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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of I, Thou, and the Other One, by
+Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
+
+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: I, Thou, and the Other One
+       A Love Story
+
+Author: Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
+
+Release Date: December 12, 2010 [EBook #34628]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK I, THOU, AND THE OTHER ONE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Katherine Ward, Darleen Dove and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+I, THOU, AND THE OTHER ONE
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+  I, THOU, AND THE OTHER ONE
+
+  A Love Story
+
+  BY
+  AMELIA E. BARR
+
+  NEW YORK
+  DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
+  1898
+
+
+
+
+
+  _Copyright, 1898_,
+  BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY.
+
+  University Press:
+  JOHN WILSON AND SON, JOHN WILSON AND SON, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  Chapter                                                     Page
+        I THE ATHELINGS                                          1
+       II CECIL AND EDGAR                                       23
+      III THE LORD OF EXHAM                                     42
+       IV THE DAWN OF LOVE                                      66
+        V ANNABEL VYNER                                         81
+       VI THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT STRUGGLE                  103
+      VII THE LOST RING                                        121
+     VIII WILL SHE CHOOSE EVIL OR GOOD?                        150
+       IX A FOOLISH VIRGIN                                     169
+        X TROUBLE COMES UNSUMMONED                             193
+       XI LIFE COMES AND GOES THE OLD, OLD WAY                 213
+      XII THE SHADOW OF SORROW STRETCHED OUT                   235
+     XIII NOT YET                                              263
+      XIV AT THE WORST                                         288
+       XV LADY OF EXHAM HALL AT LAST                           315
+      XVI AFTER TWENTY GOLDEN YEARS                            341
+
+
+
+
+I, Thou, and the Other One
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIRST
+
+THE ATHELINGS
+
+
+    "_The Land is a Land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the
+rain of heaven._"
+
+Beyond Thirsk and Northallerton, through the Cleveland Hills to the sea
+eastward, and by Roseberry Topping, northward, there is a lovely, lonely
+district, very little known even at the present day. The winds stream
+through its hills, as cool and fresh as living water; and whatever beauty
+there is of mountain, valley, or moorland, Farndale and Westerdale
+can show it; while no part of England is so rich in those picturesque
+manor-houses which have been the homes of the same families for twenty
+generations.
+
+The inhabitants of this region are the incarnation of its health,
+strength, and beauty,--a tall, comely race; bold, steadfast, and
+thrifty, with very positive opinions on all subjects. There are no
+Laodiceans among the men and women of the North-Riding; they are one
+thing or another--Episcopalians or Calvinists; Conservatives or Radicals;
+friends or enemies. For friendship they have a capacity closer than
+brotherhood. Once friends, they are friends forever, and can be relied on
+in any emergency to "aid, comfort, and abet," legally or otherwise,
+with perhaps a special zest to give assistance, if it just smacks of
+the "otherwise."
+
+Of such elements, John Atheling, lord of the manors of Atheling and
+Belward, was "kindly mixed," a man of towering form and great mental
+vigour, blunt of speech, single of purpose, leading, with great natural
+dignity, a sincere, unsophisticated life. He began this story one evening
+in the May of 1830; though when he left Atheling manor-house, he had
+no idea anything out of the customary order of events would happen. It is
+however just these mysterious conditions of everyday life that give it
+such gravity and interest; for what an hour will bring forth, no man
+can say; and when Squire Atheling rode up to the crowd on the village
+green, he had no presentiment that he was going to open a new chapter in
+his life.
+
+He smiled pleasantly when he saw its occasion. It was a wrestling match;
+and the combatants were his own chief shepherd and a stranger. In a
+few moments the shepherd was handsomely "thrown" and nobody knew
+exactly how it had been done. But there was hearty applause, led by
+the Squire, who, nodding at his big ploughman, cried out, "Now then,
+Adam Sedbergh, stand up for Atheling!" Adam flung off his vest and
+stepped confidently forward; but though a famous wrestler among his
+fellows, he got as speedy and as fair a fall as the shepherd had received
+before him. The cheers were not quite as hearty at this result, but the
+Squire said peremptorily,--
+
+"It is all right. Hold my horse, Jarum. I'll have to cap this match
+myself. And stand back a bit, men, I want room enough to turn in." He
+was taking off his fine broadcloth coat and vest as he spoke, and the lad
+he was to match, stood looking at him with his hands on his hips, and a
+smile on his handsome face. Perhaps the attitude and the smile nettled
+the Squire, for he added with some pride and authority,--
+
+"I would like you to know that I am Squire Atheling; and I am not going
+to have a better wrestler than myself in Atheling Manor, young man, not
+if I can help it."
+
+"I know that you are Squire Atheling," answered the stranger. "I have
+been living with your son Edgar for a year, why wouldn't I know you? And
+if I prove myself the better man, then you shall stop and listen to me
+for half-an-hour, and you may stop a whole hour, if you want to; and I
+think you will."
+
+"I know nothing about Edgar Atheling, and I am not standing here
+either to talk to thee, or to listen to thee, but to give thee a fair
+'throw' if I can manage it." He stretched out his left hand as he
+spoke, and the young man grasped it with his right hand. This result
+was anticipated; there was a swift twist outward, and a lift upward, and
+before anyone realised what would happen, a pair of shapely young legs
+were flying over the Squire's shoulder. Then there rose from twenty
+Yorkshire throats a roar of triumph, and the Squire put his hands on his
+hips, and looked complacently at the stranger flicking the Atheling
+dust from his trousers. He took his defeat as cheerily as his triumph.
+"It was a clever throw, Squire," he said.
+
+"Try it again, lad."
+
+"Nay, I have had enough."
+
+"I thought so. Now then, don't brag of thy wrestling till thou
+understandest a bit of 'In-play.' But I'll warrant thou canst talk,
+so I'll give myself a few minutes to listen to thee. I should say, I
+am twice as old as thou art, but I notice that it is the babes and
+sucklings that know everything, these days."
+
+As the Squire was speaking, the youth leaped into an empty cart which
+someone pushed forward, and he was ready with his answer,--
+
+"Squire," he said, "it will take not babes, but men like you and these
+I see around me, for the wrestling match before us all. What we have to
+tackle is the British Government and the two Houses of Parliament."
+
+The Squire laughed scornfully. "They will 'throw' thee into the
+strongest jail in England, my lad; they will sink thee four feet under
+ground, if thou art bound for any of that nonsense."
+
+"They will have enough to do to take care of themselves soon."
+
+"Thou art saying more than thou knowest. Wouldst thou have the horrors
+of 1792 acted over again, in England? My lad, I was a youngster then,
+but I saw the red flag, dripping with blood, go round the Champ-de-Mars."
+
+"None of us want to carry the red flag, Squire. It is the tri-colour
+of Liberty we want; and that flag--in spite of all tyrants can do--will
+be carried round the world in glory! When I was in America--"
+
+"Wilt thou be quiet about them foreign countries? We have bother enough
+at home, without going to the world's end for more. And I will have no
+such talk in my manor. If thou dost not stop it, I shall have to make
+thee."
+
+"King William, and all his Lords and Commons, cannot stop such talk.
+It is on every honest tongue, and at every decent table. It is in the
+air, Squire, and the winds of heaven carry it wherever they go."
+
+"If thou saidst _William Cobbett_, thou mightst happen hit the truth.
+The winds of heaven have better work to do. What art thou after anyway?"
+
+"Such a Parliamentary Reform as will give every honest man a voice in
+the Government."
+
+"Just so! Thou wouldst make the door of the House of Commons big enough
+for any rubbish to go through."
+
+"The plan has been tried, Squire, in America; and
+
+    As the Liberty Lads over the sea,
+    Bought their freedom--and cheaply--with blood;
+        So we, boys, we
+    Will die fighting; or live free,
+    And down with--"
+
+"Stop there!" roared the Squire. "Nonsense in poetry is a bit worse
+than any other kind of nonsense. Speak in plain words, or be done with
+it! Do you know what you want?"
+
+"That we do. We want the big towns, where working men are the many, and
+rich men, the few, to be represented. We want all sham boroughs thrown
+out. What do you think of Old Sarum sending a member to Parliament,
+when there isn't any Old Sarum? There used to be, in the days of King
+Edward the First, but there is now no more left of it than there is of
+the Tower of Babel. What do you think of the Member for Ludgershall
+being not only the Member, but the _whole constituency_ of Ludgershall?
+What do you think of Gatton having just seven voters, and sending
+_two_ members to Parliament?"--then leaning forward, and with burning
+looks drinking the wind of his own passionate speech--"What do you
+think of _Leeds! Manchester! Birmingham! Sheffield!_ being _without
+any representation_!"
+
+"My lad," cried the Squire, "have not Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham,
+Sheffield, done very well without representation?"
+
+"Squire, a child may grow to a man without love and without care; but
+he is a robbed and a wronged child, for all that."
+
+"The Government knows better than thee what to do with big towns full of
+unruly men and women."
+
+"That is just the question. They are not represented, because they
+are made up of the working population of England. But the working man
+has not only his general rights, he has also rights peculiar to his
+condition; and it is high time these rights were attended to. Yet these
+great cities, full of woollen and cotton weavers, and of fine workers
+in all kinds of metals, have not a man in Parliament to say a word for
+them."
+
+"What is there to say? What do they want Parliament to know?" asked the
+Squire, scornfully.
+
+"They want Parliament to know that they are being forced to work twelve
+hours a day, for thirty pennies a week; and that they have to pay ten
+pennies for every four-pound loaf of bread. And they expect that when
+Parliament knows these two facts, something will be done to help them in
+their poverty and misery. They believe that the people of England will
+_compel_ Parliament to do something."
+
+"There are Members in both Houses that know these things, why do they
+not speak?--if it was reasonable to do so."
+
+"Squire, they dare not. They have not the power, even if they had the
+will. The Peers and the great Landlords own two-thirds of the House of
+Commons. They _own_ their boroughs and members, just as they _own_ their
+parks and cattle. One duke returns eleven members; another duke returns
+nine members; and such a city as Manchester cannot return one! If this
+state of things does not need reforming, I do not know what does."
+
+So far his words had rushed rattling on one another, like the ring of
+iron on iron in a day of old-world battle; but at this point, the Squire
+managed again to interrupt them. From his saddle he had something of an
+advantage, as he called out in an angry voice,--
+
+"And pray now, what are _you_ to make by this business? Is it a bit of
+brass--or land--or power that you look forward to?"
+
+"None of them. I have set my heart on the goal, and not on the prize.
+Let the men who come after me reap; I am glad enough if I may but plough
+and sow. The Americans--"
+
+"_Chaff_, on the Americans! We are North-Riding men. We are Englishmen.
+We are sound-hearted, upstanding fellows who do our day's work, enjoy
+our meat and drinking, pay our debts, and die in our beds; and we
+want none of thy Reform talk! It is all scandalous rubbish! Bouncing,
+swaggering, new-fashioned trumpery! We don't hold with Reformers, nor
+with any of their ways! I will listen to thee no longer. Thou mayst talk
+to my men, if they will be bothered with thee. I'm not afraid of
+anything thou canst say to them."
+
+"I think they will be bothered with me, Squire. They do not look like
+fools."
+
+"At any rate, there isn't one Reform fool among them; but I'll tell
+thee something--go to a looking-glass, and thou mayst shake thy fist in
+the face of one of the biggest fools in England,"--and to the laughter
+this sally provoked the Squire galloped away.
+
+For a short distance, horse and rider kept up the pace of enthusiasm;
+but when the village was left behind, the Squire's mood fell below its
+level; and a sudden depression assailed him. He had "thrown" his man;
+he had "threeped" him down in argument; but he had denied his son,
+and he brought a hungry heart from his victory. The bright face of his
+banished boy haunted the evening shadows; he grew sorrowfully impatient
+at the memories of the past; and when he could bear them no longer, he
+struck the horse a smart blow, and said angrily,--
+
+"Dal it all! Sons and daughters indeed! A bitter, bitter pleasure!"
+
+At this exclamation, a turn in the road brought him in sight of two
+horsemen. "_Whew!_ I am having a night of it!" he muttered. For he
+recognised immediately the portly figure of the great Duke of Richmoor,
+and he did not doubt that the slighter man at his side was his son,
+Lord Exham. The recognition was mutual; and on the Duke's side very
+satisfactory. He quickened his horse's speed, and cried out as he
+neared the Squire,--
+
+"Well met, Atheling! You are the very man I wished to see! Do you
+remember Exham?"
+
+There was a little complimentary speaking, and then the Duke said
+earnestly: "Squire, if there is one thing above another that at this
+time the landed interest ought to do, it is to stand together. The
+country is going to the devil; it is on the verge of revolution. We
+must have a majority in the next Parliament; and we want you for the
+borough of Asketh. Exham has come back from Italy purposely to take
+Gaythorne. What do you say?"
+
+It was the great ambition of the Squire to go to Parliament, and the
+little dispute he had just had with the stranger on the green had whetted
+this desire to a point which made the Duke's question a very interesting
+one to him; but he was too shrewd to make this satisfaction apparent.
+"There are younger men, Duke," he answered slowly; "and they who go
+to the next Parliament will have a trying time of it. I hear queer
+tales, too, of Parliament men; and the House keeps late hours; and late
+hours never did suit my constitution."
+
+"Come, Atheling, that is poor talk at a crisis like this. There will be
+a meeting at the Castle on Friday--a very important meeting--and I shall
+expect you to take the chair. We are in for such a fight as England has
+not had since the days of Oliver Cromwell; and it would not be like John
+Atheling to keep out of it."
+
+"It wouldn't. If there is anything worth fighting for, John Atheling
+will be thereabouts, I'll warrant him."
+
+"Then we may depend upon you--Friday, and two in the afternoon, is the
+day and the hour. You will not fail us?"
+
+"Duke, you may depend upon me." And so the men parted; the Squire, in
+the unexpected proposal just made him, hardly comprehending the messages
+of friendly courtesy which Lord Exham charged him to deliver to Mrs. and
+Miss Atheling.
+
+"My word! My word!" he exclaimed, as soon as the Duke and he were far
+enough back to back. "Won't Maude be set up? Won't little Kitty
+plume her wings?" and in this vague, purposeless sense of wonder and
+elation he reached his home. The gates to the large, sweet garden stood
+open, but after a moment's thought, he passed them, and went round to
+the farm court at the back of the house. The stables occupied one
+side of this court, and he left his horse there, and proceeded to
+the kitchen. The girls were starting the fires under the coppers for
+the quarterly brewing; they said "the Missis was in the houseplace,"
+and the Squire opened the door between the two rooms, and went into
+the houseplace. But the large room was empty, though the lattices were
+open, and a sudden great waft of honeysuckle fragrance saluted him as
+he passed them. He noticed it, and he noticed also the full moonlight
+on the rows of shining pewter plates and flagons, though he was not
+conscious at the time that these things had made any impression upon him.
+
+Two or three steps at the west end of this room led to a door which
+opened into Mrs. Atheling's parlour; and the Squire passed it
+impatiently. The news of the night had become too much for him; he wanted
+to tell his wife. But Mrs. Atheling was not in her parlour. A few ash
+logs were burning brightly on the hearth, and there was a round table
+spread for supper, and the candles were lit, and showed him the
+mistress's little basket containing her keys and her knitting, but
+neither wife nor daughter were to be seen.
+
+"It is always the way," he muttered. "It is enough to vex any man.
+Women are sure to be out of the road when they are wanted; and in the
+road when nobody cares to see them. Wherever has Maude taken herself?"
+Then he opened a door and called "Maude! Maude!" in no gentle voice.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+In a few minutes the call was answered. Mrs. Atheling came hurriedly
+into the room. There was a pleasant smile on her large, handsome face,
+and she carried in her hands a bowl of cream and a loaf of white bread.
+"Why, John!" she exclaimed, "whatever is to do? I was getting a bit
+of supper for you. You are late home to-night, aren't you?"
+
+"I should think I was--all of an hour-and-a-half late."
+
+"But you are not ill, John? There is nothing wrong, I hope?"
+
+"If things go a bit out of the common way, women always ask if they have
+gone wrong. I should think, they might as well go right."
+
+"So they might. Here is some fresh cream, John. I saw after it myself;
+and the haver-cake is toasted, and--"
+
+"Nay, but I'll have my drinking to-night, Maude. I have been flustered
+more than a little, I can tell thee that."
+
+"Then you shall have your drinking. We tapped a fresh barrel of old ale
+an hour ago. It is that strong and fine as never was; by the time you
+get to your third pint, you will be ready to make faces at Goliath."
+
+"Well, Maude, if making faces means making fight, there will be enough
+of that in every county of England soon,--if Dukes and Radical orators
+are to be believed."
+
+"Have you seen the Duke to-night?"
+
+"I have. He has offered me a seat in the next Parliament. He thinks
+there is a big fight before us."
+
+"Parliament! And the Duke of Richmoor to seat you! Why, John, I am
+astonished!"
+
+"I felt like I was dreaming. Now then, where is Kate? I want to tell
+the little maid about it. It will be a grand thing for Kate. She will
+have some chances in London, and I'll warrant she is Yorkshire enough to
+take the best of them."
+
+"Kate was at Dashwood's all the afternoon; and they were riding races;
+and she came home tired to death. I tucked her up in her bed an hour
+ago."
+
+"I am a bit disappointed; but things are mostly ordered that way. There
+is something else to tell you, Maude. I saw a stranger on the green throw
+Bill Verity and Adam Sedbergh; and I could not stand such nonsense as
+that, so I off with my coat and settled him."
+
+"You promised me that you would not 'stand up' any more, John. Some
+of them youngsters will give you a 'throw' that you won't get easy
+over. And you out of practice too."
+
+"Out of practice! Nothing of the sort. What do you think I do with
+myself on wet afternoons? What could I do with myself, but go to the
+granary and have an hour or two's play with Verity and Sedbergh, or any
+other of the lads that care to feel my grip? I have something else to
+tell you, Maude. I had a talk with this strange lad. He began some Reform
+nonsense; and I settled him very cleverly."
+
+"Poor lad!" She spoke sadly and absently, and it nettled the Squire.
+"I know what you are thinking, Mistress," he said; "but the time has
+come when we are bound to stick to our own side."
+
+"The poor are suffering terribly, John. They are starved and driven to
+the last pinch. There never was anything like it before."
+
+"Women are a soft lot; it would not do to give up to their notions."
+
+"If you mean that women have soft hearts, it is a good thing for men
+that women are that way made."
+
+"I have not done with my wonders yet. Who do you think was with the
+Duke?"
+
+"I don't know, and I can't say that I care."
+
+"Yes, but you do. It was Lord Exham. He said this and that about you,
+but I did not take much notice of his fine words." Then he rose and
+pushed his chair aside, and as he left the room added,--
+
+"That stranger lad I had the tussle with to-night says he knows your
+son Edgar--that they have lived and worked together for a year,--a very
+unlikely thing."
+
+"Stop a minute, Squire. Are you not ashamed of yourself to keep this
+news for a tag-end? Why it is the best thing I have heard to-night; and
+I'll be bound you let it go past you like a waft of wind. What did you
+ask the stranger about _my_ son?"
+
+"Nothing. Not a word."
+
+"It was like your stubborn heart. _My son_ indeed! If ever you had a
+son, it is Edgar. You were just like him when I married you--not as
+handsome--but very near; and you are as like as two garden peas in your
+pride, and self-will, and foolish anger. Don't talk to me of Dukes, and
+Lords, and Parliaments, and wrestling matches. I want to hear about
+_my_ son. If you have nothing to say about Edgar, I care little for
+your other news."
+
+"Why, Maude! Whatever is the matter with you? I have lived with you
+thirty years, and it seems that I have never known you yet."
+
+"But I know you, John Atheling. And I am ashamed of myself for having
+made nothing better out of you in thirty years. I thought I had you
+better shaped than you appear to be."
+
+"I shall need nothing but my shroud, when thou, or any other mortal,
+shapest me."
+
+"Fiddlesticks! Go away with your pride! I have shaped everything for
+you,--your house, and your eating; your clothes, and your religion; and
+if I had ever thought you would have fallen into Duke Richmoor's hands,
+I would have shaped your politics before this time of day."
+
+"Now, Maude, thou canst easily go further than thou canst come back,
+if thou dost not take care. Thou must remember that I am thy lord and
+husband."
+
+"To be sure, thou hast that name. But thou hast always found it best
+to do as thy lady and mistress told thee to do; and if ever thou didst
+take thy own way, sorry enough thou hast been for it. Talk of clay in the
+hands of the potter! Clay is free and independent to what a man is in the
+hands of his wife. Now, John, go to bed. I won't speak to thee again
+till I find out something about _my_ son Edgar."
+
+"Very well, Madame."
+
+"I have been thy guardian angel for thirty years"--and Mrs. Atheling
+put her head in her hands, and began to cry a little. The Squire could
+not bear that argument; he turned backward a few steps, and said in a
+more conciliatory voice,--
+
+"Come now, Maude. Thou hast been my master for thirty years; for that
+is what thou meanest by 'guardian angel.' But there is nothing worth
+crying about. I thought I had brought news that would set thee up a bit;
+but women are never satisfied. What dost thou want more?"
+
+"I want thee to go in the morning and find out all about Edgar. I want
+thee to bring his friend up here. I would like to question him myself."
+
+"I will not do it."
+
+"Then thou oughtest to be ashamed of thyself for as cruel, and stubborn,
+and ill-conditioned a father as I know of. John, dear John, I am very
+unhappy about the lad. He went away without a rag of his best clothes.
+There's the twelve fine linen shirts Kitty made him, backstitched
+and everything, lying in his drawers yet, and his top-coat hanging on
+the peg in his room, and his hat and cane so natural like; and he never
+was a lad to take care of his health; and so--"
+
+"Now, Maude, I have humbled a bit to thee many a time; and I don't
+mind it at all; for thou art only a woman--and a woman and a wife can
+blackguard a man as no other body has either the right or the power to
+do--but I will not humble to Edgar Atheling. No, I won't! He is about as
+bad a prodigal son as any father could have."
+
+"Well, I never! Putting thy own son down with harlots and swine, and
+such like!"
+
+"I do nothing of the sort, Maude. There's all kinds of prodigals.
+Has not Edgar left his home and gone away with Radicals and Reformers,
+and poor, discontented beggars of all makes and kinds? Happen, I could
+have forgiven him easier if it had been a bit of pleasuring,--wine and
+a bonny lass, or a race-horse or two. But mechanics' meetings, and
+pandering to ranting Radicals--I call it scandalous!"
+
+"Edgar has a good heart."
+
+"A good heart! A cat and a fiddle! And that friend of his thou wantest
+me to run after, he is nothing but a bouncing, swaggering puppy! Body of
+me, Maude! I will not have this subject named again. If thou thinkest I
+will ever humble to Edgar Atheling, thou art off thy horse; for I will
+not--_never_!"
+
+"Well, John, as none of thy family were ever out of their senses before,
+I do hope thou wilt come round; I do indeed!"
+
+"Make thyself easy on that score. Lord! What did the Almighty make women
+of? It confounds me."
+
+"To be sure it does. Didst thou expect the Almighty to tell thee? He
+has so ordered things that men get wed, and then try and find the secret
+out. Thou hadst better go to bed, John Atheling. I see plainly there
+is neither sense nor reason in thee to-night. I fancy thou art a bit
+set up with the thought of being sent to Parliament by Duke Richmoor. I
+wouldn't if I was thee, for thou wilt have to do just what he tells
+thee to do."
+
+"What an aggravating woman thou art!" and with the words he passed
+through the door, clashing it after him in a way that made Mistress
+Atheling smile and nod her handsome head understandingly. She stood
+waiting until she heard a door clash sympathetically up-stairs, and
+then she said softly,--
+
+"He did not manage to 'throw' or 'threep' me; if he was cock of
+the walk down on the green--what fools men are!--I see clear through
+him--stubborn though--takes after his mother--and there never was a woman
+more stubborn than Dame Joan Atheling."
+
+During this soliloquy she was locking up the cupboards in the parlour
+and houseplace. Then she opened the kitchen door and sharply gave the
+two women watching the malt mash her last orders; after which she took
+off her slippers at the foot of the stairs, and went very quietly up
+them. She had no light, but without any hesitation she turned towards
+a certain corridor, and gently pushed open a door. It let her into a
+large, low room; and the moonlight showed in the centre of it a high
+canopied bedstead, piled with snowy pillows and drapery, and among them,
+lying with closed eyes, her daughter Kate.
+
+"Kate! Kitty darling! Are you awake?" she whispered.
+
+"Mother! Yes, dear Mother, I am wide awake."
+
+"Your father has been in one of his tantrums again--fretting and fuming
+like everything."
+
+"Poor father! What angered him?"
+
+"Well, child, I angered him. Why wouldn't I? He saw a man in the
+village who has been living with Edgar for a year, and he never asked
+him whether your poor brother was alive or dead. What do you think of
+that?"
+
+"It was too bad. Never mind, Mother. I will go to the village in the
+morning, and I will find the man, and hear all about Edgar. If there is
+any chance, and you want to see him, I will bring him here."
+
+"I would like him to come here, Kitty; for you know he might take Edgar
+his best clothes. The poor lad must be in rags by this time."
+
+"Don't fret, Mother. I'll manage it."
+
+"I knew you would. Your father is going to Parliament, Kate. The Duke
+offers to seat him, and you will get up to London. What do you think of
+that?"
+
+"I am very glad to hear it. Father ought to be in Parliament. He is such
+a straight-forward man."
+
+"Well, I don't know whether that kind of man is wanted there, Kate; but
+he will do right, and speak plain, I have no doubt. I thought I would
+tell you at once. It is something to look forward to. Now go to sleep and
+dream of what may come out of it,--for one thing, you shall have plenty
+of fine new dresses--good-night, my dear child."
+
+"Good-night, Mother. You may go sweetly to sleep, for I will find out
+all about Edgar. You shall be at rest before dinner-time to-morrow."
+Then the mother stooped and tucked in the bedclothing, not because it
+needed it, but because it was a natural and instinctive way to express
+her care and tenderness. Very softly she stepped to the door, but
+ere she reached it, turned back to the bed, and laying her hand upon
+Kitty's head whispered, "Lord Exham is home again. He is coming here
+to-morrow."
+
+And Kate neither spoke nor moved; but when she knew that she was quite
+alone, a sweet smile gathered round her lips, and with a gentle sigh she
+went quickly away to the Land of Happy Dreams.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SECOND
+
+CECIL AND EDGAR
+
+
+Early the next morning the Squire was in the parlour standing at the
+open lattices, and whistling to a robin on a branch of the cherry-tree
+above them. The robin sang, and the Squire whistled, scattering crumbs
+as he did so, and it was this kindly picture which met Kate's eyes as
+she opened the door of the room. To watch and to listen was natural;
+and she stood on the threshold doing so until the Squire came to the
+last bars of his melody. Then in a gay voice she took it up, and sang to
+his whistling:
+
+    "_York! York! for my money!_"[1]
+
+------
+[Footnote 1: "York! York for my monie
+             Of all the places I ever did see
+             This is the place for good companie
+                 Except the city of London."]
+
+"Hello, Kate!" he cried in his delight as he turned to her; and as
+joyously as the birds sing "Spring!" she called, "Good-morning,
+Father!"
+
+"God bless thee, Kate!" and for a moment he let his eyes rest on the
+vision of her girlish beauty. For there was none like Kate Atheling in
+all the North-Riding; from her sandalled feet to her shining hair, she
+was the fairest, sweetest maid that ever Yorkshire bred,--an adorable
+creature of exquisite form and superb colouring; merry as a bird, with a
+fine spirit and a most affectionate heart. As he gazed at her she came
+close to him, put her fingers on his big shoulders, and stood on tiptoes
+to give him his morning greeting. He lifted her bodily and kissed her
+several times; and she said with a laugh,--
+
+"One kiss for my duty, and one for my pleasure, and all the rest are
+stolen. Put me down, Father; and what will you do for me to-day?"
+
+"What wouldst thou like me to do?"
+
+"May I ride with you?"
+
+"Nay; I can't take thee with me to-day. I am going to Squire Ayton's,
+and from there to Rudby's, and very like as far as Ormesby and
+Pickering."
+
+"Then you will not be home to dinner?"
+
+"Not I. I shall get my dinner somewhere."
+
+"Can I come and meet you?"
+
+"Thou hadst better not."
+
+At this moment Mrs. Atheling entered, and Kate, turning to her,
+said, "Mother, I am not to ride with father to-day. He is going a
+visiting,--going to get his dinner 'somewhere,' and he thinks I
+had better not come to meet him."
+
+"Father is right. Father knows he is not to trust to when he goes
+'somewhere' for his dinner. For he will call for Ayton, and they two
+will get Rudby, and then it will be Ormesby, and so by dinner-time they
+may draw rein at Pickering, and Pickering will start 'Corn Laws' and
+'Protection for the Farmers,' and midnight will be talked away. Is not
+that about right, John?" but she asked the question with a smile that
+proved Maude Atheling was once more the wise and loving "guardian
+angel" of her husband.
+
+"Thou knowest all about it, Maude."
+
+"I know enough, any way, to advise thee to stand by thy own heart,
+and to say and do what it counsels thee. Pickering is made after the
+meanest model of a Yorkshireman; and when a Yorkshireman turns out to
+be a failure, he is a ruin, and no mistake."
+
+"What by that? I can't quarrel with Pickering. You may kick up a dust
+with your neighbour, but, sooner or later, it will settle on your own
+door-stone. It is years and years since I learned that lesson. And as for
+Pickering's ideas, many a good squire holds the same."
+
+"I don't doubt it. Whatever the Ass says, the asses believe; thou wilt
+find that out when thou goest to Parliament."
+
+"Are you really going to Parliament, Father?"
+
+"Wouldst thou like me to go, Kate?"
+
+"Yes, if I may go to London with you."
+
+"It isn't likely I would go without thee. Did thy mother tell thee,
+Lord Exham has come back from Italy to sit for Gaythorne."
+
+"A long way to come for so little," she answered. "Why, Father! there
+are only a few hovels in Gaythorne, and all the men worth anything have
+gone to Leeds to comb wool. Poor fellows!"
+
+"Why dost thou say 'poor fellows'?"
+
+"Because, when a man has been brought up to do his day's work in fields
+and barns, among grass, and wheat, and cattle, it is a big change to sit
+twelve hours a day in 'the Devil's Hole,' for Martha Coates told me
+that is what the wool-combing room is called."
+
+"There is no sense in such a name."
+
+"It is a very good name, I think, for rooms so hot and crowded, and so
+sickening with the smells of soap, and wool, and oil, and steam. Martha
+says her lads have turned Radicals and Methodists, and she doesn't
+wonder. Neither do I."
+
+"Ay; it is as natural as can be. To do his duty by the land used to
+be religion enough for any Yorkshire lad; but when they go to big towns,
+they get into bad company; and there couldn't be worse company than
+those weaving chaps of all kinds. No wonder the Government doesn't
+want to hear from the big towns; they are full of a ranting crowd of
+Non-contents."
+
+"Well, Father, if I was in their place, and the question of Content, or
+Non-content, was put to me, I should very quickly say, 'Non-content.'"
+
+"Nobody is going to put the question to thee. Thy mother has not managed
+to bring up a daughter any better than herself, I see that. Kate, my
+little maid, Lord Exham will be here to-day; see that thou art civil
+enough to him; it may make a lot of difference both to thee and me."
+
+"John Atheling!" cried his wife, "what a blunderer thou art! Why
+can't thou let women and their ways alone?"
+
+When they rose from the breakfast-table, the Squire called for his horse,
+and his favourite dogs, and bustled about until he had Mrs. Atheling
+and half-a-dozen men and women waiting upon him. But there was much good
+temper in all his authoritative brusqueness, and he went away in a little
+flurry of eclat, his wife and daughter, his men and maid-servants, all
+watching him down the avenue with a loving and proud allegiance. He was
+so physically the expression of his place and surroundings that not a
+soul in Atheling ever doubted that the Squire was in the exact place to
+which God Almighty had called him.
+
+On this morning he was dressed in a riding suit of dark blue broadcloth
+trimmed with gilt buttons; his vest was white, his cravat white, and his
+hat of black beaver. As he galloped away, he swept it from his brow to
+his stirrups in an adieu to his wife and daughter; but the men and
+women-servants took their share in the courtesy, and it was easy to
+feel the cheer of admiration, only expressed by their broad smiles
+and sympathetic glances. As soon as "the Master" was out of sight,
+they turned away, each to his or her daily task; and Kate looked at
+her mother inquiringly. There was an instant understanding, and very
+few words were needed.
+
+"Thou hadst better lose no time. He might get away early."
+
+"He will not leave until he sees us, Mother. That is what he came to
+Atheling for,--I'll warrant it,--and if I don't go to the village, he
+will come here; I know he will."
+
+"Kitty, I can't, I can't trust to that--and you promised."
+
+"I am going to keep my promise, Mother. Have my mare at the door in ten
+minutes, and I will be ready."
+
+Mrs. Atheling had attended to this necessity before breakfast, and
+the mare was immediately waiting. She was a creature worthy of the
+Beauty she had to carry,--dark chestnut in colour, with wide haunches
+and deep oblique shoulders. Her mane was fine, her ears tremulous, her
+nostrils thin as parchment, her eyes human in intelligence, her skin
+like tissue-paper, showing the warm blood pressing against it, and the
+veins standing clearly out. Waiting fretted her, and she pawed the
+garden gravel impatiently with her round, dark, shining hoofs until
+Kate appeared. Then she uttered a low whinny of pleasure, and bent
+her head for the girl to lay her face against it.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+A light leap from the groom's hand put Kate in her seat, and a lovelier
+woman never gathered reins in hand. In those days also, the riding
+dress of women did not disfigure them; it was a garb that gave to Kate
+Atheling's loveliness grace and dignity, an air of discreet freedom,
+and of sweet supremacy,--a close-fitting habit of fine cloth, falling
+far below her feet in graceful folds, and a low beaver hat, crowned
+with drooping plumes, shadowing her smiling face. One word to the mare
+was sufficient; she needed no whip, and Kate would not have insulted
+her friend and companion by carrying one.
+
+For a little while they went swiftly, then Kate bent and patted the
+mare's neck, and she instantly obeyed the signal for a slower pace. For
+Kate had seen before them a young man sitting on a stile, and teaching
+two dogs to leap over the whip which he held in his hand. She felt
+sure this was the person she had to interview; yet she passed him without
+a look, and went forward towards the village. After riding half-a-mile
+she took herself to task for her cowardice, and turned back again.
+The stranger was still sitting on the stile, and as she approached
+him she heard a hearty laugh, evoked doubtless by some antic or mistake
+of the dogs he was playing with. She now walked her mare toward him, and
+the young man instantly rose, uncovered his head, and, pushing the dogs
+away, bowed--not ungracefully--to her. Yet he did not immediately speak,
+and Kate felt that she must open the conversation.
+
+"Do you--do you want to find any place?" she asked. "I think you are
+a stranger--and I am at home here."
+
+He smiled brightly and answered, "Thank you. I want to find Atheling
+Manor-house. I have a message for Mrs. and Miss Atheling."
+
+"I am Miss Atheling; and I am now returning to the house. I suppose that
+you are the Wrestler and Orator of last night. My father told us about
+the contest. Mother wishes to talk with you--we have heard that you know
+my brother Edgar--we are very unhappy about Edgar. Do you know anything
+of him? Will you come and see mother--_now_--she is very anxious?"
+
+These questions and remarks fell stumblingly from her lips, one after
+the other; she was excited and trembling at her own temerity, and yet
+all the time conscious she was Squire Atheling's daughter and in her
+father's Manor, having a kind of right to assume a little authority and
+ask questions. The stranger listened gravely till Kate ceased speaking,
+then he said,--
+
+"My name is Cecil North. I know Edgar Atheling very well. I am ready to
+do now whatever you wish."
+
+"Then, Mr. North, I wish you would come with me. It is but a short walk
+to the house; Candace will take little steps, and I will show you the
+way."
+
+"Thank you."
+
+He said only these two words, but they broke up his face as if there
+was music in them; for he smiled with his lips and his eyes at the same
+time. Kate glanced down at him as he walked by her side. She saw that
+he was tall, finely formed, and had a handsome face; that he was well
+dressed, and had an air of distinction; and yet she divined in some
+occult way that this animal young beauty was only the husk of his being.
+After a few moments' silence, he began that commonplace chat about
+horses which in Yorkshire takes the place that weather does in other
+localities. He praised the beauty and docility of Candace, and Kate hoped
+she was walking slowly enough; and then Cecil North admired her feet
+and her step, and asked if she ever stumbled or tripped. This question
+brought forth an eager denial of any such fault, and an opinion that
+the rider was to blame when such an accident happened.
+
+"In a general way, you are right, Miss Atheling," answered North. "If
+the rider sits just and upright, then any sudden jerk forward throws the
+shoulders backward; and in that case, if a horse thinks proper to fall,
+_he_ will be the sufferer. He may cut his forehead, or hurt his nose, or
+bark his knees, but he will be a buffer to his rider."
+
+"Candace has never tripped with me. I have had her four years. I will
+never part with her."
+
+"That is right. Don't keep a horse you dislike, and don't part with
+one that suits you."
+
+"Do you love horses?"
+
+"Yes. A few years ago I was all for horses. I could sit anything. I
+could jump everything, right and left. I had a horse then that was made
+to measure, and foaled to order. No one borrowed him twice. He had a
+way of coming home without a rider. But I have something better than
+horses to care for now; and all I need is a good roadster."
+
+"My father likes an Irish cob for that purpose."
+
+"Nothing better. I have one in the village that beats all. He can trot
+fourteen miles an hour, and take a six-foot wall at the end of it."
+
+"Do you ride much?"
+
+"I ride all over England."
+
+She looked curiously at him, but asked no questions; and North continued
+the conversation by pointing out to her the several points which made
+Candace so valuable. "In the first place," he said, "her colour is
+good,--that dark chestnut shaded with black usually denotes speed. She
+has all the signs of a thoroughbred; do you know them?"
+
+"No; but I should like to."
+
+"They are three things long,--long ears, long neck, and long forelegs.
+Three things short,--short dock, short back, and short hindlegs. Three
+things broad,--broad forehead, broad chest, and broad croup. Three
+things clean,--clean skin, clean eyes, and clean hoofs. Then the nostrils
+must be quite black. If there had been any white in the nostrils of
+Candace, I would have ranked her only 'middling.'"
+
+Kate laughed pleasantly, and said over several times the long, short,
+broad, and clean points that went to the making of a thoroughbred;
+and, by the time the lesson was learned, they were at the door of the
+Manor-house. Mrs. Atheling stood just within it, and when Kate said,--
+
+"Mother, this is Edgar's friend, Mr. Cecil North," she gave him her
+hand and answered:
+
+"Come in! Come in! Indeed I am fain and glad to see you!" and all the
+way through the great hall, and into her parlour, she was beaming and
+uttering welcomes. "First of all, you must have a bit of eating and
+drinking," she said, "and then you will tell me about my boy."
+
+"Thank you. I will take a glass of ale, if it will please you."
+
+"It will please me beyond everything. You shall have it from the
+Squire's special tap: ale smooth as oil, sweet as milk, clear as
+amber, fourteen years old next twenty-ninth of March. And so you know
+my son Edgar?"
+
+"I know him, and I love him with all my heart. He is as good as gold,
+and as true as steel."
+
+"To be sure, he is. I'm his mother, and I ought to know him; and that
+is what I say. How did you come together?"
+
+"We met first at Cambridge; but we were not in the same college or set,
+so that I only knew him slightly there. Fortune had appointed a nobler
+introduction for us. I was in Glasgow nearly a year ago, and I wandered
+down to the Green, and was soon aware that the crowd was streaming to one
+point. Edgar was talking to this crowd. Have you ever heard him talk to
+a crowd?"
+
+The mother shook her head, and Kate said softly: "We have never heard
+him." She had taken off her hat, and her face was full of interest and
+happy expectation.
+
+"Well," continued North, "he was standing on a platform of rough
+boards that had been hastily put together, and I remembered instantly
+his tall, strong, graceful figure, and his bright, purposeful face.
+He was tanned to the temples, his cheeks were flushed, the wind was in
+his hair, the sunlight in his eyes; and, with fiery precipitance of
+assailing words, he was explaining to men mad with hunger and injustice
+the source of all their woes and the remedy to be applied. I became
+a man as I listened to him. That hour I put self behind me and vowed
+my life, and all I have, to the cause of Reform; because he showed me
+plainly that Parliamentary Reform included the righting of every social
+wrong and cruelty."
+
+"Do you really think so?" asked Kate.
+
+"Indeed, I am sure of it. A Parliament that represented the great middle
+and working classes of England would quickly do away with both black
+and white slavery,--would repeal those infamous Corn Laws which have
+starved the working-man to make rich the farmer; would open our ports
+freely to the trade of all the world; would educate the poor; give much
+shorter hours of labour, and wages that a man could live on. Can I ever
+forget that hour? Never! I was born again in it!"
+
+"That was the kind of talk that he angered his father with," said Mrs.
+Atheling, between tears and smiles. "You see it was all against the land
+and the land-owners; and Edgar would not be quiet, no matter what I said
+to him."
+
+"He _could not_ be quiet. He had _no right_ to be quiet. Why! he sent
+every man and woman home that night with hope in their hearts and a
+purpose in their wretched lives. Oh, if you could have seen those sad,
+cold faces light and brighten as they listened to him."
+
+"Was there no one there that didn't think as he did?"
+
+"I heard only one dissenting voice. It came from a Minister. He called
+out, 'Lads and lasses, take no heed of what this fellow says to you.
+He is nothing but a Dreamer.' Instantly Edgar took up the word. 'A
+Dreamer!' he cried joyfully. 'So be it! What says the old Hebrew
+prophet? Look to your Bible, sir. Let him that hath a dream tell it.
+Dreamers have been the creators, the leaders, the saviours of the world.
+And we will go on dreaming until our dream comes true!' The crowd
+answered him with a sob and a shout--and, oh, I wish you had been there!"
+
+Kate uttered involuntarily a low, sympathetic cry that she could not
+control, and Mrs. Atheling wept and smiled; and when North added, in a
+lower voice full of feeling, "There is no one like Edgar, and I love
+him as Jonathan loved David!" she went straight to the speaker, took
+both his hands in hers, and kissed him.
+
+"Thou art the same as a son to me," she said, "and thou mayst count on
+my love as long as ever thou livest." And in this cry from her heart
+she forgot her company pronoun, and fell naturally into the familiar and
+affectionate "thou."
+
+Fortunately at this point of intense emotion a servant entered with a
+flagon of the famous ale, and some bread and cheese; and the little
+interruption enabled all to bring themselves to a normal state of
+feeling. Then the mother thought of Edgar's clothing, and asked North
+if he could take it to him. North smiled. "He is a little of a dandy
+already," he answered. "I saw him last week at Lady Durham's, and he
+was the best dressed man in her saloon."
+
+"Now then!" said Mrs. Atheling, "thou art joking a bit. Whatever would
+Edgar be doing at Lady Durham's?"
+
+"He had every right there, as he is one of Lord Durham's confidential
+secretaries."
+
+"Art thou telling me some romance?"
+
+"I am telling you the simple truth."
+
+"Then thou must tell me how such a thing came about."
+
+"Very naturally. I told Lord Grey and his son-in-law, Lord Durham,
+about Edgar--and I persuaded Edgar to come and speak to the spur and
+saddle-makers at Ripon Cross; and the two lords heard him with delight,
+and took him, there and then, to Studley Royal, where they were
+staying; and it was in those glorious gardens, and among the ruins of
+Fountains Abbey, they planned together the Reform Campaign for the next
+Parliament."
