed from this restraint on her sweet +freedom. + +Mrs. Cheyne was right: even in this short time she was certainly paler +and thinner. + +"You mean to persevere, then, in your moral suicide?" + +"We mean to persevere in our duty," corrected Phillis, as she pinned +up a sleeve. + +"Rather a high moral tone for a dressmaker to take: don't you think +so?" returned Mrs. Cheyne, in the voice Archie hated. The woman +certainly had a double nature: there was a twist in her somewhere. + +This was too much for Phillis: she fired up in a moment. + +"Why should not dressmakers take a high moral tone? You make me feel +glad I am one when you talk like that. This is our ambition,--Nan's +and mine, for Dulce is too young to think much about it,--to show by +our example that there is no degradation in work. Oh, it is hard! +First Mr. Drummond comes, and talks to us as though we were doing +wrong; and, then you, to cry down our honest labor, and call it +suicide! Is it suicide to work with these hands, that God has made +clever, for my mother?" cried Phillis; and her great gray eyes filled +up with sudden tears. + +Mrs. Cheyne did not look displeased at the girl's outburst. If she had +led up to this point, she could not have received it more calmly. + +"There, there! you need not excite yourself, child!" she said, more +gently. "I only wanted to know what you would say. So Miss Mewlstone +has been to you, I hear?--and Miss Middleton, too? but that's her +benevolence. Of course Miss Mattie comes out of curiosity. How I do +detest a fussy woman, with a tongue that chatters faster than a +purling brook! What do you say? No harm in her?" for Phillis had +muttered something to this effect. "Oh, that is negative praise! I +like people to have a little harm in them: it is so much more +amusing." + +"I cannot say I am of your opinion," returned Phillis, coldly: she was +rather ashamed of her fit of enthusiasm, and cross in consequence. + +"My dear, I always thought Lucifer must have been rather an +interesting person." Then, as Phillis looked scandalized, and drew +herself up, she said, in a funny voice, "Now, don't tell your mother +what I said, or she will think me an improper character; and I want to +be introduced to her." + +"You want to be introduced to my mother!" Phillis could hardly believe +her ears. Certainly Mrs. Cheyne was a most inexplicable person. + +"Dressmakers don't often have mothers, do they?" returned Mrs. Cheyne, +with a laugh; "at least, they are never on view. I suppose they are in +the back premises doing something?" + +"Shelling peas, for example," replied Phillis, roused to mischief by +this: "that is mother's work this morning. Dorothy is old and +single-handed, and needs all the help we can give her. Oh, yes! I will +take you to her at once." + +"Indeed you must not, if it will inconvenience her!" returned Mrs. +Cheyne, drawing back a little at this. She was full of curiosity to +see the mother of these singular girls, but she did not wish to have +her illusion too roughly dispelled; and the notion of Mrs. Challoner's +homely employment grated a little on the feelings of the fine lady who +had never done anything useful in her life. + +"Oh, nothing puts mother out!" returned Phillis, in an indifferent +tone. The old spirit of fun was waking up in her, and she led the way +promptly to the parlor. + +"Mother, Mrs. Cheyne wishes to see you," she announced, in a most +matter-of-fact voice, as though that lady were a daily visitor. + +Mrs. Challoner looked up in a little surprise. One of Dorothy's rough +aprons was tied over her nice black gown, and the yellow earthenware +bowl was on her lap. Phillis took up some of the green pods, and began +playing with them. + +"Will you excuse my rising?--you see my employment," observed Mrs. +Challoner, with a smile that was almost as charming as Nan's; and she +held out a white soft hand to her visitor. + +The perfect ease of her manner, the absence of all flurry, produced an +instant effect on Mrs. Cheyne. For a moment she stood as though at a +loss to explain her intrusion; but the next minute one of her rare +sunshiny smiles crossed her face: + +"I must seem impertinent; but your daughters have interested me so +much that I was anxious to see their mother. But I ought to apologize +for disturbing you so early." + +"Not at all; all hours are the same to me. We are always glad to see +our friends: are we not, Phillis? My dear, I wish you would carry +these away to Dorothy and ask her to finish them." + +"Oh, no! pray do nothing of the kind," returned Mrs. Cheyne, eagerly. +"You must not punish me in this way. Let me help you. Indeed, I am +sure I can, if I only tried." And, to Phillis's intense amusement, +Mrs. Cheyne drew off her delicate French gloves, and in another moment +both ladies were seated close together, shelling peas into the same +pan, and talking as though they had known each other for years. + +"Oh, it was too delicious!" exclaimed Phillis, when she had retailed +this interview for Nan's and Dulce's benefit. "I knew mother would +behave beautifully. If I had taken the Princess of Wales in to see +her, she would not have had a word of apology for her apron, though it +was a horrid coarse thing of Dorothy's. She would just have smiled at +her, as she did at Mrs. Cheyne. Mother's behavior is always lovely." + +"Darling old mammie!" put in Dulce, rapturously, at this point. + +"I made some excuse and left them together, because I could see Mrs. +Cheyne was dying to get rid of me; and I'm always amiable, and like to +please people. Oh, it was the funniest sight, I assure you!--Mrs. +Cheyne with her long fingers blazing with diamond rings, and the peas +rolling down her silk dress; and mother just going on with her +business in her quiet way. Oh, I had such a laugh when I was back in +the work-room!" + +It cost Phillis some trouble to be properly demure when Mrs. Cheyne +came into the work-room some time afterwards in search of her. Perhaps +her mischievous eyes betrayed her, for Mrs. Cheyne shook her head at +her in pretended rebuke: + +"Ah, I see; you will persist in treating things like a comedy. Well, +that is better than putting on tragedy airs and making yourselves +miserable. Now I have seen your mother, I am not quite so puzzled." + +"Indeed!" and Phillis fixed her eyes innocently on Mrs. Cheyne's +face. + +"No; but I am not going to make you vain by telling you what I think +of her: indiscriminate praise is not wholesome. Now, when are you +coming to see me?--that is the point in question." + +"Dorothy will bring home your dress on Saturday," replied Phillis, a +little dryly. "If it requires alteration, perhaps you will let me +know, and of course I will come up to the White House at any time." + +"But I do not mean to wait for that. You are misunderstanding me +purposely, Miss Challoner. I want you to come and talk to me one +evening,--any evening. No one but Miss Mewlstone will be there." + +"Oh, no!" responded Phillis, suddenly turning very red: + +"I do not think that would do at all, Mrs. Cheyne. I do not mean to be +rude or ungrateful for your kindness, but--but----" Here the girl +stammered and broke down. + +"You wish, then, to confine our intercourse to a purely business +relation?" asked Mrs. Cheyne, and her voice had a tone of the old +bitterness. + +"Would it not be better under the circumstances? Forgive me if I am +too proud, but----" + +"Oh, you are proud, terribly proud!" returned Mrs. Cheyne, taking up +her words before she could complete her sentence. "You owe me a grudge +for what I said that night, and now you are making me pay the penalty. +Well, I am not meek: there is not a human being living to whom I would +sue for friendship. If I were starving for a kind word, I would sooner +die than ask for one. You see, I am proud too, Miss Challoner." + +"Oh, I did not mean to hurt you," returned Phillis, distressed at +this, but determined not to yield an inch or bend to the sudden +caprice of this extraordinary woman, who had made her suffer so once. + +"To be hurt, one must have feelings," returned this singular person. +"Do not be afraid, I shall not attempt to shake your resolution: if +you come to me now it must be of your own free will." + +"And if I come, what then?" asked Phillis, standing very straight and +stiff, for she would not be patronized. + +"If you come you will be welcome," returned Mrs. Cheyne; and then, +with a grave inclination of the head, she swept out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A DARK HOUR. + + +"I should go one evening, if I were you: it is easy to see that Mrs. +Cheyne has taken a fancy to you," said Nan, who was much interested by +this recital; but to this Phillis replied, with a very decided shake +of the head,-- + +"I shall do nothing of the kind; I was not made to be a fine lady's +_protegee_. If she patronized me, I should grow savage and show my +teeth; and, as I have no desire to break the peace, we had better +remain strangers. Dear Magdalene certainly has a temper!" finished +Phillis, with a wicked little sneer. + +Nan tried to combat this resolution, and used a great many arguments: +she was anxious that Phillis should avail herself of this sudden fancy +on the part of Mrs. Cheyne to lift herself and perhaps all of them +into society with their equals. Nan's good sense told her that though +at present the novelty and excitement of their position prevented them +from realizing the full extent of their isolation, in time it must +weigh on them very heavily, and especially on Phillis, who was bright +and clever and liked society; but all her words were powerless against +Phillis's stubbornness: to the White House she could not and would not +go. + +But one evening she changed her mind very suddenly, when a note from +Miss Mewlstone reached her. A gardener's boy brought it: "it was very +particular, and was to be delivered immediate to the young lady," he +observed, holding the missive between a very grimy finger and thumb. + +"MY DEAR YOUNG LADY,-- + +"Pride is all very well, but charity is often best in the long run, +and a little kindness to a suffering human being is never out of place +in a young creature like you. + +"Poor Magdalene has been very sadly for days, and I have got it into +my stupid old head--that is always fancying things--that she has been +watching for folks who have been too proud to come, though she would +die sooner than tell me so; but that is her way, poor dear! + +"It is ill to wake at nights with nothing but sad thoughts for +company, and it is ill wearing out the long days with only a silly old +body to cheer one up; and when there is nothing fresh to say, and +nothing to expect, and not a footstep or a voice to break the silence, +then it seems to me that a young voice--that is, a kind voice--would +be welcome. Take this hint, my dear, and keep my counsel, for I am +only a silly old woman, as she often says. + + "Yours, + Bathsheba Mewlstone." + +"Oh, I must go now!" observed Phillis, in an embarrassed voice, as she +laid this singular note before Nan. + +"Yes, dear; and you had better put on your hat at once, and Dulce and +I will walk with you as far as the gate. It is sad for you to miss the +scramble on the shore; but, when other people really want us, I feel +as though it were a direct call," finished Nan, solemnly. + +"I am afraid there is a storm coming up," replied Phillis, who had +been oppressed all day by the heavy thundery atmosphere: she had +looked so heated and weary that Nan had proposed a walk by the shore. +Work was pouring upon them from all sides: the townspeople, envious of +Mrs. Trimmings's stylish new dress, were besieging the Friary with +orders, and the young dressmakers would have been literally +overwhelmed with their labors, only that Nan, with admirable +foresight, insisted on taking in no more work than they felt +themselves able to complete. + +"No," she would say to some disappointed customer, "our hands are full +just now, and we cannot undertake any more orders at present: we will +not promise more than we can perform. Come to me again in a +fortnight's time, and we will willingly make your dress, but now it is +impossible." And in most cases the dress was brought punctually at the +time appointed. + +Phillis used to grumble a little at this. + +"You ought not to refuse orders, Nan," she said, rather fretfully, +once. "Any other dressmaker would sit up half the night rather than +disappoint a customer." + +"My dear," Nan returned, in her elder-sisterly voice, which had always +a great effect on Phillis, "I wonder what use Dulce and you would be +if you sat up sewing half the night, and drinking strong tea to keep +yourselves awake? No, there shall be no burning the candles at both +ends in this fashion; please God we will keep our health, and our +customers; and no one in their senses could call us idle. Why, we are +quite the fashion! Mrs. Squails told me yesterday that every one in +Hadleigh was wild to have a gown made by the 'lady dressmakers.'" + +"Oh, I daresay!" replied Phillis, crossly, for the poor thing was so +hot and tired that she could have cried from pure weariness and +vexation of spirit: "but we shall not be the fashion long when the +novelty wears off; people will call us independent, and get tired of +us; and no wonder, if they are to wait for their dresses in this +way." + +Nan's only answer was to look at Phillis's pale face in a pitying way; +and then she took her hand, and led her to the corner, where her +mother's Bible always lay, and then with ready fingers turned to the +well known-passage, "Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor +unto the evening." + +"Well, Nan, what then?" + +"Evening is for rest,--for refreshment of mind and body: I will not +have it turned into a time of toil. I know you, Phillis; you would +work till your poor fingers got thin, and your spirits were all +flattened out, and every nerve was jarring and set on edge; and you +would call that duty! No, darling,--never! Dulce shall keep her roses, +and we will have battledore and shuttlecock every evening; but, if I +have to keep the key of the work-room in my pocket, you and Dulce +shall never enter it after tea." And Nan's good sense, as usual, +carried the day. + +Phillis would much rather have joined her sisters in their walk than +have turned in at the gloomy lodge-gates. + + "'All ye who enter here, leave hope behind,'" + +she quoted, softly, as she waved her hand to Nan. + +The servant who admitted her looked a little dubious over his errand. + +"His mistress was in her room," he believed, "and was far too unwell +to see visitors. He would tell Miss Mewlstone, if the young lady liked +to wait; but he was sure it was no use,"--all very civilly said. And +as Phillis persisted in her intention of seeing Mrs. Cheyne, if +possible, he ushered her into the library, a gloomy-looking room, with +closed blinds, one of which he drew up, and then went in search of +Miss Mewlstone. + +Phillis did not find her surroundings particularly cheerful. The air +was darkened by the approaching storm. A sullen cloud hung over the +sky. The library windows opened upon the shrubberies. Here the trees +were planted so thickly that their shade obscured much of the light. +The room was so dark that she could only dimly discern the handsome +bindings of the books in the carved oak book-cases. The whole of the +furniture seemed sombre and massive. The chair that the footman had +placed for her was covered with violet velvet, and was in harmony with +the rest of the furniture. + +Dreary as the room looked, it was nothing to the shrubbery walk. A +narrow winding path seemed to vanish into utter darkness. In some +places the trees met overhead, so closely had they grown. + +"If I were the mistress of the White House," Phillis said to herself, +"I would cut every one of those trees down. They must make this part +of the house quite unhealthy. It really looks like a 'ghost walk' that +one reads about." But scarcely had these thoughts passed through her +mind when she uttered a faint cry of alarm. The dark room, the +impending storm, and her own overwrought feelings were making her +nervous; but actually, through the gloom, she could see a figure in +white approaching. + +In another moment she would have sought refuge in the hall, but +contempt at her own cowardice kept her rooted to the spot. + +"She was an utter goose to be so startled! It was--yes, of course it +was Mrs. Cheyne. She could see her more plainly now. She would step +through the window and meet her." + +Phillis's feelings of uneasiness had not quite vanished. The obscurity +was confusing, and invested everything with an unnatural effect. Even +Mrs. Cheyne's figure, coming out from the dark background, seemed +strange and unfamiliar. Phillis had always before seen her in black; +but now she wore a white gown, fashioned loosely, like a wrapper, and +her hair, which at other times had been most carefully arranged, was +now strained tightly and unbecomingly from her face, which looked +pallid and drawn. She started violently when she saw Phillis coming +towards her, and seemed inclined to draw back and retrace her steps. +It evidently cost her a strong effort to recover herself. She seemed +to conquer her reluctance with difficulty. + +"So you have come at last, Miss Challoner," she said, fixing her eyes, +which looked unnaturally bright, on Phillis. Her voice was cold, +almost harsh, and her countenance expressed no pleasure. The hand she +held out was so limp and cold that Phillis relinquished it hastily. + +"You said that I should be welcome," she faltered, and trying not to +appear alarmed. She was too young and healthy to understand the +meaning of the word hysteria, or to guess at the existence of nervous +maladies that make some people's lives a long torment to them. +Nevertheless, Mrs. Cheyne's singular aspect filled her with vague +fear. It did not enter into her mind to connect the coming storm with +Mrs. Cheyne's condition, until she hinted at it herself. + +"Oh, yes, you are welcome," she responded, wearily. "I have looked for +you evening after evening, but you chose to come with the storm. It is +a pity, perhaps; but then you did not know!" + +"What would you have me know?" asked Phillis, timidly. + +Mrs. Cheyne shrugged her shoulders a little flightily. + +"Oh, you are young!" she returned; "you do not understand what nerves +mean; you sleep sweetly of a night, and have no bad dreams: it does +not matter to you happy people if the air is full of sunshine or +surcharged with electricity. For me, when the sun ceases to shine I am +in despair. Fogs find me brooding. An impending storm suffocates me, +and yet tears me to pieces with restlessness: it drives me hither and +thither like a fallen leaf. I tire myself that I may sleep, and yet I +stare open-eyed for hours together into the darkness. I wonder +sometimes I do not go mad. But there! let us walk--let us walk." And +she made a movement to retrace her steps; but Phillis, with a courage +for which she commended herself afterwards, pulled her back by her +hanging sleeves. + +"Oh, not there! it is not good for any one who is sad to walk in that +dark place. No wonder your thoughts are sombre. Look! the heavy +rain-drops are pattering among the leaves. I do not care to get wet: +let us go back to the house." + +"Pshaw! what does it matter getting wet?" she returned, with a little +scorn; but nevertheless she suffered Phillis to take her arm and draw +her gently towards the house. Only as they came near the library +window, she pointed to it indignantly. "Who has dared to enter that +room, or open the window! Have I not forbidden over and over again +that that room should be used? Do you think," she continued, in the +same excited way, "that I would enter that room to-night of all +nights! Why, I should hear his angry voice pealing in every corner! +It was a good room for echoes; and he could speak loudly if he chose. +Come away! there is a door I always use that leads to my private +apartments. I am no recluse; but in these moods I do not care to show +myself to people. If you are not afraid, you may come with me, unless +you prefer Miss Mewlstone's company." + +"I would rather go with you," returned Phillis, gently. She could not +in truth say she was not afraid; but all the same she must try and +soothe the poor creature who was evidently enduring such torments of +mind: so she followed in silence up the broad oak staircase. + +A green-baize door admitted them into a long and somewhat narrow +corridor, lighted up by a row of high narrow windows set prettily with +flower-boxes. Here there were several doors. Mrs. Cheyne paused before +one a moment. + +"Look here! you shall see the mysteries of the west wing. This is my +world; downstairs I am a different creature--taciturn, harsh, and +prone to sarcasm. Ask Mr. Drummond what he thinks of me; but I never +could endure a good young man--especially that delicious compound of +the worldling and the saint--like the Reverend Archibald. See here, my +dear: here I am never captious or say naughty things!" + +She threw open the door, and softly beckoned to Phillis to enter. It +was a large empty room,--evidently a nursery. Some canaries were +twittering faintly in a gilded cage. There were flowers in the two +windows, and in the vases on the table: evidently some loving hands +had arranged them that very morning. A large rocking-horse occupied +the centre of the floor: a doll lay with its face downwards on the +crimson carpet; a pile of wooden soldiers strutted on their zigzag +platform,--one or two had fallen off; a torn picture-book had been +flung beside them. + +"That was my Janie's picture-book," said Mrs. Cheyne, mournfully: "she +was teaching her doll out of it just before she was taken ill. Nothing +was touched; by a sort of inspiration,--a foreboding,--I do not know +what,--I bade nurse leave the toys as they were. 'It is only an +interrupted game: let the darlings find their toys as they put them,' +I said to her that morning. Look at the soldiers, Bertie was always +for soldiers,--bless him!" + +Her manner had grown calmer; and she spoke with such touching +tenderness that tears came to Phillis's eyes. But Mrs. Cheyne never +once looked at the girl; she lingered by the table a moment, adjusting +a leaf here and a bud there in the bouquets, and then she opened an +inner door leading to the night-nursery. Here the associations were +still more harrowing. The cots stood side by side under a muslin +canopy, with an alabaster angel between them; the little night-dresses +lay folded on the pillows; on each quilt were the scarlet +dressing-gown and the pair of tiny slippers; the clothes were piled +neatly on two chairs,--a boy's velvet tunic on one, a girl's white +frock, a little limp and discolored, hung over the rails of the +other. + +"Everything just the same," murmured the poor mother. "Look here, my +dear,"--with a faint smile--"these are Bertie's slippers: there is the +hole he kicked in them when he was in his tempers, for my boy had the +Cheyne temper. He was Herbert's image,--his very image." She sighed, +paused, and went on: "Every night I come and sit beside their beds, +and then the darlings come to me. I can see their faces--oh, so +plainly!--and hear their voices. 'Good-night, dear mamma!' they seem +to say to me, only Bertie's voice is always the louder." + +Her manner was becoming a little excited again; only Phillis took her +hand and pressed it gently, and the touch seemed to soothe her like +magic. + +"I am so glad you come here every night," she said, in her sweet, +serious voice, from which every trace of fear had gone. "I think that +a beautiful idea, to come and say your prayers beside one of these +little beds." + +"To say my prayers!--I pray beside my darlings' beds!" exclaimed Mrs. +Cheyne, in a startled voice. "Oh no! I never do that. God would not +hear such prayers as mine,--never--never!" + +"Dear Mrs. Cheyne, why not?" She moved restlessly away at the +question, and tried to disengage herself from Phillis's firm grasp. +"The Divine Father hears all prayers," whispered the girl. + +"All?--but not mine,--not mine, or I should not be sitting here alone. +Do you know my husband left me in anger,--that his last words to me +were the bitterest he ever spoke? 'Good-by, Magdalene: you have made +my life so wretched that I do not care if I never live to set foot in +this house again!' And that to me,--his wedded wife, and the mother of +his children,--who loved him so. Oh, Herbert! Herbert!" and, covering +her face, the unhappy woman suddenly burst into a passion of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER. + + +Phillis kept a sad silence: not for worlds would she have checked the +flow of tears that must have been so healing to the tortured brain. +Besides, what was there that she, so young and inexperienced, could +say in the presence of a grief so terrible, so overpowering? The whole +thing was inexplicable to Phillis. Why were the outworks of +conventionality so suddenly thrown down? Why was she, a stranger, +permitted to be a witness of such a revelation? As she sat there +speechless and sympathizing, a faint sound reached her ear,--the +rustle of a dress in the adjoining room,--footsteps that approached +warily, and then paused; a moment afterwards the door closed softly +behind them. Phillis looked round quickly, but could see nothing; and +the same instant a peal of thunder rolled over their heads. + +Mrs. Cheyne started up with an hysterical scream, and caught hold of +Phillis. "Come," she said, almost wildly, "we will not stay here. The +children will not come to-night, for who could hear their voices in +such a storm? My little angels!--but they shall not see me like this. +Come, come!" And, taking the girl by the arm, she almost dragged her +from the room, and led the way with rapid and disordered footsteps to +a large luxurious chamber, furnished evidently as a dressing-room, and +only divided from the sleeping-room by a curtained archway. + +As Mrs. Cheyne threw herself down in an arm-chair and hid her face in +her hands, the curtain was drawn back, and Miss Mewlstone came in with +an anxious, almost frightened expression on her good-natured +countenance. She hurried up to Mrs. Cheyne and took her in her arms as +though she were a child. + +"Now, Magdalene, now, my dear," she said, coaxingly, "you will try to +be good and command yourself before this young lady. Look at her: she +is not a bit afraid of the storm:--are you, Miss Challoner? No, just +so; you are far too sensible." + +"Oh, that is what you always tell me," returned Mrs. Cheyne, wrenching +herself free with some violence. "Be sensible,--be good,--when I am +nearly mad with the oppression and suffocation, here, and here," +pointing to her head and breast. "Commonplaces, commonplaces; as well +stop a deluge with a teacup. Oh, you are an old fool, Barby: you will +never learn wisdom." + +"My poor lamb! Barby never minds one word you say when you are like +this." + +"Oh, I will beg your pardon to-morrow, or when the thunder stops. +Hark! there it is again," cowering down in her chair. "Can't you pray +for it to cease, Barby? Oh, it is too horrible! Don't you recollect +the night he rode away,--right into the storm, into the very teeth of +the storm? 'Good-bye, Magdalene; who knows when we may meet again?' +and I never looked at him, never kissed him, never broke the silence +by one word; and the thunder came, and he was gone," beating the air +with her hands. + +"Oh, hush, my dear, hush! Let me read to you a little, and the fever +will soon pass. You are frightening the poor young lady with your wild +talk, and no wonder!" + +"Pshaw! who minds the girl? Let her go or stop; what do I care? What +is the whole world to me, when I am tormented like this? Three years, +four years--more than a thousand days--of this misery! Oh, Barby! do +you think I have been punished enough? do you think where he is, up in +heaven with the children, that he forgives and pities me, who was such +a bad wife to him?" + +As Miss Mewlstone paused a moment to wipe the tears that were flowing +over her old cheeks, Phillis's voice came to her relief. + +"Oh, can you doubt it?" she said, in much agitation. "Dear Mrs. +Cheyne, can you have an instant's doubt? Do you think the dead carry +all these paltry earthly feelings into the bright place yonder? +Forgive you--oh, there is no need of forgiveness there; he will only +be loving you,--he and the children too." + +"God bless you!" whispered Miss Mewlstone. "Hush, that is enough! Go, +my dear, go, and I will come to you presently. Magdalene, put your +poor head down here: I have thought of something that will do you +good." She waved Phillis away almost impatiently, and laid the poor +sufferer's head on her bosom, shielding it from the flashes that +darted through the room. Phillis could see her bending over her, and +her voice was as tender as though she were soothing a sick infant. + +Phillis was trembling with agitation as she stole down the dark +corridor. Never in her happy young life had she witnessed or imagined +such a scene. The wild words, the half-maddened gestures, the look of +agony stamped on the pale, almost distorted features, would haunt her +for many a day. Oh, how the poor soul must have suffered before she +lost self-control and balance like this! + +It was not the death of her children that had so utterly unnerved her. +It must have been that bitter parting with her husband, and the +remembrance of angry words never to be atoned for in this life, that +was cankering the root of her peace, and that brought about these +moods of despair. + +Phillis thought of Coleridge's lines,-- + + "And to be wroth with one we love + Doth work like madness on the brain,"-- + +as she took refuge in the dim drawing-room. Here, at least, there were +signs of human life and occupation. A little tea-table had been set in +one window, though the tea was cold. The greyhounds came and laid +their slender noses on her gown, and one small Italian one coiled +himself up on her lap. Miss Mewlstone's work-basket stood open, and a +tortoise shell kitten had helped itself to a ball of wool and was +busily unwinding it. The dogs were evidently frightened at the storm, +for they all gathered round Phillis, shivering and whining, as though +missing their mistress; and she had much ado to comfort them, though +she loved animals and understood their dumb language better than most +people. + +It was not so very long, and yet it seemed hours before Miss Mewlstone +came down to her. + +"Are you here, my dear?" she asked, in a loud whisper, for the room +was dark. "Ah, just so. We must have lights, and I must give you a +glass of wine or a nice hot cup of coffee." And, notwithstanding +Phillis's protest that she never took wine and was not in need of +anything, Miss Mewlstone rang the bell, and desired the footman to +bring in the lamp. "And tell Bishop to send up some nice hot coffee +and sandwiches as soon as possible. For young people never know what +they want, and you are just worried and tired to death with all you +have gone through,--not being an old woman and seasoned to it like +me," went on the good creature, and she patted Phillis's cheek +encouragingly as she spoke. + +"But how is she? Oh, thank God, the storm has lulled at last!" +exclaimed the girl, breathlessly. + +"Oh, yes; the storm is over. We have reason to dread storms in this +house," returned Miss Mewlstone, gravely. "She was quite exhausted, +and let Charlotte and me help her to bed. Now she has had her +composing-draught, and Charlotte will sit by her till I go up. I +always watch by her all night after one of these attacks." + +"Is it a nervous attack?" asked Phillis, timidly, for she felt she was +treading on delicate ground. + +"I believe Dr. Parkes calls it hysteria," replied Miss Mewlstone, +hesitating a little. "Ah, we have sad times with her. You heard what +she said, poor dear: she has been sorely tried." + +"Was not her husband good to her, then?" + +"I am sure he meant to be kind," returned Miss Mewlstone, sorrowfully, +"for he loved her dearly; but he was passionate and masterful, and was +one that would have his way. As long as it was only courtship, he +worshipped the ground she walked upon, as the saying is. But poor +Magdalene was not a good wife. She was cold when she ought to have +been caressing, stubborn when she might have yielded; and sarcasm +never yet healed a wound. Ah, here comes your coffee! Thank you, +Evans. Now, my dear, you must just eat and drink, and put some color +into those pale cheeks. Scenes like these are not good for young +creatures like you. But when Magdalene is in these moods, she would +not care if the whole world listened to her. To-morrow she will be +herself, and remember and be ashamed; and then you must not mind if +she be harder and colder than ever. She will say bitter things all the +more, because she is angered at her own want of self-control." + +"I can understand that: that is just as I should feel," returned +Phillis, shuddering a little at the idea of encountering Mrs. Cheyne's +keen-edged sarcasms. "She will not like to see me any more; she will +think I had no right to witness such a scene." + +"It is certainly a pity that I wrote that note," returned Mrs. +Mewlstone, reflectively. "I hoped that you would turn her thoughts, +and that we might avert the usual nervous paroxysm. When I opened the +door and saw you sitting together so peacefully beside the children's +beds, I expected a milder mood; but it was the thunder. Poor +Magdalene! She has never been able to control herself in a storm since +the evening Herbert left her, and we went in and found her lying +insensible in the library, in the midst of one of the worst storms I +have ever witnessed." + +"That was when he said those cruel words to her!" ejaculated Phillis. + +"Yes. Did she repeat them? How often I have begged her to forget them, +and to believe that he repented of them before an hour was over! Ah, +well! the sting of death lies in this: if she had had one word, one +little word, she would be a different woman, in spite of the +children's death. God's strokes are less cruel than men's strokes: the +reed may be bruised by them, but is not broken. She had a long illness +after the children were gone; it was too much,--too much for any +woman's heart to bear. You see, she wanted her husband to comfort her. +Dr. Parkes feared for her brain, but we pulled her through. Ah, just +so, my dear; we pulled her through!" finished Miss Mewlstone, with a +sigh. + +"Oh, how good you are to her! she is happy to have such a friend!" +observed Phillis, enthusiastically. + +Miss Mewlstone shook her head, and a tear rolled down her face. + +"Oh, my dear, I am only an old fool, as she said just now. And, after +all, the company of a stupid old woman is not much to a proud bonnie +creature like that. Sometimes for days together she hardly opens her +lips to me; we sit together, eat together, drive together, and not a +word for Barby. But sometimes, poor dear! she will cling to me and +cry, and say her heart is breaking. And Solomon was right: but it was +not only a brother that is good for adversity. When she wants me, I am +here, and there is nothing I will not do for her, and she knows +it;--and that is about the long and short of it," finished Miss +Mewlstone, dismissing the subject with another sigh. And then she bade +Phillis finish her coffee and put on her hat. "For your mother will be +expecting you, and wondering what has become of you; and Phillips or +Evans must walk with you, for it is past nine o'clock, and such a +pretty young lady must not go unattended," concluded the simple +woman. + +Phillis laughed and kissed her at this; but, though she said nothing +of her intentions, she determined to dismiss the servant as soon as +possible, and run on alone to the Friary. She had not forgotten her +encounter with Mr. Drummond on her last visit to the White House; but +to-night the storm would keep him in-doors. + +Evans, the new footman, was desired to escort her; but in the middle +of the avenue Phillis civilly dismissed him. + +"There is no need for two of us to get wet; and the rain is coming on +very heavily," she said. + +The young man hesitated; but he was slow-witted and new to his duty, +and the young lady had a peremptory way with her, so he touched his +hat, and went back to the house. + +"Such nonsense, having a liveried servant at my heels, when I am only +a dressmaker!" thought Phillis, scurrying down the avenue like a +chased rabbit. + +Hitherto, the trees had sheltered her; but a glance at the open road +and the driving rain made her resolve to take refuge in the porch of +the cottage that stood opposite the gate. It was the place where Nan +and her mother had once lodged; and, though all the lights were +extinguished, and the people had retired to bed, she felt a +comfortable sense of safety as she unlatched the little gate. Not even +Mr. Drummond would discover her there. + +But Phillis's satisfaction was of short duration: the foolish girl was +soon to repent of her foolhardiness in dismissing her escort. She +little knew that her words to Evans had been overheard, and that +behind the dripping shrubbery she had been watched and followed. +Scarcely had she taken refuge under the green porch, and placed her +wet umbrella to dry, before she heard the latch of the little gate +unclosed, and a tall dark figure came up the gravel-walk. It was not +Isaac Williams's portly form,--she could discern that in the +darkness,--and, for the moment, a thrill of deadly terror came upon +the incautious girl; but the next minute her natural courage returned +to her aid. The porch was just underneath the room where Isaac slept; +a call of 'help' would reach him at once; there was no reason for this +alarm at all. Nevertheless, she shrunk back a little as the stranger +came directly towards her, then paused as though in some +embarrassment: + +"Pardon me, but you have poor shelter here. I am Mrs. Williams's +lodger. I could easily let you into the cottage. I am afraid the rain +comes through the trellis-work." + +Phillis's heart gave a great thump of relief. In the first place, Mrs. +Williams's lodger must be a respectable person, and no dangerous +loafer or pickpocket; in the second place the refined cultured tones +of the stranger pleased her ear. Phillis had a craze on this point. +"You may be deceived in a face, but in a voice, never!" she would say; +and, as she told Nan afterwards, the moment that voice greeted her in +the darkness she felt no further fear. + +"I have a dry corner here," she returned, quietly; "it is only a +thunder-shower, and I am close to home,--only down the road, and just +round the corner, past the vicarage." + +"Past the vicarage!" in a tone of surprise: "why, there are no houses +there!" + +"There is a very small one called the Friary," returned Phillis, +feeling herself color in the darkness, as she mentioned their humble +abode. There was no answer for a moment, and then her mysterious +neighbor continued: + +"My good landlord seems to retire early; the whole place looks +deserted. They are very early risers, and perhaps that is the reason. +If you will allow me to pass, I will open the door and light a lamp in +my little parlor. Even if you prefer to remain in the porch, it will +look more cheerful." And, without waiting for her reply, he took a key +from his pocket, and let himself into the house. + +Their voices had disturbed the owners of the cottage, and Phillis +overheard the following colloquy: + +"Dear sakes alive! what a frightful storm! Is there anything you want, +Mr. Dancy?" in Mrs. Williams's shrill tones. + +"Not for myself, Mrs. Williams; but there is a young lady sheltering +in the porch. I should be glad if you could come down and make her a +little comfortable. The floodgates of heaven seem open to-night." + +"Dear, dear!" in a still more perplexed voice; "a young lady at this +time of night,--why, it must be half-after nine. Very well, Mr. Dancy; +beg her to come in and sit in your parlor a moment, and I will be +down." + +But Phillis absolutely refused to comply with the invitation. + +"I am not tired, and I am not a bit wet, and I like watching the rain. +This is a nice little porch, and I have taken refuge here before. We +all know Mrs. Williams very well." + +"She is a good creature, if she were not always in a bustle," returned +Mr. Dancy. "There, the lamp is lighted: that looks more comfortable." +And as he spoke he came out into the little hall. + +Phillis stole a curious glance at him. + +He was a tall man, and was dressed somewhat strangely. A long +foreign-looking cloak and a broad-brimmed felt hat, which he had not +yet removed, gave him the look of an artist; but, except that he had a +beard and moustache, and wore blue spectacles, she could not gain the +slightest clue to his features. But his voice,--it pleased Phillis's +sensitive ear more every moment; it was pleasant,--rather foreign, +too,--and had a sad ring in it. + +He leaned against the wall opposite to her, and looked out +thoughtfully at the driving rain. + +"I think I saw you coming out from the White House," he observed +presently. "Are you a friend of Mrs. Cheyne? I hope," hesitating a +little, "that she is very well." + +"Do you know her?" asked Phillis, in surprise. + +"That is a very Irish way of answering my question; but you shall have +your turn first. Yes; I used to know her many years ago, and Herbert +Cheyne, too." + +"Her poor husband! Oh! and did you like him?" rather breathlessly. + +"Pretty fairly," was the indifferent reply. "People used to call him a +pleasant fellow, but I never thought much of him myself,--not but what +he was more sinned against than sinning, poor devil. Anyhow, he paid +dearly enough for his faults." + +"Yes, indeed; and one must always speak leniently of the dead." + +"Ah, that is what they say,--that he is dead. I suppose his widow put +on mourning, and made lamentation. She is well, you say, and +cheerful?" + +"Oh, no! neither the one nor the other. I am not her friend; I only +know her just little; but she strikes me as very sad. She has lost her +children, and----" + +"Ah!" Phillis thought she heard a strange sound, almost like a groan; +but of course it was fancy; and just then good Mrs. Williams came +bustling downstairs. + +"Dear heart! why, if it is not Miss Challoner! To think of you, my +dear miss, being out so late, and alone! Oh, what ever will your ma +say?" + +"My mother will scold me, of course," returned Phillis, laughing; "but +you must not scold me too, Mrs. Williams, though I deserve all I get. +Mrs. Mewlstone sent Evans with me, but I made him go back. Country +girls are fearless and it is only just a step to the Friary." + +"The rain is stopping now, if you will permit me to escort you. Mrs. +Williams will be the voucher for my respectability," observed Mr. +Dancy, very gravely and without a smile; and, as Phillis seemed +inclined to put him off with an excuse, he continued, more seriously: +"Pardon me, but it is far too late, and the road far too lonely, for a +young lady to go unattended. If you prefer it, I will go to the White +House, and bring out the recreant Evans by force." + +"Oh, no; there is no need for that," observed Phillis, hastily; and +Mrs. Williams interposed volubly: + +"Goodness' sakes, Miss Challoner, you have no call to be afraid of Mr. +Dancy! Why, Mr. Frank Blunt, that nice young gentleman who lodged with +me ever so many years, recommended him to me as one of his best and +oldest friends. Your ma knew Mr. Blunt, for he was here with her, and +a nicer-spoken young gentleman she said she never saw." + +"That will do, Mrs. Williams," returned Mr. Dancy, in rather a +peremptory tone; and then, turning to Phillis, he said, more civilly, +but still a little abruptly, as though he were displeased,-- + +"Well, Miss Challoner, do you feel inclined to trust yourself with me +for the few hundred yards, or shall I fetch Evans?" And Phillis, +feeling herself rebuked, unfurled her umbrella at once, and bade Mrs. +Williams good-night by way of answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +MRS. WILLIAMS'S LODGER. + + +Phillis felt rather shy and uncomfortable as she picked her way warily +among the rain-pools in the semi-darkness. Her companion was inclined +to be silent; most likely he considered her churlish in repelling his +civil offers of help: so, to make amends, and set herself at her ease, +she began to talk to him with an attempt at her old sprightliness. + +"Do you know this neighborhood well, Mr. Dancy? Have you been long at +Ivy Cottage?" + +"Only a few days; but I know the place well enough," he responded, +quietly. "It depends upon circumstances how long I remain here." + +"Hadleigh is very quiet," returned Phillis, quickly. "It does not +offer many attractions to strangers, unless they have very moderate +views of enjoyment. It is select, and the bathing is good, and the +country tolerable; but when you have said that, you have said all in +its favor." + +"I have always liked the place," with a checked sigh. "Quiet,--that is +what I want, and rest also. I have been rather a wanderer over the +face of the earth, and one wants a little breathing-time occasionally, +to recruit one's exhausted energies. I like Ivy Cottage, and I like +Mrs. Williams: both suit me for the present. Are you a visitor to +Hadleigh,--a mere bird of passage like myself, Miss Challoner?" + +"Oh, dear, no: we have come here to live." + +"And--and you are intimate with Mrs. Cheyne?" coming a little closer +to her side in the darkness. + +"Nothing of the kind," retorted Phillis: "we are mere acquaintances. I +do not feel to know her at all; she is not a person with whom one +could get intimate all at once; she is a little difficult. Besides in +our position----" And here she pulled herself up suddenly. + +"Pardon me," returned Mr. Dancy, in an interested voice, "perhaps I +have no right to inquire, but your words are a little mysterious. Why +should you not be intimate with Mrs. Cheyne?" + +Phillis grew hot in the darkness. What right had he, a perfect +stranger, to question her so closely? And yet, if he were interested +in his old friends, perhaps he meant to call at the White House, and +then he would hear all about them; and after all, perfect frankness +always answered best in the long run. Phillis hesitated so long over +her rejoinder that Mr. Dancy said, rather apologetically,-- + +"I see, I have been incautious; but you must not attribute my question +to impertinent curiosity. I am anxious to learn all I can about a very +old friend, of whom I have long lost sight, and I hoped that you might +have been able to satisfy me." + +"Miss Middleton would tell you far more than I." + +"What! Elizabeth Middleton? Oh, no: she is far too much of a saint for +me." + +"You know her, too!" exclaimed Phillis, in surprise. "No, I do not +think you are curious, Mr. Dancy; it was only a little awkward for me +to tell you about our acquaintance with Mrs. Cheyne. My sister and I +rendered her a trifling service, and she took a fancy to us, and +wished to be friends; but in our present position any close intimacy +would be impossible, as we are only dressmakers." + +"Dressmakers!" It is impossible to describe the genuine astonishment, +almost dismay, in Mr. Dancy's voice. "Dressmakers! Pardon me, Miss +Challoner, but when one has seen and spoken to a lady like yourself, +it is almost incredible." + +This put Phillis on her mettle at once, and in a moment she laid by +all her reserve: + +"You have been a traveller, Mr. Dancy, and must have seen strange +things by this time: it surely cannot be such a matter of surprise +that when gentle-people are poor they must work for their bread. When +one has ten clever fingers, it is better to use them than to starve. I +am not ashamed of my position; my sisters and I are very independent; +but, as we do not like to cause other people embarrassment, we prefer +to lead hermit lives." + +Phillis's silvery tones were rather fierce, but it was well that she +did not see her companion's expression of suppressed amusement; there +was a little smothered laugh, too, that was turned into a cough. + +"Are your sisters young like yourself?" he asked, rather abruptly. + +"Oh, yes, we are all much of an age." + +"And you have parents?" + +"Only one parent," she corrected,--"a mother. Ah, here we are at the +Friary! Many thanks for your escort, Mr. Dancy." + +"Many thanks for allowing me to escort you," he returned, pointedly: +"after what you have told me, I esteem it an honor, Miss Challoner. +No, you have no need to be ashamed of your position; I wish more +English ladies would follow such a noble example. Good-night. I trust +we shall meet again." And, lifting his felt hat, he withdrew, just as +Nan appeared on the threshold, holding a lamp in her hand. + +"You naughty girl, what has kept you so late?" she asked, as Phillis +came slowly and meditatively up the flagged path. + +"Hush, Nannie! Have they all gone to bed? Let me come into your room +and talk to you. Oh, I have had such an evening!" And thereupon she +poured into her sister's astonished ears the recital of her +adventure,--the storm, the figure in the shubbery, the scene in the +west corridor, the porch at Ivy Cottage, and the arrival of Mrs. +Williams's mysterious lodger. + +"Oh, Phillis, I shall never trust you out of my sight again! How can +you be so reckless,--so incautious? Mother would be dreadfully shocked +if she knew it." + +"Mother must not know a single word: promise, Nan. You know how +nervous she is. I will tell her, if you like, that I took refuge from +the rain in Mrs. Williams's porch, and that her lodger walked home +with me; but I think it would be better to suppress the scene at the +White House." + +Nan thought over this a moment, and then she agreed. + +"It would make mother feel uneasy and timid in Mrs. Cheyne's +presence," she observed. "She never likes that sort of hysterical +attacks. We could not make her understand. Poor thing! I hope she is +asleep by this time. Shall you go to-morrow, Phil, and ask after +her?" + +Phillis made a wry face at this, and owned she had had enough +adventures to last her for a long time. But she admitted, too, that +she would be anxious to know how Mrs. Cheyne would be. + +"Yes, I suppose I must go and just ask after her," she said, as she +rose rather wearily and lighted her candle. "There is not the least +chance of my seeing her. Good-night, Nannie! Don't let all this keep +you awake; but I do not expect to sleep a wink myself." + +Which dismal prophecy was not fulfilled, as Phillis dropped into a +heavy slumber the moment her head touched the pillow. + +But her dreams were hardly pleasant. She thought she was walking down +the "ghost's walk," between the yews and cypresses, with Mr. Dancy, +and that in the darkest part he threw off his cloak and felt hat, and +showed the grinning skull of a skeleton, while a bony arm tried to +seize her. She woke moaning with fright, to find Dulce's long hair +streaming over her face, and the birds singing in the sweet breezy +dawn; after which she fell into a dreamless, refreshing sleep. + +Phillis had to submit to rather a severe reproof from her mother, in +return for her frankness. Mrs. Challoner's prudery was up in arms the +moment she heard of Mrs. Williams's lodger. + +"Mrs. Williams ought to have come with you herself; but a strange man +at that time of night!--what would Mr. Drummond have said to you?" + +"Whatever Mr. Drummond liked to say!" returned Phillis, pettishly, for +this was stroking her already ruffled feelings decidedly the wrong +way. + +Phillis always turned captious whenever Mr. Drummond was mentioned; +but she subsided into meekness again when her mother fell to crying +and bemoaning her hard fate and her darlings' unprotected position. + +"Oh, what would your dear father have said?" she cried, in such utter +misery of tone that Phillis began kissing her, and promising that she +would never, never be out so late again, and that on no account would +she walk up the Braidwood Road in the evening with a strange man who +wore an outlandish cloak and a felt hat that only wanted a feather to +remind her of Guy Fawkes, only Guy Fawkes did not wear blue +spectacles. + +When Phillis had at last soothed her mother,--always a lengthy +process, for Mrs. Challoner, like other sensitive and feeble natures, +could only be quieted by much talk,--she fell to her work in vigorous +silence; but by a stroke of ill luck, Mr. Drummond chose to make +another pastoral visitation; and, to her secret chagrin, her mother at +once repeated the whole story. + +"Mrs. Williams's lodger saw Miss Phillis home! Why, I did not know +Mrs. Williams had a lodger!" returned Mr. Drummond, in a perplexed +voice. + +This made matters worse. + +"I suppose Mrs. Williams is not bound to let the vicarage know +directly she lets her rooms?" observed Phillis, rather impatiently; +for she was vexed with her mother for repeating all this. + +"No, of course not; but I was at Ivy Cottage myself yesterday, and +Mrs. Williams knows I always call on her lodgers, and she never +mentioned the fellow's existence to me." + +"Fellow, indeed!" observed Phillis, _sotto voce_; for she had a vivid +remembrance of the stranger's commanding presence and pleasant voice. + +"When did he come?" inquired the young vicar, curiously, "He must keep +himself pretty close by daylight; for I have passed and repassed Ivy +Cottage at least half a dozen times a day, and have never caught a +glimpse of any one;" to which Phillis replied reluctantly that he had +not been there long,--that he wanted rest and quiet, and was most +likely an invalid. + +"And his name is Dancy, you say?" + +Phillis bowed. She was far too much taken up in her work to volunteer +unnecessary words; and all this maternal fuss and fidget was odious to +her. + +"Then I will go and call upon him this very afternoon," returned +Archie, with cheerful alacrity. He had no idea that his curiosity on +the subject was disagreeable to the girl: so he and Mrs. Challoner +discussed the matter fully, and at some length. "I don't like the +description of your mysterious stranger, Miss Challoner," he said, +laughing, as he stood up to take his leave. "When novelists want to +paint a villain, they generally bring in a long cloak and beard, and +sometimes a disguising pair of blue spectacles. Well, I will catch him +by daylight, and see what I can make of him." + +"You may disguise a face, but you cannot disguise a voice," returned +Phillis, bluntly. "I do not want to see Mr. Dancy to know he is a +gentleman and a true man." And this speech, that piqued Archie, though +he did not know why, made him all the more bent on calling on Mrs. +Williams's lodger. + +But Mr. Drummond's curiosity was destined to be baffled. Mrs. Williams +turned very red when she heard the vicar's inquiries. + +"You never told me you had let your rooms," he said, reproachfully; +"and yet you know I always make a practice of calling on your +lodgers." + +"'Deed and it is very kind and thoughtful of you, too," returned the +good woman, dropping an old-fashioned courtesy; "and me that prizes my +clergyman's visits and thinks no end of them! But Mr. Dancy he says to +me, 'Now, my good Mrs. Williams, I have come here for quiet,--for +absolute quiet; and I do not want to see or hear of any one. Tell no +tales about me, and leave me in peace; and then we shall get on +together.' And it was more than I ventured to give you the hint, +hearing him speak so positive; for he is a bit masterful, and no +mistake." + +"Well, never mind; a clergyman never intrudes, and I will thank you to +take Mr. Dancy my card," returned Archie, impatiently; but his look of +assurance soon faded when Mrs. Williams returned with her lodger's +compliments, and he was very much obliged to Mr. Drummond for his +civility, but he did not wish to receive visitors. + +Phillis was a little contrary all the remainder of the day: she was +not exactly cross,--all the Challoners were sweet-tempered,--but +nothing quite suited her. Mrs. Challoner had proposed going that +evening into the town with her youngest daughter to execute some +commissions. + +Just before they started Phillis observed rather shortly that she +should call at the White House to make inquiries after Mrs. Cheyne, +and that she would came back to the Friary to fetch Nan for a country +walk. "If I do not appear in half an hour, you must come in search of +me," finished Phillis, with a naughty curl of her lip, to which Nan +with admirable tact returned no answer, but all the same she fully +intended to carry out the injunction; for Nan had imbibed her mother's +simple old-fashioned notions, and a lurking dislike of Mrs. Williams's +lodger had already entered her mind. + +As Phillis did not enjoy her errand, she put on the best face she +could, and hurried down the Braidwood Road as though her feet were +winged like a female Mercury; and Mr. Dancy, who happened to be +looking over the wire blind in the little parlor, much admired the +girl's free swift gait as she sped down the avenue. Evans, the young +footman, admitted her, and conducted her at once to the drawing-room; +and great was Phillis's surprise and discomposure when she saw Mrs. +Cheyne sitting alone reading by one of the windows, with her +greyhounds grouped around her. + +She started slightly at the announcement of Phillis's name, and, as +she came forward to greet her, a dark flush crossed her face for a +moment; then her features settled into their usual impassive calm, +only there was marked coldness in her voice. + +"Good-evening. Miss Challoner: you have chosen a fine evening for your +visit. Let me beg of you never again to venture to the White House in +such a storm." + +Phillis stammered out something about hoping that she was better, but +she interrupted her almost abruptly: + +"Much better, thank you. I am afraid you found me decidedly strange +yesterday. I had what people call a nervous attack: electricity in the +air, a brooding storm, brings it on. It is a pity one should be so +childish as to dread thunder; but we are oddly constituted, some of +us." She shrugged her shoulders, as though to dismiss the subject, and +stroked the head of the greyhound that lay at her feet. + +Poor Phillis found her position decidedly embarrassing. To be sure, +Miss Mewlstone had warned her of the reception that she might expect; +but all the same she found it very unpleasant. She must not abridge +her visit so much as to excite suspicion; and yet it seemed impossible +to carry on a comfortable conversation with Mrs. Cheyne in this +freezing mood, and, as Phillis could think of nothing to say, she +asked after Miss Mewlstone. + +"Oh, she is very well," Mrs. Cheyne answered, indifferently. "Nothing +ever ails Barby: she is one of those easy-going people who take life +as they find it, without fuss and grumbling." + +"I think she is very nice and sympathetic," hazarded Phillis. + +"Oh, yes Miss Mewlstone has a feeling heart," returned Mrs. Cheyne; +but she said it in a sarcastic voice. "We have all our special +endowments. Miss Mewlstone is made by nature to be a moral feather bed +to break other people's awkward tumbles. She hinders broken bones, and +interposes a soft surface of sympathy between unlucky folks. There is +not much in common between us, but all the same old Barby is a sort of +necessity to me. We are a droll household at the White House, Miss +Challoner, are we not,--Barby and the greyhounds and I?--oh, quite a +happy family!" And she gave a short laugh, very much the reverse of +merriment. + +Phillis began to feel that it was time to go. + +"Well, how does the dressmaking progress?" asked her hostess, +suddenly. "Miss Middleton tells me the Challoner fit is quite the rage +in Hadleigh." + +"We have more orders than we can execute," returned Phillis, curtly. + +"Humph! that sounds promising. I hope your mother is careful of you, +and forbids any expenditure of midnight oil, or you will be reduced to +a thread-paper. As I have told you you are not the same girl that you +were when you came to the relief of my injured ankle." + +"I feel tolerably substantial, thank you," returned Phillis, +ungraciously, for, in common with other girls, she hated to be pitied +for her looks, and she had a notion that Mrs. Cheyne only said this to +plague her. "Nan is our head and task mistress. We lead regular lives, +have stated hours for work, take plenty of exercise and on the whole, +are doing as well as possible." + +"There speaks the Challoner spirit." + +"Oh, yes; that never fails us. But now Nan will be waiting for me, and +I only called just to inquire after you." + +"And you did not expect to see me. Well, come again when I am in a +better humor for conversation. If you stay longer now I might not be +sparing of my sarcasms. By the by, what has become of our young vicar? +Tell him he has not converted me yet, and I quite miss his pastoral +visits. Do you know," looking so keenly at Phillis that she blushed +with annoyance, "a little bird tells me that our pastor has undertaken +the supervision of the Friary. Which is it, my dear, that he is trying +to convert?" + +The tone and manner were intolerable to Phillis. + +"I don't understand you, Mrs. Cheyne," she returned, with superb +youthful haughtiness. "Mr. Drummond is a kind neighbor, and so is Miss +Mattie. You may keep these insinuations for him, if you will." Then +she would have escaped without another glance at her tormentor, but +Mrs. Cheyne detained her: + +"There, never mind. I will take back my naughty speech. It was rude +and impertinent of me, I know that. But I like you all the better for +your spirit; and, my dear, take care of yourself and your pretty +sisters, for he is not worthy of one of you." + +"Oh, Mrs. Cheyne! for shame!" And Phillis's gray eyes sparkled with +lively indignation. + +"He is a very ordinary good young man; and you and your sisters are +real metal, and worth your weight in gold. There! go away, child; and +come and see me again, for it does me good to torment you!" And the +singular woman drew the girl into her arms suddenly and kissed her +forehead, and then pushed her away. "To-morrow, or the next day, but +not to-night," she said, hurriedly. "I should make you cross fifty +times if you stay longer to-night." And Phillis was too thankful to be +released to linger any longer; but her cheeks were burning as she +walked down the avenue. + +"Why do people always put these things into girls' heads?" she said to +herself. "A young man cannot come into the house, cannot say pleasant +words, or do kind neighborly actions, but one must at once attribute +motives of this kind. I have not been free from blame myself in this +matter, for I have feared more than once that Nan's sweet face +attracted him,--poor Mr. Drummond! I hope not, for he would not have a +chance against Dick. I wonder if I ought to say a word?