+
+"The Squire thinks little of Lord Grey," said Mrs. Atheling.
+
+"That is not to be wondered at," answered North. "Lord Grey is the
+head and heart of Reform. When he was Mr. Charles Grey, and the pupil
+of Fox, he presented to Parliament the famous Prayer, from the Society of
+Friends, for Reform. That was thirty-seven years ago, but he has never
+since lost sight of his object. By the side of such leaders as Burke,
+and Fox, and Sheridan, his lofty eloquence has charmed the House until
+the morning sun shone on its ancient tapestries. He and his son-in-law,
+Lord Durham, have the confidence of every honest man in England. And
+he is brave as he is true. More than once he has had the courage to tell
+the King to his face what it was his duty to do."
+
+"And what of Lord Durham?" asked Kate.
+
+"He is a masterful man,--a bolder Radical than most Radicals. All over
+the country he is known as Radical Jack. He has a strong, resolute will,
+but during the last half-year he has leaned in all executive matters upon
+'Mr. Atheling.' Indeed, there was enthusiastic talk last week at Lady
+Durham's of sending 'Mr. Atheling' to the next Parliament."
+
+"My word! But that would never do!" exclaimed Mr. Atheling's mother.
+"His father is going there for the landed interest; and if Edgar goes
+for the people, there will be trouble between them. They will get to
+talking back at each other, and the Squire will pontify and lay down
+the law, even if the King and the Law-makers are all present. He will
+indeed!"
+
+"It would be an argument worth hearing, for Edgar would neither lose
+his temper nor his cause. Oh, I tell you there will be great doings in
+London next winter! The Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel will have to go
+out; and Earl Grey will surely form a new Government."
+
+"The Squire says Earl Grey and Reform will bring us into civil war."
+
+"On the contrary, only Reform can prevent civil war. Hitherto, the
+question has been, 'What will the Lords do?' Now it is, 'What must
+be done with the Lords?' For once, all England is in dead earnest;
+and the cry everywhere is, 'The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing
+but The Bill!' And if we win, as win we must, we shall remember how
+Edgar Atheling has championed the cause. George the Fourth is on his
+death-bed," he added in a lower voice. "He will leave his kingdom in
+a worse plight than any king before him. I, who have been through the
+land, may declare so much."
+
+"The poor are very poor indeed," said Mrs. Atheling. "Kate and I do
+what we can, but the most is little."
+
+"The whole story of the poor is--slow starvation. The best silk weavers
+in England are not able to make more than eight or nine shillings a
+week. Thousands of men in the large towns are working for two-pence
+half-penny a day; and thousands have no work at all."
+
+"What do they do?" whispered Kate.
+
+"They die. But I did not come here to talk on these subjects--only when
+the heart is full, the mouth must speak. I have brought a letter and a
+remembrance from Edgar," and he took from his pocket a letter and two
+gold rings, and gave the letter and one ring to Mrs. Atheling, and the
+other ring to Kate. "He bid me tell you," said North, "that some day
+he will set the gold round with diamonds; but now every penny goes for
+Reform."
+
+"And you tell Edgar, sir, that his mother is prouder of the gold thread
+than of diamonds. Tell him, she holds her Reform ring next to her wedding
+ring,"--and with the words Mrs. Atheling drew off her "guard" of
+rubies, and put the slender thread of gold her son had sent her next her
+wedding ring. At the same moment Kate slipped upon her "heart finger"
+the golden token. Her face shone, her voice was like music: "Tell
+Edgar, Mr. North," she said, "that my love for him is like this ring:
+I do not know its beginning; but I do know it can have no end."
+
+Then North rose to go, and would not be detained; and the women walked
+with him to the very gates, and there they said "good-bye." And all
+the way through the garden Mrs. Atheling was sending tender messages to
+her boy, though at the last she urged North to warn him against saying
+anything "beyond bearing" to his father, if they should meet on the
+battle-ground of the House of Commons. "It is so easy to quarrel on
+politics," she said with all the pathos of reminiscent disputes.
+
+"It has always been an easy quarrel, I think," answered North. "Don't
+you remember when Joseph wanted to pick a quarrel with his brethren, he
+pretended to think they were a special commission sent to Egypt to spy
+out the nakedness of the land?"
+
+"To be sure! And that is a long time ago. Good-bye! and God bless thee!
+I shall never forget thy visit!"
+
+"And we wish 'The Cause' success!" added Kate.
+
+"Thank you. Success will come. They who _care_ and _dare_ can do
+anything." With these words he passed through the gates, and Mrs.
+Atheling and Kate went slowly back to the house, both of them turning
+the new ring on their fingers. It was dinner-time, but little dinner
+was eaten. Edgar's letter was to read; Mr. North to speculate about; and
+if either of the women remembered Lord Exham's expected call, no remark
+was made about it.
+
+Yet Kate was neither forgetful of the visit, nor indifferent to it. A
+sweet trouble of heart, half-fear and half-hope, flushed her cheeks
+and sent a tender light into her star-like eyes. In the very depths of
+her being there existed a feeling she did not understand, and did not
+investigate. Was it Memory? Was it Hope? Was it Love? She asked none of
+these questions. But she dressed like a girl in a dream; and just as she
+was sliding the silver buckle on her belt, a sudden trick of memory
+brought back to her the rhyme of her childhood. And though she blushed
+to the remembrance, and would not for anything repeat the words, her
+heart sang softly to itself,--
+
+    "It may so happen, it may so fall,
+    That I shall be Lady of Exham Hall."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRD
+
+THE LORD OF EXHAM
+
+
+On the very edge of the deep, tumbling becks which feed the Esk stands
+Exham Hall. It is a stately, irregular building of gray stone; and when
+the sunshine is on its many windows, and the flag of Richmoor flying from
+its central tower, it looks gaily down into the hearts of many valleys,
+where
+
+    "The oak, and the ash, and the bonny ivy-tree,
+    Flourish at home in the North Countree."
+
+Otherwise, it has, at a distance, a stern and forbidding aspect. For
+it is in a great solitude, and the babble of the beck, and the cawing
+of the rooks, are the only sounds that usually break the silence. The
+north part was built in A. D. 1320; and the most modern part in the reign
+of James the First; and yet so well has it stood the wear and tear of
+elemental and human life in this secluded Yorkshire vale that it does
+not appear to be above a century old.
+
+It was usually tenanted either by the dowager of the family, or the
+heir of the dukedom; and it had been opened at this time to receive its
+young lord on his return from Italy. So it happened that at the very
+hour when Mrs. and Miss Atheling were talking with Cecil North, Piers
+Exham was sitting in a parlour of Exham Hall, thinking of Kate, and
+recalling the events of their acquaintanceship. It had begun when he was
+seventeen years old, and Kate Atheling exactly twelve. Indeed, because it
+was her birthday, she was permitted to accompany an old servant going to
+Exham Hall to visit the housekeeper, who was her cousin.
+
+This event made a powerful impression on Kate's imagination. It was
+like a visit to some enchanted castle. She felt all its glamour and
+mystery as soon as her small feet trod the vast entrance hall with
+its hangings of Arras tapestry, and its flags and weapons from every
+English battlefield. Her fingers touched lightly standards from Crecy,
+and Agincourt, and the walls of Jerusalem; and her heart throbbed to the
+touch. And as she climbed the prodigiously wide staircase of carved
+and polished oak, she thought of the generations of knights, and lords
+and ladies, who had gone up and down it, and wondered where they were.
+And oh, the marvellous old rooms with their shadowy portraits, and
+their treasures from countries far away!--shells, and carved ivories,
+and sandalwood boxes; strange perfumes, and old idols, melancholy,
+fantastic, odd; musky-smelling things from Asia; and ornaments and
+pottery from Africa, their gloomy, primitive simplicity, mingling with
+pretty French trifles, and Italian bronzes, and costly bits of china.
+
+It was all like an Arabian Night's adventure, and hardly needed the
+touches of romance and superstition the housekeeper quite incidentally
+threw in: thus, as they passed a very, very tall old clock with a silver
+dial on a golden face, she said: "Happen, you would not believe it,
+but on every tenth of June, a cold queer light travels all round that
+dial. It begins an hour past midnight, and stops at an hour past noon.
+I've seen it myself a score of times." And again, in going through
+a state bed-room, she pointed out a cross and a candlestick, and said,
+"They are made from bits of a famous ship that was blown up with an
+Exham, fighting on the Spanish Main. I've heard tell that candles
+were once lighted in that stick on his birthday; but there's been no
+candle-lighting for a century, anyway." And Kate thought it was a
+shame, and wished she knew his birthday, and might light candles again in
+honour of the hero.
+
+With such sights and tales, her childish head and heart were filled;
+and the mazy gardens, with their monkish fish-ponds and hedges, their old
+sun-dials and terraces, their ripening berries and gorgeous flower-beds,
+completed her fascination. She went back to Atheling ravished and
+spellbound; too wrapt and charmed to talk much of what she had seen, and
+glad when she could escape into the Atheling garden to think it all over
+again. She went straight to her swing. It was hung between two large
+ash-trees, and there were high laurel hedges on each side. In this
+solitude she sat down to remember, and, as she did so, began to swing
+gently to-and-fro, and to sing to her movement,--
+
+    "It may so happen, it may so fall,
+    That I shall be Lady of Exham Hall."
+
+And as she sung these lines over and over--being much pleased with their
+unexpected rhyming--the young Lord of Exham Hall came through Atheling
+garden. He heard his own name, and stood still to listen; then he softly
+parted the laurel bushes, and watched the little maid, and heard her
+sing her couplet, and merrily laugh to herself as she did so. And he
+saw how beautiful she was, and there came into his heart a singular
+warmth and pleasure; but, without discovering himself to the girl, he
+delivered his message to Squire Atheling, and rode away.
+
+The next morning, however, he managed to carry his fishing-rod to the
+same beck where Edgar Atheling was casting his line, and to so charm the
+warm-hearted youth that meeting after meeting grew out of it. Nor was it
+long until the friendship of the youths included that of the girl; so
+that it was a very ordinary thing for Kate to go with her brother and
+Piers Exham to the hill-streams for trout. As the summer grew they tossed
+the hay together, and rode after the harvest wagons, and danced at the
+Ingathering Feast, and dressed the ancient church at Christmastide, and
+so, with ever-increasing kindness and interest, shared each other's joy
+and sorrows for nearly two years.
+
+Then there was a break in the happy routine. Kate put on long dresses;
+she was going to a fine ladies' school in York to be "finished," and
+Edgar also was entered at Cambridge. Piers was to go to Oxford. He
+begged to go to Cambridge with his friend; but the Duke approved the
+Tory principles of his own University, and equally disapproved of
+those of Cambridge, which he declared were deeply tainted with Whig
+and even Radical ideas. Perhaps also he was inclined to break up the
+close friendship between the Athelings and his heir. "No one can be
+insensible to the beauty of Kate Atheling," he said to the Duchess;
+"and Piers' constant association with such a lovely girl may not
+be without danger." The Duchess smiled at the supposition. A royal
+princess, in her estimation, was not above her son's deserts and
+expectations; and the Squire's little home-bred girl was beneath
+either her fears or her suppositions. This also was the tone in which
+she received all her son's conversation about the Athelings. "Very nice
+people, I dare say, Piers," she would remark; "and I am glad you have
+such thoroughly respectable companions; but you will, of course, forget
+them when you go to College, and begin your independent life." And
+there was such an air of finality in these assertions that it was only
+rarely Piers had the spirit to answer, "Indeed, I shall never forget
+them!"
+
+So it happened that the last few weeks of their friendship missed much
+of the easy familiarity and sweet confidence that had hitherto marked
+its every change. Kate, with the new consciousness of dawning womanhood,
+was shy, less frank, and less intimate. Strangers began to call her
+"Miss" Atheling; and there were hours when the little beauty's airs
+of maidenly pride and reserve made Piers feel that any other address
+would be impertinent. And this change had come, no one knew how, only it
+was there, and not to be gainsaid; and every day's events added some
+trifling look, or word, or act which widened the space between them,
+though the space itself was full of sweet and kindly hours.
+
+Then there came a day in autumn when Kate was to leave her home for the
+York school. Edgar was already in Cambridge. Piers was to enter Oxford
+the following week. This chapter of life was finished; and the three
+happy souls that had made it, were to separate. Piers, who had a poetic
+nature, and was really in love--though he suspected it not--was most
+impressed with the passing away. He could not keep from Atheling, and
+though he had bid Kate "good-bye" in the afternoon, he was not
+satisfied with the parting. She had then been full of business: the
+Squire was addressing her trunks; Mrs. Atheling crimping the lace
+frill of her muslin tippets; and Kate herself bringing, one by one,
+some extra trifle that at the last moment impressed her with its
+necessity. It was in this hurry of household love and care that he had
+said "good-bye," and he felt that it had been a mere form.
+
+Perhaps Kate felt it also; for when he rode up to Atheling gates in the
+gloaming, he saw her sauntering up the avenue. He thought there was
+both melancholy and expectation in her attitude and air. He tied his
+horse outside, and joined her. She met him with a smile. He took her
+hand, and she permitted him to retain it. He said, "Kate!" and she
+answered the word with a glance that made him joyous, ardent, hopeful.
+He was too happy to speak; he feared to break the heavenly peace between
+them by a word. Oh, this is the way of Love! But neither knew the ways
+of Love. They were after all but children, and the sweet thoughts in
+their hearts had not come to speech. They wandered about the garden
+until the gloaming became moonlight, and they heard Mrs. Atheling calling
+her daughter. Then their eyes met, and, swift as the firing of a gun,
+their pupils dilated and flashed with tender feeling; over their faces
+rushed the crimson blood; and Piers said sorrowfully, "Kate! Sweet
+Kate! I shall never forget you!" He raised the hand he held to his
+lips, kissed it, and went hurriedly away from her.
+
+Kate was not able to say a word, but she felt the kiss on her hand
+through all her sleep and dreams that night. Indeed five years of
+change and absence had not chilled its warm remembrance; there were
+hours when it was still a real expression, when the hand itself was
+conscious of the experience, and willingly cherished it. All through
+Cecil North's visit, she had been aware of a sense of expectancy.
+Interested as she was in Edgar, the thought of Lord Exham would not be
+put down. For a short time it was held in abeyance; but when the early
+dinner was over, and she was in the solitude of her own room, Piers put
+Edgar out of consideration. As she sat brushing and dressing her long
+brown hair, she recalled little incidents concerning Piers,--how once
+in the harvest-field her hair had tumbled down, and Piers praised its
+tangled beauty; how he had liked this and the other dress; how he had
+praised her dancing, and vowed she was the best rider in the county.
+He had given her a little gold brooch for a Christmas present, and she
+took it from its box, and said to herself she would wear it, and see if
+it evoked its own memory in Exham's heart.
+
+It had been her intention to put on a white gown, but the day darkened
+and chilled; and then she had a certain shyness about betraying, even
+to her mother, her anxiety to look beautiful. Perhaps Piers might not now
+think her beautiful in any garb. Perhaps he had forgotten--everything.
+So, impelled by a kind of perverse indifference, she wore only the gray
+woollen gown that was her usual afternoon attire. But the fashion of
+the day left her lovely arms uncovered, and only veiled her shoulders
+in a shadowing tippet of lace. She fastened this tippet with the
+little gold brooch, just where the folds crossed the bosom. She had
+hastened rather than delayed her dressing; and when Mrs. Atheling came
+downstairs in her afternoon black silk dress, she found Kate already in
+the parlour. She had taken from her work-box a piece of fine cambric,
+and was stitching it industriously; and Mrs. Atheling lifted her own
+work, and began to talk of Edgar, and Edgar's great fortune, and what
+his father would say about it. This subject soon absorbed her; she
+forgot everything in it; but Kate heard through all the radical
+turmoil of the conversation the gallop of a strange horse on the
+gravelled avenue, and the echo of strange footsteps on the flagged halls
+of the house.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+In the middle of some grand prophecy for Edgar's future, the parlour
+door was opened, and Lord Exham entered. He came forward with something
+of his boyhood's enthusiasm, and took Mrs. Atheling's hands, and said
+a few words of pleasant greeting, indistinctly heard in the fluttering
+gladness of Mrs. Atheling's reception. Then he turned to Kate. She had
+risen, but she held her work in her left hand. He took it from her,
+and laid it on her work-box, and then clasped both her hands in his. The
+firm, lingering pressure had its own eloquence. In matters of love,
+they who are to understand, _do_ understand; and no interpreter is needed.
+
+The conversation then became general and full of interest; but from
+Oxford, and France, and Italy, it quickly drifted--as all conversation
+did in those days--to Reform. And Mrs. Atheling could not keep the
+news that had come to her that day. She magnified Edgar with a sweet
+motherly vanity that was delightful, and to which Piers listened with
+pleasure; for the listening gave him opportunity to watch Kate's
+eloquent face, and to flash his sympathy into it. He thought her
+marvellously beautiful. Her shining hair, her rich colouring, and her
+large gray eyes were admirably emphasised by the homely sweetness of
+her dress. After the lavish proportions, and gaily attired women of
+Italy, nothing could have been more enchanting to Piers Exham than
+Kate's subdued, gray-eyed loveliness, clad in gray garments. The
+charming background of her picturesque home added to this effect; and
+this background he saw and realised; but she had also a moral background
+of purity and absolute sincerity which he did not see, but which he
+undoubtedly felt.
+
+While Piers was experiencing this revelation of womanhood, it was not
+likely Kate was without impressions. In his early youth, Exham had a
+slight resemblance to Lord Byron; and he had been vain of the likeness,
+and accentuated it by adopting the open collar, loose tie, and other
+peculiarities of the poetic nobleman. Kate was glad to see this servile
+imitation had been discarded. Exham was now emphatically individual. He
+was not above medium height; but his figure was good, and his manner
+gentle and courteous, as the manner of all superior men is. Grave and
+high-bred, he had also much of the melancholy, mythical air of an
+English nobleman, conscious of long antecedents, and dwelling in the
+seclusion of shaded parks, and great houses steeped in the human aura
+of centuries. His hair was very black, and worn rather long, and his
+complexion, a pale bronze; but this lack of red colouring added to
+the fascination of his dark eyes, which were remarkable for that deep
+glow always meaning mental or moral power of some kind. They were
+often half shut--and then--who could tell what was passing behind them?
+And yet, when all this had been observed by Kate, she was sure that
+something--perhaps the most essential part--had escaped her.
+
+This latter estimate was the correct one. No one as yet had learned
+the heart or mind of Piers Exham. It is doubtful if he understood his own
+peculiarities; for he had few traits of distinctive pre-eminence, his
+character being very like an opal, where all colours are fused and
+veiled in a radiant dimness. So that, after all, this meeting was a
+first meeting; and Kate did not feel that the past offered her any
+intelligible solution of the present man.
+
+The conversation having drifted to Edgar and Reform, stayed there.
+Lord Exham spoke with a polite, but stubborn emphasis in favour of his
+own caste, as the governing caste, and thought that the honour and
+welfare of England might still be left "to those great Houses which
+represented the collective wisdom of the nation." Nor was he disturbed
+when Mrs. Atheling, with some scorn and temper, said "they represented
+mostly the collective folly of the nation." He bowed and smiled at
+the dictum, but Kate understood the smile; it was of that peculiarly
+sweet kind which is equivalent to having the last word. He admitted
+that some things wanted changing, but he said, "Changes could not be
+manufactured; they must grow." "True," replied Kate, "but Reform
+has been growing for sixty years." "That is as it should be," he
+continued. "You cannot write Reforms on human beings, as you write it on
+paper. Two or three generations are not enough." In all that was
+said--and Mrs. Atheling said some very strong things--he took a polite
+interest; but he made no surrender. Even if his words were conciliatory,
+Kate saw in his eyes--languid but obstinately masterful--the stubborn,
+headstrong will of a man who had inherited his prejudices, and who had
+considered them in the light of his interest, and did not choose to bring
+them to the light of reason.
+
+Still the conversation was a satisfactory and delightful vehicle of human
+revelation. The two women paled and flushed, and grew sad or happy in
+its possibilities, with a charming frankness. No social subject could
+have revealed them so completely; and Exham enjoyed the disclosures of
+feeling which this passionate interest evoked,--enjoyed it so much that
+he forgot the lapse of time, and stayed till tea was ready, and then was
+delighted to stay and take it with them. Mrs. Atheling was usually
+relieved of the duty of making it by Kate; and Piers could not keep his
+glowing eyes off the girl as her hands moved about the exquisite Derby
+teacups, and handed him the sweet, refreshing drink. She remembered
+that he loved sugar; that he did not love cream; that he preferred his
+toast not buttered; that he liked apricot jelly; and he was charmed and
+astonished at these proofs of remembrance, so much so indeed that he
+permitted Mrs. Atheling to appropriate the whole argument. For this sweet
+hour he resigned his heart to be pleased and happy. Too wise in some
+things, not wise enough in others, Piers Exham had at least one great
+compensating quality--the courage to be happy.
+
+He let all other feelings and purposes lapse for this one. He gave
+himself up to charm, and to be charmed; he flattered Mrs. Atheling into
+absolute complaisance; he persuaded Kate to walk through the garden
+and orchard with him, and then, with caressing voice and a gentle
+pressure of the hand, reminded her of days and events they had shared
+together. Smiles flashed from face to face. Her simple sweetness, her
+ready sympathy, her ingenuous girlish expressions, carried him back to
+his boyhood. Kate shone on his heart like sunshine; and he did not
+know that it had become dark until he had left Atheling behind, and found
+himself Exham-way, riding rapidly to the joyful whirl and hurry of his
+thoughts.
+
+Now happiness, as well as sorrow, is selfish. Kate was happy and not
+disposed to talk about her happiness. Her mother's insistent questions
+about Lord Exham troubled her. She desired to go into solitude with the
+new emotions this wonderful day had produced; but the force of those
+lovely habits of respect and obedience, which had become by constant
+practice a second nature, kept her at her mother's side, listening with
+sweet credulousness to all her opinions, and answering her hopes with
+her own assurances. The reward of such dutiful deference was not long
+in coming. In a short time Mrs. Atheling said,--
+
+"It has been such a day as never was, Kate; and you must be tired. Now
+then, go to bed, my girl, and sleep; for goodness knows when your father
+will get home!"
+
+So Kate kissed her mother--kissed her twice--as if she was dimly
+conscious of unfairly keeping back some pleasure, and would thus atone
+for her selfishness. And Mrs. Atheling sat down in the chimney-corner
+with the gray stocking she was knitting, and pondered her son's good
+fortune for a while. Then she rose and sent the maids to bed, putting
+the clock an hour forward ere she did so, and excusing the act by saying,
+"If I don't set it fast, we shall soon be on the wrong side of
+everything."
+
+Another hour she sat calmly knitting, while in the dead silence of the
+house the clock's regular "_tick! tick!_" was like breathing. It
+seemed to live, and to watch with her. As the Squire came noisily into
+the room it struck eleven. "My word, Maude!" he said with great good
+humour, "I am sorry to keep you waiting; but there has been some good
+work done to-night, so you won't mind it, I'll warrant."
+
+"Well now, John, if you and your friends have been at Pickering's, and
+have done any 'good' work there, I will be astonished! You may warrant
+_that_ with every guinea you have."
+
+"We were at Rudby's. There were as many as nine landed men of us
+together; and for once there was one mind in nine men."
+
+"That is, you were all for yourselves."
+
+"No! Dal it, we were all for old England and the Constitution! The
+Constitution, just as it is, and no tinkering with it."
+
+"I wonder which of the nine was the biggest fool among you?"
+
+"Thou shouldst not talk in that way, Maude. The country is in real
+danger with this Reform nonsense. Every Reformer ought to be hung, and I
+wish they were hung."
+
+"I would be ashamed to say such words, John. Thou knowest well that thy
+own son is a Reformer."
+
+"More shame to him, and to me, and to thee! I would have brought up a
+better lad, or else I would hold my tongue about him. It was thy fault he
+went to Cambridge. I spent good money then to spoil a fine fellow."
+
+"Now, John Atheling, I won't have one word said against Edgar in this
+house."
+
+"It is my house."
+
+"Nay, but it isn't. Thou only hast the life rent of it. It is Edgar's
+as much as thine. He will be here, like enough, when I and thou have gone
+the way we shall never come back."
+
+"Maybe he will--and maybe he will not. I can break the entail if it
+suits me."
+
+"Thou canst not. For, with all thy faults, thou art an upright man,
+and thy conscience wouldn't let thee do anything as mean and spiteful
+as that. How could we rest in our graves if there was any one but an
+Atheling in Atheling?"
+
+"He is a disgrace to the name."
+
+"He is nothing of that kind. He will bring the old name new honour. See
+if he does not! And as for the Constitution of England, it is about as
+great a ruin as thy constitution was when thou hadst rheumatic fever, and
+couldn't turn thyself, nor help thyself, nor put a morsel of bread
+into thy mouth. But thou hadst a good doctor, and he set thee up; and a
+good House of Commons--Reforming Commons--will happen do as much for
+the country; though when every artisan and every farm labourer is hungry
+and naked, it will be hard to spread the plaster as far as the sore. It
+would make thy heart ache to hear what they suffer."
+
+"Don't bother thy head about weavers, and cutlers, and artisans. If
+the Agriculture of the country is taken care of--"
+
+"Now, John, do be quiet. There is not an idiot in the land who won't
+talk of Agriculture."
+
+"We have got to stick by the land, Maude."
+
+"The land will take care of itself. If thou wouldst only send for thy
+son, and have a little talk with him, he might let some light and wisdom
+into thee."
+
+"I have nothing to say on such subjects to Edgar Atheling--not a word."
+
+"If thou goest to Parliament, thou mayst have to 'say' to him, no
+matter whether thou wantest to or not; that is, unless thou art willing
+to let Edgar have both sides of the argument."
+
+"What tom-foolery art thou talking?"
+
+"I am only telling thee that Edgar is as like to go to Parliament as
+thou art."
+
+"To be sure--when beggars are kings."
+
+"Earl Grey will seat him--or Lord Durham; and I would advise thee to
+study up things a bit. There are new ideas about, John; and thou wouldst
+look foolish if thy own son had to put any of thy mistakes right for
+thee."
+
+"I suppose, Maude, thou still hast a bit of faith left in the Bible.
+And I'll warrant thou knowest every word it says about children obeying
+their parents, and honouring their parents, and so on. And I can
+remember thee telling Edgar, when he was a little lad, about Absalom
+going against his father, and what came of it; now then, is the Bible, as
+well as the Constitution, a ruin? Is it good for nothing but to be
+pitched into limbo, or to be 'reformed'? I'm astonished at thee!"
+
+"The Bible has nothing to do with politics, John. I wish it had!
+Happen then we would have a few wise-like, honest politicians. The
+Bible divides men into good men and bad men; but thou dividest all men
+into Tories and Radicals; and the Bible has nothing to do with either
+of them. I can tell thee that. Nay, but I'm wrong; it does say a deal
+about doing justice, and loving mercy, and treating your neighbour
+and poor working-folk as you would like to be treated yourself. Radicals
+can get a good deal out of the New Testament."
+
+"I don't believe a word of what thou art saying."
+
+"I don't wonder at that. Thou readest nothing but the newspapers; if
+thou didst happen to read a few words out of Christ's own mouth, thou
+wouldst say, 'Thou never heardest the like,' and thou wouldst think
+the man who quoted them wrote them out of his own head, and call him a
+Radical. Get off to thy bed, John. I can always tell when thou hast
+been drinking Rudby's port-wine. It is too heavy and heady for thee.
+As soon as thou art thyself again, I will tell thee what a grand son
+thou art the father of. My word! If the Duke gives thee a seat at his
+mahogany two or three times a year, thou art as proud as a peacock; now
+then, thy son Edgar is hob-nobbing with earls and lords every day of
+his life, and they are proud of his company."
+
+The Squire laughed boisterously. "It is time, Maude," he said, "I went
+to my bed; and it is high time for thee to wake up and get thy head on a
+feather pillow; then, perhaps, thou will not dream such raving nonsense."
+
+With these scornful words he left the room, and Mrs. Atheling rose
+and put away her knitting. She was satisfied with herself. She expected
+her mysterious words to keep the Squire awake with curiosity; and in
+such case, she was resolved to make another effort to reconcile her
+husband to his son. But the Squire gave her no opportunity; he slept
+with an indifferent continuity that it was useless to interrupt. Perhaps
+there was intention in this heavy sleep, for when he came downstairs
+in the morning he went at once to seek Kate. He soon saw her in the
+herb garden; for she had on a white dimity gown, and was standing
+upright, shading her eyes with her hands to watch his approach. A good
+breeze of wind from the wolds fluttered her snowy skirts, and tossed
+the penetrating scents of thyme and marjoram, mint and pennyroyal
+upward, and she drew them through her parted lips and distended nostrils.
+
+"They are so heavenly sweet!" she said with a smile of sensuous
+pleasure. "They smell like Paradise, Father."
+
+"Ay, herbs are good and healthy. The smell of them makes me hungry. I
+didn't see thee last night, Kitty; and I wanted to see thee."
+
+"I was so tired, Father. It was a day to tire any one. Was it not?"
+
+"I should say it was," he replied with conscious diplomacy. "Now what
+part of it pleased thee best?"
+
+"Well, Mr. North's visit was of course wonderful; and Lord Exham's
+visit was very pleasant. I enjoyed both; but Mr. North's news was so
+very surprising."
+
+"To be sure. What dost thou think of it?"
+
+"Of course, Edgar is on the other side, Father. In some respects that
+is a pity."
+
+"It is a shame! It is a great shame!"
+
+"Nay, nay, Father! We won't have 'shame' mixed up with Edgar. He
+is in dead earnest, and he has taken luck with him. Just think of our
+Edgar being one of Lord Durham's favourites, of him speaking all over
+England and Scotland for Reform. Mr. North says there is no one like
+him in the drawing-rooms of the Reform ladies; and no one like him on
+the Reform platforms; and he was made a member of the new Reform Club in
+London by acclamation. And Earl Grey will get him a seat in Parliament
+next election."
+
+"Who is this Mr. North?"
+
+"Why, Father! You heard him speak, and you 'threw' him down on the
+Green, you know."
+
+"_Oh! Him!_ Dost thou believe all this palaver on the word of a
+travelling mountebank?"
+
+"He is not a travelling mountebank. I am sure he is a gentleman. You
+shouldn't call a man names that you have 'thrown' fairly. You know
+better than that."
+
+"I know nothing about the lad. And he does not seem to have told thee
+anything about himself. As for thy mother--" and then he hesitated, and
+looked at Kate meaningly and inquiringly.
+
+"Mother liked him. She liked him very much indeed. He brought both
+mother and me a ring from Edgar," and she put out her hand and showed
+the Squire the little gold circle.
+
+"Trumpery rubbish!" he said scornfully. "It didn't cost half a crown.
+Give it to me, and I will get thee a ring worth wearing,--sapphires or
+rubies."
+
+"I would not part with it for loops and hoops of sapphires and rubies.
+Edgar sent it as a love-token; he wants his money for nobler things than
+rubies--but, dear me! you can't buy love for any money. Oh, Father!
+I do wish you would be friends with Edgar."
+
+"My little lass, I cannot be friends with any one if he goes against
+the land, and the King, and the Constitution. I am loyal straight
+through; up and down to-day, and to-morrow, and every day; and I can't
+bear traitors,--men that would sell their country for a bit of mob
+power or mob glory. All of Edgar's friends and neighbours are for the
+King and the Laws; and it shames me and pains me beyond everything to
+have a rascal and a Radical in my family. The Duke and his son are
+finger and thumb, buckle and belt; and Edgar and I ought to be the
+same. And it stands to reason that a father knows more than his own
+lad of twenty-six years old. What dost thou think of Lord Exham?"
+
+The question was asked at a venture; but Kate had no suspicion, and
+she answered frankly, "I think very well of him. He talked mostly of
+politics; but every one does that. It was pleasant to see him at our
+tea-table again."
+
+"To be sure. So he stayed to tea?"
+
+"Yes; did not mother tell you?"
+
+"Nay, we were talking of other things. What does he look like?"
+
+"I think he is much improved."
+
+"Well, he ought to be. He must have learned a little, and he has seen
+a lot since we saw him. Come, let us go and find out what kind of a
+breakfast mother can give us. I am hungry enough for two."
+
+So Kate lifted the herbs which she had cut into her garden apron, and
+cruddling close to her father's side, they went in together, with the
+smell of the thyme and marjoram all about them. Mrs. Atheling drew it in
+as they entered the parlour, and then turned to them with a smile. The
+Squire went to her side, and promptly kissed her. It was one of his ways
+to ignore their little tiffs; and this morning Mrs. Atheling was also
+agreeable. She looked into his eyes, and said:
+
+"Why, John! are you really awake. You lay like the Seven Sleepers when I
+got up, and I said to myself, 'John will sleep the clock round,' so
+Kate and I will have our breakfasts."
+
+"Nay, I have too much to look after, Maude." Then he turned the
+conversation to the farms, and talked of the draining to be done, and
+the meadows to be left for grass; but he eschewed politics altogether,
+and, greatly to Mrs. Atheling's wonder, never alluded to the information
+she had given him about their son Edgar. Did he really think she had
+been telling him a made-up story? She could not otherwise understand
+this self-control in her curious lord. However, sometime during the
+morning, Kate told her about the conversation in the herb garden; then
+she was content. She knew just where she had her husband; and the little
+laugh with which she terminated the conversation was her expression of
+conscious power over him, and of a retaliation quite within her reach.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTH
+
+THE DAWN OF LOVE
+
+
+There is always in every life some little part which even those dearer
+than life to us cannot enter. Kate had become conscious of this fact. She
+hoped her mother would not talk of Lord Exham; for she did not as yet
+understand anything about the feelings his return had evoked. She would
+have needed the uncertain, enigmatical language which comes in dreams
+to explain the "yes" and the "no" of the vague, trembling memories,
+prepossessions, and hopes which fluttered in her breast.
+
+Fortunately Mrs. Atheling had some dim perception of this condition, and
+without analysing her reasons, she was aware "it was best not to
+meddle" between two lives so surrounded by contradictious circumstances
+as were those of her daughter and Lord Exham. Besides, as she said to
+her husband, "It was no time for love-making, with the King dying,
+and the country on the quaking edge of revolution, and starvation and
+misery all over the land." And the Squire answered: "Exham has not one
+thought of love-making. He is far too much in with a lot of men who
+have the country and their own estates to save. He won't bother himself
+with women-folk now, whatever he may do in idle times."
+
+They had both forgotten, or their own love affair had been of such
+Arcadian straightness and simplicity that they had never learned Love's
+ability to domineer all circumstances that can stir this mortal frame.
+Exham had indeed enlisted himself with passionate earnestness in the
+cause of his class, which he called the cause of his country--but as the
+drop of
+
+    "lucent sirup tinct with cinnamon"
+
+is forever flavoured and perfumed by the spice, so Exham's life was
+coloured and prepossessed by the thought of the sweet girl who had been
+blended with so many of his purest and happiest hours.
+
+It was then of Kate he thought as he wandered about the stately rooms and
+beautiful gardens of Exham Hall. He was not oblivious of his engagements
+with the Duke and the tenants; but he was considering how best to keep
+these engagements, and yet not miss a visit to her. The dying King,
+the riotous land, were accidentals of his life and condition; his love
+for Kate Atheling was at the root of his existence; it was a fundamental
+of the past and of the future. For five years of constant change and
+movement, it had lain in abeyance; but old love is a dangerous thing
+to awaken; and Piers Exham found in doing this thing that every event
+of the past strengthened the influence of the present, and fixed his
+heart more passionately on the girl he had first found fair; the
+
+    --"rosebud set with little, wilful thorns,
+    And sweet as English airs could make her,"
+
+that had sung and swung herself into his affection when she was only
+twelve years old.
+
+He was however quite aware that any proposal to marry Kate Atheling
+would meet with prompt opposition from his family; indeed the Duke had
+already mentioned a very different alliance; and in that case, he did
+not doubt but that Squire Atheling would be equally resolved never to
+allow his daughter to enter a home where she would be regarded by any
+member of it as an intruder. But he put all such considerations for
+the present behind him. He said to himself, "The first thing to do, is
+to win Kate's love; with that sweet consciousness, I shall be ready for
+all opposition." For his heart kept assuring him that every trouble
+and obstacle has an hour in which it may be conquered,--an hour when
+Fate and Will become One, and are then as irresistible as a great force
+of Nature. He was sure the hour for this conflict had not yet come.
+It was the day for a different fight. His home, his estate, his title,
+and all the privileges of his nobility were in danger. When they were
+placed beyond peril, then he would fight for the wife he wanted, and
+win her against all opposition. And who could tell in what way the
+first conflict would bring forth circumstances to insure victory to the
+last?
+
+He was deeply in love; he was full of hope; he was at Atheling some part
+of every day. If he came in the afternoon, Kate's pony was saddled, and
+they rode far and away, to where the shadows and sunshine elbowed
+one another on the moors. The golden gorse shed its perfume over their
+heads; the linnets sang to them of love; they talked, and laughed, and
+rode swiftly until their pace brought them among the mountains that
+looked like a Titanic staircase going up to the skies. There, they always
+drew rein, and went slower, and spoke softer, and indeed often became
+quite silent, and knew such silence to be the sweetest eloquence. Then
+after a little interval Piers would say one word, "_Kate!_" and
+Kate only answer with a blush, and a smile, and an upturned face. For
+Love can put a volume in four letters; and souls say in a glance what
+a thousand words would only blunder about. Then there was the gallop
+home, and the merry cup of tea, and the saunter in the garden, and the
+long tender "good-bye" at the threshold where the damask roses made
+the air heavy with their sweetness.
+
+So Lord Exham did not find his politics hard to bear with such delicious
+experiences between whiles. And Kate? What were Kate's experiences?
+Oh, any woman who has once loved, any pure girl who longs to love, may
+divine them! For Love is always the same. The tale he told Kate on the
+Atheling moors and under the damask roses was the very same tale he
+told high in Paradise by the four rivers where the first roses blew.
+
+As the summer advanced, startling notes from the outside world forced
+themselves into this heavenly solitude. On the twenty-sixth of June,
+King George died; and this death proved to be the first of a series of
+great events. Piers felt it to be a warning bell. It said to him, "The
+charming overture of Love, with its restless pleasure, its delicate
+hopes and fears, is nearly at an end." He had been with Kate for
+three divine hours. They had sat among the brackens at the foot of the
+mountains, and been twenty times on the very point of saying audibly
+the word "Love!" and twenty times had felt the delicious uncertainty
+of non-confession to be too sweet for surrender. Nay, they did not
+reason about it; they simply obeyed that wise, natural self-restraint
+which knew its own hour, and would not hurry it.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+With a sigh of rapture, they rose as the sun began to wester, and rode
+slowly back to Atheling. No one was at the door to receive them, and
+Kate wondered a little; but when they entered the hall, the omission
+was at once understood. There was a large open fireplace at the
+northern extremity, and over it the Atheling arms, with their motto,
+"_Feare God! Honour the Kinge! Laus Deo!_" Squire Atheling was
+draping this panel with crape; and Mrs. Atheling stood near him with
+some streamers of the gloomy fabric in her hands. She pointed to the
+King's picture--which already wore the emblem of mourning--and said,
+"The King is dead."
+
+"The King lives! God save the King!" replied the Squire, instantly.
+"God save King William the Fourth!"
+
+Then all the clocks in the house were stopped, and draped, and when this
+ceremony was over, they had tea together. And as it is a Yorkshire
+custom to make funeral feasts, Mrs. Atheling gave to the meal an air
+of special entertainment. The royal Derby china added its splendour
+to the fine old silver and delicate damask. There were delicious
+cheese-cakes, and Queen's-cakes, and savoury potted meats, and fresh
+crumpets; and the ripe red strawberries filled the room with their
+ethereal scent. No one was at all depressed by the news. If King George
+was dead, King William was alive; and the Squire thought, "Everything
+might be hoped from 'The Sailor King.' Why!" he said, "he is that
+good-natured he won't say a bad word about the Reformers; though, God
+knows, they are a disgrace to themselves, and to all that back them up."
+
+"There will now be a general election," said Exham positively.
+
+"To be sure," answered the Squire. "And it is to be hoped we may get
+together a few men that will take the Bull of Reform by the horns, and
+put a stop to that nonsense forever in England."
+
+"Before they do that," said Mrs. Atheling, "they will have to consider
+the swarms of people they have brought up in dirt, and rags, and misery.
+For if they don't, they will bring ruin to the nation that owns them."
+
+"King William is a fighter. He will back the Law with bayonets, if he
+thinks it right," said the Squire.
+
+Mrs. Atheling looked at him indignantly. Then, putting her cup down
+with unmistakable emphasis, she exclaimed, "The Lord forgive thee,
+John Atheling! I'll say one thing, and I'll say it now, and forever,
+it isn't law backed with bayonets that has saved England so far; it is
+the bit of religion in every man's heart, and his trust that somehow
+God will see him righted. If it wasn't for that it would have been all
+up with our set long ago."
+
+"That is just the way women talk politics," said the Squire, with some
+contempt. "If there was nothing else in this Reform business to make a
+man sick, the way they have given in to women, and got them to form clubs
+and make speeches, is enough to set any sensible person against Reform;
+and if there is no way of talking people into doing what is right--then
+they must be _made_ to do right; and that's all there is about it."
+
+"Very well, John; but there are two sides to play at making other
+people do right. I'll tell you one thing, the Government will have to
+take a lot of things into consideration before they put their trust in
+backing law with bayonets. It won't work! Let them start doing it, and
+we shall all find ourselves in a wrong box."
+
+"I think there is much good sense in what Mrs. Atheling believes," said
+Lord Exham.
+
+"And as for the Reformers getting round the women of the country,"
+she continued, "that is as it should be. Men have done all the governing
+for six thousand years; and, in the main, they have made a very bad job
+of it. Happen, a few kind-hearted women would help things forwarder.
+There is going to be some alterations, you may depend upon it, John."
+
+"Father," said Kate, "you had better not argue with mother. She knows
+a deal more about the country than you think she does; and mother is
+always right."
+
+"To be sure, Kate. To hear mother talk, she knows a lot; but if she
+would take my advice, she would forget a lot, and try and learn
+something better." Then touching his wife's hand, he continued,
+"Maude, I always did believe thou wert in favour of the land, and
+the law, and the King."
+
+"I don't know that I ever said such a thing, John; but thou mayst have
+believed it. What I _thought_, was another matter. And I am beginning
+to think aloud now, that makes all the difference."
+
+Such divided opinions were in every household; and yet, upon the
+whole, the death of the selfish, intolerant George was a hopeful
+event. When people are desperate, any change is a promise; and William
+had a reputation not only for good nature, but also for that love of
+fair play which is the first article of an Englishman's personal
+creed. He came to the throne on the twenty-sixth of June; and on the
+twenty-ninth Parliament resumed its sittings. Mr. Brougham led the
+opposition, and violent debates and unmeasured language distinguished
+the short session. The Duke of Wellington, representing the Government,
+was prominently bitter against Reform of every kind; and Mr. Brougham
+boldly declared that any Minister now hoping to rule either by royal
+favour or military power would be overwhelmed. In less than a month
+the King prorogued Parliament in person, and in so doing, congratulated
+his country on the tranquillity of Europe. Forty-eight hours afterwards,
+France was insurgent, and Paris in arms. Three days of most determined
+fighting followed; and then Charles the Tenth was driven from his
+throne, and the white flag of the Bourbon tyranny gave place to the
+Tri-colour of Liberty.
+
+Now if there had been a direct electric or magnetic current between
+England and the Continent, the effect could not have been more
+sympathetically startling; and these three memorable "Days of
+July" in Paris impelled forward, with an irresistible impetus, the
+cause of freedom in England. The nobility and the landed gentry were
+gravely aware of this effect; and the great middle class, and the
+working men in every county, were stirred to more hopeful and united
+action. Far and wide the people began anew to express, in various
+ways, their determination to have the Tory Ministers dismissed, and a
+Liberal Government in favour of Reform inaugurated.
+
+For the first time the Squire was anxious. For the first time he saw
+and felt positive symptoms of insubordination among his own people.
+Pickering's barns were burnt one night; and a few nights afterwards,
+Rudby's hay-ricks. Squire Atheling was a man of prompt action; one
+well disposed to do in his own manor what he expected the Government
+to do in the country,--take the Reform bull by the horns. He sent for
+all his labourers to meet him in the farm court at Atheling; and when
+they were gathered there, he stood up on the stone wall which enclosed
+one side of it and said in his strong, resonant voice,--
+
+"Now, men of Atheling manor and village, you have been sulky and ugly
+for two or three weeks. You aren't sulky and ugly without knowing _why_
+you are so. If you are Yorkshiremen worth your bread and bacon, you will
+out with your grievance--whatever it is. Tom Gisburn, what is it?"
+
+"We can't starve any longer, Squire. We want two shillings a week more
+wages. Me and mine would hev been in t' churchyard if thy Missis hed
+been as hard-hearted as thysen."
+
+"I will give you all one shilling a week more."
+
+"Nay, but a shilling won't do. Thy Missis is good, and Miss Kate is
+good; but we want our rights; and we hev made up our minds that two
+shillings a week more wage will nobbut barely cover them. We are varry
+poor, Squire! Varry poor indeed!"
+
+The man spoke sadly and respectfully; and the Squire looked at him,
+and at the stolid, anxious faces around with an angry pity. "I'll tell
+you what, men," he continued; "everything in England is going to the
+devil. Englishmen are getting as ill to do with as a lot of grumbling,
+contrary, bombastic Frenchers. If you'll promise me to stand by the
+King, and the land, and the laws, and give these trouble-making Reformers
+a dip in the horse-pond if any of them come to Atheling again--why, then,
+I will give you all--every one of you--two shillings a week more wage."
+
+"Nay, Squire, we'll not sell oursens for two shillings a week; not one
+of us--eh, men?" and Gisburn looked at his fellows interrogatively.
+
+"Sell oursens!" replied the Squire's blacksmith, a big, hungry-looking
+fellow in a leather apron; "no! no, Squire! Thou oughtest to know us
+better. Sell oursens! Not for all the gold guineas in Yorkshire! We'll
+sell thee our labour for two shilling a week more wage, and thankful;
+but our will, and our good-will, thou can't buy for any money."
+
+There was a subdued cheer at these words from the men, and the Squire's
+face suddenly lightened. His best self put his lower self behind him.
+"Sawley," he answered, "thou art well nicknamed 'Straight-up!' and I
+don't know but what I'm very proud of such an independent, honourable
+lot of men. Such as you won't let the land suffer. Remember, you were
+all born on it, and you'll like enough be buried in it. Stand by the
+land then; and if two shillings a week more wage will make you happy, you
+shall have it,--if I sell the gold buttons off my coat to pay it. Are
+we friends now?"
+
+A hearty shout answered the question, and the Squire continued, "Then go
+into the barn, and eat and drink your fill. You'll find a barrel of old
+ale, and some roast beef, and wheat bread there."
+
+In this way he turned the popular discontent from Atheling, and doubtless
+saved his barns and hay-ricks; but he went into his house angry at the
+men, and angry at his wife and daughter. They had evidently been aiding
+and succouring these discontents and their families; and--as he took
+care to point out to Kate--evil and not good had been the result. "I
+have to give now as a right," he said, "what thee and thy mother have
+been giving as a kindness!" And his temper was not improved by hearing
+from the barn the noisy "huzzas" with which the name of "the young
+Squire" was received, and his health drank.
+
+"Wife, and son, and daughter! all of them against me! I wonder what
+I have done to be served in such a way?" he exclaimed sorrowfully.
+And then Kate forgot everything about politics. She said all kinds of
+consoling words without any regard for the Reform Bill, and, with the
+sweetest kisses, promised her father whatever she thought would make him
+happy. It is an unreasonable, delightful way that belongs to loving
+women; and God help both men and women when they are too wise for such
+sweet deceptions!
+
+Yet the Squire carried a hot, restless heart to the Duke's meeting that
+night; and he was not pleased to find that the tactics he had used with
+his labourers met with general and great disapproval. Those men who had
+already suffered loss, and those who knew that they had gone beyond a
+conciliating policy, said some ugly words about "knuckling down,"
+and it required all the Duke's wisdom and influence to represent it as
+"a wise temporary concession, to be recalled as soon as the election
+was over, and the Tory Government safely reinstalled."
+
+Upon the whole, then, Squire Atheling had not much satisfaction in his
+position; and every day brought some new tale of thrilling interest. All
+England was living a romance; and people got so used to continual
+excitement that they set the homeliest experiences of life to great
+historical events. During the six weeks following the death of King
+George the Fourth occurred the new King's coronation, the dissolution
+of Parliament, the "Three Days of July," and the landing of the
+exiled French King in England; all of these things being accompanied
+by agrarian outrages in the farming districts, the destruction of
+machinery in the manufacturing towns, and constant political tumults
+wherever men congregated.
+
+The next six weeks were even more restless and excited. The French
+King was a constant subject of interest to the Reformers; for was he
+not a stupendous example of the triumph of Liberal principles? He was
+reported first at Lulworth Castle in Devonshire. Then he went to Holyrood
+Palace in Edinburgh. The Scotch Reformers resented his presence, and
+perpetually insulted him, until Sir Walter Scott made a manly appeal for
+the fallen tyrant. And while the Bourbon sat in Holyrood, a sign and
+a text for all lovers of Freedom, England was in the direst storm and
+stress of a general election. The men of the Fen Country were rising.
+The Universities were arming their students. There was rioting in this
+city and that city. The Tories were gaining. The Reformers were gaining.
+Both sides were calling passionately on the women of the country to come
+to their help, without it seeming to occur to either that if women had
+political influence, they had also political rights.
+
+But the end was just what all these events predicated. When the election
+was over, the Tory Government had lost fifty votes in the House of
+Commons; but Piers Exham was Member of Parliament for the borough of
+Gaythorne, and Squire Atheling was the Representative of the Twenty-two
+Tory citizens of the village of Asketh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTH
+
+ANNABEL VYNER
+
+
+The first chapter of Kate's and Piers' love-story was told to these
+stirring events. They were like a _trumpet obligato_ in the distance
+thrilling their hearts with a keener zest and a wider sympathy. True,
+the sympathy was not always in unison, for Piers was an inflexible
+partisan of his own order, yet in some directions Kate's feelings
+were in perfect accord. For instance, at Exham Hall and at Atheling
+Manor-house, there was the same terror of the mob's firebrand, and
+the same constant watch for its prevention. These buildings were not
+only the cherished homes of families; they were houses of national pride
+and record. Yet many such had perished in the unreasoning anger of
+multitudes mad with suffering and a sense of wrong; and the Squire
+and the Lord alike kept an unceasing watch over their habitations. On
+this subject, all were unanimous; and the fears, and frights, and
+suspicions relating to it drew the families into much closer sympathy.
+
+After the election was over, there was a rapid subsidence of public
+feeling; the people had taken the first step triumphantly; and they
+were willing to wait for its results. Then the Richmoor family began
+to consider an immediate removal to London, and, as a preparatory
+courtesy, gave a large dinner party at the Castle. As Kate was not
+yet in society, she had no invitation; but the Squire and Mrs. Atheling
+were specially honoured guests.
+
+"The Squire has been of immense service to me," said Richmoor to
+his Duchess. "A man so sincere and candid I have seldom met. He has
+spoken well for us, simply and to the point, and I wish you to pay
+marked attention to Mrs. Atheling."
+
+"Of course, if you desire it, I will do so. Who was Mrs. Atheling? Is
+she likely to be detrimental in town or troublesome?"
+
+"She is the daughter of the late Thomas Hardwicke, of Hardwicke--as you
+know, a very ancient county family. She had a good fortune; in fact, she
+brought the Squire the Manor of Belward."
+
+"In appearance, is she presentable?"
+
+"She was very handsome some years ago. I have not seen her for a long
+time."
+
+"I dare say she has grown stout and red; and she will probably wear blue
+satin in honour of her husband's Tory principles. These county dames
+always think it necessary to wear their party colours. I counted eleven
+blue satin dresses at our last election dinner."
+
+"Even if she does wear blue satin, I should like you to be exceedingly
+civil to her."
+
+"I suppose you know that Piers has been at Atheling a great deal. I
+heard in some way that--in fact, Duke, that Piers and Miss Atheling were
+generally considered lovers."
+
+The Duke laughed. "I think I understand Piers," he said. "These
+incendiary terrors have drawn people together; and there has also been
+the election business as well. Many perfectly necessary natural causes
+have taken Piers to Atheling."
+
+"Miss Atheling, for instance!"
+
+"Oh, perhaps so! Why not? When I was a young man, I thought it both
+necessary and natural to have a pretty girl to ride and walk with. But
+riding and walking with a lovely girl is one thing; marrying her is
+another. Piers knows that he is expected to marry Annabel Vyner; he
+knows that for many reasons it will be well for him to do so. And above
+all other considerations, Piers puts his family and his caste."
+
+The Duke's absolute confidence in his son satisfied the Duchess. She
+looked upon her husband as a man of wonderful penetration and invincible
+wisdom. If he was not uneasy about Piers and Miss Atheling, there was
+no necessity for her to carry an anxious thought on the subject; and she
+was glad to be fully released from it. Yet she had more than a passing
+curiosity about Kate's mother. The Squire she had frequently seen,
+both in the pink of the hunting-field and in the quieter dress of the
+dinner-table. But it so happened that she had never met Mrs. Atheling;
+and, on entering the great drawing-room, her eyes sought the only lady
+present who was a stranger to her.
+
+Mrs. Atheling was standing at the Duke's side; and she went directly
+to her, taking note, as she did so, of the beauty, style, and physical
+grace that distinguished the lady. She saw that she wore a gown--not of
+blue--but of heavy black satin, that it fell away from her fine throat
+and shoulders, and showed her arms in all their exquisite form and
+colour. She saw also that her dark hair was dressed well on the top of
+the head in _bouillones_ curls, and that the only ornament she wore
+was among them,--a comb of wrought gold set with diamonds,--and that
+otherwise neither brooch nor bracelet, pendant nor ruffle of lace broke
+the noble lines of her figure or the rich folds of her gown. And the
+Duchess was both astonished and pleased with a toilet so distinguished;
+she assured herself in this passing investigation that Mrs. Atheling
+was quite "presentable," and also probably desirable.
+
+The favourable impression was strengthened in that hour after dinner
+when ladies left to their own devices either become disagreeable or
+confidential. The Duchess and Mrs. Atheling fell into the latter mood,
+and their early removal to London was the first topic of conversation.
+
+"We have no house in town," said Mrs. Atheling; "but the Squire has
+rented one that belonged to the late General Vyner. It is in very good
+condition, I hear, though we may have to stay a few days at '_The
+Clarendon_.'"
+
+"How strange! I mean that it is strange you should have rented the
+General's house. Did you make the arrangement with the Duke?"
+
+"No, indeed; with a Mr. Pownell who is a large house agent."
+
+"Mr. Pownell attends to the Duke's London property. I am sure he will
+be delighted to know his old friend's home is in such good hands. I
+wonder if you have heard that the Duke is General Vyner's executor and
+the guardian of his daughter?"
+
+Mrs. Atheling made a motion indicative of her ignorance and her
+astonishment, and the Duchess continued, "It is quite a charge
+everyway; but there was a life-long friendship between the two men,
+and Annabel will come to us almost like a daughter."
+
+"A great charge though," answered Mrs. Atheling, "especially if she
+is yet to educate."
+
+"Her education is finished. She is twenty-two years of age. It is her
+wealth which will make my position an anxious one. It is not an easy
+thing to chaperon a great heiress."
+
+"And if she is beautiful, that will add to the difficulty," said Mrs.
+Atheling.
+
+"I have never seen Miss Vyner. I cannot tell you whether she is
+beautiful or not so. She joins us in London, and my first duty will be to
+present her at the next drawing-room."
+
+A little sensitive pause followed this statement,--a pause so sensitive
+that the Duchess divined the desire in Mrs. Atheling's heart; and Mrs.
+Atheling felt the hesitancy and wavering inclination weighing her wish
+in the thoughts of the Duchess. A sudden, straight glance from Mrs.
+Atheling's eyes decided the question.
+
+"I should like to present Miss Atheling at the same time, if you have
+no objection," she added. And Mrs. Atheling's pleasure was so great,
+and her thanks so candid and positive, that the Duchess accepted the
+situation she had placed herself in with apparent satisfaction. Yet
+she wondered _why_ she had made the offer. She felt as if the favour
+had been obtained against her will. She was half afraid in the very
+moment of the proposal that she was doing an imprudent thing. But when
+she had done it, she never thought of withdrawing from a position she
+must have taken voluntarily. On the contrary, she affected a great
+interest in the event, and talked of "the ceremonies Miss Atheling
+must make herself familiar with," of the probable date at which the
+function would take place, and of the dress and ornaments fitting for
+the occasion. "And the young people must meet each other as soon as
+possible," she continued.
+
+Then the gentlemen entered the drawing-room, and the groups scattered.
+The Duchess left Mrs. Atheling; and Lord Exham took the chair she
+vacated. And the happy mother was far too simple, and too single-hearted
+to keep her pleasure to herself. She told Exham of the honour intended
+Kate, and was a little dashed by the manner in which he heard the
+news. He was ashamed of it himself; but he could not at once conquer
+the feeling of jealousy which assailed him. It was the first time
+that the image of Kate had been presented to him in company with any but
+Piers Exham; and it gave him real suffering to associate it with the
+attention and admiration her beauty was sure to challenge from all
+and sundry who would be present at a court drawing-room. However, he made
+the necessary assurances of pleasure, and Mrs. Atheling was not a woman
+who went motive hunting. She took a friend's words at their face value.
+
+Of course Kate was delighted, and the Squire perhaps more so; for
+though he pretended to think it "all a bit of nonsense," he opened
+his purse-strings wide, and told his wife and daughter to "help
+themselves." So the last few days at Atheling were set to the dreams,
+and hopes, and expectations of that gay social life which always has
+a charm for youth. The clash of party warfare, the wailing of want, the
+insistent claims of justice,--all these voices were temporarily hushed.
+They had become monotonous and, to Kate, suddenly uninteresting. What
+was the passing of a Reform Bill to a girl of nineteen, when there was
+such a thing as a court drawing-room in expectation?
+
+It made her restless and anxious during the two weeks occupied by their
+removal from Atheling, and their settlement in London. And though the
+great city was full of wonder and interest, and the new splendours of
+the Vyner mansion very satisfactory, yet she could not enjoy these
+things until there was some token that the Duchess remembered, and
+intended to fulfil her promise. If only Piers had been in London! But
+Piers had been detained in Yorkshire, and was not expected until the
+formal opening of Parliament, so that Kate could only speculate, and
+wish, and fear, and in so doing discount her present, and forestall
+her future pleasures. So prodigal is youth of happiness and feeling!
+
+However, at the end of October, Mrs. Atheling received a letter from
+the Duchess. It reminded her of the drawing-room, and asked Miss
+Atheling's presence that evening in order to meet Miss Vyner, and
+consult with her about the dresses to be worn. The visit was to be
+perfectly informal; but even an informal visit to Richmoor House was a
+great event to Kate. And how pretty she was when she came into her
+father's and mother's presence, dressed for the occasion! Mrs.
+Atheling looked at her with a smile of satisfaction, and the Squire
+instantly rose, and took her on his arm to the waiting carriage. This
+carriage was the Squire's pet extravagance, and there was not a more
+splendidly-appointed equipage in London. Its horses were of the finest
+that Yorkshire breeds; the servant's liveries irreproachable in taste;
+and when he saw his daughter's white figure against its rich, blue
+linings he was satisfied with his outlay.
+
+Richmoor House was soon reached, and Kate looked with wonder at its
+noble frontage, and its stone colonnades. How much greater was her
+wonder when she stepped into its interior vestibule! This vestibule was
+eighty-two feet long, by more than twelve feet wide; it was ornamented
+with Doric columns and fine carvings, and at each end there was a
+colossal staircase. Up one of these stately ways Kate was conducted
+into a gallery full of fine paintings, and forming the corridor on
+which the one hundred and fifty rooms appropriated to the use of the
+family opened. Here, one servant after another escorted her, until she
+was left with a woman-in-waiting, who led her into a tiring-room and then
+assisted Kate's own maid to remove her mistress's wrap and hood, and
+tie in pretty bows her white satin sandals. The simple girl felt as if
+she was in a dream, and she accepted all this attention with the calm
+composure of a dream-maiden. It was just like one of the old fairy tales
+she used to live in. She was an enchanted princess in an enchanted
+castle, and all she had to do, was to be passive in the hands of her
+destiny. Transient and illogical as this feeling was, it gave to her
+manner a singular air of serene confidence, and the Duchess noticed and
+approved it. She was relieved at once from any apprehension of anything
+_malapropos_ in The Presence.
+
+She went forward to meet Kate, and was both astonished and pleased at
+her _protegee's_ appearance. The white llama in which she was gowned,
+its simple trimming of white satin, and its pretty accessories of
+white slippers and gloves satisfied both the pride and the taste of
+the Duchess. Any less attention to costume she would have felt as a
+want of respect towards herself; any more extravagant display would
+have indicated vulgar display and a due want of subordination to her
+own rank and age. But Kate offended no feeling, and she took her by
+the hand and led her down the long room. At its extremity there was a
+group of girls: one was standing; the others were sitting on a sofa
+before her. The eyes of all were fastened on Kate as she approached;
+but she was not disturbed by this scrutiny. She had all the strength and
+assurance which comes from a proper and moderate toilet; and she was even
+competent to do her own share of observation.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The three girls sitting on the sofa offered no points of remark or
+speculation. They were the three Ladies Anne, Mary, and Charlotte
+Warwick; and all alike had the beauty of youth, the grace of noble
+nurture, and the pretty garments indicative of their station. But the
+young lady standing was of a different character. Her personality
+pervaded the space in which she stood; she domineered with a look; and
+Kate knew instinctively that this girl was Annabel Vyner. The knowledge
+came with a little shock, a sudden failing of heart, a presentiment. She
+had given her hand with a pleasant impulse, and without consideration,
+to the Ladies Warwick; she did not offer it to Annabel; and yet she was
+not aware of the omission. All of these girls were intending to make a
+Court _debut_, and at that moment were discussing its necessities. Kate
+at first took little part in this discussion. Mrs. Atheling had already
+decided on the costume she thought most suitable for her daughter;
+and Kate was quite satisfied with her choice. Miss Vyner was however
+dictating to Lady Charlotte Warwick what she ought to wear; and Kate
+watched with a curious wonder this girlish oracle, laying down laws
+for others her equal in age, and far more than her equal in rank and
+social position.
+
+Miss Vyner was not beautiful; but she possessed an irresistible
+fascination. She was large, and rather heavy. She reminded one of a
+roughhewn granite statue of old Egypt; and she was just as magnificently
+imposing. Her hair was long, and strong, and wavy; her eyes very black
+and intrepid, but capable of liquid, languishing expressions, full of
+enchantment. Her nose, though thick and square at the end, had wide,
+sensitive nostrils; and her fine, red lips showed white and dazzling
+teeth. But it was the sense of power and plenitude of life which she
+possessed which gave her that natural authority, whose influence all
+felt, and few analysed or disputed.
+
+She was quite aware that standing was a becoming posture, and that it
+gave to her a certain power over the girlish figures who seemed to sit
+at her feet. It was not long, however, before Kate felt an instinctive
+rebellion against the position assigned her; she knew that it put her
+in an unfair subordination; and she rose from her chair, and stood
+leaning against the Broadwood piano at her side. The action arrested Miss
+Vyner's attention. She stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence,
+and, looking steadily at Kate, said suavely, as she pushed the chair
+slightly,--
+
+"Do sit down, Miss Atheling."
+
+"No, thank you," answered Kate. "I have been sitting all day. I am
+tired of sitting."
+
+Then Annabel gave her a still more searching look, and something came
+into Kate's eyes which she understood; for she smiled as she went on
+with her little dictation; but the thought in her heart was, "So you
+have thrown down the glove, Miss Atheling!"
+
+Nothing however of this incipient defiance was noticeable; and Annabel's
+attention was almost immediately afterwards diverted from her companions.
+For in the middle of one of her fine descriptions of an Indian court, she
+observed a sudden loss of interest, and a simultaneous direction of
+every glance towards the upper end of the room. The Duchess was
+approaching, and with her, a young man in dinner costume. A crimson
+flush rushed over Kate's neck and face; she dropped her eyes, but
+could not restrain the faint smile that came and went like a flash
+of light.
+
+"It is Lord Exham," she said in a low voice to Anne Warwick; and
+the Ladies nodded slightly, and continued a desultory conversation,
+they hardly knew what about. But Annabel stood erect and silent. She
+glanced once at Kate, and then turned the full blaze of her dazzling
+eyes upon the advancing nobleman. For once, their magnetic rays were
+ineffectual. The Duchess, on her son's arrival, had notified him of
+the ladies present; and Kate Atheling was the lodestar which drew his
+first attention. He had in the button-hole of his coat a few Michaelmas
+daisies, and after speaking to the other ladies, he put them into Kate's
+hand, saying, "I gathered them in Atheling garden. Do you remember the
+bush by the swing in the laurel walk? I thought you would like to have
+them." And Kate said "thank you" in the way that Piers perfectly
+understood and appreciated, though it seemed to be of the most formal
+kind.
+
+The dinner was a family dinner, but far from being tiresome or dull. The
+Duke and Lord Exham had both adventures to tell. The latter in passing
+through a little market-town had seen the hungry people take the wheat
+from the grain-market by force, and said he had been delayed a little
+by the circumstance.
+
+"But why?" asked the Duchess.
+
+"There were some arrests made; and after all, one cannot see hungry
+men and women punished for taking food." There was silence after
+this remark, and Kate glanced at Exham, whose veiled eyes, cast upon
+the glass of wine he held in his hand, betrayed nothing. But when he
+lifted them, they caught something from Kate's eyes, and an almost
+imperceptible smile passed from face to face. No one asked Exham for
+further particulars; and the Duke hurriedly changed the subject.
+"Where do you think I took lunch to-day?" he asked.
+
+"At Stephen's," answered the Duchess.
+
+"Not likely," he replied. "I am neither a fashionable officer, nor
+a dandy about town. If I had asked for lunch there, the waiters would
+have stared solemnly, and told me there was no table vacant."
+
+"As you want horses, perhaps you went to Limmers," said Exham.
+
+"No. I met a party of gentlemen and ladies going to Whitbread's
+Brewery, and I went with them. We had a steak done on a hot malt shovel,
+and plenty of stout to wash it down. There were quite a number of
+visitors there; it has become one of the sights of London. Then I rode as
+far as the Philosophical Society, and heard a lecture on a new chemical
+force."
+
+"The Archbishop does not approve of your devotion to Science," said
+the Duchess, reprovingly.
+
+"I know it," he answered. "All our clergy regard Science as a new kind
+of sin. I saw the Archbishop later, at a very interesting ceremony,--the
+deposition in Whitehall Chapel of twelve Standards taken in Andalusia
+by the personal bravery of our soldiers."
+
+"I wish I had seen that ceremony," said Kate.
+
+"And I wish I had myself been one of the heroes carrying the Standard
+I had won," added Annabel.
+
+The Duke smiled at the pretty volunteers, and continued, "It was a
+very interesting sight. Three royal Dukes, many Generals and foreign
+Ambassadors, and the finest troops in London were present. We had some
+good music, and a short religious service, and then the Archbishop
+deposited the flags on each side of the Altar."
+
+"I like these military ceremonies," said the Duchess. "I shall not
+forget the Proclamation of Peace after Waterloo. What a procession of
+mediaeval splendour it was!"
+
+"I remember it, though I was only a little boy," said Exham. "The
+Proclamation was read three times,--at Temple Bar, at Charing Cross,
+and at The Royal Exchange. The blast of trumpets before and after each
+reading!--I can hear it yet!"
+
+"And the Thanksgiving at St. Paul's after the procession was just as
+impressive," continued the Duchess. "The Prince Regent and the Duke of
+Wellington walked together, and Wellington carried the Sword of State. It
+was a gorgeous festival set to trumpets and drums, and the roll of organ
+music, and the seraphic singing of '_Lo! the conquering hero comes_.'
+The Duke could have asked England for anything he desired that day."
+
+"Yet he is very unpopular now," said Kate, timidly. "Even my father
+thinks he carries everything with too high a hand."
+
+"His military training must be considered, Miss Atheling," said the
+Duke. "And the country needs a tight rein now."
+
+"He may hold it too tight," said Exham, in a low voice.
+
+Then the conversation was turned to the theatres, and while they were
+talking, Squire Atheling was introduced. He had called to escort his
+daughter home; and after a short delay, Kate was ready to accompany
+him. The Duke and the Squire--who were deep in some item of political
+news--went to the entrance hall together; and Lord Exham took Kate's
+hand, and led her down the great stairway. It was now lighted with a
+profusion of wax candles in silver candelabra. They were too happy to
+speak, and there was no need of speech. Like two notes of music made
+for each other, though dissimilar, they were one; and the melody in
+the heart of Piers was the melody in the heart of Kate. The unison was
+perfect; why then should it be explained? Very slowly they came down
+the low broad steps, hardly feeling their feet upon them; for spirit
+mingled with spirit, and gave them the sense of ethereal motion.
+
+When they reached the vestibule, Kate's maid advanced and threw round
+her a wrap of pink silk, trimmed with minever; and as Piers watched the
+shrouding of her rose-like face in the pretty hood, a sudden depression
+came like a cloud over him. Oh, yes! True love has these moments of
+deep gloom, in which intense feeling suspends both movement and speech.
+He could only look into the warm, secret foldings of silk and fur which
+hid Kate's beauty; he had not even the common words of courtesy at
+his command; but Kate divined the much warmer "good-night" that was
+masked by the formal bow and uncovered head.
+
+After the departure of the Athelings, father and son walked silently up
+the stairs together; but at the top of them, the Duke paused and said,
+"Piers, the King opens Parliament on the Second of November. We have
+only three days' truce. Then for the fight."
+
+"We have foemen worthy of our steel. Grey--Durham--Brougham--Russel and
+Graham. They will not easily be put down."
+
+"We shall win."
+
+"Perhaps. The House of Lords is very near of one mind. Will you come to
+my smoking-room and have a pipe of Turkish?"
+
+"I must see the ladies again; afterwards I may do so."
+
+With these words they parted, and Piers went dreamily along the state
+corridor. In its dim, soft light, he suddenly saw Miss Vyner approaching
+him. He was thinking of Kate; but he had no wish to escape Annabel. He
+was even interested in watching her splendid figure in motion. Only from
+some Indian loom had come that marvellous tissue of vivid scarlet with
+its embroidery of golden butterflies. It made her look like some superb
+flower. She smiled as she reached Piers, and said,--
+
+"I only am left to wish you a 'good-night and happy dreams.'The Ladies
+Warwick were sleepy, the Duchess longing to be rid of such a lot of
+tiresome girls, and I--"
+
+"What of 'I'?" he asked with a sudden, unaccountable interest.
+
+"I am going to the Land where I always go in sleep. I shut my eyes, and
+I am there."
+
+"Then, 'Good-night.'"
+
+"Good-night." She put her little, warm, brown hand, flashing with gems,
+into his; and then with one long, unwinking gaze--in which she caught
+Piers' gaze--she strangely troubled the young man. His blood grew hot as
+fire; his heart bounded; his face was like a flame; and he clasped her
+hand with an unconscious fervour. She laughed lightly, drew it away,
+and passed on. But as she did so, the Indian scarf she had over her
+arm trailed across his feet, and thrilled him like some living thing.
+He had a sense of intoxication, and he hurried forward to his own room,
+and threw himself into a chair.
+
+"It is that strange perfume that clings around her," he said in a
+voice of controlled excitement. "I perceived it as soon as I met her.
+It makes me drowsy. It makes me feverish--and yet how delicious it is!"
+He threw his head backward, and lay with closed eyes, moving neither
+hand nor foot for some minutes. Then he rose, and began to walk about
+the room, lifting and putting down books, and papers, and odd trifles,
+as they came in the way of his restless fingers. And when at last he
+found speech, it was to reproach himself--his real self--the man within
+him.
+
+"You, poor, weak, false-hearted lover!" he muttered bitterly. "Piers
+Exham! You hardly needed temptation. I am ashamed of you! Ashamed of
+you, Piers! Oh, Kate! I have been false to you. It was only a passing
+thought, Kate; but you would not have given to another even a passing
+thought. Forgive me. _O Thou Dear One!_"
+
+"Thou Dear One!" These three words had a meaning of inexpressible
+tenderness to him. For one night,--when as yet their Love was but
+learning to speak,--one warm, sweet July night, as they stood under the
+damask roses, he said to Kate,--
+
+"How beautiful are the words and tones which your mother uses to the
+Squire. She does not speak thus to every one."
+
+"No," replied Kate. "To strangers mother always says '_you_.' To
+those she loves, she says '_thou_.'"
+
+And Piers answered, "Dear--if only--" and then he let the silence speak
+for him. But Kate understood, and she whispered softly,--
+
+"_Thou Dear One!_"
+
+It seemed to Piers as if no words to be spoken in time or in eternity
+could ever make those three words less sweet. They came to his memory
+always like a sigh of soft music on a breath of roses. And so it was at
+this hour. They filled his heart, they filled his room with soft delight.
+He stood still to realise their melody and their fragrance, the music
+of their sweet inflections, the perfume of their pure and perfect love.
+
+"_Thou Dear One!_" He said these words again and again. "It has always
+been Kate and Piers! Always _I_ and _Thou_--and as for _the Other One_--"
+
+This mental query, utterly unthought of and uncalled for, very much
+annoyed him. Who or What was it that suggested "The Other One"? Not
+himself; he was sure of that. He went to his father, and they talked
+of the King, and the Ministers, and the great Mr. Brougham, whom both
+King and Ministers feared--but all the time, and far below the tide of
+this restless conversation, Piers heard this very different one,--
+
+"_I_ and _Thou_!"
+
+"And _the Other One_."
+
+"There is no 'Other One.'"
+
+"Annabel."
+
+"No."
+
+"If Annabel were Destiny?"
+
+"Will is stronger than Destiny."
+
+"If Annabel should be Will."
+
+"Love is stronger than Will."
+
+"It is Kate and Piers."
+
+"And the Other One."
+
+He grew impatient at this persistence of an idea that he had not evoked,
+that he had, in fact, denied. But he could not exorcise it. His very
+dreams were made and mingled of the two girls,--Kate, whom he loved,
+Annabel, who came like a splendid destiny to trouble love. In the
+pageant of sleep, he lost that will-power which controlled his life;
+he was tossed to-and-fro between blending shadows: Kate was Annabel;
+Annabel was Kate; and the fretful, unreasonable drama went on through
+restless hours, always to the same tantalising refrain,--
+
+"_I, Thou, and the Other One!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTH
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT STRUGGLE
+
+
+There is no eternity for nations. Individuals may be punished hereafter;
+nations are punished here. In the first years of the Nineteenth Century,
+Englishmen were mad on war; and though wise men warned them of the ruin
+that stalks after war, no one believed their report. The treasure that
+would have now fed the starving population of England, had been spent
+in killing Frenchmen. Bad harvests followed the war years, taxation
+was increased, wages were lowered and lowered, credit was gone, trade
+languished, hunger or scrimping carefulness was in every household.
+For the iniquitous Corn Laws of 1815, forbidding the importation of
+foreign grain, had raised English wheat to eighty shillings a quarter.
+And how were working men to buy bread at such a price? No wonder,
+they clamoured for a House of Commons that should represent their
+case, and repeal Acts that could only benefit one class, and inflict
+ruin and misery on all others.
+
+A feeling therefore of intense anxiety pervaded the country on the
+Second of November,--the day on which the King was to open Parliament.
+No one could work; every one was waiting for the King's speech. He was
+as yet very popular; it was his first message to his people; and they
+openly begged him for some word of hope--some expression of sympathy for
+Reform. He went in great state to Westminster, and was cheered by the
+city as he went. "Will Your Majesty say a word for the poor? God bless
+Your Majesty! Stand by Reform!" Such expressions assailed him on every
+hand; they were the prayers of a people wronged and suffering, yet
+disposed to be patient and loyal, and to seek Reform only to spare
+themselves and the country the ruth and ruin of Revolution.
+
+Richmoor House was on the way of the royal procession, and Kate was there
+to watch it. A little later, a great company began to assemble in its
+rooms; for the Duke had promised to bring, or to send, the earliest news
+of the event. There was however an intense restlessness among these
+splendidly attired men and women. They could not separate Reform from
+Revolution; and the French Revolution was yet red and bloody in their
+memories. They still heard the thunder of those famous "Three Days of
+July," and there was constantly before their eyes, the heir of forty
+kings finding in a British palace an ignominious shelter. Not only was
+this the case, but French noblemen, in poverty and exile, were earning
+precarious livings all around; and English noblemen and ladies looked
+forward with terror to a similar fate, if the Reformers obtained their
+desire. Indeed, Sir Robert Inglis had boldly prophesied, "Reform would
+sweep the House of Lords clear in ten years."
+
+No wonder then the company waiting in Richmoor House were restless and
+anxious. Kate did not permit herself to speak, and Mrs. Atheling had
+very prudently remained in her own home. She had told the Squire she
+"must say what she thought, if she died for it!" and the Squire had
+answered, "To be sure, Maude. That is thy right; only, for goodness'
+sake, say it in thy own house!" But though Kate knew she would follow
+her mother's example, if she was brought to catechism on the subject,
+she did not have much fear of such a result; there were too many older
+ladies present, all of them desirous to express the hatreds and hopes
+of their class.
+
+Yet it was these emotional, expressional women that Annabel Vyner
+naturally joined. She stood among them like a splendid incarnation of
+its spirit. She hoped vehemently that "Earl Grey and Lord John Russell
+would be beheaded as traitors;" she declared she would "go with
+delight to Tower Hill and see the axe fall." She flashed into contempt,
+when she spoke of Mr. Brougham. "Botany Bay and hard labour might do
+for him; and as for the waiting crowds in the streets, the proper thing
+was to shoot them down, like rabid animals." She wondered "the Duke
+of Wellington did not do so." These sentiments were vivified by the
+passion that blazed in her black eyes and flushed her brown face crimson,
+and by the gown of bright yellow Chinese crape which she wore; for it
+fluttered and waved with her impetuous movements, and made a kind of
+luminous atmosphere around her.
+
+"What a superb creature!" exclaimed Mr. Disraeli to the Hon. Mrs.
+Norton. And Mrs. Norton put up her glass and looked at Annabel critically.
+
+"Superb indeed--to look at. Would you like to live with her?"
+
+"It would be exciting."
+
+"More so than your 'Vivian Grey,' which I have just read. It is the
+book of the year."
+
+"No, that honour belongs to a little volume of poems by a young man
+called Tennyson. Get it; you will read every word it contains."
+
+"I am wedded to my idols,--Byron and Scott and Keble. I am much
+interested at present in those 'Imaginary Conversations' which that
+queer Mr. Landor has given us. They are worth reading, I assure you."
+
+"But why read them? Listen to the 'Conversations' around us! They are
+of Revolution, Civil War, Exile, and the Headsman. Could anything be more
+'Imaginary'?"
+
+"Who can tell? Here comes Richmoor. He may be able to prognosticate.
+What a murmur of voices! What invisible movement! Can you divine the news
+from the messenger's face?"
+
+"He thinks that he brings good news. He may be fatally wrong."
+
+The Duke certainly thought that he brought good news. He was much
+excited. He came forward with his hands extended, palms upward.
+
+"The King stands by us!" he cried. "God save the King!"
+
+Twenty voices called out at once, "What did he say?"
+
+"He said plainly that in spite of the public opinion expressed so
+loudly in recent elections, Reform would have no sanction from the
+Government. I only stayed until the end of the royal speech. Yet in
+some way rumours of its purport must have reached the street. In the
+neighbourhood, there was much agitation, and even anger."
+
+Then Kate slipped away from the excited throng. Piers had evidently
+remained for the discussion on the King's speech; and it might be
+midnight when the House adjourned. The winter day was fast darkening;
+she ordered her chairmen, and the pretty sedan was brought into the
+vestibule for her. She had no fear, though the very gloom and silence of
+the waiting crowd was more indicative of danger than noise or threats
+would have been. When she reached Hyde Park corner, however, angry faces
+pressed around a little too close, and she was alarmed. Then she threw
+back her hood and looked out calmly at the crowd, and immediately a
+clear voice cried out, "It is Edgar Atheling's sister! Take good care
+of her!" And there was a cheer and a cry, and about twenty men closed
+round the chair, and saw it safely to its destination.
+
+Then Cecil North stepped to the door and opened it. "I knew it was you,
+Mr. North!" cried Kate. "I knew your voice. How kind of you to come
+all the way with me! How glad mother will be to see you!"
+
+"I cannot wait a moment, Miss Atheling. Can you give me any news?"
+
+"Yes. The King says the Government will not sanction Reform."
+
+"Who told you this?"
+
+"The Duke of Richmoor--not an hour ago."
+
+"Then 'good-night.' I am afraid there will be trouble."
+
+Mrs. Atheling and Kate were afraid also. The murmur of the crowd grew
+louder and louder as the tenor of the King's speech became known; and
+many a time they wished themselves in the safety and solitude of their
+Yorkshire home. So they talked, and watched, and listened until the
+night was far advanced. Then they heard the firm, strong step of the
+Squire on the pavement; and his imperative voice in denial of something
+said by a group of men whom he passed. In a few minutes he entered the
+drawing-room with an angry light in his eyes, and the manner of a man
+exasperated by opposition.
+
+"Whatever is it, John? Is there trouble already?" asked Mrs. Atheling.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Plenty of it, and like to be more. The King has spoken like a fool."
+
+"John Atheling! His Majesty!"
+
+"His Imbecility! I tell you what, Maude, there has been enough said
+to-day, and to-night, to set all the dogs of civil war loose. Give me a
+bit of eating, and I will tell thee and Kitty what a lot of idiots are
+met together in Westminster."
+
+The Squire always wanted a deal of waiting upon; and in a few minutes
+his valet was bringing him easy slippers and a loose coat, and two
+handmaidens serving a tray, bearing game pastry, and fruit tarts, and
+clotted cream. But he would take neither wine, nor strong ale,--
+
+"Water is all a man wants that gets himself stirred up in the House of
+Commons," he said. "And if I had been in the Lords' House, I would
+have needed nothing but a strait-jacket."
+
+He had hardly sat down to eat, when Piers Exham came in. No one could
+have been more welcome, and the young man's troubled face brightened
+in the sunshine of Kate's smile, and in the honest kindness of the
+Squire's greeting. "I was just going to tell Mrs. Atheling all I knew
+about to-night's blundering," he said; "but now we will have your
+report first, for you have seen the Duke, I'll warrant."
+
+"Indeed, Squire, the Duke is not dissatisfied--though the general
+opinion is, that the Duke of Wellington has committed an egregious
+mistake."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder. Wellington does not know the difference between
+a field-marshal and a Cabinet Minister. What did he say?"
+
+"He said that as long as he held any office in the Government, he would
+resist Reform. He said there was no need of Reform; that we had the best
+government in the world. The Duke of Devonshire, whom I have just seen,
+told me that this statement produced a feeling of the utmost dismay, even
+in the calm atmosphere of the House of Lords."
+
+"Calm!" interrupted the Squire. "You had better say, Incurable
+prosiness."
+
+"Wellington noticed the suppressed excitement, the murmur, and the
+movement, and asked Devonshire in a whisper, 'What can I have said to
+cause such great disturbance?' And Devonshire shrugged his shoulders
+and answered candidly, 'You have announced the fall of your government,
+that is all.'"
+
+"Wellington considers the nation as a mutinous regiment," answered the
+Squire. "He thinks the arguments for Reformers ought to be cannon balls;
+but Englishmen will not endure a military government."
+
+"It would be better than a mob government, Squire. Remember France."
+
+"Englishmen are not Frenchmen," said Kate. "You ought to remember
+_that_, Piers. Englishmen are the most fair, just, reasonable, brave,
+loyal, honourable people on the face of the earth!"
+
+"Well done, Kitty!" cried the Squire. "It takes a little lass like
+thee to find adjectives plenty enough, and good enough, for thy own. My
+word! I wish thou couldst tell the Duke of Wellington what thou thinkest
+of his fellow-citizens. He would happen trust them more, and treat them
+better."
+
+"There is Mr. Peel too," she continued. "Both he and the Duke of
+Wellington are always down on the people. And yet the Duke has led these
+same people from one victory to another; and Mr. Peel is one of the
+people. His father was a day-labourer, and he ought to be proud of it;
+William Cobbett is, and William Cobbett is a greater man than Robert
+Peel."
+
+"Now then, Kitty, that is far enough; for thou art wrong already.
+Cobbett isn't a greater man than Peel; he isn't a great man at all,
+he is only a clever man. But the man for my money is Henry Brougham. He
+drives the world before him. He is a multitude. He had just one idea
+to-day,--Reform and again Reform. He played that tune finely to the
+House, and they danced to it like a miracle. Much good it will do them!"
+
+"He was scarcely decent," said Piers. "He gave notice, as you must
+have heard, in the most aggressive manner that he should bring 'Reform'
+to an immediate issue."
+
+"Yes," answered the Squire. "There is doubtless a big battle before
+us. But, mark my words, it will not be with Wellington and Peel. They
+signed their own resignation this afternoon."
+
+"That is what my father thinks," said Piers.
+
+"If Wellington could only have held his tongue!" said the Squire,
+bitterly.
+
+"And if Daniel O'Connell would only cease making fun of the
+Government."
+
+"That man! He is nobody!"
+
+"You mistake, Squire. His buffoonery is fatal to our party. I tell
+you that Ridicule is the lightning that kills. Has not Aristophanes
+tossed his enemies for the scorn and laughter of a thousand cities for a
+thousand years? I fear O'Connell's satire and joking, far more than
+I fear Grey's statesmanship, or Durham's popularity."
+
+Then Piers turned to Kate, and asked if she had seen the royal
+procession. And she told him about her visit, and about Mr. North's
+interference for her safety, and his escort of her home. Piers was
+much annoyed at this incident. He begged her not to venture into the
+streets until public feeling had abated, or was controlled, and
+asked with singular petulance, "Who is this Mr. North? He plays the
+mysterious Knight very well. He interferes too much."
+
+"I was grateful for his interference."
+
+"Why did you not remain at Richmoor until I returned? I expected it,
+Kate."
+
+"I was afraid; and I knew my mother would be anxious--and I felt so
+sad among strangers. You know, Piers, I have always lived among my own
+people--among those who loved me."