--if it would +be premature or unnecessary? But I should hate him to be +unhappy,"--here Phillis sighed, and then threw up her head proudly: "I +might say just a word, mentioning Dick,--for he does not know of his +existence. I wonder if he would take the hint. I could do it very +cleverly, I know. I hate to see people burning their fingers for +nothing: I always want to go to their rescue. He is tiresome, but he +is very nice. And, heigh-ho! what a crooked world we live in!--nothing +goes quite straight in it." And Phillis sighed again. + +"Miss Challoner!" The voice sounded so near her that Phillis gave a +great start. She had nearly reached the gate, and there was Mr. Dancy +walking beside her, just as though he had emerged from the ground; and +yet Phillis had not heard a sound. "Have I startled you?" he +continued, gravely. "You were in such a brown study that I had to call +you by your name to rouse you. There is nothing wrong at the White +House, I hope?" + +"Oh, no! Mrs. Cheyne is better: her nervous attack has quite passed +off." + +"Magdalene suffering from a nervous attack?" and then Mr. Dancy +stopped, and bit his lip. "Excuse me, I knew her before she was +married, when she was Magdalene Davenport--before she and poor Herbert +Cheyne unfortunately came together. I doubt whether things have not +happened for the best; there!--I mean," as Phillis looked at him in +some perplexity, "that there is little fear of her being an +inconsolable widow." + +"How can you say such a thing!" returned Phillis, indignantly. "That +is the way with you men, you judge so harshly of women. Mrs. Cheyne is +singular in her ways. She wears no mourning, and yet a more unhappy +creature never existed on this earth. Not inconsolable!--and yet no +one dares to speak a word of comfort to her, so great is her misery." + +"Excuse me one moment: I have been ill, and am still subject to fits +of giddiness. A mere vertigo; nothing more." But he said the words +gasping for breath, and looked so deadly pale that Phillis felt quite +frightened as she stood beside him. + +They had been walking a few steps down the Braidwood Road, and Phillis +had looked out anxiously for Nan, who had not yet appeared in sight. +But now Mr. Dancy had come to an abrupt pause, and was leaning for +support against the low wall that shut in the grounds of the White +House. Phillis looked at him a little curiously, in spite of her +sympathy. He still wore his loose cloak, though the evening was warm; +but he had loosened it, and taken off his felt hat for air. + +In figure he was a tall, powerful-looking man, only thin and almost +emaciated, as though from recent illness. His features were handsome, +but singularly bronzed and weather-beaten, as though from constant +exposure to sun and wind; and even the blue spectacles could not hide +a pair of keen blue eyes. By daylight Phillis could see that his brown +beard and moustache were tinged with gray, and the hair on the temples +was almost white; and yet he seemed still in the prime of life. It was +a far handsomer face than Archie Drummond's; but the deep lines and +gray hair spoke of trouble more than age, and one thing especially +impressed Phillis,--the face was as refined as the voice. + +If Mr. Dancy were aware of her close scrutiny, he took no notice of +it. He leaned his arm against the wall and rested his head against it; +and the thin brown hand was plainly visible, with a deep-red scar just +above the wrist. + +As Phillis had regarded it with sudden horror, wondering what had +inflicted it, he suddenly aroused himself with an apology: + +"There! it has passed: it never lasts long. Shall we walk on? I am so +ashamed of detaining you in this way; but when a man has had a +sunstroke----" + +"Oh, that is sad!" returned Phillis, in a sympathizing voice. "Is that +why you keep in-doors so much in the daylight? at least"--correcting +herself in haste, for she had spoken without thought--"one never sees +you about," which was a foolish speech, and showed she took notice of +his movements; but she could not betray Mr. Drummond. + +"Some one else only comes out in the evening," he rejoined, rather +pointedly. "Who told you I kept in-doors in the daylight? Oh, I know!" +the frown passing from his face, for he had spoken quickly and in +annoyed fashion. "This sounds like a parson's prating: I know the +language of old. By the bye, did you set the clergy on my track?" +turning the blue spectacles full on the embarrassed Phillis. + +"I?--no indeed!" and then she went on frankly: "Mr. Drummond was at +our house, and he told us that he always called on Mrs. Williams's +lodgers." + +"True, Miss Challoner; but how did his reverence know Mrs. Williams +had a lodger?" + +This was awkward, but Phillis steered her way through the difficulty +with her usual dexterity. + +"I mentioned to my mother that you were kind enough to see me home, +and she repeated the fact to Mr. Drummond." + +"Thank you, Miss Challanor; now I understand. I wonder if your mother +would be very shocked if a stranger intruded upon her? but you and I +must have some more conversation together, and I do not see how it is +to be managed in accordance with what you ladies call _les +convenances_." + +"My mother----" began Phillis, demurely; and then she paused, and +looked up at him in astonishment, "What, Mr. Dancy! you purpose to +call on my mother, and yet you refused Mr. Drummond's visit?" for the +news of Archie's defeat had already reached the Friary through Miss +Mattie. + +Mr. Dancy seemed rather nonplussed at this, and then he laughed: + +"Ah, you are shrewd, Miss Challoner; there is no deceiving you! I have +seen Mr. Drummond pass and repass often enough; and--pardon me, if he +be a friend--I thought from the cut of his coat that he was prig, and +I have a horror of clerical prigs." + +"He is not priggish in the least," was Phillis's annoyed rejoinder. + +"No? Well, appearances are sometimes deceptive: perhaps I was too +hasty in my dread of being bored. But here comes your sister, I +think,--at least, I have seen you together: so I am leaving you in +good hands." And, before Phillis could reply, he had lifted his hat +and turned away, just as Nan, whose vigilant eyes were upon him, was +hurrying to join her sister. + +"Oh, Phillis, was that Mr. Dancy?" she asked, in a reproachful voice, +as she hurried up to her. + +"Yes, Nannie, it was Mr. Dancy," returned Phillis, composedly; "and I +wish I could have introduced him to you, for I believe he is coming to +call on mother." And, when she had related this astounding piece of +intelligence, she looked in Nan's face and laughed, and, in high good +humor, proceeded to relate their conversation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +"NOW WE UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER." + + +One fine morning in September, Mr. Drummond was standing at the back +of Milner's Library, turning over the last new assortment of books +from Mudie, when two gentlemen entered the shop. + +Strangers were always interesting to Archie, and he criticised them +under a twofold aspect--pastoral and social. In this way curiosity +becomes a virtue, and a man with a mission is not without his +interests in life. Hadleigh was Mr. Drummond's sheep-walk, where he +shepherded his lambs, and looked after his black sheep and tried to +wash them white, or, in default of that, at least to make out that +their fleece was not so sable after all: so he now considered it his +duty to leave off turning over the pages of a seductive-looking novel, +and to inspect the strangers. + +They were both dressed in tweed travelling costumes, and looked +sunburnt, as though they had just returned from a walking-tour. The +elder was a short wiry man, with a shrewd face and quizzical eyes; and +he asked in sharp clipping voice that was not free from accent, for +the last number of the local paper, containing lists of inhabitants, +visitors, etc. + +Meanwhile, the younger man walked about the shop, whistling softly to +himself, as though he had a fund of cheerfulness on hand which must +find vent somewhere. When he came opposite Archie, he took a brief +survey of him in a careless, good-humored fashion, and then turned on +his heel, bestowing a very cursory glance on Miss Masham, who stood +shaking her black ringlets after the fashion of shopwomen, and waiting +to know the gentleman's pleasure. + +No one would have called this young man very good-looking, unless such +a one had a secret predilection for decidedly reddish hair and a sandy +moustache; but there was an air of _bonhommie_, of frank kindness, of +boyish fun and pleasantry, that attracted even strangers, and Archie +looked after him with considerable interest. + +"Oxford cut, father and son: father looks rather a queer customer," +thought Archie to himself. + +"Dick, come here!--why, where is that fellow?" suddenly exclaimed the +elder man, beginning to put on his eye-glasses very nervously. + +"Coming, father. All right: what is it?" returned the imperturbable +Dick. He was still whistling "Twickenham Ferry" under his breath, as +he came to the counter and leaned with both elbows upon it. + +"Good gracious, boy, what does this mean?" went on the other, in an +irritable perturbed voice; and he read a short advertisement, written +in a neat lady-like hand: "Dressmaking undertaken. Terms moderate, and +all orders promptly executed. Apply to--the Misses Challoner, the +Friary, Braidwood Road. Ladies waited upon at their own residences'. +What the"--he was about to add a stronger term, but, in deference to +Miss Milner, substituted--"dickens does this mean, Dick?" + +The young man's reply was to snatch the paper out of his father's +hand, and study it intently, with his elbows still on the counter, and +the last bar of "Twickenham Ferry" died away uncompleted on his lips; +and if any one could have seen his face, they would have remarked a +curious redness spreading to his forehead. + +"Nan's handwriting, by Jove!" he muttered, but still inaudibly; and +then he stared at the paper, and his face grew redder. + +"Well, Dick, can't you answer? What does this piece of tomfoolery +mean--'dressmaking undertaken--ladies waited upon at their own +residences'? Can there be two families of Challoner and two Friaries? +and why don't you speak and say something?" + +"Because I know as little as yourself, father," returned the young +man, without lifting his head; and he surreptitiously conveyed the +paper to his pocket. "Perhaps this lady," indicating Miss Milner, +"could inform us?" + +"I beg your pardon," observed a gentlemanly voice near them; and, +looking up, Dick found himself confronted by the young clergyman. "I +overheard your inquiries, and, as I am acquainted with the ladies in +question, I may be able to satisfy you." + +"I should be extremely obliged to you if you would do so, sir," +returned the elder man, with alacrity; but Dick turned away rather +ungraciously, and his cheerful face grew sullen. + +"Confound him! what does he mean by his interference? Knows them, +indeed! such a handsome beggar, too,--a prig, one can see that from +the cut of his clothes and beard!" And again he planted his elbows on +the counter, and began pulling his rough little stubbly moustache. + +"If you are referring to a mother and three daughters who live in the +Friary and eke out a scanty income by taking in dressmaking, I am +happy to say I know them well," went on Archie. "My sister and I visit +at the cottage, and they attend my church; and, as Miss Milner can +tell you, they work hard enough all the six days of the week." + +"Indeed, Mr. Drummond, there are few that work harder!" broke in Miss +Milner, volubly. "Such pretty creatures, too, to earn their own +living; and yet they have a bright word and a smile for everybody! +Ever since Miss Phillis," (here Dick groaned) "made that blue dress +for Mrs. Trimmings--she is the butcher's wife, and a dressy woman, +though not flashy, like Mrs. Squails--they have been quite the rage in +Hadleigh. All the townspeople, and the resident gentry, and even the +visitors, want their gowns made by the Miss Challoners. Their fit is +perfect; and they have such taste. And----" But here the luckless Dick +could bear no more. + +"If you will excuse me, sir," he said, addressing his bewildered +father, "I have left something particular at the hotel: I must just +run and fetch it." + +Dick did not specify whether it was his handkerchief, or his +cigar-case, or his purse, of which he stood so urgently in need; but +before Mr. Mayne could remonstrate, he had gone out of the shop. He +went as far as the door of the hotel, and there he seized on a passing +waiter and questioned him in a breathless manner. Having obtained his +information, he set off at a walk that was almost a run through the +town, and down the Braidwood Road. The few foot-passengers that he met +shrank out of the way of this young man; for he walked, looking +neither to the right nor to left, as though he saw nothing before him. +And his eyes were gloomy, and, he did not whistle; and the only words +he said to himself were, "Oh, Nan, never to have told me of this!" +over and over again. + +The gate of the Friary stood open; for a small boy had been washing +the flags, and had left his pail, and had gone off to play marbles in +the road with a younger brother. Dick,--who understood the bearings of +the case at once, shook his fist at the truant behind his back, and +then turned in at the gate. + +He peeped in at the hall door first; but Dorothy was peeling potatoes +in the kitchen, and would see him as he passed, so he skirted the +little path under the yews. And if Dulce had been at her +sewing-machine as usual, she would have seen him at once; but this +morning the machine was silent. + +A few steps farther he came to a full stop, and his eyes began to +glisten, and he pricked up his ears after the manner of lovers; for +through an open window just behind him, he could hear Nan's voice, +sweet and musical, reading aloud to her sisters. + +"Oh, the darling!" he murmured, and composed himself for a few +moments' ecstasy, for no doubt she was reading Tennyson, or +Barrett-Browning, or one of the poetry-books he had given her; but he +was a little disappointed when he found it was prose. + +"'With regard to washing-dresses,'" read Nan, in her clear tones, +"'cottons, as a general thing, have another material made up with +them; the under-skirt may be of foulard or satin----?'" + +"Oh, I dare say! What nonsensical extravagance!" observed Phillis. + +"'Or the bodice of surah, satin, cashmere, or llama, and the skirt of +cotton.... The skirts are nearly always made with single box-pleats, +with a flat surface in the centre, and a flat band of trimming is +often stitched on at about five inches from the edge of the flounce.' +I should say that would be sweetly pretty, dear: we might try it for +Mrs. Penlip's dress. And just listen to a little more." + +"I shall do nothing of the kind," blurted out Dick. "Oh, Nan, Nan! how +could you be such a traitor?--washing-dresses indeed, and me left in +ignorance!" And there was Dick, his face glowing and indignant, +standing in the window, with Laddie barking furiously at him, and his +outstretched hand nearly touching Nan. + +Phillis and Dulce screamed with surprise, being young and easily +excited; but Nan only said, "Oh, Dick!" very faintly; and her sweet +face grew red and pale by turns, and her fingers fluttered a little in +his grasp, but only for joy and the sheer delight of seeing him. + +As for Dick, his eyes shone, but his manner was masterful. + +"Look here!" he said, drawing Nan's advertisement from his pocket; "we +had come down here to surprise you girls, and to have a little fun and +tennis; and I meant to have treated you to the public ground at the +hotel, as I knew you had only a scrubby little bit of lawn; and this +is what has met my eyes this morning! You have deceived mother and me; +you have let us enjoy our holiday, which I didn't a bit, for I had a +sort of nasty presentiment and a heap of uncomfortable thoughts; and +all the while you were slaving away at this hideous dressmaking,--I +wish I could burn the whole rag, tag, and bobtail,--and never let us +know you wanted anything. And you call that being friends!" + +"Yes, and the best of friends, too," responded Phillis, cheerfully, +for Nan was too much crushed by all this eloquence to answer. "Come +along, Dulce! don't listen any more to this nonsense, when you know +mother is wanting us. Dick is all very well when he is in a good +humor, but time and dressmaking wait for no man." And the young +hypocrite dragged the unwilling Dulce away. "Can't you leave them +alone to come to an understanding?" whispered Phillis in her ear, when +they got outside the door. "I can see it in his eyes; and Nan is on +the verge of crying, she is so upset with the surprise. And, you +goose, where are you going now?" + +"To mother. Did you not say she wanted us?" + +"Oh, you silly child!" returned Phillis, calmly: "does not mother +always want us? One must say what comes uppermost in one's mind in +emergencies of this sort. But for me, you would have stood there for +an hour staring at them. Mother is out, as it happens: if you like we +will go and meet her. Oh, no, I forgot: Dick is a young man, and it +would not be proper. Let us go into the kitchen and help Dorothy." And +away they went. + +"Phillis is a trump!" thought Dick, as he shut the door. "I love that +girl." And then he marched up to Nan, and took her hands boldly. + +"Now, Nan you owe me amends for this; at least you will say you are +sorry." + +"No, Dick," hanging her head, for she could not face his look, he was +so masterful and determined with her, and so unlike the easy Dick of +old. "I am not a bit sorry: I would not have spoiled your holiday for +worlds." + +"My holiday!--a precious holiday it was without you! A lot of stupid +climbing, with grinning idiots for company. Well, never mind that," +his wrathful tone changing in a moment. "So you kept me in the dark +just for my own good?" + +"Yes, of course, Dick. What an unnecessary question!" + +"And you wanted me, Nan?" + +"Yes," very faintly, and there was a little tear-drop on one of Nan's +lashes. + +She had been so miserable,--how miserable he would never know; but he +need not have asked her that. + +"Oh, very well: then I won't bother you with any more questions. Now +we understand each other, and can just go to business." + +Nan looked up in his face in alarm. She anticipated another lecture, +but nothing of the sort came. Dick cleared his throat, got a little +red, and went on. + +"I say settle our business, because we have been as good as engaged +all these years. You know you belong to me, Nan?" + +"Yes, Dick," she returned, obediently; for she was too much taken by +surprise to know what she ought to say, and the two words escaped from +her almost unconsciously. + +"There never was a time we were not fond of each other,--ever since +you were so high," pointing to what would represent the height of an +extremely dwarfish infant of seven or eight months. + +"Oh, not so long ago as that," returned Nan, laughing a little. + +"Quite as long," repeated Dick, solemnly. "I declare, I have been so +fond of you all my life, Nan, that I have been the happiest fellow in +the world. Now, look here; just say after me, 'Dick, I promise on my +word and honor to marry you.'" + +Nan repeated the words, and then she paused in affright. + +"But your father!" she gasped,--"and the dressmaking! Oh, Dick! what +have you made me say? You have startled me into forgetting everything. +Oh, dear! oh, dear! what shall I do?" continued Nan, in the most +innocent way. "We shall be engaged all our lives, for he will never +allow you to marry me. Dick, dear Dick, please let me off! I never +meant to give in like this." + +"Never mind what you meant to do," returned Dick, with the utmost +gravity: "the thing is, you have done it. On your word and honor, Nan, +remember. Now we are engaged." + +"Oh, but Dick, please don't take such advantage of me, just because I +said--or, at least, you said--I was fond of you. What will mother say? +She will be so dreadfully shocked; and it is so cruel to your father. +I will be engaged to you in a way. I will promise--I will vow, if you +will--never to marry any one else." + +"I should think not," interrupted Dick, fiercely. "I would murder the +fellow, whoever he was!" and in spite of himself his thought reverted +to the fair beard and handsome face of the young clergyman. + +Nan saw from his obstinate face that her eloquence was all wasted; but +she made one more attempt, blushing like a rose: + +"I will even promise to marry you, if your father gives his consent. +You know, Dick, I would never go against him." + +"Nor I. You ought to know me better, Nan, than to think I should act +shabbily and leave the dear old fellow in the dark." + +"Then you will set me free," marvelling a little over her lover's good +sense and filial submission. + +"As free as an engagement permits. Why, what do you mean, Nan? Have I +not just told you we are engaged for good and all? Do you suppose I do +not mean to tell my father so on the first opportunity? There he +comes! bless the man, I knew he would follow me! Now you shall see how +I can stick up for the girl I love." But Dick thought it better to +release the hand he had been holding all this time. + +There are certain moments in life when one is in too exalted a mood to +feel the usual sensations that circumstances might warrant. At another +time Nan would have been shocked at the condition of her work-room, +being a tidy little soul, and thrifty as to pins and other odds and +ends; and the thought of Mr. Mayne coming upon them unexpectedly would +have frightened her out of her senses. + +The room was certainly not in its usual order. There had been much +business transacted there that morning. The table was strewn with +breadths of gay _broche_ silk; an unfinished gauzy-looking dress hung +over a chair; the door of the wardrobe was open, and a row of +dark-looking shapes--like Bluebeard's decapitated wives--were dimly +revealed to view. A sort of lay figure, draped in calico, was in one +corner. As Nan observed to Phillis afterwards, "There was not a tidy +corner in the whole room." + +Nevertheless, the presence of Dick so glorified the place that Nan +looked around at the chaos quite calmly, as she heard Mr. Mayne's +sharp voice first inquiring for her mother and then for herself. +Dorothy, with her usual tact, would have shown him into the little +parlor; but Nan, who wished for no disguise, stepped forward and threw +open the door. + +"I am here, Dorothy. Come in, Mr. Mayne. Dick is here too, and I am so +sorry mother is out." + +"I might have known that scapegrace would have given me the slip!" +muttered Mr. Mayne, as he shook hands ungraciously with Nan, and then +followed her into the work-room. + +Dick, who was examining the wardrobe, turned round and saluted his +father with a condescending nod: + +"You were too long with the parson: I could not wait, you see. Did you +make all these dresses, Nan? You are awfully clever, you girls! They +look first-rate,--this greeny-browny-yellowish one, for example," +pulling out a much furbelowed garment destined for Mrs. Squails. + +"Oh, Dick, do please leave them alone!" and Nan authoritatively waved +him away, and closed the wardrobe. + +"I was only admiring your handiwork," returned Dick, imperturbably. +"Does she not look a charming little dressmaker, father?" regarding +Nan with undisguised pleasure, as she stood in her pretty bib-apron +before them. + +But Mr. Mayne only drew his heavy eyebrows together, and said,-- + +"Pshaw, Dick! don't chatter such folly. I want to have some talk with +Miss Nancy myself." + +"All right: I have had my innings," returned naughty Dick; but he shot +a look at Nan that made her blush to her finger ends, and that was not +lost on Mr. Mayne. + +"Well, now, Miss Nancy, what does all this mean?" he asked, harshly. +"Here we have run down just in a friendly way,--Dick and I,--leaving +the mother rather knocked up after her travels at Longmead, to look +you up and see how you are getting on. And now we find you have been +deceiving us all along, and keeping us in the dark, and that you are +making yourselves the talk of the place, sewing a parcel of gowns for +all the townspeople." + +Mr. Mayne did not add that his son had so bothered him for the last +three weeks to run down to Hadleigh that he had acceded at last to his +request, in the hope of enjoying a little peace. + +"Draw it mild!" muttered Dick, who did not much admire this opening +tirade; but Nan answered, with much dignity,-- + +"If people talk about us it is because of the novelty. They have never +heard of gentle-people doing this sort of work before----" + +"I should think not!" wrathfully from Mr. Mayne. + +"Things were so bad with us that we should have all had to separate if +Phillis had not planned this scheme; and then mother would have broken +her heart; but now we are getting on famously. Our work gives +satisfaction, we have plenty of orders; we do not forfeit people's +good opinions, for we have nothing but respect shown us, and----" + +But here Mr. Mayne interrupted her flow of quiet eloquence somewhat +rudely. + +"Pack of nonsense!" he exclaimed, angrily. "I wonder at your +mother,--I do indeed. I thought she had more sense. You have no right +to outrage your friends in this way! it is treating us badly. What +will your mother say, Dick? She will be dreadfully shocked. I am sorry +for you, my boy,--I am indeed: but, under the circumstances----" + +But what he was about to add was checked by a very singular proceeding +on the part of his son; for Dick suddenly took Nan's hand, and drew +her forward. + +"Don't be sorry for me, father: I am the happiest fellow alive. Nan +and I have come to an understanding at last, after all these years. +Allow me to present to you the future Mrs. Richard Mayne." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +DICK THINKS OF THE CITY. + + +When Dick had uttered this audacious speech, Mr. Mayne started back, +and his expression of mingled wrath and dismay was so ludicrous that +under any other circumstances his son would have found it difficult to +keep his countenance. + +"What! what!" he almost shouted, losing all sense of politeness, and +even of Nan's presence; "you young fool, what do you mean by trumping +up this nonsense and presuming to talk to me in this way?" + +Dick thought it prudent to drop Nan's hand,--and, indeed, the girl +shrank away from them both in alarm at this outburst: nevertheless, +his countenance and bearing maintained the same admirable +_sang-froid_, as he confronted his angry parent: + +"Now, father, what is the use of calling me names? When a fellow is of +age, and knows his own mind, he does not care a pin for being called a +fool. 'Hard words break no bones,' as our copy-leaves used to tell +us,--no, I have not got that quite right; but that is about my +meaning. Look here, father," he continued, in a coaxing, boyish voice; +"I have cared for Nan ever since she was a little creature so high," +again reverting to the infantile measurement. "I have always meant to +marry her,--that is, if she would have me," correcting himself, as Nan +drew herself up a little proudly. "Money or no money, there is not +another girl in England that I would have for a wife. I would wait for +her if I had to wait half my life, just the same as she would wait for +me; and so, as I said before, when a fellow has made up his mind, +there is nothing more to say." And here Dick pursed up his lips for a +whistle, but thought better of it, and fell to twisting and untwisting +the ends of his sandy moustache. + +Nan's downcast eyes revealed nothing. But if Dick could only have seen +the happy look in them! What eloquence could ever have been so dear to +her as that clear rough-and-ready statement of her lover's feelings +for her? "There is not another girl in England that I would have for a +wife." Could anything surpass the beauty of that sentence? Oh, how +manly, how true he was, this Dick of hers! + +"Oh, indeed! I am to say nothing, am I?" returned Mr. Mayne, with +exquisite irony. "My son is to dictate to me; and I am to be silent! +Oh, you young fool!" he muttered under his breath; but then for the +moment words seemed to fail him. + +In spite of the wrath that was boiling within him, and to which he did +not dare give vent in Nan's presence, in spite of the grief and +disappointment that his son's defiance had caused him, Dick's bearing +filled him with admiration and amazement. + +This boy of his was worth something, he thought. He had a clear head +of his own, and could speak to some purpose. Was a likely young fellow +like this to be thrown away on that Challoner girl? Poor Nan! Pretty +and blooming as she looked, Mr. Mayne felt almost as though he hated +her. Why had she come between his boy and him? Had he a dozen sons, +that he could spare one of them? Was not Dick his only one,--the son +of his right hand, his sole hope and ambition? Mr. Mayne could have +wept as these thoughts passed through his mind. + +It was at this moment that Nan thought it right to speak. Dick had had +his say, but it was not for her to be silent. + +"Mr. Mayne, please listen to me a moment," she said, pleadingly. "No; +I must speak to your father," as Dick, much alarmed, tried to silence +her. "He must not think hard things of us, and misunderstand us." + +"No, dear; indeed you had better be silent!" implored Dick, anxiously; +but Nan for once turned a deaf ear to him. + +"I must speak," she persisted. "Mr. Mayne, it is quite true what Dick +says: we have been together all our lives, and have grown to care for +each other. I cannot remember the time,"--the tears coming into her +bright eyes--"when Dick was not more to me than a brother; it is all +of such long standing, it is far, far too late to stop it now." + +"We shall see about that, Miss Nancy," muttered Mr. Mayne, between his +teeth; but the girl did not seem to hear him. + +"Dick took me by surprise just now. I ought to have been more on my +guard, and not have given him that promise." + +"What promise?" demanded Mr. Mayne, harshly; and Nan hung her head, +and returned, shyly,-- + +"That I would marry him some time; but indeed--indeed he made me say +it, and I was so taken by surprise. No, Dick; you must let me finish," +for Dick was looking at her with piteous entreaty in his eyes. "I know +we were wrong to say so much without your leave; but indeed I will do +your son no harm. I cannot marry any one else, because I am engaged to +him; but as far as he is concerned he is free. I will never marry him +without your permission; he shall not come here if you do not wish; +but do not be so angry with us;" and here her lip quivered. "If you +did not mean this to happen, you should have kept us apart all these +years." + +"Oh, hush, dear!" whispered Dick in her ear; but Mr Mayne almost +thrust him aside, and laid a rough grasp on the girl's wrist. "Never +mind him: answer me one question. Are you serious in what you say, +that you will never marry him without my permission?" + +"Of course I will not," answered Nan, quite shocked. "Dick would not +ask me to do such a thing; he is far too honorable, and--and--no one +would think of such a thing." + +"Very well; that is all I wanted to know;" and he released her, not +over-gently: "the rest I can settle with Master Dick himself. +Good-morning, Miss Nancy: under the circumstances I do not think I +will wait to see your mother. I am not quite in the mood for ladies; +perhaps, later on, I may have something to say to her." + +"Don't you mean to shake hands with me, Mr. Mayne?" asked poor Nan, +much distressed at the evil temper of Dick's father; but there was no +sign of softening. + +"Yes; I will shake hands with you, and gladly, if you will promise to +be sensible and send this boy of mine about his business. Come now, +Nan; own for my comfort that it is only a bit of boy-and-girl +nonsense, that means nothing. I am not over-particular, and do not +object to a bit of flirting with young folk." + +"You had better go with your father, Dick," returned Nan, with much +dignity, and quite ignoring this speech. + +Dick seized the little hand that had been so rudely rejected, and +kissed it under his father's eyes. + +"I will see you again somehow," he whispered, and Nan was quite +content with this promise. Dick would keep his word, she knew: he +would not leave Hadleigh without seeing her. + +A very unpleasant hour ensued for poor Dick. Mr. Mayne in one of his +worst tempers; he had conducted himself to Nan in an ungentlemanly +manner, and he knew it; as Dick said to himself,-- + +"It is very hard on a fellow when one's father acts like a cad." + +Mr. Mayne had shown himself a cad. No gentleman by birth or breeding +would have conducted himself in that offensive way. Bad temper had +broken down the trammels of conventionality: never before in his life +had Dick felt so utterly ashamed of his father. Mr. Mayne was +conscious of his son's criticism, and it made things worse. + +It spoke well for Dick's prudence and self-command that he let the +storm of his father's anger break over his head, and said no word. Mr. +Mayne ranted and raved; I am afraid he even swore once or twice,--at +least his language was undesirably strong,--and Dick walked beside him +and held his peace. "Poor old boy, he is terribly cut up about this!" +he thought once. + +Mr. Drummond saw them coming along, and wondered at the energy of the +older man. Was it the visit to the Friary that had put him out? and +then he fell anew into cogitation. Who were these people who were so +curious about the Challoners? At least that sulky young fellow had +taken no apparent interest, for he had made an excuse to leave them; +but the other one had persisted in very close investigation. Perhaps +he was some relation,--an uncle, or a distant cousin; evidently he had +some right or claim to be displeased. Archie determined to solve the +mystery as soon as possible. + +"Well, sir, have you nothing to say for yourself?" demanded Mr. Mayne, +when he had fairly exhausted himself. He had disinherited Dick half a +dozen times; he had deprived him of his liberal allowance; he had +spoken of a projected voyage to New Zealand: and Dick had only walked +on steadily, and thought of the cold trembling little hand he had +kissed. "Have you nothing to say for yourself?" he vociferated. + +Dick woke up at this. + +"Oh, yes, I have plenty to say," he returned cheerfully; "but two +cannot talk at once, you know. It was right for you to have the first +innings, and all that; and I say, father,"--his filial feelings coming +to the surface,--"I am awfully sorry, and so is Nan, to see you so +vexed." + +"Speak for yourself," was the wrathful answer. "Don't mention that +girl's name in my hearing for the present." + +"Whose name?--Nan's?" returned Dick, innocently. "I don't see how we +are to keep it out of the conversation, when the row is all about her. +Look here, father: I say again I am awfully sorry you are vexed; but +as N--she says, it is too late to mend matters now. I have made my +choice, for better for worse, and I am sorry it does not please you." + +"Please me!" retorted Mr. Mayne; and then he added, venomously: "The +girl said you would not marry without my permission; but I will never +give it. Come, Dick, it is no use thwarting me in this: you are our +only child and we have other plans for you. Pshaw! you are only a boy! +You have not seen the world yet. There are dozens of girls far +prettier than this Nan. Give this nonsense up, and there is nothing I +will not do for you; you shall travel, have your liberty, do as you +like for the next two or three years, and I will not worry you about +marrying. Why, you are only one-and-twenty; and you have two more +years of University life! What an idea,--a fine young fellow like you +talking of tying yourself down to matrimony!" + +"There is no use in my going back to Oxford, father," returned Dick, +steadily; "thank you kindly all the same, but, it would be sheer waste +of money. I have made up my mind to go into the City; it is the +fashionable thing nowadays. And one does not need Greek and Latin for +that, though, of course, it is an advantage to a fellow, and gives him +a standing; but, as I have to get my own living, I cannot afford the +two years. Your old chums Stanfield & Stanfield would give me a berth +at once." + +"Is the boy mad? What on earth do you mean by all this tomfoolery?" +demanded Mr. Mayne, unable to believe his ears. His small gray eyes +opened widely and irately on his son; but Dick took no notice. He +walked on, with his shoulders looking rather square and determined; +the corners of his mouth were working rebelliously: evidently he did +not dare to look at his father for fear of breaking into +incontrollable laughter. Really the dear old boy was getting too +absurd; he--Dick--could not stand it much longer. "What in the name of +all that is foolish do you mean, sir?" thundered Mr. Mayne. + +Dick executed a low whistle, and then he said, in an aggrieved +voice,-- + +"Well, father, I don't call you very consistent. I suppose I know what +being disinherited means? In plain language, you have told me about +half a dozen times that if I stick to Nan I am not to expect a +shilling of your money. Now, in my own mind, of course I call that +precious hard on a fellow, considering I have not been such a bad +sort of son after all. But I am not going to quarrel with you about +that: a man has a right to do as he likes with his own money." + +"Yes; but, Dick, you are going to be sensible, you know, and drop the +girl?" in a wheedling sort of tone. + +"Excuse me, father; I am going to do nothing of the kind," returned +Dick, with sudden firmness. "I am going to stick to her, as you did to +my mother; and for just as long, if it must be so. I am not a bit +afraid that you will not give your permission, if we only wait long +enough to prove that we are in earnest. The only thing I am anxious +about is how I am to get my living; and that is why I will not consent +to waste any more time at the University. The bar is too uphill work; +money is made quickest in the City: so, if you will be good enough to +give me an introduction to Stanfield & Stanfield,--I know they are a +rattling good sort of people,--that is all I will trouble you about at +present." And Dick drew in a long breath of relief after this weighty +speech. + +"Do you mean this, Dick?" asked Mr. Mayne, rather feebly. + +They had reached the hotel now, and, as they entered the private room +where their luncheon was awaiting them, he sat down as though he had +grown suddenly old and tired, and rested his head on his hand, perhaps +to hide the moisture that had gathered under his shaggy eyebrows. + +"Yes, father, I do," returned Dick; but he spoke very gently, and his +hand touched his father's shoulder caressingly. "Let me give you some +wine: all this business has taken it out of you." + +"Yes, I have had a blow, Dick,--my only boy has given me a blow," +returned Mr. Mayne, pathetically; but as he took the wine his hand +trembled. + +"I am awfully sorry," answered Dick, penitently: "if there were +anything else you had asked me but this--but I cannot give up Nan." +And, as he pronounced the name, Dick's eyes shone with pride and +tenderness. He was a soft-hearted, affectionate young fellow, and this +quarrel with his father was costing him a great deal of pain. In +everything else he would have been submissive to his parents; but now +he had a purpose and responsibility in his life: he had to be faithful +to the girl whom he had won; he must think for her now as well as for +himself. How sweet was this sense of dual existence, this unity of +heart and aim! + +Mr. Mayne fairly groaned as he read the expression on his son's face. +Dick's youthful countenance was stamped with honest resolution. "I am +going to stick to her, as you did to my mother."--that was what he had +said. If this were true, it was all over with Dick's chances with the +pretty little heiress; he would never look at her or her thirty +thousand pounds; "but all the same he, Richard Mayne, would never +consent to his son marrying a dressmaker. If she had only not +disgraced herself, if she had not brought this humiliation on them, he +might have been brought to listen to their pleading in good time and +at his own pleasure; but now, never!--never!" he muttered, and set his +teeth hard. + +"Dick," he said, suddenly, for there had been utter silence for a +space. + +"Yes, father." + +"You have upset me very much, and made me very unhappy; but I wish you +to say nothing to your mother, and we will talk about this again. +Promise me one thing,--that you will go back to Oxford at least until +Christmas." + +"What is the good of that, sir?" asked his son, dubiously. + +"What is the good of anything? for you have taken every bit of +pleasure out of my life; but at least you can do as much as this for +me." + +"Oh, yes, father, if you wish it," returned Dick, more cheerfully; +"but all the same I have fixed upon a City life." + +"We will talk of that again," replied his father; "and, Dick, we go +home to-morrow, and, unless you promise me not to come down to +Hadleigh between this and Christmas, I shall be obliged to speak to +Mrs. Challoner." + +"Oh, there is no need for that," returned Dick, sulkily. + +"You give me your word?" + +"Oh, yes," pushing aside his chair with a kick. "It would be no use +coming down to Hadleigh, for Nan would not speak to me. I know her too +well for that. She has got such a conscience, you know. I shall write +to her, but I do not know if she will answer my letters; but it does +not matter: we shall both be true as steel. If you don't want me any +more, I think I will have a cigar on the beach, for this room is +confoundedly hot." And, without waiting for permission, Dick strode +off, still sulky and fully aware that his father meant to follow him, +for fear of his footsteps straying again down the Braidwood Road. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +"DICK IS TO BE OUR REAL BROTHER." + + +Never was a father more devoted to his son's company than Mr. Mayne +was that day. Dick's cigar was hardly alight before his father had +joined him. When Dick grew weary of throwing stones aimlessly at +imaginary objects, and voted the beach slow, Mr. Mayne proposed a walk +with alacrity. They dined together,--not talking much, it is true, for +Dick was still sulky, and his father tired and inclined to headache, +but keeping up a show of conversation for the waiter's benefit. But +when that functionary had retired, and the wine was on the table, +Dick made no further effort to be agreeable, but placed himself in the +window-seat and stared moodily at the sea, while his father watched +him and drank his wine in silence. + +Mr. Mayne was fighting against drowsiness valiantly. + +Dick knew this, and was waiting for an opportunity to make his +escape. + +"Had we not better ring for lights and coffee?" asked his father, as +he felt the first ominous sensations stealing over him. + +"Not just yet. I feel rather disposed for a nap myself; and it is a +shame to shut out the moonlight," returned that wicked Dick, calling +up a fib to his aid, and closing his eyes as he spoke. + +The bait took. In another five minutes Mr. Mayne was nodding in +earnest, and Dick on tiptoe had just softly closed the door behind +him, and was taking his straw hat from its peg. + +Nan was walking up and down the little dark lawn, feeling restless and +out of sorts after the agitation of the morning, when she heard a low +whistle at the other side of the wall, and her heart felt suddenly as +light as a feather. + +Dick saw her white gown as she came down the flagged path to the gate +to let him in. The moonlight seemed to light it up with a sort of +glory. + +"You are a darling not to keep me waiting, for we have not a moment to +lose," he whispered, as she came up close to him. "He is asleep now, +but he will wake up as soon as he misses me. Have you expected me +before, Nan? But indeed I have not been left to myself a moment." + +"Oh, I knew all about it, my poor Dick," she answered, looking at him +so softly. "Phillis is reading to mother in the parlor, and Dulce is +in the work-room. I have nowhere to ask you unless you come in and +talk to them. But mother is too upset to see you, I am afraid." + +"Let us wait here," returned Dick, boldly. "No one can hear what we +say, and I must speak to you alone. No; I had better not see your +mother to-night, and the girls would be in the way. Shall you be +tired, dear, if you stand out here a moment talking to me? for I dare +not wait long." + +"Oh, no, I shall not be tired," answered Nan gently. Tired, when she +had her own Dick near her!--when she could speak to him,--look at +him! + +"All right; but it is my duty to look after you, now you belong to +me," returned Dick, proudly. "Whatever happens,--however long we may +be separated,--you must remember that--that you belong to me,--that +you will have to account to me if you do not take care of yourself." + +Nan smiled happily at this, and then she said,-- + +"I have told mother all about it, and she is dreadfully distressed +about your father's anger. She cried so, and took his part, and said +she did not wonder that he would not listen to us; he would feel it +such a disgrace, his son wanting to marry a dressmaker. She made me +unhappy, too, when she put it all before me in that way," and here +Nan's face paled perceptibly in the moonlight, "for she made me see +how hard it is on him, and on your mother, too! Oh, Dick don't you +think you ought to listen to them, and not have anything more to do +with me?" + +"Nan, I am shocked at you!" + +"But, Dick!" + +"I tell you I am utterly shocked! You to say such a thing to my face, +when we have been as good as engaged to each other all our lives! Who +cares for the trumpery dressmaking? Not I!" + +"But your father!" persisted Nan, but very faintly, for Dick's eyes +were blazing with anger. + +"Not another word! Nan, how dare you--after what you have promised +this morning! Have I not been worried and badgered enough, without +your turning on me in this way? If you won't marry me, you won't; but +I shall be a bachelor all my life for your sake!" and Dick, who was so +sore, poor fellow, that he was ready to quarrel with her out of the +very fulness of his love, actually made a movement as though to leave +her, only Nan caught him by the arm in quite a frightened way. + +"Dick! dear Dick!" + +"Well?" rather sullenly. + +"Oh, don't leave me like this! It would break my heart! I did not mean +to make you angry. I was only pleading with you for your own good. Of +course I will keep my promise. Have I not been true to you all my +life? Oh, Dick! how can you turn from me like this?" And Nan actually +began to sob in earnest, only Dick's sweet temper returned in a moment +at the sight of her distress, and he fell to comforting her with all +his might; and after this things went on more smoothly. + +He told her about his conversation with his father, and how he had +planned a city life for himself; but here Nan timidly interposed: + +"Would that not be a pity, when you had always meant to study for the +bar?" + +"Not a bit of it," was the confident answer. "That was my father's +wish, not mine. I don't mind telling you in confidence that I am not +at all a shining light. I am afraid I am rather a duffer, and shall +not make my mark in the world. I have always thought desk-work must be +rather a bore; but, after all, with a good introduction and a +tolerable berth, one is pretty sure of getting on in the City. What I +want is to make a little nest cosey for somebody, and as quick as +possible,--eh, Nan?" + +"I do not mind waiting," faltered Nan. But she felt at this moment +that no lover could have been so absolutely perfect as her Dick. + +"Oh, that is what girls always say," returned Dick, rather loftily. +"They are never in a hurry. They would wait seven--ten years,--half a +lifetime. But with us men it is different. I am not a bit afraid of +you. I know you will stick to me like a brick, and all that; and +father will come round when he sees we are in earnest. But all the +same I want to have you to myself as soon as possible. A fellow likes +the feeling of working for his wife. I hate to think of these pretty +fingers stitching away for other people. I want them to work for me: +do you understand, Nan?'" And Nan, of course, understood. + +Dick, poor fellow, had not much time for his love-making, he and Nan +had too much business to settle. Nan had to explain to him that her +mother was of opinion that under the present circumstances, nothing +ought to be done to excite Mr. Mayne's wrath. Dick might write to her +mother sometimes, just to let them know how he was getting on; but +between the young people themselves there must be no correspondence. + +"Mother says it will not be honorable, and that we are not properly +engaged." And, though Dick combated this rather stoutly, he gave in at +last, and agreed that, until the new year, he would not claim his +rights, or infringe the sacred privacy of the Friary. + +"And now I must go," said Dick, with a great sigh; "and it is good-bye +for months. Now, I do not mean to ask your leave,--for you are such a +girl for scruples, and all that, and you might take it into your head +to refuse me: so there!" + +Dick's words were mysterious; but he very soon made his meaning +plain. + +Nan said, "Oh, Dick!" but made no further protest. After all, whatever +Mr. Mayne and her mother said, they were engaged. + +As Dick closed the little gate behind him, he was aware of a tall +figure looming in the darkness. + +"Confound that parson! What does he mean by loafing about here?" he +thought, feeling something like a pugnacious bull-dog at the prospect +of a possible rival. "I forgot to ask Nan about him; but I dare say he +is after one of the other girls." But these reflections were nipped in +the bud, as the short, sturdy form of Mr. Mayne was dimly visible in +the road. + +Dick chuckled softly: he could not help it. + +"All right, dear old boy," he said to himself; and then he stepped up +briskly, and took his father's arm. + +"Do you call this honorable, sir?" began Mr. Mayne, in a most +irascible voice. + +"I call it very neat," returned Dick, cheerfully. "My dear pater, +everything is fair in love and war; and if you will nap at +unseasonable times--but that comes of early rising, as I have often +told you." + +"Hold your tongue, sir!" was the violent rejoinder. "It is a mean +trick you have served me, and you know it. We will go back to-night; +nothing will induce me to sleep in this place. You are not to be +trusted. You told me a downright lie. You were humbugging me, sir, +with your naps." + +"I will plead guilty to a fib, if you like," was Dick's careless +answer. "What a fuss you are making, father! Did you never tell one in +your life? Now, what is the use of putting yourself out?--it is not +good at your age, sir. What would my mother say? It might bring on +apoplexy, after that port-wine." + +"Confound your impertinence!" rejoined Mr. Mayne, angrily; but Dick +patted his coat-sleeve pleasantly: + +"There, that will do. I think you have relieved your feelings +sufficiently. Now we will go to business. I have seen Nan, and told +her all about it; and she has had it out with her mother. Mrs. +Challoner will not hear of our writing to each other; and I am not to +show my face at the Friary without your permission. There is no +fibbing or want of honor there: Nan is not the girl to encourage a +fellow to take liberties." + +"Oh, indeed!" sneered Mr. Mayne; but he listened attentively for all +that. And his gloomy eyebrows relaxed in the darkness. The girl was +not behaving so badly, after all. + +"So we said good-bye," continued Dick, keeping the latter part of the +interview to himself; "and in October I shall go back for the term, as +I promised. We can settle about the other things after Christmas." + +"Oh, yes, we can talk about that by and by," replied his father, +hastily; and then he waxed cheerful all at once, and called his son's +attention to some new houses they were building. "After all, Hadleigh +is not such a bad little place," he observed; "and they gave us a very +good dinner at the hotel. It is not every one who can cook fish like +that." And then Dick knew that the storm had blown over for the +present, and that his father intended to make himself pleasant and +ignore all troublesome topics. + +Dick was a little tired when he went to bed; but, on the whole, he was +not unhappy. It was quite true that the idea of a City life was +repugnant to him, but the thought of Nan sweetened even that. Nothing +else remained to him if his father chose to be disagreeable and +withdraw his allowance, or threaten to cut him off with a shilling, as +other fellows' fathers did in novels. + +"It is uncommonly unpleasant, having to wage war with one's own +father," thought Dick, as he laid his sandy head on the pillow. "He is +such an old trump, too, that it goes against the grain. But when it +comes to his wanting to choose a wife for me, it is too much of a good +thing: it is tyranny fit for the Middle Ages. Let him threaten if he +likes. He will find I shall take his threats in earnest. After +Christmas I will have it out with him again; and if he will not listen +to reason, I will go up to Mr. James Stanfield myself, and then he +will see that I mean what I say. Heigho! I am not such a lucky fellow +as Hamilton always thinks me." And at this juncture of his sad +cogitations Dick forgot all about it, and fell asleep. + +Yes, Dick slept the sleep of the just. It was Mr. Drummond who was +wakeful and uneasy that night. A vague sense of something wrong +tormented him waking and sleeping. + +Who was that sandy-headed young fellow who had been twice to the +Friary that day. What business had he to be shutting the gate after +him in that free-and-easy way at ten o'clock at night? He must find it +out somehow; he must make an excuse for calling there, and put the +question as indifferently as he could; but even when he made up his +mind to pursue this course, Archie felt just as restless as ever. + +He made his way to the cottage as early as possible. Phillis, who was +alone in the work-room, colored a little as she saw him coming in at +the gate. He came so often, he was so kind, so attentive to them all, +and yet she had a dim doubt in her mind that troubled her at times. +Was it for Nan's sake that he came? Could she speak and undeceive him +before things went too far with him? Yes, when the opportunity +offered, she thought she could speak, even though the speaking would +be painful to her. + +Mr. Drummond looked round the room with a disappointed air as he +entered, and then he came up to Phillis. + +"You are alone?" he said, with a regretful accent in his voice; at +least Phillis fancied she detected it. "How is that? Are your sisters +out, or busy?" + +"Oh, we are always busy," returned Phillis, lightly; but, curiously +enough, she felt a little sore at his tone. "Nan has gone down to +Albert Terrace to take a fresh order, and Dulce is in the town +somewhere with mother. Don't you mean to sit down, Mr. Drummond? or is +your business with mother? She will not be back just yet, but I could +give her any message." Phillis said this as she stitched away with +energy; but one quick glance had shown her that Mr. Drummond was +looking irresolute and ill at ease as he stood beside her. + +"Thank you, but I must not stay and hinder you. Yes, my business was +with your mother; but it is of no consequence, and I can call again." +Nevertheless, he sat down and deposited his felt hat awkwardly enough +on the table. He liked Phillis, but he was a little afraid of her; she +was shrewd, and seemed to have the knack of reading one's thoughts. He +was wondering how he should bring his question on the _tapis_; but +Phillis, by some marvellous intuition that really surprised her, had +already come to the conclusion that this visit meant something. He had +seen Dick; perhaps he wanted to find out all about him. Certainly he +was not quite himself to-day. Yes, that must be what he wanted. +Phillis's kind heart and mother-wit were always ready for an +emergency. + +"How full Hadleigh is getting!" she remarked, pleasantly, as she +adjusted the trimming of a sleeve. "Do you know some old neighbors of +ours from Oldfield turned up unexpectedly yesterday? They are going +away to-day, though," she added, with a little regret in her voice. + +Archie brightened up visibly at this. + +"Oh, indeed!" he observed, with alacrity. "Not a very long visit. +Perhaps they came down purposely to see you?" + +"Yes, of course," returned Phillis, confusedly. "They had intended +staying some days at the hotel, but Mr. Mayne suddenly changed his +mind, much to our and Dick's disappointment; but it could not be +helped." + +"Dick," echoed Archie, a little surprised at this familiarity and then +he added, somewhat awkwardly, "I think I saw the young man and his +father at the Library yesterday; and last night as I was coming from +the station I encountered him again at your gate." + +"Yes, that was Dick," answered Phillis, stooping a little over her +work. "He is not handsome, poor fellow! but he is as nice as possible. +They live at Longmead; that is next door to our dear old Glen Cottage, +and the gardens adjoin. We call him Dick because we have known him all +our lives, and he has been a sort of brother to us." + +"Oh, yes, I see," drawled Archie, slowly. "That sort of thing is very +nice when you have not a man belonging to you. It is a little awkward +sometimes, for people do not always see this sort of relationship. He +seemed a nice sort of fellow, I should say," he continued, in his +patronizing way, stroking his beard complacently. After all, the +sandy-headed youth was no possible rival. + +"Oh, Dick is ever so nice," answered Phillis, enthusiastically; "not +good enough for--" and then she stopped and broke her thread. "I am +glad we are so fond of him," she continued, rather hurriedly, "because +Dick is to be our real brother some day. He and Nan have cared for +each other all their lives, and, though Mr. Mayne is dreadfully angry +about it, they consider themselves as good as engaged, and mean to +live down his opposition. They came to an understanding yesterday," +finished Phillis, who was determined to bring it all out. + +"Oh, indeed!" returned Archie: "that must be a great relief, I am +sure. There is your little dog whining at the door; may I let him in?" +And, without waiting for an answer, Archie had darted out in pursuit +of Laddie, but not before Phillis's swift upward glance had shown her +a face that had grown perceptibly paler in the last few minutes. + +"Oh, poor fellow! I was right!" thought Phillis, and the tears rushed +to her eyes. "It was best to speak. I see that now; and he will get +over it if he thinks no one knows it. How I wish I could help him! but +it will never do to show the least sympathy: I have no right." And +here Phillis sighed, and her gray eyes grew dark with pain for a +moment. Archie was rather a long time absent; and then he came back +with Laddie in his arms, and stood by the window. + +"Your news has interested me very much," he said, and his voice was +quite steady. "I suppose, as this--this engagement is not public, I +had better not wish your sister joy, unless you do it for me." + +"Oh, no; there is no need of that," returned Phillis, in a low voice. +"Mother might not like my mentioning it; but I thought you might +wonder about Dick, and----" here Phillis got confused. + +"Thank you," replied Archie, quietly; but now he looked at her. "You +are very kind. Yes, it was best for me to know." And then, as Phillis +rose and gave him her hand, for he had taken up his hat as he spoke, +she read at once that her caution had been in vain,--that he had full +understanding why the news had been told to him, and to him only, and +that he was grateful to her for so telling him. + +Poor Phillis! she had accomplished her task; and yet as the door +closed behind the young clergyman, two or three tears fell on her +work. He was not angry with her; on the contrary, he had thanked her, +and the grasp of his hand had been as cordial as ever. But, in spite +of the steadiness of his voice and look, the arrow had pierced between +the joints of his armor. He might not be fatally wounded,--that was +not in the girl's power to know; but that he was in some way +hurt,--made miserable with a man's misery,--of this she was acutely +sensible; and the strangest longing to comfort him--to tell him how +much she admired his fortitude--came over her, with a strong stinging +pain that surprised her. + +Archie had the longest walk that day that he had ever had in his life. +He came in quite fagged and foot-sore to his dinner, and far too tired +to eat. Mattie told him he looked ill and worn out; but, though he +generally resented any such personal remarks, he merely told her very +gently that he was tired, and that he would like a cup of coffee in +his study, and not to be disturbed. And when she took in the coffee +presently, she found him buried in the depths of his easy-chair, and +evidently half asleep, and stole out of the room on tiptoe. + +But his eyes opened very speedily as soon as the door closed upon her. +It was not sleep he wanted, but some moral strength to bear a pain +that threatened to be unendurable. How had that girl read his secret? +Surely he had not betrayed himself! Nan had not discovered it, for her +calmness and sweet unconsciousness had never varied in his presence. +Never for an instant had her changing color testified to the faintest +uneasiness. He understood the reason of her reserve now. Her thoughts +had been with this Dick; and here Archie groaned and hid his face. + +Not mortally hurt, perhaps; but still the pain and the sense of loss +were very bitter to this young man, who had felt for weeks past that +his life was permeated by the sweetness and graciousness of Nan's +presence. How lovely she had seemed to him,--the ideal girl of his +dreams! It was love at first sight. He knew that now. His man's heart +had been set on the hope of winning her, and now she was lost to him. + +Never for one moment had she belonged to him, or could belong to him. +"He and Nan have cared for each other all their lives,"--that was what +her sister had told him; and what remained but for him to stamp out +this craze and fever before it mastered him and robbed him of his +peace? + +"I am not the only man who has had to suffer," thought Archie, as +hours after he stumbled up to bed in the darkness. "At least, it makes +it easier to know that no one shares my pain. These things are better +battled out alone. I could not bear even Grace's sympathy in this." +And yet as Archie said this to himself, he recalled without any +bitterness the half-tender, half pitying look in Phillis's eyes. "She +was sorry for me. She saw it all; and it was kind of her to tell me," +thought the young man. + +He had no idea that Phillis was at that moment whispering little +wistful prayers in the darkness that he might soon be comforted. + +Who knows how many such prayers are flung out into the deep of God's +mercy,--comfort for such a one whom we would fain comfort ourselves; +feeble utterances and cries of pity; the stretching out of helpless +hands, which nevertheless may bring down blessings? But so it shall be +while men and women struggle and fall, and weep the tears common to +humanity, "until all eyes are dried in the clear light of eternity, +and the sorest heart shall then own the wisdom of the cross that had +been laid upon them." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +"THIS IS LIFE AND DEATH TO ME." + + +Phillis found it difficult during the next few days to reconcile +divided sympathies; a nice adjustment of conflicting feelings seemed +almost impossible. Nan was so simply, so transparently happy, that no +sister worthy of the name could refuse to rejoice with her: a creature +so brimming over with gladness, with contented love, was certain to +reflect heart-sunshine. On the other hand, there was Mr. Drummond! To +be glad and sorry in a breath was as provoking to a feeling woman as +the traveller's blowing hot and cold was to the satyr in the fable. + +In trying to preserve an even balance Phillis became decidedly cross. +She was one who liked a clear temperature,--neither torrid nor frigid. +Too much susceptibility gave her an east-windy feeling; to be always +at the fever-point of sympathy with one's fellow-creatures would not +have suited her at all. + +Nan, who possessed more sweetness of temper than keenness of +psychological insight, could not understand what had come to Phillis. +She was absent, a trifle sad, and yet full of retort. At times she +seemed to brim over with a wordy wisdom that made no sort of +impression. + +One evening, as they were retiring to bed, Nan beckoned her into her +little room, and shut the door. Then she placed a seat invitingly by +the open window, which was pleasantly framed by jasmine; and then she +took hold of Phillis's shoulders in a persuasive manner. + +"Now, dear," she said, coaxingly, "you shall just tell me all about +it." + +Phillis looked up, a little startled. Then, as she met Nan's gentle, +penetrative glance, she presented a sudden blank of non-comprehension, +most telling on such occasions, and yawned slightly. + +"What do you mean, Nannie?" in a somewhat bored tone. + +"Come, dear, tell me," continued Nan, with cheerful pertinacity. "You +are never dull or touchy without some good reason. What has been the +matter the last few days? Are you vexed or disappointed about +anything? Are you sure--quite sure you are pleased about Dick?"--the +idea occurring to her suddenly that Phillis might not approve of their +imprudent engagement. + +"Oh, Nannie, how absurd you are!" returned Phillis, pettishly. "Have I +not told you a dozen times since Wednesday how delighted I am that you +have come to an understanding? Have I not sounded his praises until I +was hoarse? Why, if I had been in love with Dick myself I could not +have talked about him more." + +"Yes, I know you have been very good, dear; but still I felt there was +something." + +"Oh, dear, no!" returned Phillis decidedly, and her voice was a little +hard. "The fact is, you are in the seventh heaven yourself, and you +expect us to be there too. Not that I wonder at you, Nannie, because +Dick--dear old fellow--is ever so nice." + +She threw in this last clause not without intention, and of course the +tempting bait took at once. + +"I never knew any one half so good," replied Nan, in a calmly +satisfied tone. "You have hinted once or twice, Phil, that you thought +him rather too young,--that our being the same age was a pity; but--do +you know?--in Dick's case it does not matter in the least. No man +double his age could have made his meaning more plain, or have spoken +better to the purpose. He is so strong and self-reliant and manly: and +with all his fun, he is so unselfish." + +"He will make you a very good husband, Nan; I am sure of that." + +"I think he will," returned Nan, with a far-away look in her eyes. +She was recalling Dick's speech about the nest that he wanted to make +cosey for some one. "Phil, dear," she went on, after this blissful +pause, "I wish you had a Dick too." + +"Good Gracious, Nannie!" + +"I mean--you know what I mean,--some one to whom you are first, and +who has a right to care for you; it gives such a meaning to one's +life. Of course it will come in time; no one can look at you and not +prophesy a happy future: it is only I who am impatient and want it to +come soon." + +Phillis wrinkled her brows thoughtfully over this speech: she seemed +inclined to digest and assimilate it. + +"I dare say you are right," she replied, after a pause. "Yes it would +be nice, no doubt." + +"When the real _he_ comes, you will find how nice it is," rejoined +Nan, with sympathetic readiness. "Do you know, Phil, the idea has once +or twice occurred to me that Mr. Drummond comes rather often!" But +here Phillis shook off her hand and started from her chair. + +"There is a moth singing its wings. Poor wee beastie! let me save it, +if it be not too late." And she chased the insect most patiently until +the blue-gray wings fluttered into her hand. + +"There, I have saved him from utter destruction!" she cried +triumphantly, leaning out into the darkness. "He has scorched himself, +that is all;" then as she walked back to her sister, her head was +erect, and there was a beautiful earnest look upon her face. + +"Nannie, I don't want to find fault with you, but don't you remember +how we used to pride ourselves, in the dear old days, in not being +like other girls,--the Paines, for example, or even Adelaide Sartoris, +who used to gossip so much about young men." + +Nan opened her eyes widely at this, but made no answer. + +"We must not be different now, because our life is narrower and more +monotonous. I know, talking so much over our work, we have terrible +temptations to gossip; but I can't bear to think that we should ever +lower our standard, ever degenerate into the feeble girlishness we +abhor. We never used to talk about young men, Nan, except Dick; and +that did not matter. Of course we liked them in their places, and had +plenty of fun, and tormented them a little; but you never made such a +speech as that at Glen Cottage." + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! What have I done?" exclaimed Nan, much distressed +at this rebuke. "I do think you are right, Phil; and it was naughty of +me to put such a thing into your head." + +"You have put no idea into my head," replied Phillis, with crisp +obstinacy. "There! I am only moralizing for my own good, as well as +yours. Small beginnings make great endings. If we once began to +gossip, we might end by flirting; and, Nan, if you knew how I hate +that sort of thing!" And Phillis looked grand and scornful. + +"Yes, dear; and I know you are right," returned Nan, humbly. She was +not quite sure what she had done to provoke this outburst of high +moral feeling: but she felt that Phillis was dreadfully in earnest. +They kissed each other rather solemnly after that, and Phillis was +suffered to depart in silence. + +That night there was no wistful little prayer that Mr. Drummond might +be comforted: Phillis had too many petitions to offer up on her own +account. She was accusing herself of pride, and Pharisaism, and +hypocrisy, in no measured terms. "Not like other girls! I am +worse,--worse," she said to herself. And then, among other things, she +asked for the gift of content,--for a quiet, satisfied spirit, not +craving or embittered,--strength to bear her own and her friends' +troubles, and far-looking faith to discern "God's perfectness round +our uncompleteness,--round our restlessness His rest." + +The following evening, as Phillis was sorting out patterns in the +work-room, a note was brought to her from the White House. It was in +Mrs. Cheyne's handwriting, and, like herself, strangely abrupt. + +"Your visits are like angels' visits,--extremely rare," it began. "I +am afraid I have frightened you away, as I have frightened the parson. +I thought you had more wit than he to discern between mannerism and +downright ill-humor. This evening the temperature is equable,--not the +sign of a brooding cloud: so put on your hat, like a good girl, and +come over. Miss Mewlstone and I will be prepared to welcome you." + +"You had better go," observed Nan, who had read the note over her +sister's shoulder: "you have worked so dreadfully hard all day, and it +will be a little change." + +"No one cares for east winds as a change," replied Phillis, dryly; +nevertheless, she made up her mind that she would go. She was +beginning to dread being summoned to the White House: she felt that +Mrs. Cheyne alternately fascinated and repelled her. She was growing +fond of Miss Mewlstone; but then, on these occasions, she had so +little intercourse with her. The charitable instinct that was always +ready to be kindled in Phillis's nature prompted her to pay these +visits; and yet she always went reluctantly. + +She had two encounters on the road, both of which she had foreseen +with nice presentiment. + +The first was with Mr. Drummond. + +He was walking along slowly, with his eyes on the ground. A sort of +flush came to his face when he saw Phillis; and then he stopped, and +shook hands, and asked after them all comprehensively, yet with +constraint in his voice. Phillis told him rather hurriedly that she +was going to the White House: Mrs. Cheyne had sent for her. + +Archie smiled: + +"I am glad she does not send for me. I have not been there for a long +time. Sarcasm is not an attractive form of welcome. It slams the door +in a man's face. I hope you will not get some hard hits, Miss +Challoner." And then he went on his way. + +As she approached Mrs. Williams's cottage, Mr. Dancy was, as usual, +leaning against the little gate. He stepped out in the road, and +accosted her. + +"I have not called on your mother," he began, rather abruptly. "After +all, I thought it best not to trouble her just now. Can you spare me a +few minutes? or are you going in there?" looking towards the White +House. + +"I am rather in a hurry," returned Phillis, surprised at his manner, +it seemed so agitated. "I am already late, and Mrs. Cheyne will be +expecting me." + +"Very well: another time," he replied, stepping back without further +ceremony; but until Phillis's figure disappeared in the trees he +watched her, leaning still upon the little gate. + +Mrs. Cheyne received her with a frosty smile; but, on the whole, her +manner was more gracious than usual, and by and by it thawed +completely. + +She was a little captious at first, it was true, and she snubbed poor +Miss Mewlstone decidedly once or twice,--but then Miss Mewlstone was +used to being snubbed,--but with Phillis she was sparing of sarcasms. +After a time she began to look kindly at the girl; then she bade her +talk, rather peremptorily, because she liked her voice and found it +pleasant to listen to her; and by and by Phillis grew more at her +ease, and her girlish talk rippled on as smoothly as possible. + +Mrs. Cheyne's face softened and grew strangely handsome as she +listened: she was drawing Phillis out,--leading her to speak of the +old life, and of all their youthful sources of happiness. Then she +fell into a retrospect of her own young days, when she was a spoiled +madcap girl and had all sorts of daring adventures. + +Phillis was quite fascinated; she was even disappointed when Miss +Mewlstone pointed out the lateness of the hour. + +"I have enjoyed myself so much," she said, as she put on her hat. + +"I meant you to enjoy yourself," returned Mrs. Cheyne, quietly, as she +drew the girl's face down to hers. "I have given you such a bad +impression that you look on me as a sort of moral bugbear. I can be +very different, when I like, and I have liked to be agreeable +to-night." And then this strange woman took up a rich cashmere shawl +from the couch where she was lying, and folded it around Phillis's +shoulders. "The evenings are chilly. Jeffreys can bring this back with +her;" for Mrs. Cheyne had already decided that this time her maid +should accompany Phillis to the cottage. + +Phillis laughed in an amused fashion as she saw the reflection of +herself in one of the mirrors: her figure looked quite queenly +enveloped in the regal drapery. "She has forgotten all about the +dressmaking," she thought to herself, as she tripped downstairs. + +It was a lovely moonlight evening; the avenue was white and glistening +in the soft light; the trees cast weird shadows on the grass. Phillis +was somewhat surprised to see in the distance Mr. Dancy's tall figure +pacing to and fro before the lodge-gate. He was evidently waiting for +her; for as she approached he threw away his cigar and joined her at +once. Jeffreys, who thought he was some old acquaintance, dropped +behind very discreetly, after the manner of waiting-women. + +"How long you have stayed this evening! I have been walking up and +down for more than an hour, watching for you," he began, with curious +abruptness. + +This and no more did Jeffreys hear before she lingered out of earshot. +The lady's maid thought she perceived an interesting situation, and +being of a susceptible and sympathetic temperament, with a blighted +attachment of her own, there was no fear of her intruding. Phillis +looked around once, but Jeffreys was absorbed in her contemplations of +the clouds. + +"I thought you were never coming," he continued; and then he stopped +all at once, and caught hold of the fringe of the shawl. "This is not +yours: I am sure I have seen Magdalene in it. Pshaw! what am I saying? +the force of old habit. I knew her once as Magdalene." + +"It is dreadfully heavy, and, after all, the evening is so warm," +returned Phillis, taking no notice of this incoherent speech. + +"Let me carry it," he rejoined, with singular eagerness; "it is +absurd, a wrap like that on such a night." And, while Phillis +hesitated, he drew the shawl from her shoulders and hung it over his +arm, and all the way his disengaged right hand rested on the folds, +touching it softly from time to time, as though the mere feeling of +the texture pleased him. + +"How was she to-night?" he asked, coming a little closer to Phillis, +and dropping his voice as he spoke. + +"Who?--Mrs. Cheyne? Oh, she was charming! just a little cold and +captious at first, but that is her way. But this evening she was bent +on fascinating me, and she quite succeeded; she looked ill, though, +but very, very beautiful." + +"She never goes out. I cannot catch a glimpse of her," he returned, +hurriedly. "Miss Challoner, I am going to startle--shock you, perhaps; +but I have thought about it all until my head is dizzy, and there is +no other way. Please give me your attention a moment," for Phillis, +with a vague sense of uneasiness, had looked around for Jeffreys. "I +must see you alone: I must speak to you where we shall not be +interrupted. To call on your mother will be no good; you and only you +can help me. And you are so strong and merciful--I can read that in +your eyes--that I am sure of your sympathy, if you will only give me a +hearing." + +"Mr. Dancy! oh, what can you mean?" exclaimed Phillis. She was +dreadfully frightened at his earnestness, but her voice was dignified, +and she drew herself away with a movement full of pride and _hauteur_. +"You are a stranger to me; you have no right----" + +"The good Samaritan was a stranger too. Have you forgotten that?" he +returned, in a voice of grave rebuke. "Oh, you are a girl; you are +thinking of your mother! I have shocked your sense of propriety, my +child; for you seem a child to me, who have lived and suffered so +much. Would you hesitate an instant if some poor famishing wretch were +to ask you for food or water? Well, I am that poor wretch. What I have +to tell you is a matter of life and death to me. Only a woman--only +you--can help me; and you shrink because we have not had a proper +introduction. My dear young lady, you have nothing to fear from me. I +am unfortunate, but a gentleman,--a married man, if that will satisfy +your scruples----" + +"But my mother," faltered Phillis, not knowing what to say to this +unfortunate stranger, who terrified and yet attracted her by turns. + +Never had she heard a human voice so persuasive, and yet so agonized +in its intensity. A conviction of the truth of his words seized upon +her as she listened,--that he was unhappy, that he needed her sympathy +for some purpose of his own, and yet that she herself had nothing to +do with his purpose. But what would Nan say if she consented--if she +acceded to such an extraordinary proposition--to appoint a meeting +with a stranger? + +"It is life and death to me; remember that!" continued Mr. Dancy, in +that low, suppressed voice of agitation. "If you refuse on the score +of mere girlish propriety, you will regret it. I am sure of that. +Trust to your own brave heart, and let it answer for you. Will you +refuse this trifling act of mercy,--just to let me speak to you alone, +and tell you my story? When you have heard that, you will take things +into your own hands." + +Phillis hesitated, and grew pale with anxiety; but the instincts of +her nature were stronger than her prudence. From the first she had +believed in this man, and felt interested in him and his mysterious +surroundings. "One may be deceived in a face, but never in a voice," +she had said, in her pretty dictatorial way; and now this voice was +winning her over to his side. + +"It is not right; but what can I do? You say I can help you."--And +then she paused. "To-morrow morning I have to take some work to Rock +Building. I shall not be long. But I could go on the beach for half an +hour. Nan would spare me. I might hear your story then." + +She spoke rapidly, and rather ungraciously, as though she were +dispensing largess to a troublesome mendicant; but Mr. Dancy's answer +was humble in its intense gratitude. + +"God bless you! I knew your kind heart was to be trusted There! I will +not come any farther. Good-night; good-night, a thousand thanks!" And, +before Phillis could reply, this strange being had left her side, and +was laying the cashmere shawl in Jeffreys's arms slowly and tenderly, +as though it were a child. + +Phillis was glad that Dulce opened the door to her that night, for she +was afraid of Nan's questioning glance. Nan was tired, and had retired +early; and, as Dulce was sleepy too, Phillis was now left in peace. +She passed the night restlessly, walking up at all sorts of untimely +hours, her conscience pricking her into wakefulness. To her +well-ordered nature there was something terrifying in the thought that +she should be forced to take such a step. + +"Oh, what would mother and Nan say?" was her one cry. + +"I know I am dreadfully impulsive and imprudent, but Nan would think I +am not to be trusted;" but she had passed her word, and nothing now +would have induced her to swerve from it. + +She ate her breakfast silently, and with a sense of oppression and +guilt quite new to her. She grew inwardly hot whenever Nan looked at +her, which she did continually and with the utmost affection. Before +the meal was over, however, Miss Middleton and Mattie made their +appearance, and in the slight bustle of entrance Phillis managed to +effect her escape. + +The hour that followed bore the unreality of a nightmare. Outwardly, +Phillis was the grave, business-like dressmaker. The lady who had sent +for her, and who was a stranger to Hadleigh, was much struck with her +quiet self-possessed manners and lady-like demeanor. + +"Her voice was quite refined," she said afterwards to her daughter. +"And she had such a nice face and beautiful figure. I am sure she is a +reduced gentlewoman, for her accent was perfect. I am quite obliged to +Miss Milner for recommending us such a person, for she evidently +understands her business. One thing I noticed, Ada,--the way in which +she quietly laid down the parcel, and said it should be fetched +presently. Any ordinary dressmaker in a small town like this would +have carried it home herself." + +Poor Phillis! she had laid down the parcel and drawn on her +well-fitting gloves with a curious sinking at her heart: from the +window of the house in Rock Building she could distinctly see Mr. +Dancy walking up and down the narrow plat of grass before the houses, +behind the tamarisk hedge, his foreign-looking cloak and slouch hat +making him conspicuous. + +"There is that queer-looking man again, mamma," exclaimed one of the +young ladies, who was seated in the window. "I am sure he is some +distinguished foreigner, he has such an air with him." + +Phillis listened to no more, but hurried down the stairs and then +prepared to cross the green with some degree of trepidation. She was +half afraid that Mr. Dancy would join her at once, in the full view of +curious eyes; but he knew better. He sauntered on slowly until she had +reached the Parade and was going towards a part of the beach where +there was only a knot of children wading knee-deep in the water, +sailing a toy-boat. She stood and watched them dreamily, until the +voice she expected sounded in her ear: + +"True as steel! Ah, I was never deceived in a face yet. Where shall we +sit, Miss Challoner? Yes, this is a quiet corner, and the children +will not disturb us. Look at that urchin, with his bare brown legs and +curly head: is he not a study? Ah, if he had lived--my----" And then +he sighed, and threw himself on the beach. + +"Well," observed Phillis, interrogatively. She was inclined to be +short with him this morning. She had kept her word, and put herself +into this annoying position; but there must be no hesitation, no +beating about the bush, no loss of precious time. The story she had +now to hear must be told, and with out delay. + +Mr. Dancy raised his eyes as he heard the tone, and then he took off +his spectacles as though he felt them an incumbrance. Phillis had a +very good view of a pair of handsome eyes, with a lurking gleam of +humor in them, which speedily died away into sadness. + +"You are in a hurry; but I was thinking how I could best begin without +startling you. But I may as well get it out without any prelude. Miss +Challoner, to Mrs. Williams I am only Mr. Dancy; but my real name is +Herbert Dancy Cheyne." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +MISS MEWLSTONE HAS AN INTERRUPTION. + + +"HERBERT DANCY CHEYNE!" + +As he pronounced the name slowly and with marked emphasis, a low cry +of uncontrollable astonishment broke from Phillis: it was so +unexpected. She began to shiver a little from the sudden shock. + +"There! I have startled you,--and no wonder; and yet how could I help +it? Yes," he repeated, calmly, "I am that unfortunate Herbert Cheyne +whom his own wife believes to be dead." + +"Whom every one believes to be dead," corrected Phillis, in a panting +breath. + +"Is it any wonder?" he returned, vehemently; and his eyes darkened, +and his whole features worked, as though with the recollection of some +unbearable pain. "Have I not been snatched from the very jaws of +death? Has not mine been a living death, a hideous grave, for these +four years?" And then, hurriedly and almost disconnectedly, as though +the mere recalling the past was torture to him, he poured into the +girl's shrinking ears fragments of a story so stern in its reality, so +terrible in its details, that, regardless of the children that played +on the margin of the water, Phillis hid her face in her hands and wept +for sheer pity. + +Wounded, bereft of all his friends, and left apparently dying in the +hands of a hostile tribe, Herbert Cheyne had owed his life to the +mercy of a woman, a poor, degraded ill-used creature, half-witted and +ugly, but who had not lost all the instincts of her womanhood, and who +fed and nursed the white stranger as tenderly as though he were her +own son. + +While the old negress lived, Herbert Cheyne had been left in peace to +languish back to life, through days and nights of intolerable +suffering, until he had regained a portion of his old strength; then a +fever carried off his protectress, and he became virtually a slave. + +Out of pity for the tender-hearted girl who listened to him, Mr. +Cheyne hurried over this part of his sorrowful past. He spoke briefly +of indignities, abuse, and at last of positive ill treatment. Again +and again his life had been in danger from brute violence; again and +again he had striven to escape, and had been recaptured with blows. + +Phillis pointed mutely to his scarred wrists, and the tears flowed +down her cheeks. + +"Yes, yes; these are the marks of my slavery," he replied, bitterly. +"They were a set of hideous brutes; and the fetish they worshipped was +cruelty. I carry about me other marks that must go with me to my +grave; but there is no need to dwell on these horrors. He sent His +angel to deliver me," he continued, reverently; "and again my +benefactor was a woman." + +And then he went on to tell Phillis that one of the wives of the chief +in whose service he was took pity on him, and aided him to escape on +the very night before some great festival, when it had been determined +to kill him. This time he had succeeded; and, after a series of +hair-breadth adventures, he had fallen in with some Dutch traders who +had come far into the interior in search of ivory tusks. He was so +burnt by the sun and disfigured by paint that he had great difficulty +in proving his identity as an Englishman. But at last they had +suffered him to join them, and after some more months of wandering he +had worked his way to the coast. + +There misfortune bad again overtaken him, in the form of a long and +tedious illness. Fatigue, disaster, anguish of mind, and a slight +sunstroke had taken dire effect upon him; but this time he had fallen +into the hands of good Samaritans. The widowed sister of the consul, a +very Dorcas of good works, had received the miserable stranger into +her house; and she and her son, like Elijah's widow of Zarephath, had +shared with him their scanty all. + +"They were very poor, but they pinched themselves for the sake of the +stricken wretch that was thrown on their mercy. It was a woman again +who succored me the third time," continued Mr. Cheyne: "you may judge +how sacred women are in my eyes now! Dear motherly Mrs. Van Hollick! +when she at last suffered me to depart, she kissed and blessed me as +though I were her own son. Never to my dying day shall I forget her +goodness. My one thought, after seeing Magdalene, will be how I am to +repay her goodness,--how I can make prosperity flow in on the little +household, that the cruse and cake may never fail!" + +"But," interrupted Phillis at this point, "did you not write, or your +friends write for you, to England?" + +Mr. Cheyne smiled bitterly: + +"It seems as though some strange fatality were over me. Yes, I wrote. +I wrote to Magdalene, to my lawyer, and to another friend who had +known me all my life, but the ship that carried these letters was +burnt at sea. I only heard that when I at last worked my way to +Portsmouth as a common sailor and in that guise presented myself at my +lawyer's chambers. Poor man! I thought he would have fainted when he +saw me. He owned afterwards he was a believer in ghosts at that +moment." + +"How long ago was that?" asked Phillis, gently. + +"Two months; not longer. It was then I heard of my children's death, +of my wife's long illness and her strange state. I was ill myself, and +not fit to battle through any more scenes. Mr. Standish took me home +until I had rested and recovered myself a little; and then I put on +this disguise--not that much of that is necessary, for few people +would recognize me, I believe--and came down here and took possession +of Mrs. Williams's lodgings." + +Phillis looked at him with mute questioning in her eyes. She did not +venture to put it into words, but he understood her: + +"Why have I waited so long, do you ask? and why am I living here +within sight of my own house, a spy on my own threshold and wife? My +dear Miss Challoner, there is a bitter reason for that! + +"Four years ago I parted from my wife in anger. There were words said +that day that few women could forgive. Has she forgiven them? That is +what I am trying to find out. Will the husband who has been dead to +her all these years be welcome to her living?" His voice dropped into +low vehemence, and a pallor came over his face as he spoke. + +Phillis laid her hand on his own. She looked strangely eager: + +"This is why you want my help. Ah! I see now! Oh, it is all right--all +that you can wish! It is she who is tormenting herself, who has no +rest day or night! When the thunder came that evening--you +remember--we sat beside the children's empty beds, and she told me +some of her thoughts. When the lighting flashed, her nerves gave way, +and she cried out, in her pain, 'Did he forgive?' That was her one +thought. Her husband,--who was up in heaven with the children,--did he +think mercifully of her, and know how she loved him? It was your name +that was on her lips when that good woman, Miss Mewlstone, hushed her +in her arms like a child. Oh, be comforted!" faltered Phillis, "for +she loves you, and mourns for you as though she were the most desolate +creature living!" But here she paused, for something that sounded like +a sob came to her ear, and looking round, she saw the bowed figure of +her companion shaking with uncontrollable emotion,--those hard +tearless sobs that are only wrung from a man's strong agony. + +"Oh, hush!" cried the girl, tenderly. "Be comforted: there is no room +for doubt. There! I will leave you; you will be better by and by." And +then instinctively she turned away her face from a grief too sacred +for a stranger to touch, and walked down to the water, where the +children had ceased playing, and listened to the baby waves that +lapped about her feet. + +And by and by he joined her; and on his pale face there was a rapt, +serious look, as of one who has despaired and has just listened to an +angel's tidings. + +"Did I not say that you, and only you, could help me? This is what I +have wanted to know: had Magdalene forgiven me? Now I need wait no +longer. My wife and home are mine, and I must take possession of my +treasures." + +He stopped, as though overcome by the prospect of such happiness; but +Phillis timidly interposed: + +"But, Mr. Cheyne, think a moment. How is it to be managed? If you are +in too great a hurry, will not the shock be too much for her? She is +nervous,--excitable. It would hardly be safe." + +"That is what troubles me," he returned, anxiously. "It is too much +for any woman to bear; and Magdalene--she was always excitable. Tell +me, you have such good sense; and, though you are so young, one can +always rely on a woman; you understand her so well--I see you do--and +she is fond of you,--how shall we act that my poor darling, who has +undergone so much, may not be harmed by me any more?" + +"Wait one moment," returned Phillis, earnestly. "I must consider." And +she set herself to revolve all manner of possibilities, and then +rejected them one by one. "There seems no other way," she observed, +at last, fixing her serious glance on Mr. Cheyne. "I must seek for an +opportunity to speak to Miss Mewlstone. It must be broken carefully to +your poor wife; I am sure of that. Miss Mewlstone will help us. She +will tell us what to do, and how to do it. Oh, she is so kind, so +thoughtful and tender, just as though Mrs. Cheyne were a poor wayward +child, who must be guided and helped and shielded. I like her so much: +we must go to her for counsel." + +"You must indeed, and at once!" he returned, rather peremptorily; and +Phillis had a notion now what manner of man he had been before +misfortunes had tamed and subdued him. His eyes flashed with +eagerness; he grew young, alert, full of life in a moment. "Forgive me +if I am too impetuous; but I have waited so long, and now my patience +seems exhausted all at once during the last hour. I have been at +fever-point ever since you have proved to me that my wife--my +Magdalene--has been true to me. Fool that I was! why have I doubted so +long? Miss Challoner, you will not desert me?--you will be my good +angel a little longer? You will go to Miss Mewlstone now,--this very +moment,--and ask her to prepare my wife?" + +"It is time for me to be going home: mother and Nan will think I am +lost," returned Phillis, in a quiet, matter-of-fact tone. "Come Mr. +Cheyne, we can talk as we go along." For he was so wan and agitated +that she felt uneasy for his sake. She took his arm gently, and guided +him as though he were a child; and he obeyed her like one. + +"Promise me that you will speak to her at once," he said, as he walked +beside her rather feebly; and his gait became all at once like that of +an old man. But Phillis fenced this remark very discreetly. + +"This afternoon or this evening, when I get the chance," she said, +very decidedly: "if I am to help you, it must be as I think best, and +at my own time. Do not think me unkind, for I am doing this for your +own good: it would not help you if your wife were to be brought to the +brink of a nervous illness. Leave it to me. Miss Mewlstone will serve +us best, and she will know." And then she took her hand from his arm, +and bade him drop behind a little, that she might not be seen in the +town walking with him. "Good-bye! keep up your courage. I will help +you all I can," she said, with a kindly smile, as he reluctantly +obeyed her behest. She was his good angel, but he must not walk any +longer in her shadow: angels do their good deeds invisibly, as Phillis +hoped to do hers. He thought of this as he watched her disappearing in +the distance. + +Phillis walked rapidly towards the cottage. Archie, who was letting +himself in at his own door, saw the girl pass, carrying her head high, +and stepping lightly as though she were treading on air. "Here comes +Atalanta," he said to himself; but, though a smile came over his tired +face, he made no effort to arrest her. The less he saw of any of them +the better, he thought, just now. + +Nan looked up reproachfully as the truant entered the work-room, and +Mrs. Challoner wore her gravest expression; evidently she had prepared +a lecture for the occasion. Phillis looked at them both with sparkling +eyes. + +"Listen to me, Nan and mother. Oh, I am glad Dulce is not here, she is +so young and giddy; and she might talk--No, not a word from either of +you, until I have had my turn." And then she began her story. + +Nan listened with rapt speechless attention, but Mrs. Challoner gave +vent to little pitying moans and exclamations of dismay. + +"Oh, my child!" she kept saying, "to think of your being mixed up in +such an adventure! How could you be so imprudent and daring? Mrs. +Williams's lodger--a strange man! in that outlandish cloak, too! and +you walked home with him that dark night! Oh, Phillis, I shall never +be at peace about you again!" and so on. + +Phillis bore all this patiently, for she knew she had been incautious: +and when her mother's excitement had calmed down a little, she +unfolded to them her plan. + +"I must see Miss Mewlstone quite alone; and that unfinished French +merino will be such a good excuse, Nan. I will take the body with me +this afternoon, and beg her to let me try it on; the rest must come +afterwards, but this will be the best way of getting her to myself." +And, as Nan approved of this scheme, and Mrs. Challoner did not +dissent, Phillis had very soon made up her parcel, and was walking +rapidly towards the White House. + +As she turned in at the gates she could see a shadow on the blind in +Mrs. Williams's little parlor, and waved her hand towards it. He was +watching her, she knew: she longed to go back and give him a word of +encouragement and exhortation to patience; but some one, Mr. Drummond +perhaps, might see her, and she dare not venture. + +She sent her message by Jeffreys, and Miss Mewlstone soon came +trotting into the room; but she wore a slightly-disturbed expression +on her good-natured face. + +She had been reading the third volume of a very interesting novel, and +had most unwillingly laid down her book at the young dressmaker's +unseasonable request. Like many other stout people, Miss Mewlstone was +more addicted to passivity than activity after her luncheon; and, +being a creature of habit, this departure from her usual rules +flurried her. + +"Dear, dear! to think of your wanting to try on that French merino +again!" she observed; "and the other dress fitted so beautifully, and +no trouble at all. And there has Miss Middleton being calling just +now, and saying they are expecting her brother Hammond home from India +in November; and it is getting towards the end of September now. I +was finishing my book, but I could not help listening to her,--she has +such a sweet voice. Ah, just so--just so. But aren't you going to open +your parcel, my dear?" + +"Never mind the dress," returned Phillis, quickly. "Dear Miss +Mewlstone, I was sorry to disturb you; but it could not be helped. +Don't look at the parcel: that is only an excuse. My business is far +more important. I want you to put on your bonnet, and come with me +just a little way across the road. There is some one's identity that +you must prove." + +Phillis was commencing her task in a somewhat lame fashion; but Miss +Mewlstone was still too much engrossed with her novel to notice her +visitor's singular agitation. + +"Ah, just so--just so," she responded; "that is exactly what the last +few chapters have been about. The real heir has turned up, and is +trying to prove his own identity; only he is so changed that no one +believes him. It is capitally worked out. A very clever author, my +dear----" + +But Phillis interrupted her a little eagerly: + +"Is that your tale, dear Miss Mewlstone? How often people say truth is +stranger than fiction! Do you know, I have heard a story in real life +far more wonderful than that? Some one was telling me about it just +now. There was a man whom every one, even his own wife, believed to be +dead; but after four years of incredible dangers and hardships--oh, +such hardships!--he arrived safely in England, and took up his abode +just within sight of his old house, where he could see his wife and +find out all about her without being seen himself. He put on some sort +of disguise, I think, so that people could not find him out." + +"That must be a make-up story, I think," returned Miss Mewlstone, a +little provokingly; but her head was still full of her book. Poor +woman! she wanted to get back to it. She looked at Phillis and the +parcel a little plaintively. "Ah, just so,--a very pretty story, but +improbable,--very improbable, my dear." + +"Nevertheless, it is true!" returned Phillis, so vehemently that Miss +Mewlstone's little blue eyes opened more widely. "Never mind your +book. I tell you I have business so important that nothing is of +consequence beside it. Where is Mrs. Cheyne? She must not know we are +going out." + +"Going out!" repeated Miss Mewlstone, helplessly. "My dear, I never go +out after luncheon, as Magdalene knows." + +"But you are going out with me," replied Phillis, promptly. "Dear Miss +Mewlstone, I know I am perplexing and worrying you; but what can I do? +Think over what I have just said,--about--about that improbable story, +as you called it; and then, you will not be so dreadfully startled. +You must come with me now to Mrs. Williams's cottage: I want you to +see her lodger." + +"Her lodger!" Miss Mewlstone was fully roused now; and, indeed, +Phillis's pale face and suppressed eager tones were not without their +due effect. Had the girl taken leave of her senses? Why, the ladies at +the White House led the lives of recluses. Why should she be asked to +call upon any stranger, but especially a gentleman,--Mrs. Williams's +lodger? "My dear," she faltered, "you are very strange this +afternoon.--Magdalene and I seldom call on any one, and certainly not +on gentlemen." + +"You must come with me," replied Phillis, half crying with excitement. +She found her task so difficult. Miss Mewlstone was as yielding as a +feather bed in appearance, and yet it was impossible to move her. "He +calls himself Mr. Dancy; but now he says that is not all his name: let +me whisper it in your ear, if it will not startle you too much. Think +of Mrs. Cheyne, and try and command yourself. Mrs. Williams's lodger +says that he is Herbert Cheyne,--poor Mrs. Cheyne's husband!" + + + + +XXXV. + +"BARBY, DON'T YOU RECOLLECT ME?" + + +"I do not believe it!--stuff and nonsense! You are crazy, child, to +come to me with this trumped-up story! The man is an impostor. I will +have the police to him. For heaven's sake don't let Magdalene hear +this nonsense!" + +Phillis recoiled a few steps, speechless with amazement. Miss +Mewlstone's face was crimson; her small eyes were sparkling with angry +excitement: all her softness and gentle inanity had vanished. + +"Give me a bonnet,--shawl,--anything, and I will put this matter +straight in a moment. Where is Jeffreys? Ring the bell, please, Miss +Challoner! I must speak to her." + +Phillis obeyed without a word. + +"Ah, just so. Jeffreys," resuming her old purring manner as the maid +appeared, "this young lady has a friend in trouble, and wants me to go +down to the cottage with her. Keep it from your mistress if you can, +for she hates hearing of anything sad; say we are busy,--I shall be in +to tea,--anything. I know you will be discreet, Jeffreys." + +"Yes, ma'am," returned Jeffreys, adjusting the shawl over Miss +Mewlstone's shoulders; "but this is your garden-shawl, surely?" + +"Oh, it does not matter; it will do very well. Now Miss Challoner, I +am ready." And so noiseless and rapid were her movements that Phillis +had much to do to keep up with her. + +"Won't you listen to me?" she pleaded. "Dear Miss Mewlstone, it is no +made-up story; it is all true;" but to her astonishment, Miss +Mewlstone faced round upon her in a most indignant manner: + +"Be silent, child! I cannot, and will not, hear any more. How should +you know anything about it? Have you ever seen Herbert Cheyne? You are +the tool of some impostor. But I will guard Magdalene; she shall not +be driven mad. No, no, poor dear! she shall not, as long as she has +old Bathsheba to watch over her." And Phillis, in despair, very wisely +held her peace. After all she was a stranger: had she any proof but +Mr. Dancy's word? + +Just towards the last, Miss Mewlstone's pace slackened; and her hand +shook so, as she tried to unlatch the little gate, that Phillis was +obliged to come to her assistance. The cottage door stood open as +usual, but there was no tall figure lurking in the background,--no +shadow on the blind. + +"We had better go in there," whispered Phillis, pointing to the closed +door of the parlor; and Miss Mewlstone, without knocking, at once +turned the handle and went in, while Phillis followed trembling. + +"Well, sir," said Miss Mewlstone, sternly, "I have come to know what +you mean by imposing your story on this child." + +Mr. Dancy, who was standing with his back to them, leaning for support +against the little mantle-shelf, did not answer for a moment; and then +he turned slowly round, and looked at her. + +"Oh, Barby!" he said; "don't you recollect me?" And then he held out +his thin hands to her imploringly, and added "Dear old Barby! but you +are not a bit changed." + +"Herbert--why, good heavens! Ah, just so--just so," gasped the poor +lady, rather feebly, as she sat down, feeling her limbs were deserting +her, and every scrap of color left her face. Indeed, she looked so +flabby and lifeless that Phillis was alarmed and flew to her +assistance; only Mr. Cheyne waved her aside rather impatiently. + +"Let her be; she is all right. She knows me, you see: so I cannot be +so much altered. Barby," he went on, in a coaxing voice, as he knelt +beside her and chafed her hands, "you thought I was an impostor, and +were coming to threaten me: were you not? But now you see Miss +Challoner was in the right. Have you not got a word for me? Won't you +talk to me about Magdalene? We have got to prepare her, you know." + +Then, as he spoke his wife's name, and she remembered her sacred +charge, the faithful creature suddenly fell on his neck in piteous +weeping. + +"Oh, the bonnie face," she wept, "that has grown so old, with the +sorrow and the gray hair! My dear, this will just kill her with joy, +after all her years of bitter widowhood." And then she cried again, +and stroked his face as though he were a child, and then wrung her +hands for pity at the changes she saw. "It is the same face, and yet +not the same," she said, by and by. "I knew the look of your eyes, my +bonnie man, for all they were so piercing with sadness. But what have +they done to you, Herbert?--for it might be your own ghost,--so thin; +and yet you are brown, too; and your hair!" And she touched the gray +locks over the temples with tender fluttering fingers. + +"Magdalene never liked gray hairs," he responded, with a sigh. "She is +as beautiful as ever, I hear; but I have not caught a glimpse of her. +Tell me, Barby,--for I have grown timorous with sorrow,--will she hate +the sight of such a miserable scarecrow?" + +"My dear! hate the sight of her own husband, who is given back to her +from the dead? Ay, I have much to hear. Why did you never write to us, +Herbert? But there! you have all that to explain to her by and by." + +"Yes; and you must tell me about the children,--my little Janie," he +returned, in a choked voice. + +"Ah, the dear angels! But, Herbert, you must be careful. Nobody speaks +of them to Magdalene, unless she does herself. You are impetuous, my +dear; and Magdalene--well, she has not been herself since you left +her. It is pining, grief, and the dead weight of loss that has ailed +her being childless and widowed at once. There, there! just so. We +must be tender of her, poor dear! and things will soon come right." + +"You need not fear me, Barby. I have learned my lesson at last. If I +only get my wife back, you shall see--you shall see how I will make up +to her for all I have ever made her suffer! My poor girl! my poor +girl!" And then he shaded his face, and was silent. + +Phillis had stolen out in the garden, and sat down on a little bench +outside, where passers-by could not discern her from the road, and +where only the sound of their voices reached her faintly. Now and +then, chance words fell on her ear,--"Magdalene" over and over again; +and "Janie" and "Bertie,"--always in the voice she had so admired. By +and by she heard her own name, and rose at once, and found them +looking for her. + +"Here is my good angel, Barby," observed Mr. Cheyne, as she came up +smiling. "Not one girl in a thousand would have acted as bravely and +simply as she has done. We are friends for life, Miss Challoner, are +we not?" And he stretched out his hand to her, and Phillis laid her +own in it. + +"I was a bit harsh with you, dearie, was I not?" returned Miss +Mewlstone, apologetically: "but there! you were such a child that I +thought you had been deceived. But I ought to have known better, +craving your pardon, my dear. Now we will just go back to Magdalene; +and you must help my stupid old head, for I am fairly crazy at the +thought of telling her. Go back into the parlor and lie down, Herbert, +for you are terribly exhausted. You must have patience, my man, a wee +bit longer, for we must be cautious,--cautious, you see." + +"Yes, I must have patience," he responded, rather bitterly. But he +went back into the room and watched them until they disappeared into +the gates of his own rightful paradise. + +Miss Mewlstone was leaning on Phillis's arm. Her gait was still rather +feeble, but the girl was talking energetically to her. + +"What a spirit she has! just like Magdalene at her age," he thought, +"only Magdalene never possessed her even temper. My poor girl! From +what Barby says, she has grown hard and bitter with trouble. But it +shall be my aim in life to comfort her for all she has been through!" +And then, as he thought of his dead children, and of the empty +nursery, he groaned, and threw himself face downward upon the couch. +But a few minutes afterwards he had started up again, unable to rest, +and began to pace the room; and then, as though the narrow space +confined him, he continued his restless walk into the garden, and then +into the shrubberies of the White House. + +"My dear, I am not as young as I was. I feel as if all this were too +much for me," sighed Miss Mewlstone, as she pressed her companion's +arm. "One needs so much vitality to bear such scenes. I am terrified +for Magdalene, she has so little self-control! and to have him given +back to her from the dead! I thank God! but I am afraid, for all +that." And a few more quiet tears stole over her cheeks. + +"Thinking of it only makes it worse," returned Phillis, feverishly. +She, too, dreaded the ordeal before them; but she was young, and not +easily daunted. All the way through the shrubbery she talked on +breathlessly, trying to rally her own courage. It was she who entered +the drawing-room first, for poor Miss Mewlstone had to efface the +signs of her agitation. + +Mrs. Cheyne looked up, surprised to see her alone. + +"Jeffreys told me you and Miss Mewlstone had gone out together on a +little business. What have you done with poor old Barby?" And, as +Phillis answered as composedly and demurely as she could, Mrs. Cheyne +arched her eyebrows in her old satirical way: + +"She is in her room, is she? Never mind answering, if you prefer your +own counsel. Your little mysteries are no business of mine. I should +have thought the world would have come to an end, though, before Barby +had thrown down the third volume of a novel for anything short of a +fire. But you and she know best." And, as Phillis flushed and looked +confused under her scrutiny, she gave a short laugh and turned away. + +It was a relief when Miss Mewlstone came trotting into the room with +her cap-strings awry. + +"Dear, dear! have we kept you waiting for your tea, Magdalene?" she +exclaimed, in a flurried tone, as she bustled up to the table. "Miss +Challoner had a little business, and she thought I might help her. +Yes; just so! I have brought her in, for she is tired, poor thing! and +I knew she would be welcome." + +"It seems to me that you are both tired. You are as hot as though you +had walked for miles, Barby. Oh, you have your secrets too. But it is +not for me to meddle with mysteries." And then she laughed again, and +threw herself back on her couch, with a full understanding of the +discomfort of the two people before her. + +Phillis saw directly she was in a hard, cynical mood. + +"You shall know our business by and by," she said, very quietly. "Dear +Miss Mewlstone, I am so thirsty, I must ask you for another cup of +tea." But, as Miss Mewlstone took the cup from her, the poor lady's +hand shook so with suppressed agitation that the saucer slipped from +her grasp, and the next moment the costly china lay in fragments at +her feet. + +"Dear! dear!--how dreadfully careless of me!" fumed Miss Mewlstone. + +But Mrs. Cheyne made no observation. She only rang the bell, and +ordered another cup. But, when the servant had withdrawn, she said, +coldly,-- + +"Your hand is not as steady as usual this evening, Barby;" and somehow +the sharp incisive tone cut so keenly that, to Phillis's alarm, Miss +Mewlstone became very pale, and then suddenly burst into tears. + +"This is too much!" observed Mrs. Cheyne, rising in serious +displeasure. She had almost a masculine abhorrence to tears of late +years; the very sight of them excited her strangely. + +"Miss Challoner may keep her mysteries to herself if she likes, but I +insist on knowing what has upset you like this." + +"Oh dear! oh, dear!" sobbed the simple woman, wringing her hands +helplessly. "This is just too much for me! Poor soul, how am I to tell +her?" And then she looked at Phillis in affright at her own words, +which revealed so much and so little. + +Mrs. Cheyne turned exceedingly pale, and a shadow passed over her +face. + +"'Poor soul!' does she mean me? Is it of me you are speaking, Barby? +Is there something for me to know, that you dread to tell me? Poor +soul, indeed!" And then her features contracted and grew pinched. "But +you need not be afraid. Is it not the Psalmist who says, 'All thy +waves and thy billows have gone over me'? Drowned people have nothing +to fear: there is no fresh trouble for them." And her eyes took an +awful stony look that terrified Phillis. + +"Oh, it is no fresh trouble!" stammered the girl. "People are not +tormented like that: they have not to suffer more than they can +bear." + +But Mrs. Cheyne turned upon her fiercely: + +"You are wrong, altogether wrong. I could not bear it, and it drove me +mad,--at least as nearly mad as a sane woman could be. I felt my +reason shaken; my brain was all aflame, and I cried out to heaven for +mercy; and a blank answered me. Barby, if there be fresh trouble, tell +me instantly, and at once. What do I care? What is left to me, but a +body that will not die, and a brain that will not cease to think? If I +could only stop the thoughts! if I could only go down into silence and +nothingness! but then I should not find Herbert and the children. +Where are they? I forget!" She stopped, pressed her hands to her brow +with a strange bewildered expression; but Miss Mewlstone crept up to +her, and touched her timidly. + +"My bonnie Magdalene!" she exclaimed; "don't let the ill thoughts +come; drive them away, my poor dear. Look at me. Did old Barby ever +deceive you? There is no fresh trouble, my pretty. In his own good +time the All-Merciful has had mercy!" + +Mrs. Cheyne's hand dropped down to her sides, but her brilliant eyes +showed no comprehension of her words. + +"Why did you frighten me like that?" she repeated, rocking herself to +and fro; and her voice had a high, strained tone in it. "There is no +trouble, but your face is pale, and there are tears in your eyes; and +look how your hand shakes! Miss Challoner--Phillis, what does she +mean? Barby, you are a foolish old woman; your wits are gone." + +"If they are gone, it is with joy!" she sobbed. "Yes, my precious one! +for sheer joy!" but then she broke down utterly. It was Phillis who +came to the rescue. + +"Dear Mrs. Cheyne, I think I could tell you best," she began, in her +sweet sensible voice, which somehow stilled Mrs. Cheyne's frightful +agitation. "There has been some news,--a letter that has been lost, +which ought to have arrived months ago. We have heard about it this +afternoon." She stopped, for there seemed to be a faint sound of +footsteps in the hall below. Could he have followed them? What would +be the result of such imprudence? But, as she faltered and hesitated, +Mrs. Cheyne gripped her arm with an iron force: + +"A letter from Herbert! Did he write to me? oh, my darling! did he +write to me before he died? Only one word--one word of forgiveness, +and I will say heaven indeed is merciful! Give it to me, Barby! Why do +you keep me waiting? Oh, this is blessed, blessed news!" But Miss +Mewlstone only clasped her gently in her arms. + +"One moment, my dearie! There is more than that. It is not a message +from heaven. There is still one living on earth that loves you! Try +and follow my meaning," for the perplexed stare had returned again. +"Say to yourself, 'Perhaps, after all, Herbert is not dead. Nobody saw +him die. He may be alive; he may have written to me----" She stopped, +for Mrs. Cheyne had suddenly flung up her arms over her head with a +hoarse cry, that rang through the house: + +"Herbert! Herbert! Herbert!" + +"I am here,--Magdalene! Magdalene!" A tall figure that had crept +unperceived through the open hall door, and had lurked unseen in the +shadow of the portiere, suddenly dashed into the room, and took his +wife's rigid form into his arms. "Magdalene!--love--wife! It is +Herbert! Look up, my darling!