+
+This little bit of conversation had taken place while the tray was
+being removed, and the Squire and Mrs. Atheling were talking about
+the engagements for the next day, so that definite orders might be
+given concerning the carriage and horses. The movements of the servants
+had enabled Piers and Kate, quite naturally, to withdraw a little
+from the fireside group; and when Kate made her tender assertion,
+about living with those who loved her, Piers's heart was full to
+overflowing. This girl of sweet nature, with her innocent beauty and
+ingenuous expressions, possessed his noblest feelings. He clasped her
+hands in his, and said,--
+
+"Oh, Kate! I loved you when you were only twelve years old; I love you
+now beyond all measure of words. And you love me? Speak, Dear One!"
+
+"I love none but thee!"
+
+The next moment she was standing before her father and mother. Piers held
+her hand. He was talking to them in low but eager tones, yet she did not
+realise a word, until he said,--
+
+"Give her to me, my friends. We have loved each other for many years.
+We shall love each other for ever. She is the wife of my soul. Without
+her, I can only half live." Then bending to Kate, he asked her fondly,
+"Do you love me, Kate? Do you love me? Ask your heart about it. Tell us
+truly, do you love me?"
+
+Then she lifted her sweet eyes to her lover, her father, and her mother,
+and answered, "I love Piers with all my heart."
+
+The Squire was much troubled and affected. "This is taking a bit of
+advantage, Piers," he said. "There is a time for everything, and this
+is not my time for giving my little girl away."
+
+"Speak for us, Mrs. Atheling," said Piers.
+
+"Nay, I think the Squire is quite right," she replied. "Love isn't
+worth much if Duty does not stand with it."
+
+"And there is far more, Piers," continued the Squire, "in such a
+marriage as you propose than a girl's and a lover's 'yes.' When
+the country has settled a bit, we will talk about love and wedding. I
+can't say more for my life, can I, Mother?"
+
+"It is enough," answered Mrs. Atheling. "Why, we might have a civil
+war, and what not! To choose a proper mate is good enough; but it is
+quite as important to choose a proper time for mating. Now then, this is
+not a proper time, when everything is at ups-and-downs, and this way and
+that way, and great public events, that no one can foretell, crowding
+one on the neck of the other. Let things be as they are, children. If
+you only knew it, you are in the Maytime of your lives. I wouldn't
+hurry it over, if I was you. It won't come back again."
+
+Then Kate kissed her father, and her mother, and her lover; and Piers
+kissed Kate, and Mrs. Atheling, and put his hand into the Squire's
+hand; and the solemn joy of betrothal was there, though it was not openly
+admitted.
+
+In truth the Squire was much troubled at events coming to any climax.
+He would not suffer his daughter to enter into an engagement not openly
+acknowledged and approved by both families; and yet he was aware that
+at the present time the Duke would consider any subject--not public or
+political--as an interruption, perhaps as an intrusion. Besides which,
+the Squire's own sense of honour and personal pride made him averse
+to force an affair so manifestly to the preferment of his daughter.
+It looked like taking advantage of circumstances--of presuming upon a
+kindness; in fact, the more Squire Atheling thought of the alliance, the
+less he was disposed to sanction it. Under no circumstances, could he
+give Kate such a fortune as the heir of a great Dukedom had a right to
+expect. She must enter the Richmoor family at a disadvantage--perhaps
+even on sufferance.
+
+"No! by the Lord Harry, no!" he exclaimed. "I'll have none of the
+Duke's toleration on any matter. I am sorry I took his seat. I wish
+Edgar was here--he ought to be here, looking after his mother and
+sister, instead of setting up rogues on Glasgow Green against their
+King and Country! Of course, there is Love to reckon with, and Love does
+wonders--but it is money that makes marriage."
+
+With such reflections, and many others growing out of them, the Squire
+hardened his heart, and strengthened his personal sense of dignity, until
+he almost taught himself to believe the Duke had already wounded it. In
+this temper he was quite inclined to severely blame his wife for not
+"putting a stop to the nonsense when it first began."
+
+"John," she answered, "we are both of a piece in that respect."
+
+"On my honour, Mother."
+
+"Don't say it, John. You used to laugh at the little lass going off
+with Edgar and Piers fishing. You used to tease her about the gold brooch
+Piers gave her. Many a time you have called her to me, 'the little
+Duchess.'"
+
+"Wilt thou be quiet?"
+
+"I am only reminding thee."
+
+"Thou needest not. I wish thou wouldst remind thy son that he has a
+sister that he might look after a bit."
+
+"I can look after Kate without his help. He is doing far better business
+than hanging around Dukes."
+
+"If thou wantest a quarrel this morning, Maude, I'm willing to give
+thee one. I say, Edgar ought to be here."
+
+"What for? He is doing work that we will all be proud enough of some
+day. Thou oughtest to be helping him, instead of abusing him. I want thee
+to open this morning's _Times_, and read the speech he made in Glasgow
+City Hall. Thou couldst not have made such a speech to save thy life."
+
+"Say, I _would not_ have made it, and then thou wilt say the very
+truth."
+
+"Read it."
+
+"Not I."
+
+"Thou darest not. Thou knowest it would make thee turn round and vote
+with the Reformers."
+
+"Roast the Reformers! I wish I could! I would not have believed thou
+couldst have said such a thing, Maude. How darest thou even think of thy
+husband as a turncoat? Why, in politics, it is the unpardonable sin."
+
+"It is nothing of the kind. Not it! It is far worse to stick to a sin,
+than to turn from it. If I was the biggest of living Tories, and I found
+out I was wrong, I would stand up before all England and turn my coat in
+the sight of everybody. I would that. When I read thy name against Mr.
+Brougham bringing up Reform, I'll swear I could have cried for it!"
+
+"I wouldn't wonder. All the fools are not dead yet. But I hear Kitty
+and her lover coming. I wonder what they are talking and laughing about?"
+
+"Thou hadst better not ask them. I'll warrant, Piers is telling her
+the same sort of nonsense, thou usedst to tell me; and they will both
+of them, believe it, no doubt."
+
+At these words Piers and Kate entered the room together. They were
+going for a gallop in the Park; and they looked so handsome, and so
+happy, that neither the Squire nor Mrs. Atheling could say a word to
+dash their pleasure. The Squire, indeed, reminded Piers that the House
+met at two o'clock; and Piers asked blankly, like a man who neither
+knew, nor cared anything about the House, "Does it?" With the words on
+his lips, he turned to Kate, and smiling said, "Let us make haste, my
+dear. The morning is too fine to lose." And hand in hand, they said
+a hasty, joyful "good-bye" and disappeared. The father and mother
+watched them down the street until they were out of sight. As they
+turned away from the window, their eyes met, and Mrs. Atheling smiled.
+The Squire looked abashed and disconcerted.
+
+"Why didst not thou put a stop to such nonsense, John?" she asked.
+
+Fortunately at this moment a servant entered to tell the Squire his horse
+was waiting, and this interruption, and a rather effusive parting, let
+him handsomely out of an embarrassing answer.
+
+Then Mrs. Atheling wrote a long letter to her son, and looked after the
+ways of her household, and knit a few rounds on her husband's hunting
+stocking, and as she did so thought of Kate's future, and got tired
+of trying to settle it, and so left it, as a scholar leaves a difficult
+problem, for the Master to solve. And when she had reached this point
+Kate came into the room. She had removed her habit, and the joyous look
+which had been so remarkable two hours before was all gone. The girl
+was dashed and weary, and her mother asked her anxiously, "If she was
+sick?"
+
+"No," she answered; "but I have been annoyed, and my heart is heavy,
+and I am tired."
+
+"Who or what annoyed you, child?"
+
+"I will tell you. Piers and I had a glorious ride, and were coming
+slowly home, when suddenly the Richmoor liveries came in sight. I saw
+the instant change on Piers's face, and I saw Annabel slightly push the
+Duchess and say something. And the Duchess drew her brows together as
+we passed each other, and though she bowed, I could see that she was
+angry and astonished. As for Annabel, she laughed a little, scornful
+laugh, and threw me a few words which I could not catch. It was a most
+unpleasant meeting; after it Piers was very silent. I felt as if I had
+done something wrong, and yet I was indignant at myself for the feeling."
+
+"What did Piers say?"
+
+"He said nothing that pleased me. He fastened his eyes on Annabel,--who
+was marvellously dressed in rose-coloured velvet and minever,--and she
+clapped her small hands together and nodded to him in a familiar way,
+and, bending slightly forward, passed on. And after that he did not talk
+much. All his love-making was over, and I thought he was glad when we
+reached home. I think Annabel will certainly take my lover from me."
+
+"You mean that she has made up her mind to be Duchess of Richmoor?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, my dear Kate, a beautiful woman is strong, and money is stronger;
+but _True Love conquers all_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTH
+
+THE LOST RING
+
+
+"To-morrow some new light may come, and you will see things another way,
+Kitty." This was Mrs. Atheling's final opinion, and Kitty was inclined
+to take all the comfort there was in it. She was sitting then in her
+mother's room, watching her dress for dinner, and admiring, as good
+daughters will always do, everything she could find to admire about the
+yet handsome woman.
+
+"You have such beautiful hair, Mother. I wouldn't wear a cap if I was
+you," she said.
+
+"Your father likes a bit of lace on my head, Kitty. He says it makes me
+look more motherly."
+
+She was laying the "bit of lace" on her brown hair as she spoke. Then
+she took from her open jewel case, two gold pins set with turquoise, and
+fastened the arrangement securely. Kitty watched her with loving smiles,
+and finally changed the whole fashion of the bit of lace, declaring that
+by so doing she had made her mother twenty years younger. And somehow
+in this little toilet ceremony, all Kitty's sorrow passed away, and
+she said, "I wonder where my fears are gone to, Mother; for it does not
+now seem hard to hope that all is just as it was."
+
+"To be sure, Kitty, I never worry much about fears. Fears are mostly
+made of nothing; and in the long run they are often a blessing. Without
+fears, we couldn't have hopes; now could we?"
+
+"Oh, you dear, sweet, good Mother! I wish I was just like you!"
+
+"Time enough, Kitty." Then a look of love flashed from face to face,
+and struck straight from heart to heart; and there was a little silence
+that needed no words. Kitty lifted a ring and slipped it on her finger.
+It was a hoop of fine, dark blue sapphires, set in fretted gold, and
+clasped with a tiny padlock, shaped like a heart.
+
+"What a lovely ring!" she cried. "Why do you not wear it, Mother?"
+
+"Because it is a good bit too small now, Kitty."
+
+"Miss Vyner's hands are always covered with rings, and she says every
+one of them has a romance."
+
+"I've heard, or read, something like that. There was a woman in the
+story-book, was there not, who kept a tally of her lovers on a string of
+rings they had given her? I don't think it was anything to her credit.
+I shouldn't wonder if that is a bit ill-natured. I ought not to say such
+a thing, so don't mind it, Kitty."
+
+"Is this sapphire band yours, Mother?"
+
+"To be sure it is."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"May I wear it?"
+
+"Well, Kitty, I think a deal of that ring. You must take great care of
+it."
+
+"So then, Mother, one of your rings has a story too, has it?" And there
+was a little laugh for answer, and Kitty slipped the coveted trinket on
+her finger, and held up her hand to admire the gleam of the jewels, as
+she said, musingly, "I wonder what Piers is doing?"
+
+"I wouldn't 'wonder,' dearie. Little troubles are often worrited into
+big troubles. If things are let alone, they work themselves right. I'll
+warrant Piers is unhappy enough."
+
+But Mrs. Atheling's warrant was hardly justified. Piers should have
+gone to the House; but he went instead to his room, threw himself among
+the cushions of a divan, and with a motion of his head indicated to
+his servant that he wanted his Turkish pipe. The strange inertia and
+indifference that had so suddenly assailed, still dominated him, and
+he had no desire to combat it. He was neither sick nor weary; yet he
+seemed to have lost all control over his feelings. Had the man within
+the man "gone off guard"? Have we not all--yes, we have all of us
+succumbed to just such intervals of supreme, inexpressible listlessness
+and insensibility? We are "not all there," but _where_ has our inner
+self gone to? And what is it doing? It gives us no account of such lapses.
+
+Piers asked no questions of himself. He was like a man dreaming; for if
+his Will was not asleep, it was at least quiescent. He made no effort
+to control his thoughts, which drifted from Annabel to Kate, and from
+Kate to Annabel, in the vagrant, inconsequent manner which acknowledges
+neither the guidance of Reason or Will. And as the Levantine vapour
+lulled his brain, he felt a pleasure in this surrender of his noblest
+attributes. He thought of Annabel as he had seen her the previous
+evening, dressed in a shaded satin of blue and green, trimmed with the
+tips of peacock feathers. The same resplendent ornaments were in her
+strong, wavy, black hair, and round her throat was a necklace of
+emeralds and amethysts. "What a Duchess of Richmoor she would make!"
+he thought. "How stately and proud! How well she would wear the coronet
+and the gold strawberry leaves, and the crimson robe and ermine of her
+state dress! Yes, Annabel would be a proper Duchess; but--but--" and
+then he was sitting with Kate among the tall brackens, where the
+Yorkshire hills threw miles of shadow. She was in her riding dress; but
+her little velvet cap was in her hand, and the fresh wind was blowing
+her brown hair into bewitching tendrils about her lovely face. How well
+he knew the sweet seriousness of her downcast eyes, the rich bloom of
+her cheeks and lips, the tender smile with which she always answered his
+"_Kate! Sweet Kate!_"
+
+Even through all his listlessness, this vision moved him, and he heard
+his heart say, "Oh, Kate, wife of my soul! Oh, Beloved! Love of my life,
+who can part us? Thou and I, Kate! Thou and I--"
+
+"And the Other One."
+
+From _whom_ or from _where_ came the words? Piers heard them with his
+spiritual sense plainly, and their suggestion annoyed him. Now if we
+stir under a nightmare, it is gone; and this faint rebellion broke the
+chain of that mental inertia which had held him at least three hours
+under its spell. He moved irritably, and in so-doing threw down the lid
+of the tobacco jar, and then rose to his feet. In a moment, he was "all
+there."
+
+"I ought to be in the House," he muttered, and he touched the bell
+for his valet, and dressed with less deliberation than was his wont.
+And during the toilet he was aware of a certain mental anger that longed
+to expend itself: "If Mr. Brougham is as insufferably dictatorial as
+he was last night, if Mr. O'Connell only plays the buffoon again, we
+shall meet in a narrow path--and one of us will fare ill," he muttered.
+
+The hour generally comes when we are ready for it; and Piers found
+both gentlemen in the tempers he detested. He gladly accepted his own
+challenge, and the Squire was so interested in the wordy fight that he
+did not return home to dinner. Mrs. Atheling neither worried nor waited.
+She knew that the Squire's vote might be wanted at any inconvenient
+hour; and, besides, the night had set stormily in, and she said
+cheerfully to Kate, "It wouldn't do for father to get a wetting and
+then be hours in damp clothes. He is far better sitting to-day's
+business out while he is there."
+
+But the evening dragged wearily, in spite of the efforts of both women
+to make little pleasantries. Kate's whole being was in her sense of
+hearing. She was listening for a step that did not come. On other nights
+there had been visitors; she heard the roll of carriages and the clash
+of the heavy front door; but this dreary night no roll of wheels broke
+the stillness of the aristocratic Square; and she listened for the
+sound of the closing door until she was ready to cry out against the
+strain and the suspense. However, the longest, saddest day wears to
+its end; and though it does not appear likely that a loving girl's
+anxiety about a coolness in her lover should teach us how far deeper,
+even than mother-love, is our trust in God's love, yet little Kitty's
+behaviour on this sorrowful evening did show forth this sublime fact.
+
+For the girl left undone none of her usual duties, left unsaid none of
+the pleasant words she knew her mother expected from her; she even
+followed her--as she always did when the Squire was late--to her bedroom,
+and helped her lay away her laces and jewels ere she bid her a last
+"good-night." But as soon as she had closed the door of her own room,
+she felt she might give herself some release. If she did not read the
+whole of the Evening Service, _God would understand_. She could trust
+His love to excuse, to pity, to release her from all ceremonies. She
+knelt down, she bowed her head, and said only the two or three words
+which opened her heart and let the rain of tears wash all her anxieties
+away.
+
+And though sorrow may endure for a night, joy comes in the morning;
+and this is specially true in youth. When Kate awoke, the sun was
+shining, and the care and ache was gone from her heart. "He giveth His
+Beloved sleep," and thus some angel had certainly comforted her,
+though she knew it not. With a cheerful heart she dressed and went
+into the breakfast-room, and there she saw her father standing on the
+hearthrug, with _The Times_ open in his hand. He looked at her over
+its pages with beaming eyes, and she ran to him and took the paper
+away, and nestling to his heart, said, "she would have no rival, first
+thing in the morning."
+
+And the proud father stroked her hair, and kissed her lips, and answered
+her, "Rival was not born yet, and never would be born; and that he was
+only seeing if them newspaper fellows had told lies about Piers."
+
+"Piers!" cried Mrs. Atheling, entering the room at the moment, "what
+about Piers?"
+
+"Well, Mother, the lad had his say last night; but, Dal it! Mr. Brougham
+went at the Government and the Electors as if they were all of them
+wearing the devil's livery. I call it scandalous! It was nothing else.
+He let on to be preaching for Reform, but he was just preaching for
+Henry Brougham."
+
+"What was Mr. Brougham talking about, Father?"
+
+"Mr. Brougham can talk about nothing but Reform, Kitty, the right of
+every man to vote as seems good in his own eyes. He said peers and
+landowners influenced and prejudiced votes in a way that was outrageous
+and not to be borne, and a lot more words of the same kind; for Henry
+Brougham would lose his speech if he had anything pleasant to say. I was
+going to get up and give him a bit of my mind, when Piers rose; and the
+cool way in which he fixed his eye-glass, and looked Mr. Brougham up and
+down, and straight in the face, set us all by the ears. He was every
+inch of him, then and there, the future Duke of Richmoor; and he told
+Brougham, in a very sarcastic way, that his opinions were silly, and
+would neither bear the test of reason nor of candid examination."
+
+"But, Father, I thought Mr. Brougham was the great man of the Commons,
+and held in much honour."
+
+"Well, my little maid, he may be; but I'll warrant it is only by people
+who have their own reasons for worshipping the devil."
+
+"Come, come, John! If I was thee, I would be silent until I could be
+just."
+
+"Not thou, Maude! Right or wrong, thou wouldst say thy say. I think I
+ought to know thee by this time."
+
+"Never mind me, John. We want to hear what Piers said."
+
+"Brougham's words had come rattling off in full gallop. Piers,
+after looking at him a minute, began in that contemptuous drawl of
+his,--you've heard it I've no doubt,--'Mr. Brougham affords an
+example of radical opinions degrading a statesman into a politician.
+He cannot but know that it is the positive, visible duty of every
+landowner to influence and prejudice votes. It is the business and the
+function of education and responsibility to enlighten ignorance, and to
+influence the misguided and the misled. If it is the business and the
+function of the clergy to influence and prejudice people in favour
+of a good life; if it is the business and function of a teacher to
+influence and prejudice scholars in favour of knowledge,--it is just as
+certainly the business and function of the landowner to influence
+his tenants in favour of law and order, and to prejudice them against
+men who would shatter to pieces the noblest political Constitution in
+the world.'"
+
+The Squire read this period aloud with great emphasis, and added, "Well,
+Maude, you never heard such a tumult as followed. Cries of '_Here!
+Here!_' and '_Order! Order!_' filled the House; and the Speaker had
+work enough to make silence. Piers stood quite still, watching Brougham,
+and as soon as all was quiet, he went on,--
+
+"'If you take the peers, the gentry, the scholars, the men of
+enterprise and wealth, from our population, what kind of a government
+should we get from the remainder? Would they be fit to select and
+elect?' Then there was another uproar, and Piers sat down, and
+O'Connell jumped up. He put his witty tongue in his laughing cheek,
+and, buttoning his coat round him, held up his right hand. And the
+Reform members cheered, and the Tory members shrugged their shoulders,
+and waited for what he would say."
+
+"I don't want to hear a word from _him_," answered Mrs. Atheling.
+"Come and get your coffee, John. A cup of good coffee costs a deal now,
+and it's a shame to let it get cold and sloppy over Dan O'Connell's
+blackguarding."
+
+"Tell us what he said, Father," urged Kate, who really desired to know
+more about Piers's efforts. "You can drink your coffee to his words. I
+don't suppose they will poison it."
+
+"I wouldn't be sure of that," said Mrs. Atheling, with a dubious shake
+of her head; while the Squire lifted his cup, and emptied it at a draught.
+
+"What did he say, Father? Did he attack Piers?"
+
+"To be sure he did. He took the word 'Remainder,' and said Piers had
+called the great, substantial working men of England, Scotland, and
+Ireland _Remainders_. He said these '_Remainders_' might only be
+farmers, and bakers, and builders, and traders; but they were the
+backbone of the nation; and the honourable gentleman from Richmoor
+Palace had called them 'Remainders.' And then he gave Piers a few
+of such stinging, abusive names as he always keeps on hand,--and he keeps
+a good many kinds of them on hand,--and Piers was like a man that
+neither heard nor saw him. He looked clean through the member for
+Kilkenny as if he wasn't there at all. And then Mr. Scarlett got
+up, and asked the Speaker if such unparliamentary conduct was to be
+permitted? And Mr. Dickson called upon the House to protect itself
+from the browbeating, bullying ruffianism of the member for Kilkenny;
+and Dan O'Connell sat laughing, with his hat on one side of his head,
+till Dickson sat down; then he said, he 'considered Mr. Dickson's
+words complimentary;' and the shouts became louder and louder, and
+the Speaker had hard work to get things quieted down."
+
+"Why, John! I never heard tell of such carryings on."
+
+"Then, Maude, I thought _I_ would say a word or two; and I got the
+Speaker's eye, and he said peremptorily, 'The member for Asketh!'
+and I rose in my place and said I thought the honourable member for
+Kilkenny--"
+
+"John! I wouldn't have called him 'honourable.'"
+
+"I know thou wouldst not, Maude. Well, I said honourable, and I went
+on to say that Mr. O'Connell had mistaken the meaning Lord Exham
+attached to the word 'Remainder.' I said it wasn't a disrespectful
+word at all, and that there were plenty of 'remainders,' we all of us
+thought a good deal of; but, I said, I would come to an instance which
+every man could understand,--the remainder of a glass of fine, old
+October ale. The rich, creamy, bubbling froth might stand for the
+landowners; but it was part of the whole; and the remainder was all the
+better for the froth, and the more froth, and the richer the froth,
+the better the ale below it. And I went on to say that Lord Exham, and
+every man of us, knew right well, that the great body of the English
+nation wasn't made up of knaves, and scoundrels, and fools, but of
+good men and women. And then our benches cheered me, up and down,
+till I felt it was a good thing to be a Representative of the Remainder,
+and I said so."
+
+Then Mrs. Atheling and Kitty cheered the Squire more than a little, with
+smiles, and kisses, and proud words; and he went on with increased
+animation, "In a minute O'Connell was on his feet again, and he
+called me a lot of names I needn't repeat here; until he said, 'My
+example of a glass of ale was exactly what anybody might expect from
+such a John Bull as the member for Asketh.' And, Maude and Kitty, I
+could not stand that. The House was shouting, 'Order! Order!' and
+I cried, 'Mr. Speaker!' and the Speaker said, 'Order, the member for
+Kilkenny is speaking!' 'But, Mr. Speaker,' I said, 'I only want to
+say to the member for Kilkenny that I would rather be a John Bull, than
+a bully.' And that was the end. There was no 'Order' after it. Our
+side cheered and roared, and, Maude, what dost thou think?--the one to
+cheer loudest was thy son Edgar. He must have got in by the Speaker's
+favour; but there he was, and when I came through the lobby, with Piers
+and Lord Althorp, and a crowd after me, he was standing with that
+young fellow I threw on Atheling Green; and he looked at me so pleased,
+and eager, and happy, that I thought for a moment he was going to shake
+hands; but I kept my hands in my pockets--yet I'll say this,--he has
+thy fine eyes, Maude,--I most felt as if thou wert looking at me."
+
+"John! John! How couldst thou keep thy hands in thy pockets? How couldst
+thou do such an unfatherly thing? I'm ashamed of thee! I am."
+
+"Give me a slice of ham, and don't ask questions. I want my breakfast
+now. I can't live on talk, as if I was a woman."
+
+Fortunately at this moment a servant entered with the morning's mail.
+He gave Mrs. Atheling a letter, and Kate two letters; and then offered
+the large salver full of matter to the Squire. He looked at the pile with
+indignation. "Put it out of my sight, Dobson," he said angrily. "Do
+you think I want letters and papers to my breakfast? I'm astonished at
+you!" He was breaking his egg-shell impatiently as he spoke, and he
+looked up with affected anger at his companions. Kitty met his glance
+with a smile. She could afford to do so, for both her letters lay
+untouched at her side. She tapped the upper one and said, "It is from
+Miss Vyner, Father; it can easily wait."
+
+"And the other, Kitty? Who is it from?"
+
+"From Piers, I don't want to read it yet."
+
+"To be sure." Then he looked at Mrs. Atheling, and was surprised. Her
+face was really shining with pleasure, her eyes misty with happy tears.
+She held her letter with a certain pride and tenderness that her whole
+attitude also expressed; and the Squire had an instant premonition as to
+the writer of it.
+
+"Well, Maude," he said, "I would drink my coffee, if I was thee. A
+cup of coffee costs a deal now; and it's a shame to let it get cold and
+sloppy over a bit of a letter--nobody knows who from."
+
+"It is from Edgar," said Mrs. Atheling, far too proud and pleased to
+keep her happiness to herself. "And, John, I am going to have a little
+lunch-party to-day at two o'clock; and I do wish thou wouldst make it
+in thy way to be present."
+
+"I won't. And I would like to know who is coming here. I won't
+have all kinds and sorts sitting at my board, and eating my bread and
+salt--and I never heard tell of a good wife asking people to do that
+without even mentioning their names to her husband--and--"
+
+"I am quite ready to name everybody I ask to thy board, John. There
+will be thy own son Edgar Atheling, and Mr. Cecil North, and thy wife
+Maude Atheling, and thy daughter Kitty. Maybe, also, Lord Exham and Miss
+Vyner. Kitty says she has a letter from her."
+
+"I told thee once and for all, I had forbid Edgar Atheling to come to
+my house again until I asked him to do so."
+
+"This isn't thy house, John. It is only a rented roof. Thou mayst be
+sure Edgar will never come near Atheling till God visits thee and gives
+thee a heart like His own to love thy son. Thou hast never told Edgar to
+keep away from the Vyner mansion, and thou hadst better never try to do
+so; for I tell thee plainly if thou dost--"
+
+"Keep threats behind thy teeth, Maude. It isn't like thee, and I won't
+be threatened either by man or woman. If thou thinkest it right to set
+Edgar before me, and to teach him _not_ to 'Honour his father'--"
+
+"Didn't he 'honour' thee last night! Wasn't he proud of thee? And
+he wanted to tell thee so, if thou wouldst have let him. Poor Edgar!"
+And Edgar's mother covered her face, and began to cry softly to herself.
+
+"Nay, Maude, if thou takest to crying I must run away. It isn't
+fair at all. What can a man say to tears? I wish I could have a bit of
+breakfast in peace; I do that!"--and he pushed his chair away in a
+little passion, and lifted his mail, and was going noisily out of the
+room, when he found Kitty's arms round his neck. Then he said peevishly,
+"Thou art spilling my letters, Kitty. Let me alone, dearie! Thou
+never hast a word to say on thy father's side. It's too bad!"
+
+"I am all for you, father,--you and you first of all. There is nobody
+like you; nobody before you; nobody that can ever take your place." Then
+she kissed him, and whispered some of those loving, senseless little
+words that go right to the heart, if Love sends them there. And the
+Squire was comforted by them, and whispered back to her, "God love
+thee, my little maid! I'll do anything I can to give thee pleasure."
+
+"Then just think about Edgar as you saw him last night, think of him
+with mother's eyes watching you, listening to you, full of pride and
+loving you so much--oh, yes, Father! loving you so much."
+
+"Well, well,--let me go now, Kitty. I have all these bothering letters
+and papers to look at; they are enough to make any man cross."
+
+"Let me help you."
+
+"Go to thy mother. Listen, Kitty," and he spoke very low, "tell her,
+thou art sure and certain thy father does not object to her seeing her
+son, if it makes her happy--thou knowest my bark is a deal worse than
+my bite--say--thou believest I would like to see Edgar myself--nay,
+thou needest not say that--but say a few words just to please her; thou
+knowest what they should be better than I do,"--then, with a rather
+gruff "good-morning," he went out of the room; and Kitty turned to
+her mother.
+
+Mrs. Atheling was smiling, though there were indeed some remaining
+evidences of tears. "He went without bidding me 'good-morning,'
+Kitty. What did he say? Is he very angry?"
+
+"Not at all angry. All put on, Mother. He loves Edgar quite as much as
+you do."
+
+"He can't do that, Kitty. There is nothing like a mother's love."
+
+"Except a father's love. Don't you remember, that God takes a
+father's love to express His own great care for us? And when the
+Prodigal Son came home, Christ makes his father, not his mother, go to
+meet him."
+
+"That was because Christ knew children were sure and certain of their
+mother's love and forgiveness. He wasn't so sure of the fathers. So he
+gave the lesson to them; he knew that mothers did not need it. Mothers
+are always ready to forgive, Kitty; but there is nothing to forgive in
+Edgar."
+
+"Is he really coming to-day?"
+
+"Listen to what he says, Kitty. 'Darling Mother, I cannot live
+another day without seeing you. Let me come to-morrow at two o'clock,
+and put my arms round you, and kiss you, and talk to you for an hour.
+Ask father to let me come. London is not Atheling. If he counts his
+passionate words as forever binding between him and me, surely they are
+not binding between you and me. Let me see you anyway, Mother. Sweet,
+dear Mother! When father forgives the rest, he will forgive this also.
+Your loving son, Edgar.' Now, Kitty, if Edgar was your son, what would
+you say?"
+
+"I would say, Come at once, Edgar, and dearly welcome!"
+
+"To be sure you would. So shall I. What is Miss Vyner writing about?"
+
+Then Kitty lifted the squarely folded letter with its great splash of
+white wax stamped with the Vyner crest, and after a rapid glance at its
+contents said, "There is likely to be a great House to-night; and the
+Duchess has three seats in the Ladies Gallery. One is for Annabel, the
+other for me; and she asks you to take her place. Do go, Mother."
+
+"I'll think about it."
+
+"Don't say that."
+
+"It is all I will say just yet. Did you have a letter from Piers?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I knew you would. Go and read it, and tell Dobson to send the cook to
+me. We want the best lunch that can be made; and put on a pretty dress,
+Kitty. Edgar must feel that nothing is too good for him."
+
+In accordance with this intent, Mrs. Atheling took particular pains
+with her own dress; and Kitty thought she had never seen her mother so
+handsome. Soft brown satin, and gold ornaments, and the bit of lace
+on her head set off her large, blonde, stately beauty to perfection;
+while the look of love and anxiety, as the clock moved on to two, gave to
+her countenance that "something more" without which beauty is only
+flesh and blood.
+
+She had said to herself that Edgar might be detained, that he might not
+be able to keep his time, and that she would not feel disappointed if he
+was a bit behind two o'clock. But fully ten minutes before the hour,
+she heard his quick, firm knock; and as she stood trembling with joy in
+the middle of the room, he took her in his arms, and, between laughing
+and crying, they knew not, either of them, what they said. And then
+Kitty ran into the room, all a flutter with pale-blue ribbons, and it
+was a good five minutes before the two women found time to see, and
+to speak to Cecil North, who stood watching the scene with his kind
+heart in his face.
+
+Evidently the meeting had bespoke a fortunate hour. The weather, though
+it was November, was sunny; the lunch was perfection, and they were
+in the midst of the merriest possible meal when Annabel Vyner and
+Piers Exham joined them. Annabel had expected nothing better from
+this visit than an opportunity to show off her familiar relations with
+Lord Exham, and torment Kitty, as far as she thought it prudent to do
+so; but Fate had prepared motives more personal and delightful for
+her,--two handsome young men, whom she at once determined to conquer.
+Cecil North made no resistance; he went over heart and head in love
+with her. Her splendid vitality, her manner,--so demanding and so
+caressing,--her daring dress, and dazzling jewelry, her altogether
+unconventional air charmed and vanquished him, and he devoted himself to
+pleasing her.
+
+During the lunch hour the conversation was general, and very animated.
+Annabel excelled herself in her peculiar way of saying things which
+appeared singularly brilliant, but which really derived all their
+point from her looks, and shrugs, and flashing movements. The good mother
+was in an earthly heaven, watching, and listening, and attending to
+every one's wants, actual and possible. Laughter and repartee and
+merry jests mingled with bits of social and parliamentary gossip, though
+politics were instinctively avoided. Piers knew well the opinions of
+the two men with whom he was sitting; and he was quite capable of
+respecting them. Besides, he had an old friendship for Edgar Atheling;
+and he loved his sister, and was well aware that she had much sympathy
+with her brother's views. So all Annabel's attempts to make a division
+were futile; no one took up the little challenges she flung into their
+midst, and the parliamentary talk drifted no nearer dangerous ground
+than the Ladies Gallery. Piers knew of the invitation given to the
+Athelings, and he proposed to meet the ladies in the courtyard near
+the entrance to the exclusive precinct.
+
+"Too exclusive by far," said Annabel. "Why do English ladies submit
+to that grating? It is a relic of the barbarous ages. I intend to move
+in the matter. Let us get up a petition, or an act, or an agitation of
+some kind for its removal. I think we should succeed. What do you say,
+Lord Exham?"
+
+"I think you would _not_ succeed," answered Piers. "I have heard the
+Duke say that the proposition is frequently made in the House; that it is
+always enthusiastically cheered; but that every time the question comes
+practically up, there is a dexterous count out."
+
+"Well, then, I will propose that the front Treasury Bench be taken away,
+and twenty-four ladies' seats put in its place. Do you see, Mr. North,
+what I intend by that?"
+
+"I am sure it is something wise and good, Miss Vyner."
+
+"My idea is, that twenty-four ladies should sit there as representatives
+of the women of England. Twenty-four bishops in lovely lawn sit as
+representatives of the clergy of England; why should not English women
+have their representation? I hope while Reformers are correcting the
+abuses of Representation, they will consider this abuse. Mr. Atheling,
+what do you say?"
+
+"I am at your service, Miss Vyner."
+
+"Indeed, sir, just at present you are hand and heart in the service of
+Mrs. Atheling. I must turn to Mr. North."
+
+Then Mrs. Atheling perceived that in her interesting conversation with
+Edgar, she was keeping her guests at table; and she rose with an apology,
+and led the way into the parlour. There was a large conservatory opening
+out of this room, and Kate and Piers, on some pretext of rosebuds,
+went into it.
+
+"My dear Kate, I have been so unhappy!" he said, taking her hand.
+
+"But why, Piers?"
+
+"We parted so strangely yesterday. I do not know how it happened."
+
+"We were both tired, I think. I was as much in fault as you. Is not
+this an exquisite flower?" That was the end of the trouble. He drew
+her to his side, and kissed the hand that touched the flower; and so
+all explanations were over; and they took up their love-story where
+the shadow of yesterday had broken it off. And as their hands wandered
+among the shrubs, it was natural for Piers to notice the ring on Kate's
+finger. "It is a very singular jewel," he said; "I never saw one
+like it."
+
+"It is my mother's," answered Kate. "She told me this morning it was
+her betrothal ring and that father bought it in Venice."
+
+"Kate dear, I wish to get you a ring just like it. Let us ask Mrs.
+Atheling if I may show it to my jeweller, and have one made for you."
+
+"I am sure mother will be willing," and she slipped the shining circle
+from her finger, and gave it to Piers; and he whispered fondly, as he
+placed it on his own hand, "Will you take it from me, Kate, as a love
+gage?--never to leave your finger until I put the wife's gold ring
+above it?"
+
+And what she said need not be told. Many happy words grew from her
+answer; and they forgot the rosebuds they had come to gather, and the
+company they had left, and the flight of time, until Edgar came into
+the conservatory to bid his sister "good-bye." There had been a slight
+formality between Piers and Edgar at their first meeting; but with
+Kate standing between them, all the good days on the Yorkshire hills
+and moors came into their memories, and they clasped hands with their
+old boyish fervour, and it was "Piers" and "Edgar" again. So the
+parting was the real meeting; and they went back to the parlour in an
+unmistakable enthusiasm of good fellowship.
+
+Annabel was then quite ready to leave, and the question of the Ladies
+Gallery came up for settlement. Mrs. Atheling declared she was too
+weary to go out; and Kate preferred her own happy thoughts to the
+tumult of a political quarrel. Annabel was equally indifferent. She
+had discovered that Mr. North was a son of the Earl of Westover, and
+might with propriety be asked to the Richmoor opera-box, that there was
+even an acquaintance strong enough between the families to enable her
+new lover to pay his respects to the Duchess in the interludes, and, in
+fact, an understanding to that effect had been made for that very
+night, if the offer of the seats in the Ladies Gallery was not accepted.
+So their refusal caused no regret; for when politics come in competition
+with youth and love, they have scarcely a hearing. But during the
+slight discussion, Piers found time to speak to Mrs. Atheling about the
+ring; and the direction of three pair of eyes to the trinket caught
+Annabel's attention. Her face flamed when she saw that it had passed
+from Kate's hand to the hand of Exham; and for the first time, she
+had a feeling of active dislike against Kate. Her sweet, calm, innocent
+beauty, her happy eyes and ingenuous girlish expression, offended her,
+and set all the worst forces of her soul in revolt.
+
+She did not dare to trust herself with Piers. In her present mood, she
+knew she would be sure to say something that would hamper her future
+actions. She declared she would only accept Mr. North's escort to
+Richmoor House; for she was sure the Duke was expecting Piers to be
+in his place in the Commons when the vote was taken.
+
+Piers had a similar conviction, and he looked at his watch almost
+guiltily, and went hurriedly away. Then the little party was soon
+dispersed; but Mrs. Atheling and Kate were both far too happy to need
+outside aids. They talked of Edgar and Cecil North, and Annabel's
+witcheries, and Piers's great and good qualities, and the promised ring,
+and the excellent lunch, and the general success of the impromptu
+little feast. Everything had been pleasant, and the Squire's absence
+was not thought worth worrying about.
+
+"He will come round, bit by bit," said the happy mother. "I know
+John Atheling. The first thing Edgar does to please him, will put all
+straight; and Edgar is on the very road to please him most of all."
+
+"What road is that, Mother?"
+
+"Nay, I can't tell you, Kitty; for just yet it is a secret between
+Edgar and me. He was glad to meet Piers again; and, if I am any judge,
+they will be better friends than ever before."
+
+Thus the two women talked the evening away, and were by no means sorry
+to be at their own fireside. "We could have done no good by going to the
+House," said Kate. "If we were men, it would be different. They like
+it. Father says the House is the best club in London."
+
+"It gives men a lot of excuses," said Mrs. Atheling, with a sigh. "I
+dare say your father won't get home till late. You had better go to bed,
+Kitty."
+
+"Perhaps Piers may come with him."
+
+"I don't think he will. He looked tired when he left here; he will
+be worse tired when he gets away from the Commons. He said he was going
+to speak again, if he got the opportunity,--that is, if he could find
+anything to contradict in Mr. Brougham's speech. Piers likes saying,
+'No, sir!' his spurs are always in fighting trim. Go to bed, Kitty.
+Piers won't be back to-night, and I can say to father whatever I think
+proper."
+
+Mrs. Atheling judged correctly. Piers sat a long time before his
+opportunity came, and then he did not get the best of it. Brougham's
+followers overflowed the Opposition benches, the Government side,
+and the gangway, and Piers exhausted himself vainly in an endeavour
+to get a hearing. It was late when he returned to Richmoor House, but the
+Duke was still absent, and the Duchess and Annabel at the opera. He
+went to the Duke's private parlour, for there were some things he felt
+he must discuss before another day's sitting; and the warmth and
+stillness, added to his own mental and physical weariness, soon overcame
+all the resistance he could make. The couch on which he had thrown
+himself was also a drowsy place; it seemed to sink softly down, and
+down, until Piers was far below the tide of thought, or even dreams.
+
+It was then that Annabel returned. She came slowly and rather
+thoughtfully along the silent corridor. She had exhausted for the time
+being her fine spirits, her wit, almost her good looks. She hoped she
+would _not_ meet Piers, and was glad in passing the door of his
+apartments to see no man in attendance, nor any sign of wakeful life. A
+little further on she noticed a band of light from the Duke's private
+parlour; the door was a trifle open, left purposely so by Piers in
+order that his father might not be tempted to pass it. Tired as she was,
+she could not resist the opportunity it offered. She liked to show
+herself in her fineries to her guardian, for he always had a compliment
+for her beauty; and although she had listened for hours to compliments
+her vanity was still unsatiated. With a coquettish smile she pushed
+wider the door and saw Lord Exham. There could be no doubt of his
+profound insensibility; his face, his attitude, his breathing, all
+expressed the deep sleep of a thoroughly-exhausted man.
+
+For one moment she looked at him curiously, then, at the instigation
+of the Evil One, her eyes saw the ring upon his hand, and her heart
+instantly desired it; for what reason she did not ask. At the moment
+she perhaps had no reason, except the wicked hope that its loss might
+make trouble between Kitty and her lover. With the swift, noiseless step
+that Nature gives to women who have the treachery and cruelty of the
+feline family, she reached Piers's side. But rapid as her movement had
+been, her thought had been more rapid. "If I am caught, I will say I
+won a pair of gloves, and took the ring as the gage of my victory."
+
+She stooped to the dropped hand, but never touched it. The ring was
+large, and it was only necessary for her to place her finger and thumb
+on each side of it. It slipped off without pressing against the flesh,
+and in a moment it was in her palm. She waited to see if the movement
+had been felt. There was no evidence of it, and she passed rapidly out
+of the room. Outside the door, she again waited for a movement, but
+none came, and she walked leisurely, and with a certain air of weariness,
+to her own apartments. Once there all was safe; she dropped it into
+the receptacle in which she kept the key of her jewel-case, and went
+smiling to bed.
+
+Not ten minutes after her theft the Duke entered the room. He did not
+scruple to awaken his son, and to discuss with him the tactics of a
+warfare which was every day becoming more bitter and violent. Piers
+was full of interest, and eager to take his part in the fray. Suddenly
+he became aware of his loss. Then he forgot every other thing. He
+insisted, then and there, on calling his valet and searching every inch
+of carpet in the room. The Duke was disgusted with this radical change
+of interest. He went pettishly away in the middle of the search, saying,--
+
+"The Reformers might well carry all before them, when peers who had
+everything to lose or gain thought more of a lost ring than a lost
+cause."
+
+And Piers could not answer a word. He was confounded by the circumstance.
+That the ring was on his hand when he entered the room was certain.
+He searched all his pockets with frantic fear, his purse, the couch on
+which he had slept. There was no part of the room not examined, no piece
+of furniture that was not moved; and the day began to dawn when the
+useless search was over. He went to his room, sleepless and troubled
+beyond belief. Government might be defeated, Ministers might resign,
+Reform might spell Revolution, the estates and titles of nobles might
+be in jeopardy,--but Kitty's ring was lost, and that was the first,
+and the last, and the only thought Piers Exham could entertain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTH
+
+WILL SHE CHOOSE EVIL OR GOOD?
+
+
+Annabel had a very good night. Her conscience was an indulgent one,
+and she easily satisfied its complaining. "It was after all only a
+joke," she said. "In the morning I can restore the ring. The Duke
+will have a good laugh at his son's discomfiture, and will praise my
+cleverness. The Duchess will either knit her brows, or else take it
+merrily; and Piers will owe me a forfeit, and that will be the end of
+the affair. What is there to make a fuss over?" Annabel's conscience
+thought, in such case, there was nothing to fuss about; and it let her
+sleep comfortably on the prevaricating promise.
+
+She considered the matter over as she was dressing. She had slept
+well, was refreshed and full of life, and therefore full of selfish
+wilfulness:--
+
+"I will restore the ring to Piers." She said this to please one side
+of her nature.
+
+"I will not restore the ring." She said this to please the other
+side. "As a thing of worth, it is by no means costly. I will give Kate
+Atheling a ring of twice its value. As a thing of power it is mine,
+the spoil of my will and my skill; and I will not part with it." Still
+she kept the first decision in reserve; she promised herself to be
+influenced by the circumstances which the affair induced.
+
+But the way out of temptation is always very difficult, and circumstances
+are rarely favourable to it. They were not in this case. Before
+Annabel was dressed she received a message that overthrew all her
+intentions. The Duchess was going to breakfast in her own parlour, and
+she desired Annabel's company at the meal. The desires of the Duchess
+were commands, and the young lady reluctantly obeyed them; for she
+anticipated the reproof that came, as soon as they were alone, regarding
+her attitude towards Cecil North.
+
+"It will not do, Annabel," said the Duchess, severely. "The Norths
+are a fine family, but poor, even in the elder branches. This young man
+can look forward to nothing better than some diplomatic or military
+appointment, and that in an Indian Presidency."
+
+"What could be better?" asked Annabel, with an affectation of delight.
+"An Indian Court is a court. It has the splendour, the ceremony, the
+very air of royalty."
+
+"But with your fortune--"
+
+"I assure you, Duchess, any man who marries me will need all my fortune.
+He will in fact deserve it. You know that I am _not_ amiable, and that I
+_am_ extravagant and luxurious."
+
+"But you may avoid such a foolish, unwomanly thing as flirtation, even
+if you are not amiable. It seems to me the world has forgotten how to be
+amiable. This morning, the Duke is touchy and disagreeable; and Piers
+has not come to ask after my health, though it is his usual custom when I
+remain in my room. He angered the Duke also last night."
+
+"Did you see him last night?" asked Annabel, with an air of
+indifference.
+
+"The Duke did. Piers seems to have behaved in an absurd way about a
+ring he has lost. The Duke says, he turned his room topsy-turvy, and
+went on as if he had lost his whole estate."
+
+"Was it the ring with the ducal arms that he always wears?"
+
+"No, indeed! Only a simple band of sapphires, or some other stone. The
+Duke thinks it must have been the gift of some woman. Were you the donor,
+Annabel?"
+
+"I! I should think not! I do not give rings away. I prefer to receive
+them. He wore no sapphire band yesterday when he and I went to the
+Athelings--" and she looked the rest of the query, over her coffee-cup,
+straight into the eyes of the Duchess.
+
+"What is it you mean to ask, Annabel?"
+
+"Do you think that Miss Atheling--"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Miss Atheling! That girl! What an absurd idea! Why should she give Lord
+Exham a ring?"
+
+"_Why!_ There are so many '_whys_' that nobody can answer." And
+with this remark, Annabel felt that her opportunity for confession
+had quite lapsed. For if the Duchess had thought it right to reprove
+her for such freedom as she had shown towards Cecil North, what would
+she say about an act so daring, so really improper in a social sense, as
+the removal of a ring from her son's hand? Annabel had no mind to
+bring on herself the disagreeable looks and words she merited. She gave
+the conversation the political turn that answered all purposes, by
+asking the Duchess if she was not afraid Piers's principles might be
+influenced by his friendship with young Atheling. "They were David
+and Jonathan yesterday," she said; "and as for Cecil North, he is a
+Radical of the first water."
+
+"Lord Exham is not so easily persuaded," answered the Duchess, loftily.
+"He could as readily change his nose as his principles. But I am
+seriously annoyed at this intercourse with a family distinctly out of our
+own caste. The Duke has been very foolish to encourage it."
+
+"You have also encouraged Miss Atheling."
+
+"I have been too good-natured. I admit that. But as I have promised to
+present her, I must honourably keep my word; that is, if any opportunity
+offers. It now appears as if there would be no court functions. The King
+declined the Lord Mayor's feast,--a most unprecedented thing,--and
+it is said the Queen is averse to receive while the Reform agitation
+continues. When it will end, nobody knows."
+
+"It will end when it succeeds, not before," said Annabel. "I am only
+a woman, but I see that conclusion very clearly." It gave her pleasure
+to make this statement. It was her way of returning to the Duchess the
+disagreeable words she had been obliged to take from her; and she was
+not at all dismayed by the look of anger she provoked.
+
+"I am astonished at you, Annabel. Are you also in danger of changing
+your opinions?"
+
+"I am astonished at myself, Duchess. My opinions are movable; but I have
+not yet changed them. Truth, however, belongs to all sides, and I cannot
+avoid seeing things as they are."
+
+"That is, as young Atheling and Cecil North show them to you."
+
+"Lord Exham has still more frequent opportunities of showing me the
+course of events. I have 'influences' on both sides, you see, Duchess;
+but, after all, I form my own opinions."
+
+"Reform will never be accomplished. The people must follow the nobles,
+as surely as the thread follows the needle."
+
+"I have ceased to prophesy. Anything can happen in a long enough time;
+and I often heard my father say that, 'They who _care_ and _dare_
+may do as they like.' I think the Reform party both '_care_' and
+'_dare_.'"
+
+"Have you fallen in love with Cecil North, or with Mr. Atheling?"
+
+"I am in love with Annabel Vyner. I worship none of the idols that have
+been set up, either by Tories or Reformers. Men who talk politics are
+immensely stupid. I shall marry a man who is a good fighter. Mere talkers
+are like barking dogs. Why don't these Reformers stop whimpering, and
+fly like a bull dog at the throat of their wrongs? Then I should go
+with them, heart and soul and purse."
+
+"You are talking now for talking's sake, Annabel. You are actually
+advocating civil war."
+
+"Am I really? Well, war is man's natural condition. It takes churches,
+and priests, and standing armies, and constables always on hand, to
+keep peace in any sort of fashion. We are all barbarians under our
+clothes,--just civilised on the top."
+
+"Such assertions are odious, and you cannot prove them."
+
+"I can. The other evening I was reading to Lord Tatham a most exquisite
+poem by that young man Tennyson; and he seemed to be enjoying it,
+until Algernon Sydney showed him his watch, and said something about
+'the Black Boy.' Then his face fairly glowed, and he went off with a
+compliment that meant nothing. The next morning I found out 'the
+Black Boy' was a famous pugilist. We are all of us, in some way or
+other, in this mixed condition."
+
+"I think you are particularly disagreeable this morning, Miss."
+
+"Pardon, Duchess. We have fallen on a disagreeable subject. Let us
+change it. Are we to drive to Richmond to-day?"
+
+"If Piers will accompany us. Ay! that is his knock." She turned a
+radiant face to meet her son, but received a sudden chill. Piers was
+pale and sombre-looking; he said he had not slept, and politely declined
+the Richmond excursion. Annabel was sure he would. "He will have an
+explanation at the Athelings instead," she thought; and she waited
+curiously for some remark which might open the way for her confession--or
+else close it. But Lord Exham did not allude to his loss, and the
+Duchess either attached no importance to the subject, or else thought it
+too important to bring forward. The tone of the room was not brightened
+by the young lord's advent, and Annabel quickly excused herself from
+further attendance.
+
+"He will tell his mother when I am not there; and I shall get his
+opinions, with commentaries from her," she thought, as she hurried
+to her own rooms. Once there, she dismissed her maid, and sat down
+to realise herself. She doubled her little hands, and beat her knees
+softly with them. It was her way of summoning her mental forces, and of
+collecting vagrant and undecided thought.
+
+"I am just here," she said to her own consciousness. "I have taken a
+ring from Lord Exham's finger. What for? Mischief or a joke? Which?
+Probably mischief. I wanted to turn it into a joke, and my opportunity is
+gone. Not my fault. If the Duchess had been in a good humour, I should
+have told her all about it. If Exham's manner had not frozen everything
+but the commonplaces of propriety, I would have teased him a little,
+and then given up the ring. It is their own fault. If people are cross
+at breakfast, they deserve a disagreeable day. I am not sorry to give
+them their deserts."
+
+Then she rose and went to her jewel-case, and took the ring out and
+put it on her finger. "It is a poor little thing after all," she
+said as she turned it round and round. "The stones are not very
+fine; I have sapphires of far finer colour. If I give Kate Atheling my
+diamond locket, she will have reason to be grateful,--the setting is,
+however, really beautiful; that is the point, I suppose. I would like
+to have a ring set in the same way; but it would be dangerous--" and
+she laughed as if she enjoyed the thought of the danger. She took off
+the ring at this point, and looked at it more critically. "What must I
+do with the troublesome thing?" she asked herself. "Justine is a
+curious, suspicious creature, and when she hears the talk in the
+servants' hall, if she got but a glimpse of it, she would put two and
+two together." A momentary resolve to throw it into the fire-place of
+the Duke's parlour came into her mind. "If it is found there,"
+she argued, "the only supposition will be that Piers dropped it on the
+hearth. If it is not found, there will be no suppositions at all."
+
+This resolve, however, received no real encouragement. There is a
+perverse disposition in human nature to keep with special care things
+that incriminate, or which might become sources of suspicion or trouble;
+and the ring exercised over the girl this fatal fascination. She closed
+her jewel-case deliberately, holding the lid a trifle open for a moment
+or two of last consideration; then she dropped it with decision, and
+took from her pocket a small purse, made of gold as flexible as leather
+or satin. There were a few sovereigns in one compartment, and a Hindoo
+charm in another. She put the ring with the charm, and closed the purse
+with a smile of satisfaction. For the time being, at any rate, it was
+out of her way; and there were yet possibilities of turning the whole
+matter into a pleasantry.
+
+"I may even take it to Kate Atheling and tell her to claim my forfeit."
+This very improbable solution satisfied Annabel's conscience; she was
+at peace after it, and able to consider more personal affairs.
+
+In order to do this under the most favourable conditions, she placed
+herself comfortably on her lounge. Her fine, tall form lay at length,
+supine and indolent, the feet, in their crimson sandals, crossed at the
+ankles. Her dark, powerful head, with its masses of strong, black hair,
+looked almost handsome on the pale amber cushions, with the hands and
+arms--jewelled though it was only morning--clasped above it. She was
+going to examine herself, and she was not one to shirk even the innermost
+chamber of her heart.
+
+"First," she thought, "there is Lord Exham. Do I really want to
+marry him? Let me be sure of this, and then there is nothing for him
+to do, but make out the settlements. He cannot resist my influence
+when I choose to exert it. As yet I have not troubled him much; but I
+can trouble him--and I will, if I want to. Do I? Be honest, Annabel.
+There is no use lying to yourself. Well, then, I want to be Duchess of
+Richmoor; but I do _not_ want to be Exham's wife. And if I marry
+him, the present Duke may live ten, twenty, even thirty years. I would
+not wait for the crown of England thirty years, with a husband I rather
+despised; only--only what? I do not want that Atheling girl to marry
+him. Jane Warwick, or Helen Percy, or Margaret Gower, I would not
+mind--but Kate Atheling! No! Why? I cannot tell." Nor could she. It was
+one of those apparently unreasonable dislikes we bring into the world
+with us, and which, probably, are the most reasonable dislikes of
+all. "Very well, then," she continued, "I will not marry Piers, nor
+shall Kate Atheling marry him. That is fair enough. If I manage to
+make her give him up, I give him up myself also. I am only doing to
+her as I do to myself.
+
+"Now there is Wynn, and Sidmouth, and Russell--and others. Every one of
+them have appraised my value, and made inquiries about my wealth. No
+one has told me this, but I know it. I know it with that invincible
+certainty with which women know things they are never told. Cecil North?
+Yes, I like Cecil North. He really fell in love with me,--with _me_,
+_myself_. A woman knows; she is never deceived about that unless she
+wants to be deceived. He is poor,--the Westovers are all poor,--I do
+not care if he is as poor as Job. I am tired to death of rich people.
+If Cecil North would get a military commission in India, I could be
+his wife. I could follow the drum, or live in quarters with him, and I
+should be a better and a happier woman than I am here. This life is
+too small for me."
+
+She was right in this estimation of herself. Her nature was one fitted
+to respond to great emergencies. She was a woman for frontiers and
+forts, for strife with men or elements, for days of danger in the shadow
+of suffering or death; and she was living in a society so artificial
+that any real cry of nature and needless familiarity, any sign of
+genuine passion was startling and distasteful to it. The soldierly
+temper inherited from her father demanded an adventurous life, because
+people made for overcoming obstacles cannot be morally healthy without
+obstacles to overcome. And, therefore, it was a poor life for Annabel
+Vyner that offered her no difficulty to surmount but the claims of Kate
+Atheling. She was quite aware of this, and the ring in her purse was
+no real triumph. It was rather one of those irreparable facts, the
+very thought of which gives pain.
+
+If she had been morally stronger, she would have dominated her
+environment, and defied the circumstances that so easily prevented
+her from doing the right thing. She would have been obedient to Duty;
+and that grand, immutable principle would have given her strength to
+resist temptation, or, having fallen into it, to make the obvious
+reparation; for
+
+    "So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
+      So near is God to man,
+    When Duty whispers low, '_Thou Must_,'
+      The Soul replies, '_I Can_.'"
+
+This morning, though she was far from diagnosing her feelings correctly,
+Annabel soon began to suffer from that nervous and even that physical
+fatigue which is bred of moral indifference. For nothing is more certain
+than that moral strength is the very _Life_ of life. She yawned; she
+felt the hours too long to be endured, while she pictured to herself
+the scene in the Atheling parlour, when Piers would confess the loss of
+the ring, and Kate lovingly excuse it. Finally, she became nervously
+angry at the persistence of the vision. In every possible way she tried
+to banish it, but though she fetched memories from farthest India, the
+exasperating phantasm would not be driven away.
+
+In reality the affair produced very little apparent effect. Piers made
+his confession to Mrs. and Miss Atheling with so much genuine emotion
+that they could not but make light of the loss while he was present. Yet
+it troubled both women very much. Mrs. Atheling cried over it when she
+was alone; and Kate took it as a sign of some untoward event in the
+course of love between Piers and herself. No one is able to put aside
+such inferences and presentiments; and, quite unconsciously, it worked
+towards the end Kate feared. Piers began to fancy--perhaps unjustly--that
+he never entered Kate's or Mrs. Atheling's presence without seeing in
+their first glance an unspoken inquiry after the lost ring. In some
+measure he was to blame, if this was so. He had employed detectives to
+watch such servants of the Richmoor household as could have had access
+to the Duke's parlour on that unhappy night; and as the ladies were
+aware of this movement, it was only natural they should desire to know
+if any result came from it.
+
+Of course there was no result; and the real culprit remained absolutely
+unsuspected. As the days wore away, her conscience grew accustomed to
+the situation; it made no troublesome demands; and Annabel even began to
+feel a certain pleasurable excitement in holding in her hands what might
+prove to be a power for great good, or great evil,--for she was not yet
+ready to admit an entirely evil intention; she chose rather to regard it
+as a practical jest which she might undo, or explain, in some future,
+favourable hour.
+
+She kept the jewel always in her purse; she went frequently to the
+Athelings; and once or twice she had a transitory impulse to tell Kate
+the whole circumstance, and be guided by her advice in the matter. But
+the Evil One, who had prompted her in the first instance to take it,
+always met these intents or impulses with some plausible excuse; and
+every good impulse which does not crystallise into a good action, only
+tends towards the strengthening of the evil one. Then outside events
+made delay more easy. On the fifteenth of November, there was a short,
+decided argument in the House of Commons on the Civil List; a division
+was promptly taken, and the Government was found to be in a minority
+of twenty-nine. The Squire and Lord Exham returned home together, both
+very much annoyed at this result.
+
+"All this election business will be to go over again," the Squire
+said, wearily. "Wellington and Peel are sure to take this opportunity
+to resign."
+
+"Why should they resign, John?" asked Mrs. Atheling.
+
+"Well, Maude," he answered, "they are bound to resign sooner or
+later; and I should think, if they have any sense left, they will go
+out as champions of the royal prerogative, rather than be driven out by
+a Reform division, which is sure to come. They will go out, my word
+for it, Maude!"
+
+"And what then, John?"
+
+"Well, then, we shall have all the bother of another election; and
+Earl Grey will form a new Ministry, and Lord Brougham will bully the
+new Ministry, as he has done the old one, about this Reform Bill. He
+intended to have begun that business this very night; but there wasn't
+any Ministers, nor any Administration to arraign, and so he said, in
+his domineering way, that he would put the question of Reform off until
+the twenty-fifth of this month, and not a day longer, no matter what
+circumstances prevailed, nor who were His Majesty's Ministers. I can
+tell you the city was in a pretty commotion as we came home. We shall
+have a Reform Government now, with Earl Grey at the head, and the real
+fight will then begin."
+
+"Earl Grey!" said Mrs. Atheling; "that is Edgar's friend."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't brag about it, Mother, if I was thee. I shall have
+to go back to Yorkshire, and so will Exham; and there will be no end of
+bother, and a Reform Ministry at the end of it. It is too bad! What they
+will do with Mr. Brougham, I am sure I don't know. No Ministry can live
+without him; and it will be hard work for any Ministry to live with him;
+for if he drew up a bill himself, he would find faults in it, and never
+rest until he had torn it to pieces."
+
+Piers was sitting in the embrasure of a window, holding Kate's hands,
+and talking to her in those low, sweet tones that women love; and at this
+remark he rose, and, coming towards the Squire, said with a grave smile,
+"For such dilemmas, Squire, there are remedies made and provided. If
+it is a clever clergyman who arraigns the church, or his superiors, he
+is made a bishop; and thereafter, he sees no faults. If it is a clever
+Commoner who arraigns the Government, the Government makes him a peer;
+and in the House of Lords, he finds the grace of silence. Earl Grey will
+have Mr. Brougham made Lord High Chancellor, and then _Lord_ Brougham
+will only have the power to put the question."
+
+Exham's prophecy proved to be correct. Brougham had declared that
+under any circumstances he would bring up Reform on the twenty-fifth of
+November; but, on the twenty-second of November, he took his seat as
+Chancellor in the House of Lords. It was said the Great Seal had been
+forced upon him; but the Squire wondered what pressure, never before
+known, had been discovered to make Henry Brougham do anything, or take
+anything, he did not want to do or take.
+
+However the feat was an accomplished one; and with Earl Gray, Lord
+Durham, Sir James Graham, Viscounts Melbourne and Palmerston, and other
+great leaders, Brougham kissed the King's hand on his appointment
+just three days before his threatened demonstration for Reform. Soon
+after Parliament adjourned for the re-election of Members in the Lower
+House; and the Duke, with Lord Exham and Squire Atheling, went down
+into Yorkshire.
+
+Edgar and Cecil North also disappeared. "They have gone into the
+country on business, and I'll tell you what it is, Kitty," said Mrs.
+Atheling, with a little happy importance. "A friend of Earl Grey has a
+close borough, and Edgar is to have it. I am sure I don't know what
+will happen, if he should clash with father in the House. Father cannot
+bear contradicting."
+
+"Nothing wrong will happen, Mother."
+
+"To be sure, the floor of the House of Commons is a bit different from
+his own hearthstone. When Edgar is a Parliament man, father will give
+him his place."
+
+"And Edgar will never forget to give father his place, I am sure of
+that."
+
+"I wouldn't stand a minute with him if he did. What a father and son
+say to each other in their homestead, is home talk; but Edgar must not
+threep his father before strangers. No, indeed!"
+
+"I wouldn't wonder if father comes round a little to Edgar's views.
+He listened very patiently to Cecil North, the last time they talked on
+politics."
+
+"He _has_ to listen in Parliament, and so he is getting used to
+listening. He never listened patiently at home--not even to me. But we
+can hope for the best anyhow, Kitty."
+
+"To be sure, Mother. Hoping for the best is far better than looking for
+the worst."
+
+"I should think it was. Do you believe Piers will be in London at
+Christmas?"
+
+"I fear not. Mother, he is going to send us each a ring at Christmas;
+then we will forget the other ring--shall we not?"
+
+"I don't know, Kitty. I think a deal of that other ring. No new one
+can make up for it. Why, my dear, your father gave it to me the night I
+promised to marry him. We were standing under the big white hawthorn at
+Belward. I'll never forget that hour."
+
+"It is so long ago, Mother--you cannot care very much now about it."
+
+"Now, Kitty, if you think only young people can be in love, get that
+idea out of your mind at once. You don't know anything about love yet.
+After twenty-five years bearing, and forbearing, and childbearing, you
+will smile at your gentle-shepherding of to-day. Your love is only a
+fancy now, it will be a fact then that has its foundations in your very
+life. You do not love Piers Exham, child, as I love your father. You
+can't. It isn't to be expected. And it is a good thing, love is so
+ordered; for if it did not grow stronger, instead of weaker, marrying
+would be a poor way of living."
+
+"That weary ring! I am so sorry that I ever put it on."
+
+"I did not ask you to put it on, Kitty. I did not want you to put it
+on."
+
+"Mother, please don't be cross."
+
+"Kitty, don't be unjust; it is not like you."
+
+Then Kitty laid her cheek against her mother's cheek, and said sadly,
+"I fear, somehow, that ring will make trouble between Piers and me."
+
+"Nonsense, dearie! The ring is lost and gone. It can't make trouble
+now."
+
+"Its loss was a bad omen, Mother."
+
+"There is no omen against true love, Kitty. Love counts every sign a
+good sign."
+
+"The Duke was very formal with me at my last visit. The Duchess dislikes
+me; and Miss Vyner has so many opportunities; it seems nearly impossible
+that Piers should ever marry me."
+
+"If Piers loves you, there is no impossibility. Love works miracles.
+You cannot say 'impossible' to Love. Love will find out a way."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINTH
+
+A FOOLISH VIRGIN
+
+
+Parliament was adjourned on the twenty-third of December, and did
+not re-assemble until the third of February. The interval was one of
+great public excitement and of great private anxiety. The country had
+been assured of a Government pledged to Reform; and, in the main,
+were waiting as patiently as men, hungry and naked, and burning with a
+sense of injury and injustice, could wait. But no one knew what hour a
+spark might be cast into such inflammable material,--that would mean
+Revolution instead of Reform.
+
+Consequently life was depressed, and not disposed to any exhibition of
+wealth or festivity; the most heartless and reckless feeling that it
+would not be endured by men and women on the very verge of starvation.
+The Queen also was unpopular, and the great social leaders were, as a
+general thing, bitter political partisans; in theatres and ball-rooms and
+even on the streets, the Whig and Tory ladies, when they met, looked
+at one another as Guelphs and Ghibellines, instead of christened English
+gentlewomen.
+
+Both the Duchess of Richmoor and Miss Vyner were women of strong and
+irrepressible prejudices; and, before Parliament adjourned, they had made
+for themselves an environment of active, political enemies. And women
+carry their politics into their domestic and social life; the Duchess
+had wounded many of her oldest friends; and Annabel, with the haughty
+intolerance of youth and wealth, had succeeded in making herself a person
+whom all the ladies of the Reform party delighted either to positively
+offend, or to scornfully ignore.
+
+These circumstances, with all her audacity and advantages, she was unable
+to control. Her brilliant beauty, her clever tongue, her ostentatious
+dress and display were as nothing against the united disposition of a
+score of other women to make her understand that they neither desired
+her friendship nor felt her influence; and she had at least the sense
+to retire from a conflict "whose weapons," she said contemptuously,
+"were not in her armory." This condition of affairs naturally threw
+her very much upon the Athelings for society. While the Duchess sat with
+a few old ladies of her own caste and political persuasion, talking
+fearfully of the state of English society and of the horrors Reform would
+inaugurate for the nobility, Annabel spent her time with Mrs. and
+Miss Atheling, and learned to look hopefully into a future in which,
+perhaps, there would be neither dukes nor lords. Besides, Cecil North
+had a habit of visiting the Athelings also; and, without expressed
+arrangement, both Cecil and Annabel looked forward to those charming
+lunches which Mrs. Atheling dispensed with so little ceremony and so
+much good nature. It had been Cecil's intention to go with Edgar into
+the country; but when the hour for departure arrived, he had not been
+able to leave Annabel's vicinity, and, in some of those mysterious ways
+known to Love, she understood, and was pleased with this evidence of
+her power.
+
+Cecil's mother had been particularly prominent in that social
+ostracism the Reform ladies had meted out to her; and it gave to the
+real liking which she had for Cecil a piquant relish to parade the young
+man as her devoted servant in all places where his noble mother
+would be likely to see or hear tell of her son's "infatuation." But
+Cecil North's affection, and the favour it received, did not much
+influence Kate. With the perversity of a woman in love, she believed
+Annabel to be only amusing herself during Lord Exham's absence; and she
+accepted, without a doubt, all the little innuendoes, and half-truths,
+and half-admissions which Annabel suffered herself, as it were, without
+intent, to make.
+
+Thus the dreary winter days passed slowly away. In January Edgar
+returned. His election had been a mere walk over the ground. The patron
+of the borough of Shereham had spoken the word, and Edgar Atheling was
+its lawful representative. It was a poor little place, but it gave
+Edgar a vote on the right side; and Earl Grey also hoped much from his
+power as a natural orator. He might take Brougham's place, and be far
+more amenable to directions than Brougham had ever been. Mrs. Atheling
+considered none of these things. She took in only the grand fact that
+her son was in Parliament, and that he must have won his place there
+by some transcendent personal merit. True, she had some little qualms of
+fear as to how Edgar's father would treat the new representative of
+Englishmen; but her invincible habit of hoping and her cheerful way of
+looking into the future did not suffer these passing doubts to seriously
+mar her glory and pride in her son's dignity.
+
+In fact, even in Annabel's eyes, Edgar Atheling was now an important
+person. Women do not consider causes, they look at results; and in
+Edgar Atheling's case the result was satisfactory. On the day the new
+member for Shereham returned home, she was lunching with the Athelings,
+eating her salad and playing with Cecil North's heart, when Edgar
+entered the room. His honour sat well on him; he neither paraded, nor
+yet affectedly ignored it. His mother's pride, his sister's pleasure,
+and the congratulations of his friends made him happy, and he showed it.
+The lunch that was nearly finished was delayed for another hour. No
+one liked to break up the delightful meal and conversation; and when
+Annabel got back to Richmoor House the short day was over, and the
+Duchess had sent an escort to hurry her return.
+
+"You are exceedingly imprudent, Annabel," she said, when the girl
+entered her presence; "and I do think it high time you stopped visiting
+so much at one house."
+
+"Duchess, will you say what other house equally charming is open to
+me? You know how little of a favourite I am. To-day I was delayed by an
+event,--the return of young Atheling after his election. He is now an
+M. P.,--a great honour for so young a man, I think."
+
+"Honour, indeed! Grey or Durham, or some of those renegades to their
+own caste, have given him a seat. Grey would give a seat to a puppy if
+it could bark 'aye' for him."
+
+"Well, I should not think Atheling will be a dumb dog; he has a ready
+tongue. Mr. North says he will take Brougham's place."
+
+"He will do nothing of the kind. Young Atheling is a fine talker
+when he has to face a mob of grumbling men on a Yorkshire moor or a
+city common. It is a different thing, Annabel, to stand up before the
+gentlemen of England. As for Mr. North, I have told you before that both
+the Duke and myself seriously object to that entanglement."
+
+Annabel laughed. "There is no entanglement, Duchess,--that is, on my
+part."
+
+"Then why throw yourself continually in the young man's way?"
+
+"You are scarcely polite. He throws himself in my way."
+
+"Pardon. I meant nothing disrespectful."
+
+"And I have reasons."
+
+"May I know them?"
+
+"Yes. Mr. North's mother was particularly insulting to me at the last
+Morning Concert I attended. I heard also that she had spoken of me as
+'an Indian girl of doubtful parentage.' She is particularly fond of
+Cecil, who is her youngest child, and she is trying to make a marriage
+between him and that enormously rich Miss Curzon. I am going to defeat
+her plans."
+
+Then the Duchess laughed. "I never interfere with any woman's
+retributions," she said. "But do not burn yourself at the fire you
+kindle for others."
+
+"I am fire-proof."
+
+"I must think so, or surely Piers would have influenced you."
+
+"Lord Exham never tried to 'influence' me; and only one woman in the
+world can 'influence' him."
+
+"You mean Miss Atheling, of course; and I have already told you that
+there is not even a supposition in that case. Miss Atheling is out of the
+question. The Duke would never consent to such a marriage; and I would
+never forgive it. Never! I should prefer to lose my son altogether."
+
+"Then you ought to let Miss Atheling know how you feel. She is a very
+honourable, yes, a very proud girl. She would not force herself into your
+family, no matter how much she loved your son. Now, I would. If I had
+thought you did _not_ want me to marry Lord Exham, I should probably
+have been his wife to-day."
+
+The Duchess glanced at the speaker a little scornfully, and said,
+"Perhaps you over-estimate your abilities. However, Annabel, your
+suggestion about Miss Atheling has much likelihood. I shall make an
+opportunity to speak to her. Will you go out to-night? There will be
+the usual crush at Lady Paget's."
+
+"Excuse me, I do not wish to go." The statement was correct. She had
+begun to weary of a routine of visiting that lacked decisive personal
+interest. She had many lovers; but even love-making grows tiresome
+unless it is reciprocal, or has some spice of jealousy, or some element
+of the chase in it. Cecil North did interest her, and Piers Exham did
+stimulate her desire for conquest; but Cecil was most pleasantly met at
+the Athelings, and Lord Exham was in Yorkshire.
+
+So, after dining alone with the Duchess, she went to a little
+drawing-room that was her favourite resort. The great ash logs burned
+brightly on the white marble hearth, and threw shifting lights on the
+white-and-gold furnishings, on the pictured walls, on the ferns and
+flowers, and on the lovely marble forms of two wood nymphs among them.
+She placed herself comfortably in a large easy-chair, with her back
+to the argand lamp, and stretched out her sandalled feet before the
+blaze, and nestled her head among the soft white cushions. The delicious
+drowsy atmosphere was a physical satisfaction of the highest order to
+her, quite as much so as it was to the splendid Persian cat that
+grumblingly resigned, at her order, the pleasantest end of the
+snow-white rug.
+
+"Now I can think," she said with lazy satisfaction, as she closed her
+restless eyes and began the operation. "In the first place, I have set a
+ball rolling that I may not be able to manage. It is in the hand of
+the Duchess, and she will have no scruples--she never has, if she is
+fighting for her own side. Perhaps I ought not to have given her such a
+'leader,' for Kate Atheling has always been kind to me--thoughtful
+about Cecil, ready at making excuses to let us have a little solitude,
+arranging shopping excursions in his presence, so that he would know
+where he could 'accidentally' meet us--and so on. No, it was not
+exactly kind; but then, in love and war, all things are fair--and I
+dare say Miss Kate's motives were probably selfish enough. She would
+give me Cecil to make her own way clear to Piers; and, also, Cecil
+is a favourite with the Athelings and young Atheling's friend; and they
+know that he is poor, and doubtless wish to help him to a rich wife.
+Every one works out their own plan, why should not I do the same? But I
+must find out something about that ring, and, as the straight way is the
+best way, I will ask Kate the necessary questions. She will be sure to
+betray herself."
+
+Then she opened her purse, took out the ring, and placed it upon her
+finger, holding up her hand to the blaze to catch its reflections. "It
+is a pretty little thing, but I have bought it two or three times
+over with my diamond locket. I wonder why Kate never wears that locket!
+Is it too fine? Or has she some feeling against me? I gave her it at
+Christmas, and I have only seen it once on her neck--that is strange!
+I never thought of it before--it really is not much of a ring--I have
+twenty finer ones--and I dare say I shall give it back some day: yes,
+of course I shall give it back--but at present--" and she stopped
+thinking of the demands of the present, and taking the ring off her
+finger laid it in the palm of her hand, and softly tossed it and the
+Hindoo charm up and down together ere she replaced them in their
+receptacle.
+
+Evidently she had arranged things comfortably with herself, for, after
+closing the purse, she began to swing it by its golden chain before
+the cat's eyes, until the creature became thoroughly annoyed, and
+tried to catch the gleaming, tantalising worry with its claws. The
+play delighted her; she gave herself up to its tormenting charm, and
+for once lost, in the momentary amusement, all consciousness of herself
+and her appearance. It was then the great white door swung noiselessly
+open, and Lord Exham stood within it. The sensuous little drama, so
+full of colour and life, instantly arrested him; and he stood motionless
+to watch it. The girl's strong, vivid face, her black hair, her dress
+of bright scarlet, her arms and hands flashing with gems, were thrown
+into dazzling prominence by the chair of white brocade in which she
+sat, and the white rug at her feet, and the lamp shining behind her. She
+waved the golden purse before the cat's eyes, and let it almost fall
+into the eager paws, and then drew it backward with a little laugh,
+and was not aware that she was, in the act, an absolutely bewitching
+type of mere physical beauty.
+
+But Piers was aware of it. He forgot everything but delight in the
+moving picture; and, as he advanced, he cried, in a voice full of
+pleasure, "_Annabel! Annabel!_" And the girl answered her name with
+an instantaneous movement towards him. Her radiant face looked into
+his face, and ere they were aware they had met in each other's arms
+and Piers had kissed her.
+
+She was silent and smiling, and he instantly recovered himself. "I ask
+your pardon," he said, releasing her and bowing gravely; "but you are
+one of the family, you know, and I have been long away, and am so glad
+to get home again that some liberty must be excused me."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" she answered, with a pretty pout, "I think the apology
+is the worst part of the business," and she looked into his eyes with
+that steady, unwinking gaze which none withstand. Then he drew her
+closer, and said softly, "You are simply bewildering to-night, Annabel.
+How have you made yourself so beautiful?" As he spoke he led her to her
+seat, and drew a chair close to her side; and the cat leaped to his knee
+and began to loudly purr her satisfaction in her master's return.
+
+"Are you alone to-night?" he asked. "Or perhaps you are expecting
+company?"
+
+"I am alone. I expected no company; but Destiny loves surprises, and
+to-night she has surpassed herself. The Duchess has gone to Lady
+Paget's. I could not sacrifice myself so far. You know what her
+political nights are. And if it is not Relief Bills, and Reform Bills,
+then it is Mr. Clarkson and Anti-Slavery; and we are solemnly told to
+make little petticoats for the negro children if we desire to go to
+heaven." She laughed, and dropped her eyes, and was silent; and the
+silence grew dangerous. Fortunately, she herself broke the spell by
+asking Piers if he had seen Squire Atheling in Yorkshire.
+
+"We came from Yorkshire together," he said. Then he began to talk about
+the election, and in a few minutes a butler announced his dinner, and
+Annabel's hour was over.
+
+She was not disappointed. "We went far enough," she thought. "I am not
+yet ready to put my hand out further than I can draw it back. I cannot
+give up Cecil now; he is the only private pleasure I have. Every other
+thing I share with the Duchess, or somebody else. And Piers I should
+have to share with her and the Duke. As heir to the dukedom, they will
+always retain a right in his time and interests. No, Lord Exham, not
+yet--not yet."
+
+She rose with the words, and went to the piano and dashed off in splendid
+style that famous old military fantasia, "The Battle of Prague." And
+the drift of her uncontrolled thoughts during it may be guessed by the
+first query she made of her intelligence when the noisy music ceased:--
+
+"I wonder what the Athelings are doing? Piers says the Squire is at
+home. I suppose Mrs. Atheling and Kate are coddling, and petting, and
+feeding him."
+
+In some respects Annabel judged fairly well. The Squire reached his home
+about the same time that Lord Exham arrived at Richmoor House, and found
+Mrs. Atheling waiting to receive him. He made no secret of his joy in
+seeing her again. "I was afraid thou mightst be gadding about somewhere,
+Maude," he said. "It is pleasant to find thee at home."
+
+"John Atheling!"
+
+"Well, it is too bad to say such a thing, Maude. I knew well I would
+find thee at home when there was either chance or likelihood of my
+getting back there. But where is little Kitty? It isn't right without
+Kitty."
+
+"Well, John, Squire Pickering's family came to London a few days ago,
+and Kitty has gone to the theatre with them."
+
+"I'll tell thee a good joke about Squire Pickering, Maude," said
+the Squire, laughing heartily as he spoke. "He was feared young Sam
+Pickering was going to vote for Reform, and he served a writ on him
+for a trespass, or something of that sort, and got him put safely in
+jail till voting time was over. Then he quashed the writ and let the
+lad out. But, my word! young Sam is fighting furious, and he has treated
+his father nearly as bad as Edgar treated me."
+
+"Edgar is going to Parliament now. I told thee he would. John, for
+goodness' sake, don't quarrel with him before all England!"
+
+"Maude Atheling! I never quarrelled with Edgar. Never! He quarrelled
+with me. If he had done his duty by his father, we would have been finger
+and thumb, buckle and strap, yesterday, and to-day, and to-morrow, and
+every other day. The Duke says my anger at Edgar is quite reasonable
+and justifiable."
+
+"_The Duke!_ So then thou art framing thy opinions to what _he_ says.
+Dear me! I wouldn't have believed such a thing could ever come to pass."
+
+"Wait till it _does_ come to pass. Why, Richmoor and I very near came
+to quarrelling point because I would _not_ frame my opinions by his
+say-so. I have been looking into things a bit, Maude, more than I ever
+did before, and I have learned what I am not going to deny for anybody.
+I met Philip Brotherton of Knaseborough, and he asked me to go home
+with him for two or three days--You know Philip and I have been friends
+ever since we were lads, and our fathers before us."
+
+"I know that."
+
+"So I went with him, and he showed me how working men live and labour
+in such towns as Leeds and Manchester; and I am not going to say less
+than it is a sin and a shame to keep human beings alive on such terms. I
+do not believe any Reform Bill is going to help them; but they ought to
+be helped; and they must be helped; or else government is nothing but
+blunderment, and legislating nothing but folly. And I said as much
+to Richmoor, and he asked me if my son had been lecturing me; and I
+told him I had been using my own eyes, and my own ears, and my own
+conscience."
+
+"What did he say to that?"
+
+"He said, 'Squire, I do not like your associating with Philip
+Brotherton. The man has radical ideas, though he does not profess
+them.' And I said, 'I like Philip Brotherton, and I shall associate
+with him whenever I can make it convenient to do so; and as for his
+ideas, if they are radical, then Christianity is radical; and as for
+professing them, Philip Brotherton does better than that, he lives
+them;' and I went on to say that I thought it would be a right and
+righteous thing if both landlords and loomlords would do the same."
+
+"My word, John! Thou didst speak up! I'll warrant Richmoor was angry
+enough."
+
+The Squire laughed a little as he answered, "Well, Maude, he got as red
+in the face as a turkey-cock, and he asked me if I was really going to
+be Philip Brotherton's fool. And I answered, 'No, I am like you,
+Duke, I do my own business in that line.' And he said, '_Squire
+Atheling!_' and turned on his heel and walked one way; and I said,
+'_Duke Richmoor!_' and turned on my heel and walked the other way. Now
+then, Maude, dost thou think he orders my opinions for me?"
+
+And Mrs. Atheling smiled understandingly in her lord's face, and cut
+him a double portion from the best part of the haunch of venison she was
+carving.
+
+A few days after this event Annabel called one morning at the Athelings.
+She expected Cecil North to be there, and he was not there; she waited
+for him to come, and he did not come; she tried in many devious ways
+to get Kate to express an opinion about his absence, and Kate seemed
+entirely unconscious of it. It provoked her into an ill-natured anger;
+and, casting about in her mind for something disagreeable to say, she
+remembered her resolve to find out how the sapphire ring came to be in
+Lord Exham's possession. Even if "the straight way had not been the
+best way," she was by nature inclined to direct inquiries; and she
+had just proven in her mental manoeuvring about Cecil North that
+indirect methods were not satisfactory. So she said bluntly:--
+
+"Kate, did you ever hear about Lord Exham losing a ring he valued very
+much?"
+
+"Yes," answered Kate, without the slightest embarrassment; "it was
+my mother's ring."
+
+"Your mother's ring?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But Lord Exham had it on his finger."
+
+"My mother loaned it to him. He admired it very much, and wished to have
+one made like it."
+
+"The Duchess was sure that some lady had given it to him as a love gage.
+Do you know that he has fretted himself sick about its loss?"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Oh, no! I am sure he is not sick. My mother made light of the loss to
+him, though she really was very much attached to that particular ring."
+
+"Have I ever seen her wear it?"
+
+"No. It was too small for her."
+
+"Then it was a simple souvenir?"
+
+"It was more than that; it was her betrothal ring. Father bought it in
+Venice."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"But she had a slim little hand, then--like mine is now--" said Kate,
+laughing, and spreading out her hand for Annabel to observe.
+
+"Then you must have been talking of rings, and shown it to him."
+
+"I was wearing it. I had it on during the lunch hour, and you were
+present. It is a wonder you did not notice it, for you are so curious
+about finger-rings."
+
+"Yes, I am quite a ring collector."
+
+"It was rather a singular ring."
+
+"Will you describe it to me?"
+
+Kate did so, and Annabel listened with apparent curiosity. "I wonder
+what Exham could want with such a queer ring," she said in answer.
+
+"Perhaps he is also a ring collector."
+
+"Perhaps!" But the one word by no means explained the thoughts forming
+in her mind. She rose, and, lifting her bonnet, went to a mirror and
+carefully tied the satin ribbons under her chin, in the big bows then
+considered vastly becoming. Kate tried to arrest her hands. "Stay
+and take lunch with us," she urged. "Edgar is sure to be here; and
+I should like him to see you in that pretty cloth pelisse."
+
+"Mr. Atheling never notices me; then why should he notice my pelisse?
+I heard Lady Inglis say that he is very much in Miss Curzon's society.
+If so, he will clash with his friend Mr. North, who is also her devoted
+slave."
+
+"Now, Annabel! You know that Cecil North loves no one but you."
+
+"How can you be so wise about his love-affairs?"
+
+"No great wisdom is needed to see what he cannot hide."
+
+"Was he here yesterday?"
+
+"He was here last night. He called to tell us he was going to Westover
+on some business for his father. I suppose he wanted you to know."
+
+"But you never thought of telling me. How selfish girls in love are!
+They cannot think a thought beyond their own lover. I declare I was going
+without giving you my news,--the Duchess has a large dinner party on
+the first of March. The Tory ladies will wait in her rooms the reading
+of this famous Reform Bill that Lord John Russell is concocting, and
+there will be a great crowd. Kate, if I was you, I would wear your court
+dress. It is very unlikely that the Queen will receive at all this
+season."
+
+"Perhaps we shall not be invited to the dinner."
+
+"You certainly will be invited. I heard the list read, and as your name
+begins with 'A' it was almost the first. If Mr. Atheling does come to
+lunch, give him my respects and describe my pelisse to him."
+
+She went away with this mocking message, and was driven first to a famous
+jeweller's, where she bought a sapphire band sufficiently like the
+one Lord Exham had lost to pass for it, if the view was cursory and at a
+distance. Kate's confidence had made one course exceedingly plain to
+Annabel. She said to herself as she drove through the city streets,
+"My best plan is evidently to arouse Squire Atheling's suspicions.