--I am here! I am holding you!" But there +was no response. Magdalene's face was like the face of the dead. + +They took her from him almost by force, for he refused to give her up. +Over and over again they prayed him to leave her to their care, but he +seemed like a deaf man that did not hear. + +"She is dead! I have killed her; but there is no reason why I should +give her up," he had said, with terrible calm in his voice. + +"She is not dead!" returned Miss Mewlstone, almost angrily. "She has +been like this before; but Jeffreys and I know what to do. Ay, you +were always wilful, Herbert; but when it comes to killing your own +wife----" And after this he consented to lay her down on her couch. + +He watched them with wistful eyes as they tried the usual remedies; +but it was long before even the flicker of an eyelid spoke to them of +life. At the first sign of returning animation Herbert crept just +behind his wife's pillow, where he could see the first unclosing of +the drooping lids. When Magdalene opened her eyes at last, they fell +full on her husband's face. + +Phillis, who was beside her, marvelled at the strange beauty of that +rapt look, as she lay and gazed at him. + +"Herbert's face!" they heard her whisper, in an awe-struck voice. +"Then I have died at last, and am in heaven. Oh, how merciful! but I +have not deserved it,--a sinner such as I." + +"Magdalene, my darling, you are in our own home! It is I who was lost, +and have come back to you. Look at me. It is only the children that +are in heaven. You and I are spared to each other on earth." But for a +long time her scattered faculties failed to grasp the truth. + +Phillis went home at last, and left them. There was nothing she could +do, and she was utterly spent; but Miss Mewlstone kept watch beside +her charge until late into the night. + +Little by little the truth dawned slowly on the numbed brain; slowly +and by degrees the meaning of her husband's tears and kisses sank into +the clouded mind. Now and again she wandered, but Herbert's voice +always recalled her. + +"Then I am not dead?" she asked him, again and again. "They do not cry +in heaven, and Barby was crying just now. Barby, am I dreaming! Who is +this beside me? is it Herbert's ghost? only his hands are warm, and +mine are so terribly cold. Why you are crying too, love; but I am to +tired to understand." And then she crept wearily closer and closer +into his arms, like a tired-out child who has reached home. + +And when Herbert stooped over her gently, he saw that the long lashes +lay on her cheek. Magdalene had fallen asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +MOTES IN THE SUNSHINE. + + +That sleep was, humanly speaking, Magdalene's salvation. + +At the greatest crisis of her life, when reason hung in the +balance,--when the sudden influx of joy might have paralyzed the +overwrought heart and brain,--at that moment physical exhaustion saved +her by that merciful, overpowering sleep. + +When she woke, it was to the resurrection of her life and love. Months +afterwards she spoke of that waking to Phillis, when she lay in her +bed weak as a new born babe, and the early morning light streamed full +on the face of her slumbering husband. + +They were alone; for Miss Mewlstone had just crept softly from the +room. Her movement had roused Magdalene. Herbert, who was utterly worn +out by his long watching, had just dropped asleep, with his head +resting against the wood-work. He was still sitting in the arm-chair +beside her, and only the thin profile was visible. + +The previous night had been passed by Magdalene in a semi-conscious +state: delirious imaginations had blended with realities. There were +flashes and intervals of comparative consciousness, when the truth +rushed into her mind; but she had been too weak to retain it long. +That she was dreaming or dead was her fixed idea: that this was her +husband's greeting to her in paradise seemed to be her one thought. +"Strange that the children do not kiss me too," they heard her say +once. + +But now, as she opened her eyes, there was no blue misty haze through +which she ever feebly sought to pierce. She was lying in her own room, +where she had passed so many despairing days and nights. The window +was open; the sweet crisp morning air fanned her temples; the birds +were singing in the garden below; and there beside her was the face so +like, yet so unlike, the face from which she had parted four years +ago. + +For a little while she lay and watched it in a sort of trance; and +then in the stillness full realization came to her, and she knew that +she was not mad or dreaming. This was no imagination: it was reality. + +With incredible effort, for she felt strangely weak, she raised +herself on her elbow to study that dear face more closely, for the +change in it baffled her. Could this be her Herbert? How bronzed and +thin he had grown! Those lines that furrowed his forehead, those +hollows in the temples and under the eyes, were new to her. And, oh, +the pity of those gray hairs in the place of the brown wavy locks she +remembered! But it was when she laid her lips against the scarred +wrist that Herbert woke, and met the full look of recognition in his +wife's eyes, for which he had waited so long. + +Now he could fall upon his knees beside her, and crave that +forgiveness for words and acts that had seared his conscience all +these years like red-hot iron. But at the first word she stopped him, +and drew his head to her breast: + +"Oh, Herbert, hush! What! ask forgiveness of me, when I have sinned +against you doubly,--trebly,--when I was no true wife, as you know? +Oh, do not let us ask it of each other, but of God, whom we have so +deeply offended! He has punished us; but He has been merciful too. He +has taken our children because we did not deserve them. Oh, Herbert! +what will you do without them?--for you loved Janie so!" And then for +a little while the childless parents could only hold each other's +hands and weep, for to Herbert Cheyne the grief was new, and at the +sight of her husband's sorrow Magdalene's old wounds seemed to open +and bleed afresh; only now--now she did not weep alone. + +When Miss Mewlstone entered the room, shortly afterwards, she found +Magdalene lying spent and weary, holding her husband's hand. + +Joy had indeed returned to the White House, but for a long time it was +joy that was strangely tempered with sorrow. Upstairs no sound greeted +Herbert from the empty nurseries; there were no little feet pattering +to meet the returned wanderer, no little voices to cry a joyous +"Father!" And for years the desolate mother had borne this sorrow +alone. + +As the days passed on, Magdalene regained her strength slowly, but +neither wife nor husband could hide from each other the fact that +their health was broken by all they had gone through. Herbert's +constitution was sadly impaired for the remainder of his life: he knew +well that he must carry with him the consequences of those years of +suffering. Often he had to endure intense neuralgic agony in his limbs +and head; an unhealed wound for a long time troubled him sorely. +Magdalene strove hard to regain strength, that she might devote +herself to nurse him, but, though her constitution was superb, she had +much to bear from her disordered nerves. At times the old irritability +was hard to vanquish; there were still dark moods of restlessness when +her companionship was trying; but it was now that Herbert proved the +nobleness and reality of his repentance. + +For he was ever gentle with her, however much she might try him. Some +talk he had had with her doctor had convinced him that she was not to +blame for these morbid moods; that the nerves had become disorganized +by those years of solitary misery. "We must bear all our troubles +together," as he often told her; and so he bore this, as he did the +trial of his children's loss, with grave fortitude, and a patience +that surprised all who knew him. + +And he was not without his reward, for, the dark fit over, Magdalene's +smile would greet him like sunshine after a storm, and she would thank +him with tears and caresses for his forbearance. + +"I can't think what makes me still so horrid, when I am so happy," she +said once to him, when the first year of their reunion had passed. "I +do my best to fight against these moods, but they seem stronger than +myself and overcome me. Do not be so good to me next time, Herbert; +scold me and be angry with me, as you used in the old days." + +"I cannot," he answered, smiling. "I never loved you in the old days +as I do now. I would not change my wife, in spite of all the trouble +she gives me, for any other woman upon earth. You believe this, love, +do you not?" looking at her beautiful face anxiously, for it had +clouded a little at his last words. + +"Yes, but I do not like to trouble you: it is that that frets me. I +wanted to be a comfort to you, and never to give you a moment's +uneasiness; but I cannot help myself, somehow. I love you, I don't +believe you know yet how I love you, Herbert; but it seems as if I +must grieve you sometimes." + +"Never mind; I will hear your trouble and my own too," he answered, +cheerily; and in this way he always comforted her. But to Magdalene +her own self ever remained a mystery; the forces of her own nature +were too strong for her, and yet she was not a weak woman. She had +expected that in her case love and happiness would have worked a +miracle, as though miracles were ever effected by mere human +agencies,--that she would rise like a Phoenix from the ashes of her +past, reborn, rejuvenated, with an inexhaustible fund of moral +strength. + +Now she had Herbert, all would go smoothly; she would no longer mourn +for her little ones. Since her husband was there to comfort her, with +his constant presence to sustain her, all must be well; never again +would she be nervous, irritable, or sarcastic. Poor Magdalene! she was +creating heaven for herself upon earth; she was borrowing angels' +plumes before the time; she had forgotten the conditions of humanity, +"the body of the flesh," which weighed down greater souls than hers. + +There are Gethsemanes of the spirit to the weary ones of earth, hours +of conflict that must be lived through and endured. Nature that +groaneth and travaileth cannot find its abiding place of rest here. To +the end of time it seems to be written in enduring characters that no +human lot shall be free from suffering: sooner or later, more or +less,--that is all! Magdalene had still to learn this lesson +painfully: that she was slow in learning it, proved the strength and +obduracy of her will. True, she was rarely sarcastic,--never in her +husband's presence, for a word or a look from him checked her, and she +grew humble and meek at once. It was her unruly nerves that baffled +her; she was shocked to find that irritable words still rose to her +lips; that the spirit of restlessness was not quelled forever; that +thunder still affrighted her; and that now and then her mind seemed +clouded with fancied gloom. + +She once spoke of this to Miss Middleton, with tears in her eyes. + +"It is so strange," she said. "Herbert is different, but I am still so +unchanged." + +"The conditions of your health are unchanged, you mean," answered +Elizabeth, with that quiet sympathy that always rested people. "This +is the mistake that folk make: they do not distinguish between an +unhealthy mind and a diseased soul: the one is due to physical +disorganization, the other to moral causes. In your case, dear Mrs. +Cheyne, one may safely lay the blame on the first cause." + +"Oh, do you think so?" she asked, earnestly. "I dare not cheat my +conscience in that way: it is my bad temper, my undisciplined nature, +that ought to bear the blame." + +"No; believe me," answered Elizabeth, for they had grown great friends +of late, "I have watched you narrowly, and I know how you try to +conquer this irritability; there is no black spot of anger in your +heart, whatever words come to your lips. You are like a fretful child +sometimes, I grant you that, who is ailing and unconscious of its +ailment. When you would be calm, you are strangely disturbed; you +speak sharply, hoping to relieve something that oppresses you." + +"Oh, yes!" sighed Magdalene; "and yet Herbert never speaks crossly to +me." + +"He never will, for he knows what you suffer. Well, dear friend, what +of this? This is a cross that you must carry perhaps all your life. +You are not the only one who has to bear the torment of disordered +nerves: it must be borne with resignation, as we bear other troubles. +Once you felt you could not love God; you ceased to pray to Him; now +you love Him a little. Go on loving; thank him for your husband's +patience, and pray that you may have patience with yourself. One is +weary of always living with one's self, I know that well," finished +Elizabeth, with a charming smile. + +Mr. Drummond would have verified Miss Middleton's opinion that +Magdalene was not so unchanged as she believed herself to be. + +At his first interview with her after Herbert Cheyne's return, he +could almost have sworn that she was a different woman. + +Phillis, who spent all her spare time at the White House,--for they +both made much of Herbert's "good angel," as he still called her +jestingly,--was sitting alone with Mrs. Cheyne when Archie was +announced. + +His old enemy greeted him with a frank smile. + +"This is kind of you, Mr. Drummond," she said, quite warmly. "How I +wish my husband were not out, that I could introduce him to you! I +have told him how good you have tried to be to me, but that I was +ungrateful and repulsed you." + +Archie was shaking hands with Phillis, who seemed a little disturbed +at his entrance. He turned around and regarded the beautiful woman +with astonishment. Was this really Mrs. Cheyne? Where was the hard, +proud droop of the lip, the glance of mingled coldness and _hauteur_, +the polished sarcasm of voice and manner? Her face looked clear and +open as a child's; her eyes were brilliant with happiness. + +Magdalene was in one of her brightest moods when she was most truly +herself. + +"I have met him just now. He stopped and introduced himself. We had +quite a long talk outside of Mrs. Williams's cottage. I called upon +him there, you know, but he had good reasons for refusing my visits. +Mrs. Cheyne, you must allow me to congratulate you most earnestly. You +will own now that Providence has been good to you." + +"I will own that and everything," returned Magdalene, joyously. "I +will own, if you like, that I treated you shamefully, and took a +pleasure in tormenting you; and you were so patient,--oh, so patient, +Mr. Drummond! I could have called you back sometimes and apologized, +but I would not. In my bitter moments I felt it was such a relief to +mock at people." + +"Never mind all that. Let bygones be bygones. I wish I could have +served you better." And then, as he changed the subject, and spoke +feelingly about the miracle of her husband's restoration, Mrs. Cheyne +looked at him rather wistfully. + +"Oh, how good you are!" she said, softly. "Do you know, the world +seems full of good people to me now; and yet once it appeared too bad +a place for any one to live in. We create our own atmosphere,--at +least so Herbert tells me. But you are looking thin, Mr. +Drummond,--thin and pale. You must be working too hard." + +"Oh, as to that, hard work never hurts any one," he replied, +carelessly; but there was something forced in his tone. + +Phillis, who had been sitting apart quite silently, raised her eyes +involuntarily from her work. Was it her fancy, or had some undefinable +change passed over him? They had seen him so little of late. Since all +this had happened at the White House he had called once or twice; and +once Nan had been there, and he had spoken to her much as usual. No +one would have detected any difference in his manner, except that he +was a little grave and preoccupied. Nan had not noticed anything; but +then she was singularly blind in such matters. Had she not vaguely +hinted that his visits were on Phillis's account?--that mere hint +conveying exquisite pain to Phillis. + +Now, as she stole a glance at him, the conviction was strong within +her that the arrow had gone deep. He certainly looked a little thin +and care-worn, and something of a young man's vigor and hopefulness +seemed temporarily impaired. But, as it happened, that girlish +scrutiny was not unperceived by Archie. In a moment he was on the +alert. His eyes challenged hers boldly, and it was Phillis who flushed +and looked conscious. + +It was as though he said to her, "Ah! you think you know all about it. +But you need not trouble yourself to be sorry for me; you do not know +what a man's strength can do. And I am determined to bear this by +myself, and to myself; for in silence there is power." + +It certainly seemed as though a new strength had come to Archie. He +had been a man who was prone to speak much of his feelings. Irritable +and sensitive, he had demanded much sympathy from his womankind. His +was a nature that craved support in his work; but now, not even to +Grace, could he speak of this trouble that had befallen him. + +Was it a trouble, after all, this vague shadow that lay about his +path? No one but he himself knew the sweetness and graciousness of the +dream that had come to him. It had only been a dream, after all; and +now he was awake. The vision he had conjured up to himself had faded +into unreality. She was not his second self: never by look or word had +he wooed her; she was only the woman he could have loved. This was how +he put it; and now he would bury this faint hope that was +still-born,--that had never had breathed into it the breath of life. +And if for a little while his future should be cloudy and bereft of +its sunshine, was he the only one to whom "some days must be dark and +dreary"? + +Phillis's unspoken sympathy drooped under this stern repression; and +yet in her heart she reverenced him all the more for this moral +strength,--for there is nothing a true woman abhors more than weakness +in a man. After this silent rebuff, Archie took himself well in hand, +and began to speak of other things: he told Mrs. Cheyne, being certain +now of her interest, of his sister's intended marriage, and how he and +Mattie were going down to the wedding. + +"He is a very good fellow, this intended brother-in-law of mine,--a +sort of rough diamond; but hardly good enough for Isabel," he said. +"Oh, yes, he is very rich. My poor little sister will have her head +turned by all her magnificence; for his parents are so generous: they +quite load her with gifts." And he smiled to himself at the notion of +the little sister, just fresh from her narrow school-room life, +rejoicing over her trousseau and her handsome house, and driving away +from the church in her own carriage. No wonder his father and mother +were pleased. As for the bridegroom-elect, Archie spoke of him with +half-contemptuous amusement: "Oh, he was a good fellow,--no one wished +to deny that;" but there was a want of culture and polish that grated +upon the susceptibilities of the Oxford fellow. + +Phillis listened with undivided interest--especially when he mentioned +Grace. + +"Mattie and I are in hopes that we shall bring her back with us; but, +at all events, my mother has promised to spare her at Christmas." This +time he addressed himself to Phillis. + +"Oh, that will be nice for you!" she returned a little eagerly. "You +have told us so much about her that I quite long to know her." + +"I should say you would suit each other perfectly," he replied, as he +rose to take his leave. "Sometimes you remind me of her, Miss +Challoner; and yet you are not really alike. Good-bye, if I do not see +you again before we go to Leeds." And Phillis gave him her hand, and a +cordial smile. + +But when he had gone out of the room, his hostess accompanying +him--for she had a word for his private ear,--Phillis sat down, and +thought over those last words with a strange feeling of pleasure: +"Sometimes you remind me of her, Miss Challoner." Was it possible that +he could trace any resemblance between her and this dearly-beloved +sister, this Grace, whom he seemed to regard as absolute perfection? + +"Oh, I hope she will come! I am sure we shall be such friends," she +said to herself: and from this time Phillis looked anxiously for Grace +Drummond's arrival. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +"A MAN HAS A RIGHT TO HIS OWN THOUGHTS." + + +There were great rejoicings in the house in Lowder Street on the +occasion of Isabel Drummond's marriage. + +There is always something pathetic in the first wedding in a +family,--the first severing of the family circle,--the first break, +the first ingathering of new interest. But when there are small means, +and seven portionless daughters, very few of whom can be said to be +gifted with good looks, a wealthy son-in-law must indeed be regarded +as a direct blessing from Providence. + +That Mr. Drummond did so regard it, was evident from the jovial good +humor that had replaced his usual moody and irritable manner; while +his wife's beaming face, softened by maternal tenderness for the +child who would no longer share the daily life with them, was a +surprising spectacle to those acquainted with Mrs. Drummond's ordinary +reserve and somewhat severe bearing. But it is not too much to say +that on this occasion Mrs. Drummond was a happy woman. + +The tide of fortune, long so adverse to their interests, seemed +turning in their favor at last. Archie had done great things for +himself, and the mother's eyes rested on him proudly as he performed +the marriage ceremony for his young sister, the gravity of his +priestly office setting him apart, as it were, for her reverence as +well as love. That Isabel had done great things for herself also could +not be denied. But there were other causes for content in the mother's +heart. + +Both the boys were doing well. Clyde had been articled to a lawyer, an +old friend of Mr. Drummond's, and had won golden opinions from his +chief, who pronounced him an intelligent, likely lad, and as sharp as +a needle. Fred had lately obtained a clerkship in an old-established +house in Leeds, and was also doing well, and his salary was a great +boon to the straitened household. Grace, too, was doing her duty +vigorously, and no longer vexed her mother's soul by her drooping +looks of uncomplaining discontent,--that silent protest of many, that +is so irritating to the home-rule. True, it might be only the +quiescence of despair, but at least she veiled it decently under a +show of Spartan cheerfulness. The fox of bitterness might gnaw, but +she drew the mantle of her pride closer round her. She might suffer +and pine, like a caged lark in her narrow cage, but at least no one, +not even Archie, and least of all her mother, should guess the extent +of her sufferings. So there was peace in Lowder Street. A truce had +silently proclaimed itself between the two strong wills of the +household; and, touched by a submission that somehow appealed to her +generosity, Mrs. Drummond was secretly revolving schemes for her +daughter's future happiness. + +"Mothers are mothers," as Nan had once sweetly said, and Mrs. Drummond +was no exception to the rule. She could be hard to her own flesh and +blood; she could exact obedience that was difficult to yield, and +sacrifices that cost tears in plenty; but she was a just woman, and, +when the right time came, she knew how to reward such obedience. + +But there was still another drop that filled the maternal cup of +content almost to overflowing, and of this she spoke to Grace, as they +were together in the mother's room, folding up the bridal finery. The +little bride had just driven off, all tears and smiles. Archie and the +boys had started off for a long walk. Mattie was with her sisters in +the small ugly enclosure they called a garden; and Grace and her +mother had gone up to shake out the satin dress and lay it between +tissue-paper. + +"I hope she will be happy, poor little dear!" observed Grace, touching +tenderly the Brussels-lace veil; for Isabel had been her first pupil +and charge. "I do think and believe Ellis is really very fond of +her." + +"Without doubt he is. His manners were all your father and I could +wish. What a magnificent present, and how thoughtful, his bringing +those diamond ear-drops just the last moment! Isabel has such pretty +little ears. He is as proud of her as he can be. And really she looked +quite lovely. Take care how you fold that veil, Grace. It is a perfect +beauty." + +"Yes, mother," returned Grace, meekly. + +She was ready to drop with fatigue, for she had been up since six, and +had dressed all her sisters one after another in their pretty +bridesmaids' dresses, Mattie's skill as a lady's-maid being distrusted +even by Dottie. But Mrs. Drummond was not satisfied, and took the lace +out of her hand. + +"And, Grace, did you ever see any one so improved as Mattie? Her visit +to Hadleigh is doing wonders for her. Last evening I could hardly help +looking at her. She holds herself so much better, and her dresses are +so pretty and well made. I never knew before that her figure was so +nice." + +"Yes, indeed; she is wonderfully improved," returned Grace. + +But she said the words mechanically. Her mother's speech had touched a +sore place in her memory. She knew who had transformed Mattie's +dowdiness into comeliness and neatness. She might be an ordinary +little woman in the world's opinion, but in the eyes of her family she +was quite another Mattie. Those tasteful dresses had been made by +those Challoners of whom Mattie spoke so much and Archie so little. + +Mrs. Drummond, who had not noticed her daughter's sudden abstraction, +went on in the same satisfied tone: + +"She is not pretty, of course,--no one could ever call Mattie that at +the best of times,--but now she has left off making a fright of +herself, and hunching her shoulders with every word, she is quite +passable-looking. I am glad you talked her out of being a bridesmaid. +She would have looked absurd among the girls. But that green surah +just suited her. It was good of Archie to buy her such a pretty dress; +and yours that came from Hadleigh was even prettier, and wonderfully +well made, considering they had only a pattern gown." + +"Yes; it fitted admirably;" but Grace spoke without enthusiasm. + +Archie, who knew her tastes, had chosen a soft, creamy stuff which he +informed Mattie must be trimmed with no end of lace. Phillis had +received and executed the order with such skill and discernment that a +most ravishing costume had been produced. But Grace, who had her own +ideas on the subject of those "Challoner girls," had received the gift +somewhat coldly, and had even seemed displeased when her father +pinched her ear and told her that Archie's gown had transformed her +into a princess fit for a fairy-tale. "And there is always a prince +in that, my dear,--eh, Gracie?" continued the lucky father, who could +afford to laugh when one of the seven daughters had got a husband. But +Grace would have nothing to do with the jest. She even got up a little +frown, like her mother's on similar occasions. + +"Archie is so generous, dear old fellow!" continued Mrs. Drummond, +breaking out afresh after a minute's interval, as she skilfully +manipulated the veil. "That is what I always say. There never was such +a son or brother. Do you think he is overworking, Grace, or that +Mattie really looks after him well? But he strikes me as a little +thin,--and--yes--perhaps a little grave." + +Grace's lips closed with an expression of pain. But her mother was +looking at her and she must answer. + +"Well, if you ask me, mother," she returned, a little huskily, "I do +not think Archie looks very well, or in his usual spirits; but I am +sure Mattie takes good care of him," she continued, with careful +veracity. + +"Humph! I am sorry to find you endorsing my opinion," replied Mrs. +Drummond, thoughtfully. "I hoped you would say it was my fancy. He has +not said anything to you that makes you uneasy?" with a touch of her +old sharpness, remembering that Grace, and not she, was Archie's +confidante; but Grace replied so quickly and decidedly, "Oh, no, +mother; we have not exchanged a word together since he and Mattie +arrived," that her maternal jealousy was allayed. + +But the next night, when she was alone with him for a few minutes, she +was struck afresh by the gravity of his look as he sat by the window, +pretending to read, but for the last half-hour he had not turned his +page. + +"A penny for your thoughts, my son!" she said, so archly and abruptly +that Archie started, and his brow grew crimson at finding himself +watched. + +"Oh, they were nothing particular," he stammered; and then he said +something about the fineness of the evening, and the possibility of +his father coming in in time for a long walk. + +But Mrs. Drummond was not to be put off so easily. She left her seat, +where she had been sewing as usual, and came and stood beside him a +moment. He would have jumped up and given her his own chair, but she +pressed his shoulder gently, as though to forbid the movement. + +"I like to stand, Archie. Yes, it is a lovely evening; but I think you +ought to ask Grace, and not your father, to accompany you. Grace was +always your companion, you know, and you must not drop old habits too +suddenly." Then Archie saw that his avoidance of Grace had been +marked. + +"Very well, I will ask her," he returned; but he showed none of his +old alacrity and spirit in claiming his favorite. + +Mrs. Drummond noticed this; and the shade of anxiety on her face grew +deeper. + +"Archie, you are not quite your old self with Grace; and I am sure she +feels it. What has come between you, my dear?" + +"Why, nothing, mother;" and here he attempted a laugh. "Grace and I +never quarrel, as you know." + +"I was not speaking of quarrelling," she returned, in a graver voice; +"but you do not seek her out as you used. Before, when you arrived, +you always disappointed me by shutting yourself up in the school-room, +where no one could get at you; and now Grace tells me she has not had +a word with you these four days." + +"Has Grace complained of me, then?" + +"You know Grace never complains of you. It was not said in any +fault-finding way. We agreed you were not quite yourself, or in your +usual spirits; and I asked her the reason. Tell me, my son, is there +anything troubling you?" Archie sat silent. Mrs. Drummond was so +rarely demonstrative to her children that even this well-beloved son +had never heard before such chords of tenderness in his mother's +voice; and, looking up, he saw that her keen gray eyes were softened +and moist with tears. "You are not quite yourself, Archie,--not quite +happy?" she went on. + +Then he took counsel with himself; and after a moment he answered +her: + +"No, mother; you are right. I am not--not quite myself nor quite +happy; but I mean to be both presently." And then he looked up in her +face pleadingly, with an expression of entreaty that went to her +heart, and continued: "But my own mother will not pain me by +unnecessary questions that I could not answer." And then she knew that +his will was that she should be silent. + +"Very well," she returned, with a sigh. "But you will tell me one +thing, will you not, my dear! Is it--is it quite hopeless?" her +mother's instinct, like that of the Eastern Caliph, immediately +suggesting a woman in the case. + +"Quite--quite hopeless!--as dead as this!" bringing down his hand on a +large defunct moth. "Talking will not bring to life, or help a man, to +carry a real burden." + +Then, as she kissed him, she knew that his pain had been very great, +but that he meant to bear it with all the strength he could bring. + +Grace went up to prepare for her walk that evening with no very +pleasurable anticipations. Her mother had given her Archie's message +in due form, as she sat somewhat sadly by the school-room window, +mending a frock Dottie had just torn. + +"Archie wants you to go out with him, Grace," Mrs. Drummond said, as +she came in, in her usual active bustling way. "The grass never grew +under her feet," as she was often pleased to observe. "Loitering and +lagging make young bones grow prematurely old," she would say, coining +a new proverb for the benefit of lazy Susie. "Never measure your +footsteps when you are about other people's business," she would say +to Laura, who hated to be hunted up from her employment for any +errand. "He thinks of going over to Blackthorn Farm, as it is so fine; +and the walk will do you good," continued Mrs. Drummond, with a keen +look at her daughter's pale face. "Give me Dottie's frock: that little +monkey is always getting into mischief." But Grace yielded her task +reluctantly. + +"Are you sure he wishes me to go, mother?" + +"Quite sure," was the brief answer; but she added no more. + +Silence was ever golden to this busy, hard-working mother. She was +generally sparing of words. Grace, who saw that her mother was bent on +her going, made no further demur; but, as she put on her +walking-things, she told herself that Archie was only making a virtue +of necessity. He was so little eager for her society that he had not +sought her himself, but had sent her a message. Ever since his return, +no light-springing footsteps had been heard on the uncarpeted stairs +leading to the school-room. He had forsaken their old haunt, where +they had once talked so happily, sitting hand in hand on the old +window-seat. + +Grace felt herself grievously wounded. For months a barrier had been +between her and Archie. He had written seldom; and his letters, when +they came, told her nothing. In manner he was kindness itself. That +there was no change in his affection was evident; but the key to his +confidence was mislaid. He had withdrawn himself into some inner +citadel, where he seemed all at once inaccessible, and her sisterly +soul was vexed within her. + +He met her at the door with his usual smile of welcome. + +"That is right, Grace; you have not kept me long waiting," he said, +pleasantly, as she came towards him; and then, as they walked down +Lowder Street, he commenced talking at once. He had so much to tell +her, he said; and here Grace's pulses began to throb expectantly; but +the eager light died out of her face when he went on to detail a long +conversation he had had with his mother the previous night. Was that +all? she thought. Was the longed-for confidence still to be withheld? + +Archie did not seem to notice her silence: he rattled on volubly. + +"I think we were hard on the mother, Gracie, you and I," he said. +"After all, I believe she was right in not giving us our own way in +the spring." + +"I am glad you think so," replied Grace, coldly. Archie winced at her +tone, but recovered himself, and went on gayly: + +"It does one good sometimes to have one's wishes crossed; and, after +all, it was only fair that poor Mattie, being the eldest, should have +her turn. She does her best, poor little soul! and, though I find her +terribly trying sometimes, I can hold out pretty patiently until +Christmas; and then mother herself suggested that you should take her +place at the vicarage." + +"I! oh, no, Archie!" And here the color flushed over Gracie's face, +and her eyes filled with tears. The news was so unexpected,--so +overwhelming. Another time the sweetness of it would have filled her +with rapture. But now! "Oh, no, no!" she cried, in so vehement a tone +that her brother turned in surprise, and something of her meaning came +home to him. + +"Wait a moment," he said, deprecatingly. "I have not finished yet what +I want to say. Mother said Mattie was greatly improved by her visit, +and that she was infinitely obliged to me for yielding to her wish. +She told me plainly that it was impossible to have spared you +before,--that you were her right hand with the girls, and that even +now your loss would be great." + +"I do not mean to leave mother," returned Grace, in a choked voice. + +"Not if I want you and ask you to come?" he replied, with reproachful +tenderness, "Why, Grace, what has become of our old compact?" + +"You do not need me now," she faltered, hardly able to speak without +weeping. + +"We will talk of that by and by," was the somewhat impatient answer. +"Just at this minute I want to tell you all the mother said on the +subject. Facts before feelings, please," with a touch of sarcasm; but +he pointed it with a smile. "You see, Grace, Isabel's marriage makes a +difference. There is one girl off my father's hands. And then the boys +are doing so well. Mother thinks that in another three months Clara +may leave the school-room; she will be seventeen then, and, as Ellis +has promised her a course of music-lessons, to develop her one talent, +you may consider her off your hands." + +"Clara will never do me credit," returned his sister, mournfully: "she +works steadily and takes pains, but she was never as clever as +Isabel." + +"No; she is no shining light, as mother owns; but she will play +beautifully, if she be properly trained. Well, as to the other girls, +it appears that my father has decided to accept my offer of sending +Susie to a first-class boarding-school; and, as he has determined to +do the same for Laura, there is only Dottie for Mattie to manage or +mismanage. So you see, Gracie, your school-room drudgery is over. +Mother herself, by her own will, has opened the prison-doors." + +He spoke in a light jesting tone, but Grace answered, almost +passionately,-- + +"I tell you no, Archie! I no longer wish it so; it is too late: things +are now quite different." + +"What do you mean?" he returned, with a long steady look that seemed +to draw out her words in spite of her resolve not to speak them. + +"I mean that things are changed--that you no longer need me, or wish +me to live with you." + +"I need you more," he returned, calmly; "perhaps I have never needed +you so much. As for living with me, is it your desire to condemn me to +an existence of perfect loneliness?--for after Christmas Mattie leaves +me. You are mysterious, Grace; you are not your old self." + +"Oh, it is you that are not yourself!" she retorted, in a tone of +grief. "Why have you avoided me? why do you withhold your confidence? +why do your letters tell me nothing? and then you come and are still +silent." + +"What is it that you would have me tell you?" he asked; but this time +he did not look her in the face. + +"I would know this thing that has come between us and robbed me of +your confidence. You are ill at ease; you are unhappy, Archie! You +have never kept a trouble from me before: it was always I who shared +your hopes and fears." + +"You may still share them. I am not changed, as you imagine Grace. All +that I can tell you I will, even if you demand it in that +'money-or-your-life' style, as you are doing now," trying to turn it +off with a jest. + +"Oh, Archie!" + +"Well, what of Archie, now?" + +"That you should laugh away my words! you have never done that +before." + +"Very well, I will be serious; nay, more, I will be solemn. Grace, I +forbid you ever to mention this thing again, on pain of my bitter +displeasure!" + +Then, as she looked at him, too much startled to answer, he went on: + +"A man has a right to his own thoughts, if he choose to keep them to +himself and his Maker. There are some things with which even you may +not meddle, Grace. What if my life holds a grief which I would bury +from all eyes but my own? would you tear up the clods with unhallowed +fingers? To no living person but my Saviour"--and here Archie looked +up with reverent eyes--"will I speak of this thing." Then she clung to +his arm, and tears flowed over her cheeks. + +"Oh, Archie! forgive me! forgive me! I never meant to hurt you like +this; I will not say another word!" + +"You have not hurt me," he returned, striving after his old manner, +"except in refusing to live with me. I am lonely enough, God knows! +and a sister who understands me, and with whom I could have sympathy, +would be a great boon." + +"Then I will come," she replied; drying her eyes. "If you want me, I +will come, Archie." + +"I do want you; and I have never told you anything but the truth. But +you must come and be happy, my dear. I want you, yourself, and not a +grave, reticent creature who has gone about the house the last few +days, looking at me askance, as though I had committed some deadly +sin." + +Then the dimple showed itself in Grace's cheek. + +"Have I really been so naughty, Archie?" + +"Yes, you have been a very shadowy sort of Grace; but I give you full +absolution, only don't go and do it any more." And, as she looked at +him with her eyes full of sorrowful yearning, he went on, hastily: +"Oh, I am all right, and least said is soonest mended. I am like the +dog in Æsop's fable, who mistook the shadow for the substance. A poor +sort of dog, that fellow. Well, is your poor little mind at rest, +Grace?" And the tone in which she said "Yes" seemed to satisfy him, +for he turned their talk into another channel. + +When Mrs. Drummond saw her daughter's face that evening, she knew the +cloud had passed between the brother and sister. + +Grace followed her to her room that night,--a thing she had not done +for months. + +"Mother, I must thank you for being so good to us," she began, +impulsively, as soon as she had crossed the threshold. + +"How have I been good to you, Grace?" observed her mother, calmly, as +she unfastened her brooch. "Of course, I have always tried to be good +to my children, although they do not seem to think so." + +"Ah, but this is very special goodness: and I am more grateful than I +can say. Are you sure you will be able to spare me, mother?" + +"After Christmas?--oh, yes: things will be possible then. If I +remember rightly, I had to endure some very bitter words from you on +this very subject. I hope you will do justice to my judgment at that +time." + +"Yes, mother," with downcast eyes. "I am afraid Archie and I were very +wilful." + +"You were wilful, Grace,"--for Mrs. Drummond never suffered any one to +find fault with her son in her hearing,--"you who ought to have known +better. And yet I do believe that, but for my determination to enforce +the right thing, you would have left your post, and all your duties, +because Archie wanted you." + +"I was wrong. I see that plainly." + +"Yes, you were wrong: for a long time you bore yourself towards me as +no daughter ought to bear herself to her mother. You angered me +sorely, Grace, because I saw you were hardening yourself against me, +only because I insisted that no child of mine should neglect her +duty." + +"Mother, surely I am humbling myself now?" + +"True; but how long have I waited for this confession? Night after +night I have said to myself, 'Surely Grace will come and tell me that +she feels herself in the wrong!' But no such words came. At last I +ceased to hope for them; and now at this eleventh hour you can hardly +expect me to show much joy at hearing them spoken." + +Then Grace's head drooped, and she was silent. She knew she deserved +all these hard words, bitter as they were to bear; but Mrs. Drummond +had said her say. + +"Well, well, better late than never; and we will say no more about it. +Next time you will understand me better, Grace." + +Then, as her mother kissed her, Grace knew that her sin was condoned. +Nevertheless, as she left the room a few minutes later, her heart was +not quite so light in her bosom; she felt that her mother had been +just, but hardly generous. + +"I thought mothers forgave more easily," she said to herself, in +somewhat aggrieved fashion. She had no idea that her mother was +equally disappointed. + +Mrs. Drummond was a hard, but not an unloving woman; and she would +have liked more demonstration from her daughters. If Grace, for +example, instead of all these words, had thrown herself into her arms +and owned herself in the wrong, with a child-like pleading for +forgiveness, Mrs. Drummond would have felt herself satisfied, and +would have pressed her to her bosom with a loving word or two that +Grace would have remembered when her mother was in her grave. But such +outward forms of tenderness were not possible to Mrs. Drummond's +daughters: for in such matters we must reap as we sow; and Mrs. +Drummond's manner hardly merited softness. For there are mothers and +mothers; and the world must produce its Drummonds and its Challoners +until the end of time. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +ABOUT NOTHING PARTICULAR. + + +It was as well that Grace had had this talk with her brother; for, +during the two days that remained of his brief visit, they were not +alone together until the last half-hour before his departure. The +young vicar had to return for his Sunday duties; but Mattie remained +behind for another week. Archie, indeed, had once sought her in his +old fashion,--running up to the school-room for a chat; but Susie had +been there all the time. In former days, Archie would have sent her +away with blunt peremptoriness; but now he seemed well content to have +her there. He had no secrets to discuss, as he sat in his old place in +the window-seat; yet Grace was too happy to see him there to find +fault with his discourse. + +But on the morning of his departure she had come down early to pour +out his coffee. He had bidden his mother good-bye in her room; but he +knew that, in spite of the earliness of the hour, Grace would be in +her place to minister to his wants. + +"Well, Grace," he said, entering with his travelling-plaid over his +arm, "so it is to be good-bye until Christmas." + +"Yes," she returned, looking at him with a sort of wistfulness; "but +the time will pass quickly now. It is so nice to think that we shall +begin our new year together." And, as her brother checked an +involuntary sigh, she went on eagerly: "If you knew how happy I am +about it! It will be something to wake every morning and know you are +not a hundred miles off,--that when I come down to breakfast I shall +find you there,--that I shall be able to talk to you as much as I +like; and as for work, why, it will be play to me to work for you, +Archie!" + +"Of course I know that," rather mischievously. + +"I would work for you like a servant: would I not, dear? I mean to be +ever so good to you. Your friends shall be my friends; your likes and +dislikes shall be mine too." + +"Why, Gracie," he said, humoring her, "this is more than a wife would +do for me!" + +"Ah! but it is not too much to ask from a sister," she returned, +earnestly. "When you bring home your wife, Archie, I mean to be good +to her too. I shall have to leave you then, and come back here; but if +you are happy I shall not be miserable." But he interrupted her a +little impatiently. + +"What put such nonsense into your head? I shall never marry. We shall +be a pattern of old-bachelor brother and maiden sister." And then he +pushed away his plate, and went to the window. "Is it not Mrs. Carlyle +who quotes that quaint old story about some one who always thanked God +'for the blessings that passed over his or her head'? Is not that a +curious idea, when one comes to think it out? Fancy thanking heaven +really and seriously for all our disappointed hopes and plans,--for +'the blessings that go over our heads'! It would be a new clause in +our petitions,--eh, Gracie?" + +"Why, yes," she replied, as she came and stood near him. "I am afraid +I could never say that from my heart." + +"It is not easy," he returned, quietly; "but I do not know that we +ought to give up trying, for all that." And then his manner changed, +and he put his arm round her in his old fashion. "Recollect, I want +you very much, Grace: your coming will make me far happier. Mattie +only touches the outside of things; I want some one near me who can go +deeper than that,--who will help me with real work, and put up with my +bad humors; for I am a man who is very liable to discouragement." And +when he had said this, he bade her good-bye. + +It was a comfort to Archie to find himself hard at work again. These +few days of idleness had been irksome to him. Now he could throw +himself without stint or limit into his pastoral labors, walking miles +of country road until he was weary, and planning new outlets for the +feverish activity that seemed to stimulate him to fresh efforts. + +People began to talk of the young vicar. His sermons were changed +somehow. There was more in them,--"less of the husk, and more of the +kernel," as Miss Middleton once remarked rather pithily. + +They were wonderfully brief discourses; but, whereas they had once +been elegant and somewhat scholarly productions, they were now earnest +and even pungent. If the sentences were less carefully compiled, more +rough-hewn, and deficient in polish, there was matter in them that +roused people and made them think. + +"I never could remember Mr. Drummond's sermons before," Dulce once +observed, "but now I can recollect whole sentences quite nicely." + +Phillis, to whom she spoke, assented by a nod. If she had chosen, she +could have admitted the fact that she could remember not sentences, +but the entire sermon itself. In secret she marvelled also at the +change. + +"He is more earnest," she would say to herself. "He preaches now, not +from the outside, but from the inside of things,--from his own +experience, not from other people's. That makes the difference." + +And to Nan, who was her other conscience, she said one day, when they +were discussing this subject,-- + +"I have been thinking a great deal about sermons lately. I wish I +could publish the result of my cogitation. I feel inclined to write a +pamphlet and entitle it 'Hints to the Clergy.' I think it would take +vastly." + +It was Sunday afternoon, and they were sitting together on their +favorite boulder. Phillis had christened it her "thinking-stone." + +"I never think to more purpose than when I am sitting here," she would +say. + +Nan, who was looking out to sea rather dreamily, intent on her usual +vision, Dick, roused herself at this, and began to smile in a lofty +way. + +"You think yourself very clever, Phillis, and so do I; but sermons are +hardly in your province, my dear." + +Phillis shook her head gravely. She dissented from this view of the +case. + +"Common sense is in every one's province," she persisted. "I am a +practical woman, and some of my hints would be valuable. Sermons are +failures, Nan. They go over people's heads like a flight of badly-shot +arrows. Does not Goulburn say that? Now and then one touches the mark. +When they are all let fly hither and thither and anyhow, the preacher +shuts up his book, and his hearers cease to yawn." + +"Oh, Phillis, how absurd you are! Suppose Mr. Drummond were to hear +you?" + +"I should have no objection. But, Nan, seriously, do you not notice +how formal and cut-and-dried most sermons are? They come round +regularly, like Sunday. People have to bear being preached at, and so +the unfortunate parson must hammer it out of his head somehow. He +picks out his text, writes out his composition, drags in his learning +by the ear, and delivers it in his best fashion; and people listen to +it politely, and the best behaved do not yawn." + +"Phillis, you are positively irreverent! I am shocked at you!" + +"On the contrary, I am very reverent. Well, in my 'Hints to the +Clergy' I would say, first, 'Never preach what you do not feel +yourself, or the current of electricity or sympathy, or whatever it is +that communicates between preacher and people, will be checked or +impeded. Do not preach out of the book: we can read that for +ourselves. Preach out of your own head and your own experience, just +as much as you can.' Bless you," continued Phillis, in a wise, +half-sad tone, "half the pulpits would be empty: we should get +sometimes no sermons at all!" + +This was too much for Nan's simplicity. + +"But people would be so disappointed," she observed, plaintively. "All +the middle-aged people like sermons." + +"It would not hurt them to be disappointed sometimes. They would +appreciate the real thing all the more when it came. It is as well to +go without food altogether as to be fed on husks. After all, people +forget that they come to church to say their prayers all together, and +sing glorias." + +"That is very nicely said, dear," was Nan's admiring comment on this. + +But Phillis waved aside the praise. She was quite in earnest. + +"But if I were speaking to one of these real and not make-believe +preachers, I would say to him, 'Never be discouraged. Say what you +have got to say: if you really feel it and mean it, some one will feel +it too. You can't see into people's hearts: and a good thing, too, my +friend. But "the arrow at the venture" may tell; some one may be "hit +between the joints of the armor."' There, come along; you shall have +more of my hints another time. I have said my say for the present." +And Phillis rose from the boulder, with her eyes bright and kindled by +some moving thought, and went down to the edge of the water, and +watched a sea-gull dipping towards the shore in the midst of the windy +lights; while Nan, marvelling at her sister's unusual earnestness, +followed more slowly. + +The Challoners were holding up their heads in the place now. There was +no denying that. By the people at the vicarage and the White House +they were owned and regarded as equals. Mrs. Cheyne made no secret of +her affection for Phillis; and she was full of kindness also to Nan +and Dulce. It was their own fault if they declined her frequent +invitations. But there was one person who refused to hold out the hand +of amity to the eccentric new-comers. + +Colonel Middleton still shook his white head, and delivered his +protest into his daughter's ear. Elizabeth, declared, laughingly, +"that the Challoner girls were to her father what a red rag is to a +bull." He never met one of them without coming home and relieving his +mind, as he called it. "My father is dying to know them," she would +say to Mr. Drummond. "He has fallen in love with them all,--mother and +daughters too; but he is denying himself an introduction for a certain +reason." But, though Archie looked curious and questioned her very +closely, she chose to be provoking and say no more. It was Colonel +Middleton who at last enlightened the young man. + +They were walking from the town together. The colonel was carrying his +stick musket-wise over his shoulder, and had the vicar by the arm, +when Phillis and Dulce came out of the gateway of the White House. As +the girls passed Archie, they smiled at him and nodded, and Phillis, +in a pretty way she had, waved her hand; and then they went on rapidly +towards the Friary. As they did so, Colonel Middleton groaned, and +touched his companion's arm impressively. + +"There, now, Drummond, did you ever see girls with a better +carriage?--heads up--light springy step? Why, it is a pleasure even to +an old fellow like myself to watch them. Fancy that taller one on +horseback in the Row! Why, she would cut out half the girls. And think +that one dare not notice them!" And he struck his stick into the +ground almost angrily. + +Archie smiled: he could not help it. The colonel was so whimsical in +his wrath. + +"They had plenty of notice from the folk at the White House," he +returned, quietly. + +"Ah, Cheyne was always a bit of a Radical, and madam is no better. +They can do as they like, without being afraid of consequences. But +that is not my case." And, as Archie looked at him rather mystified, +he went on: "Bless me, you do not suppose I am afraid of knowing them +for my own sake? Elizabeth tells me that she is intimate with them. +But that is not my business, so long as she does not have them at +Brooklyn. 'We must draw the line there, Elizabeth,' I said. 'If you +choose to visit your dressmakers, it is not for me to prevent you; you +are old enough to select your own friends, so you may be as eccentric +as you like. But your brother is coming home. Young men are young men; +and I do not choose to expose Hammond to such temptation.'" + +"Oh, Hammond! That is your son, I suppose?" asked Archie, who was much +amused at the colonel's earnestness. + +"Yes; my boy Hammond! the finest fellow in the regiment, though I say +it, who should not. Do you think that I, his father, would expose him +to such danger as to throw him into the society of a set of +fascinating young women who have chosen to emancipate themselves from +all conventionality, and who call themselves--stuff and +rubbish!--dressmakers?" + +"Not call themselves, so: they are excellent dressmakers!" was +Archie's somewhat malicious reply. + +"All the more reason that my son should not know them!" thundered the +old man. "What, sir! an officer in one of her Majesty's regiments--the +son and grandson of officers,--is such a one to be mixed up with a +family that has lost caste,--to flirt with or make love to girls who +are not above making gowns for my butcher's wife? Before Hammond does +such a thing as that----" And here the colonel paused from excess of +emotion. + +"You are perfectly right to defend your son from such danger," +returned the young clergyman with covert sarcasm. "In your case I +should probably feel the same. But, in my position, being intimate +with those ladies of whom you speak, and having had good opportunity +to form my opinions of them, I cannot help saying, in their defence, +that even your son, excellent officer as he is,--and, I am sure, a +most worthy young man,--would scarcely be dishonored by an alliance +with the finest young gentlewomen I ever met!" And, as he said this, +with all due gravity, Archie released his arm, and, with a farewell +nod, went off, leaving the colonel, open-mouthed and gasping with +astonishment, at his own gate. + +Elizabeth met him on the threshold. + +"Oh, father, why did you not bring Mr. Drummond in!" she said, +reproachfully; "it is so long since he has paid us a visit." + +"Poor Drummond!" replied the colonel, with a mournful shake of his +head: "it is just as I thought. He has almost owned it, in fact. He is +seriously smitten with one of those Challoner girls, and before long +there will be a wedding in the place." + +"Now, father, this is just one of your whimsies," replied Elizabeth, +placidly. "Mr. Drummond is going to have his favorite sister, Grace, +to live with him and keep his house. He told me so himself; and that +does not look as though he expected to bring home a wife. So you may +just put this idea out of your head." But, though Elizabeth was well +aware of the truth of her words, that no new mistress was to come to +the vicarage, still her fine sympathy and unerring woman's divination +had read the meaning of the young vicar's clouded brow, and she knew +that he, too, had to try and be grateful for "the blessings that went +over his head." + +Archie's grand and somewhat heroic speech failed in its effect, as far +as the colonel was concerned. Elizabeth was right in saying her father +was longing to know the Challoners. The old man's fancy had been +mightily taken by the girls; but for Hammond, for his boy's sake, he +was capable of any amount of self-denial. Once he was sorely tempted +to give in. When turning the corner of the Braidwood Road, not far +from his own house, he came suddenly upon his daughter, who was +standing on the side-path, talking to Dulce. + +Dulce, who always seemed a sort of reflection and shadow of her +sisters, and who withdrew somewhat in the background, obscured a +little by Nan's beauty and Phillis's sprightliness, was nevertheless +in her way a most bewitching little maiden. + +"There comes my father!" observed Elizabeth, tranquilly, never +doubting that he would join them; and Dulce looked up a little shy and +fluttered from under her broad-brimmed hat; for she had taken a fancy +to the colonel, with his white moustache and kindly inquisitive +eyes. He was a sort of hero in her fancy; and Dulce loved +heroes,--especially when they wore a medal. + +Colonel Middleton saw the little girl dimpling and blushing with +pleasure, and his old heart thumped a little with excitement and the +conflict of feeling: the innocent child-look appealed to his fatherly +sympathies. There was a moment's wavering; then he lifted his white +hat, with a muttered "Good-morning," and the next minute he was +walking on with squared shoulders and tremendous energy. + +Poor little Dulce's lip quivered with disappointment: she thought it +hard, when other people were so kind to them. Elizabeth said nothing; +but she bade the child good-bye with greater tenderness than usual, +and sent all sort of messages to her mother and Nan. + +The colonel, meanwhile, had retreated into the house, and was opening +his papers with more than his usual fuss. + +"It is for Hammond," he murmured to himself. "When one has boys, one +must do one's duty by them; but it was confoundedly hard, by Jove!" +And all the remainder of the day a pair of appealing eyes seemed to +reproach him with unkindness. But Elizabeth never said a word; it was +not her place to find fault with her father. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +"HOW DO YOU DO, AUNT CATHERINE?" + + +One drizzling November morning, Mattie was standing at the hall door, +looking out a little blankly through the open gateway at the prospect +before her,--at the rotting leaves that lay heaped up in the road, and +at the gray, humid sky,--when a very big man suddenly blocked up the +entrance, and startled her dreadfully. + +Mattie afterwards described the occurrence very graphically to her +brother: + +"He was the biggest man I ever saw in my life, Archie. He looked as +strong as a navvy; and his shoulders reminded me of one of those men +one sees in brewers' drays. And his face was so red, and his hair, +too,--that dreadfully red color, you know, that no one admires; and +his hands, and even his voice, were big." + +"What a fascinating description!" laughed Archie. "Upon my word, +Mattie, you are rather tremendous in your language. Well, and what did +the navvy say to you?" + +"Oh, he was not a navvy, really! Of course he was a gentleman. He +could not help his big voice, and what he said was nice; but, I assure +you, Archie, he nearly took my breath away;" and so on, and so on, to +the end of her story. + +But it was enough to surprise any one whose nerves were not of the +strongest, when one lives in a lonely country road, and the master of +the house is out, to see a gigantic specimen of manhood, not very +carefully dressed, and with hair like a red glory, come suddenly +striding through one's open gate, without "by your leave," or waiting +for any possible permission. + +Mattie dropped her umbrella,--for she was dressed in her waterproof, +and her oldest hat, ready for her district-work; and the stranger +picked it up, and handed it to her promptly, and then he removed his +hat politely. + +"How do you do, cousin?" he said; and a broad, genial smile revealed a +set of white teeth. + +Mattie retreated a step in genuine affright. + +"For you know, Archie," she explained afterwards, in her simple way, +"we have no cousins worth mentioning, except Sophy Trinder, who is not +our cousin at all, but mother's; and so you see it sounded so very +odd." + +"Very odd indeed," muttered Archie. + +"If you please, Mr. Drummond--that is my brother--is out, and I am +going out too," faltered Mattie, who was not a specially heroic little +person, and who decidedly had not got her wits about her just then. + +"I do not want Mr. Drummond, whoever he may be. I never heard of him +in my life. I only want my aunt and cousins. Which of them are you, +eh? Why, you must be Nan, I suppose?" And the big man looked down at +her with a sort of supercilious good nature. The name gave Mattie +instant enlightenment. + +"Nan!