+I will let him see the ring on my hand. I will lead him to think Piers
+gave it to me. He will of course make inquiries, and I wonder what Mrs.
+Atheling and Kate will say. It is a pretty piece of confusion--and,
+if the matter goes too far, I reserve the power to play the good fairy
+and put all right. This is a complication I shall enjoy thoroughly,
+and I am sure, with nothing on earth but Reform and Revolution in my
+ears, I deserve some little private amusement. All I have to do is to
+be constantly ready for opportunities."
+
+Opportunities, however, with Squire Atheling, were few and far between.
+It was not until the day before the first of March she found one. On
+that afternoon she called at the Athelings, and found Mrs. and Miss
+Atheling out. The Squire was walking from the fire-place to the window,
+and from the window to the fire-place, and grumbling at their absence.
+Miss Vyner's entrance diverted him for a few minutes; and as they
+were talking a servant brought in a small package. The Squire took it up,
+and laid it down, and then took it up again, and was evidently either
+anxious or curious concerning its contents.
+
+"Why do you not open your package, Squire?" asked Annabel.
+
+"Well, young lady, I am not going to act as if your presence was not
+entertainment enough and to spare."
+
+"Nonsense! Please do not stand on ceremony with me. It may contain
+important papers--something relating to Church or State. I am only a
+young woman. Open it, Squire."
+
+"Well, then, if you say so, I will open it," and he began fumbling at
+the well-tied string. Annabel saw her opportunity. In a moment she had
+slipped on to the forefinger of her right hand the lost ring, and the
+next moment she had gently pushed aside the Squire's hands, and was
+saying, "Let me unfasten the knots. I am cleverer at that work than
+you."
+
+"To be sure you are. There is work little fingers do better than big
+ones, and this is that kind of a job. But I will get my knife and cut
+the knots; that is the best and quickest way."
+
+He began to hunt in his pockets for his knife, but could not find it.
+"Dobson never does put things where they ought to be," he said
+fretfully; and then he pulled the bell-rope for Dobson with a force
+that fully indicated his annoyance. In the mean time, Annabel was
+quietly untying the string, and the Squire naturally watched her
+efforts. He was complaining and scolding his servant and his womenkind,
+and Annabel did not heed him; but when he suddenly stopped speaking,
+in the middle of a sentence, she looked into his face. It expressed the
+blankest wonder and curiosity. His eyes were fixed upon her hands, and
+he would probably have asked her some inconvenient question if Dobson
+had not entered at the moment. Then Annabel retired. Dobson had taken
+the parcel in charge, and she excused herself from further delay.
+
+"I have several things to do," she said, "and I shall only be in the
+way of the parcel and its contents. Tell Mrs. Atheling and Kate that I
+called, will you, Squire?"
+
+"To be sure! To be sure, Miss Vyner," he answered; but his eyes were on
+the papers Dobson was unfolding, and his mind was vaguely wandering to
+the ring he had seen on her finger. When he had satisfied his curiosity
+concerning the papers, his thoughts returned with persistent wonder to
+it. "I'll wager my best hunter, yes, I'll wager _Flying Selma_ that
+was the ring I bought in Venice and gave to Maude. How did that girl
+get it? Maude would never sell it or give it away. Never! _Dal it!_ there
+is something queer in her having it. I must find out how it comes to
+pass."
+
+When he arrived at this decision Mrs. Atheling came into the room. She
+was rosy and smiling, and put aside with sweet good nature the Squire's
+complaints about both her and Kitty being out of the house when he was
+in it. "Not a soul to say a word to me, or to see that I had a bit of
+comfortable eating," he said in a tone of injury.
+
+"Never mind, John!"
+
+"Oh, but I do mind! I mind a great deal, Maude."
+
+"You see, it was Kitty wanted me. She had to have a new clasp to the
+pearl necklace your mother left her; and she was sure you would like me
+to choose it, so I went with her. I thought we should certainly be home
+before you got back."
+
+"Well, never mind, then. Nothing suits me so much as to see Kitty
+suited. I hope you bought a clasp good enough for the necklace."
+
+"I did not forget that she was going with you to-morrow night."
+
+"But you are going too, Maude?"
+
+"Nay, I am not. When I can shut my ears as easy as my eyes, I can afford
+to be less particular about the company I keep. I know beforehand what
+the women in that crowd will say about their own danger, and about the
+murmuring poor who won't starve in peace, and I know that I would be
+sure to answer them with a little bit of plain truth."
+
+"And the truth is not always pleasant, eh, Maude?"
+
+"In this case I'm sure it wouldn't be pleasant. So, then, the outside
+of Richmoor House is the best side for me."
+
+"I must say I'm getting a bit tired myself of the Duke's masterful
+way, and of his everlasting talk about the 'noble memories of the
+past.'"
+
+"Then tell him, John, that the noble hopes of the future are something
+better than the noble memories of the past. The country is in a bad
+condition as ever was. Something must be done, and done quickly."
+
+"I'm saying nothing to the contrary, Maude. But even if Reform was
+right, it cannot be carried. We must drive the nail that will go. That
+is only good common-sense, Maude."
+
+"Mark my words, John. Reform will _have_ to come, and better now than
+later. That which fools do in the end, wise men do in the beginning. I
+know, I know."
+
+"On this subject thou knowest nothing whatever, Maude. Now, then, I
+am going to have a bit of sleep. But I will say thus far--as soon as
+ever I am sure that I am on a wrong road I won't go a step further.
+John Atheling is not the man to carry a candle for the devil."
+
+With these words he threw his bandana handkerchief over his head,
+adding, "He hoped now he had a 'right' to a bit of sleep." Then Mrs.
+Atheling went softly out of the room. There was a tolerant smile on her
+face, for she was not deceived by the Squire's habit of dignifying his
+self-assertions and his self-indulgences with the name of "rights."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TENTH
+
+TROUBLE COMES UNSUMMONED
+
+
+Never had the ducal palace of Richmoor been more splendidly prepared
+for festivity than on the night of the first of March, 1831. And yet
+every guest present knew that it was not a festival, but a gathering
+of men and women moved by the gravest fears for the future. The long
+suites of parlours, brilliantly lighted, were crowded with peers and
+noble ladies, wearing, indeed, the smiles of conventional pleasure; but
+all of them eager to discuss the portentous circumstances by which they
+were environed.
+
+Annabel stood at the right hand of the Duchess, but was strangely
+distrait and silent. Everything had gone wrong with her. It had been a
+day of calamity. She began it with a fret and a scold, and her maid
+Justine had been from that moment in a temper calculated to provoke to
+extremities her impatient mistress. Then her costume did not arrive till
+some hours after it was due; and when examined, it was found to be very
+unbecoming. She had been persuaded to select a pale blue satin, simply
+because she had tired of every other colour; and she was disgusted
+with the effect of its cold beauty against her olive-tinted skin. She
+wore out Justine's temper with the variety of her suggestions, and her
+angry impatience with every effort. The girl became sulkily silent,
+then defiantly silent, then, after a most unreasonable burst of anger,
+actively impertinent, so much so that she left Annabel only one way of
+retaliation--an instant dismissal. She lifted her purse passionately,
+counted out the money due, and, pushing it contemptuously towards the
+girl, told her "to leave the house instantly."
+
+To her utter amazement, Justine pushed back the money. "I will not take
+it," she said. "I have no intention of leaving the house until I see
+the ring in your possession--the ring in your purse, Miss--returned to
+the owner of it."
+
+If Annabel had been struck to the ground, she could not have been more
+confounded and bewildered; and Justine saw and pushed her advantage.
+"Miss knows," she continued, "that police detectives are watching
+night and day the innocent men whose duties are on this corridor.
+Any hour some little thing may cause one of them to be suspected and
+arrested; and then who but I could save him from the gallows? No,
+Miss, I shall not leave till you give up the ring--till the real th--the
+real taker of it is known."
+
+These words terrified Annabel. She felt her heart stop beating; a strange
+sickness overwhelmed her; she sunk speechless into a chair, and closed
+her eyes. With an attention utterly devoid of sympathy, Justine put
+between her lips a tea-spoonful of aniseed cordial which she brought
+from her own apartment.
+
+In a few minutes Annabel recovered herself physically; but her
+prostration, and the hysterical mood which followed it, were admissions
+she could not by any future word, or act, contradict. She had been taken
+by surprise, and surrendered. If she had had but ten minutes to survey
+the situation, she would have defied it; but such an emergency had
+never occurred to her. Over and over again she had supposed every other
+likelihood of discovery; this one, never! She was at the mercy of her
+maid; but for the time being the maid was not inclined to extremities.
+She only insisted that Annabel should use her influence to place the men
+under suspicion out of the danger of arrest; and when Annabel had
+explained, with a wretched little laugh, that the ring had been
+taken "as a means of forwarding her love-affair with Lord Exham,"
+the maid assured her "she was on her side in that matter." Then she
+pocketed the sovereigns Annabel offered as a peace gift, and "hoped
+Miss would think no more of what she had said."
+
+But Annabel could not dismiss the subject. Under her magnificent but
+singularly unbecoming gown, she carried a heart heavy with apprehension.
+The shadow of the gallows, which Justine had evoked for the suspected
+culprit, fell upon her own consciousness. In those days, the most
+trifling theft was punished with death; and Annabel had a terror of that
+mysterious Law of which she was so profoundly ignorant. How it would
+regard her position, she could not imagine. Would even her confession
+and restoration exonerate her? In this respect, she suffered from
+fright, as an ignorant child suffers. Besides which, when the subject
+of "confession" came close to her, she felt that it was impossible.
+Constantly she had flattered her conscience with this promise; but if it
+was to come to actuality, she thought she would rather die.
+
+So it was with a wretched heart she took the place the Duchess had
+assigned her at her own right hand. This position associated her
+intimately with Lord Exham, and it was for this very reason the Duchess
+had decided upon it. She knew the value of the popular voice; she wished
+the popular voice to unite Lord Exham and her rich and beautiful ward;
+and she felt sure that their association at her right hand would give
+all the certainty necessary to such a belief. Heart-sick with her
+strange, new terror, Annabel stood in that brilliant throng. Just
+before the dinner hour, she saw Squire Atheling and Kate approaching
+to pay their respects to the Duchess. She saw also the quick, joyful
+lifting of Exham's eyelids, the bright flush of pleasure that gave
+sudden life to his pale cheeks, and the irrepressible gladness that
+made his voice musical, as he said softly, "How beautiful she is!"
+
+"Miss Atheling?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Then Annabel considered her rival's approach. Her eyes fell first on
+the Squire, whose splendid physique arrested every one's attention. He
+wore a coat of dark-blue broadcloth, trimmed with gold buttons, a long,
+white satin vest, and exquisitely fine linen, rather ostentatiously
+ruffled. On his arm Kate's hand just rested. Her gown of rich white
+silk was soft as lawn, and resplendent as moonbeams; and around her
+throat lay one string of Oriental pearls. Her bright, brown hair was
+dressed high, without any ornament; but there were silver buckles, set
+with pearls, on the front of her white satin sandals. A pause, a murmur
+of admiration was perceptible; for conversation ceased a moment as a
+creature so fresh, so pure, so exquisite, and so suitably protected,
+moved among them. Lord Exham, forgetting all ceremonies, went eagerly
+forward to meet these favoured guests; and the Duchess also had a
+momentary pleasure in Kate's well-gowned loveliness. She was very
+friendly to the Squire; and she took his daughter under her own
+protection.
+
+After dinner--which was specially early for that night--the majority
+of the gentlemen went to the House. The Reform Bill, about which all
+England was in agonising suspense, was to be read for the first time.
+Never, within the memory of Englishmen, had there been so great a crowd
+eager to get into the House. Every inch of space on the floor was filled;
+and troops of eager politicians, from all parts of the country, were
+waiting at the doors of the various galleries. When they were opened,
+the clamour, the struggle, and the confusion was so indescribable that
+the Speaker threatened to have all the galleries cleared. Even among the
+members, there was great confusion and complaining; for their seats,
+though marked with their cards, had in many instances been taken by
+others.
+
+Outside, the streets were packed with men wrought up to feverish
+excitement and anxiety; and in all the great centres of society, and in
+every club in London, there were restless crowds waiting for news from
+Westminster. The Duchess of Richmoor's parlours were the central point
+of Tory interest. Not one of the company there present but believed with
+Sir Robert Inglis--an orator of their party--that "Reform would sweep
+the House of Lords clear in ten years." This night was, to them, their
+salvation or their ruin. Below their jewelled bodices, their hearts
+trembled with anxious terror. After the departure of the members for
+the House, they gathered in little knots, wondering, and fearing, and
+listening to the noises in the crowded streets, with an agitation not
+quite devoid of pleasurable stimulation. For they were not without
+comforters and encouragers. The Duke of Wellington went from group to
+group, assuring them that Lord Grey's Ministry must go down, and that
+no Reform Bill which could injure the nobility would be permitted to pass
+the House of Lords.
+
+Annabel was almost glad to see every one so unhappy. She had a perverse
+desire to say contradictious things. Her heart was heavy with fear, and
+it was burning with envy and jealousy. Kate's beauty, and Lord Exham's
+undisguised admiration, made her realise all the bitterness of failure.
+She wandered about making evil prophecies, or saying irritating truths,
+and watching Kate the while, till she was ready to cry out with mental
+pain and mortification. For the great Duke--never insensible to female
+loveliness--had given Kate his arm, and was walking about the parlours
+with her. Why had such honour not fallen to her lot? Never had she
+been so desirous to lead, to be admired, to enforce her eminent fitness
+to wear the Richmoor coronet. Never had she so signally failed. Even
+her wit had deserted her; she said _malapropos_ clever things, and got
+snubbed for them. In her anger, and fear, and disappointment, she
+wished Reform _might_ make a clean sweep of such a selfish crowd of
+so-called nobility. She had arrived at that point when her misery
+demanded company.
+
+About ten o'clock, the Duke and Lord Exham returned. The large lofty
+rooms, with their moving throngs of splendidly attired men and women,
+were yet crowded; but their atmosphere was charged with an electric
+tension, generated by the unusual pitch to which every one's thoughts,
+and feelings, and words were set. Many were almost hysterical; some had
+subsided into mere waiting, conscious of requiring all their strength
+for simple endurance of the suspense; others, more hopeful, were restless
+and watching,--but all alike became instantly and breathlessly silent
+as the two men appeared. For a moment no one spoke; then the Duke of
+Wellington asked, with an assumption of cheerfulness, "What news? Has
+the Bill been read?"
+
+"It has been read," answered Richmoor. "Lord John Russell introduced
+it in a speech lasting more than two hours."
+
+"And pray what are its provisions."
+
+"This infamous Bill proposes that every borough of less than two
+thousand inhabitants shall lose the right to send a member to
+Parliament."
+
+"What a scandalous robbery of our privileges!" ejaculated some one of
+the listeners.
+
+"It is nothing else!" answered the Duke. "It robs me of the gift of
+seven boroughs."
+
+"What excuse did he make for such an act?"
+
+"He supposed the case of a stranger, coming to England to investigate
+our method of representation, being taken to a green mound, and told
+that green mound sent two members to Parliament; or to a stone wall
+with three niches in it, and told that those three niches sent two
+members to Parliament; or to a green park with no signs of human
+habitation, and told that green park sent two members to Parliament;
+and then pictured the amazement of the stranger at this condition of
+things. 'But,' he cried, 'how much greater would be his amazement if
+he were then taken to large and populous cities, full of industry,
+enterprise, and intelligence, and containing vast magazines of every
+kind of manufactures, and was then told that these cities did not send
+a single man to represent their rights and their necessities in the
+great national council.' It was really a very effective passage."
+
+"We have heard that argument before; it is stale and unprofitable,"
+said the Duchess.
+
+"Listen! This Bill proposes to give every man paying taxes for houses
+of the yearly value of ten pounds and upward--_a vote_."
+
+"What an absurdity!"
+
+"It proposes to give Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, and
+three other large towns, each two members, and London eight additional
+members."
+
+"Infamous! It will give us a mob government."
+
+"This so-called Reform Bill gives the franchise to one hundred and
+ten thousand people in the counties of England who never had it before;
+in the provincial towns, it gives it to fifty thousand; in London, it
+gives it to ninety-five thousand; in Scotland, to fifty thousand; and
+in Ireland, to forty thousand: in all, half a million of persons are to
+be added to the constituency of the House of Commons."
+
+At this information the tendency of the whole company was to laughter.
+Indeed the Duke's face, and voice, and manner was that of a man telling
+an utterly absurd story. Such sweeping alterations were not conceivable;
+their very excess doomed them to ridicule and failure, in the opinion of
+the privileged class; but the Duke of Wellington's face expressed an
+anxiety not consonant with this feeling; and he asked gloomily:
+
+"Did Lord John Russell _dare_ to read the names of the boroughs he
+intends to disfranchise, with their members present?"
+
+"He read them with the greatest emphasis and deliberation."
+
+"And the result? What was the result? How did they take being robbed of
+their seats in this summary way?"
+
+"The excitement in the House was incredible. He was derisively
+interrupted by shouts of laughter, and by cries of 'Hear! Hear!' and
+by constant questions across the table from the members of those
+boroughs. The wisest statesmen in the House were aghast at proposals so
+sweeping and so revolutionary."
+
+"What did Peel say?"
+
+"Nothing. He sat rigid as a statue, his face working with emotion,
+his brow wrinkled and sombre. His supporters, who were gathered round
+him, burst again and again into uncontrollable laughter. Peel tried
+to make them behave like gentlemen, and could not. Every one is sure such
+a measure predicts a speedy downfall of Grey's Ministry."
+
+"Of course it does," said the Duchess, with a contemptuous laugh.
+The laugh was contagious, and the majority of the company burst into
+merriment and ridicule.
+
+"It is really a good joke," said an aged Marquis who had the idea that
+England was the birthright of her nobles.
+
+"A good joke!" answered the Duke of Wellington, sternly. "I can tell
+you it is no joke. You will find it no laughing matter."
+
+"I am weary of it all," whispered Annabel to Kate; "let us go into
+the conservatory." Kate was willing also, and as they entered the sweet,
+green place, with its tender lights and restful peace, she sighed with
+pleasure and said, "I wonder, Annabel, if the roses and camellias think
+themselves better than the violets and daisies."
+
+"I dare say they do. Let us sit down here. I have had such a wretched
+day, and I am worn out;" and for a moment, as she looked in Kate's
+gentle face, she had a mind to tell her the whole truth about the
+unfortunate ring. But while she hesitated, there was a footstep; and
+in a moment, Piers pushed aside the fronds of the gigantic ferns and
+joined them.
+
+"It is allowable," said Annabel, "provided you do do not mention
+Reform."
+
+"There is no necessity here," he answered gallantly. "How could
+perfection be reformed?" Gradually the conversation fell into a more
+serious mood, and they began to speak of Yorkshire, and to long after its
+breezy wolds and lovely dales; and Annabel listened and said, "She
+would be delighted when they went down there." Kate also acknowledged
+that she was impatient to return to Atheling; and Piers watched her
+every movement,--the smile parting her lips, the light coming and going
+on her cheeks from dropped or lifted eyes, the graceful movements of
+her hands, the noble poise of her head,--all these things were fresh
+enchantments to him. What was the noisy, dusty Senate chamber to this
+green spot filled with the charming presence of the woman he adored?
+
+Very quickly Annabel perceived that she was the one person _not_
+necessary; and she was too depressed to resent this position. With a
+whisper to Kate, she went away, promising to return in ten minutes.
+She did not return; but in half an hour--which had seemed as five
+minutes--the Duchess came in her stead, and said blandly, "Annabel has
+a headache, and has gone to sleep it away. I have sent the Squire
+home, Miss Atheling; I told him I should keep you here to-night.
+Indeed he was glad for you to remain; the streets are not in a very
+pleasant condition. London has lost its senses. It has gone mad; in the
+morning it may be saner."
+
+So the sweet interval was over; but one secret glance between the lovers
+showed how delicious it had been. Kate went away with the Duchess; and
+waiting women led her to a splendid sleeping apartment. There, all
+night long, she kept the sense of Piers holding her hand in his; and,
+faintly smiling with this interior bliss, she dreamed away the hours
+until late in the morning.
+
+Her first thought on awakening was, "What shall I wear? I cannot go to
+breakfast in a white silk gown." Then, as she rose, she saw a street
+costume laid ready for her use. "Mrs. Atheling sent it very early this
+morning," said the maid; and Kate thought with a blessing of the good
+mother who never forgot her smallest necessities. At breakfast, the
+Duchess was particularly gracious to her; she affected an entire oblivion
+of Piers's evident devotion, and talked incessantly of the stupidity of
+the Grey Ministry; but as she rose from the table, she said,--
+
+"My dear Miss Atheling, will you do me the favour to come to my private
+parlour before you leave?"
+
+Kate stood up, curtsied slightly, and made the required promise. But
+she did not at once attend the Duchess, as that lady certainly expected.
+She had promised Piers to walk with him in the conservatory, and finish
+their interrupted conversation of the previous night; and a gentle
+pressure of her hand reminded her of this previous engagement. So it
+was near the noon hour when she went to the room which the Duchess had
+selected for their interview.
+
+She entered it without a suspicion of the sorrow waiting there for her,
+though the first glance at the cold, haughty face that greeted her made
+her a little indignant. "I expected you an hour ago, Miss Atheling,"
+said the Duchess.
+
+"I am sorry if I have detained you, Duchess. I did not think my
+interview with you could be of much importance."
+
+"Perhaps not as important to you as the interview you put before it--and
+yet, perhaps, far more so. For I must tell you that such entirely
+personal companionship with Lord Exham, must cease from this very hour."
+
+Kate had taken the seat the Duchess indicated on her entering the room;
+she now rose to her feet, and answered, "If so, Duchess, it is proper
+for me to leave your home at once. My mother is waiting to see me. She
+will tell me what it is right for me to do."
+
+"In this case, I am a better adviser than your mother. I believe you to
+be a girl of noble principles, so I tell you frankly that Lord Exham
+is bound, by every honourable tie, to marry Miss Vyner. When you are
+not present, he is quite happy in her society; when you are present,
+you seem to exert some unaccountable influence over him. Miss Vyner has
+often complained of this. I thought it was simple jealousy on her part,
+until I observed you with Lord Exham last night. I am now compelled,
+by my duty to my son and his affianced wife, to tell you how impossible
+a marriage between you and Lord Exham is and must be. I believe this
+information to be all that is necessary to a girl of your birth and
+breeding."
+
+"What information, Duchess?" She asked the question with a dignity that
+irritated a woman who thought her word, without her reasons, was quite
+sufficient.
+
+"If you persist in having the truth, I must give it to you. Remember,
+I would gladly have spared you and myself this humiliation. Know,
+then, that many years ago the late General Vyner rendered the Duke a
+great service. When Annabel was born, the Duke offered himself as
+her godfather and guardian, and his son as her husband. It is not
+necessary to go into details; the facts ought to be sufficient for you.
+There are circumstances which make the fulfilment of this promise
+imperative; and, if you do not interfere, my son will very willingly
+perform his part of it. Pardon me if I also remind you that your
+birth and fortune make any hopes you may entertain of being the future
+Duchess of Richmoor very presumptuous hopes. I assure you that I have
+spoken reluctantly, and with sincere kindness; and I do not desire this
+conversation to interfere with our future intercourse. If you will give
+me your promise, I know that I may trust you absolutely."
+
+"What do you wish me to promise?"
+
+"That you will allow no love-making between Lord Exham and yourself;
+that you will not in any way interfere between Lord Exham and Miss
+Vyner,--in fact, promise me, in a word, that you will never marry
+Lord Exham. I assure you, such a marriage would be most improper and
+unfortunate."
+
+Kate stood for a moment still and white as a marble statue; and when she
+spoke, her words dropped slowly and with an evident effort. And yet her
+self-control and dignity of manner was remarkable, as she answered,--
+
+"Duchess, I have always done exactly what my dear wise father and mother
+have told me to do. I shall ask their advice on this matter before I make
+any promise. If they tell me to do as you wish me to do, I shall know
+that they are right, and obey them. I do not recognise any other human
+authority than theirs."
+
+She was leaving the room after these words; but the Duchess cried
+angrily, "Your father must not at present be asked to interfere. There
+are interests--grave, political interests--between him and the Duke
+that cannot be imperilled for some love-nonsense between you and Lord
+Exham."
+
+"There are no grave political interests between my mother and the Duke;
+and I shall, at all events, take my mother's counsel."
+
+She had stood with the door open in her hand; she now passed outside. So
+far she had kept herself from any exhibition of feeling; but, oh, how
+wronged and unhappy and offended she felt! She went down and down the
+splendid stairway, erect as a reed; but her heart was like a wounded
+bird: it fluttered wildly in her bosom, and would not be comforted until
+she reached that nest of all nests,--her mother's breast.
+
+There she poured out all her grief and indignation; and Mrs. Atheling
+never interrupted the relation by a single word. She clasped the weeping
+girl to her heart, and stroked her hands, and soothed her in those tender
+little ways that are closer and sweeter than any words can be. But when
+Kate had wept her passionate sense of wrong and affront away, the good
+mother withdrew herself a little, and began to question her child.
+
+"Let me understand plainly, Kitty dear," she said. "Her Grace--Grace
+indeed!--wishes you to promise her that you will give up Piers to
+Annabel."
+
+"Yes, Mother."
+
+"And that you will never marry Piers under any circumstances?"
+
+"Yes, Mother."
+
+"And she thinks you 'presumptuous' in hoping to marry her son?"
+
+"Yes, dear Mother. She said 'presumptuous.' Am I; ought I to do as
+she wishes me? Oh, I cannot give up Piers! Only this morning he told me
+that he would never marry any woman but me."
+
+"Have I or your good father told you to give up Piers?"
+
+"No, Mother."
+
+"When we do, you will of course know we have good reasons for such
+an order, and you will give him up. But as yet, father hasn't said
+such a word; and I haven't. Kitty darling, the Fifth Commandment only
+asks you to obey your own father and mother. Let the Duchess put the
+'giving up' where it ought to be. Let her tell her son to give you
+up--that is quite as far as her authority extends. She has nothing to
+say to Kate Atheling; nor has my little Kitty any obligation to obey
+her. She must give such orders to Piers Exham. It is the duty of his
+heart and conscience to decide whether he will obey or not."
+
+"Then I can go on loving him, Mother, without wronging myself or
+others?"
+
+"Go on loving him, dearie."
+
+"He said he was coming to ride with me at three o'clock."
+
+"Ride with him, and be happy while you can, dear child. Let mother kiss
+such foolish tears away. I can tell you father was proud of your beauty
+last night. He said you were the loveliest woman in London."
+
+"The Duke of Wellington told me I was a beautiful girl; and he said
+many wise and kind things to me, Mother. What did father think about
+the Reform Bill?"
+
+"It troubled him, Kitty; it troubled him very much. He said, 'It meant
+civil war;' but I said, 'Nonsense, John Atheling, it will prevent civil
+war.' And so it will, dearie. The people will have it, or else they
+will have far more. Your father said all London was shouting till
+daybreak, 'The Bill! The whole Bill! Nothing but the Bill!' Now
+then, run away and wash your eyes bright, and put on your habit. I'll
+warrant Piers outruns the clock."
+
+"Have you seen Edgar this morning?"
+
+"For a few minutes just before you came. Cecil was with him. They had
+been up all night; but Cecil would have stayed if Annabel had been here.
+How he does love that girl!"
+
+"I think she loves him. She looked ill last night, and I did not see
+her this morning. What a tangle it is! Annabel loves Cecil--Piers loves
+me--and the Duchess--"
+
+"Never mind the Duchess, nor the tangle either, Kitty. To-day is yours;
+to-morrow is not born; and you are not told to unravel any tangle.
+There are _them_ whose business it is; and they know all the knots and
+snarls, and will wind the ball all right in the end."
+
+"Oh, Mother, how I love you!"
+
+"Oh, Kitty, how I love you!"
+
+"Piers loves me too, Mother."
+
+"I'll warrant he does. Who could help loving thee, Kitty? But men's
+love isn't mother's love; it is a good bit more selfish. God Almighty
+made thy father, John Atheling, of the best of human elements; but John
+Atheling has his shabby moments. Piers Exham won't be different; so
+don't expect it." Then the two women looked at each other and smiled.
+
+They understood.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVENTH
+
+"LIFE COMES AND GOES THE OLD, OLD WAY!"
+
+
+Annabel had purposely kept out of Kitty's way. She had more than a
+suspicion of the probable interview between the Duchess and Kitty; and
+she wished to avoid any unpleasantness with the Athelings. They gave
+her the most reliable opportunities with Cecil North; and besides, she
+was so little of a general favourite as to have no other acquaintances as
+intimate. She was also really sick and unhappy; and the first occurrence
+of the day did not tend to make her less so. She wished to see the Duke
+about some matter relating to her finances; and, as soon as she left her
+room, she went to the apartment in which she was most likely to find him.
+
+The Duke was not there, but Squire Atheling was waiting for him. He
+said he "had an appointment at two o'clock," and then, looking at the
+time-piece on the mantel, added, "I always give myself ten minutes or so
+to come and go on." Annabel knew this peculiarity of the Squire, and
+made her little joke on the matter; and then the conversation turned a
+moment on Kitty, and her probable return home. Annabel assured the Squire
+she had already gone home, and then, offering her hand in adieu, was
+about to leave the room. The little brown-gemmed hand roused a sudden
+memory and anxiety in his heart. He detained it, as he said, "Miss
+Vyner, I have a question to ask you. Do you remember untying a parcel
+for me the other day?"
+
+"I should think so," she replied with a laugh. "A more impatient man
+to do anything for I never saw."
+
+"I am a bit impatient. But that is not what I am thinking of. You wore
+a ring that day--a sapphire ring with a little sapphire padlock--and that
+ring interests me very much. Will you tell me where you got it?"
+
+"No, sir. Even if I knew, I might have excellent reasons for not telling
+you. Why, Squire, I am astonished at your asking such a question! Rings
+have mostly a story--a love-story too; you might be asking for secrets!"
+
+"I beg pardon. To be sure I might. But you see a ring exactly like the
+one you wore, holds a secret of my own."
+
+"Perhaps you are mistaken about the ring. So many rings look alike."
+
+"I could not be mistaken. I do wish you would tell me--I am afraid you
+think me rude and inquisitive--"
+
+"Indeed I do, sir! And, if you please, we will forget this conversation.
+It is too personal to be pleasant."
+
+With these words she bowed and withdrew, and the Squire got up and
+walked about the room until the Duke entered it. By that time, he had
+worried himself into an impatient, suspicious temper, and was touchy
+as tinder when his political chief asked him to sit down and discuss
+the situation with him.
+
+"Exham has gone to see a number of our party; but I thought I would
+outline to you personally the course we intend to pursue with regard to
+this infamous Bill." The Squire bowed but said not a word; and the Duke
+proceeded, "We have resolved to worry and delay it to the death. In
+the Commons, the Opposition will go over and over the same arguments,
+and ask again, and again, and again, the same questions. This course
+will be continued week after week--month after month if necessary.
+Obstruction, Squire, obstruction, that is the word!"
+
+"What do you mean exactly by 'obstruction'?"
+
+"I will explain. Lord Exham will move, 'That the Speaker do now
+leave the Chair.' When this motion is lost, some other member of the
+Opposition will move, 'That the debate be now adjourned.' That being
+lost, some other member will again move, 'That the Speaker do now leave
+the Chair,' and so, with alternations of these motions, the whole
+night can be passed--and night after night--and day after day. It is
+quite a legitimate parliamentary proceeding."
+
+"It may be," answered the Squire; "but I am astonished at your asking
+John Atheling to take any part in such ways. I will fight as well as any
+man, on the square and the open; if I cannot do this, I will not fight
+at all. I would as soon worry a vixen fox, as run a doubling race of that
+kind. No, Duke, I will not worry, and nag, and tease, and obstruct.
+Such tactics are fitter for old women than for reasoning men, sure of a
+good cause, and working to win it."
+
+"I did not expect this obstruction from you, Squire; and, I must say, I
+am disappointed--very much disappointed."
+
+"I don't know, Duke Richmoor, that I have ever given you cause to think
+I would fight in any other way than in a square, stand-up, face-to-face
+manner. Wasting time is not fighting, and it is not reasoning. It is just
+tormenting an angry and impatient nation; it is playing with fire; it
+is a dangerous, deceitful, cowardly bit of business, and I will have
+nothing to do with it."
+
+"You remember that I gave you your seat?"
+
+"You can have it back and welcome. I took my seat from you; but when
+it comes to right and wrong, I take orders only from my own conscience."
+
+"Advice, Squire, advice; I did not think of giving you orders."
+
+"Well, Duke, I am perhaps a little hasty; but I do not understand
+obstructing warfare. I am ready to attack the Bill, tooth and nail.
+I am ready to vote against it; but I do not think what you call
+'obstructing' is fair and manly."
+
+"All things are fair in love and war, Squire; and this is a war to the
+knife-hilt for our own caste and privileges."
+
+Here there was a light tap at the door, and, in answer to the Duke's
+"enter," Annabel came in. She said a few words to him in a low voice,
+gave him a paper, and disappeared. But, short as the interview was,
+it put the Duke in a good temper. He looked after her with pride and
+affection, and said pleasantly,--
+
+"Fight in your own way, Squire Atheling; it is sure to be a good,
+straight-forward fight. But the other way will be the tactics of our
+party, and you need not interfere with them. By-the-bye, Miss Vyner is a
+good deal at your house, I think."
+
+"She is always welcome. My daughter likes her company. We all do. She is
+both witty and pretty."
+
+"She is a great beauty--a particularly noble-looking beauty. She will
+make a fine Duchess, and my son is most fortunate in such an alliance;
+for she has money,--plenty of money,--and a dukedom is not kept up
+on nothing a year. Perhaps, however, this Reform Bill will eventually
+get rid of dukedoms and dukes, as it proposes to do with boroughs and
+members."
+
+The Squire did not immediately answer. He wanted a definite assertion
+about Lord Exham and Miss Vyner, and could not decide on words which
+would unsuspiciously bring it. Finally, he blurted out an inquiry as to
+the date of a marriage between them; and the Duke answered carelessly,--
+
+"It may occur soon or late. We have not yet fixed the time. Probably
+as soon as this dreadful Reform question is settled. But as the ceremony
+will surely take place at the Castle, Atheling Manor will be an important
+factor in the event."
+
+He was shifting and folding up papers as he spoke, and the Squire _felt_,
+more than understood, that the interview had better be closed. Ostensibly
+they parted friends; but the Squire kept his right hand across his back
+as he said "good-morning," and the Duke understood the meaning of
+this action, though he thought it best to take no notice of it.
+
+"What a fractious, testy, touchy fellow this is!" he said irritably
+to himself, when he was alone. "A perfect John Bull, absolutely sure
+of his own infallibility; sure that he knows everything about everything;
+that he is always right, and always must be right, and that any one who
+doubts his always being right is either a knave or a fool. _Tush!_ I am
+glad I gave him that thrust about Piers and Annabel. It hurt. I could
+see it hurt, though he kept his hand to cover the wound."
+
+The Duke was quite right. Squire Atheling was hurt. He went straight
+home. In any trouble, his first medicine was his wife; for though he
+pretended to think little of her advice, he always took it--or regretted
+that he had not taken it. He found her half-asleep in the chair by the
+window which she had taken in order to watch Lord Exham and Kitty ride
+down the street together. She was at rest and happy; but the Squire's
+entrance, at an hour not very usual, interested her. "Why, John!"
+she asked, "what has happened? I thought you went to the House at three
+o'clock."
+
+"I have some questions to ask in my own house, first," he answered.
+"Maude, I am sure you remember the ring I gave you one night at
+Belward,--the ring you promised to marry me on, the sapphire ring with
+the little padlock?"
+
+"To be sure I remember it, John."
+
+"You used to wear it night and day. I have not seen it on your hand for
+a long time."
+
+"It became too small for me. I had to take it off. Whatever has brought
+it into your thoughts at this time?"
+
+"I saw one just like it. Where did you put your ring?"
+
+"In my jewel-case."
+
+"Is it there now."
+
+She hesitated a moment, but a life-time of truth is not easily turned
+aside. "John," she answered, "it is not there. It is gone."
+
+"I thought so. Did you sell it for Edgar, some time when he wanted
+money?"
+
+"Edgar never asked me for a shilling. I never gave him a shilling
+unknown to you. And I did not sell the ring at all. I would never have
+done such a thing."
+
+"But I have seen the ring on a lady's hand."
+
+"Do you know the lady?"
+
+"I think I could find her."
+
+"I will tell you about it, John. I loaned it to Kitty, and Piers saw it
+and wanted one made like it for Kitty, and so he took it away to show
+it to his jeweller, and lost it that very night. He has moved heaven and
+earth to find it, but got neither word nor sight of it. You ought to
+tell him where you saw it."
+
+"Not yet, Maude."
+
+"Tell me then."
+
+"To be sure! I saw it on Miss Vyner's hand."
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"Sure!"
+
+"But how?"
+
+"Thou mayst well ask 'how.' Piers gave it to her."
+
+"I wouldn't believe such a thing, not on a seven-fold oath."
+
+"Thou knowest little about men. There are times when they would give
+their souls away. Thou knowest nothing about such women as Miss Vyner.
+They have a power that while it lasts is omnipotent. Antony lost a world
+for Cleopatra, and Herod would have given half, yes, the whole of his
+kingdom to a dancing woman, if she had asked him for it."
+
+"Those men were pagans, John, and lived in foreign countries. Christian
+men in England--"
+
+"Christian men in England, in proportion to their power, do things just
+as reckless and wicked. Piers Exham has never learned any control; he
+has always given himself, or had given him, whatever he wanted. And I can
+tell thee, there is a perfect witchery about Miss Vyner in some hours.
+She has met Exham in a favourable time, and begged the ring from him."
+
+"I cannot believe it. Why should she do such a thing? She must have had
+a reason."
+
+"Certainly she had a reason. It might be pure mischief, for she is
+mischievous as a cat. It might be superstition; she is as superstitious
+as an Hindoo fakir. She has charms and signs for everything. She orders
+her very life by the stars of heaven. I have watched her, and listened to
+her, and never trusted her about Kitty--not a moment. Now this is a
+secret between thee and me. I asked her to-day about the ring, and she
+would say neither this nor that; yet somehow she gave me to understand
+it was a love token."
+
+"She is a liar, if she means that Piers gave it to her as a love token.
+I saw the young man half an hour ago. If ever a man loved a maid, he
+loves our Kitty."
+
+"Yet he is going to marry Miss Vyner."
+
+"He is not. I am sure he is not. He will marry Kate Atheling."
+
+"The Duke told me this afternoon that Lord Exham would marry Miss Vyner
+as soon as this Reform question is settled. He said the marriage would
+take place at the Castle."
+
+"The Duke has been talking false to you for some purpose of his own."
+
+"Not he. Richmoor has faults--more than enough of them; but he treads
+his shoes straight. A truthful man, no one can say different."
+
+"I wouldn't notice a thing he said for all that. Pass it by. Leave
+Kitty to manage her own affairs."
+
+"No, I will not! Thou must tell Kitty to give the man up. He is going to
+marry another woman."
+
+"I don't believe a word of it."
+
+"His father said so. What would you have?"
+
+"Fathers don't know everything."
+
+"Now, Maude Atheling, my girl shall not marry where she is not wanted.
+I would rather see her in her death shroud than in her wedding gown, if
+things were in that way."
+
+"John, I have always been open as the day with you, and I will not
+change now. The Duchess said something like it to Kitty this morning,
+so you see there has been a plan between the Duke and Duchess to make
+trouble about Piers. Kitty came home very troubled."
+
+"And you let her go out with the man! I am astonished at you!"
+
+"She asked me what she ought to do, and I told the dear girl to be happy
+until _you_ told her to be miserable. If you think it is right to do so,
+tell her when she comes home never to see Piers again."
+
+"You had better tell her. I cannot."
+
+"I cannot, and I will not, for the life of me." "Don't you believe
+what I say?"
+
+"Yes--with a grain of salt. Piers is to hear from yet."
+
+"Well, you must speak to her, Mother. My heart is too soft. It is _your_
+place to do it."
+
+"My heart is as soft as yours, John. I say, let things alone. We are
+going to Atheling soon--we cannot go too soon now. If it must be told
+her, Kate will hear it, and bear it best in her own home; and, besides,
+he will not be within calling distance. John, this thing cannot be done
+in a hurry. God help the dear girl--to find Piers false--to give him
+up--it will break her heart, Father!"
+
+"Kitty's heart is made of better stuff. When she finds out that Piers
+has been false to her, she will despise him."
+
+"She will make excuses for him."
+
+"No good woman will care about an unworthy man."
+
+"Then, God help the men, John! If that were so, there would be lots of
+them without any good woman to care for them."
+
+"Show Kitty that Piers is unworthy of her love, and I tell you she will
+put him out of her heart very quickly. I think I know Kitty."
+
+"Women do not love according to deserts, John. If a woman has a bad
+son or daughter, does she take it for comfort when they go away from
+her? No, indeed! She never once says, 'They were nothing but a sorrow
+and an expense, and I am glad to be rid of them.' She weeps, and she
+prays all the more for them, just because they were bad. And one kind of
+love is like another; so I will not speak ill of Piers to Kate; besides,
+I do not think ill of him. If she has to give him up, it will not be
+his fault; and I could not tell her 'he is no loss, Kate,'--and such
+nonsense as that,--for it would be nonsense."
+
+"What will you say then?"
+
+"I shall help her to remember everything pleasant about him, and to make
+excuses for him. Even if you put comfort on the lowest ground possible,
+no woman likes to think she has been fooled and deceived, and given her
+heart for worse than nothing. Nine hundred and ninety-nine women out
+of a thousand would rather blame Fate or father or Fortune, or some
+other man or woman, than their own lover."
+
+"Women are queer. A man in such a case whistles or sings his heartache
+away with the thought,--
+
+    "'If she be not fair for me,
+    What care I how fair she be?'"
+
+"You are slandering good men, John. Plenty of men would not give
+heart-room to such selfish love. They can live for the woman they
+love, and yet live apart from her. My advice is that we go back to
+Atheling at once. My heart is there already. Kitty and I were talking
+yesterday of the garden. The trees will soon be in blossom, and the
+birds busy building in them. Oh, John,--
+
+          "'The Spring's delight,
+          In the cowslip bright,
+    As she laughs to the warbling linnet!
+          And a whistling thrush,
+          On a white May bush,
+    And his mate on the nest within it!'"
+
+And both caught the joy of the spring in the words, and the Squire,
+smiling, stooped and kissed his wife; and she knew then that she had
+permission to carry her daughter out of the way of immediate sorrow. As
+for the future, Mrs. Atheling never went into an enemy's country in
+search of trouble. She thought it time enough to meet misfortune when
+it came to her.
+
+Kate was not averse to the change. Her conversation with the Duchess
+naturally affected her feeling towards Annabel. She could not imagine
+her quite ignorant of it; and it was, therefore, a trial to have the
+girl intruding daily into her life. Yet self-respect forbade her to make
+any change in their relationship to each other. Annabel, indeed, appeared
+wishful to nullify all the Duchess had said by her behaviour to Cecil
+North. Never had she been so familiar and so affectionate towards him,
+and she evidently desired Mrs. Atheling and Kate to understand that she
+was sincerely in love, and had every intention of marrying for love.
+
+But yet she was unable to disguise her pleasure when she was suddenly
+told of their proposed return to the country. A vivid wave of crimson
+rushed over her face and throat; and though she said she "was sorry,"
+there was an uncontrollable note of satisfaction in her voice. She was
+really sorry in one respect; but she had become afraid of the Squire. He
+asked such point-blank questions. His suspicions were wide awake and
+veering to the truth. He was another danger in her situation, and she
+felt Justine to be all she could manage. Mrs. Atheling and Kate being
+gone, her visits to the Vyner house could naturally cease; and, as
+the winter was nearly over, she could arrange some other place for
+her meetings with Cecil North. Indeed, he had already joined her in a
+few early morning gallops; and, besides which, she reflected, "Love
+always finds out a way." Cecil was a quite manageable factor.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+About the middle of March, one fine spring evening, Mrs. Atheling and
+Kate came once more near to their own home. The road was a beautiful
+one, bordered with plantations of feathery firs on each side; and the
+pure resinous odour was to these two northern women sweeter than a
+rose garden. And, oh, what a home-like air the long, rambling old Manor
+House had, and how bright and comfortable were its low-ceiled rooms!
+When Kate went to her own chamber, a robin on a spray of sweet-briar
+was singing at her window. She took it for her welcome back to the
+happy place. To be sure, the polished oak floor with its strips of
+bright carpet, the little tent-bed with its white dimity curtains, and
+the low, latticed windows, full of rosemary pots and monthly roses, were
+but simple surroundings; yet Kate threw herself with joyful abandon into
+her white chair before the blazing logs, and thought, without regret,
+of the splendid rooms of the Vyner mansion, and the tumult of men and
+horses in the thousand-streeted city outside it.
+
+Certainly Piers was in the city, and she had no hope of his speedy
+return to the country. But, equally, she had no doubts of his true
+affection; and the passing days and weeks brought her no reasons for
+doubting. She had frequent letters from him, and many rich tokens of
+his constant remembrance. And, as the spring advanced, the joy of her
+heart kept pace with it. Never before had she taken such delight in the
+sylvan life around her. The cool sweetness of the dairy; the satiny
+sides of the milking-pails; the trig beauty of the dairymaids, waiting
+for the cows, coming slowly out of the stable,--the beautiful cows, with
+their indolent gait and majestic tramp, their noble, solemn faces, and
+their peaceful breathing,--why had she never noticed these things
+before? Was it because we must lose good things--though but for a
+time--in order to find them? And very soon the bare, brown garden was
+aflame with gold and purple crocus buds, and the delicious woody perfume
+of wallflowers, and the springtide scent of the sweet-briar filled all
+its box-lined paths. The trees became misty with buds and plumes and
+tufts and tassels; and in the deep, green meadow-grass the primroses
+were nestling, and the anemones met her with their wistful looks.
+
+And far and wide the ear was as satisfied as the eye with the tones of
+waterfalls, the inland sounds of caves and woods, the birds twittering
+secrets in the tree-tops, and the running waters that were the tongue
+of life in many a silent place. Oh, how beautiful, and peaceful, and
+happy were these things! Often the mother and daughter wondered to each
+other how they could ever have been pleased to exchange them for the
+gilt and gewgaws and the social smut of the great city. Thus they fell
+naturally into the habit of pitying the Squire, and Edgar, and Piers,
+and wishing they were all back at Atheling to share the joy of the
+spring-time with them.
+
+One night towards the close of April, Kate was very restless. "I cannot
+tell what is the matter, Mother," she said. "My feet go of their own
+will to the garden gates. It is as if my soul knew there was somebody
+coming. Can it be father?"
+
+"I think not, Kitty. Father's last letter gave no promise of any let-up
+in the Reform quarrel. You know the Bill was read for the second time as
+we left London; and Earl Grey's Ministry had then only a majority of
+one. Your father said the Duke was triumphant about it. He was sure that
+a Bill which passed its second reading by only a majority of one, could
+be easily mutilated in Committee until it would be harmless. The Lords
+mean to kill it, bit by bit,--that will take time."
+
+"But what then, Mother?"
+
+"God knows, child! I do not believe the country will ever settle to work
+again until it gets what it wants."
+
+"Then will the House sit all summer?"
+
+"I think it will."
+
+At these words a long, cheerful "_hallo!_"--the Squire's own call in
+the hunting-field--was heard; and Kate, crying, "I told you so!" ran
+rapidly into the garden. The Squire was just entering the gates at a
+gallop. He drew rein, threw himself off his horse, and took his daughter
+in his arms.
+
+"I am so glad, Father!" she cried. "So happy, Father! I knew you were
+coming! I knew you were coming! I did that!"
+
+"Nay, not thou! I told nobody."
+
+"Your heart told my heart. Ask mother. Here she comes."
+
+Then, late as it was, the quiet house suddenly became full of noise
+and bustle; and the hubbub that usually followed the Squire's advent
+was everywhere apparent. For he wanted all at once,--his meat and his
+drink, his easy coat and his slippers, his pipe and his dogs, and his
+serving men and women. He wanted to hear about the ploughing, and the
+sowing, and the gardening; about the horses, and the cattle, and the
+markets; the farm hands, and the tenants of the Atheling cottages. He
+wanted his wife's report, and his steward's report, and his daughter's
+petting and opinions. The night wore on to midnight before he would
+speak of London, or the House, or the Bill.
+
+"I may surely have a little bit of peace, Maude," he said
+reproachfully, when she ventured to introduce the subject; "it has
+been the Bill, and the Bill, and the Bill, till my ears ache with the
+sound of the words."
+
+"Just tell us if it has passed, John."
+
+"No, it has _not_ passed; and Parliament is dissolved again; and the
+country has taken the bit in its teeth, and the very mischief of hell
+is let loose. I told the Duke what his 'obstructing' ways would do.
+Englishmen like obstructions. They would put them there, if they were
+absent, for the very pleasure of getting over them. Many a man that was
+against the Bill is now against the 'obstructions' and bound to get
+over them."
+
+"Did Piers come down with you, Father?" asked Kate. She had waited long
+and patiently, and the Squire had not named him; and she felt a little
+wounded by the neglect.
+
+"No. He did not come down with me, Kitty. But I dare say he is at the
+Castle. The Duke spoke of returning to Yorkshire at once."
+
+"He might have come with you, I think."
+
+"I think not. A man's father and mother cannot always be put aside
+for his sweetheart. Lovers think they can run the world to their own
+whim-whams. 'Twould be a God's pity if they could!"
+
+"What are you cross about, Father? Has Piers vexed you?"
+
+"Am I cross, Kitty? I did not know it. Go to bed, child. England stands
+where she did, and Piers is yet Lord of Exham Hall. I dare say he will
+be here to-morrow. I came at my own pace. He would have to keep the pace
+of two fine ladies. And I'll be bound he fretted like a race-horse yoked
+in a plough."
+
+And Kitty was wise enough to know that she had heard all she was likely
+to hear that night; nor was she ill-pleased to be alone with her hopes.
+Piers was at hand. To-morrow she might see him, and hear him speak, and
+feel the tenderness of his clasp, and meet the love in his eyes. So
+she sat at the open casement, breathing the sweetness and peace of the
+night, and shaping things for the future that made her heart beat quick
+with many thoughts not to be revealed. The faint smile of the loving,
+dreaming of the loved one, was on her lips; and if a doubt came to her,
+she put it far away. In fear she would not dwell, and, besides, her
+heart had given her that insight which changes faith into knowledge.
+She _knew_ that Piers loved her.
+
+The Squire had no such clear confidence. When Kitty had gone away, he
+said plainly, "I am not pleased with Piers. I do not like his ways; I
+do not like them at all. After Kate left London, he was seen everywhere,
+and constantly, with Miss Vyner."
+
+"Why not? She is one of his own household."
+
+"They were very confidential together. I noticed them often for Kitty's
+sake."
+
+"I do wish, Squire, that you would leave Kitty's love-affairs alone."
+
+"_That_ I will not, Maude. If I have any business now, it is to pay
+attention to them. I have taken your 'let-alone' plan, far too long.
+My girl shall not be courted in any such underhand, mouse-in-the-corner
+way. Her engagement to Lord Exham must be publicly acknowledged, or else
+broken entirely off."
+
+"The man loves Kate. He will do right to her."
+
+"Loves Kate! Very good. But what of the Other One? He cannot do right to
+both."
+
+"Yes, he can. Their claims are different. You may depend on that. Kate
+is the love of his soul; the Other One is like a sister."
+
+"I do not trust either Piers or the Other One--and I wish she would give
+me my ring."
+
+"You do not certainly know that she has your ring."
+
+"I will ask her to let me see it."
+
+"Now, John Atheling, you will meddle with things that concern you, and
+let other things alone. It may be your duty to interfere about your
+daughter. You may insist on having her recognised as the future Duchess
+of Richmoor,--it will be a feather in your own cap; you may say to the
+Duke, you must accept my daughter, or I will--"
+
+"Maude! You are just trying to stand me upon my pride. You cannot do
+that any longer. If you are willing to let Kate 'drift,' I am not. It
+is my duty to insist on her proper recognition."
+
+"Then do your duty. But it is _not_ your duty to catechise Miss Vyner
+about _my_ ring. When that inquiry is to be made, I will make it myself.
+If Piers has to give up Kate, it will be to him a knock-down blow; it
+will be a shot in the backbone; you need not sting him at the same time."
+
+"I will speak to him to-morrow, and see the Duke afterwards. I owe my
+little Kate that much."
+
+"And the Duke and yourself will be the upper and the nether millstones,
+and your little Kate between them. I know! I know!"
+
+"I will do what is right, Maude, and I will be as kind as I can in doing
+it. Who loves Kitty as I do? There is a deal said about mother love;
+but, I tell thee, a father's love is bottomless. I would lay my life
+down for my little girl, this minute."
+
+"But not thy pride."
+
+"Not my honour--which is her honour also. Honour must stand with love,
+or else--nay, I will not give thee any more reasons. I know my decision
+is right; but it is thy way to make out that all my reasons are wrong. I
+wish thou wouldst prepare her a bit for what may come."
+
+"There is no preparation for sorrow, John. When it comes it smites."
+
+Then the Squire lit his pipe, and the mother went softly upstairs to look
+at her little girl. And, as she did so, Kate's arms enfolded her, and
+she whispered, "Piers is coming to-morrow. Are you glad, Mother?"
+
+Then, so strange and contrary is human nature, the mother felt a
+moment's angry annoyance. "Can you think of no one but Piers, Kate?"
+she asked. And the girl was suddenly aware of her selfish happiness,
+and ashamed of it. She ran after her mother, and brought her back to
+her bedside, and said sorrowfully, "I know, Mother, that about Piers
+I am a little sinner." And then Mrs. Atheling kissed her again, and
+answered, "Never mind, Kitty. I have often seen sinners that were
+more angel-like than saints--" and the shadow was over. Oh, how good it
+is when human nature reaches down to the perennial!
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELFTH
+
+THE SHADOW OF SORROW STRETCHED OUT
+
+
+When the Squire entered the breakfast parlour, Kate was just coming in
+from the garden. The dew of the morning was on her cheeks, the scent
+of the sweet-briar and the daffodils in her hair, the songs of the thrush
+and the linnet in her heart. She was beautiful as Hebe, and fresh as
+Aurora. He clasped her face between his large hands, and she lifted the
+bunch of daffodils to his face, and asked, "Are they not beautiful? Do
+you know what Mr. Wordsworth says about them, Father?"
+
+"Not I! I never read his foolishness."
+
+"His 'foolishness' is music; I can tell you that. Listen sir,--
+
+    "'A smile of last year's sun strayed down the hills,
+        And lost its way within yon windy wood;
+    Lost through the months of snow--but not for good:
+        I found it in a clump of daffodils.'
+
+Are they not lovely lines?"
+
+"They sound like most uncommon nonsense, Kitty. Come and sit beside me,
+I have something far more sensible and important to tell you."
+
+"About the Bill, Father?"
+
+"Partly about the Bill and partly about Edgar. Which news will you have
+first?"
+
+"Mother will say 'Edgar,' and I go with mother."
+
+"I do not think you can tell me any news about Edgar, John."
+
+"Go on, Father, mother is only talking. She is so anxious she cannot
+pour the coffee straight. What about Edgar?"
+
+"I must tell you that I made a speech two days before the House closed;
+and the papers said it was a very great speech, and I think it _was_ a
+tone or two above the average. Did you read it?"
+
+"You never sent us a paper, Father."
+
+"You wouldn't have read it if I had sent it. I knew Philip Brotherton
+would read every word, so it went to him. I was a little astonished at
+myself, for I did not know that I could bring out the very truth the
+way I did; but I saw Edgar watching me, and I saw no one else; and I
+just talked to him, as I used to do,--good, plain, household words,
+with a bit of Yorkshire now and then to give them pith and power. I
+was cheered to the echo, and if Edgar, when I used to talk to him for his
+good, had only cheered me on my hearthstone as he cheered me in the
+Commons, there wouldn't have been any ill blood between us. Afterwards,
+in the crush of the lobby, I saw Edgar a little before me; and Mr.
+O'Connell walked up to him, and said, 'Atheling, you ought to take
+lessons from your father, he strikes every nail on the head. In your
+case, the old cock crows, but the young one has not learnt his lesson.'
+I was just behind, and I heard every word, and I was ready to answer;
+but Edgar did my work finely.'
+
+'He should not have noticed him,' said Mrs. Atheling.
+
+'Ah, but he did! He said, "Mr. O'Connell, I will trouble you to speak
+of Squire Atheling respectfully. He is not old; he is in the prime of
+life; and, in all that makes youth desirable, he is twenty-five years
+younger than you are. I think you have felt his spurs once, and I would
+advise you to beware of them." And what O'Connell answered I cannot
+tell, but it would be up to mark, I can warrant that! I slipped away
+before I was noticed, and I am not ashamed to say I was pleased with
+what I had heard. "Not as old as O'Connell by twenty-five years!" I
+laughed to myself all the way home; and, in the dark of the night, I
+could not help thinking of Edgar's angry face, and the way he stood
+up for me. I do think, Maude, that somehow it must have been thy fault
+we had that quarrel--I mean to say, that if thou hadst stood firm by
+me,--that is, if thou hadst--'
+
+'John, go on and do not bother thyself to make excuses. Was that the end
+of it?'
+
+'In a way. The next afternoon I was sitting by the fireside having a
+quiet smoke, and thinking of the fine speech I had made, and if it
+would be safe to try again, when Dobson came in and said, "Squire, Mr.
+Edgar wishes to see you," and I said, "Very well, bring Mr. Edgar
+upstairs." I had thrown off my coat; but I had on one of my fine ruffled
+shirts and my best blue waistcoat, and so I didn't feel so very out
+of the way when Edgar came in with the loveliest young woman on his
+arm--except Kitty--that I ever set eyes on; and I was dumfounded when
+he brought her to me and said, "My dear Father, Annie Curzon, who
+has promised to be my wife, wants to know you and to love you." And
+the little thing--for she is but a sprite of a woman--laid her hand on
+my arm and looked at me; and what in heaven's name was I to do?'
+
+'What did you do?'
+
+'I just lifted her up and kissed her bonny face, and said I had room
+enough in my heart and home for her; and that she was gladly welcome,
+and would be much made of, and I don't know what else--plenty of things
+of the same sort. My word! Edgar was set up.'
+
+'He may well be set up,' answered Mrs. Atheling; 'she is the richest
+and sweetest girl in England; and she thinks the sun rises and sets in
+Edgar Atheling. He ought to be set up with a wife like that.'
+
+'He was, with her and me together. I don't know which of us seemed
+to please him most. Maude, they are coming down to Lord Ashley's on a
+visit, and I asked them _here_. I could not do any different, could I?'
+
+'If you had you would have been a poor kind of a father. What did you
+say?'
+
+'I said, when you are at Ashley Place come over to Atheling, and I
+gave Edgar my hand and looked at him; and he looked at me and clasped
+it tight, and said, "We will come.'"
+
+"That was right."
+
+"I am glad I have done right for once, Maude. Do you know that Ashley
+is one of the worst Radicals in the lot of them?"
+
+"Never mind, John. I have noticed that, as a general thing, the worse
+Radical, the better man; but a Tory cannot be trusted to give a Radical a
+character. The Tories are very like the poor cat who said, 'If she only
+had wings, she would gladly extirpate the whole race of those troublesome
+sparrows.'"
+
+"There are to be no more Tories now, we have got a new name. Lord John
+Russell called us 'Conservatives,' and we took to the word, and it is
+as like as not to stick to us. It will be Conservatives and Reformers
+in the future."
+
+"But you said the Reform Bill was lost."
+
+"I said it had not passed. What of that? The rascals have only been
+downed for this round; they will be up to time, when time is called June
+the twenty-first; and they will fight harder than ever."
+
+"How was the Bill lost? By obstructions?"
+
+"Yes; when it was ready to go into Committee, General Gascoigne moved
+that, 'The number of members returned to Parliament ought not to be
+diminished;' and when the House divided on this motion, Gascoigne's
+resolution had a majority of eight."
+
+"Then Grey's Ministry have retired?" said Mrs. Atheling, in alarm.
+
+"No, they have not; they should have done so by all decent precedents;
+but, instead of behaving like gentlemen, they resolved to appeal to the
+country. We sat all night quarrelling on this subject; but at five
+in the morning I was worn out with the stifling, roaring House, and sick
+with the smell of dying candles, and the reek and steam of quarrelling
+human beings, so I stepped out and took a few turns on Westminster
+Bridge. It was a dead-calm, lovely morning, and the sun was just rising
+over the trees of the Abbey and the Speaker's house, and I had a bit
+of heart-longing for Atheling."
+
+"Why did you not run away to Atheling, Father?"
+
+"I could not have done a thing like that, Kitty, not for the life of me.
+I went back to the House; and for three days we fought like dogs, tooth
+and nail, over the dissolution. Then Lord Grey and Lord Brougham did such
+a thing as never was: they went to the King and told him, plump and
+plain, he must dissolve Parliament or they would resign, and he must
+be answerable for consequences; and the King did not want to dissolve
+Parliament; he knew a new House would be still fuller of Reform members;
+and he made all kinds of excuses. He said, 'The Crown and Robes were
+not ready, and the Guards and troops had not been notified;' and
+then, to his amazement and anger, Lord Brougham told him that the
+officers of State had been summoned, that the Crown and Robes were
+ready, and the Guards and troops waiting."
+
+"My word, John! That was a daring thing to do."
+
+"If William the Fourth had been Henry the Eighth, Lord Brougham's head
+wouldn't have been worth a shilling; as it was, William flew into a
+great passion, and cried out, 'You! You, my Lord Chancellor! You ought
+to know that such an act is treason, is high treason, my lord!' And
+Brougham said, humbly, that he did know it was high treason, and that
+nothing but his solemn belief that the safety of the State depended on
+the act would have made him bold enough to venture on so improper a
+proceeding. Then the King cooled down; and Brougham took from his pocket
+the speech which the King was to read; and the King took it with words;
+that were partly menace, and partly joke at his Minister's audacity,
+and so dismissed them."
+
+"I never heard of such carryings on. Why didn't Brougham put the Crown
+on his own head, and be done with it?"
+
+"I do not like Brougham; but in this matter, he acted very wisely. If
+the King had refused to dissolve a Parliament that had proved itself
+unable to carry Reform, I do think, Maude, London would have been in
+flames, and the whole country in rebellion, before another day broke."
+
+"Were you present at the dissolution, John?"
+
+"I was sitting beside Piers, when the Usher of the Black Rod knocked
+at the door of the Commons. It had to be a very loud knock, for the House
+was in a state of turbulence and confusion far beyond the Speaker's
+control; while Sir Robert Peel was denouncing the Ministry in the
+hardest words he could pick out, and being interrupted in much the
+same manner. I can tell you that a good many of us were glad enough
+to hear the guns announcing the King's approach. The Duke told me
+afterwards that the Lords were in still greater commotion. Brougham was
+speaking, when there were cries of 'The King! The King!' And Lord
+Londonderry rose in a fury and said, 'He would not submit to--'
+Nobody heard what he would not submit to; for Brougham snatched up the
+Seals and rushed out of the House. Then there was terrible confusion,
+and Lord Mansfield rose and was making a passionate oration against the
+Reform Bill, when the King entered and cut it short. Well, London
+went mad for a few hours. Nearly every house was illuminated; and the
+Duke of Wellington, and the Duke of Richmoor, and other great Tories had
+their windows broken, as a warning not to obstruct the next Parliament.
+I really don't know what to make of it all, Maude!"
+
+"Well, John, I think statesmen ought to know what to make of it."
+
+"I rode down from London on my own nag; and in many a town and village I
+saw things that made my heart ache. Why, my dears, there has been sixty
+thousand pounds put into--not bread and meat--but peas and meal to
+feed the starving women and children; the Government has given away
+forty thousand garments to clothe the naked; and the Bank of England--a
+very close concern--is lending money, yes, as much as ten thousand
+pounds, to some private individuals, in order to keep their factories
+going. Something is far wrong, when good English workmen are paupers.
+But I don't see how Parliamentary Reform is going to help them to
+bread and meat and decent work."
+
+"John, these hungry, naked men know what they want. Edgar says a Reform
+Parliament will open all the ports to free trade, and tear to pieces the
+infamous Corn Laws, and make hours of work shorter, and wages higher
+and--"
+
+"Give the whole country to the working men. I see! I see! Now, Maude,
+men are not going to run factories for fun, nor yet for charity; and
+farmers are not going to till their fields just to see how little they
+can get for their wheat."
+
+"Father, what part did Piers take in all this trouble?"
+
+"He voted with his party. He was very regular in his place."
+
+"I will go now and put on my habit. Piers sent me word that he would be
+here soon after eleven o'clock;" and Kate, with a smile, went quickly
+out of the room. The Squire was nonplussed by the suddenness of her
+movement, and did not know whether to detain her or not. Mrs. Atheling
+saw his irresolution, and said,--
+
+"Let her go this time, John. Let her have one last happy memory to keep
+through the time of trouble you seem bound to give her."
+
+"Can I help it?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"You speak as if it was a pleasure to me."
+
+"What for are you so set on interfering just at this time?"
+
+"Because it is the right time."
+
+"Who told you it was the right time?"
+
+"My own heart, and my own knowledge of what is right and wrong."
+
+"You are never liable to make a mistake, I suppose, John?"
+
+"Not on this subject. I never saw such an unreasonable woman! Never! It
+is enough to discourage any man;" and as Mrs. Atheling rose and began to
+put away her silver without answering him a word, he grew angry at her
+want of approval, and put on his hat and went towards the stables.
+
+He had no special intention of watching for Lord Exham, and indeed had
+for the moment forgotten his existence, when the young man leaped his
+horse over the wall of the Atheling plantation. The act annoyed the
+Squire; he was proud of his plantation, and did not like trespassing
+through it. Such a little thing often decides a great thing; and this
+trifling offence made it easy for the Squire to say,--
+
+"Good-morning, Piers, I wish you would dismount. I have a few words to
+speak to you;" and there was in his voice that shivery half-tone which
+is neither one thing nor the other: and Exham recognised it without
+applying the change to himself. He was a little annoyed at the delay;
+but he leaped to the ground, put the bridle over his arm, and stood
+beside the Squire, who then said,--
+
+"Piers, I have come to the decision not to sanction any longer your
+attentions to Kate--unless your father also sanctions them. It is high
+time your engagement was either publicly acknowledged or else put an
+end to."
+
+"You are right, Squire; what do you wish me to do? I will make Kate my
+wife at any time you propose. I desire nothing more earnestly than this."
+
+"Easy, Piers, easy. You must obtain the Duke's consent first."
+
+"I could hardly select a worse time to ask him for it. I am of full age.
+I am my own master. I will marry Kate in the face of all opposition."
+
+"I say you will not. My daughter is not for you, if there is any
+opposition. The Duke and Duchess are at the head of your house; and
+Kate cannot enter a house in which she would be unwelcome."
+
+"Kate will reside at Exham."
+
+"And be a divider between you and your father and mother. No! In the
+end she would get the worst of it; and, even if she got the best of it,
+I am not willing she should begin a life of quarrelling and hatred. You
+can see the Duke at your convenience, and let me know what he says."
+
+"I will see him to-day," he had taken out his watch and was looking
+at it as he spoke. "Will you excuse me now, Squire?" he asked. "I sent
+Kate a message early this morning promising to call for her about eleven.
+I am already late."
+
+"You may turn back. I will make an excuse for you. You cannot ride with
+Kate to-day."
+
+"Squire, I made the offer and the promise. Permit me to honour my word."
+
+"I will honour it for you. There has been enough, and too much, riding
+and walking, unless you are to ride and walk all your lives together.
+Good-morning!"
+
+"Squire, give me one hour?"
+
+"I will not."
+
+"A few minutes to explain."
+
+"I have told you that I would explain."
+
+"I never knew you unkind before. Have I offended you? Have I done
+anything which you do not approve?"
+
+"That is not the question. I will see you again--when you have seen your
+father."
+
+"You are very unkind, very unkind indeed, sir."
+
+"Maybe I am; but when the surgeon's knife is to use, there is no use
+pottering with drugs and fine speeches. It is the knife between you
+and Kate--or it is the ring;" and the word reminded him of the lost
+love gage, and made his face hard and stern. Then he turned from the
+young man, and had a momentary pleasure in the sound of his furious
+galloping in the other direction; for he was in a state of great turmoil.
+He had suddenly done a thing he had been wishing to do for a long
+time; and he was not satisfied. In short, passionate ejaculations, he
+tried to relieve himself of something wrong, and did not succeed. "He
+deserves it; he was all the time with that Other One,--day by day in
+the parks, night after night in the House and the opera; he gave her
+that ring--I'll swear he did; how else should she have it? My Kate is
+not going to be second-best--not if I can help it; what do I care for
+their dukedom?--confound the whole business! A man with a daughter to
+watch has a heart full of sorrow--and it is all her mother's fault!"
+
+Setting his steps to such aggravating opinions, he reached the Manor
+House and went into the parlour. Kate stood at the window in her riding
+dress. She had lost her usual fine composure, and was nervously tapping
+the wooden sill with the handle of her whip. On her father's entrance,
+she turned an anxious face to him, and asked, "Did you see anything
+of Piers, Father?"
+
+"I did. I have been having a bit of a talk with him."
+
+"Then he is at the door? I am so glad! I thought something was wrong!"
+
+"Stop, Kitty. He is not at the door. He has gone home. I sent him home.
+Now don't interrupt me. I made up my mind in London that he should not
+see you again until your engagement was recognised by his father and
+mother."
+
+"Should not see me again! Father!"
+
+"That is right."
+
+"But I must see him! I must see him! Where is mother?"
+
+"Mother thinks as I do, Kate."
+
+"Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?"
+
+"Go upstairs, and take off your habit, and think over things. You know
+quite well that such underhand courting--"
+
+"Piers is not underhand. He is as straight-forward as you are, Father."
+
+"There now! Don't cry. I won't have any crying about what is only
+right. Come here, Kitty. Thou knowest thy father loves every hair of
+thy head. Will he wrong thee? Will he give thee a moment's pain he can
+help? Kitty, I heard talk in London that fired me--I saw things that have
+to be explained."
+
+"Father, you will break my heart!"
+
+"Well, Kitty, I have had a good many heartaches all winter about my
+girl. And I have made up my mind, if I die for it, that there shall
+be no more whispering and wondering about your relationship to Piers
+Exham. Now don't fret till you know you have a reason. Piers has a deal
+of power over the Duke. He will win his way--if he wants to win it.
+Then I will have a business talk with both men, and your engagement and
+marriage will be square and above-board, and no nodding and winking
+and shrugging about it. You are Kate Atheling, and I will not have you
+sought in any by-way. Before God, I will not! Cry, if you must. But
+I think better of you."
+
+"Oh, Mother! Mother! Mother!"
+
+"Yes! you and your mother have brought all this on, with your 'let
+things alone, be happy to-day, and to-morrow will take care of itself'
+ways. If you were a milk-maid, that plan might do; but a girl with your
+lineage has to look behind and before; she can't live for herself and
+herself only."
+
+"I wish I was a milk-maid!"
+
+"To be sure. Let me have the lover I want, and my father, and my
+mother, and my brother, and my home, and all that are behind me, and all
+that are to come after, and all honour, and all gratitude, and all
+decent affection can go to the devil!" and with these words, the Squire
+lifted his hat, and went passionately out of the room.
+
+Though he had given Kate the hope that Piers would influence his
+father, he had no such expectation. There was a very strained political
+feeling between the Duke and himself; and, apart from that, the Squire
+had failed to win any social liking from the Richmoors. He was so
+independent; he thought so much of the Athelings, and was so indifferent
+to the glory of the Richmoors. He had also strong opinions of all
+kinds, and did not scruple to express them; and private opinions are
+just the one thing _not_ wanted and not endurable in society. In fact,
+the Duke and Duchess had both been subject to serious relentings for
+having any alliance, either political or social, with their opinionated,
+domineering neighbour.
+
+And Piers, driven by the anguish of his unexpected calamity, went into
+his father's presence without any regard to favourable circumstances.
+Previously he had considered them too much; now he gave them no
+consideration at all. The Duke had premonitory symptoms of an attack
+of gout; and the Duchess had just told him that her brother Lord
+Francis Gower was going to Germany, and that she had decided to
+accompany his party. "Annabel looks ill," she added; "the season has
+been too much for a girl so emotional; and as for myself, I am thoroughly
+worn out."
+
+"I do not like separating Piers and Annabel," answered the Duke. "They
+have just become confidential and familiar; and in the country too,
+where Miss Atheling will have everything in her favour!"
+
+"Annabel is resolved to go abroad. She says she detests England. You had
+better make the best of the inevitable, Duke. I shall want one thousand
+pounds."
+
+"I cannot spare a thousand pounds. My expenses have been very great this
+past winter."
+
+"Still, I shall require a thousand pounds."
+
+The Duchess had just left her husband with this question to consider.
+He did not want to part with a thousand pounds, and he did not want
+to part with Annabel. She was the brightest element in his life. She had
+become dear to him, and the thought of her fortune made his financial
+difficulties easier to bear. For the encumbrances which the times forced
+him to lay on his estate need not embarrass Piers; Annabel's money
+would easily remove them.
+
+He was under the influence of these conflicting emotions, when Piers
+entered the room, with a brusque hurry quite at variance with his natural
+placid manner. The Duke started at the clash of the door. It gave him a
+twinge of pain; it dissipated his reveries; and he asked petulantly,
+"What brings you here so early, and so noisily, Piers?"
+
+"I am in great trouble, sir. Squire Atheling--"
+
+"Squire Atheling again! I am weary of the man!"
+
+"He has forbidden me to see Miss Atheling."
+
+"He has done quite right. I did not expect so much propriety from him."
+
+"Until you give your consent to our marriage."
+
+"Why, then, you will see her no more, Piers. I will never give it.
+Never! We need not multiply words. You will marry Annabel."
+
+"Suppose Annabel will not marry me?"
+
+"The supposition is impossible, therefore unnecessary."
+
+"If I cannot marry Miss Atheling, I will remain unmarried."
+
+"That threat is as old as the world; it amounts to nothing."
+
+"On all public and social questions, I am your obedient son and
+successor. I claim the right to choose my wife."
+
+"A man in your position, Piers, has not this privilege. I had not. If
+I had followed my youthful desires, I should have married an Italian
+woman. I married, not to please myself, but for the good of Richmoor;
+and I am glad to-day that I did so. Your duty to Richmoor is first; to
+yourself, secondary."
+
+"Have you anything against Miss Atheling?"
+
+"I object to her family--though they are undoubtedly in direct descent
+from the royal Saxon family of Atheling; I object to her poverty; I
+object to her taking the place of a young lady who has every desirable
+qualification for your wife."
+
+"Is there no way to meet these objections, sir?"
+
+"No way whatever." At these words the Duke stood painfully up, and
+said, with angry emphasis, "I will not have this subject mentioned to me
+again. It is dead. I forbid you to speak of it." Then he rang the bell
+for his Secretary, and gave him some orders. Lord Exham leaned against
+the mantelpiece, lost in sorrowful thought, until the Duke turned to
+him and said,--
+
+"I am going to ride; will you go with me? There are letters from
+Wetherell and Lyndhurst to talk over."
+
+"I cannot think of politics at present. I should be no help to you."
+
+"Your mother and Annabel are thinking of going to Germany. I wish you
+would persuade them to stop at home. Is Annabel sick? I am told she is."
+
+"I do not know, sir."
+
+"You might trouble yourself to inquire."
+
+"Father, I have never at any time disobeyed you. Permit me to marry the
+woman I love. In all else, I follow where you lead."
+
+"Piers, my dear son, if my wisdom is sufficient for 'all else,'
+can you not trust it in this matter? Miss Atheling is an
+impossibility,--mind, I say an impossibility,--now, and to-morrow, and
+in all the future. That is enough about Miss Atheling. Good-afternoon! I
+feel far from well, and I will try what a gallop may do for me."
+
+Piers bowed; he could not speak. His heart beat at his lips; he was
+choking with emotion. The very attitude of the Duke filled him with
+despair. It permitted of no argument; it would allow of no hope. He
+knew the Squire's mood was just as inexorable as his father's. Mrs.
+Atheling had defined the position very well, when she called the two
+men, "upper and nether millstones." Kate and he were now between them.
+And there was only one way out of the situation supposable. If Kate
+was willing, they could marry without permission. The Rector of Belward
+would not be difficult to manage; for the Duke had nothing to do with
+Belward; it was in the gift of Mrs. Atheling. On some appointed morning
+Kate could meet him before the little altar. Love has ways and means
+and messengers; and his face flushed, and a kind of angry hope came
+into his heart as this idea entered it. Just then, he did not consider
+how far Kate would fall below his best thoughts if it were possible
+to persuade her to such clandestine disobedience.
+
+The Duke was pleased with himself. He felt that he had settled the
+disagreeable question promptly and kindly; and he was cantering
+cheerfully across Belward Bents, when he came suddenly face to face
+with Squire Atheling. The surprise was not pleasant; but he instantly
+resolved to turn it to service.
+
+"Squire," he said, with a forced heartiness, "well met! I thank you
+for your co-operation. In forbidding Lord Exham your daughter's society,
+you have done precisely what I wished you to do."
+
+"There is no 'co-operation' in the question, Duke. I considered only
+Miss Atheling's rights and happiness. And what I have done, was not
+done for any wish of yours, but to satisfy myself. Lord Exham is your
+business, not mine."
+
+"I have just told him that a marriage with Miss Atheling is out of
+all consideration; that both you and I are of this opinion; and, I may
+add, that my plans for Lord Exham's future would be utterly ruined
+by a _mesalliance_ at this time."
+
+"You will retract the word '_mesalliance_,' Duke. You know Miss
+Atheling's lineage, and that a duke of the reigning family would make
+no '_mesalliance_' in marrying her. I say retract the word!" and
+the Squire involuntarily gave emphasis to the order by the passionate
+tightening of his hand on his riding-whip.
+
+"I certainly retract any word that gives you offence, Squire. I meant
+no reflection on Miss Atheling, who is a most charming young lady--"
+
+"There is no more necessity for compliments than for--the other thing. I
+have told Miss Atheling to see Lord Exham no more. I will make my order
+still more positive to her."
+
+"Yet, Squire, lovers will often outwit the wisest fathers."
+
+"My daughter will give me her word, and she would not be an Atheling
+if she broke it. I shall make her understand that I will never forgive
+her if she allies herself with the house of Richmoor."
+
+"Come, come, Squire! You need not speak so contemptuously of the house
+of Richmoor. The noblest women in England would gladly ally themselves
+with my house."
+
+"I cannot prevent them doing so; but I can keep my own daughter's
+honour, and I will. Good-afternoon, Duke! I hope this is our last word
+on a subject so unpleasant."
+
+"I hope so. Squire, there are some important letters from Lyndhurst and
+Wetherell; can you come to the Castle to-morrow and talk them over with
+me."
+
+"I cannot, Duke."
+
+Then the Duke bowed haughtily, and gave his horse both rein and whip;
+and the angry thoughts in his heart were, "What a proud, perverse
+unmanageable creature! He was as ready to strike as to speak. If I had
+been equally uncivilised, we should have come to blows as easily as
+words. I am sorry I have had any dealings with the fellow. Julia warned
+me--a man ought to take his wife's advice wherever women are factors
+in a question. Confound the whole race of country squires!--they make
+all the trouble that is made."
+
+Squire Atheling had not any more pleasant thoughts about dukes; but they
+were an undercurrent, his daughter dominated them. He dreaded his next
+interview with her, but was not inclined to put it off, even when he
+found her, on his return home, with Mrs. Atheling. She had been weeping;
+she hardly dried her tears on his approach. Her lovely face was flushed
+and feverish; she had the look of a rose blown by a stormy wind. He
+pushed his chair to her side, and gently drew her on to his knees, and
+put his arm around her, as he said,--
+
+"My little girl, I am sorry! I am sorry! But it has to be, Kitty. There
+is no hope, and I will not fool thee with false promises. I have just
+had a talk with Richmoor. He was very rude, very rude indeed, to thy
+father." She did not speak or lift her eyes; and the Squire continued,
+"He used a word about a marriage with thee that I would not permit.
+I had to bring him to his senses."
+
+"Oh, Father!"
+
+"Would you have me sit quiet and hear the Athelings made little of."
+
+"No, Father."
+
+"I thought not."
+
+"After what the Duke has said to me, there can be no thought of marriage
+between Piers and thee. Give him up, now and forever."
+
+"I cannot."
+
+"But thou must."
+
+"It will kill me."
+
+"Not if thou art the good, brave girl I think thee. Piers is only one
+little bit of the happy life thy good God has given thee. Thou wilt still
+have thy mother, and thy brother, and thy sweet home, and all the honour
+and blessings of thy lot in life--_and thy father, too_, Kitty. Is thy
+father nobody?"
+
+Then she laid her head on his breast and sobbed bitterly; and the Squire
+could not speak. He wept with her. And sitting a little apart, but
+watching them, Mrs. Atheling wept a little also. Yet, in spite of his
+emotion, the Squire was inexorable; and he continued, with stern and
+steady emphasis, "Thou art not to see him. Thou art not to write to
+him. Thou art not even to look at him. Get him out of thy life, root
+and branch. It is the only way. Come now, give me thy promise."
+
+"Let me see him once more."
+
+"I will not. What for? To pity one another, and abuse every other
+person, right or wrong. The Richmoors don't want thee among them at
+any price; and if I was thee I would stay where I was wanted."
+
+"Piers wants me."
+
+"Now then, if you must have the whole bitter truth, take it. I don't
+believe Piers will have any heartache wanting thee. He was here, there,
+and everywhere with Miss Vyner, after thou hadst left London; and I saw
+the ring thou loanedst him on her finger."
+
+Then Kate looked quickly up. Once, when Annabel had removed her glove,
+and instantly replaced it, a vague suspicion of this fact had given her
+a shock that she had named to no one. It seemed so incredible she could
+not tell her mother. And now her father's words brought back that moment
+of sick suspicion, and confirmed it.
+
+"Are you sure of what you say, Father?"
+
+"I will wage my word and honour on it."
+
+There was a moment's intense silence. Kate glanced at her mother, who
+sat with dropped eyes, unconsciously knitting; but there was not a
+shadow of doubt or denial on her face. Then she looked at her father. His
+large countenance, usually so red and beaming, was white and drawn
+with feeling, and his troubled, aching soul looked at her pathetically
+from the misty depths of his tearful eyes. Her mother she might have
+argued and pleaded with; but the love and anguish supplicating her
+from that bending face was not to be denied. She lifted her own to it.
+She kissed the pale cheeks and trembling lips, and said, clearly,--
+
+"I promise what you wish, Father. I will not speak to Piers, nor write
+to him, nor even look at him again--until you say I may," and with the
+words she put her hand in his for surety.
+
+He rose to his feet then and put her in his chair; but he could not
+speak a word. Tremblingly, he lifted his hat and stick and went out
+of the room; and Mrs. Atheling threw down her knitting, and followed
+him to the door, and watched him going slowly through the long, flagged
+passageway. Her face was troubled when she returned to Kate. She lifted
+her knitting and threw it with some temper into her work-basket, and
+then flung wide open the casement and let the fresh air into the room.
+Kate did not speak; her whole air and manner was that of injury and
+woe-begone extremity.
+
+"Kate," said her mother at last, "Kate, my dear! This is your first
+lesson in this world's sorrow. Don't be a coward under it. Lift up your
+heart to Him who is always sufficient."
+
+"Oh, Mother! I think I shall die."
+
+"I would be ashamed to say such words. Piers was good and lovesome, and
+I do not blame you for loving him as long as it was right to do so. But
+when your father's word is against it, you may be very sure it is _not_
+right. Father would not give you a moment's pain, if he could help it."
+
+"It is too cruel! I cannot bear it!"
+
+"Are you asked to bear anything but what women in all ages, and in all
+countries, have had to bear? To give up what you love is always hard. I
+have had to give up three fine sons, and your dear little sister Edith. I
+have had to give up father, and mother, and brothers, and sisters; but
+I never once thought of dying. Whatever happens, happens with God's
+will, or with God's permission; so if you can't give up cheerfully to
+your father's will, do try and say to God, as pleasantly as you can,
+_Thy_ Will be my will."
+
+"I thought you would pity me, Mother."
+
+"I do, Kate, with all my heart. But life has more loves and duties
+than one. If, in order to have Piers, you had to relinquish every one
+else, would you do so? No, you would not. Kate, I love you, and I pity
+you in your great trial; and I will help you to bear it as well as I
+can. But you must bear it cheerfully. I will not have father killed for
+Piers Exham. He looked very queerly when he went out. Be a brave girl,
+and if you are going to keep your promise, do it cheerfully--or it is not
+worth while."
+
+"How can I be cheerful, Mother?"
+
+"As easy as not, if you have a good, unselfish heart. You will say
+to yourself, 'What right have I to make every one in the house
+miserable, because I am miserable?' Troubles must come to all,
+Kitty, but troubles need not be wicked; and _it is wicked to be a
+destroyer of happiness_. I think God himself may find it hard to forgive
+those who selfishly destroy the happiness of others, just because
+they are not satisfied, or have not the one thing they specially
+want. When you are going to be cross and unhappy, say to yourself, "I
+will not be cross! I will not be unhappy! I will not make my good father
+wretched, and fill his pleasant home with a tearful drizzle, because I
+want to cry about my own loss.' And, depend upon it, Kitty, you
+will find content and happiness in making others happy. Good comes to
+hearts prepared for good; but it cannot come to hearts full of worry, and
+fear, and selfish regrets."
+
+"You are setting me a hard lesson, Mother."
+
+"I know it is hard, Kate. Life is all a task; yet we may as well sing,
+as we fulfil it. Eh, dear?"
+
+Kate did not answer. She lifted her habit over her arm, and went slowly
+upstairs. Sorrow filled her to the ears and eyes; but her mother heard
+her close and then turn the key in her door.
+
+"That is well," she thought. "Now her good angel will find her alone
+with God."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEENTH
+
+NOT YET
+
+
+"Mothering" is a grand old word for a quality God can teach man as
+well as woman; and the Squire really "mothered" his daughter in
+the first days of her great sorrow. He was always at her side. He was
+constantly needing her help or her company; and Kate was quite sensible
+of the great love with which he encompassed her. At first she was
+inexpressibly desolate. She had been suddenly dislodged from that life
+in the heart of Piers which she had so long enjoyed, and she felt
+homeless and forsaken. But Kate had a sweet and beautiful soul, nothing
+in it could turn to bitterness; and so it was not long before she was
+able to carry her misfortune as she had carried her good fortune, with
+cheerfulness and moderation.