--Oh, you must mean the Challoners!" she exclaimed, with a little +gasp of surprise. + +"Yes, of course; I am a Challoner myself. Well, which of them are you, +eh? You are a long time telling me your name." And the new-comer +peered down at her still more curiously, as though he were surprised +to find anything so small and ordinary-looking. + +Mattie never looked to advantage in her waterproof. More than once her +brother had threatened to burn the old rag of a thing. + +"My name is Mattie Drummond," replied the bewildered Mattie, trying +to speak with dignity,--she never would call herself Matilda, she +hated it so,--"and I live with my brother, who is the clergyman of the +parish. This is the vicarage: if you want the Friary, it is a little +lower down the road." + +"Where?" he asked, striding to the gate; and then he came back again, +taking the few steps at a single bound,--so at least it appeared to +Mattie. "Why--why--there is no house at all--only a miserable cottage, +and----" + +"That is the Friary," repeated Mattie, decidedly; "but it is not +miserable at all: it is very nice and pretty. The Challoners are very +poor, you know; but their house looks beautiful for all that." + +"Oh, yes; I know all about it. I have been down to that place, +Oldfield, where they lived; and what I heard has brought me here like +an express train. I say, Miss Mattie Drummond, if you will excuse +ceremony in a fellow who has never seen his father's country before, +and who has roughed it in the colonies, may I come in a moment and ask +you a few questions about my cousins?" + +"Oh, by all means," returned Mattie, who was very good-natured and was +now more at her ease. "You will be very welcome, Mr. Challoner." + +"Sir Henry Challoner, at your service," responded that singular +individual with a twinkle of his eye, as Mattie became confused all at +once. "You see," he continued, confidentially, as she led the way +rather awkwardly to her brother's study, hoping fervently that Archie +would come in, "I have been making up my mind to come to England for +years, but somehow I have never been able to get away; but after my +father's death--he was out in Australia with me--I was so lonely and +cut up that I thought I would take a run over to the mother-country +and hunt up my relations. He was not much of a father perhaps; but, as +one cannot have a choice in such matters, I was obliged to put up with +him;" which was perhaps the kindest speech Sir Francis's son could +make under the circumstances. + +Mattie listened intelligently, but she was so slightly acquainted with +the Challoners' past history that she did not know they possessed any +relations. But she had no need to ask any questions: the new-comer +seemed determined to give a full account of himself. + +"So do you see, Miss Drummond, having made my fortune by a stroke of +good luck, and not knowing quite how to spend it--the father and +mother both gone,--and having no wife or chick of my own, and being +uncommon lonely under the circumstances, I thought I would just run +over and have a look at my belongings. I have a sort of fancy for Aunt +Catherine; she used to write me such pretty letters when I was a +little chap in Calcutta, and tell me about Nan, and Phillis, and--what +was the baby's name?--Dulce. I believe she and the poor old governor +never hit it off: the old man had been a sad sinner in his day. But I +never forgot those letters: and when he was gone, poor old boy! I said +to myself, Now I will go and see Aunt Catherine." + +"And you went down to Oldfield, Sir Henry?" + +"Eh, what? meaning me, I suppose? but out there they called me Sir +Harry, or Harry mostly, for what was the use of a title there? Oh, +yes, I went down and found out all about them from a chatty little +woman, rather like yourself, and she sent me on here." + +"Oh, dear, I am so glad!" exclaimed Mattie, who was now thoroughly +herself: "they will be so pleased to see you, and you will think them +all so charming. I am sure I never saw any one the least like them, +except Grace, and she is not half so pretty as Nan; and as for +Phillis, I admire her even more, she lights up so when she talks." + +"Aunt Catherine used to be beautiful," observed Sir Harry, gravely; +for then and afterwards he insisted on that form of address. He was +not English enough or sufficiently stiff for Henry, he would say. + +"Oh, dear, yes! she is quite lovely now,--at least Archie and I think +so; and Dulce is the dearest little thing. I am ever so fond of them; +if they were my own sisters I could not love them more," continued +Mattie, with a little gush; but, indeed the girls' gentle high-bred +ways had won her heart from the first. + +Sir Harry's eyes positively sparkled with delight; he had pleasant +eyes which redeemed his other features, for it must be confessed he +was decidedly plain. + +"I must shake hands with you, Miss Drummond," he said, stretching out +a huge hand, with a diamond ring on it that greatly impressed Mattie. +"We shall be good friends, I see that." And though poor Mattie winced +with pain under that cordial grasp, she hid it manfully. + +"Did they tell you at Oldfield how poor they are?" she said, when this +ceremony had been performed, and Sir Harry's face looked more like a +sunset than ever with that benevolent glow on it. + +"Oh, yes," he returned, indifferently; "but all that is over now." + +"You know they have to work for their living; the girls are +dressmakers," bringing out the news rather cautiously, for fear he +should be shocked; a baronet must be sensitive on such points. But Sir +Harry only laughed. + +"Well, they are plucky girls," he said, admiringly; "I like them for +that." And then he asked, a little anxiously, if his aunt sewed gowns +too,--that was how he put it,--and seemed mightily relieved to hear +that she did very little but read to the girls. + +"I would not like to hear she was slaving herself at her age," he +remarked, seriously. "Work will not hurt the girls: it keeps them out +of mischief. But now I have come, we must put a stop to all this." And +then he got up and threw back his shoulders, as though he were +adjusting them to some burden; and Mattie, as she looked up at him, +thought again of the brewer's dray. + +"I was afraid when he got off his chair he would touch the ceiling," +she said, afterwards. "He quite stooped of his own accord going +through the study doorway." + +When Sir Henry had shaken himself into order, and pulled an end of his +rough red moustache, he said, quite suddenly,-- + +"As you are a friend of the family, Miss Drummond, I think it would be +as well if you would go with me to the Friary and introduce me in due +form; for, though you would not believe it in a man of my size, I am +painfully shy, and the notion of all these girls, unless I take them +singly, is rather overwhelming." And, though this request took Mattie +a little by surprise, she saw no reason for refusing to do him this +kindness. So she assented willingly, for in her heart Mattie was fond +of a scene. It gave her such a hold on Archie's attention afterwards; +and, to do him justice, when the Challoners were on the _tapis_, he +made a splendid listener. + +Sir Henry walked very fast, as though he were in a tremendous hurry; +but he was nervous, poor fellow, and, though he did not like to own as +much to a woman, he would almost have liked to run away, in spite of +his coming all those thousands of miles to see his relations. He had +pressed Mattie into the service to cover his confusion, but the little +woman herself hardly saw how she was needed, for, instead of waiting +for her introduction, or sending in his name or card by Dorothy, he +just put them both aside and stepped into the first room that stood +handy, guided by the sound of voices. + +"How do you do, Aunt Catherine?" he said, walking straight up to the +terrified lady, who had never seen anything so big in her life. "I am +Harry,--Harry Challoner, you know,--to whom you used to write when I +was a little slip of a boy." + +A strange queen in a hive of bees could not have produced more +confusion. Dulce stopped her sewing-machine so suddenly that her +thread broke; Phillis, who was reading aloud, let her book fall with +quite a crash; and Nan said, "Oh, dear!" and grew quite pale with +surprise and disappointment: for a moment she thought it was Dick. As +for Mrs. Challoner, who had a right to her nerves from years of +injudicious spoiling and indulgence, and would not have been without +her feelings for worlds, she just clasped her hands and murmured "Good +heavens!" in the orthodox lady-like way. + +"Why, yes, Aunt Catherine, I am Harry; and I hope you have not +forgotten the existence of the poor little beggar to whom you were so +kind in the old Calcutta days." And his big voice softened +involuntarily in the presence of this dignified aunt. + +"Oh, no, my dear!--no!" touched by his manner, and remembering the +boyish scrawls that used to come to her, signed "Your affectionate +nephew, Harry." "And are you indeed my nephew?--are you Harry?" And +then she held out her slim hand, which he took awkwardly enough. +"Girls, you must welcome your cousin. This is Nan, Harry, the one they +always say is like me; and this is Phillis, our clever one; and this +is my pet Dulce." And with each one did their cousin solemnly shake +hands, but without a smile; indeed, his aspect became almost +ludicrous, until he caught sight of his homely little acquaintance, +Mattie, who stood an amused spectator of this family tableau, and his +red, embarrassed face brightened a little. + +"Aunt Catherine was such an awfully grand creature, you know," as he +observed to her afterwards, in a confidential aside: "her manners +make a fellow feel nowhere. And as for my cousins, a prettier lot +of girls I never saw anywhere; and of course, they are as jolly and +up to larks as other girls; but just at first, you know, I had a +bull-in-a-china-shop sort of feeling among them all." + +Mrs. Challoner, in spite of her fine manners, was far too nervous +herself to notice her nephew's discomfort. She had to mention a name +that was obnoxious to her, for of course she must ask after his +father. She got him into a chair by her at length, where he stared +into his hat to avoid the bright eyes that seemed to quiz him so +unmercifully. + +"And how is Sir Francis?" she asked, uttering the name with languid +interest. + +"My father! Oh, did you not know, Aunt Catherine?--he died out in +Sydney a year ago. Poor old fellow! he had a terrible illness. There +was no pulling him through it." + +Mrs. Challoner roused up at this: + +"Your father dead! Then, Harry, you have come to the title?" + +But her nephew burst into a boisterous laugh at this: + +"Yes,--a title and an old ruin. A precious heritage, is it not? Not +that I care what people call me. The most important part is that +another fellow--Dalton they call him--and I made a grand hit out in +Sydney. When I saw the money flowing in, I just sent for the poor old +governor to join me; and we did not have a bad time of it, until the +gout took him off. And then I got sick of it all, and thought I would +have a look at England and hunt up my relations." + +Sir Harry had blurted out this long speech as he still attentively +regarded the lining of his hat; but, happening to look up, he caught +Phillis's eyes, which were contemplating him. The mischievous look of +fun in them was not to be resisted. Sir Harry first got redder, if +possible; then his own eyes began to twinkle, and finally they both +laughed. And after that the ice was broken, and they got on famously. + +The girls chattered to him like magpies. They made Mattie take off her +hat and hideous old waterproof and stay to luncheon. Nan smoothed her +hair, which was sadly ruffled, and Phillis settled her brooch and +collar. + +There was only cold mutton in the larder; but what did that matter? +Dulce ran out in the garden and picked dahlias for the table; and Nan +took her mother's keys and drew from the recesses of a dim +sweet-smelling press some dainty napkins and a fine old cloth that +might have suited a princess. There was a bottle of rare Madeira that +remained from their stock of wine; and Dorothy had made a batch of +fresh dinner-rolls. Dorothy was always full of resources in an +emergency. + +"Don't fash yourself, Miss Nan," she said, when her young mistress +came into the kitchen. "The cold mutton can't be helped; but we have +got angels in the larder, and I will just pop them into the oven." + +Sir Harry roared with laughter when Dorothy's speech was repeated to +him. The little puddings were declared by Mattie to be delicious; but +Sir Harry could scarcely eat his for laughing. + +"Who ever heard of baked angels, Aunt Catherine!" he exclaimed, after +another explosion. + +"My dear, it is only a name," she returned, mildly. "Will you have +another, Harry? And, Nan, you must pass your cousin the Madeira." + +They were all seated round the table in the small parlor. It was felt +to be a triumph when Sir Harry contrived to seat himself without +grazing himself seriously against the chiffonnier or knocking over a +piece of the blue-and-gold china. + +"What a cosey little cabin of a place!" he said with critical +approval; "but it is rather small to hold you all,--eh, Aunt +Catherine?" + +"Yes: it is small after Glen Cottage," she sighed. "We had such a +pretty drawing-room there." + +"And such a lovely garden!" added Dulce. + +"Oh, this crib in not fit for you? We will alter all that," he +returned, complacently. "I am the head of the family now, and I must +take my uncle's place. I am awfully rich, Aunt Catherine; so you have +only got to tell me what you and the girls want, you know." And then +he rubbed his hands as though he were pleased about something. + +But no one took any notice of this speech, hardly knowing how to treat +it. + +When luncheon--which was, indeed, the family dinner--was over, the +girls carried him off to the work-room, and showed him specimens of +their skill. + +"Very nice; very well done," he observed, approvingly. + +"I am glad you showed such pluck; for why any woman should think it +_infra dig._ to make a gown for another woman quite beats me. Why, +bless you, in the colonies we fellows turned our hands to anything! +Well, Aunt Catherine, they are plucky ones, these girls of yours. But +we must put a stop to this sort of thing, you and I. I don't think my +uncle would have liked it. And as I am in his place----" And here he +thrust aside some amber satin with his great hands, with a movement +full of suggestive possibilities. + +He took them all out to walk after that. Mrs. Challoner, indeed, +begged to be excused,--the poor lady was already sadly fatigued, and +longed for her nap,--but he would not dispense with Mattie's company. + +"We were acquaintances first," he said to her; "and I look upon you as +a sort of cousin too, Miss Mattie." And poor little Mattie, who had +never met with so much friendliness before, quite blushed and bridled +with pleasure. + +Mr. Drummond, who was coming out of his own gate, stood as though +transfixed as the procession came towards him. The four girls were +walking all abreast, Mattie in the middle; and beside them stalked a +huge man, in rough, rather outlandish attire, looking like a son of +the Anakin, or a red-headed Goliath. + +Archie stood still in the middle of the road, and Mattie rushed up to +him: + +"We are going for a walk. Oh, Archie, I wish you would come too! It +would be such fun!" + +"Yes; do come!" cried unconscious Nan, seconding her out of pure good +nature. "Mr. Drummond, this is our cousin, Sir Henry Challoner, who +has just come from Australia; and we have never seen him before." And +then the young clergyman shook hands with him very stiffly, and spoke +a few conventional words. + +"They have not a man belonging to them," he had said to himself, +triumphantly, and then that odious Dick had turned up and now this +extraordinary-looking being who called himself Sir Henry Challoner. + +Archie took down the "Peerage" when he got home, for he could not be +induced to join the merry party in their walk. He found the name there +all right,--"Henry Fortescue Challoner, son of Sir Francis Challoner, +son of Sir Henry Challoner," and so on. It was an old baronetcy,--one +of the oldest in England,--but the estates had dwindled down to a +half-ruined residence and a few fields. "Challoner Place," as it was +called, was nothing but a heap of mouldering walls; but Mattie had +whispered to him gleefully that he was "awfully rich, and the head of +the family, and unmarried; and he did not mean to let his cousins make +gowns anymore for other people, though they might do it for +themselves." + +Mattie never forgot that walk. Never in her life had she enjoyed such +fun. Archie, with his grave face and prim ways, would have spoiled the +hilarity. + +First Sir Henry took his cousins to the hotel, where they heard him +order his apartments and dinner: he evidently considered he had not +dined; and there was a good deal of discussion about some game that he +ordered, and a certain brand of champagne that was to his liking. + +"If they make me comfortable, I may stop on a goodish bit," he +informed them, "until we have settled where my aunt would like to +live. I shall run up to London every few days, and can do all your +commissions. By the bye, I got some trinkets for you girls on my way +down; we will haul them over when I come up for the cup of coffee Aunt +Catherine promised me this evening." + +"Now, Harry, we don't want presents," remarked Phillis, taking him to +task as easily as though she had known him all her life long. + +In spite of his bigness, his great burly figure and plain face, there +was something very pleasant about him. He was rough and unpolished, +his dress was careless and of colonial cut; and yet one could not fail +to see he was a gentleman. His boyishness and fun would have delighted +Dick, who was of the same calibre; only Dick was far cleverer, and had +more in his little finger than this great lumbering Harry in his whole +body. + +He was slow and clumsy, but his heart and intentions were excellent; +he was full of tenderness for women, and showed a touching sort of +chivalry in his intercourse with them. In some way, his manners were +far finer than those of a New Bond Street gentleman; for he could not +sneer at a woman, he believed in the goodness of the sex, in spite of +much knowledge to the contrary, he could not tell a lie, and he only +cheated himself. This was saying a good deal for the son of that very +black sheep Sir Francis; but, as Sir Harry once simply observed, "his +mother was a good woman:" if this were the case, her husband's vices +must have shortened her life, for she died young. + +Phillis was glad when they turned their backs on the town: she found +her cousin's long purse a difficulty: it seemed an impossibility to +get him past the shops. + +First, he was sure Aunt Catherine was fond of champagne,--all ladies +liked sweet sparkling things; but he would see about that at the hotel +presently. Then his attention was attracted by some grouse hanging up +at the poulterer's: Aunt Catherine must have some grouse, as he +remembered the cold mutton. Phillis made no objection to the grouse, +for she knew her mother's fondness for game; but she waxed indignant +when partridges and a hare were added, and still more when Sir Harry +ransacked the fruiterers for a supply of the rarest fruit the town +could afford. After this, he turned his attention to cakes and +bonbons; but here Dulce took his part, for she loved bonbons. Phillis +caught Nan by the arm, and compelled her to leave them; but Mattie +deserted her friends, and remained to watch the fun. + +Dulce grew frightened at last, and tried to coax her cousin away. + +"Oh, no more--no more?" she pleaded. "Phillis and Nan will be so angry +with us." + +"I don't see anything more worth getting," returned her cousin, +contemptuously. "What a place this is, to be sure! Never mind, Dulce; +I am going up to London to-morrow, and I will bring you down as many +bonbons as you like from the French place in Regent Street. I will +bring Miss Mattie some too," he continued, as the girls hurried him +along. "And, Dulce, just write out a list of what you girls want; and +I will get them, as sure as my name is Harry." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +ALCIDES. + + +There was quite a battle-royal on the sea-shore after that: Dulce and +Phillis pelted Laddie with bonbons; while their mother enjoyed her nap +in the snug parlor. And Dorothy, pleased, bewildered, and half +frightened at what the mistress might say, stowed away game and fruit +and confectionery in the tiny larder, and then turned her attention to +such a tea as her young ladies had not seen since the Glen Cottage +days. + +Laddie raced and barked, and nearly made himself ill with the sweet +things; and Nan laughed, and then grew serious as she remembered an +afternoon in the Longmead Meadows, when Dick, in wild spirits, had +pelted her and Phillis with roses until their laps were full of the +delicious, fragrant leaves. "'Sweets to the sweet,'--so look out for +yourself, Nan!" he had said, in his half-rough, boyish way. But that +was in the days when both were very young and Dick had not learned to +make love. + +Mattie joined in the game a little awkwardly,--it was so long since +the poor little woman had played at anything. Her younger sisters +never chose Mattie in their games. "She makes such mistakes, and puts +us out; and that spoils the fun," they said; and so Grace was their +favorite playfellow. + +For it is perfectly true that some grown-up people have forgotten how +to play, while others are such children at heart that they can abandon +themselves most joyously and gracefully to any game, however romping; +but Mattie, who was sobered by frequent snubbing, was not one of +these. She loved fun still, in her way, but not as Phillis and Dulce, +who thought it the cream of life and would not be content with the +sort of skimmed-milk existence of other young ladies. + +Sir Harry watched them admiringly, and his enthusiasm grew every +moment. + +"I say, you are the right sort, and no mistake. I never met jollier +girls in my life. A fellow would not know which to choose: would he, +Miss Mattie?" + +Mattie took this seriously. + +"Nan is chosen:--are you not, Nan?" she said, in her downright +fashion. And then, as Sir Harry stared at this, and Nan blushed and +looked even prettier, Phillis first scolded Mattie soundly for her +bluntness, and then took upon herself to describe Dick's perfections: + +"The dearest fellow in the world, Harry, when you come to know him; +but not handsome, and dreadfully young looking, some people think. +But, as Nan will not look at any one else, we must make the best of +him." + +"And when are they to be married?" asked her cousin, curiously. He was +not quite pleased with this discovery. + +"When?--Oh, Harry, there is an 'if' in the case," returned Phillis, +solemnly. "The dearest fellow in the world has an ogre of a father,--a +man so benighted, so narrow in his prejudices, that he thinks it +decidedly _infra dig._ for his intended daughter in-law to sew other +people's gowns. I do love that expression. Harry: it is so forcible. +So he forbids the banns." + +"No, really!--Is she serious, Nan?" But Nan grew shy all at once, and +would not answer. + +"I am serious, Sir Henry Challoner," replied Phillis, pompously. "The +path of true love is impeded. Poor Dick is pining in his rooms at +Oxford; and Nan--well, I am afraid her looks belie her; only you know +appearances are sometimes deceitful." And indeed Nan's pink cheeks and +air of placid contentment scarcely bore out her sister's words. + +The newly found cousin sat in silent perplexity staring at them both. +Love-affairs were not much in his way; and until now he had never been +thrown much with his equals in the other sex. His rough colonial life, +full of excitement and money-getting, had engrossed his youth. He was +now a man of thirty; but in disposition, in simplicity, and in a +certain guilelessness of speech, he seemed hardly more than an +overgrown boy. + +"Well, now, is it not like a book?" he said, at last, breaking the +silence quite abruptly. "It must be an awful bother for you, Nan; but +we must put a stop to all that. I am the head of the family; and I +shall have a word to say to that Mr.--what is his name?" + +"Mr. Mayne," returned Nan, softly. + +It was at this moment that the name of Hercules came into Phillis's +head for her cousin. What feats of strength did he mean to undertake +on their behalf? Would he strangle the hydra-headed monster of public +opinion that pronounced "women who sewed other women's gowns" were +not to be received into society? Would he help Nan gather the golden +apples of satisfied love and ambition? What was it that he meant to do +by dint of sheer force and good nature? + +Harry Challoner did not long leave them in ignorance of his +intentions. In the coolest possible way he at once assumed the +headship of the family,--adopting them at once, and giving them the +benefit of his opinions on every point that could possibly be mooted. + +"I had not a soul belonging to me until now," he said, looking around +on his cousins' bright faces with a glow of honest satisfaction on his +own. "It made a fellow feel precious lonely out there, I can tell +you." + +"You ought to have married, Harry," suggested Dulce. + +"I never thought any one would care for such a great hulking fellow," +he returned, simply; "and then the girls over there were not to my +taste. Besides, I never thought of it; I was too busy. I am going to +take a holiday now, and look about me a little; and when you and Aunt +Catherine are settled, I may have a try myself at some one," he +finished, with a big laugh. + +This notion amused the girls immensely, then and afterwards. They +began to talk of the future Lady Challoner. Nan proposed one of the +Paines. Phillis thought if Grace Drummond were only as sweet-looking +as her photograph he could hardly help falling in love with her. And +Dulce was of opinion that Adelaide Sartoris, handsome and queenly as +she was, would not consider a baronet beneath her. They confided all +these thoughts to Sir Harry, who thanked them quite gravely for their +interest and promised to consider the matter. He even wrote down the +names in his pocket-book one after another. + +"Adelaide Sartoris, did you say? Ah, we had an Adelaide at Sydney, a +little, dark thing, with hair blown all over her temples, and such a +pair of mischievous eyes: that girl was always laughing at me, +somehow. And yet she seemed sorry to bid me good-bye." + +"Perhaps she was in love with you?" observed Dulce. But Phillis +frowned at this. She thought they had gone too far in their jokes +already with a cousin who was such a complete stranger. But he +returned, quite gravely,-- + +"Well, now, you know, such a thing never came into my head. I talked +to her because a fellow likes to be amused by a lively girl like Miss +Addie. But as to thinking seriously of her--well, I could not stand +that, you know to be laughed at all one's life; eh, Miss Mattie?" And +Mattie, at this appeal, looked up with round, innocent eyes, and said, +"Certainly not," in such an impressive tone that the other girls burst +out laughing. + +They all went home after that. Sir Harry escorted his cousins and +Mattie to the Friary, and then returned to his hotel to dinner. But +the girls, who were in a merry mood, would not part with Mattie. They +sent her home to put on her green silk dress, with strict orders that +she was to return as soon as possible. + +"We are all going to make ourselves pretty," announced Phillis. "A +cousin does not turn up every day; and when he promises to be a good +fellow, like Harry, we cannot do him too much honor." + +"Ah, I should like to come," returned Mattie. "I have had such a nice +day; and, if Archie will not mind----" And then she bustled into the +vicarage, and into her brother's study. + +Archie roused himself a little wearily from his abstraction to listen +to his sister's story; but at the end of it he said good-naturedly, +for he had taught himself to be tolerant of Mattie's little +gaucheries,-- + +"And the long and short of it is that you want to be gadding again. +Well, run and get ready, or you will keep their tea waiting; and do +put on your collar straight, Mattie." But this slight thrust was lost +on Mattie as she delightedly withdrew. Archie sighed as he tried to +compose himself to his reading. He had not been asked to join Mattie. +For the last few weeks he had become a stranger to the cottage. Did +they notice his absence? he wondered. Did they miss the visits that +had once been so frequent? By and by he would resume his old habits of +intimacy, and go among them as he had done; but just now the effort +was too painful. He dreaded the unspoken sympathy in Phillis's eyes. +He dreaded anything like an understanding between them. Nan's perfect +unconsciousness was helpful to him; but there was something in +Phillis's manner that stirred up an old pain. For the present he was +safer and happier alone in his study, though Mattie did not think so, +and told her friends that Archie looked terribly dull. + +Mrs. Challoner proposed sending for him; but Phillis, greatly to her +mother's surprise, negatived the proposition: + +"Oh, no, mother; pray do not! Mattie, you must excuse me. I do not +mean to be rude, but we should all have to be so dreadfully +well-behaved if Mr. Drummond came, and I just feel myself in a +'nonsense mood,' as Dulce used to say when she was a baby." And then +they all forgot Archie, and fell to discussing the new cousin. + +"He is dreadfully ugly, mammie, is he not?" observed Dulce, who had a +horror of red hair. But Mrs. Challoner demurred: + +"Well, no, pet; I cannot agree with you. He is very plain, but so is +Dick; but it struck me they were both rather alike." An indignant "How +can you, mother!" from Nan. "Well, my dear," she continued, placidly, +"I do not mean really alike, for they have not a feature in common; +but they have both got the same honest, open look, only Dick's face is +more intelligent." But this hardly appeased Nan, who was heard to say +under her breath "that she thought Dick had the nicest face in the +world." + +"And Sir Harry has a nice face too: has he not, Mrs. Challoner?" +exclaimed Mattie, who never could be silent in a discussion. "It takes +time to get used to such very red hair; and, of course, he is +dreadfully big,--almost too big, I should say. But when he talks he +has such a good-natured way with him; now, hasn't he?" appealing to +Nan, who looked just a little glum,--that is, glum for Nan, for she +could not do the sulks properly; she could only look dignified. + +Mrs. Challoner grew a little alarmed at her daughter's demure face: +"Nan, darling, you know I am as fond of Dick as possible; but I cannot +help being pleased with my new nephew, can I? And I must say I think +Harry is very nice, in spite of his roughness." But here Phillis, who +had been unaccountably silent, suddenly struck in: + +"Mother, it was a mistake mentioning Dick: the name is sacred. Nan, if +it will please you we will declare that he is beautiful as a young +Apollo." + +"Don't be a goose, Phil!" from her sister. But Nan was smiling. + +"As for Harry, he is a perfect hero. I expect great things from the +great man. To my imagination he is a perfect Hercules,--Heracles, son +of Zeus and Alcmene. I wonder if Harry could tell us the name of +Hercules's mother?" + +"Of course not, and no one else either," retorted Dulce. + +But Phillis did not heed this. + +"To me he shall be the young Alcides. He has promised to fight the +Nemæan lion, in the shape of Richard Mayne the elder. By and by we +shall have him striking off the heads of the Lernean Hydra. You look +mystified, Nan. And I perceive Mattie has a perplexed countenance. I +am afraid you are deficient in heathen mythology; but I will spare +your ignorance. You will see, though, I am right----" + +"But, Phillis----" broke in Dulce, eagerly. But Phillis waved her hand +majestically at the interruption: + +"Mother, to be serious, I consider Harry in the light of a +providential interposition. You are always mourning that there is not +a man belonging to us. Well, now we have got one, large as life, and +larger, and a very good fellow, as you say; and we are no longer +'forlorn females.'" + +"And indeed, Phillis, I am most thankful for that, my dear; for if +Harry be only as good as a brother to you----" + +"He means to be more," returned Phillis, with a sage nod of her head. +"He talks in the coolest way, as though he had adopted the whole +family and meant to put a spoke into the domestic wheel. 'I must put a +stop to this,' or, 'That must be altered,' has been a frequent remark +of his. Mother, if he is dreadfully rich, as he says, does he mean to +make us rich too?" + +"My dear, we have no claim on him." + +"He thinks we have the strongest possible claim: does he not, Nan? You +should have heard him talk this afternoon! According to him, we were +never to sew gowns again; Nan and Dick were to be immediately united; +the Friary was to be pulled down, and a glorified Glen Cottage to be +erected in its stead. But mother,"--here Phillis's lip grew +plaintive,--"you won't desert your own girls, and be talked over even +by an Alcides? We do not mean to have our little deeds all put on the +shelf in that off-hand fashion. I shall sew gowns as long as I like, +in spite of a hundred Sir Harrys." + +And then they perceived that under Phillis's fun there was a vein of +serious humor, and that, in spite of her admiration of her hero, she +was a little afraid that her notions of independence would be +wounded. + +They became divided on the question. Mrs. Challoner, who had never had +a son of her own, and did not much like the idea of a son-in-law, was +disposed to regard her nephew warmly, and to accord to him at once his +privilege of being head of the family. + +"In this case, a cousin is as good as a brother," she averred; and Nan +rather leaned to her opinion. + +"You see," she said, in her practical way, addressing no one in +particular, but looking at Phillis, "it has been terribly against us, +having no one belonging to us of the same name; and it will really +give us a standing with some sort of people." + +"Fie, Nan! what a worldly speech! You are thinking of that tiresome +Mayne _pere_ again." + +"I have to think of him," returned Nan, not at all put out by this. +"Dick's father must be a person of great importance to me. He has +often hinted in my hearing that we have no relations, and that the +Challoner name will die out. I expect he will be rather taken aback at +Harry's appearance." + +"Yes; and Dick will be jealous: he always is of other fellows, as he +calls them. You must score that up against Dick, please. Well, I won't +deny that Harry may make himself useful there: all I protest against +is the idea that he will bundle us out of this dear old Friary, and +make us grand, in spite of ourselves." + +"Dear old Friary!--Oh, oh!" gasped Dulce; and even Nan looked mildly +surprised. + +"He will not make me give up my work until I choose," continued +Phillis, who was in an obstinate mood. "It is not make-believe +play-work, I can tell him that;" but Mrs. Challoner grew tearful at +this. + +"Phillis, my dear, pray hush! Indeed--indeed I cannot have you talking +as though you meant and wished to be a dressmaker all your life." + +And when Phillis asked, "Why not?" just for the sake of argument,--for +in her heart she was growing heartily sick of her employment,--her +mother threw up her hands in despair: + +"Oh, my dear Miss Drummond, do not believe her: Phillis is a good +girl; but she is always like that,--hard to be convinced. She does not +really mean it. She has worked harder than any of them; but she has +only done it for her mother's sake." + +"Of course she does not mean it," echoed Nan, affectionately, and much +struck by a sudden yearning look on Phillis's face,--an expression of +smothered pain; but Phillis drew away from her sister's gentle grasp. + +"I do mean it!" she said, almost passionately. "I am dreadfully tired +of the work sometimes, and hate it. Oh, how I hate it! But I think I +have been happy, too. I liked the excitement of the fighting, and the +novelty of the thing; it was such fun,--first shocking people, and +then winning them over in spite of themselves. One felt 'plucky,' as +Harry said. And then one's friends were so real." And her eyes fell +unconsciously on Mattie. + +"Oh, yes," returned Mattie, with her usual gush: "Archie and I took to +you from the first. I must say I was surprised, knowing how fastidious +Archie was, and his notions about young ladies in general. But, dear, +he never would hear a word against you: he was even angry with Colonel +Middleton the other day because--but there! I ought not to have told +you that." + +"Oh, we know all about it," returned Phillis, carelessly; but Dulce's +bright face looked a little overcast. "Son Hammond is in the case; and +we can all judge of a father's feelings by a certain example that +shall be nameless. Good gracious, mammie! there comes the Alcides +himself, and Dorothy has not cleared the tea-things! I vote we meet +him in the garden, to avert breakages." And Phillis's proposition was +carried out. + +But when they were all seated in the little parlor again, and the lamp +was brought, sundry packages made their appearence, and were +delightedly unpacked by the girls, Phillis assisting with great +interest, in spite of her heroic speeches. + +"One can accept gifts from a cousin," she said, afterwards. + +Sir Harry had shown good taste in his purchases. The ornaments and +knick-knacks were all pretty and well chosen. The good-natured fellow +had ransacked the shops in Paris for such things as he thought would +please his unknown cousins. The bracelets, and fans, and gloves, and +laces, made Dulce almost dance with glee. The lace was for Aunt +Catherine, he said; and there were gloves for everybody,--dozens and +dozens of them. But the fans and bracelets were for the girls; and +to-morrow he would get the bonbons for Dulce. And then, as the girls +laughingly apportioned the spoil, he whispered something to Nan, at +which she nodded and smiled. + +Mattie, who was carefully admiring the lace in her short-sighted way, +felt something touch her elbow, and found Nan pushing a fan and a +parcel of gloves towards her,--beautiful gloves, such as Isabel had in +her trousseau. + +"Yes; take them; we have so many; and, indeed, we have no use for more +than a fan apiece. Oh, you extravagant Harry!" + +Sir Harry laughed as he balanced the fan clumsily on his huge finger: + +"Take it; you are very welcome, Miss Mattie. You know we are quite old +acquaintances; and, indeed, I look on you as a sort of cousin." + +"Oh, dear!--thank you; you are very good, Sir Harry," cried poor +Mattie, blushing with pleasure. + +Never had she spent such a day in her life,--a day wherein she had not +been once snubbed, except in that remark of Archie's about her collar, +and that did not matter. + +"Poor little woman, she looks very happy!" observed Mrs. Challoner, +benevolently, as Mattie gathered up her spoils and went out of the +room, accompanied by Dulce. "She is such a good little soul, and so +amiable, that it is a pity Mr. Drummond is always finding fault with +her. It spoils him, somehow; and I am sure she bears it very well." +She spoke to Nan, for her nephew seemed engrossed with tying up +Laddie's front paw with his handkerchief. + +"I am afraid, from what she says, that they all snub her at home," +returned Nan. "It seems Grace is the favorite; but you know, mother, +Mattie is just a little tiresome and awkward at times." + +"Yes; but she is very much improved. And I must say her temper is of +the sweetest; for she never bears her brother any malice." But at that +moment Mattie re-entered the room: and Sir Harry, releasing Laddie, +proceeded, as in duty bound, to escort her to the vicarage. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +SIR HARRY BIDES HIS TIME. + + +Phillis might have spared herself that little outburst to which she +had given vent on the day of her cousin's arrival. For, in spite of +the lordly way in which he had claimed his prerogative as the only +male Challoner, Sir Harry took no further steps to interfere with her +liberty: indeed, as the days and even the weeks passed away, and +nothing particular happened in them, she was even a little +disappointed. + +For it is one thing to foster heroic intentions, but quite another +when one has no choice in the matter. The heroism seemed lost, +somehow, when no one took the trouble to combat her resolution. +Phillis began to tire of her work,--nay, more, to feel positive +disgust at it. The merry evenings gave her a distaste for her morning +labors, and the daylight seemed sometimes as though it would never +fade into dark, so as to give her an excuse for folding up her work. + +These fits of impatience were intermittent, and she spoke of them to +no one: in other respects the new cousin brought a great deal of +brightness and pleasure into their daily life. + +They all grew very fond of him. Mrs. Challoner, indeed, was soon heard +to say that she almost loved him like a son,--a speech that reached +Dick's ears by and by and made him excessively angry. "I should like +to kick that fellow," he growled, as he read the words. But then Dick +never liked interlopers. He had conceived a hatred of Mr. Drummond on +the spot. Sir Harry took up his quarters at the same hotel where Dick +and his father had spent that one dreary evening. He gave lavish +orders and excited a great deal of attention and talk by his careless +munificence. Without being positively extravagant he had a free-handed +way of spending his money: as he often said, "he liked to see things +comfortable about him." And, as his notions of comfort were somewhat +expensive, his host soon conceived a great respect for him,--all the +more that he gave himself no airs, never talked about his wealth +except to his cousins, and treated his title as though it were not of +the slightest consequence to himself or any one else; indeed, he was +decidedly modest in all matters pertaining to himself. + +But, being a generous soul, he loved to give. Every few days he went +up to London, and he never returned without bringing gifts to the +Friary. Dulce, who was from the first his chief favorite, revelled in +French bonbons; hampers of wine, of choice game, or fruit from Covent +Garden, filled the tiny larder to overflowing. Silks and ribbons, and +odds and ends of female finery, were sent down from Marshall & +Snelgrove's, or Swan & Edgar's. In vain Mrs. Challoner implored him +not to spoil the girls, who had never had so many pretty things in +their lives, and hardly knew what to do with them. Sir Harry would not +deny himself this pleasure; and he came up evening after evening, +overflowing with health and spirits, to join the family circle in the +small parlor and enliven them with his stories of colonial life. + +People began to talk about him. He was too big and too prominent a +figure to pass unnoticed in Hadleigh. The Challoners and their odd +ways, and their cousin the baronet who was a millionaire and +unmarried, were canvassed in many a drawing-room. "We always knew they +were not just 'nobodies,'" as one young lady observed; and another +remarked, a little scornfully, "that she supposed Sir Henry Challoner +would put a stop to all that ridiculous dressmaking now." But when +they found that Nan and Phillis went about as usual, taking orders +and fitting on dresses, their astonishment knew no bounds. + +Sir Harry watched them with a secret chuckle. "He must put a stop to +all that presently," he said; but just at first it amused him to see +it all. "It was so pretty and plucky of them," he thought. + +He would saunter into the work-room in the morning, and watch them for +an hour together as he sat and talked to them. After the first they +never minded him, and his presence made no difference to them. Nan +measured and cut out, and consulted Phillis in her difficulties, as +usual. Dulce sang over her sewing-machine, and Phillis went from one +to the other with a grave, intent face. Sometimes she would speak +petulantly to him, and bid him not whistle or tease Laddie: but that +was when one of her fits of impatience was on her. She was generally +gracious to him, and made him welcome. + +When he was tired of sitting quiet, he would take refuge with Aunt +Catherine in her little parlor, or go into the vicarage for a chat +with Mattie and her brother: he was becoming very intimate there. +Sometimes, but not often, he would call at the White House; but, +though the Cheynes liked him, and Magdalene was amused at his +simplicity, there was not much in common between them. + +He had taken a liking to Colonel Middleton and his daughter, and would +have found his way to Brooklyn over and over again, only the colonel +gave him no encouragement. They had met accidentally in the grounds of +the White House, and Mr. Cheyne had introduced them to each other; but +the colonel bore himself very stiffly on that occasion and ever after +when they met on the Parade and in the reading-room. In his heart he +was secretly attracted by Sir Harry's blunt ways and honest face; but +he was a cousin of those Challoners, and intimacy was not to be +desired: so their intercourse was limited to a brief word or two. + +"Your father does not want to know me," he said once, in his outspoken +way, to Miss Middleton, when they met at the very gate of Brooklyn, +and she had asked him, with some little hesitation, if he were coming +in. "It is a pity," he added, regretfully, "for I have taken a fancy +to him: he seems a downright good sort, and we agree in politics." + +Elizabeth blushed; for once her courtesy and love of truth were sadly +at variance. + +"He does like you very much, Sir Harry," she said; and then she +hesitated. + +"Only my cousins sew gowns," he returned, with a twinkle of amusement +in his eyes, "so he must not encourage me,--eh, Miss Middleton?--as we +are all in the same boat. Well, we must allow for prejudice. By and by +we will alter all that." And then he gave her a good-natured nod, and +sauntered away to tell his old friend Mattie all about it; for he had +a kindly feeling towards the little woman, and made her his +confidante on these occasions. + +Phillis still called him Alcides, to his endless mystification: but +she privately wondered when his labors were to begin. After that first +afternoon he did not speak much of his future intentions: indeed, he +was a little reserved with the girls, considering their intimacy; but +to his aunt he was less reticent. + +"Do you know, Aunt Catherine," he said one day to her, "that that old +house of yours--Glen Cottage, is it not?--will soon be in the market? +Ibbetson wants to get off the remainder of the lease." + +Mrs. Challoner leaned back in her chair and put down her knitting: + +"Are you sure, Harry? Then Adelaide was right: she told me in her last +letter that Mrs. Ibbetson's health was so bad that they thought of +wintering at Hyeres, and that there was some talk of giving up the +house." + +"Oh, yes, it is true," he returned, carelessly; "Ibbetson told me so +himself. It is a pretty little place enough, and they have done a good +deal to it, even in a few months: they want to get off the lease, and +rid themselves of the furniture, which seems to be all new. It appears +they have had some money left to them unexpectedly; and now Mrs. +Ibbetson's health is so bad, he wants to try travelling, and thinks it +a great pity to be hampered with a house at present. I should say the +poor little woman is in a bad way, myself." + +"Dear me, how sad! And they have been married so short a time,--not +more than six months. She comes of a weakly stock, I fear. I always +said she looked consumptive, poor thing! Dear little Glen Cottage! and +to think it will change hands so soon again!" + +"You seem fond of it, Aunt Catherine," for her tone was full of +regret. + +"My dear," she answered, seriously, "I always loved that cottage so! +The drawing-room and the garden were just to my taste; and then the +girls were so happy there." + +"Would you not like a grander house to live in?" he asked, in the same +indifferent tone. "I do not think it is half good enough for you and +the girls." + +Mrs. Challoner opened her eyes rather widely at this: but his voice +gave her no clue to his real meaning, and she thought it was just his +joking way with her. + +"It would seem a palace after this!" she returned, with a sigh. +"Somehow, I never cared for great big houses, they are so much expense +to keep up; and when one has not a man in the house----" + +"Why, you have me, Aunt Catherine!" speaking up rather briskly. + +"Yes, my dear; and you are a great comfort to us all. It is so nice to +have some one to consult; and, though I would not say so to Nan for +the world, Dick is so young that I never could consult him." + +"By the bye, that reminds me I must have a look at that young fellow," +returned her nephew. "Let me see, the Oxford term is over, and he will +be home again. Suppose I run over to Oldfield--it is no distance from +town--and leave my card on Mr. Mayne senior?" + +"You, Harry!" And Mrs. Challoner looked quite taken aback at the +proposition. + +"Well," he remarked, candidly, "I think it is about time something was +done: Nan looks awfully serious sometimes. What is the good of being +the head of one's family, if one is not to settle an affair like that? +I don't feel inclined to put up with any more nonsense in that +quarter, I can tell you that, Aunt Catherine." + +"But, Harry,"--growing visibly alarmed,--"you do not know Mr. Mayne: +he can make himself so excessively disagreeable." + +"So can most men when they like." + +"Yes; but not exactly in that way. I believe he is really very fond of +Dick; but he wants to order his life in his own way, and no young man +will stand that." + +"No, by Jove! that is rather too strong for a fellow. I should say +Master Dick could not put up with that." + +"It seems my poor Nan is not good enough for his son, just because she +had no money and has been obliged to make herself useful. Does it not +seem hard, Harry?--my beautiful Nan! And the Maynes are just nobodies: +why, Mr. Mayne's father was only a shopkeeper in a very small way, and +his wife's family was no better!" + +"Well, you must not expect me to understand all that," replied her +nephew, in a puzzled tone. "In the colonies, we did not think much +about that sort of thing: it would not have done there to inquire too +narrowly into a man's antecedents. I knew capital fellows whose +fathers had been butchers, and bakers, and candlestick-makers; and, +bless me! what does it matter if the fellow is all right himself?" he +finished; for the last Challoner was a decided Radical. + +But Mrs. Challoner, who was mildly obstinate in such matters, would +not yield her point: + +"You would think differently if you had been educated at Eton. In +England, it is necessary to discriminate among one's acquaintances. I +find no fault with Dick: he is as nice and gentlemanly as possible; +but his father has not got his good-breeding; possibly he had not his +advantages. But it is they--the Maynes--who would be honored by an +alliance with one of my daughters." And Mrs. Challoner raised her head +and drew herself up with such queenly dignity that Sir Harry dared not +argue the point. + +"Oh, yes; I see," he returned, hastily. "Well, I shall let him know +what you think. You need not be afraid I shall lower your dignity, +Aunt Catherine. I meant to be rather high and mighty myself,--that is, +if I could manage it." And he broke into one of his huge laughs. + +Mrs. Challoner was very fond of her nephew; but she was not a clever +woman, and she did not always understand his hints. When they were +alone together, he was perpetually making this sort of remarks to her +in a half-serious, half-joking way, eliciting her opinions, consulting +her tastes, with a view to his future plans. + +With the girls he was provokingly reticent. Phillis and Dulce used to +catechise him sometimes; but his replies were always evasive. + +"Do you know, Harry," Phillis said to him once, very gravely, "I think +you are leading a dreadfully idle life? You do nothing absolutely all +day but walk to and fro between the hotel and the Friary." + +"Come, now," retorted her cousin, in an injured tone, "I call that +confoundedly hard on a fellow who has come all these thousands of +miles just to cultivate his relations and enjoy a little relaxation. +Have I not worked hard enough all my life to earn a holiday now?" + +"Oh, yes," she returned, provokingly, "we all know how hard you have +worked; but all the same it does not do to play at idleness too long. +You are very much improved, Harry. Your tailor has done wonders for +you; and I should not be ashamed to walk down Bond Street with you any +afternoon, though the people do stare, because you are so big. But +don't you think it is time to settle down? You might take rooms +somewhere. Lord Fitzroy knows of some capital ones in Sackville +Street; Algie Burgoyne had them." + +"Well, no, thank you, Phillis: I don't think I shall go in for +rooms." + +"Well, then, a house: you know you are so excessively rich, Harry," +drawling out her words in imitation of his rather slow pronunciation. + +"Oh, of course I shall take a house; but there is plenty of time for +that." + +And when she pressed him somewhat eagerly to tell her in what +neighborhood he meant to live, he only shrugged his shoulders, and +remarked, carelessly, that he would have a look round at all sorts of +places by and by. + +"But do you mean to take a house and live all alone?" asked Dulce. +"Won't you find it rather dull?" + +"What's a fellow to do?" replied her cousin, enigmatically. "I suppose +Aunt Catherine will not undertake the care of me?--I am too big, as +you call it, for a houseful of women!" + +"Well, yes; perhaps you are," she replied, contemplating him +thoughtfully. "We should not know quite what to do with you." + +"I wish I could get rid of a few of my superfluous inches," he +remarked, dolorously; "for people seem to find me sadly in the way +sometimes." + +But Dulce said, kindly,-- + +"Oh, no, Harry; we never find you in the way: do we, mammie? We should +be dreadfully dull without you now. I can hear you whistling a quarter +of a mile off, and it sounds so cheerful. If there were only a house +big enough for you next door, that would do nicely." + +"Oh. I dare say I shall not be far off: shall I, Aunt Catherine?" for, +to his aunt's utter bewilderment, he had established a sort of +confidence between them, and expected her to understand all his vague +hints. "You will not speak about this to the girls; this is just +between you and me," he would say to her, when sometimes she had not a +notion what he meant. + +"I don't understand you, Harry," she said, once. "Why did you stop me +just now when I was going to tell Phillis about the Ibbetsons leaving +Glen Cottage? She would have been so interested." + +"You must keep that to yourself a little while, Aunt Catherine: it +will be such a surprise to the girls, you know. Did I tell you about +the new conservatory Ibbetson has built? It leads out of the +drawing-room, and improves the room wonderfully, they say." + +"My dear Harry! what an expense! That is just what Mr. Mayne was +always wanting us to do; and Nan was so fond of flowers. It was just +what the room needed to make it perfect." And Mrs. Challoner folded +her hands, with a sigh at the remembrance of the house she had loved +so dearly. + +"They say Gilsbank is for sale," remarked her nephew, rather suddenly, +after this. + +"What! Gilsbank, where old Admiral Hawkins lived? Nan saw the +announcement of his death the other day, and she said then the place +would soon be put up for sale. Poor old man! He was a martyr to +gout." + +"I had a look at it the other day," he replied, coolly. "Why, it is +not a hundred yards from your old cottage. There is a tidy bit of +land, and the house is not so bad, only it wants doing up; but the +furniture--that is for sale too--is very old-fashioned and shabby." + +"Are you thinking of it for yourself?" asked his aunt, in surprise. +"Why, Gilsbank is a large place; it would never do for a single man. +You would find the rooms Phillis proposed far handier." + +"Why, Aunt Catherine!" in a tone of strong remonstrance. "You don't +mean to condemn me to a life of single blessedness because of my +size?" + +"Oh, Harry, of course not! My dear boy, what an idea!" + +"And some one may be found in time who could put up even with red +hair." + +"Oh, yes; that need not be an obstacle." But she looked at him with +vague alarm. Of whom could he be thinking? + +He caught her expression, and threw back his head with one of his +merry laughs: + +"Oh, no, Aunt Catherine; you need not be afraid. I am not going to +make love to one of my cousins; I know your views on the subject, and +that would not suit my book at all. I am quite on your side there." + +"Surely you will tell me, my dear, if you are serious?" + +"Oh, yes, when I have anything to tell; but I think I will have a good +look round first." And then, of his own accord, he changed the +subject. He was a little sparing of his hints after that, even to his +aunt. + +It was shortly after this that he came into the Friary one evening and +electrified his cousins by two pieces of news. He had just called at +the vicarage, he said; but he had not gone in, for Miss Mattie had run +downstairs in a great bustle to tell him her sister Grace had just +arrived. Her brother had been down to Leeds and brought her up with +him. Phillis put down her work; her face had become suddenly rather +pale. + +"Grace has come," she half whispered to herself. And then she added +aloud, "Poor Mattie will be glad, and sorry too! She will like to have +her sister with her for the New Year; but in a few weeks she will have +to pack up her own things and go home. And she was only saying the +other day that she has never been so happy in her life as she has been +here." + +"Why can't she stay, then?" asked Sir Harry, rather abruptly. "I don't +hold with people making themselves miserable for nothing: that does +not belong to my creed." + +"Oh, poor Mattie has not a choice in the matter," returned Nan, who +had grown very fond of her little neighbor. "Though she is thirty, she +must still do as other people bid her. They cannot both be spared from +home,--at least, I believe not,--and so her mother has recalled her." + +"Oh, but that is nonsense!" replied Sir Harry, rather crossly for him. +"Girls are spared well enough when they are married. And I thought the +Drummonds were not well off. Did not Phillis tell me so?" + +"They are very badly off; but then, you see, Mr. Drummond does not +want two sisters to take care of his house; and, though he tries to be +good to Mattie, he is not so fond of her as he is of his sister Grace; +and they have always planned to live together, and so poor Mattie has +to go." + +"Yes, and I must say I am sorry for the poor little woman," observed +Mrs. Challoner. "There is a large family of girls and boys,--I think +Mr. Drummond told us he had seven sisters,--and Mattie seems left out +in the cold among them all: they laugh at her oddities, and quiz her +most unmercifully; even Mr. Drummond does, and Nan scolds him for it; +but he has not been so bad lately. It is rather hard that none of +them seem to want her." + +"You forget Grace is very good to her, mother," broke in Phillis, +somewhat eagerly. "Mattie always says so." + +"By the by, I must have a look at this paragon. Is not her name among +those in my pocket-book?" returned her cousin, wickedly. "I saw Miss +Sartoris at Oldfield that day, and she was too grand for my taste. +Why, a fellow would never dare to speak to her. I have scored that one +off the list, Phillis." + +"My dears, what have you been saying to Harry?" + +"Oh, nothing, mammie," returned Dulce, hastily, fearing her mother +would be shocked. "Phillis was only in her nonsense-mood; but Harry is +such a goose, and will take things seriously. I wish you would let me +have your pocket-book a moment, and I would tear out the page." But +Sir Harry returned it safely to his pocket. + +"What was your other piece of news?" asked Nan, in her quiet voice, +when all this chatter had subsided. + +"Oh, I had almost forgotten it myself! only Miss Middleton charged me +to tell you that 'son Hammond' has arrived by the P. and O. Steamer +the 'Cerberus,' and that she and her father were just starting for +Southampton to meet him." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +"COME, NOW, I CALL THAT HARD." + + +Phillis was unusually silent during the remainder of the evening; but, +as she bade Nan good-night at the door of her little room, she +lingered a moment, shading the flame of her candle with her hand. + +"Do you think Mattie will bring her sister round to see us, +to-morrow?" she asked, in a very low tone. + +"Oh, yes,--I am sure I hope so," returned Nan, sleepily, not noticing +the restrained eagerness of Phillis's manner. "We can hardly call +first, under our present circumstances. Mr. Drummond knows that." And +Phillis withdrew, as though she were satisfied with the answer. + +Nothing more was said on the subject; and they settled themselves to +their work as usual on the following morning, Dulce chattering and +singing snatches of songs,--for she was a most merry little soul,--Nan +cheerful and ready for conversation with any one; but Phillis withdrew +herself to the farthest window and stitched away in grave silence. +And, seeing such was her mood, her sisters wisely forbore to disturb +her. + +At twelve o'clock the gate-bell sounded, and Dulce, who hailed any +interruption as a joyful reprieve, announced delightedly that Mattie +and a tall young lady were coming up the flagged walk; and in an +instant Phillis's work lay untouched on her lap. + +"Are you all here? Oh, dear, I am so glad," exclaimed Mattie, bustling +into the room with a radiant face. "I have brought Grace to see you; +she arrived last night." And in a moment the young stranger was +surrounded and welcomed most cordially. + +Phillis looked at her curiously for a moment: indeed, during the whole +visit her eyes rested upon Grace's face from time to time, as though +she were studying her. She had heard so much of this girl that she had +almost feared to be disappointed in her; but every moment her interest +increased. + +Grace Drummond was not a pretty girl,--with the exception of Isabel +and the boys, the Drummond family had not the slightest pretension to +beauty,--but she was fair and tranquil-looking, and her expression was +gentle and full of character. She had very soft clear eyes, with a +trace of sadness in them; but her lips were thin--like her +mother's--and closed firmly, and the chin was a little massively cut +for a woman. + +In looking at the lower part of this girl's face, a keen observer +would read the tenacity of a strong will; but the eyes had the +appealing softness that one sees in some dumb creatures. + +They won Phillis at once. After the first moment, her reserved manner +thawed and became gracious; and before half an hour had passed she and +Grace were talking as though they had known each other all their +lives. + +Nan watched them smilingly as she chatted with Mattie: she knew her +sister was fastidious in her likings, and that she did not take to +people easily. Phillis was pleasant to all her friends and +acquaintances: but she was rarely intimate with them, as Nan and Dulce +were wont to be. She held her head a little high, as though she felt +her own superiority. + +"Phillis is very amusing and clever; but one does not know her as well +as Nan and Dulce," even Carrie Paine had been heard to say; and +certainly Phillis had never talked to Carrie as she did to this +stranger. + +Grace was just as must charmed on her side. On her return, she +delighted and yet pained her brother by her warm praises of his +favorites. + +"Oh, Archie!" she exclaimed, as they sat at luncheon in the old +wainscoted dining-room at the vicarage, "you are quite right in saying +the Challoners are not like any other girls. They are all three so +nice and pretty; but the second one--Miss Phillis--is most to my +taste." + +Archie checked an involuntary exclamation, but Mattie covered it. + +"Dear me, Grace!" she observed, innocently; "I rather wonder at your +saying that. Nan is by far the prettiest: is she not, Archie? Her +complexion and coloring are perfect." + +"Oh, yes! If you are talking of mere looks, I cannot dispute that," +returned Grace, a little impatiently; "but, in my opinion, there is +far more in her sister's face: she has the beauty of expression, which +is far higher than that of form or coloring. I should say she has far +more character than either of them." + +"They are none of them wanting in that," replied Archie, breaking up +his bread absently. + +"No; that's just what I say: they are perfectly unlike other girls. +They are so fresh, and simple, and unconscious, that it is quite a +pleasure to be with them: but if I were to choose a friend from among +them I should certainly select Miss Phillis." And to this her brother +made no reply. + +"They are all so pleased about Tuesday," interrupted Mattie, at this +point,--"Nan was so interested and amused about my grand tea-party, as +she called it. They have all promised to come, only Mrs. Challoner's +cold will not allow her to go out this severe weather. And then we met +Sir Harry, and I introduced him to Grace, and he will be delighted to +come too. I wish you would let me ask Miss Middleton and her brother, +Archie; and then we should be such a nice little party." + +"How can you be so absurd, Mattie?" returned Archie, with a touch of +his old irritability. "A nice confusion you would make, if you were +left to arrange things! You know the colonel's one object in life is +to prevent his son from having any intercourse with the Challoners; +and you would ask him to meet them the first evening after his arrival +in the place." + +"Is the father so narrow in his prejudices as that?" asked Grace, who +had quite forgotten her own shocked feelings when she first heard that +Archie was visiting a family of dressmakers on equal terms. + +"Oh, dear! I forgot," sighed Mattie, taking her brother's blame +meekly, as usual. "How very stupid of me! But would you not like the +Cheynes or the Leslies invited, Archie? Grace ought to be introduced +to some of the best people." + +"You may leave Grace to me," returned her brother, somewhat haughtily: +"I will take care of her introductions. As for your tea-party, Mattie, +I shall be much obliged if you will keep it within its first +limits,--just the Challoners and Sir Harry. If any one be asked, it +ought to be Noel Frere: he has rather a dull time of it, living alone +in lodgings,"--the Rev. Noel Frere being a college chum of Archie's, +who had come down to Hadleigh to recruit himself by a month or two of +idleness. "Perhaps we had better have him, as there will be so many +ladies." + +"Oh, yes,--of course! He is so nice and clever," observed Grace, not +noticing the shade on Mattie's face. "How pleased you must be to have +him staying here so long, Archie!--you two were always such +friends." + +"He comes nearly every evening," returned Mattie, disconsolately. "He +may suit you, Grace, because you are clever yourself; but I am +dreadfully afraid of him, he is so dry and sarcastic. Must he really +be asked for Tuesday, Archie?" + +"Yes, indeed: you ought to have thought of him first. I am sorry for +your bad taste, Mattie, if you do not like Frere: he is a splendid +fellow, though terribly delicate, I fear. Now, Gracie, if we have +finished luncheon, I should like you to put on your wraps, and I will +show you some of my favorite haunts; and perhaps we shall meet +Frere." + +Grace hesitated for a moment. She thought Archie would have included +Mattie in his invitation; but he did nothing of the kind, and she knew +him too well to suggest such a thing. + +"Good-bye, Mattie dear. I hope you will have some tea ready for us +when we come back," she said, kissing her sister affectionately; but +they neither of them noticed the pained wistfulness of Mattie's look +as the door closed upon them. + +They were going out without her; and on Grace's first day, too. Archie +was going to show her the church, and the schools, and the model +cottages where his favorite old women lived,--all those places that +Mattie had visited and learned to love during the eight months she had +lived with her brother. In a few weeks she must say good-bye to them +all, and go back to the dull old house at Leeds, to be scolded by her +mother for her awkward ways, and to be laughed at and teased by her +brothers and sisters. Archie was bad enough sometimes, but then he was +Archie, and had a right to his bad humors; but with the boys and girls +it was less endurable. It was, "Oh, you stupid old Matt! Of course it +was all your fault;" or, "Mattie, you goose!" from Fred; or, "You +silly child, Mattie" from her father, who found her a less amusing +companion than Grace; and even Dottie would say, "Oh, it is only +Mattie: I never care if she scolds me." + +The home atmosphere was a little depressing, Mattie thought, with a +sigh, dearly as she loved her young torments. She knew she would find +it somewhat trying after these eight months of comparative freedom. +True, Archie had snubbed her and kept her in order; but one tyrant is +preferable to many. At home the thirty-years-old Mattie was only one +of the many daughters,--the old maid of the family,--the unattractive +little wall-flower who was condemned to wither unnoticed on its stalk. +Here, in her brother's vicarage, she had been a person of consequence, +whom only the master of the house presumed to snub. + +The maids liked their good-natured mistress, who never found fault +with them, and who was so bustling and clever a little housekeeper. +The poor people and the school-children liked Mattie too. "Our Miss +Drummond" they called her for a long time, rather to Grace's +discomfiture. "Ah, she is a rare one, when a body is low!" as old +Goody Saunders once said. + +And Archie's friends respected the little woman, in spite of her +crudities and decidedly odd ways. Miss Middleton and the Challoners +were quite fond of her. So no wonder Mattie grew low at the thought of +leaving her friends. + +Grace had come to take her place. Nevertheless, she had welcomed her +on the previous evening with the utmost cheerfulness and +unselfishness. She had shown her the house; she had introduced her to +the Challoners; she had overwhelmed her with a thousand little +attentions; and Grace had not been ungrateful. + +"I am afraid this is hard for you, Mattie," Grace had said to her, as +the sisters were unpacking late the previous night. "I ought not be so +happy to come, when I know I am turning you out." And Mattie had +winked away a tear, and answered, quite cheerily,-- + +"Oh, no, Grace; you must not feel that. I have had a nice time, and +enjoyed myself so much with dear Archie, and now it is your turn; and, +you know, he has always wanted you from the first." + +"Poor dear fellow!" murmured Grace; "but he looks thin, Mattie. +Perhaps I ought to be here, as he wants me; but I shall never keep his +house as beautifully as you have done. Mother would be astonished if +she saw it." And this piece of well-deserved praise went far to +console Mattie that night. + +But she began to feel just a little sore at breakfast-time. Once or +twice, Archie decidedly ignored her, and turned to Grace; he even +brought her his gloves to mend, though Mattie had been his faithful +mender all these months. + +"Come into the study, and we will have a talk, Grace," he had said, +and as Grace had involuntarily waited for her sister to accompany +them, he had-added, hastily: "Oh, Mattie is always busy at this time +with butchers and bakers! Come along, Grace:" and, though Mattie had +no such business on her hands, she dared not join them. + +It was only when a parish meeting called the young vicar away that +Mattie bethought herself of the Challoners. + +Poor Mattie! Low spirits were not much in her line. She had never +thought enough of herself to indulge in the luxury of wounded +susceptibility,--the atmosphere that surrounded her had been too rough +and bracing for that; but nevertheless this afternoon she longed to +indulge in a good cry. Happily, however, before the first tear had +begun to redden her eyelids--indeed, she hardly got her mouth into the +proper pucker--a vigorous pull at the bell warned her of an impending +visitor, and immediately afterwards Sir Harry marched into the room, +looking ruddier than ever with the cold air and exercise, his warm +coloring kindling a glow in the room. + +His heavy footsteps shook the old flooring of the vicarage; but as he +greeted Mattie he looked round him, as though somewhat surprised to +find her alone. + +"How do you do, Miss Mattie? Why, what have you done with your +sister?" he asked, in rather a disappointed tone. "I came to have a +chat with you both." + +Another little sting for Mattie: he had only come to see Grace. + +"She has gone out with Archie," she returned, in a subdued voice. "He +is showing her the church and the schools." + +"I was up at the Friary just now," he said, carelessly, "and they were +all talking about your sister, praising her up to the skies. What an +odd capacity women have for falling in love with each other at first +sight! Phillis especially seemed very far gone. So I told them I would +just come and have a good look at this paragon: one cannot judge of a +person in a hat and veil." + +"I am sure you will like Grace," replied Mattie, reviving a little at +the idea of her sister's perfections. "She is not pretty, exactly, +though Archie and I think her so; but she is so nice and clever. Oh, +you should hear those two talk! it is perfectly wonderful to listen to +them!" + +"It strikes me you are a little left out in the cold, aren't you, Miss +Mattie?" asked Sir Harry, with one of his shrewd good-humored looks. +"Why did you not go out with them?" + +"Oh, Archie never wants me when he has Grace," answered Mattie, with a +sudden pang at the truthfulness of this speech. "They have always been +so much to each other, those two." + +"He would want you fast enough if Miss Grace--is that not her +name?--were to marry and leave him to shift for himself," was the +somewhat matter-of-fact answer. + +But Mattie shook her head at this with a faint smile: + +"Grace will never marry. She would not leave Archie." + +"Oh, but that is nonsense, do you know?--sheer nonsense! Many girls +talk like that, but they change their mind in the end. Why, the parson +may marry himself. You don't suppose a good looking fellow like that +intends to be an old bachelor? And then what will Miss Grace do?" + +"I don't know. I am afraid she will miss him dreadfully." + +"Oh, but she will get over it all right. It does not do to make a fuss +over that sort of thing. Sentimentality between brothers and sisters +is all very well in its way, but it won't hold against a wife's or +husband's claims. I never had any myself, so I don't know; but I find +it precious lonely without them. That is why I have adopted my +cousins. A man must care for some one." + +"Yes, indeed," echoed Mattie, with a sigh. + +"I am afraid your people do not use you very well, Miss Mattie," he +went on, with cheerful sympathy that was quite a cordial in its way. +"You look a bit down this afternoon; a fellow would call it in the +blues, and he would be thinking of a cigar and brandy-and-soda. What a +pity women don't smoke! it is no end soothing to the spirits!" + +"We have got afternoon tea," returned Mattie, beginning to smile at +this. + +"Well, why don't you ring and order some?" he replied, quite +seriously. "Do, please, Miss Mattie, if it will put a little heart +into you. Why, I should like a cup myself uncommonly. There never was +such a fellow for afternoon tea." And then Mattie did ring the bell, +and, Sir Harry having stirred the fire into a cheerful blaze, and the +little brass kettle beginning to sing cheerily on its trivet, things +soon looked more comfortable. + +"Now you are all right," he remarked, presently. "You look quite a +different sort of body now. When I first came in you reminded me of +Cinderella in a brown dress, sitting all alone, by a very black fire. +I do believe you were on the verge of crying. Now, weren't you, Miss +Mattie?" And Mattie, with much shame, owned to the impeachment. + +"And what was it all about, eh?" he asked, with such a coaxing +peremptoriness that Mattie confessed that she was rather dull at the +thought that nobody wanted her, and that she must go home; and, on +being further pressed and questioned, out it all came,--Mattie's +shortcomings, her stupid ways, and the provocation she offered to home +criticism. Sir Harry listened and laughed, and every now and then +threw in a jesting remark; but so encouraging was his manner and so +evident his interest that Mattie found herself talking as she had +never done to any one but Miss Middleton. Before she had finished, Sir +Harry knew all about the household in Lowder Street, and had formed a +tolerable estimate of every member of the family,--the depressed +father; the care-worn and some what stern mother; the boys, clever and +handsome and flippant; the girls in all stages of awkwardness; and the +quiet, talented Grace, who was every one's right hand, and who had +come to the vicarage to dispossess Mattie. + +"Come, now, I call that hard; I do, upon my word!" he repeated more +than once at the end of Mattie's little narrative. "Women have a lot +put upon them. I dare say if I had had sisters I should have bullied +them sometimes. Men are awful tyrants, aren't they, Miss Mattie?" + +Mattie took this literally. + +"I do not think you would be a tyrant, Sir Harry," she returned, +simply, and then wondered why he suddenly colored up to the roots of +his hair. + +"Oh, there is no knowing," he replied, in an embarrassed tone. "I have +never had any one to bully. I think I shall try my hand on Dulce, only +she is such a little spit-fire. Well, I must be going," he went on, +straightening himself. "By the bye, I shall not see you again until +Tuesday; I have to run over to Oldfield about a lot of business I have +in hand. Do you know Oldfield?" + +"Oh, no; but Nan and Phillis have described it so often that I seem as +though I have been there." + +"It is a niceish place, and I am half inclined to settle there myself; +there is a house going that would just suit me." + +Mattie's face lengthened: she did not like the idea of losing Sir +Harry, he had been so good-natured and kind to her. + +"One would never see you if you live at Oldfield," she said, a little +sorrowfully; and again Sir Harry looked embarrassed. + +"Oh, but you will be at Leeds, so it won't make much difference. But I +do not want to be parted from Aunt Catherine and the girls: there is a +great deal to arrange. Perhaps, before you go, I shall be able to tell +you that things are settled. Anyhow, good-bye till Tuesday." And then +he nodded to her in a friendly way, and Mattie returned to her +fireplace refreshed and comforted. + +Archie and Grace came in presently, bringing another current of cold +air with them. They both looked bright and happy, as though they had +enjoyed their walk. Grace's pale cheeks had the loveliest tinge in +them. + +"Have we left you too long alone, Mattie dear?" she asked, as she took +the cup of tea offered her. "How cosy this dear old room looks! and +what a beautiful fire!" + +"Sir Harry has been emptying the coal-scuttle!" laughed Mattie. "What +a pity you missed him, Grace! he has been so amusing." + +Grace smiled incredulously: + +"Why, that great big Sir Harry Challoner whom you introduced this +morning! my dear Mattie, I am sure he could never be amusing. I was +not greatly prepossessed with him." + +"Mattie's geese are all swans. I don't think much of him myself," +broke in Archie, in a satirical voice. "I like quality better than +quantity. He is so big, I am sure his brains must suffer by +comparison. Now, there is Frere." + +"Oh, yes, we met Mr. Frere!" interrupted Grace, eagerly; "and Archie +and he had such a talk: it was delightful only to listen to it. I +liked his ideas on ecclesiastical architecture, Archie." And then +followed an animated discussion between the sister and brother, about +a book of Ruskin's that they had both been reading. Mattie tried to +follow them; but she had not read Ruskin, and they soon left her miles +behind; indeed, after the first few minutes they seemed to have +forgotten her existence; but somehow Mattie did not feel so forlorn as +usual. + +"Come, now, I call that hard," a sympathizing voice seemed to say in +her ear. Sir Harry's genial presence, his blunt, kindly speeches, had +done Mattie good: he had called her Cinderella, and made the fire +blaze for her, and had coaxed her in quite a brotherly manner to tell +him her little troubles and Mattie felt very grateful to him. + +So she stared into the fire wistful and happy, while the others talked +over her head, and quite started when she heard her own name. + +"We are forgetting Mattie; all this must be so dull for her," Grace +was saying, as she touched her shoulder caressingly. "Come upstairs +with me, dear: we can have a chat while we get ready for dinner. You +must not let your friends make themselves so much at home, you +extravagant child, for your fire is far too large for comfort;" but +Mattie turned away from it reluctantly as she followed her sister out +of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +"I WILL WRITE NO SUCH LETTER." + + +The new year had not opened very auspiciously at Longmead, neither had +the Christmas festivities been great. + +Dick on his first return home had put on a great appearance of +cheerfulness, and had carried himself much as usual; but Mr. Mayne had +been glum, decidedly glum, and Mrs. Mayne had found it difficult to +adjust the balance of her sympathy between Dick's voluble quicksilver +on the one hand, and her husband's dead weight of ill humor on the +other. + +The truth was, Mr. Mayne's sharp eyes had discerned from the first +moment of his son's entrance into the house that there was no change +in his purpose. + +To an outsider, Dick's behavior to his father was as nice as possible. +He still kept up his old jokes, rallying him on his matutinal +activity, and saying a word about the "early worm," "so bad for the +worm, poor beggar," observed Dick. And he sauntered after him into the +poultry-yard, and had a great deal to say about some Spanish fowls +that had been lately imported into Longmead and that were great +sources of pride to Mr. Mayne. + +Dick paid a great deal of dutiful attention to his father's hobbies: +he put on his thickest boots every day after luncheon, that his father +might enjoy the long walks in which he delighted. Dick used to sally +forth whistling to his dogs when they went down Sandy Lane; he was +careful to pause where the four roads met, that Mr. Mayne might enjoy +his favorite view. In all these things Dick's behavior was perfect. +Nevertheless, on their return from one of these walks they each had a +secret grievance to pour into Mrs. Mayne's ear. + +Dick's turn would come first. + +"Mother," he would say, as he lounged into the room where she sat +knitting by the firelight and thinking of her boy--for just now she +was heart and soul on Dick's side--and full of yearning for the sweet +girl whom he wanted for his wife, "I don't know how long this sort of +thing is going on, but I don't think I can put up with it much +longer." + +"Have you not had a nice walk with your father?" she asked, +anxiously. + +"Oh, yes; the walk was well enough. We had some trouble with Vigo, +though, for he startled a pheasant in Lord Fitzroy's preserve, and +then he bolted after a hare. I had quite a difficulty in getting him +to heel." + +"These walks do your father so much good, Dick." + +"That is what you always say; but I do not think I can stand many more +of them. He will talk of everything but the one subject, and that he +avoids like poison. I shall have to bring him to book directly, and +then there will be no end of a row. It is not the row I mind," +continued Dick, rather ruefully; "but I hate putting him out and +seeing him cut up rough. If he would only be sensible and give me my +way in this, there is nothing I would not do to please him. You must +talk to him; you must indeed, mother." And then Mrs. Mayne, with a +sinking heart, promised that she would do what she could. + +And after that it would be her husband's turn. + +"I tell you what Bessie; I am not satisfied about that boy," he +remarked, once, as he came in to warm his hands before going upstairs +to dress for dinner. "I don't know from whom he gets his +obstinacy,--not from either of us, I am sure of that,--but his +cheerfulness does not deceive me. He means mischief; I can see that +plainly." + +"Oh, Richard! And Dick has been so nice to you ever since he came +home. Why, he has not once asked to have any of his friends down to +stay. And before this he was never content unless we filled the house. +He takes walks with you, and is as domesticated and quiet as possible, +so different from other young fellows, who are always racketing +about." + +"That is just what bothers me," returned her husband, crossly. "You +have no discernment, Bessie, or you would know what I mean. I should +not care a straw if Dick were to cram the house with young fellows: +that sort of larking is just natural at his age. Why, he quite +pooh-poohed the idea of a dinner-party the other night, though I +planned it for his pleasure. His mind is set on other things, and that +is why I say he is up to mischief." + +Mrs. Mayne sighed as she smoothed down her satin dress with her plump +white hands; but she could not gainsay the truth of this speech: his +father was right,--Dick's mind was set on other things. + +"I wish you would let him talk to you," she began, timidly, +remembering her promise. "Do, my dear; for I am sure Dick is very much +in earnest." + +"So am I very much in earnest," he returned, wrathfully; and his small +eyes grew bright and irritable. "No, it is no use your looking at me +in that way, Bessie. I am determined not to allow that boy to ruin +his prospects for life. He will thank me one day for being firm; and +so will you, though you do turn against your own husband." + +This was too much for Mrs. Mayne's affectionate nature to bear. + +"Oh, Richard, how can you talk so? and I have been a good wife to you +all these years!" And here the poor woman began to sob. "You might +make allowance for a mother's feelings; he is my boy as well as yours, +and I would cut off my right hand to make him happy; and I do--I do +think you are very hard upon him about Nan." + +Mr. Mayne stared at her in speechless amazement. Bessie, his +long-suffering Bessie,--the wife of his bosom, over whom he had a +right to tyrannize,--even she had turned against him, and had taken +his son's part. "Et tu, Brute!" he could have said, in his bitterness; +but his wrath was too great. + +"I tell you what," he said, rising from the seat that was no longer +restful to him, and pointing his finger at her, "you and your boy +together will be the death of me." + +"Oh, Richard, how can you be so wicked?" + +"Oh, I am wicked, am I? That is a nice wifely speech." + +"Yes, you are, when you say such things to me!" she returned, plucking +up spirit that amazed herself afterwards. "If you do not know when you +have a good wife and son, I am sorry for you. I say again, I think you +are making a grievous mistake, Richard. Dick's heart is set on the +girl; and I don't wonder at it, a dear pretty creature like that. And +if you cross him, and set him wrong, you will have to answer to both +of us for the consequences." And then she, too, rose, trembling in +every limb, and with her comely face very much flushed. Even a worm +will turn, and Bessie Mayne had for once ventured to speak the truth +to her husband. + +She had the victory that night, for he was too much dumbfounded by her +rebellion to indulge in his usual recriminations: he had never +imagined before that Bessie owned a will of her own; but he felt now, +with a pang of wounded self-love, that the younger Richard had proved +a formidable rival. + +His wife's heart relented when she saw his moody looks; but he would +not be reconciled to her, in spite of her coaxing speeches. + +"Come Richard,--come, my dear! you must not be so cross with me," she +said to him later on that night. "We have been married +three-and-twenty years, and have never had a serious quarrel; and I +don't like your black looks at me." + +"Then you should not anger me by taking that boy's part," was his only +answer; and he could not be induced to say anything more conciliatory. +And the poor woman went to bed weeping. + +Things were in this uncomfortable state, when, one morning, Dick +thrust his head into the study where his father was jotting down some +household accounts; for he managed all such minor details himself, +much to his wife's relief. + +"Are you particularly busy, father?--I want to have a talk with you." + +Mr. Mayne looked up quickly, and his bushy eyebrows drew together. + +"Well, yes, I am, Dick,--most particularly busy just now;" for there +was a look on his son's face that made him feel disinclined for +conversation. + +"Oh, very well, then; I can leave it until after luncheon," was the +cheerful response; then Mr. Mayne knew that Dick was determined to +take the bull by the horns. + +They went out after luncheon, taking the dogs with them, and turning +their steps in the direction of Sandy Lane. For the first mile, Dick +said very little; he had his eye on Vigo, who seemed to be inclined to +bolt. But when they had reached the second mile-stone, he cleared his +throat; and then Mr. Mayne knew that his trouble was beginning. + +"Well, father," commenced Dick, "I think it is about time we had a +little serious talk together about my future plans. Of course I want +to know if I am to go down next term." + +"I don't see that we need discuss that. You will read for your degree, +of course." + +Mr. Mayne spoke fast and nervously; but Dick was quite cool,--at +least, outwardly so. + +"There is no 'of course' in the matter. I can only read for my degree +on one condition." + +"And what is that, may I ask?" with rising choler in his voice. + +"That you will have Nan down to Longmead, and that you and my mother +sanction our engagement." + +"Never, sir! never!" in a vehement tone. + +"Please don't excite yourself, father. I think it is I who ought to be +excited; but, you see, I am quite cool,--perfectly so. I am far too +much in earnest to be otherwise. When a man's future prospects are at +stake, and his own father seems determined to thwart him, it is time +to summon up all one's energies. I hope you are not serious in what +you say,--that you do absolutely refuse to sanction my engagement with +Nan?" + +"There is no engagement. If there were, I do absolutely refuse; nay, +more, I am determined actively to oppose it." + +"I am sorry to find you have not changed your mind; for it makes all +the difference to me, I assure you. Very well: then I must go in for a +City life." + +"Do you threaten me, sir?" + +"No, father, I would not be so undutiful; but it is a pity your +throwing all that money away on my education if I am not to complete +it. If I had taken a good degree, I might have turned out something; +but never mind,--it can't be helped now. Then you will be kind enough +to write a letter of introduction to Stansfield & Stansfield?" + +"No, sir; I will write no such letter!" thundered Mr. Mayne; and Dick +put his hands in his pocket and whistled. He felt himself losing +patience; but, as he said afterwards, his father was in such an awful +rage that it was necessary for one of them to keep cool. So, as soon +as he recovered, he said, quite pleasantly,-- + +"Well, if you will not, you will not. We may take a horse to the +water, but we can't make him drink. And the time has not come yet for +a son to order his own father, though we are pretty well advanced +now." + +"I think we are, Dick." + +"I confess I am rather disappointed at not getting that letter. Mr. +Stansfield would have attached some importance to it; but I dare say I +shall get on with the old boy without it. I may as well tell you that +I shall accept anything he likes to offer me,--even if it be only a +clerkship at eighty pounds a year. After all, I am not worse off than +you were at my age. You began at the bottom of the ladder: so I need +not grumble." + +"Do you mean to say," demanded his father, in a tone of grief, "that +you really intend to throw me over, and not only me, but all your +advantages, your prospects in life, for the sake of this girl?" + +"I think it is you who are throwing me over," returned his son, +candidly. "Put yourself in my place. When you were a young man, +father, would you have given up my mother, if my grandfather had +wished you to do so?" + +"The cases are different,--altogether different," was the angry +response. "I never would have married a dressmaker." + +"There are dressmakers and dressmakers: but at least my _fiancee_ is a +gentlewoman," returned his son, hotly. + +Dick meant nothing by this speech more than his words implied: he was +far too good-natured for an _arriere-pensee_. But his father chose to +consider himself insulted. + +"You insolent young fellow!" he exclaimed, fuming. "Do you mean your +mother was not as good as Miss Nancy, any day? I never did believe in +those Challoners,--never, in spite of the mother's airs. I tell you +what, Dick, you are treating me shamefully; after all the money I have +wasted on you, to turn round on me in this way and talk about the +City. I wash my hands of you, sir. I will have nothing to do with +introductions: you may go your way, but you will never see a penny of +my money." And he walked on with a very black look indeed. + +"All right," returned Dick. But he was not quite so cool now. "Thank +you for all you have done for me, and for letting me know your future +intentions. I am thinking it is a good thing Nan has learned her +business, for, as we shall be tolerably poor, it will be handy for her +to make her own gowns." + +"Very well, Dick." + +"I shall go up to Mr. Stansfield to-morrow; and the day after I +suppose I had better write to the Dean. You may not believe me, +father,"--and here Dick's lip quivered for the first time,--"but I am +awfully sorry to cross you in this way; but my heart is so set on Nan +that I could not possibly bring myself to live without her." But to +this Mr. Mayne made no reply, and they walked the remainder of the way +in silence. + +Mrs. Mayne's heart grew sick with apprehension when she saw their +faces at dinner. + +Dick looked decidedly cross. To do him justice, the poor fellow was +thoroughly miserable; but his aspect was cheerful compared to that of +her husband. + +Mr. Mayne would not speak; neither would he eat. And even the footman, +who took away the untasted viands, looked at his master with fear and +trembling, his countenance was so gloomy. + +Dick did not seem to notice his father's failure of appetite; but Mrs. +Mayne was one of those women who are given to fancy that if a man +refuse his dinner there is something serious the matter with him. And +as the meal proceeded she cast piteous looks at her son, but Dick +totally ignored them. + +As soon as the servants had handed round the fruit, and had left the +room, Mr. Mayne rose from the table, leaving his claret untasted, and +shut himself into the library, first banging the door behind him, a +sound that made his wife's heart palpitate. + +"Oh, Dick, what was happened to your father?" she asked, turning to +her boy for comfort. But Dick was unusually sulky, and refused to +answer. + +"You had better ask him, mother, if you are anxious to know," he +replied, in a voice he very seldom used to her. "As for me, I am so +sick of the whole thing, and feel myself so badly used, that I would +rather not open my lips on the subject." + +Then Mrs. Mayne sighed, for she knew Dick had one of his obstinate +fits on him, and that there would be no further word spoken by him +that night. + +Poor woman! She knew it was her duty to go into the library and speak +a word of comfort to her husband. It might be that Dick had been +contumacious, and had angered his father, and it might be her task to +pour in the balm of sympathy. Even if he had been hard on her boy, she +must not forget that he was her husband. + +But as she opened the door she forgot her doubts in a moment. Mr. +Mayne's face was so pale, despite its blackness, that she was moved to +instant pity. + +"Oh, Richard, what is it?" she said, hurrying to him, "My dear, you +must not take it to heart in this way." And she took his forehead +between her hands and kissed it with the old tenderness she had once +felt for him, when they, too, had lived and worked for each other, and +there was no Master Dick to plague them and rule over his mother's +heart. + +"Bessie, that boy will be the death of me," he groaned. But, +notwithstanding the despondency of these words, the comfort of his +wife's presence was visibly felt, and by and by he suffered her to +coax the truth from him. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +MR. MAYNE ORDERS A BASIN OF GRUEL. + + +On the following morning Mr. Mayne did open his lips to address a word +to his son: + +"I shall be obliged to you, Dick, if you will postpone your intended +visit to town, for this day at least;" for Dick had an "ABC" beside +him, and was picking out a fast train while he ate his breakfast. + +"All right," replied Dick: "I can wait another four-and-twenty hours." +But though he yielded the point graciously enough, he did not look at +his father, or say anything more on the subject; and as soon as his +appetite was satisfied, he took up the "Times," and lounged into his +den. Shortly afterwards they heard him whistling to his dogs, and knew +that he would not appear until luncheon. + +Mrs. Mayne wished that her husband would follow his example; but he +had put on his slippers, and showed no inclination to leave the +fireside. He read his paper and dozed a good deal, and snapped up +Bessie if she spoke to him: so, on the whole, Mrs. Mayne had rather a +dull morning. When the luncheon-bell rang, he chose to put on invalid +airs, and ordered a basin of gruel to be brought to him in the +library. Mrs. Mayne who knew he was not ill, and that his +indisposition was purely mental and imaginary, was yet wise enough to +fall in with his whim. + +"Your master would like his gruel nicely flavored, James," she said to +the footman. "Please ask Mrs. Simpkins to prepare it in the way he +likes." And then she placed his favorite little table beside him, and +stirred the fire into a more cheerful blaze. + +"Your father does not feel himself well enough to come in to luncheon, +Dick," she said to her son, probably for the benefit of the servant, +who was waiting to remove the covers; and Dick, for the same reason, +testified a proper amount of sympathy. + +"He takes too long walks for a man of his age," he said, applying +himself vigorously to the dismemberment of a chicken. "Mother, I will +trouble you for some of that game-pie." And then he told her another +anecdote about Vigo. + +After luncheon Dick again disappeared, and Mrs. Mayne, who dreaded an +afternoon's _tete-a-tete_ with her husband in his present mood, went +up to her own room, for some feminine business, or to take a nap. Mr. +Mayne, a little mollified by the gruel, which had been flavored +exactly to his liking with a _soupcon_ of rum, was just composing +himself for another doze, when he was roused by the loud pealing of +the hall bell, and the next moment the door was flung open by James, +and Sir Henry Challoner was announced. + +It was a dark wintry afternoon, and the library was somewhat sombre: +the fire had died down, owing to Mr. Mayne's drowsiness. In the dim +light Sir Harry's big burly figure looked almost gigantic. Mr. Mayne, +with his little lean shoulders and sharp face, looked beside him much +as a small gray-hound would beside a mastiff. + +"How do you do?" began Sir Harry, in his loud voice. "I must apologize +for my intrusion; but I think my name is well known to you, and needs +no introduction. I have often heard of Mr. Mayne, I can assure you." + +"You do me too much honor," returned that gentleman, stiffly; and he +glanced at the card in his hand. There it was, "Sir Henry Challoner." +"But what the----" And here his favorite expletive rose to his lips. + +"We can scarcely see each other's faces," observed Sir Harry, +cheerfully. "Will you allow me to take the liberty, though I have not +known you for seven years--and hardly for seven minutes!" And then he +seized the poker, and broke up an obstinate piece of coal. + +"Actually, in my own house, and before my own eyes," as Mr. Mayne told +his wife afterwards. + +"There, now! I have made a glorious blaze. These are first-rate coals. +Now we can have our talk comfortably together. You do not know me +personally; but I dare say you have heard of my father,--Sir Francis +Challoner? Poor old fellow! I am afraid too many people heard of him +in his time." + +"Yes, sir: but, as it is hardly becoming of me to say to his son, I +have never heard much good of him. If I remember rightly, he did poor +Challoner a bad turn once." + +"Hush, my good friend!" And Sir Harry's ruddy face looked a little +disturbed. "I thought no one but myself and Aunt Catherine knew that +story. It is rather hard on a man to have this sort of things brought +up. And the poor old governor is dead now: so, if you will permit me +to observe, bygones had better be bygones on that subject." + +"Oh, by all means, Sir Harry; but you introduced the matter +yourself." + +"Excuse me, Mr. Mayne," rather haughtily, "I introduced myself. I am +the son of Sir Francis. Well, if you know so much, you will understand +the sort of interest I take in my cousins and how I consider it my +duty to make up to them for what they have lost." + +"Very proper, I am sure." + +"As to that, duty is a pleasure. They are such awfully jolly girls, +and so uncommonly plucky, that I am as proud of them as though they +were my own sisters. Nan is so confoundedly pretty, too. I don't +wonder at your son's taste. He must be a lucky fellow who gets Nan." + +"Sir!" vociferated Mr. Mayne; and Sir Harry immediately changed his +tactics: + +"That is a tidy place opposite you,--Gilsbank, I mean. I have been +over there settling about the purchase. I am afraid Crauford is rather +a screw: he wanted to drive too close a bargain. But I said, 'No; you +shall have your money down, right and tight, but not a farthing over.' +And I insisted on my right to change the name if I like. I have half a +mind to call it 'Challoner Place.'" + +Mr. Mayne was wide awake now; his astonishment knew no bounds. + +"You are going to buy Gilsbank!" + +"I have bought it," was the cool response; "and I am now in treaty for +Glen Cottage. My aunt has a fancy for her old home; and, though it is +not much of a place, it is big enough for her and the girls; and +Ibbetson has done a good deal to improve it. You look surprised, Mr. +Mayne; but I suppose a man must live somewhere!" + +"Of course it is none of my business; but I thought Sir Francis was as +poor as a church mouse. Mrs. Challoner was my informant; and she +always led me to suppose so." + +"She was perfectly right. The poor old man never could keep money in +his pocket: it always seemed to slip through his fingers. But that is +not my case. I have been a lucky fellow all my life. I roughed it a +bit in the colonies at first; but it did me no harm. And then we made +a splendid hit out in Sydney,--coined money, in fact. I would not like +to tell you what I made in one year: it seems blowing one's trumpet, +somehow. But I soon got sick of making it; and here I am, with a tidy +fortune,--plenty for myself, and enough to set up my aunt and the +girls comfortably without feeling the loss. And now, Mr. Mayne when +they are back at Glen Cottage, I want to know what you will do about +your son." + +To do Mr Mayne justice, he was far too perplexed to answer off-hand; +in fact, he was almost rendered dumb by excessive astonishment. To +borrow his own forcible expression, used to his wife afterwards, "he +hardly knew where he was, things were so topsy-turvy." + +In the old days, before Dick had produced that wonderful moustache +that was so long in growing, Mr. Mayne had been very partial to his +neighbors at Glen Cottage. It is always pleasant to a man to patronize +and befriend a pretty woman; and Mrs. Challoner was an exceedingly +pretty woman. It was quite an occupation to a busy man like the master +of Longmead to superintend their garden and give his advice on all +subjects that belong to a man's province. + +But for the last year, since Dick had so greatly developed in mental +culture, his father had been growing very weary even of the name of +Challoner; it had become a habit with him to decry them on every +possible occasion. "What is in a name?" he would say, when some person +would lament the dead-and-gone glories of Challoner Place. "There is +not a soul belonging to them, except that disreputable Sir Francis; +and he is as good as a beggar." + +But since Glen Cottage had given way to the Friary, and the +dressmaking scheme had been carried out, his opposition had become +perfectly frantic: he could have sworn at Dick for his senselessness, +his want of pride, his lamentable deficiency in ambition. "Never, as +long as my name is Richard Mayne, will I give in to that boy," he had +vowed inwardly. + +And now there had suddenly started up, like a piece of gilded +clap-trap, this amazing man of inches, calling himself their cousin, +Sir Henry Challoner; a man who was absolutely tired of making +money,--who called Gilsbank, a far finer house than Longmead, a tidy +little place, and who could throw in Glen Cottage, that bijou +residence, as a sort of dower-house for widowed Challoners; a man who +would soon be talked about in Hadleigh, not because he was rich,--most +of the Hadleigh families were rich,--but because he was restoring an +ancient name to something of its old respectability. + +Mr. Mayne was essentially a shrewd, far-sighted man. Like other +self-made men, he attached great importance to good blood. In a moment +he realized that Nan Challoner of the Friary was a very different +person from Nan Challoner of Glen Cottage, the cousin of Sir Henry +Challoner. Under the latter circumstances she would be received on +equal terms at Fitzroy Lodge and at the other houses of the +aristocracy. In marrying her, Dick would be at once on an intimate +footing with those very people who only just tolerated his father. + +"Well," observed Sir Harry, after a lengthy pause, "what do you say +about the matter, eh? Though I have accumulated a pretty sum of money, +I do not pretend to be a millionaire; and of course, as I may settle +down some day and have a family of my own, I must not treat my cousins +as though they were my sisters. I think of allowing my aunt a +sufficient income during her lifetime to keep up Glen Cottage, and I +do not mind paying the girls three thousand pounds down on their +wedding-day just for pin-money; but more than that cannot be expected +of me." + +"Of course not," returned Mr. Mayne; and then he hesitated. Three +thousand pounds was not much of a fortune. Why, the girl he wanted for +Dick had fifteen thousand, at least; but then Dick would not look at +her; and even three thousand was better than nothing. "I had hoped +better things for my son," he went on, stiffly. "I always meant Dick +to marry money." + +"Oh, true, money is very good in its way; but then, you see, young +fellows are not always to be coerced. I believe there is a very strong +attachment between your son and my cousin Nan." + +"It has cost me a great deal of vexation," replied Mr. Mayne very +testily,--all the more that his resolution was wavering. "I do not +wish to hurt your feelings, Sir Henry, but this confounded dressmaking +of theirs----" But here Sir Harry stopped him by a most extraordinary +facial contraction, which most certainly resembled a wink. + +"Hush!" he exclaimed, in a very loud whisper. "It does not matter to +me, of course; but if I were you, I would not mention this little fact +to any one else. Girls are girls, and they will have their fling. A +good steady husband, that is what they want, the best of them, to +sober them when the right time comes. I mean to put a stop to this +nonsense; but after all, a little bit of larking like that with a lot +of high-spirited generous creatures, what does it matter in the long +run? You just settle things with me off-hand, and I will come to terms +with the young ladies. I am the head of the family, as they know." And +Sir Harry threw out his big chest with a sudden movement of importance +and pride. "I am the head of the family: they will be pleased to +remember that," he repeated pompously. + +It was just at this moment, when victory lay within his grasp, that +Dick sauntered lazily into the room. + +Dick was in an execrable humor: he was tired and worried, and his +boots were muddy. And what was the use of being still contumacious, +unless his obstinacy were to be a spectacle to men and gods,--unless +he were to flaunt his ill humor in the face of his tyrant, and make +his father's soul wretched within him? Such is youthful reasoning, +that hates to veil its feelings unobserved. + +Dick had not perceived Sir Harry's card, so he stared at the intruder +a little coolly. Sir Harry returned his look with a glance of mingled +surprise and amusement. + +"Is this the young gentleman in question?" he asked, in a tone that +roused Dick's ire. To tell the truth, he was a little disappointed by +Nan's choice. It was not so much Dick's want of good looks, but in Sir +Harry eyes he appeared somewhat insignificant; and then a scowl is not +always becoming to a face. Dick's bright genial expression was +wanting; he looked a little too like his father at this moment for Sir +Harry's taste. + +"Do you mean me?" observed Dick, in a magnificent tone. "Is it I who +am the young gentleman in question?--Father, will you have the +goodness to introduce me to this gentleman with whom you have been +talking me over?" And Dick twirled his moustache angrily. + +Mr. Mayne looked at his son's moody face, and his feelings underwent a +sudden revulsion; but before he could speak Sir Harry stepped in +nimbly before him: + +"Well now, I like spirit--no one cares to be talked about behind +one's back. Supposing we shake hands, you and I, as we are to be so +nearly related. I am Nan's guardian, her next of kin,--Sir Harry +Challoner, at your service; and Nan sends her love and you are a lucky +fellow, that is what you are!" exclaimed Sir Harry, genially, as he +struck Dick a sounding blow on his shoulder. But Dick did not wince; +and, though the diamond ring cut into his hand as they exchanged that +grasp, no expression of pain crossed his face, which became all at +once quite radiant. + +Sir Harry hailed the metamorphosis with delight. Here was the real +Dick emerging like a young sun-god from the clouds. + +"Come, that is first-rate; I like the look of you better now," he +said, with an appreciative nod. + +"Father, what does this mean?" faltered Dick. + +"It means," growled Mr. Mayne, for he could not get quite amiable all +at once, though his heart was lightening in his bosom, "it means that +I am an old fool, Dick, and that you are a young one." + +"No, father,--not really,--does it?" And Dick beamed still more. + +"And it means that you are not to plague me any more about the City. +But there! though you have behaved so badly to me, Dick, I forgive +you. Sir Harry and I have been talking over things, and if you will +work hard for your degree your mother shall ask the girl down here, +and we will see about it, and that is all I can say at present. And so +we may as well shake hands upon it too." + +But Dick did more than that; he threw his arm over his father's +shoulder with a movement that was almost caressing. + +"Thank you, pater; you are a brick and no mistake!" was all the +undemonstrative Briton's tongue could say. But Mr. Mayne, as he looked +in his boy's face and felt that pressure on his shoulder, thought them +sufficiently eloquent. + +"There! get along with you, and have it out with your mother," he +growled. But, in spite of his surly tone, Mr. Mayne felt an amount of +relief that astonished himself: to see Dick's face happy again, to +have no cloud between them, to know that no domestic discord would +harass his soul and render gruel necessary to his well-being, was +restoring him to his old self again. Sir Harry longed to throw back +his head and indulge in a good laugh as he witnessed this little scene +of reconciliation. + +Mrs. Mayne, who was sitting somewhat sadly by her own fireside, +thinking over that day's discomfort, was quite taken aback by hearing +Dick coming upstairs in his old way--three steps at a time--and then +bursting into the room after a hasty knock at the door. + +"Mother," he cried, breathlessly, "Sir Harry Challoner is in the +library--and pater wants you to come down and give them some tea--and +Sir Henry is going to stop to dinner--and the woodcock is to be +cooked--and you are to get the best room ready. But first of all--like +the dear, darling mother you are--you are to sit down and write a +letter to Nan." + +But the letter was not written then; for how could Bessie keep her +husband and his guest waiting for their tea after such an urgent +message? And had she not first of all to listen to Dick's incoherent +story, which she heard better from Sir Harry afterwards, who took +great pains to explain it to the poor bewildered woman? + +Mr. Mayne thought he had never seen Bessie look so handsome since the +days he courted her, as she sat smiling at the head of the table in +her velvet gown. And Sir Harry, too, was quite charmed with the soft, +comely creature. + +Later on, while the two elder gentlemen were chatting confidentially +over their cigars and whisky-and-water, she did manage to write a few +lines to Nan. But it was not much of a letter; for how was she to +construct a decent sentence with that torment Dick hanging over the +back of her chair and interrupting her every moment? But Nan was not +ill pleased by the missive when she received it. + + * * * * * + +"My own dear girl," it said,--"my dearest girl,--for no daughter could +ever be so dear to me as you will be, Nan, for my boy's sake, and +because he loves you so." ("You are right there, mother!" struck in +Dick, in a tone of ecstasy.) "Everything has come right, through Sir +Henry's intercession and my Richard's goodness." ("Humph!" coughed +Dick. "Well, it is not for the like of me to contradict you.") + +"You are to come to us--at once--at once,"--underlined,--"for Dick +will be going back to Oxford, so there is no time to lose; and you +have not got any good of your engagement yet." ("Only just at that +last moment," muttered her son at this.) + +"My precious boy looks so happy that I could cry with joy to see him." +("Oh, shut up, mother! Nan knows all that.") "And his dear father +looks as pleased as possible, and he sends his love." ("He did indeed, +Dick," as an incredulous sound broke from his lips), "and he says +bygones are bygones. And you are on no account to feel yourself +awkward as regards him, for of course Dick's _fiancee_" ("Are you sure +that is spelt right, Dick?") "will bring her own welcome. Is not that +a sweet speech for my Richard to say? So you will come, my dear, will +you not? And I remain, just what I always was, my Nan's loving +friend, + + "Bessie Mayne." + + * * * * * + +And then the letter was carefully consigned to Dick's pocket, and in +due course of time was delivered into Nan's fair hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +AN UNINVITED GUEST. + + +During the next few days Grace and Phillis made great strides towards +intimacy; and, as though some magnetic influence attracted each to +each, they were to be found constantly together. Neither of them was a +girl to indulge in gushing sentimentality; but Grace, whose refined +intellectual nature had hitherto met with no response except from her +brother, perceived at once Phillis's innate superiority and clear +generous temperament. For the first time she felt feminine friendship +a possibility, and hailed it as a new-found joy. Nan testified her +pleasure on more than one occasion: jealousy never found a +resting-place in a corner of her heart. + +"I am so glad, Phillis," she observed, once, "that you and Grace +Drummond like each other so much. You have never found any girl equal +to you yet; and I was always too stupid to give you what you wanted." + +"Oh, Nannie, as though I would change you for a dozen Grace +Drummonds!" returned Phillis, stanch as ever to her domestic creed, +that there never was and never could be such another as Nan. + +"Oh, of course we shall always be the same to each other, you and I," +returned Nan, seriously, "we are such old comrades, Phil; but then I +have Dick, and it is only fair you should have some one too;" but she +did not understand why Phillis suddenly sighed and turned away. + +An amusing little incident happened to Phillis after this, which she +greatly enjoyed. Colonel Middleton's avoidance of them had long been a +sore point with her, as it was with Dulce. + +"I feel almost like that wicked Haman," she said, once, in a +serio-comic voice, "and as if he were my Mordecai. I shall never think +we have achieved perfect success until I have forced him to shake +hands with me." But Nan, who cared very little about such things, only +laughed. + +On Sunday morning Colonel Middleton marched up the aisle rather more +pompously than usual, and there followed him a tall, very solemn-faced +young man, with serious eyes that reminded them of Elizabeth. + +"Son Hammond," whispered Phillis, who was not always as devout as she +ought to be; and Dulce tried hard to compose her dimples. + +Possibly the young officer was not as solemn as his looks, for he +certainly paid more attention to the opposite pew than he did to his +prayer-book; and as he walked home with his sister, Colonel Middleton +being just then out of earshot, he questioned her rather closely on +the subject: + +"Who were those girls, Elizabeth? I mean the three who were just +opposite us with their mother. Are they visitors or residents?" Then +Elizabeth told him very briefly their name and occupation. + +"Good gracious!" he returned, in a thunderstruck tone; and then all at +once he burst out laughing, as though at a good joke: + +"I call that a piece of splendid pluck. Do you know, I could see in a +moment there was something out of the common about them? They are all +very pretty,--at least good-looking,--and I liked their quiet style of +dress. You must introduce me to-morrow." + +"My dear Hammond, I can do nothing of the kind," returned Elizabeth, +glancing round in an alarmed way. "Father has refused to have them at +Brooklyn; and it will annoy him terribly if you were to take any +notice of them." But to this Hammond turned a deaf ear, and, though he +forbore to question her any further on that occasion, he had fully +made up his mind that the introduction should take place as soon as +possible. + +As it fell out, accident favored him the very next day; for, as he was +calling with his sister, at the White House, who should be announced +the next minute but the Misses Challoner,--Phillis and Dulce, who had +been bidden to afternoon tea! + +Mrs. Cheyne kissed and welcomed them both. Then Captain Middleton was +introduced; and they were soon chatting merrily together, to +Elizabeth's secret amusement. + +Captain Middleton made himself very agreeable to the two girls, as +Dulce observed afterwards. She had never before been so deceived in a +man's appearance,--for he was not solemn at all; and, though the +serious brown eyes certainly inspected them rather critically from +time to time, he proved himself a bright amusing companion, and fully +bore out his father's and sister's encomiums. + +The Middletons were easily induced to prolong their visit. Elizabeth +felt herself a traitor to her father; but she could not refuse +Hammond's imploring glance. And so they stayed, and all took their +leave together. + +Mr. Cheyne walked down to the gate with them. He had an errand in the +town; and he and Elizabeth walked behind the young people, talking +them over in a low voice. + +Now, it so happened that Colonel Middleton was trudging down the +Braidwood Road; and as he neared the White House he looked up, and +there was his son walking contentedly with a Challoner girl on each +side of him, and the three were laughing merrily. + +It was Dulce who saw him first. + +"There comes your father!" she said; and she began to blush as she +had done on the day when he had left her at the gate of Brooklyn, +talking to Elizabeth. + +Hammond proved himself quite worthy of the occasion. + +"Well met, father," he called out, cheerily, "We seem all going one +way. I suppose no one needs any introduction? Of course you know my +father, Miss Challoner?" + +Then the colonel threw down his arms. He had fought very bravely on +his son's behalf; but, after all his labors, his bristling defences +and skilful retreats, Hammond had of his own free will delivered +himself into the hands of the Philistines. What was the use of +guarding an empty citadel?--his treasure was already in the enemy's +grasp. + +All this was written on the colonel's lugubrious face as he bowed +stiffly and walked in sorrowful silence beside them, shaking his white +head at intervals; but no one but Dulce took any notice of his sombre +mood. + +Dulce was very timid by nature. She was the least outspoken of the +three, and always kept in the background, like a modest little flower +that loved the shade; but she was very soft-hearted, and had great +regard for people's feelings. And the old man's downcast looks pained +her; for how was she to know that he was secretly pleased at this +meeting? + +"I hope--I wish--you did not mind knowing us so much. But it has not +been our fault this afternoon," sighed Dulce, stammering and blushing +over her words. "You will believe that, will you not, Colonel +Middleton?" + +If a cannon shot had been fired into the old warrior's ear, he could +hardly have started more than he did at these childish words. He +looked round. There was the little girl, looking up at him with the +innocent eyes he remembered so well, and her mouth puckered a little +as though she wanted to cry. + +This was more than any man could bear, even if he had a harder heart +than Colonel Middleton. + +"My dear," he said, taking the little hand, "I have always wanted to +know you; Elizabeth will tell you that. I lost my heart to your +sisters the first day I saw them. I am sure we shall be good friends +in time, if you will forgive an old man's pride." And then he patted +her hand as though she had been an infant. + +When Mr. Drummond sat down to dinner that evening, he astonished +Mattie very much by saying,-- + +"You can ask the Middletons, after all, for your tea-party, if you +like, Mattie. What wonderful sight do you think I saw just now? Why, +the colonel himself coming out from the Friary, and all the three +girls were round him, chattering as though they had known him all +their life; and I am pretty sure that in spite of the dark, I saw 'son +Hammond' behind him." And Mattie, glad of the permission, gave the +invitation the next day. + +Mattie grew a little alarmed as the evening approached. It was her +first party and she knew Archie would be critical; but Grace proved +herself a useful ally. + +In spite of her efforts to keep in the background and leave Mattie in +her position as mistress of her brother's house, she felt herself +becoming insensibly its presiding spirit. + +Archie was tolerably good-natured to Mattie; but the habits of a +lifetime were too strong for him, and he still snubbed and repressed +her at intervals. Mattie felt herself of no importance now that Grace +had come: her duties were usurped before her eyes. Archie made a fresh +demand on her forbearance every day. + +"Why cannot you keep to the housekeeping, and let Grace do the schools +and visitings?" he said, once. "It must come to her by and by, when +you are gone; and I want her to begin as soon as possible. It will not +do to let her think she has come too soon," implying that good taste +should lead Mattie to resign of her own account. + +Poor Mattie! she had many a good cry in secret before that Tuesday. +She could hardly help feeling pained to see how all-in-all those two +were to each other, and the glad eagerness Grace threw into her work, +knowing the reward of commendation she would reap. "It must be so +strange never to be snubbed or scolded,--to do everything right," +Mattie thought. + +Grace felt very sorry for her, and petted her a good deal. The dark +little face had always a pained wistfulness on it now that touched +her. She spoke kindly of Mattie to her brother on all possible +occasions. + +"I think Mattie is so generous in giving up to me as she does," she +observed, as Archie joined her in the drawing-room in expectation of +their guests. Mattie had not yet made her appearance. She had been +lighting the wax candles and trimming a refractory lamp that refused +to burn, and had just run past her brother with blackened fingers and +hot, tired face. + +"Oh, yes, she is good enough," he returned, indifferently, as he +straightened a crooked candle; "but I wish she would not always be +late. She has not begun to dress, and it is the time we appointed for +the Challoners to come. Of all things I hate unpunctuality and fuss, +and Mattie is always so fussy." + +Grace's conscience pricked her. "I am afraid I left her too much to +do," she said, penitently. "Phillis asked me to go for a walk with +them; but I ought not to have left her. I will go and help her now." + +But Archie objected: + +"No, no; let her be. You must not leave me alone to receive them. How +nice you look in that cream-colored dress, Grace! I thought it would +suit you." But, though his eyes rested on her as he spoke, he seemed +rather absent. And when the door-bell rang a moment afterwards, a +sudden flush came to his face. + +It was very odd to feel that he was receiving Nan as his guest. He +had dreaded the ordeal greatly, but after the first moment it was not +so bad. Grace, who had her suspicions and watched them closely, had +them verified without doubt during the moment that followed the +Challoners' entrance; but no other eyes but hers would have read +anything amiss in the young vicar's gravely composed face. + +Nan, who was looking beautiful, met him with her usual +unconsciousness: though neither of them knew it, it was this very +unconsciousness that was fast healing the wound. One cannot mourn long +after a lost dream, and there had never been any reality in it. Not +one of Nan's thoughts had ever belonged to him for a moment: his +existence, his individuality had never grazed the outer edge of her +susceptibilities. Dick had encased her from childhood in armor of +proof against all manhood. Archie felt this even as he touched her +hand, and his lips gave her welcome. + +"I am so sorry your mother could not come," he said, politely. And +then he turned to Phillis, who was regarding him with an odd, dubious +look. + +Archie felt the look, and his spirit rose in instant opposition. + +"Do you know the Middletons are to be here, after all?" he said, +moving a little into the background, for this girl had keen vision, +and, as of old, her sympathy moved him strangely. + +"Oh, then we shall be quite a party," she returned, brightly. "It +seems ages since we have been at one, and I feel disposed to enjoy +myself. The very sight of wax candles is exhilarating. I am half +afraid to touch coffee, for fear it will get into my head. And how +sweet Grace looks in that dress!" + +"Your _chef-d'oeuvre_!" he replied, rather wickedly. + +"Oh, yes, I recognize my handiwork," returned Phillis, nonchalantly. +"I am quite as proud of it as an artist would be of a picture. Here +comes Mattie; poor little thing! she seems tired, but she looks nice, +too." + +Archie moved away after this, for the Middletons were announced; but +he thought as he left her that he had never seen her look so handsome. +Nan's beauty had so blinded him that he had hardly been aware what a +charming face Phillis really had: when she was pleased or excited she +lighted up quite radiantly. + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mattie, fussily coming up at that moment. "I +don't know what has become of your cousin; but Captain Middleton says +all the trains have been snowed up." + +"If the train he is in has been snowed up, of course we must not +expect to see him this evening," was Phillis's laughing reply. "Never +mind; I dare say we shall all survive it; though Harry is such a good +fellow, and I am immensely fond of him." + +"Oh, but the tea and coffee will be spoiled. I must go and pour it out +now. Look, Grace is making signs to me." + +"Shall I come and help you?" was the ready response. "What a pretty +little tea-table, Mattie, and how charmingly snug it looks in the +bay-window! The gentlemen will wait on us, of course. I like this way +better than servants handing round lukewarm cups from the kitchen: it +is not so grand, but it is cosier. Was it your arrangement, Mattie?" + +"Oh, yes," returned Mattie, in a disconsolate tone, as she took her +place. "But, Phillis, are you really not anxious about your cousin? It +is so dreadful to think of him snowed up all night, with nothing to +eat and drink!" + +Phillis laughed outright at this. + +"My imagination will not conjure up such horrors. I believe Harry is +at this moment sitting in the hotel discussing a good dinner before a +blazing fire." And, as Mattie looked injured at this, she continued, +still more merrily: "My dear, are you such an ignoramus as to believe +that any amount of wax candles and charming women will induce an +Englishman to forego his dinner? He will come by and by; and if he +gets cold coffee, he will have his deserts." And then Mattie's anxious +face grew more cheerful. + +The tea-table became the nucleus of the whole room before long. Even +Mr. Frere, a tall scholarly-looking man, with spectacles and a very +bald head, though he was still young, seemed drawn magnetically into +the circle that closed round Phillis. The girl was so natural and +sprightly, there was such buoyancy and brightness in her manner; and +yet no man could ever have taken a liberty with her, or mistaken the +source of that pure rippling fun. The light jesting tone, the +unembarrassed manner, were as free from consciousness as though there +were gray-headed dons round her. And yet, alas for Phillis! there was +not a word uttered in a certain voice that did not reach her ear +somehow; not a movement that was lost upon her, even when she chatted +and laughed with those who stood round her. + +Colonel Middleton was stanch to his little favorite, and sat on the +couch between her and Grace, while Nan and Miss Middleton talked +apart. Nan watched the tea-table smilingly. She did so love to see +Phillis happy; it never occurred to her to feel herself a little +neglected, or to wonder why the grave young master of the house so +seldom addressed her: thoughts of this sort never entered Nan's head. + +But she grew a little silent by and by, and began to answer Elizabeth +somewhat absently. She did not know what it meant, but a certain +strong longing took possession of her,--a sort of craving to see +Dick's face and hear his voice. It was foolish, of course; and then +she roused herself with difficulty. + +"How late Harry is! I wonder if the train be really snowed up! Oh, +that must be he!" as the door-bell sounded. "Mattie will be glad; she +was so afraid the coffee would be cold." For Mattie had poured this +grievance into every one's ears. + +Of course it was Sir Harry. Yes, as the door opened, there were the +broad, genial face and the massive shoulders that could only belong +to one person. And who was this young man following him,--a somewhat +insignificant young man compared to this son of Anak,--a young man +with sandy hair, with a trivial moustache, with a free, careless +expression of good-nature that seemed somehow stamped on his +features? + +Nan did not speak or move in her corner; but she locked her hands +together tightly, and a most wonderful blush came to her face; for the +young man's eyes had moved quickly round the room, with an eager +expression in them, and had just rested upon her. + +Nan sat immovable while Sir Harry, gave the necessary introduction in +his loud, jovial voice: + +"I am sorry to be late,--I am, 'pon my honor, Miss Mattie! but it +could not be helped: could it, Mayne? Mr. Drummond, I have taken the +liberty to bring a friend with me; he is my guest at present,--Mr. +Richard Mayne. He has come down to Hadleigh to see some old +acquaintances of his." + +"Dick! Oh, Dick!" the words would come out now. Miss Middleton had +judiciously vacated the corner of the couch, and Dick had boldly +placed himself there instead, after first touching Nan's trembling +hand. "What does it mean? Why have you startled me so?" she whispered, +for they were in a snug corner, and no one was near them. + +"I suppose a man has a right to come and look after his own +belongings?" returned Dick, in the coolest possible manner. But his +eyes were more eloquent than his words, as usual. "How lovely you are +looking, Nan! I do believe you grow prettier every day. And are you +glad to see me?--half or a quarter as glad as I am to see you?" + +"I was thinking of you," she returned, softly. "I was wondering what +you were doing, and picturing you at Longmead; and then the door +opened, and there you were, half hidden by Harry; and I thought I was +dreaming." + +"Well, that was transmission of thought, don't you see?--animal +magnetism, and all that sort of thing. You thought of me because I was +thinking of you; but you did not know that only the door divided us. +Oh, Nan! isn't it awfully jolly to be together again?" + +"Yes; but I don't understand it yet," she replied. "Have you come +without your father's permission, Dick? Are you sure he will not be +very angry?" + +"Oh, no; the pater is all right. Sir Harry--what a brick that fellow +is!--has talked him over, and he has given his consent to our +engagement. Look here, Nan! what you have got to do is to pack up your +things, and I am to take you down to-morrow. This is a note from +mother, and you will see what she says." And Nan's gloved hand closed +eagerly upon the precious missive. + +The letter could not be read just then. Nan sent Dick away after that, +though he would willingly have remained in his corner during the +remainder of the evening. He went off grumbling, to be civil to his +hostess, and Nan remained behind trying to calm herself. It was "all +right," Dick had told her. She was to go down with him the next day to +dear Longmead. Were their troubles really over? Well, she would hear +all about it to-morrow. She must wait patiently until then. + +Nan did not long remain alone. Archie, who had watched this little +scene from the bay-window, suddenly took his opportunity and crossed +the room. + +Nan looked up at him with a happy smile. + +"You have had a surprise this evening, have you not, Miss Challoner? +Sir Harry has just been telling me all about it. You will permit me +now to offer my congratulations?" + +"Most certainly, Mr. Drummond." + +"I am so glad, for both your sakes, that things should be so +comfortably settled," he went on, placing himself beside her,--a +movement that mightily displeased Dick, who had conceived a dislike to +the handsome parson from the first. "A parent's opposition is always a +serious drawback in such cases; but Sir Harry tells me that Mr. Mayne +has given his full consent." + +"I believe so," returned Nan, blushing a little; "but I really hardly +know any particulars. It is such a surprise to me altogether; but his +mother has written to me, and I am expected down there." + +"You have my warmest wishes for your happiness," continued Archie, +gravely; and then Nan thanked him. + +But here Dick interrupted them. He was still new to his _role_, and +hardly had the assurance that belongs to the engaged man, who feels +himself safely steering towards the desired haven of matrimony. It +appeared to him that on this evening he ought not to lose sight of Nan +for a moment. To see Mr. Drummond taking his place was too much for +him, and he put down his untasted coffee. + +"I am afraid it is rather cold," observed Mattie, anxiously; but she +spoke to deaf ears. + +Dick was already half-way to the corner. Nan received him a little +shyly; but Mr. Drummond at once took the hint. + +"Oh, Dick, people will notice! you must take care," remonstrated Nan. + +She was preparing one of those gentle little lectures to which she +sometimes treated him, and to which he was wont to listen with the +utmost submission; but, to her intense surprise, he turned restive. + +"That was all very well when things were not settled between us," +observed Dick, decidedly. "Now we are engaged, of course I shall +assert my rights publicly. What does it matter if people notice? They +will only think what a lucky fellow I am, and how they would like to +be in my place. Do you think I was going to remain at the other end of +the room while that parson was talking to you?" And then Nan all at +once discovered that, in spite of Dick's boyish looks and easy +temper, she had found her master,--that, like other men, he was +capable of jealousy and insisted on an entire and undivided +allegiance. + +Nan was weak enough to like him all the better for this little touch +of tyranny; and, after all, though she felt it a little hard on Mr. +Drummond, who was so harmless and good-natured, the sense of this +monopoly was very sweet to her. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +A NEW INVASION OF THE GOTHS. + + +It was the most successful evening--every one said so; but, somehow, +Mattie had not enjoyed it. She supposed she was tired; that lamp had +worried her; but, though every one had been very pleasant, and had +said nice things to her,--even that formidable Mr. Frere,--Mattie felt +something had been lacking. She had been very pleased to see Sir +Harry, and he had come up to her at once and spoken to her in his +usual genial manner; but after the first few minutes, during which he +had drunk his coffee standing beside her, she did not remember that he +had again addressed her. After that, he had made his way to Grace, and +did not stir for a long time. + +Mattie had Colonel Middleton on her hands then; but her eyes would +stray to that part of the room. How pretty Grace looked in that soft +creamy dress, with the dainty lace ruffles that Archie had sent her! +Her face generally wanted color and animation, but to-night she was +quite rosy by comparison. She seemed to find Sir Harry amusing, for +she looked up at him very brightly. And then Archie joined them: he +would not be _de trop_ there, he knew. And the three talked as though +they never meant to leave off. + +When Sir Harry came to take his leave, he said, a little abruptly,-- + +"I like that sister of yours, Miss Mattie. She is sensible for a girl; +and yet she knows how to laugh. Clever girls are generally a little +priggish, do you know? But one need not be afraid of Miss Grace." And +Mattie knew that from Sir Harry this was high praise. + +"Every one likes Grace," she faltered. + +"I am not surprised at that," was the ready response; and then he +shook hands and thanked her for the pleasant evening. He did not even +look at her as he spoke, Mattie remembered afterwards: he was watching +Nan, who was smiling on Dick's arm. + +The young vicar stood bare-headed on the snowy door-step, as his +guests merrily trooped out together. Dick and Nan came first: Nan had +a scarlet hood over her bright hair, and Dick was grumbling over the +lightness of her cloak, and was wrapping his gray overcoat round her. + +"Nonsense, Nan! I insist upon it! and you know nothing gives me cold!" +Dick was saying, in his authoritative way; and then of course Nan +yielded. + +"'Oh, wert thou in the cauld blast,'" sang Phillis, mockingly, who was +following them under Captain Middleton's escort. "Don't you think +engaged people are sometimes very masterful?" She spoke, of course, to +her companion; but he had turned to warn his father and Dulce of an +awkward step, and Archie intercepted the sentence: + +"Most men are masterful, Miss Challoner. You will find that out some +day for yourself." He meant nothing by this little speech, and he was +rather taken aback by the sudden hot blush that came to the girl's +face, and the almost angry light in her eyes, as she turned away from +him and ran down the slippery steps, to Captain Middleton's alarm. + +"'On yonder lea, on yonder lea,'" they heard her humming gayly; and +Hammond caught the refrain, and finished it in a fine manly bass, +while Archie stood still under the wintry sky. Why had she looked like +that at him? What was there in his lightly-uttered speech to offend +her? + +Grace was standing alone when he re-entered the drawing-room. Most of +the wax candles were extinguished, but the soft glow of the firelight +irradiated the farthest corner of the room. + +"What a glorious fire!" he said, warming his chilly hands at it, and +then throwing himself into the easy-chair that Grace silently placed +for him. "And where is Mattie? Really, she did very well to-night." + +"You must tell her to-morrow, she will be so pleased; she seems tired, +and her head aches, so I advised her to go to bed." And, though Archie +did not say openly that he approved of this sensible advice, he +implied it by the way he drew a low chair forward for Grace,--so close +beside him that she could rest her arm upon the cushioned elbow of +his. + +They remained comfortably silent for along time: it was Grace who +spoke first. + +"Archie," she said, rather nervously, but her eyes had a settled +purpose in them, "shall you be angry if I disobey you, dear, and speak +again on a certain subject?" + +"What subject?" he asked, rather surprised by her manner. He had not a +notion to what she was referring; he did not know how during that long +silence their thoughts had been couching the same point, and that all +this time she was seeking courage to speak to him. + +"I know your secret, Archie; I discovered it to-night." + +"My secret!" he returned, in utter amazement. "I have no secret, +Gracie." And then, as he caught her meaning, a cloud came to his brow. +"But this is nonsense!" he continued harshly,--"pure nonsense; put it +out of your head." + +"I saw it to-night," she went on, in a very low voice, undisturbed by +his evident displeasure. "She is good and sweet, and quite lovely, +Archie, and that young man is not half worthy of her; but she has no +thought but for him." + +"Do you think I do not know that?" he returned, in an exasperated +tone. "Grace, I will not have you talk in this way. I am cured,--quite +cured: it was nothing but a passing folly." + +"A folly that made you very unhappy, my poor Archie; but--hush! you +must not interrupt me--I am not going to talk about her." + +"Oh, that is well," he returned, in a relieved tone. + +"I was sorry--just a little sorry--at first, because I knew how much +it had cost you; but this evening I could have found it in my heart to +be angry with you,--yes, even with you. 'Oh, the blindness of these +men!' I thought: 'why will they trample on their own happiness?'" + +"Are you speaking of me?" he asked, in a bewildered tone. + +"Of whom should I be speaking?" she answered; and her voice had a +peculiar meaning in it. "You are my dear brother,--my dearest brother; +but you are no more sensible than other men." + +"I suppose not," he returned, staring at her; "I suppose not." + +"Many men have done what you are doing," she went on, quietly. "Many +have wanted what belonged to another, and have turned their backs upon +the blessing that might have been theirs. It is the game of +cross-purposes. Do you remember that picture, Archie,--the lovely +print you longed to buy--the two girls and the two men? There was the +pretty demure maiden in front, and at the back a girl with a far +sweeter face to my mind, watching the gloomy-looking fellow who is +regarding his divinity from afar. There was a face here to-night that +brought that second girl strongly to my mind; and I caught an +expression on it once----" Here Archie violently started. + +"Hush! hush! what are you implying? Grace, you are romancing; you do +not mean this?" + +"As there is a heaven above us, I do mean it, Archie." + +"Then, for God's sake, not another word!" And then he rose from his +seat, and stood on the rug. + +"You are not really angry with me?" she urged, frightened at his +vehemence. + +"No; I am not angry. I never am angry with you, Grace, as you know; +but all the same there are some things that never should be said." +And, when he had thus gravely rebuked her speech, he kissed her +forehead, and muttering some excuse about the lateness of the hour, +left the room. + +Grace crept away to her chamber a little discomfited by this rebuff, +gently as it had been given; but if she had only guessed the commotion +those few hinted words had raised in her brother's mind! + +He had understood her; in one moment he had understood her. As though +by a lightning-flash of intelligence, the truth had dawned upon him; +and if an electric shock had passed through his frame and set all his +nerves tingling he could not have been more deeply shaken. + +Was that what she thought, too, when she had turned away from him with +that quiet look of scorn on her face! Did she know of any possible +blessing that might have been his, only that he had turned his back +upon it, crying out childishly for a shadowy happiness? Did she mutter +to herself also, "Oh, the blindness of these men!"? + +There is an old saying, greatly credited by the generality of people, +that hearts are often caught at the rebound,--that in their painful +tossings from uneven heights and depths, and that sad swinging over +uncertain abysses, some are suddenly attracted and held fast; and +there is sufficient proof to warrant the truth of this adage. + +The measurements of pain are unequal: different natures hold different +capacities. A trouble that seems very real at the time, and full of +stings, may be found later on to be largely alloyed by wounded +self-love and frustrated vanity. Sound it with the plumb-line of +experience, of time, of wakening hopefulness, and it may sink fathoms, +and by and by end in nothingness, or perhaps more truly in just a +sense of salt bitterness between the teeth, as when one plunges in a +waning tide. + +Not that Archie realized all this as he paced his room that night: no; +he was very strangely moved and excited. Something, he knew not what, +had again stirred the monotony of his life. He had been sick and sad +for a long time; for men are like children, and fret sometimes after +the unattainable, if their hearts be set upon it. And yet, though he +forbore to question himself too closely that night, how much of his +pain had been due to wounded vanity and crossed wilfulness! + +It was long before he could sleep, for the sudden broadening of the +prospective of his future kept him wide awake and restless. It was as +though he had been straining his eyes to look down a long, gray vista, +where he saw things dimly, and that suddenly there was a low light on +the horizon,--not brilliant, not even clear; but it spoke of +approaching daybreak. By and by the path would be more plainly +visible. + +There was great excitement at the Friary on the next day. They had +found it hard to get rid of Dick the previous night; but Sir Harry, +who read his aunt's tired face rightly, had carried him off almost by +sheer force, after a lengthy leave-taking with Nan in the passage. + +It was only Mrs. Challoner who was tired. Poor woman! she was fairly +worn out by the violence of her conflicting feeling,--by sympathy with +Nan in her happiness, with pleasure in Dick's demonstrative joy, and +sorrow at the thought of losing her child. The girl herself was far +too much excited for sleep. + +She and Phillis did all the packing for the next day, and it was not +until Dulce sleepily warned them of the lateness of the hour that they +consented to separate; and then Nan sat by the parlor fire a long time +alone, enjoying the luxury of undisturbed meditation. + +But the next morning, just as they had gone into the work-room,--not +to settle to any business,--that was impossible under the present +exciting circumstances,--but just to fold up and despatch a gown that +had been finished for Mrs. Squails, while Dulce put the +finishing-touches to Mrs. Cheyne's tweed dress, Nan announced in a +glad voice that their cousin and Dick were at the gate; "and I am so +thankful we packed last night," she continued, "for Dick will not let +me have a free moment until we start." + +"You should keep him in better order," observed Phillis, tersely: "if +you give him his own way so much, you will not have a will of your own +when you are married: will she, mother?" Mrs. Challoner smiled a +little feebly in answer to this: she could not remember the time when +she had had a will of her own. + +Nan went out shyly to meet them; but she could not understand her +reception at all. Dick's grasp of her hand was sufficiently eloquent, +but he said nothing; and Nan thought he was trying not to laugh, for +there was a gleam of fun in his eyes, though he endeavored to look +solemn. Sir Harry's face, too, wore an expression of portentous +gravity. + +"Are you all in the work-room, Nan?" he asked, in a tone as though +they were assembled at a funeral. + +"Yes; mother and all," answered Nan, brightly. "What is the matter +with you both? You look dreadfully solemn." + +"Because we have a little business before us," returned Sir Harry, +wrinkling his brows and frowning at Dick. "Come, Mayne, if you are +ready." + +"Wait a minute, Nan. I will speak to you afterwards," observed that +young gentleman, divesting himself of his gray overcoat; and Nan, very +much puzzled, preceded them into the room. + +"How do you do, Aunt Catherine? Good-morning, girls," nodded Sir +Harry; and then he looked at Dick. And what were they both doing? Were +they mad? They must have taken leave of their senses; for Dick had +raised his foot gently,--very gently,--and Mrs. Squails's red merino +gown lay in the passage. At the same moment, Sir Harry's huge hand had +closed over the tweed, and, by a dexterous thrust, had flung it as far +as the kitchen. And now Dick was bundling out the sewing-machine. + +"Dick! oh, Dick!" in an alarmed voice from Dulce. And Phillis flew to +the great carved wardrobe, that Sir Harry was ransacking; while Nan +vainly strove to rescue the fashion-books that Dick was now flinging +into the fender. + +"Oh, you great Goth! You stupid, ridiculous Harry!" observed Phillis, +scornfully, while the rolls of silk and satin and yards of trimming +were tossed lightly into a heap of _debris_. + +Laddie was growling and choking over the buttons. Dorothy afterwards +carried away a whole shovelful of pins and hooks and eyes. + +Nan sat down by her mother and folded her hands on her lap. When men +were masterful, it was time for maidens to sit still. Dulce really +looked frightened; but Phillis presently broke into a laugh. + +"This is a parable of nature," she said. "Mammie, does your head ache? +Would you like to go into the next room?" + +"There, we have about done!" observed Sir Harry. "The place is pretty +well clear: isn't it, Mayne?" And, as Dick nodded a cheerful assent, +he shut the door of the wardrobe, locked it, and, with much solemnity, +put the key in his pocket. "Now for my parable," he said. "Aunt +Catherine, you will excuse a bit of a spree, but one must take the +high hand with these girls. I have bundled out the whole lot of +trumpery; but, as head of this family, I am not going to stand any +more of this nonsense." + +"Oh, indeed!" put in Phillis. "I hope Mrs. Squails will take her +creased gown! Dulce, the sewing-machine is right on the top of it,--a +most improving process, certainly." + +"Now, Phillis, you will just shut up with your nonsense! As head of +the family, I am not going to stand any more of this sort of thing." + +"What sort of thing?" asked Mrs. Challoner, timidly. "My dears, I +thought it was only fun; but I do believe your cousin is in earnest." + +"I am quite in earnest, Aunt Catherine," returned Sir Harry, sitting +down beside her, and taking her hand. "I hope our bit of larking has +not been too much for you; but that fellow vowed it would be a good +joke." Here Dick's eyes twinkled. "If Mrs. Squails's gown is spoiled, +I will buy her another; but on your peril, girls, if you put a stitch +in any but your own from this day forward!" + +"Please your honor, kindly," whined Phillis, dropping a courtesy, "and +what will your honor have us do?" + +"Do!" and then he broke into a laugh. "Oh, I will tell you that +presently. All I know is, Nan is engaged to my friend Mayne here; and +I have promised his father, on my word as a gentleman and head of this +family, that this dressmaking humbug shall be given up." + +"You had no right to give such a promise," returned Phillis, offended +at this; but Nan's hand stole into Dick's. She understood now. + +"But, Harry, my dear," asked Mrs. Challoner, "what would you have them +do?" + +"Oh, play tennis,--dance,--flirt, if they like! How do young ladies +generally occupy their time? Don't let us talk about such petty +details as this. I want to tell you about my new house. You all know +Gilsbank? Well, it is 'Challoner Place' now." + +"You have bought it, Harry?" + +"Yes; I have bought it," he returned, coolly. "And what is more, I +hope to settle down there in another month's time. How soon do you +think you will be ready to move, Aunt Catherine?" + +"My dear!" in a voice of mild astonishment. But Dulce clapped her +hands: she thought she guessed his meaning. "Are we to live with you, +Harry? Do you really mean to take us with you?" + +"Of course I shall take you with me; but not to Challoner Place. That +would be rather close quarters; and--and--I may make different +arrangements," rather sheepishly. "Aunt Catherine, Glen Cottage will +be all ready for you and the girls. I have settled about the +furniture; and Mrs. Mayne will have fires lighted whenever you like to +come down. Why, aunt,--dear Aunt Catherine," as he felt her thin hand +tremble in his, and the tears started to her eyes, "did you not tell +me how much you loved your old home? And do you think, when you have +no son to take care of you, that I should ever let you be far from +me?" + +"Confound you!" growled Dick. "Is not a son-in-law as good as a son +any day." + +But no one heard this but Nan. + +Mrs. Challoner was weeping for joy, and Dulce was keeping her company; +but Phillis walked up to her cousin with a shamefaced look: + +"I am sorry I called you a Goth, Harry. I ought to have remembered +Alcides. You are as good as gold. You are a dear generous fellow. And +I love you for it; and so do Nan and Dulce. And I was not a bit cross, +really; but you did look such a great goose, turning out that +wardrobe." But, though she laughed at the remembrance, the tears were +in Phillis's eyes. + +Dick was nobody after this: not that he minded that. How could they +help crowding round this "big hero" of theirs who had performed such +wonders? + +Gilsbank turned into Challoner Place; Glen Cottage, with its +conservatory and brand-new furniture, theirs again,--their own,--their +very own (for Sir Harry intended to buy that too as soon as possible); +Nan engaged to her dearest Dick, and all the neighborhood prepared to +welcome them back! + +"If you please, Miss Phillis, Mrs. Squails desires her compliments, +and she is waiting for her dress." + +We forbare to repeat Sir Harry's answer. Nevertheless, with Dick's +help, the unfortunate gown was extricated, and privately ironed by +Dorothy. + +"That is a good morning's work of yours," observed Phillis, quietly +looking down at the heap at her feet. "Dorothy, it seems Sir Harry is +master here. If any more orders come for us, you may as well say, 'The +Misses Challoner have given up business.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +"IT WAS SO GOOD OF YOU TO ASK ME HERE." + + +Mrs. Challoner heaved a gentle little sigh when in the afternoon the +fly carried off Nan and Dick to the station: it brought to her mind +another day that would come far too soon. Phillis spoke out this +thought boldly as she ran back to the cottage. + +"I wanted to throw an old shoe for luck, mammie," she said, laughing, +"only I knew Nan would be so dreadfully shocked. How happy they +looked! And Dick was making such a fuss over her, bringing out his +plaid to wrap her in. Certainly he is much improved, and looks five +years older." + +Perhaps Dick shared Mrs. Challoner's thought too, for an expression of +deep gravity crossed his face as he sat down by Nan,--a look that was +tender, and yet wistful, as he took her hand. + +"Oh, Nan! it does seem so nice to have you all to myself for a +little,--just you and I, alone, and all the rest of the world outside +somewhere! Do you know it is possible to be almost too happy!" And +Dick sighed from the very fulness of content. + +Nan gave a merry little laugh at this. + +"Oh, no: to me it seems only natural to be happy. When things were at +their worst I knew that they would come right some day; and I could +not be quite miserable, even then. It was hard, of course; but when +one is young, one ought not to mind a little waiting. And we have not +waited long, have we, dear?" But to this Dick demurred. + +"It was the longest term I ever passed," he returned, seriously. "When +a fellow is in that sort of unsettled state, one cannot measure time +in the ordinary way. Well, the ordeal is over, thank heaven!" And then +he paused, and continued, a little thoughtfully: "What I have to do +now is to work hard and do my best to deserve you. I shall never be +worthy of you, Nan; I know that." + +"I think you quite worthy of me," she answered, softly, and now there +were tears in her eyes. + +"Oh, no; no fellow could be that," he replied, decidedly. "I am well +enough in my way, and compared with other men I am not so bad," +continued Dick, who had a sufficiently good opinion of his own merits, +in spite of the humility of his speech; "but as to coming up to you, +Nan, by a long way, why, the thing is impossible! But I tell you this, +it helps a fellow to keep right and steady when he believes in the +goodness of the girl belonging to him." + +"You must not make me vain," she half whispered, and her lips trembled +a little at his praise. But he disregarded this remonstrance, and went +on: + +"You have kept me right all my life. How could I ever do a mean or a +shabby action to make you ashamed of me? When I was tempted once or +twice,--for idle young fellows will be tempted,--I used to say to +myself, No, Nan would not approve if she knew it. And I held tight to +this thought, and I am glad now that I can look in your dear face and +tell you this. It makes me feel so happy." And indeed Dick's face was +radiant. + +They were almost sorry when the journey was over; they had so much to +say to each other. The wintry landscape was growing gray and +indistinct as they reached their destination, and, though Nan peered +anxiously into the darkness for a glimpse of each well-remembered +spot, she could only just discern the dim outline of Glen Cottage +before the carriage turned in at the gates of Longmead. + +Mr. Mayne had determined to pay his intended daughter-in-law all +becoming honors, and as soon as the carriage wheels were heard he had +the hall door thrown back to show the bright, welcoming light, and he +himself descended the flight of steps to the terrace. "Just as though +I were a royal personage," laughed Nan. But she was a little nattered +by the compliment. + +Most girls would have felt the awkwardness of the situation, but not +Nan. The moment Dick assisted her out of the carriage she walked up to +his father, and put up her face to be kissed in the most natural way. +"It was so good of you to ask me here; and I am so glad to come," she +said, simply. + +"There, there! run in out of the cold," was all his answer; and he +patted her hand a little awkwardly. But, though his voice had its +usual gruffness, his manner was otherwise kind. "How are you, Dick? I +hope Roper did not keep you waiting at the station, for you are a +quarter of an hour behind your time." And then he took his son's arm +and walked up the steps again. + +Nan, meanwhile, had run through the hall and into the warm, +softly-lighted drawing-room, and there she soon found herself in Mrs. +Mayne's motherly arms. When the gentlemen came in they interrupted +quite a little scene, for Mrs. Mayne was actually crying over the +girl, and Nan was kissing her. + +"Don't you think you had better stop that sort of thing, Bessie," +observed her husband, drily, "and get Nan a cup of tea? You would like +some tea, my dear, would you not?" in a more gracious voice. + +Of course Nan said she would like some, just to show her appreciation +of his thoughtfulness; and then Dick said he should like some too, and +his father quizzed him a little as he rang the bell. And as Mrs. Mayne +obediently dried her eyes at her husband's behest, they were soon very +happy and comfortable. When Nan's cup was empty, Dick darted to take +it, that it might be replenished; but his father was before him. + +All that evening Mr. Mayne waited on Nan, quite ignoring his son's +claims. He had a special brand of champagne served that Nan had once +said she liked; and he reminded her of this, and pressed her to +partake of it. + +"This is to your health, my dear," he said, lifting his glass of port +to his lips when the servants had withdrawn; "and to yours too, Dick." +And then Nan blushed very becomingly, and Dick thanked him a little +gravely. + +"I do think the old boy has fallen in love with you himself, for he +has not let me come near you all the evening," whispered Dick later on +that night, pretending to grumble, but in reality looking very happy. + +"He has been so good to me," returned the girl; and she repeated this +for Mrs. Mayne's benefit, when at last the two women found themselves +free to indulge in a little talk. Nan had coaxed her friend to sit +beside her fire for a few minutes, and then she had knelt down beside +her, wrapping her arms round her in the most affectionate way. + +"Dear, dear Mrs. Mayne, how nice all this is! and how good Mr. Mayne +has been to me all this evening!" + +"My Richard never does things by halves," returned Mrs. Mayne, +proudly. "People cannot always understand him, because his manner is a +little rough sometimes; but I know, and none better, his real goodness +of heart. Why, he is so pleased with himself and you and Dick this +evening that he hardly knows how to contain himself; but he is a +little awkward in showing it." + +"Oh, no; I did not think him awkward at all." + +"I must say you behaved beautifully, Nan, never seeming as though you +remembered that there had been anything amiss, but just taking +everything as he meant it. Of course I knew how you would act: I was +not afraid that I should be disappointed." + +"Of course I could not do otherwise." + +"And Dick, too, behaved so well, keeping in the background just to +give his father full freedom. I must say I was pleased with him, too, +for most young men are so thoughtless; but then his behavior to his +father has been perfect throughout." + +"I knew it would be," whispered Nan. + +"I am sure it made my heart ache to see him. Sometimes he would come +in whistling and pretending to be his old self, so light-hearted and +cheerful; and all the time he was fretting himself to death, as I told +Richard. Richard was terribly trying sometimes,--you know his +way,--but the boy bore it so well. It was not till the last, when they +had that walk, and Dick was goaded into positive anger, that he ever +lost his temper in the least. I will say this, Nan, that though my +Dick may not be much to look at, he has the sweetest temper and the +kindest heart." And so the simple woman ran on, and Nan listened, well +pleased. + +When Mr. Mayne came up to his dressing-room that evening, his wife +stole in after him, and laid her hands on his shoulder as he stood +thoughtfully contemplating the fire. + +"Well, Richard, won't you own she is lovely now?" + +"Humph! yes; I suppose people would call her pretty," he returned, in +his grudging way. "But I tell you what, Bessie," suddenly kindling +into animation, "she is better than handsome; she is out and out good, +and she will make a man of Dick." + +"God bless him, and her too!" whispered the mother, as she withdrew +softly, but not before she caught the sound of an "Amen" uttered +distinctly in her husband's voice. + +Nan made Dick take her to all their old haunts the next morning; but +first of all they went to Glen Cottage. Nan ran through all the rooms +with almost a child's glee: nothing could exceed her delight when Dick +showed her the drawing-room, with the new conservatory opening out of +it. + +"It always was a pretty room," she said, glancing round her; "but the +conservatory and the new furniture have quite transformed it. How +charmed mother and the girls will be! The whole house looks better +than when we were in it." + +"Nonsense!" returned Dick, stoutly. "There never was a house to +compare with it. I always loved it; and so did you, Nan. What a summer +we shall have here, when I am reading up for honors in the long +vacation! I mean to work pretty hard; for when a fellow has such an +object as that----" And then he looked at Nan meaningly; but she was +not to be beguiled into that subject. + +They were so happy, and so young, that they could afford to wait a +little; and she did not wish Dick to speak yet of that day that was +looming in the distance. + +She could only be sure of one summer at Glen Cottage; but what a time +they would have! She stood for a long while looking out on the lawn +and calling up possible visions of summer afternoons. The +tennis-ground was marked out already in her imagination; the tea-table +in its old place under the trees; there was her mother knitting in her +favorite wicker-chair; there were Dulce and Phillis, surrounded by +their friends + +"Come away, Nan. Are you moon-struck, or dreaming?" questioned Dick, +drawing her arm through his. "Do you remember what we have to do +before luncheon? And Vigo looks so impatient for his run." But even +Dick paused for a moment in the veranda to show Nan the rose she had +picked for him just there, and which still lay in his pocket-book. + +All her old friends crowded round Nan to welcome her back; and great +were the rejoicings when they heard that Glen Cottage was to be in the +Challoners' possession again. Carrie Paine and Adelaide Sartoris +called first. Carrie embraced Nan with tearful effusion: she was an +honest, warm-hearted creature. But Adelaide looked at her a little +curiously. + +"Oh, my dear, the scandal that has been talked about you all!" she +said, in a mysterious tone. "Carrie and I would not believe it: would +we, Car? We told people to hold their tongues, and not talk such +nonsense." + +"Never mind that now, Addie," returned Nan, cheerfully. She felt she +must be careful of what she said, for Dick's sake. "We have had our +worries, and have worked as better people have before us; but now it +is all over." + +"But is it true that your cousin, Sir Henry Challoner, has bought +Gilsbank?" broke in Carrie. "Tell us about him, dear. Addie thought +she saw him once. Is he a tall man, with red hair?" + +"Very red hair," responded Nan, laughing. + +"Then I did see him," replied Miss Sartoris, decidedly. "He is quite a +giant, Nan; but he looks very good-natured." + +Miss Sartoris was just engaged to a dapper little colonel in the +Hussars, so she could afford to be quizzical on the subject of Sir +Harry's inches; but Carrie, who was at present unattached, was a +little curious about the future master of Gilsbank. + +After this, Nan called at Fitzroy Lodge, and Dick went with her. Lady +Fitzroy, who was looking very pretty and delicate, welcomed Nan with +the greatest kindness. When Lord Fitzroy came in with the rest of the +gentlemen from hunting, he questioned Nan very closely about their new +neighbor, Sir Henry Challoner, and made a great many kind inquiries +after his favorite, Miss Phillis. + +"So we are to have you all back, eh," he queried, pleasantly. "Well, I +call that good news. I am bound that Evelyn is as pleased to hear it +as I am." + +"I am very much pleased," returned Lady Fitzroy graciously. "And you +must tell your mother so, with my love. Percival, will you ring for +some more hot water, please? I shall not be long: but I am going to +take Miss Challoner upstairs to see our boy." + +Nan knew that a great privilege was being conferred on her as she +followed Lady Fitzroy into the grand nursery, where the tiny heir lay +in his bassinette. + +"Is he not just like Fitzroy?" exclaimed the proud young mother, as +they stood looking down on the red crumpled features of the new-comer. +"Nurse says she has never seen such a striking likeness." + +"He is a darling!" exclaimed Nan, who was, like other girls, a devout +baby-worshipper; and then they discoursed very eloquently on his +infantile beauties. + +It was after this that Lady Fitzroy congratulated Nan on her +engagement, and kissed her in quite a sisterly way. + +"Fitzroy and I do not think him half good enough for you," she said, +very prettily. "But no one who knows Mr. Mayne can fail to like him, +he is so thoroughly genuine and nice. Will the engagement be a long +one, Miss Challoner?" + +"Not so very long," Nan returned, blushing. "Dick has to read for +honors; but, when he has taken his degree, his father has promised to +make things straight for us, while Dick reads for the bar." + +"He is to be a barrister, then?" asked Lady Fitzroy, in surprise. "You +must not think me inquisitive, but I thought Mr. Mayne was so very +well off." + +"So he is," replied Nan, smiling,--"quite rich, I believe; but Dick +would not like an idle life, and during his father's lifetime he can +only expect a moderate income." + +"You will live in London, then?" + +"Oh, yes; I suppose so;" was Nan's answer. "But we have not talked +much about that yet. Dick must work hard for another year, and after +that I believe things are to be settled." And then Lady Fitzroy kissed +her again, and they went downstairs. + +Nan wrote home that she was _fêted_ like a queen, and that Dick +grumbled sadly at having her so little to himself; but then Dick was +much given to that sort of good-natured grumbling. + +The visit was necessarily a very brief one, as term-time was +approaching, and Dick had to go up to Oxford. On the last morning he +took Nan for a walk down to Sandy Lane. Vigo and the other dogs were +with them, and at the point where the four roads met, Dick stopped and +leaned his arms over a gate. + +"It will seem a long time to Easter, Nan," he said, rather +lugubriously. + +"Oh, no," she replied brightly to this; "you will have my +letters,--such long ones, Dick,--and you know Mr. Mayne has promised +to bring Phillis and me down for a couple of days. We are to stay at +the Randolph, and of course we shall have afternoon tea in your +rooms." + +"Yes; I will ask Hamilton and some of the other fellows to meet you. I +want all my friends to see you, Nan." And as Dick thought of the glory +of this introduction, and of the envy of Hamilton and the other +fellows, his brow cleared and his old spirits returned. + +"I shall think of nothing but my work and those letters, Nan," were +his last words. "I am determined that next summer shall see you my +wife." His voice dropped over the last word almost shyly; but Nan saw +a great brightness come into his eyes. + +"You must not work too hard," was all her answer to this, as she moved +gently away from him. But her heart beat a little faster at his words. +No; she would only have another summer at Glen Cottage. She knew that, +and then the new life would lie before them, which she and Dick were +to live together. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +MRS. SPARSIT'S POODLE. + + +While Nan was being _fêted_ and petted at Longmead, Mattie's visit was +dragging heavily to its close. Since the evening of the tea-party +things had been more unsatisfactory than ever. + +Archie and Grace were a good deal out. Grace was perpetually at the +Friary, and Archie had resumed his old habit of dropping in there for +a morning or evening chat. Sir Harry came almost daily, and often +spent his disengaged hours with them; but Mattie never saw him for a +moment alone. Grace was always in the room, and his conversation was +chiefly addressed to her. When Mattie dropped sadly out of the talk, +or sat silent in her corner, he did not in his old kind fashion try to +include her in the conversation: indeed, he rarely noticed her, except +in his brief leave-taking. It hurt Mattie inexpressibly to be thus +ignored by her old friend, for from the first his cordiality had had a +sunshiny influence over her,--he had been so good to her, so +thoughtful for her comfort, before Grace came; but now he seemed to +forget sometimes that such a person as Mattie even existed. Was it +because Grace's fair, serious face had bewitched him, or was there +anything on his mind? for more than once Mattie thought he seemed +absent and ill at ease. + +Mattie could not understand it at all. She was not a very acute little +person, neither was she over-sensitive by nature, but this sudden +coldness on Sir Harry's part was wounding and perplexing in the +extreme. Had she done anything to offend him? Mattie wondered, or was +he simply bored by her as most people were? + +Once Archie had snubbed her very severely in his presence; something +had put him out, and he had spoken to Mattie as though no one were +present but their two selves. It was Grace who called him so gently to +order, and made him feel ashamed of himself. Sir Harry did not even +seem to notice it: he had a paper in his hand, and he went on reading +it. But as Mattie left the room she heard him speaking to Grace in +his usual way about some political question or other. + +Mattie cried bitterly in her room that day. Somehow, she had never +taken Archie's snubbing so much to heart before. How could he speak to +her like that, she thought? What would Sir Harry think of her, and of +him too? Archie's conscience pricked him when he saw the traces of +tears on Mattie's face that afternoon, and he was very kind to her all +the remainder of the day; but he did not apologize for his words: no +one ever did apologize to Mattie. But to his surprise, and Grace's +too, Mattie's sad face did not clear. + +It was her last afternoon but one at the vicarage, and Mattie was +sitting alone. All the morning she and Grace had been packing +together, for Grace, in her sensible way, had begged her sister not to +leave things for the last day. It would tire her for her journey, she +said; and the Challoners were coming to spend Mattie's last evening +with her at the vicarage; and there were the Middletons probably +coming for an afternoon visit, and so Mattie had better keep herself +free for her friends. Mattie had assented to this, and she had been +very grateful to Grace for all the help she had given her. Her boxes +were ready for cording, and her little parting gifts for the servants +laid ready labelled in her drawers, and nothing remained for her busy +hands to do. + +It was a cold, cheerless afternoon; a cutting north wind and a gray +cloudy sky made the fireside all the more tempting by comparison; but +Mattie knew there was one duty unfulfilled that she ought to perform. +She had promised to call and say good-bye to an old acquaintance of +hers who lived at Rock Building. + +Mrs. Chamberlain was not a favorite with most people: she was an +invalid of somewhat uncertain temper, and most of her friends felt her +society an infliction on their patience. Mattie, who was very +good-natured, had often done kindly little offices for her, sitting +with her for an hour or two at a time, and teaching her some new +stitch, to beguile her tedious and often painful days. + +Mrs. Chamberlain would feel herself aggrieved if Mattie disappointed +her. And she never had stayed at home for the weather; only she was +lazy,--tired, perhaps, from her packing,--and reluctant to move. + +Sir Harry was in the study, she knew: she had heard his voice some +time ago. He often turned in there of his own accord or perhaps Archie +had waylaid him and brought him in, for they were excellent friends +now; Grace was there, of course, but Mattie had hesitated to join +them: none of them wanted her, she said bitterly to herself. + +A dim hope that Grace might come in search of her, or that even Sir +Henry might saunter in by and by and ask for a cup of tea in his old +way, had kept Mattie in her place; but now it was getting a little +late, and perhaps after all Grace would ring, and have the tea in +there, as she had done once before: and it was no use waiting. And so, +when Mattie reached this point, she hurried upstairs and put on her +hat and thick jacket, and then, after a moment's hesitation, opened +the study door. + +It was just the scene she pictured. Sir Harry was in the big chair in +front of the blazing fire, and Grace in her low wicker seat, facing +him, with a Chinese screen in her hand. Archie was standing on the +rug, with his elbow against the narrow wooden mantelpiece, and all +three were talking merrily. Sir Harry stopped in the middle of a +laugh, as Mattie entered, and shook hands with her a little gravely. + +"How comfortable you all look!" faltered Mattie. The words came in +spite of her efforts not to say them. + +"Then come and join us," returned Archie, with unusual affability. +"Grace was just wondering what you were doing." + +"I was in the drawing-room alone. No, I cannot sit down, Archie, thank +you. I am just going to bid old Mrs. Chamberlain good-bye: she is +expecting me, and I must not disappoint her." + +"Oh, but it is not fit for you," remonstrated Grace. "Sir Harry says +the wind is piercing. Do put off your visit until to-morrow, Mattie, +and we will go together." + +"Fie, Miss Grace! never put off until to-morrow what can be done +to-day," observed Sir Harry, in his joking voice. "What is it the +copy-books say?--is it procrastination or money that is the root of +all evil?" + +"Sir Harry is quite right, and I must go," stammered Mattie, made +quite desperate by this joke; he knew how the wind was sweeping over +the gray sea, and yet he had not said a word about her remaining. Poor +Mattie! a miserable choking feeling came into her throat, as she +closed the door on another laugh and struggled along in the teeth of +the wind. Another time she would not have minded it, for she was hardy +by nature; but now the cold seemed to freeze her very heart; she +looked quite blue and pinched when she entered Mrs. Chamberlain's +drawing-room. It seemed to Mattie as though hours had passed before +she brought her visit to a close, and yet she had been sitting there +only three quarters of an hour before she took her leave. The old lady +was very gracious this afternoon; she pressed Mattie again and again +to wait a little until Sallie brought up the tea and a nice hot cake +she was baking. But Mattie steadily refused even these tempting +delicacies: she was not cold any longer, she said; but it was growing +late, or the afternoon was darker than usual. And then she wished her +old friend good-bye,--oh, good-bye for such a long time, Mattie +thought,--and sallied forth bravely into the wind gain. + +It had lulled a little, but the scene before her was very desolate; +just the gray expanse of sea, with the white line of surge breaking +into the shore; and here and there a wave tossing up its foamy head +in the distance. The air seemed full of that continuous low rolling +and splashing of breakers on the beach: a sea-gull was flying inland; +the Parade looked white and wind-bleached,--not a creature in sight +but a coast-guard on duty, moving backwards and forwards in a rather +forlorn manner, except----Here Mattie turned her head quickly: yes, a +little beyond there was a man in a rough pilot's coat, looking out +seaward,--a nautical man, Mattie thought, by the way he stood, as +though summer gales were blowing about his ears. + +Mattie passed quite close to him, for the wind drifted her a little as +she did so. He turned coolly round and confronted her. + +"Sir Harry! Oh, I did not know you in the least," faltered Mattie, +standing still in her surprise. + +"I dare say not," he replied, quietly: "you have never seen me in this +costume before, and I had my back turned towards you. I saw you +coming, though, walking as unsteadily as a duck in a storm. What a +time you have been, Miss Mattie! You ladies are so fond of a gossip." + +"Were you waiting for me?" she asked, rather breathlessly, and then +colored painfully at her question. How absurd! Of course he was not +waiting for her; his hotel was just opposite, and he was probably +taking a constitutional before his dinner. "Mrs. Chamberlain pressed +me to take tea with her," she went on, by way of saying something, +"but I told her I would rather go home." + +"Miss Grace was just ringing for tea when I left," he returned. "No +wonder you look cold or like a starved robin, Miss Mattie. Why are you +walking so fast? there is no hurry, is there? I think you owe me some +amends for keeping me standing for an hour in this bitter wind. There! +why don't you take my arm and hold on, or you will be blown away?" + +Mattie always did as she was bidden, and Sir Harry's tone was a little +peremptory. He had been waiting for her, then; he had not quite +forgotten her. Mattie began to feel a little less chilled and numb. If +he would only say a kind word to her, she thought, she could go away +more happily. + +"I am thinking about that rejected cup of tea," he said, suddenly, +when they had walked for a moment in silence: "it will be all cleared +away at the vicarage, and you do look so cold, Miss Mattie." + +"Oh, no, not very," she corrected. + +"But I say that you do," he persisted, in quite a determined manner: +"you are cold, and tired, and miserable,--there!" + +"I--I am not particularly miserable," but there were tears in Mattie's +voice, as she uttered this little fib. "I don't quite like going away +and saying good-bye to people." + +"Won't your people be kind to you?" Then changing his tone, "I tell +you what, Miss Mattie, no one is in a hurry for you at home, and I +don't see why we should not enjoy ourselves. You remember my old +friend Mrs. Sparsit, who lives up at Rose Cottage,--you know I saved +her poodle from drowning one rough day, when some boys got hold of it: +well, Mrs. Sparsit and I are first-rate friends, and I will ask her to +give us some tea." + +"Oh, no," faltered Mattie, quite shocked at this; for what would Grace +say? "I only know Mrs. Sparsit a very little." + +"What does that matter?" returned Sir Harry, obstinately: "I am always +dropping in myself for a chat. Now, it is no use your making any +objection, Miss Mattie, for I have got a lot to say to you, and I +don't mean to part with you yet. They will only think you are still at +Rock Building, and I suppose you are old enough to act without Miss +Grace's advice sometimes." + +Mattie hung her head without replying to this. What a feeble, helpless +sort of creature he must think her! his voice seemed to express a +good-humored sort of contempt. Well, he was right; she was old enough +to do as she pleased, and she would like very much to go with him to +Mrs. Sparsit's. It was rather a reckless proceeding, perhaps; but +Mattie was too down and miserable to argue it out, so she walked +beside Sir Harry in a perfectly unresisting manner. Perhaps this was +the last time she would enjoy his company for a long time: she must +make the most of it. + +"We need not walk quite so fast," he said, checking her, for she was +hurrying again. "Look here, Miss Mattie, I want to ask you a queer +sort of question, if only this confounded wind will let me make myself +heard. Please don't laugh; I don't want to be laughed at, for I am +quite in earnest. But have you any special objection to red hair?--I +mean, do you particularly dislike it?" + +Mattie opened her eyes rather widely at this. "No, I rather like it," +she returned, without a moment's hesitation, and quite in the dark as +to his possible meaning. + +"Oh, that is all right," he returned, cheerfully. "You won't believe +it, Miss Mattie, but, though I am such a great big fellow, I am as +bashful as anything; and I have always had a fancy that no one would +have me because of my red hair." + +"What an idea!" observed Mattie, with a little laugh, for she thought +this so droll, and had not the dimmest idea of his real purpose in +asking her such a question. + +"Don't laugh, please," he remonstrated, "for I am quite serious; I +never was more serious in my life; for this sort of thing is so +awkward for a fellow. Then, Miss Mattie, you won't say 'No' to me?" + +Mattie stared; but Sir Harry's face, red and embarrassed as it was, +gave her no clue to his meaning. + +"I don't think you understand me," he said, a little impatiently; "and +yet I am sure I am putting it very plainly. You don't object to me, +do you, Miss Mattie? I am sure I will do my best to make you happy. +Gilsbank is a pretty place, and we shall have Aunt Catherine and the +girls near us. We shall all be as merry as larks, if you will only +promise to marry me, for I have liked you from the first; I have +indeed, Miss Mattie." + +Sir Harry was a gentleman, in spite of his rough ways. He understood +in a moment, when Mattie's answer to this was a very feeble clutch at +his arm, as though her strength were deserting her. What with the +sudden surprise of these words, and the force of the wind, the poor +little woman felt herself reeling. + +"Stand here for a moment, and I will shelter you from the wind. No, +don't speak; just hold on, and keep quiet: there is no hurry. No one +shall scold you, if I can help it. I am afraid"--speaking as gently as +to a child--"that I have been a little rough and sudden with you. Do +you feel faint? I never saw you look so pale. What a thoughtless brute +I have been!" + +"No,--oh, no," panted Mattie; "only I am so giddy, and--so happy." The +last words were half whispered, but he caught them. "Are you sure you +really mean this, Sir Harry?" + +"As sure as that the wind blows," he returned, cheerfully. "Well, +that's settled. You and I are to be in the same boat for good and +all,--eh, Miss Mattie? Now let us walk on; and I won't say another +word until we reach Mrs. Sparsit's." + +Perhaps he had taken this resolution because he saw that Mattie found +speech impossible. Her very footsteps tottered as she struggled +against the opposing wind. Only the arm on which she leaned seemed to +give her strength; and yet Mattie no longer shivered in the cutting +blast. She was no longer cold, and numb, and desolate. Something +wonderful and incredible and altogether unreal had befallen +her,--something that had turned her dizzy with happiness, and which +she could not in the least believe. All she knew was that he had told +her that no one should scold her now. + +"Here we are!" exclaimed Sir Harry, stopping at a trim little cottage, +with a side-view of the sea; "and, by Jove, there is the poodle +himself at the window. How do you do, Mrs. Sparsit?" as a pleasant, +wrinkled dame appeared on the threshold. "You know Miss Drummond, I +believe? though not as well as you know me. How is Popples? Oh, there +you are, old fellow,--ready to give me your paw, as usual! Look at +him, Miss Mattie! Now, Mrs. Sparsit," in a coaxing voice, "this lady +is dreadfully tired; and I know your kettle is boiling----" but here +Mrs. Sparsit interrupted him: + +"Oh, yes, indeed, Sir Harry; and you shall have some tea directly. +Dear me, Miss Drummond, you do look poorly, to be sure! Let me stir +the fire a little, and draw out the couch. Bettie has gone out to see +her sick mother, Sir Harry; but if you don't mind my leaving you a +minute, while I just brew the tea----" And without waiting for his +answer, the worthy creature bustled off to her tiny kitchen, leaving +Popples to entertain her guests. + +Sir Harry closed the door, and then he helped Mattie to divest herself +of her warm jacket, and placed her in a snug corner of the +old-fashioned couch. + +"You will be all right directly," he said, as he sat down beside her. +"The wind was too strong; and I was a little sudden: wasn't I, +Mattie?" And now the color began to come into Mattie's face. + +Sir Harry found plenty to tell her as Mrs. Sparsit brewed the tea and +prepared the hot buttered cakes. + +Mattie shed tears of pure happiness when she heard from his own lips +how good and unselfish and amiable he thought her, and how he had +liked her from the first in a sort of way,--"not quite the right way, +you know," explained Sir Harry, candidly; "but every one was so hard +on you, and you bore it so well, and were such a good little woman, +that I quite longed to stand your friend; and we were friends,--were +we not, Mattie? And then somehow it came to me what a nice little wife +you would make; and so----" but here Mattie timidly interrupted him: + +"But Grace,--I thought you liked Grace best!" + +Sir Harry laughed outright at this; but he had the grace to look +ashamed of himself: + +"So I did like her very much; but I was only trying you, Mattie. I was +not sure how much you liked me; but you seemed such a miserable little +Cinderella among them all that I could hardly keep it up. If they snub +you now, they will have to answer to me." And at this moment Mrs. +Sparsit entered with the tea-tray. + +Dinner was nearly over at the vicarage when Mattie's step was heard in +the hall. Archie, who was the soul of punctuality, frowned a little +when the sound reached his ear. + +"This is too bad of Mattie," he said, rather fretfully. "She has no +right to put us to such inconvenience. I suppose we must have the fish +up again?" + +"Miss Drummond desires that you will go on with your dinner, sir," +observed the maid, entering at that moment. "She has had a late tea, +and will not require anything more." + +"Very strange!" fumed Archie; but he was a little pacified by the +message. But Grace slightly elevated her eyebrows with an expression +of surprise. Such independence was new in Mattie. + +The brother and sister had adjourned to the drawing-room, and Archie +was about to ring for his coffee, before Mattie made her appearance. + +Grace uttered a little exclamation when she saw her sister: + +"My dear Mattie, we have no visitors coming in this evening! Why have +you put on your best gown? You extravagant child!" for Mattie had +come into the room rustling in her green silk dress, and her little +dark face glowing from the wind. "She looked almost pretty," as Grace +said afterwards; but at her sister's quizzical observation Mattie +blushed and seemed confused. + +"It is no use saving it," she began. "Sir Harry is coming in by and +by. And, oh, Archie! he told me to say it, but I don't know how to do +it." And then, to Archie's intense surprise,--for she had never done +such a thing in her life,--she suddenly threw her arms round his neck. +"Oh, Archie! he says you are never to scold me again,--any of you," +she sobbed, "because I belong to him now. And he--Sir Harry, I +mean--is so good to me; and I am so happy. And won't you wish me joy, +both of you? And what--what will mother say?" finished Mattie, as +though this were the climax of everything. + +"Good heavens, Mattie!" gasped Archie; but he did not shake her off: +on the contrary, he kissed her very kindly. "Do you mean you are going +to marry Sir Harry Challoner?" + +"He means to marry me," returned Mattie, smiling, in spite of her +tears; and then Grace came forward, and took her in her arms. + +"I am so glad, dear Mattie," she whispered, soothingly. "Of course we +none of us expected it; and we are all very much surprised. Oh, dear! +how happy mother will be!" + +"I tell you what," exclaimed Archie, in great excitement, "I will take +you down myself to Lowder Street, and see what she says. They will all +be out of their senses with joy; and, upon my word, Mattie, I never +was so pleased about anything in my life. He is a right-down good +fellow, I am sure of that; and you are not such a bad little thing +yourself, Mattie. There!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +MATTIE IN A NEW CHARACTER. + + +The family at Lowder Street were all gathered together when the +travellers made their appearance. There was a general shout of delight +when Archie's face peered in at them from the dusky hall over Mattie's +shoulder. Mrs. Drummond's thin face flushed with the unexpected +pleasure. + +"Oh, Archie! my dear boy, I never thought you would surprise us in +this way!" she said, throwing down her work with tremulous hands. She +kissed Mattie affectionately; but that dark glow of tenderness in her +eyes was for Archie. In spite of her ordinary undemonstrativeness, she +seldom spoke to him without that involuntary softening of her voice. +However much she loved her other children, her maternal passion was +reserved for her first-born son. + +"How naughty of you to steal a march on us in this manner!" she said, +playfully. "We have only prepared a meat-tea for Mattie, because I +knew she would not mind; but if you had telegraphed I would have had +dinner ready for you, Archie." + +"Stuff! nonsense! why need he have telegraphed? I suppose what is good +enough for Mattie and the rest of us is good enough for Archie!" + +Mr. Drummond spoke testily as he put down the paper. These hints about +the late dinners always nettled him. His renunciation of them years +ago had been a heavy piece of self-denial, for he was a man rather +fond of creature comforts; he had done it for his children's sake; but +it was more than flesh and blood could bear that this renounced luxury +should be served for his son's benefit. Was he not as good as Archie, +though he had not been to a University and become fellow of his +college? + +"Father is quite right," returned Archie, cheerfully. "I would not +telegraph, because I wanted to surprise you; and I knew you were such +a good manager, mother, that you would have plenty of aired sheets +ready for my bed. Of course what is good enough for Mattie is right +for me. As we are both as hungry as hunters, we shall do justice to +anything you have prepared." + +"There is only some cold meat and some ham and eggs," observed Mrs. +Drummond, a little plaintively. She did not dare anger her husband +further by proposing even a chop, for she knew how touchy he was about +Archie's fastidiousness; but if she could have had her own way she +would have killed the fatted calf for this dearest son. Nothing was +too good for him in her eyes; and yet for the sake of tranquillity she +dared not even hazard the question of a chop. + +"Cold meat,--that is just what I should like," replied Archie, with +excellent _sang-froid_. He detested that stock-dish of the Lowder +Street larder, ham and eggs. The eggs were dubious, he +considered,--not actually new-laid, but a little suggestive of lime. +"But there! you must not give me all your attention, mother," he +continued. "I have brought Mattie home, you see, and you have never +told her even how she looks." + +"She looks very well," replied Mrs. Drummond. In spite of her anxiety +about Archie, she had been looking at her daughter more than once with +puzzled eyes. There was something different about her, she thought. It +was hardly like Mattie to come in so quietly among them all and take +her place beside her father. Mattie seldom did anything without a +fuss: it was her ordinary way to stand among them chattering as fast +as her tongue would go, until some one reminded her that it was time +for her to take off her hat and jacket or she would be late for tea. +But to-night Mattie had hardly opened her lips, except to answer her +father's questions about the journey. She had kissed her sisters very +quietly, and had asked after Isabel, and had then proposed of her own +accord to go upstairs. + +"Clara, go up with your sister. No, not Laura; you will all get +chattering, and then we shall be kept waiting. Isabel is upstairs, +Archie: she has come in to sit with us this evening, as Ellis has to +go to a business dinner. He will call for her on his way." + +"I am very glad she is here," returned Archie, "for I have to go back +by the early train to-morrow. Ah, there she is. Well, how are you, +Belle?" greeting her affectionately as she came up to him rather +shyly. Archie could hardly help smiling at the contrast between +Isabel's brilliant evening toilet and his other sister's brown stuff +dress. It was a little trying to his gravity to see her putting on +such pretty little airs of matronly dignity. Mrs. Ellis Burton was an +important person now; that was sufficiently obvious; the plump little +figure was most lavishly adorned. But the round childish face was +certainly very pretty; and, as every other sentence brought in +"Ellis," and as Ellis's opinion appeared always right in her eyes, +Archie deduced that his sister was satisfied with her choice. + +"Oh, dear, Mattie! how droll it is to see you home again!" exclaimed +Susie, who was noted for making awkward speeches. "And how funny you +look beside Isabel!" + +"We are very glad to have her back," returned Mrs. Drummond, in her +repressive tones. She was just refilling her teapot from the urn, but +she found opportunity to shake her head at Susie. "People do not +generally look smart in their travelling-dress; but I think she looks +very nice. Had you not a commoner gown, my dear? That looks almost too +good for the purpose;" for Mrs. Drummond's sense of economy was a +little shocked by perceiving that Mattie's gown was a new one. + +"It is very well made," observed Isabel, critically. "I am so glad, +Mattie, that you have given up that hideous plaid: it never suited +you." + +"If I had been you, I would have travelled in it," persisted Mrs. +Drummond, who never could remember that Mattie was over thirty and +might possibly have opinions of her own. + +Archie listened to all this with great amusement. + +"Don't you think it is about time I started a pleasanter subject, +Mattie?" he asked, laughing. "Have you finished your tea, my dear? for +I do not want to spoil your appetite; but time is getting on, and----" +here he glanced at the clock. + +Every one stared at this, for Archie had never spoken in exactly that +way to Mattie before; and, as he did so, Mattie's cheeks were burning. +But what was their surprise when Archie suddenly rose from his seat +and laid his hand kindly on Mattie's shoulder! + +"She is too shy to tell you herself; I have come all these miles to do +it for her. Isabel, you need not look so consequential. Ellis is a +good fellow, I dare say, but our little Mattie has done better for +herself than even you. Mother, you have achieved a success in one of +your seven daughters: let me introduce to you the future Lady +Challoner!" And then, still keeping his hand upon her shoulder, he +looked blandly round on them all. + +"Well, I am sure!" from Isabel, half pouting; but no one else spoke +except Mr. Drummond: + +"What does this mean, Archie? Can't you speak for yourself, my girl? +Is this a joke? Does he mean something amusing?" asked the father; but +his lip quivered a little: if it should be true,--if it were no joke! + +"It is just as Archie says!" replied Mattie, timidly, not daring to +raise her eyes. "Sir Harry asked me to marry him, and I said yes, +because--because he was always so good to me." And here Mattie laughed +a little hysterically. "And I did not think you would object, +father." + +"Me object!" replied Mr. Drummond, oblivious of grammar just then. +"Why, my little Mattie, what news is this? Come here and kiss me, my +girl. I am proud of you; I am delighted to think a daughter of mine is +going to make such a splendid match. Why don't you speak to her, my +dear?" addressing his wife, with some excitement. "Bless my +soul,--Lady Challoner, my plain little Mattie Lady Challoner! Is it +possible? Why, you were telling us, Archie, what a Croesus this Sir +Henry was, and how he had just bought quite a fine place for +himself." + +"Mattie, come here." Her children could hardly recognize their +mother's voice, it was so broken, and the tears were running down her +cheeks, though not one of them remembered seeing her cry before. +Mattie never felt her triumph greater, never understood the +magnificence of her own success, until she saw those tears, and felt +the presence of her mother's arms round her. Never since the child +Mattie had had to make way for the new-born brother, and had toddled +away with the never-forgotten words, "Mammy's arms are full; no room +for Mattie now," had she laid her head upon that mother's shoulder to +indulge in the good cry that was needed to relieve her. Isabel looked +almost affronted as she twirled her diamond rings round her plump +fingers. When she and Ellis had been engaged, her mother had not made +all this fuss. And Mattie was such an old thing; and it was so +ridiculous; and her father seemed on the verge of crying too. "But +then," as Susie said afterwards, "Belle did not like her consequence +to be set aside; and she and Ellis were just nobodies at all." + +No one enjoyed the scene so much as Archie: that was how his mother +ought to be with her girls. Nevertheless, he interrupted them +ruthlessly: + +"Don't make your eyes too red, Mattie: remember who will be in by and +by." And as she started up at this and began to smooth her rumpled +hair, he explained to them generally that they had not travelled +alone; Sir Harry had accompanied them to Leeds, and was at present +dining, he believed at the Star Hotel, where he had bespoken a room. +"He thought it best to make himself known personally to you; and, as +Mattie raised no objection, he announced his intention of calling this +evening----" but before Archie could finish his sentence, or the +awe-struck domestic announce him properly, Sir Harry himself was among +them all, shaking hands with everybody, down to Dottie. + +And, really, for a shy man he did his part very well: he seemed to +take his welcome for granted, and beamed on them all most genially. + +"I suppose the parson has already introduced me," he said, when Mr. +Drummond senior held out his hand, "What a lot of you there are!" he +continued, as he reached Dottie, who, dreadfully frightened at his +size, tried to hide behind Susie. Dottie compared him in her own mind +to one of their favorite giants. "He was so dreadfully like Fee-fo-fum +in 'Jack the Giant-Killer,'" she pouted, when Mattie afterwards took +her to task, "when he kissed me I thought he was going to eat me up." + +Mattie's dark little face lit up with shy happiness when she saw him +sit down beside her mother and talk to her in his frank pleasant way. +In her eyes he was nothing less than an angel of light. True, the room +had never looked so small and shabby as it looked to-night, but what +did that matter to Mattie?--the poor little Cinderella in the brown +gown had found her prince. By and by the pumpkin-coach would fetch her +to a grand house, she would have jewels and fine clothes,--everything +that the heart of woman could desire; but it may be doubted if such +thoughts ever crossed Mattie's mind. That he had chosen her, this was +the miracle; that she was never to be scolded, and laughed at, and +teased; that he had stooped to her, this noble, great-hearted man, to +raise her from her humbleness; that he could care for her, in spite of +her plainness and her many faults. No wonder if such happiness almost +beautified Mattie, as she sat a little apart, surrounded by her young +sisters. + +Mrs. Drummond's stern face glowed with pleasure when Sir Harry in a +few simple words spoke to her of his pride in winning her daughter. +Could it be her homely, old-fashioned little Mattie of whom he was +speaking, whose unselfishness and goodness he praised so highly! "I +have never known a more beautiful nature: she does not seem to me to +have an unkind thought of any one. All my cousins love her. If you +will trust her to me, I think I can promise, as far as a man can, that +her life shall be a happy one." No wonder if the mother's eyes filled +with joyous tears at such words as these. + +"Mattie, dear," said Sir Harry to her the next day, when they found +themselves alone,--a rather difficult thing to achieve in the crowded +household, but Mrs. Drummond had just left the room,--"I have been +talking to your mother. She is a sensible woman, and she thinks in six +weeks everything can be ready. What do you say?" + +"If mother thinks so, I suppose she is right," returned Mattie, very +much confused by this sudden appeal to her opinion. Sir Harry had +already importuned for a speedy marriage, and she had in much +trepidation referred him to her mother, feeling herself unequal to the +task of answering him. + +"Yes, your mother is a sensible woman," continued Sir Harry, taking no +notice of her confusion. "She knows that a great house full of +servants is more than a man can manage alone; and so, as I told her +that Gilsbank was ready, and its master waiting, she was quite of my +opinion that there should be no delay. You see, Mattie," in a tone of +great gentleness, "though I am very fond of you, I cannot help feeling +stifled in a small house full of people. There is no getting you to +myself, or being comfortable; and a man of my size feels out of place +among a lot of girls. So if you are willing, as of course you are," +very coaxingly, "and I am willing, we may as well get the thing over. +It takes a good deal out of a fellow to go through this sort of thing +properly, and I don't fancy I hit it off well: so we will say this day +six weeks. And to-morrow you will be a good little woman, and let me +go back to my comfortable quarters at Hadleigh, for one breathes only +smoke here; and how you have always borne it all these years is a +mystery to me." + +So Mattie let him go cheerfully. She had never been selfish in her +life, and of course she spoke no word to dissuade him; but, though she +had but few letters from him, and those of the briefest possible +kind,--for Sir Harry was not fond of penmanship,--those six weeks were +far from being unhappy. How could they be, when they were all so good +to her, Mattie thought?--when her opinion was deferred to even by her +mother, and when her brothers and sisters treated her with such +respect and affection? + +Mattie had no sense of the ludicrous, or she would have laughed at the +change in Clyde's tone, or at the way Fred boxed Dottie's ears for +speaking rudely to Mattie: in their eyes the future Lady Challoner was +a person of the utmost importance. The boys vied with each other in +waiting on her; the girls were always ready with their little +services. Mattie felt herself almost overwhelmed sometimes. + +"Oh, mother, ask them not to do it!" she said, one day, with tears in +her eyes. "I am only Mattie; I am not different; I never shall be +different. I shall want to wait on you all my life,--on you and all of +them!" + +"It is for them to wait on you more!" returned her mother, gravely. "I +am afraid they have not always been good to you, and they want to make +up for it." + +But not all the attentions she received could move Mattie from her own +humble estimate of herself; and yet in some ways, if she could have +seen herself, she would have owned there was a difference. Mattie no +longer fussed and fidgeted: always sweet-natured, she grew placid in +her new happiness. + +"I consider myself a fortunate fellow, for I have the dearest little +wife in the world," Sir Harry said to her a few days after they were +married, when Mattie had, as usual, said something disparaging of +herself. "Never mind what you think, so long as I am satisfied; and it +is very rude of you to be always finding fault with my choice,--ay, +Lady Challoner!" + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +PHILLIS'S FAVORITE MONTH. + + +Archie had been persuaded to remain until the following evening, and +to take the night mail up to London. "You know you always sleep so +soundly in a railway-carriage," his mother had said, with her eyes +full of pleading. + +"Perhaps so; but all the same it is dreary work to be shunted on to a +platform in the middle of the night, and to have to find your way +across London to catch a Sussex train." But, in spite of his grumbling +he had remained. For once it was difficult to tear himself away from +that happy family party. + +But all through that night he scarcely closed his eyes, but sat +staring at the swinging-lamp and his drowsy fellow-passengers, or out +into the blank wall of darkness, too wide awake and full of thought to +lose himself in his usual placid slumbers. The fortunes of the +Drummond family seemed rising a little, he thought, with pleasure. How +alert and full of energy his father had seemed when he had parted from +him at the station! he had lost that subdued despondent look that had +grown on him of late. Even his shoulders were a little less bowed, as +though the burden did not press quite so heavily. + +"All this makes a great difference to me, Archie," he had said, as +they had walked to and fro on the platform. "Two such wealthy +sons-in-law ought to satisfy any father's ambition. I can hardly +believe yet that my little Mattie--whom her sisters always called 'the +old maid'--should have secured such a prize. If it had been Grace, +now, one need not have wondered so much." + +"You may leave Grace out of your reckoning," returned Archie, smiling +assent to this, "and consider you have three out of your seven +daughters provided for, for Grace will always be my care. Whatever +happens in the future, I think I can promise as much as that." + +"Ay, ay! I remember when she was a little thing she always called +herself Archie's wife. Well, well, the mother must bring on Clara now: +it would be a shame to separate you two. Look, there is your train, my +boy! Jump in, and God bless you! You will come down to the wedding of +course, and bring Grace." + +"Archie's wife." It was these two words that were keeping him so wide +awake in the rushing darkness. A dusky flush mounted to the young +man's forehead as he pondered over them. + +He knew himself better now. Only a few weeks, scarcely more than a +fortnight, had passed since Grace had given him that hint; but each +day since then had done the work of years. Caught at the rebound +indeed, and that so securely and strongly that the man's heart could +never waver from its fixed purpose again. + +Now it was that he wondered at his blindness; that he began to +question with a perfect anguish of doubt whether he should be too +late; whether his vacillation and that useless dream of his would +hinder the fulfilment of what was now his dearest hope. + +Would he ever bring her to believe that he had never really loved +before,--not, at least, as he could love now? Would he ever dare to +tell her so, when she had known and understood that first stray fancy +of his for Nan's sweet face? + +Now, as day after day he visited the cottage and talked apart with her +mother, his eyes would follow Phillis wistfully. Once the girl had +looked up from her work and caught that long, watchful glance; and +then she had grown suddenly very pale, and a pained expression crossed +her face, as though she had been troubled. + +Since that night when the young vicar had stood bare-headed on the +snowy steps, and had told Phillis laughingly that one day she would +find out for herself that all men were masterful, and she had run down +the steps flashing back that disdainful look at him, he had felt there +was a change in her manner to him. + +They had been such good friends of late; it had become a habit with +him to turn to Phillis when he wanted sympathy. A silent, scarcely +perceptible understanding had seemed to draw them together; but in one +moment, at a word, a mere light jest of his that meant nothing, the +girl had become all at once reserved, frozen up, impenetrable even to +friendship. + +In vain he strove to win her back to her old merry talk. Her frank +recklessness of speech seemed over for the present. In his presence +she was almost always silent,--not with any awkwardness of +embarrassment, but with a certain maidenly reserve of bearing, as +though she had marked out a particular line of conduct for herself. + +When Grace was in the room, things were better: Phillis could not be +otherwise than affectionate to her chosen friend. And when they were +alone together, all Phillis's bright playfulness seemed to return; but +nothing would induce her to cross the threshold of the vicarage. + +The evening after his return from Leeds, Archie, as usual, dropped in +at the Friary; but this time he brought Grace with him. They were all +gathered in the work-room, which had now become their favorite resort. +On some pretext or other, the lamp had not been brought in; but they +were all sitting round the fire, chatting in an idle desultory way. + +Phillis was half hidden behind her mother's chair: perhaps this was +the reason why her voice had its old merry chord. She had welcomed +Archie rather gravely,--hardly turning her face to him as she spoke; +but as soon as she was in her corner again, she took up the thread of +their talk in her usual frank way. But it was Grace that she +addressed. + +"Poor dear Harry! We have all been laughing a little at the notion of +Alcides being in love. Somehow, it seems so droll that Mattie should +turn out his Deianeira; but, after all, I think he has shown very good +sense in his choice. Mattie will wear well." + +"You seem to agree with the 'Vicar of Wakefield,' Miss Challoner," +observed Archie, rather amused at this temperate praise. "Did not that +excellent man choose his wife for the same reason that she choose her +wedding-dress, with a view to durability?" + +"Oh, there is a vast amount of wisdom in all that," returned Phillis, +with mock solemnity; for she did not mind what nonsense she talked in +the darkness. "If life had nothing but fair-weather days, it might be +excusable for a man to choose his wife for mere beauty; but when one +thinks of fogs and east-winds, and smoky chimneys, and all such minor +evils, they may need something a little more sustaining than a pink +complexion. At least," catching herself up, and hurrying on as though +the real meaning of her words only just occurred to her, "though +Mattie may not be beautiful outwardly, she is just the right sort of +person for a regular east-windy day. Not even a smoky chimney and a +fog together will put her out of temper." + +"I will recollect your advice when the time comes," replied Archie +rather audaciously at this, as he laughed and stroked his beard. + +It pleased him to see the old fun brimming over again, fresh and +sparkling; but, as he answered her in the same vein of pleasantry, she +colored up in her dark corner and shrank back into herself, and all +the rest of the evening he could hardly win a smile from her. + +"My dear, I think Mr. Drummond comes very often," Mrs. Challoner said +to her eldest daughter that night. "He is very gentlemanly, and a most +excellent young man: but I begin to be afraid what these visits +mean." But Nan only laughed at this. + +"Poor mother!" she said, stroking her face. "Don't you wish you had us +all safe at Glen Cottage again? There are so few young men at +Oldfield." + +"I cannot bear young men," was the somewhat irritable answer. "What is +the use of having children, when just when they grow up to be a +comfort to you, every one tries to deprive you of them? Dick has +robbed me of you,"--and here Mrs. Challoner grew tearful,--"and Dulce +is always with the Middletons; and I am not at all sure that Captain +Middleton is not beginning to admire her." + +"Neither am I," observed Nan, a little gravely; for, though they +seldom talked of such things among themselves, "son Hammond's" +attentions were decidedly conspicuous, and Dulce was looking as shy +and pretty as possible. + +No; she could not give her mother any comfort there, for the +solemn-faced young officer was clearly bent on mischief. Indeed, both +father and son were making much of the little girl. But as regarded +Mr. Drummond there could be no question of his intentions. The growing +earnestness, the long wistful looks, were not lost on Nan who knew all +such signs by experience. It was easy to understand the young vicar: +it was Phillis who baffled her. + +They had never had any secrets between them. From their very +childhood, Nan had shared Phillis's every thought. But once or twice +when she had tried to approach the subject in the gentlest manner, +Phillis had started away like a restive colt, and had answered her +almost with sharpness: + +"Nonsense, Nannie! What is it to me if Mr. Drummond comes a dozen +times a day?" arching her long neck in the proudest way, but her +throat contracting a little over the uttered falsehood; for she knew, +none better, what these visits were to her. "Do you think I should +take the trouble to investigate his motives? Don't you know, Nan," in +her sweet whimsical voice, "that the masculine mind loves to conjugate +the verb 'to amuse'? Mr. Drummond is evidently bored by his own +company; but there! the vagaries of men are innumerable. One might as +well question the ebbing tide as inquire of these young divinities the +reason of all their eccentric actions. He comes because we amuse him, +and we like to see him because he amuses us: and when he bores us, we +can tell him so, which is better than Canute and the waves, after +all." And of course, after this, Nan was compelled to drop the +subject. + +But she watched Phillis anxiously; for she saw that the girl was +restless and ill at ease. The thoughtful gray eyes had a shadow in +them. The bright spirits were quenched, and only kindled by a great +effort; and, as the time for their leaving the Friary grew closer day +by day, until the last week approached, she flagged more, and the +shadow grew deeper. + +"If he would only speak and end all this suspense!" thought Nan, who +knew nothing of the real state of things, and imagined that Mr. +Drummond had cared for Phillis from the first. + +They had already commenced their packing. Sir Harry was back in his +hotel, solacing himself with his cousin's company, and writing brief +letters to his homely little bride-elect, when one fine afternoon he +met them and Grace just starting for the shore. + +This was their programme on most afternoons, and of course they had +not gone far before Captain Middleton and his father and sister joined +them; and a little later on, just as they were entering the town, they +overtook Mr. Drummond. + +Phillis nodded to him in a friendly manner, and then walked on with +Grace, taking no further notice; but when they were on the shore, +admiring the fine sunset effect, Grace quietly dropped her arm and +slipped away to join the others. Phillis stood motionless: her eyes +were riveted on the grand expanse of sky and ocean. "It is so like +life," she said at last, not seeing who stood beside her, while all +the others were walking on in groups of twos and threes, Dulce close +to the colonel, as usual. "Do you see those little boats, Grace? one +is sailing so smoothly in the sunlight, and the other scarcely +stirring in the shadow,--brightness to some, you see, and shade to +others; and beyond, that clear line of light, like the promise of +eternity." + +"Don't you think it lies within most people's power to make their own +lives happier?" returned Archie so quietly to this that she scarcely +started. "The sunshine and shade are more evenly balanced than we +know. To be sure, there are some lives like that day that is neither +clear nor dark,--gray, monotonous lives, with few breaks and pleasures +in them. But perhaps even that question may be happily solved when one +looks out a little farther to the light beyond." + +"Yes, if one does not grow tired of waiting for the answer," she said, +a little dreamily. "There is so much that cannot be clear here." And +then she roused with a little difficulty from her abstraction, and +looked around her. The others had all gone on: they were standing +alone on the shingly beach, just above a little strip of yellow +sand,--only they two. Was it for this reason that her eyes grew wide +and troubled, and she moved away rather hurriedly? But he still kept +close to her, talking quietly as he did so. + +"Do you remember this place?" he said: "it reminds me of a picture I +once saw. I think it was 'Atalanta's Race,' only there was no Paris. +It was just such as scene as this: there was the dark breakwater, and +the long line of surf breaking on the shore, and the sun was shining +on the water; and there was a girl running with her head erect, and +she scarcely seemed to touch the ground, and she stopped just here," +resting his hand on the black, shiny timber. + +"Do not," she answered, in a low voice, "do not recall that day: it +stings me even now to remember it." And as the words "Bravo Atalanta!" +recurred to her memory, the hot blush of shame mounted to her face. + +"I have no need to recall it," he returned, still more quietly, for +her discomposure was great, "for I have never forgotten it. Yes, this +is the place, not where I first saw you, but where I first began to +know you. Phillis, that knowledge is becoming everything to me now!" + +"Do not," she said, again, but she could hardly bring out the words. +But how wonderful it was to hear her name pronounced like that! "The +others have gone on: we must join them." + +"May I not tell you what I think about you first?" he asked, very +gently. + +"Not now,--not yet," she almost whispered; and now he saw that she was +very pale, and her eyes were full of tears. "I could not bear it yet." +And then, as she moved farther away from him, he could see how great +was her agitation. + +It was a proof of his love and earnestness that he suffered the girl +to leave him in this way, that he did not again rejoin her until they +were close to the others. In spite of his impatience and his many +faults, he was generous enough to understand her without another word. +She had not repelled him; she had not silenced him entirely; she had +not listened to him and then answered him with scorn. On the contrary, +her manner had been soft and subdued, more winning than he had ever +known it; and yet she had refused to hearken to his suit. "Not +now,--not yet," she had said, and he could see that her lip quivered, +and her beautiful eyes were full of tears. It was too soon, that was +what she meant; too soon for him to speak and for her to listen. She +owed it to her own dignity that his affection should be put to greater +proof than that. She must not be so lightly won; she must not stoop +down from her maidenly pride and nobleness at his first words because +she had grown to care for him. "It must not be so, however much the +denial may cost me," Phillis had said to herself. But as she joined +the others, and came to Nan's side, she could scarcely steady her +voice or raise her eyes, for fear their shy consciousness would betray +her. "At last," and "at last!"--that was the refrain that was ringing +so joyously in her heart. Well, and one day he should tell her what he +would. + +She thought she had silenced him entirely, but she forgot that men +were masterful and had cunning ways of their own to compass their +ends. Archie had recovered his courage; he had still a word to say, +and he meant to say it; and just before the close of the walk, as they +were in the darkest part of the Braidwood Road, just where the trees +meet overhead, before one reaches the vicarage, Phillis found him +again at her side. + +"When may I hope that you will listen?" he said. "I am not a patient +man: you must remember that, and not make it too hard for me. I should +wish to know how soon I may come." + +"Spring is very beautiful in the country," she answered, almost too +confused by this unexpected address to know what she was saying. "I +think May is my favorite month, when the hawthorns are out." + +"Thank you, I will come in May." And then Phillis woke up to the +perception of what she had said. "Oh, no, I did not meant that," she +began, incoherently; but this time it was Archie who moved away, with +a smile on his face and a certain vivid brightness in his eyes, and +her stammered words were lost in the darkness. + +The whole week was much occupied by paying farewell visits. On the +last afternoon Phillis went down to the White House to say good-bye. +It was one of Magdalene's bad days; but the unquiet hour had passed, +and left her, as usual, weak and subdued. Her husband was sitting +beside her: as Phillis entered he rose with a smile on his lips. "That +is right, Miss Challoner!" he said, heartily. "Magdalene always looks +better the moment she hears your voice. Barby is unfortunately out, +but I can leave her happily with you." + +"Is he not good?" exclaimed his wife, as soon as he had left them. "He +has been sitting with me all the afternoon, my poor Herbert, trying to +curb his restlessness, because he knows how much worse I am without +him. Am I not a trying wife to him? and yet he says he could not do +without me. There, it has passed: let us talk of something else. And +so you are going to leave us?" drawing the fresh face down to hers, +that she might kiss it again. + +"Yes, to-morrow!" trying to stifle a sigh. + +"There are some of us that will not know what to do without you. If I +am not very much mistaken, there is one person who----" but here the +girl laid her hand hurriedly on her lips. "What! I am not to say that? +Well, I will try to be good. But all the same this is not good-bye. +Tell your mother from me that she will not have her girls for long. +Captain Middleton has lost his heart, and is bent on making that +pretty little sister of yours lose hers to; and as for you, +Phillis----" but here Phillis stooped, and silenced her this time by a +kiss. + +"Ah, well!" continued Magdalene, after a moment's silence, as she +looked tenderly into the fair face before her; "so you have finished +your little bit of play-work, and are going back into your +young-ladyhood again?" + +"It was not play-work!" returned Phillis, indignantly: "you say that +to provoke me. Do you know," she went on, earnestly, "that if we +should have had to work all our lives as dressmakers, Nan and I would +have done it, and never given in. We were making quite a fine business +of it. We had more orders then we could execute; and you call that +play? Confess, now, that you repent of that phrase!" + +"Oh, I was only teasing you," returned Magdalene, smiling. "I know how +brave you were, and how terribly in earnest. Yes, Phillis, you are +right; nothing would have daunted you; you would have worked without +complaint all your life long, but for that red-haired Alcides of +yours." + +"Dear Harry! how much we owe to him!" exclaimed Phillis. + +"No, dear, you will owe your happiness to yourself,--the happiness," +as the girl looked at her in surprise, "that is coming to you and +Dulce. It was because you were not like other girls--because you were +brave, self-reliant gentlewomen, afraid of nothing but dishonor; not +fearful of small indignities, or of other people's opinions, but just +taking up the work that lay to your hands, and going through with +it--that you have won his heart: and, seeing this, how could he help +loving you as he does?" But to this Phillis made no answer. + +The next day was rather trying to them all. Phillis's cheerfulness was +a little forced, and for some time after they had left the +Friary--with Grace and Archie waving their farewells from the +road--she was very silent. + +But no sooner had they crossed the threshold of Glen Cottage than +their girlhood asserted itself. The sight of the bright snug rooms, +with their new furniture, the conservatory, with its floral treasures, +and Sir Harry's cheery welcome, as he stood in the porch with Mrs. +Mayne, was too much even for Phillis's equanimity. In a few minutes +their laughing faces were peering out of every window and into every +cupboard. + +"Oh, the dear, beautiful home! Isn't it lovely of Harry to bring us +back!" cried Phillis, oblivious of everything at that moment but her +mother's satisfied face. + +In a few days they had settled down into their old life. It was too +early for tennis while snowdrops and crocuses were peeping out of the +garden borders. But in the afternoon friends dropped in in the old +way, and gathered round the Challoner tea-table; and very soon--for +Easter fell early that year--Dick showed himself among them, and then, +indeed, Nan's cup of happiness was full. + +But as April passed on Phillis began to grow a little silent again; +and it became a habit with her to coax Laddie to take long walks with +her, when Nan and Dulce were otherwise engaged. The exercise seemed to +quiet her restlessness; and the spring sights and sounds, the budding +hedgerows, and the twittering of the birds as they built their nests, +and the fresh leafy green, unsoiled by summer heat and dust, seemed to +refresh her flagging spirits. + +It was the 1st of May, when one afternoon she called to Laddie, who +was lying drowsily in the sunny porch. Nan, who was busily engaged in +training the creeper round the pillars of the veranda, looked up in a +little surprise: + +"Are you going out again, Phil? And neither Dulce nor I can come with +you. Mrs. Mayne has some friends coming to five-o'clock tea, and she +wants us to go over for an hour. It is so dull for you, dear, always +to walk alone." + +"Oh no; I shall not be dull, Nannie," returned Phillis, with an +unsteady smile, for her spirits were a little fluctuating that +afternoon. "I am restless, and want a good walk: so I shall just go to +Sandy Lane, and be back in time to make tea for mother." And then she +waved her hand, and whistled to Laddie as she unlatched the little +gate. It was a long walk. But, as usual, the quiet and the sweet air +refreshed her, and by the time she reached Sandy Lane her eyes were +brilliant with exercise, and a pretty pink tinge of color was in her +cheeks. It is May-day,--the 1st of May. I wonder how soon he will +come, she thought, as she leaned on the little gate where poor Dick +had leaned that day. + +There were footsteps approaching, but they made no sound over the +sandy ruts. A tall man, with a fair beard and a clerical felt hat, was +walking quickly up the road that leads from Oldfield; and as he walked +his eyes were scanning the path before him, as though he were looking +for some one. At the sight of the girl leaning against the gate his +face brightened, and he slackened his steps a little, that he might +not startle her. She was looking out across the country with a +far-off, dreamy expression, and did not turn her head as he +approached. It was Laddie who saw him first, and jumped up with a +joyous bark to welcome him; and then she looked round, and for a +moment her eyes grew wide and misty, for she thought it was a +continuation of her dream. + +"Laddie saw me first," he said, stepping up quietly to her side,--for +he still feared to startle her,--and his voice was very gentle. +"Phillis, you must not look so surprised! Surely you expected me? It +is the 1st of May!" + +"Oh, I knew that," she said; and then she turned away from him. But he +had not dropped her hand, but was holding it very quietly and firmly. +"But I could not tell the day; and----" + +"Did you think I should wait an hour beyond the time you fixed?" he +answered, very calmly. "May is your favorite month; and what could be +more beautiful than May-day for the purpose I have in hand! Phillis, +you will not go back from your promise now? You said you would listen +to me in May." + +There was no answer to this; but, as Archie looked in her face, he +read no repulse there. And so, in that quiet lane, with Laddie lying +at their feet, he told all he had to tell. + +"Are you sure you can trust me now, Phillis?" he asked, rather +wistfully, when he had finished. "You know what I am, dear--a man with +many faults." + +"Yes; now and forever," she answered, without a moment's hesitation. +"I am not afraid--I never should have been afraid to trust you, I have +faults of my own: so why should I wish you to be perfect? I care for +you as you are; you will believe that?" for there was almost a sad +humility in his face as he pleaded with her that went to her heart. + +"Oh, yes; I believe what you tell me. You are truth itself, my +darling,--the bravest and truest woman I have ever met. You do not +know how happy you have made me, or how different my life will be when +I have you by my side. Phillis, do you know how glad Grace will be +about this?" + +"Will she?" returned Phillis, shyly. They were walking homeward now, +hand in hand toward the sunset,--so, at least, it seemed to the girl. +No one was in sight, only the quiet country round them bathed in the +evening light, and they two alone. "Archie!" she exclaimed, suddenly, +and her beautiful eyes grew wistful all at once, "you will not let +this make any difference to Grace? She loves you so; and you are all +she has at present. You must never let me stand between you two. I am +not so selfish as that." + +"You could not be selfish if you tried, dearest. How I wish Grace +could have heard you! No; you are right. We must not let her suffer +from our happiness. But, Phillis, you know who must come first now." +And then, as she smiled in full understanding, he put her hand upon +his arm, and held it there. His promised wife,--Archie's wife! Ah, the +Drummond star was rising now in earnest! His life lay before him, like +the road they were now entering, white and untrodden and bathed in the +sunlight. What if some clouds should come, and some shadows fall, if +they might tread it together to the end? And so, growing silent with +happiness, they walked home through the sunset, till the spring dusk +and the village lights saw them standing together on the threshold of +Glen Cottage, and the dear faces and loving voices of home closed +around them and bade them welcome. + +THE END + + + + +HOW TO BECOME RICH. +A TREATISE ON PHRENOLOGY + +A Choice of Professions and Matrimony--A Self-Instructor +By Prof. William Windsor, Ph. D. +Fully illustrated. + +[Illustration] + +Every young man and woman of reasonable intelligence is, or ought to +be, possessed of a laudable ambition to be self-sustaining. To win a +competency, to secure the necessities, to have even the luxuries of +life, is perfectly praiseworthy, provided they are obtained in a +legitimate manner. Every rational man seeks the occupation, trade or +profession which insures the profitable employment of his best talents, +and the science which discloses to the youth at the beginning of his +education what those talents are and how they may be developed to +perfection in early manhood, confers upon him the greatest favor within +the gift of knowledge, from a financial standpoint. That a knowledge of +Phrenology does this, and more, this book proves beyond all question. + +Paper, 184 pages. Price, 25 cents. + +FACIOLOGY +OR, THE SCIENCE OF CHARACTER · A SELF-INSTRUCTOR + +By L. B. Stevens, LL. B. +95 Illustrations + +[Illustration] + +"Faciology" opens up an old, familiar and picturesque field of +observation in a new and scientific light; it gives one a mortgage on +man, a quasi-ownership in every creature and individual that comes +within our range of contemplation; this science stimulates our +observation and augments our reason; it teaches us to interrogate the +causes and meaning of human actions, intensifies our interest in +humanity, and fills the heart with a higher and more ardent devotion to +philanthropy. + +Paper, 208 pages. Price, 25 cents. + +For sale by all book and newsdealers, or will send to any address in +the United States, Canada or Mexico, postage prepaid on receipt of +price, in currency, money order or stamps. + +M. A. 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The books are printed from large, clear type; are profusely +illustrated and are bound in a substantial and attractive manner in +Cloth, artistically stamped in Inks from Unique Dies. + +Price of each book is $1.00, postpaid. + +History of Animals, Their Varieties and Oddities. + +Comprising graphic descriptions of nearly all known species of beasts +and reptiles the world over, illustrating their varied habits, mode of +life and distinguishing peculiarities by means of delightful anecdotes +and spirited engravings, by the. Rev. W. Bingley, A. M. Containing 586 +pages of large, clear type, and over 500 illustrations; bound in Cloth; +stamped in silks from unique dies. + +Price, $1.00. + +History of Birds. + +Containing their varieties and habits, and comprising sketches of every +known species of birds in all climes; illustrating their use, value and +culture, by the Rev. W. Bingley, A. M. Containing 500 pages of clear +type text and nearly 500 illustrations, made especially for this work; +bound in Cloth and stamped in Inks from unique dies. Large 12mo, 6-1/2 x +9 inches. + +Price, $1.00. + +History of the Sea. + +Comprising a complete description of all the varieties of the finny +inhabitants of the sea, showing their mode of life, and illustrating +their habits and usefulness, by Rev. W. Bingley, A. M. Containing over +500 pages of large, clear type, and nearly 500 illustrations; bound in +Cloth; stamped in Inks from unique dies. + +Price, $1.00. + +For sale by all Book and News Dealers, or will be sent to any address in +the United States, Canada or Mexico, postage paid, on receipt of price, +in currency, money order or stamps. + +M. A. Donahue & Co. +407-420 Dearborn St. +Chicago + + + + +LIVES OF FAMOUS MEN +Edited by Charles Walter Brown, A. 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A. DONOHUE & CO. +407-429 Dearborn St. +CHICAGO + + + + +THE GREATEST LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN YET PUBLISHED + +By Hon. Jos. H. Barrett, +and Charles Walter. Brown, A. M. + +[Illustration] + +In this great work which embraces the complete life of the greatest man +of modern times, nothing has been omitted or slighted. His early +History, Political Career, Speeches, both in and out of Congress, the +great Lincoln-Douglas Debates, every state paper, speech, message and +two inaugural addresses are given in full, together with many +characteristic STORIES AND YARNS by and concerning Lincoln, which have +earned for him the sobriquet "The Story Telling President." + +In addition there is included a COMPLETE ACCOUNT OF HIS ASSASSINATION, +death and burial, together with the trial and execution of his +assassins. + +This immense volume of 850 pages contains nearly 360,000 words, being +six times larger than the average school history. Size of book 6-1/2x9, +3 inches thick, weighing nearly 3 pounds. + +Price, $1.00 + +Sent postpaid to any address in the United States, Canada or Mexico upon +receipt of price, in currency, express or postal money order or stamps. + +M. A. Donohue & Co. +407-429 Dearborn Street +CHICAGO + + + + +THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO BLACKSMITHING, HORSESHOEING, CARRIAGE AND WAGON +BUILDING AND PAINTING + +[Illustration] + +For all general mechanical work, this is the most valuable book for the +farmer, blacksmith, carpenter, carriage and wagon building, painting and +varnishing trades published. The department on Blacksmithing is based on +the various text books by Prof. A. Lungwitz, Director of the Shoeing +School of the Royal Veterinary College at Dresden, while the chapters on +Carriage and Wagon Building, Painting, Varnishing are by Charles F. +Adams, one of the most successful builders in Wisconsin. The language +employed is so simple that any young man of average ability can, in a +short time become proficient in all of these useful and profitable +occupations. Each chapter is fully illustrated, there being more than 50 +drawings throughout the book. + +Full Cloth Binding, Price, $1.00 + +THE COMPLETE HOUSE BUILDER +With Practical Hints on Construction + +[Illustration] + +The subject of house building is of interest to all, even though +financially they are at present unable to realize their cherished hopes. +A few months or a year may so change the aspect of one's affairs as to +render it possible to build. It is therefore well for all to anticipate +the realization of a home and become familiar with the requisites of a +good house, barn, warehouse or other necessary building. 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Pronounced by all who have read it to be the +most fascinating and instructive book of its kind published. Inductive +Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Suggestive Therapeutics and Magnetic Healing, +including Telepathy, Mind Reading and Spiritualism fully treated. Nearly +100 lessons especially prepared for self-instruction. This is positively +the best book on Hypnotism published. Fully illustrated. + +Paper covers, 25 cents; Cloth, 50 cents. + +THE COMPLETE PALMIST + +[Illustration] + +Prepared for self-instruction by Ina Oxenford, the world-renowned author +and acknowledged authority on Palmistry. This is the simplest +presentation of the science of Modern Palmistry published. There is no +trait, no characteristic, no inherited tendency that is not marked on +the palm of the hand and can be traced with unerring accuracy by +following the instructions given in this book. 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DONOHUE & CO. +407-429 Dearborn Street +CHICAGO + + + + +COMIC READINGS AND RECITATIONS +Compiled by CHARLES WALTER. BROWN, A. M. + +[Illustration] + +Few of the selections contained in this book have ever before appeared +in print. Copyright matter has been procured at great expense from the +greatest wits of the age. Such delightful entertainers as Ezra Kendall, +Lew Dockstadter, Josh Billings, James Whitcomb Kiley, Marshall P. +Wilder, Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Opie Read, Bill Nye, Petroleum V. +Nashby, Artemus Ward, together with the best from "Puck," "Judge," +"Life," "Detroit Free Press," "Arizona Kicker," renders this book the +best of its kind published. + +Paper covers, printed in two colors on enameled paper, 25 cents. +Cloth, gold titles, original designs, stamped in inks, 50 cents. + +THE AMERICAN STAR SPEAKER AND MODEL ELOCUTIONIST +By CHARLES WALTER. BROWN, A. 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It is creating a +great sensation. + +12mo, Paper Price, $0.35 +12mo, Cloth " 1.00 + +SWEET DANGER +By Ella Wheeler Wilcox. + +The public has long awaited a prose work from the pen of this gifted +writer that should deal with the sentiments and emotions as forcibly as +she has done in verse. "Sweet Danger," represents that effort in the +fullest sense. It is creating a sensation even among readers of the +French school of fiction. + +12mo, Paper Price, $0.50 +12mo, Cloth " 1.25 + +MADAME DUBARRY, The King's Mistress +by George Moorehead. + +Mrs. Leslie Carter, the famous American actress, having selected +Madame Dubarry as the central figure in her new play, the life story +of the famous mistress of Louis XV of France becomes a topic of +universal interest to American readers. + +12mo, Paper Price, $0.50 +12mo, Cloth " 1.25 + +TOLD BY TWO +By Marie St. Felix + +Author of "Little Game With Destiny," "Two Bad Brown Eyes," +"Patricia," Etc. + +This book is full of thrilling romance, with innumerable happenings to a +giddy young married woman of New York and a bachelor from Boston. Plenty +of rich, spicy dialogue--it is replete with up-to-date expletives. +Lovers of realistic fiction will revel in this literary feast. + +12mo, Paper Price, $0.50 +12mo, Cloth " 1.25 + +ANY THREE IN PAPER COVERS FOR $1.00, OR THE 4 FOR $1.30 + +Sent postpaid to any address in the United States, Canada or Mexico +upon receipt of price, in currency, express or postal money order or +stamps. + +M. A. DONOHUE & CO. +407-429 Dearborn St., +CHICAGO + + + + +FAMOUS BOOKS FOR BOYS + +These are new and superior editions of these famous authors' books for +boys. They are printed from new plates on an excellent quality of paper +while many are profusely illustrated. Each book is sewed, thus making a +flexible back, so that it opens easily, making its reading a pleasure +and a comfort. The covers are printed in two colors from appropriate +designs on a heavy coated enameled paper in assorted colors. + +FROM THE MODERN AUTHORS' LIBRARY + +By Q. A. Henty + +260 Boy Knight, A +271 Cornet of Horse +280 Facing Death +285 Final Reckoning +295 In Freedom's Cause +298 In Times of Peril +297 In the Reign of Terror +299 Jack Archer +317 One of the 28th +318 Orange and Green +319 Out on the Pampas +337 True to the Old Flag +349 Under Drake's Flag +348 With Lee in Virginia + +By J. Fenimore Cooper + +170 Last of the Mohicans, The +178 Pathfinder, The +179 Pioneers, The +180 Prairie, The +187 Spy, The +354 Deerslayer + +By Victor Hugo + + 36 By Order of the King +272 Cosette +283 Fantine +106 Hans of Iceland + 37 History of a Crime +300 Jean Valjean +308 Marins + 38 Ninety-Three + 39 Notre Dame de Paris +331 St. Denis + 40 Toilers of the Sea + +By Emile Gaboriau + +284 File No. 113-- +287 Gilded Clique +108 Lecoq, the Detective +199 Lerouge Case, The +312 Mystery of Orcival + +By Jules Verne + +245 Michael Strogoff +219 Mysterious Island +180 Tour of the World in 80 Days +121 Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea + +By H. Rider Haggard + +158 Allan Quatermain +223 Allan's Wife +160 Cleopatra +100 Jess +167 King Solomon's Mines +112 Miawa's Revenge +244 Mr. Meeson's Will +186 She + +Price, Postpaid 25c Each or Any Five for $1.00 + +For sale by all book and newsdealers or sent postpaid to any address in +the United States, Canada or Mexico upon receipt of price in currency, +stamps, postal or express money order. + +M. A. DONOHUE & CO. +407-429 Dearborn St., CHICAGO + + + + +FORTUNE TELLING, MAGIC, TABLEAUX, PANTOMIMES, PLAYS, SPEAKERS, ETC. + +Twentieth Century Wonder Book +By Wm. C. Hunter + +[Illustration] + +A store-house of wonderful things for the entertainment, instruction, +information and amusement of the home circle. 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