+
+For her confidence in Piers was unbroken. Not even her father's
+assertion about the lost ring could affect it. On reflection, she was
+sure there was a satisfactory explanation; if not, it was a momentary
+infidelity which she was ready to forgive. And in her determination
+to be faithful to her lover, Mrs. Atheling encouraged her. "Time
+brings us our own, Kitty dear," she said; "you have a true title to
+Piers's love; so, then, you have a true title to his hand. I have not a
+doubt that you will be his wife."
+
+"I think that, Mother; but why should we be separated now, and both made
+to suffer?"
+
+"That is earth's great mystery, my dear,--the prevalence of pain
+and suffering; no one is free from it. But then, in the midst of this
+mystery, is set that Heavenly Love which helps us to bear everything. I
+know, Kitty, I know!"
+
+"Father is very hard."
+
+"He is not. When Piers's father and mother say they will not have
+you in their house, do you want to slip into it on the sly, or even
+in defiance of them? Wait, and your hour will come."
+
+"There is only one way that it can possibly come; and that way I dare
+not for a moment think of."
+
+"No, indeed! Who would wish to enter the house of marriage by the gates
+of death? If such a thought comes to you, send it away with a prayer
+for the Duke's life. God can give you Piers without killing his father.
+He would be a poor God if He could not. Whatever happens in your life
+that you cannot change, that is the Will of God; and to will what God
+wills is sure to bring you peace, Kitty. You have your Prayer-Book; go to
+the Blessed Collects in it. You will be sure to find among them just the
+prayer you need. They never once failed me,--never once!"
+
+"If I could have seen him just for an hour, Mother."
+
+"Far better not. Your last meeting with him in London was a very happy,
+joyous one. That is a good memory to keep. If you met him now, it would
+only be to weep and lament; and I'll tell you what, Kitty, no crying
+woman leaves a pleasant impression. I want Piers to remember you as he
+saw you last,--clothed in white, with flowers in your hair and hands,
+and your face beaming with love and happiness."
+
+Many such conversations as this one held up the girl's heart, and
+enabled her, through a pure and steadfast faith in her lover, to enter--
+
+      "----that finer atmosphere,
+    Where footfalls of appointed things,
+      Reverberant of days to be,
+    Are heard in forecast echoings;
+      Like wave-beats from a viewless sea."
+
+The first week of her trouble was the worst; but it was made tolerable
+by a long letter from Piers on the second day. It came in the Squire's
+mail-bag, and he could easily have retained it. But such a course would
+have been absolutely contradictious to his whole nature. He held the
+thick missive a moment in his hand, and glanced at the large red seal,
+lifting up so prominently the Richmoor arms, and then said,--
+
+"Here is a letter for you, Kitty. It is from Piers. What am I to do with
+it?"
+
+"Please, Father, give it to me."
+
+"Give it to her, Father," said Mrs. Atheling; and Kate's eager face
+pleaded still more strongly. Rather reluctantly, he pushed the letter
+towards Kate, saying, "I would as leave not give it to thee, but I can
+trust to thy honour."
+
+"You may trust me, Father," she answered. And the Squire was satisfied
+with his relenting, when she came to him a few hours later, and said,
+"Thank you for giving me my letter, Father. It has made my trouble a
+great deal lighter. Now, Father, will you do me one more favour?"
+
+"Well, dear, what is it?"
+
+"See Piers for me, and tell him of the promise I made to you. Say I
+cannot break it, but that I send, by you, my thanks for his letter, and
+my love forever more."
+
+"I can't tell him about 'love forever more,' Kitty. That won't do
+at all."
+
+"Tell him, then, that all he says to me I say to him. Dear Father, make
+that much clear to him."
+
+"John, do what Kitty asks thee. It isn't much."
+
+"A man can't have his way in this house with two women to coax or bully
+him out of it. What am I to do?"
+
+"Just what Kitty asks you to do."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Please, Father!" And the two words were sent straight to the father's
+heart with a kiss and a caress that were irresistible. Three days
+afterwards the Squire came home from a ride, very much depressed. He
+was cross with the servant who unbuttoned his gaiters, and he looked
+resentfully at Mrs. Atheling as she entered the room.
+
+"A nice message I was sent," he said to her as soon as they were
+alone. "That young man has given me a heart-ache. He has made me think
+right is wrong. He has made me feel as if I was the wickedest father
+in Yorkshire. And I know, in my soul, that I am doing right; and that
+there isn't a better father in the three kingdoms."
+
+"Whatever did he say?"
+
+"He said I was to tell Kate that from the East to the West, and from
+the North to the South, he would love her. That from that moment to the
+moment of death, and throughout all eternity, he would love her. And
+I stopped him there and then, and said I would carry no message that
+went beyond the grave. And he said I was to tell her that neither for
+father nor mother, nor for the interests of the dukedom, nor for the
+command of the King, would he marry any woman but her. And I was fool
+enough to be sorry for him, and to promise I would give him Kate, with
+my blessing, when his father and mother asked me to do so."
+
+"I don't think that was promising very much, John."
+
+"Thou knowest nothing of how I feel, Maude. But he is a good man, and
+true; I think so, at any rate."
+
+"Tell Kitty what he said."
+
+"Nay, you must tell her if you want her to know. I would rather not
+speak of Piers at all. Tell her, also, that the Duchess and Miss Vyner
+are going to Germany, and that Piers goes with them as far as London. I
+am very glad of this move, for we can ride about, then, without fear
+of meeting them."
+
+All the comfort to be got from this conversation and intelligence was
+given at once to Kate; and perhaps Mrs. Atheling unavoidably made it
+more emphatic than the Squire's manner warranted. She did not overstep
+the truth, however, for Piers had spoken from his very heart, and with
+the most passionate love and confidence. Indeed, the Squire's transcript
+had been but a bald and lame translation of the young man's fervent
+expressions of devotion and constancy.
+
+Kate understood this, and she was comforted. Invincible Hope was at
+the bottom of all her sorrow, and she soon began to look on the
+circumstances as merely transitory. Yet she had moments of great trial.
+One evening, while walking with her mother a little on the outskirts of
+Atheling, the Duke's carriage, with its splendid outriders, suddenly
+turned into the little lane. There was no escape, and they looked at
+each other bravely, and stood still upon the turf bordering the
+road. Then the Duchess gave an order to the coachman. There was
+difficulty in getting the horses to the precise spot which was best
+for conversation; but Mrs. Atheling would not take a step forward or
+backward to relieve it. She stood with her hand on Kate's arm,
+Kate's hands being full of the blue-bells which she had been gathering.
+
+The carriage contained only the Duchess and Annabel. There had been no
+overt unpleasantness between the ladies of the two families, and Mrs.
+Atheling would not take the initiative, especially when the question was
+one referring to the most delicate circumstances of her daughter's
+life. She talked with the Duchess of her German trip, and Kate gave
+Annabel the flowers, and hoped she would enjoy her new experience.
+In five minutes the interview was over; nothing but courteous words had
+been said, and yet Mrs. Atheling and Kate had, somehow, a sense of
+intense humiliation. The Duchess's manner had been politely patronising,
+Annabel's languid and indifferent; and, in some mysterious way, the
+servants echoed this covert atmosphere of disdain. Little things are so
+momentous; and the very attitude of the two parties was against the
+Athelings. From their superb carriage, as from a throne, the Duchess
+and her companion looked down on the two simply-dressed ladies who had
+been gathering wild flowers on the roadside.
+
+"How provoking!" was Kate's first utterance. "Mother, I will not walk
+outside the garden again until they go away; I will not!"
+
+"I am ashamed of you!" answered Mrs. Atheling, angrily. "Will you
+make yourself a prisoner for these two women? _Tush!_ Who are they? Be
+yourself, and who is better than you?"
+
+"It is easy talking, Mother. You are as much annoyed as I am. How did
+they manage to snub us so politely?"
+
+"Position is everything, Kate. A woman in a Duke's carriage, with
+outriders in scarlet, and coachmen and footmen in silver-laced liveries,
+would snub the Virgin Mary if she met her in a country lane, dressed in
+pink dimity, and gathering blue-bells. Try and forget the affair."
+
+"Annabel looked ill."
+
+"It was her white dress. A woman with her skin ought to know better than
+to wear white."
+
+"Oh, Mother! if Piers had been with them, what should I have done?"
+
+"I wish he had been there! You were never more lovely. I saw you for
+a moment, standing at the side of the carriage; with your brown hair
+blowing, and your cheeks blushing, and your hands full of flowers, and I
+thought how beautiful you were; and I wish Piers had been there."
+
+"They go away on Saturday. I shall be glad when Saturday is over. I
+do not think I could bear to see Piers. I should make a little fool of
+myself."
+
+"Not you! Not you! But it is just as well to keep out of danger."
+
+Certainly neither the Squire nor Kate had any idea of meeting Piers on
+the following Saturday night when they rode along Atheling lane together.
+Both of them believed Piers to be far on the way to London. They had
+been to the village, and were returning slowly homeward in the gloaming.
+A light like that of dreamland was lying over all the scene; and the
+silence of the far-receding hills was intensified by the murmur of the
+streams, and the sleepy piping of a solitary bird. The subtle, fugitive,
+indescribable fragrance of lilies-of-the-valley was in the air; and a
+sense of brooding power, of mystical communion between man and nature,
+had made both the Squire and Kate sympathetically silent.
+
+Suddenly there was the sound of horse's feet coming towards them; and
+the figure of its rider loomed large and spectral in the gray, uncertain
+light. Kate knew instantly who it was. In a moment or two they must needs
+pass each other. She looked quickly into her father's face, and he said
+huskily, "Be brave, Kate, be brave!"
+
+The words had barely been spoken, when Piers slowly passed them. He
+removed his hat, and the Squire did the same; but Kate sat with dropped
+eyes, white as marble. From her nerveless hands the reins had fallen; she
+swayed in her saddle, and the Squire leaned towards her with encouraging
+touch and words. But she could hear nothing but the hurrying flight of
+her lover, and the despairing cry which the wind brought sadly back
+as he rode rapidly up the little lane,--
+
+"_Kate! Kate! Kate!_"
+
+Fortunately, news of Miss Curzon's and Edgar's arrival at Ashley Hall
+came to Atheling that very hour; and the Squire and Mrs. Atheling were
+much excited at their proposal to lunch at Atheling Manor the next day.
+Kate had to put aside her own feelings, and unite in the family joy of
+reunion. There was a happy stir of preparation, and the Squire dressed
+himself with particular care to meet his son and his new daughter. As
+soon as he heard of their approach, he went to the open door to meet them.
+
+To Edgar he gave his right hand, with a look which cancelled every hard
+word; and then he lifted little Annie Curzon from her horse, and kissed
+her on the doorstep with fatherly affection. And between Kate and Annie a
+warm friendship grew apace; and the girls were continually together,
+and thus, insensibly, Kate's sorrow was lightened by mutual confidence
+and affection.
+
+Early in June the Squire and Edgar were to return to London, for
+Parliament re-opened on the fourteenth; and a few days before their
+departure Mrs. Atheling asked her husband one afternoon to take a
+drive with her. "To be sure I will, Maude," he answered. "It isn't
+twice in a twelvemonth thou makest me such an offer." She was in her
+own little phaeton, and the Squire settled himself comfortably at her
+side, and took the reins from her hands. "Which way are we to go?" he
+asked.
+
+"We will go first to Gisbourne Gates, and maybe as far as Belward."
+
+The Squire wondered a little at her direction, for she knew Gisbourne was
+rather a sore subject with him. As they approached the big iron portals,
+rusty on all their hinges from long neglect, he could not avoid saying,--
+
+"It is a shame beyond everything that I have not yet been able to buy
+Gisbourne. The place has been wanting a master for fifteen years; and
+it lays between Atheling and Belward as the middle finger lays between
+the first and the third. I thought I might manage it next year; but this
+Parliament business has put me a good bit back."
+
+"Many things have put you back, John. There was Edgar's college
+expenses, and the hard times, and what not beside. Look, John! the gates
+are open. Let us drive in. It is twenty years since I saw Gisbourne
+Towers."
+
+"The gates are open. What does that mean, Maude?"
+
+"I suppose somebody has bought the place."
+
+"I'm afraid so."
+
+"Never mind, John."
+
+"But I do mind. The kind of neighbour we are to have is a very important
+thing. They will live right between Atheling and Belward. The Gisbournes
+were a fine Tory family. Atheling and Gisbourne were always friends. My
+father and Sir Antony went to the hunt and the hustings together. They
+were finger and thumb in all county matters. It will be hard to get as
+good a master of Gisbourne as Sir Antony was."
+
+"John, I have a bit of right good news for thee. Edgar is going to take
+Sir Antony's place. Will Edgar do for a neighbour?"
+
+"Whatever art thou saying, Maude?"
+
+"The very truth. Miss Curzon has bought Gisbourne. Lord Ashley advised
+her to do so; and she has brought down a big company of builders and
+such people, and the grand old house is to be made the finest home in
+the neighbourhood. She showed me the plans yesterday, and I promised
+her to bring thee over to Gisbourne this afternoon to meet her architect
+and Lord Ashley and Edgar. See, they are waiting on the terrace for thee;
+for they want thy advice and thy ideas."
+
+It was, indeed, a wonderful afternoon. The gentlemen went into
+consultation with the architect, and a great many of the Squire's
+suggestions were received with enthusiastic approval. Mrs. Atheling,
+Kate, and Annie went through the long-deserted rooms, and talked of
+what should be done to give them modern convenience and comfort, without
+detracting from their air of antique splendour. Then at five o'clock
+the whole party met in the faded drawing-room and had tea, with sundry
+additions of cold game and pasties, and discussed, together, the
+proposed plans. At sunset the parties separated at Gisbourne Gates,
+Kate going with Miss Curzon to Ashley, and the Squire and Mrs.
+Atheling returning to their own home. The Squire was far too much excited
+to be long quiet.
+
+"They were very glad of my advice, Maude," he said, as soon as the last
+good-bye had been spoken. "Ashley seconded nearly all I proposed. He is
+a fine fellow. I wish I had known him long ago."
+
+"Well, John, nobody can give better advice than you can."
+
+"And you see I know Gisbourne, and what can be done with it. Bless
+your soul! I used to be able to tell every kind of bird that built in
+Gisbourne Chase, and where to find their nests--though I never robbed a
+nest; I can say that much for myself. Well, Edgar _has_ done a grand
+thing for Atheling, and no mistake."
+
+"I told you Edgar--"
+
+"Now, Maude, Edgar and me have washed the slate between us clean. It
+is not thy place to be itemising now. I say Edgar has done well for
+Atheling, and I don't care who says different. I haven't had such a day
+since my wedding day. Edgar in Gisbourne! An Atheling in Gisbourne! My
+word! Who would have thought of such a thing? I couldn't hardly have
+asked it."
+
+"I should think not. There are very few of us, John, would have the face
+to _ask_ for half of the good things the good God gives us without a
+'please' or a 'thank you.'"
+
+"Belward! Gisbourne! Atheling! It will be all Atheling when I am gone."
+
+"Not it! I do not want Belward to be sunk in that way. Belward is as old
+as Atheling."
+
+"In a way, Maude, in a way. It was once a part of Atheling; so was
+Gisbourne. As for sinking the name, thou sunkest thy name in Atheling;
+why not sink the land's name, eh, Maude?"
+
+And until the Squire and Edgar left for London, such conversations were
+his delight; indeed, he rather regretted his Parliamentary obligations,
+and envied his wife and daughter the delightful interest that had come
+into their lives. For they really found it delightful; and all through
+the long, sweet, summer days it never palled, because it was always a
+fresh wing, or a fresh gallery, cabinet-work in one parlour, upholstery
+work in another, the freshly laid-out gardens, the cleared chase, the
+new stables and kennels. Even the gates were a subject of interesting
+debate as to whether the fine old ones should be restored or there
+should be still finer new ones.
+
+Thus between Atheling, Ashley, and Gisbourne, week after week passed
+happily. Kate did not forget, did not cease to love and to hope; she
+just bided her time, waiting, in patience, for Fortune to bring in the
+ship that longed for the harbour but could not make it. And with so
+much to fill her hours joyfully, how ungrateful she would have been
+to fret over the one thing denied her! The return of the Squire and
+Edgar was very uncertain. Both of them, in their letters, complained
+bitterly of the obstructive policy which the Tories still unwaveringly
+carried out. It was not until the twelfth of July that the Bill got
+into Committee; and there it was harassed and delayed night after night
+by debates on every one of its clauses. This plan of obstructing it
+occupied thirty-nine sittings, so that it did not reach the House of
+Lords until the twenty-second of September. The Squire's letter at
+this point was short and despondent:--
+
+    DEAR WIFE,--The Bill has gone to the Lords. I expect they will
+    send it to the devil. I am fairly tired out; and, with all my
+    heart, I wish myself at Atheling. It may be Christmas before I
+    get there. Do as well as you can till I come. Tell Kitty, I
+    would give a sovereign for a sight of her.
+
+    Your affectionate Husband,
+
+    JOHN ATHELING.
+
+About a couple of weeks after this letter, one evening in October,
+Mrs. Atheling, Kate, and Annie were returning to Atheling House from
+Gisbourne, where they had been happily busy all the afternoon. They were
+easy-hearted, but rather quiet; each in that mood of careless stillness
+which broods on its own joy or sorrow. The melancholy of the autumn
+night influenced them,--calm, pallid, and a little sad, with a dull,
+soft murmur among the firs,--so they did not hurry, and it was nearly
+dark when they came in sight of the house. Then Mrs. Atheling roused
+herself. "How good a cup of tea will taste," she said; "and I dare
+say it is waiting, for Ann has lighted the room, I see." Laughing and
+echoing her remark, they reached the parlour. On opening the door, Mrs.
+Atheling uttered a joyful cry.
+
+"Why, John! Why, Edgar!"
+
+"To be sure, Maude," answered the Squire, leaping up and taking her
+in his arms. "I wonder how thou feelest to have thy husband come home
+and find thee out of the house, and not a bit of eating ready for him."
+
+Then Mrs. Atheling pointed to the table, and said, "I do not think there
+is any need for complaint, John."
+
+"No; we managed, Edgar and me, by good words and bad words, to get
+something for ourselves--" and he waved his hand complacently over
+the table, loaded with all kinds of eatables,--a baron of cold beef,
+cold Yorkshire pudding, a gypsy pie, Indian preserves, raspberry
+tarts, clotted cream, roast apples, cheese celery, fine old ale, strong
+gunpowder tea, and a variety of condiments.
+
+"What do you call this meal, John?"
+
+"I call it a decent kind of a tea, and I want thee to try and learn
+something from its example." Then he kissed her again, and looked
+anxiously round for Kitty.
+
+"Come here, my little girl," he cried; and Kitty, who had been feeling
+a trifle neglected, forgot everything but the warmth and gladness of
+her father's love and welcome. Edgar had found Annie a seat beside his
+own, and the Squire managed to get his place between his wife and his
+daughter. Then the "cup of tea" Mrs. Atheling had longed for became a
+protracted home festival. But they could not keep politics out of its
+atmosphere; they were, indeed, so blended with the life of that time
+that their separation from household matters was impossible, and the
+Squire was no more anxious to hear about his hunters and his harvest,
+than Mrs. Atheling was to know the fate of the Reform Bill.
+
+"It has passed at last, I suppose, John," she said, with an air of
+satisfied certainty.
+
+"Thou supposest very far wrong, then. It has been rejected again."
+
+"Never! Never! Never! Oh, John, John! It is not possible!"
+
+"The Lords did, as I told thee they would,--that is, the Lords and the
+bishops together."
+
+"The bishops ought to be unfrocked," cried Edgar, with considerable
+temper. "Only one in all their number voted for Reform."
+
+"I'll never go to church again," said Mrs. Atheling, in her
+unreasonable anger.
+
+"Tell us about it, Father," urged Kate.
+
+"Well, you see, Mr. Peel and Mr. Croker led our party against the Bill;
+and Croker _is_ clever, there is no doubt of that."
+
+"Not to be compared to Lord Althorp, our leader,--so calm, so
+courageous, so upright," said Edgar.
+
+"Nobody denies it; but Croker's practical, vigorous views--"
+
+"You mean his 'sanguine despondency,' his delight in describing
+England as bankrupt and ruined by Reform."
+
+"I mean nothing of the kind, Edgar; but--"
+
+"Did the Bill pass the Commons, Father?" asked Kate.
+
+"It did; although in fifteen days Peel spoke forty-eight times against
+it, and Croker fifty-seven times, and Wetherell fifty-eight times. But
+all they could say was just so many lost words."
+
+"Think of such men disputing the right of Manchester, Leeds, and
+Birmingham to be represented in the House of Commons! What do you say to
+that, Mother?"
+
+"I only hope father wasn't in such a stupid bit of business, Edgar."
+And the Squire drank a glass of ale, and pretended not to hear.
+
+"But," continued Edgar, "we never lost heart; for all over the
+country, and in every quarter of London, they were holding meetings
+urging us not to give way,--not to give way an inch. We were fighting for
+all England; and, as Lord Althorp said, we were ready to keep Parliament
+sitting till next December, or even to next December twelvemonth."
+
+"I'll warrant you!" interrupted the Squire. "Well, Edgar, you
+passed your Bill in a fine uproar of triumph; all London in the street,
+shouting thanks to Althorp and the others--Edgar Atheling among them."
+Then the Squire paused and looked at his son, and Mrs. Atheling asked,
+impatiently,--
+
+"What then, John?"
+
+"Why, then, Lord John Russell and Lord Althorp carried the Bill to the
+House of Lords. It was a great scene. The Duke told me about it. He
+said nearly every peer was in his seat; and a large number of peeresses
+had been admitted at the bar, and every inch of space in the House was
+crowded. The Lord Chancellor took his seat at the Woolsack; and the
+Deputy Usher of the Black Rod threw open the doors, crying, 'A Message
+from the Commons.' Then Lord John Russell and Lord Althorp, at the head
+of one hundred Members of the House of Commons, entered, and delivered
+the Bill to the Lord Chancellor."
+
+"Oh, how I should have liked to have been present!" said Kate.
+
+"Well, some day thou--" and then the Squire suddenly stopped; but
+the unfinished thought was flashed to every one present,--"some day
+thou mayst be Duchess of Richmoor, and have the right to be present;"
+and Kate was pleased, and felt her heart warm to conscious hope. She
+caught her mother watching her, and smiled; and Mrs. Atheling, instantly
+sensitive to the unspoken feeling, avoided comment by her eager inquiry,--
+
+"Whatever did they say, John?"
+
+"They said the usual words; but the Duke told me there was a breathless
+silence, and that Lord John Russell said them with the most unusual
+and impressive emphasis: 'My Lords, the House of Commons have passed
+an Act to Amend the Representation of England and Wales, to which they
+desire your Lordships' Concurrence.' Lord Grey opened the debate. I
+dare say Edgar knows all about it. I believe Grey is his leader."
+
+"Yes," answered Edgar, "and very proud I am of my leader. He is in
+his sixty-eighth year, and he stood there that night to advocate the
+measure he proposed forty years before, in the House of Commons. Althorp
+told me he spoke with a strange calmness and solemnity, '_for the just
+claims of the people_;' but as soon as he sat down Lord Wharncliffe
+moved that the Bill be rejected altogether."
+
+"That was like Wharncliffe," said the Squire. "No half measures for
+him."
+
+"Wellington followed, and wanted to know, 'How the King's government
+was to be carried on by the will of a turbulent democracy?'"
+
+"Wellington would govern with a sword instead of a sceptre. He would
+try every cause round a drum-head. I am not with Wellington."
+
+"Lord Dudley followed in an elegant, classical speech, also against the
+Bill."
+
+The Squire laughed. "I heard about that speech. Did not Brougham call
+it, 'An essay or exercise of the highest merit, on democracies--_but
+not on this Bill_.'"
+
+"Yes. Brougham can say very polite and very disagreeable things. He
+spoke on the fifth and last night of the debate. Earl Grey said a more
+splendid declamation was never made. All London is now quoting one
+passage which he addressed to the Lords: 'Justice deferred,' he said,
+'enhances the price at which you will purchase your own safety; nor can
+you expect to gather any other crop than they did who went before you, if
+you persevere in their utterly abominable husbandry of sowing injustice
+and reaping rebellion.'"
+
+"Fine words, Edgar, fine words; just like Brougham,--catch-words, to
+take the common people."
+
+"They did not, however, alarm or take the Lords. My leader closed
+the debate, and in a magnificent speech implored the archbishops and
+bishops not to vote against the Bill, and thus stand before the people
+of England as the enemies of a just and moderate scheme of Reform."
+
+"And yet they voted against it!" said Mrs. Atheling. "I am downright
+ashamed of them. The very date ought to be put up against them forever."
+
+"It was the seventh of October. All night long, until the dawning
+of the eighth, the debate was continued; and until three hours after
+midnight, Palace Yard, and the streets about Westminster, were crowded
+with anxious watchers, though the weather was cold and miserably wet.
+Towards morning their patience was exhausted; and when the carriages of
+the peers and bishops rolled out in broad daylight there was no one
+there to greet them with the execrations and hisses they deserved.
+The whole of our work this session in the Commons has been done in
+vain. But we shall win next time, even if we compel the King to create
+as many new Reform peers as will pass the Bill in spite of the old
+Lords."
+
+"Edgar, you are talking nonsense--if not treason."
+
+"Pardon me, Father. I am only giving you the ultimatum of Reform.
+The Bill _must_ pass the Lords next session, or you may call Reform
+Revolution. The people are particularly angry at the bishops. They
+dare not appear on the streets; curses follow them, and their carriages
+have been repeatedly stoned."
+
+"There is a verse beginning, 'Inasmuch as ye did it not,' etc.,--I
+wonder if they will ever dare to repeat it again. They will do the church
+a deal of harm."
+
+"Oh, no," said Edgar. "The church does not stand on the bishops."
+
+"Be easy with the bishops," added the Squire. "They have to scheme
+a bit in order to get the most out of both worlds. They scorn to answer
+the people according to their idols. They are politically right."
+
+"No, sir," said Edgar. "Whatever is morally wrong cannot be
+politically right. The church is well represented by the clergy; they
+have generally sympathised with the people. One of them, indeed, called
+Smith--Sydney Smith--made a speech at Taunton, three days after our
+defeat, that has gone like wild-fire throughout the length and breadth
+of England;" and Edgar took a paper out of his pocket, and read,
+with infinite delight and appreciation, the pungent wit which made
+"Mrs. Partington" famous throughout Christendom:--
+
+    "As for the possibility of the House of Lords preventing a
+    reform of Parliament, I hold it to be the most absurd notion
+    that ever entered into human imagination. I do not mean to
+    be disrespectful, but the attempt of the Lords to stop the
+    progress of Reform reminds me very forcibly of the great
+    storm at Sidmouth, and of the conduct of the excellent
+    Mrs. Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824,
+    there set in a great flood upon that town; the waves rushed
+    in upon the houses; and everything was threatened with
+    destruction. In the midst of this sublime and terrible storm,
+    Dame Partington--who lived upon the beach--was seen at the
+    door of her house, with mop and pattens, trundling her mop,
+    squeezing out the sea-water, and vigorously pushing away the
+    Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused. Mrs. Partington's
+    spirit was up; but I need not tell you, the contest was
+    unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was
+    excellent at a slop or a puddle; but she should not have
+    meddled with a tempest. Gentlemen, be at your ease, be quiet
+    and steady. You will beat Mrs. Partington."[2]
+
+------
+[Footnote 2: Speech at Taunton by Sydney Smith, October 12, 1831.]
+
+"It was not respectful to liken the Lords of England to an old woman,
+now was it, Mother?" asked the Squire.
+
+But Mrs. Atheling only laughed the more, and the conversation drifted so
+completely into politics that Kitty and Annie grew weary of it, and said
+they wished to go to their rooms. And as they left the parlour together,
+Edgar suddenly stayed Kitty a moment, and said, "I had nearly forgotten
+to tell you something. Miss Vyner is to be married, on the second of
+December, to Cecil North. I am going to London in time for the wedding."
+
+And Kitty said, "I am glad to hear it, Edgar," and quickly closed the
+door. But she lay long awake, wondering what influence this event would
+have upon Piers and his future, until, finally, the wonder passed into
+a little verse which they had learned together; and with it singing in
+her heart, she fell asleep:--
+
+    "Thou art mine! I am thine!
+    Thou art locked in this heart of mine;
+    Whereof is lost the little key:
+    So there, forever, thou must be!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEENTH
+
+AT THE WORST
+
+
+In the first joy of their return home, Squire Atheling and his son
+had not chosen to alarm the women of the family; yet the condition of
+the country was such as filled with terror every thoughtful mind. The
+passionate emotion evoked by the second rejection of the Reform Bill did
+not abate. Tumultuous meetings were held in every town and village as
+the news reached them; houses were draped in black; shops were closed;
+and the bells of the churches tolled backward. In London the populace
+was quite uncontrollable. Vast crowds filled the streets, cheering the
+Reform leaders, and denouncing with furious execrations the members of
+either House who had opposed the Bill. The Duke of Newcastle, the
+Marquis of Londonderry, and many other peers were not saved from the
+anger of the people without struggle and danger. Nottingham Castle,
+the seat of the Duke of Newcastle, was burnt to the ground; and Belvoir
+Castle, the seat of the Duke of Rutland, was barely saved. Bristol saw
+a series of riots, and during them suffered greatly from fire, and the
+Bishop's palace was reduced to ashes.
+
+Everywhere the popular fury settled with special bitterness and hatred
+upon the bishops; because, as teachers of the doctrines of Jesus of
+Nazareth, the "common people" expected sympathy from them. A cry
+arose, from one end of England to the other, for their expulsion from
+the Upper Chamber; and proposals even for the abolition of the House
+of Lords were constant and very popular. For such extreme measures no
+speaker was so eloquent and so powerful as Mr. O'Connell. In addressing
+a great meeting at Charing Cross one day, he pointed in the direction of
+Whitehall Palace, and reminded his hearers that, "A King had lost his
+head there. Why," he asked, "did this doom come on him? It was," he
+cried, "because he refused to listen to his Commons and his people, and
+obeyed the dictation of a foreign wife." And this allusion to the
+Queen's bad influence over William the Fourth was taken up by the
+crowd with vehement cheering.
+
+While Bristol was burning, the cholera appeared in England; and its
+terrors, new and awful and apparently beyond human help or skill, added
+the last element of supernatural fear to the excited and hopeless
+people. It is hard to realise at this day, and with our knowledge of the
+disease, the frantic and abject despair which seized all classes. The
+churches were kept open, supplications ascended night and day from the
+altars; and on the sixth of November, at one hour, from every place of
+worship in England, hundreds of thousands knelt to utter aloud a form
+of prayer which was constantly broken by sobs of anguish:--
+
+    "Lord, have pity on thy people! Withdraw thy heavy hand from
+    those who are suffering under thy judgments; and turn away from
+    us that grievous calamity against which our only security is
+    Thy Compassion."
+
+In the presence of this scourge, Mrs. Atheling found it impossible to
+persuade the Squire to let his family go up with him and Edgar to London.
+About the cholera, the Squire had the common fatalistic ideas.
+
+"You may escape through God's mercy," he said; "but if you are to
+die of this fearsome, outlandish sickness, then it is best to face death
+in your own home."
+
+"But if you should take it in London, and me not near even to bid you
+'good-bye,' John! I should die of grief."
+
+"I do hope thou wouldst have more sense, Maude."
+
+"I would follow thee beyond the grave, very quickly, John."
+
+"No, no! Stay where thou art. Thou knowest what Yorkshire is," and
+though he spoke gruffly, his eyes were dim with unshed tears for the
+dreadful possibility he thought it right to face.
+
+Kate was specially averse to return to London. It was full of memories
+she did not wish to revive. Piers was there; and how could she bear
+to meet him, and neither speak to nor even look at her lover? There was
+Annabel's marriage also to consider. If she did not attend it, how
+many unpleasant inquiries and suppositions there would be? If she did
+accept the formal invitation sent her, how was she to conduct herself
+towards Piers in the presence of those who knew them both intimately?
+
+The marriage was to take place shortly before the opening of Parliament;
+and, owing to the wretched condition of the country, it was thought best
+to give it only a private character. The management of the social
+arrangements were in Piers's hands, and during these last days a very
+brotherly and confidential affection sprang up in his heart for the
+brilliant girl who was so soon to leave them forever. One morning he
+returned to Richmoor House with some valuable jewels for Annabel. He
+sent a servant to tell her that he was in the small east parlour and
+desired her company. Then, knowing her usual indifference to time,
+he sat down and patiently awaited her coming. She responded almost
+immediately. But her entrance startled and troubled him. She came in
+hastily, and shut the door with a perceptible nervous tremour. Her face
+was flushed with anger; she looked desperate and defiant, and met his
+curious glance with one of mingled fear and entreaty and reckless
+passion. He led her to a seat, and taking her hands said,--
+
+"My dear Bella, what has grieved you?"
+
+"Oh, Piers! Piers!" she sobbed. "If you have one bit of pity in your
+heart, give it to me. I am the most miserable woman in the world."
+
+"Bella, if you do not love Cecil--if you want to break off this
+marriage--"
+
+"Love Cecil? I love him better than my life! My love for Cecil is the
+best thing about me. It is not Cecil."
+
+"Who is it then?"
+
+"I will tell you, though you may hate me for my words. Piers, I took
+the ring you lost. I meant no harm in the first moment; mischief and
+jealousy were then so mixed, I don't know which of them led me. I saw
+you asleep. I slipped the ring off your finger. I told myself I would
+give it to you in the morning, and claim my forfeit. In the morning,
+the Duchess was cross; and you were cross; and the constables were in
+the house; and I was afraid. And I put it off and off, and every day my
+fear of trouble--and perhaps my hope of doing mischief with it--grew
+stronger. I had then hours of believing that I should like to be your
+wife, and I hated and envied Kate Atheling. I hesitated until I lost
+the desire to explain things; and then one day my maid Justine flew in
+a passion at me, and accused me of stealing the ring. She said it was
+in my purse--_and it was_. She threatened to call in the whole household
+to see me found out; and it was the night of the great dinner; and I
+bought her off."
+
+"Oh, Bella! Bella! that was very foolish."
+
+"I know. She has tortured and robbed me ever since. I have wasted
+away under her threats. Look at my arms, Piers, and my hands. I have
+a constant fever. Last week she promised me, if I would give her two
+hundred pounds, she would go away, and I should never see or hear of
+her again. I gave her the money. Now she says she has made up her mind to
+go to India with me. That I cannot endure. She has kept me on the rack
+with threats to tell Cecil. He is the soul of Honour; he would certainly
+cease to love me; and if I was his wife, how terrible that would be!
+What am I to do? What am I to do? Oh, Piers, help me!"
+
+"Where is the woman now?"
+
+"In my apartments."
+
+"Can I go with you to your parlour?"
+
+"Yes--but, Piers, why?"
+
+"Where is the ring, Bella dear?"
+
+"In her possession. She was afraid I would give it to you."
+
+"Why did you not tell me all this before? Come, I will soon settle the
+affair."
+
+When they reached the room, Annabel sank almost lifeless on a sofa; and
+Piers touched a hand-bell. Justine called from an inner room:
+
+"I will answer at my leisure, Miss."
+
+Piers walked to the dividing door, and threw it open. "You will answer
+_now_, at my command. Come here, and come quickly."
+
+"My lord--I did not mean--"
+
+"Stand there, and answer truly the questions I shall ask; or I promise
+you a few years on the treadmill, if not a worse punishment. Do you know
+that you are guilty of black-mailing, and of obtaining money on false
+pretences?--both crimes to be expiated on the gallows."
+
+"My lord, it is a true pretence. Miss Vyner stole your ring. She knows
+she did."
+
+"She could not steal anything I have; she is welcome to whatever of mine
+she desires. How much money have you taken from Miss Vyner?"
+
+"I have not taken one half-penny," answered Justine, sulkily. "She
+gave me the money; she dare not say different. Speak, Miss, you know
+you gave it to me." But Annabel had recovered something of her old
+audacity. She felt she was safe, and she was not disposed to mercy.
+She only smiled scornfully, and re-arranged the satin cushions under her
+head more comfortably.
+
+"Quick! How much money have you taken?"
+
+Justine refused to answer; and Piers said, "I give you two minutes. Then
+I shall send for a constable."
+
+"And Miss Vyner's wedding will be put off."
+
+"For your crime? Oh, no! Miss Vyner's wedding is far beyond your
+interference. She will have nothing to do with this affair. _I_ shall
+prosecute you. You have my ring. Will you give it to me, or to a
+constable?"
+
+"I did not take the ring."
+
+"It is in your possession. I will send now for an officer." He rose
+to touch the bell-rope, keeping his eyes on the woman all the time; and
+she darted forward and arrested his hand.
+
+"I will do what you wish," she said.
+
+"How much money have you taken from Miss Vyner?"
+
+"Eight hundred and ninety pounds."
+
+"Where is it?"
+
+"In my room."
+
+"Go and get it--stay, I will go with you."
+
+In a few minutes Justine returned with her ill-gotten treasure; and then
+she condescended to explain, and entreat,--
+
+"Oh, my lord," she said, "don't be hard on me. I wanted the money for
+my poor old mother who is in Marylebone Workhouse. I did, indeed I did!
+It was to make her old age comfortable. She is sick and very poor, and
+I wanted it for her."
+
+"We shall see about that. If your story is true, you shall give the
+money to your poor old sick mother. If it is not true, you shall give my
+ring and the money to a constable, and sleep in prison this very night."
+
+With impetuous passion he ordered a carriage, and Justine was driven to
+the Marylebone Workhouse. By the time they reached that institution,
+she was thoroughly humbled and afraid; her fear being confirmed by the
+subservience of the Master to the rank and commands of Lord Exham. For
+a moment she had an idea of denying her own statement; but the futility
+of the lie was too evident to be doubted; and, very reluctantly, she
+admitted her mother's name to be Margaret Oddy. In a few minutes--during
+which Lord Exham ordered Justine to count out the money in her bag to the
+Master--Margaret appeared. She was not an old woman in years, being but
+little over forty; but starvation, sorrow, and hard work had made her
+prematurely aged. When she entered the room, she looked around anxiously;
+but as soon as she saw Justine, she covered her face with her thin hands,
+and began to weep.
+
+"Is this your daughter?" asked the Master, pointing to Justine.
+
+"I am her mother, sure enough, sir; but she have cast me off long ago.
+Oh, Justine girl, speak a word to me! You are my girl, for all that's
+past and gone."
+
+"Justine has come to make you some amends for her previous neglect,
+Mother," said Lord Exham. "She has brought you eight hundred and ninety
+pounds for your old age. To-morrow my lawyer will call here, and give
+you advice concerning its care and its use. Until then, the Master will
+take it in charge."
+
+"Let me see it! Let me touch it with my hands! No more hunger! No more
+cold! No more hard work! It can't be true! It can't be true! Is it
+true, Justine? Kiss me with the money, girl, for the sake of the happy
+days we have had together!" With these words she went to her daughter,
+and tried to take her hands, and draw her to her breast. But Justine
+would not respond. She stood sullen and silent, with eyes cast on the
+ground.
+
+"Why, then," said Margaret, with just anger, "why, then, keep the
+money, Justine. I would rather eat peas and porridge, and sleep on straw,
+than take a shilling with such ill-will from you, girl." Then, turning
+to Piers, she added, "Thank you, good gentleman, but I'll stay where
+I am. Let Justine keep her gold. I don't want such an ill-will gift."
+
+"Mother," answered Piers. "You may take the money from my hands,
+then. It is yours. Justine's good or ill-will has now nothing to do
+with it. I give it to you from the noble young lady whom your daughter
+has wronged so greatly that the gallows would be her just desert. She
+gives up this money--which she has no right to--as some atonement for
+her crime. Is not this the truth, Justine?" he asked sternly; and the
+woman answered, "Yes." Then turning to the Master, he added, "To
+this fact, and to Justine's admission of it, you are witness."
+
+The Master said, "I am." Then addressing Margaret, he told her to
+go back to her place, and think over the good fortune that had so
+unexpectedly come to her; what she wished to do with her money; and where
+she wished to make her future home. And the mother curtsied feebly and
+again turned to her child,--
+
+"If I go back to the old cottage in Downham--the old cottage with the
+vines, and the bee skeps, and the long garden, will you come with me,
+and we will share all together?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Let her alone, Mother," said Exham. "She is going to the furthest
+American colony she can reach. Only in some such place, will she be safe
+from the punishment of her wrong-doing."
+
+"Justine, then, my girl, good-bye!"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Justine, good-bye!"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Why, then, my girl, God be with you, and God forgive you!"
+
+Then Justine turned to Lord Exham, "I have done what you demanded. May I
+now go my own way?"
+
+"Not just yet. You will return with me."
+
+He gave his card to the Master, and followed the woman, keeping her
+constantly under his hand and eye until they returned to Annabel's
+parlour. Annabel was in a dead sleep; but their entrance awakened her,
+and it pained Piers to see the look of fear that came into her face when
+she saw her cruel tormentor. She was speedily relieved, however; for
+the first words she heard, was an order from Piers, bidding her to be
+ready to leave the house in twenty minutes. He took out his watch as he
+gave the order, and then added, "First of all, return to me my ring."
+
+"I did not take your ring, my lord."
+
+"You have it in your possession. Return it at once."
+
+"Miss Vyner stole it--"
+
+"Give it to me! You know the consequences of _one_ more refusal."
+
+Then Justine took from her purse the long missing ring. She threw it on
+the table, and, with tears of rage, said,--
+
+"May ill-luck and false love go with it, and follow all who own it!"
+
+"The bad wishes of the wicked fall on themselves, Justine," said Lord
+Exham, as he lifted the trinket. "How much money does your mistress owe
+you?"
+
+"I have no 'mistress.' Miss Vyner owes me a quarter's wage, and a
+quarter's notice, that is eight pounds."
+
+"Is that correct, Annabel?"
+
+"The woman says so. Pay her what she wants--only get her out of my
+sight."
+
+"Oh, Miss, I can tell you--"
+
+"Go. Pack your trunk, and be back here in fifteen minutes. And, mind
+what I say, leave England at once--the sooner the better."
+
+Before the time was past, the woman was outside the gates of Richmoor
+House, and Piers returned to Annabel. "That trouble is all over and
+gone forever," he said to her; "now, dear Bella, lift up your heart to
+its full measure of love and joy! Let Cecil see you to-night in your
+old beauty. He is fretting about your health; show him the marvellously
+bright Annabel that captured his heart with a glance."
+
+"I will! I will, Piers! This very night you shall see that Annabel is
+herself again."
+
+"And in three days you are to be Cecil's wife!"
+
+"In three days," she echoed joyfully. "Leave me now, Piers. I want to
+think over your goodness to me. I shall never forget it."
+
+Smiling, they parted; and then Annabel opened all the doors of her
+rooms, and looked carefully around them, and assured herself that her
+tyrant was really gone. "In three days!" she said, "in three days I am
+going away from all this splendour and luxury,--going to dangers of
+all kinds; to a wild life in camps and quarters; perhaps to deprivations
+in lonely places--and I am happy! Happy! transcendently happy! Oh,
+Love! Wonderful, Invincible, Omnipotent Love! Cecil's love! It will
+be sufficient for all things."
+
+Certainly she was permeated with this idea. It radiated from her
+countenance; it spoke in her eyes; it made itself visible in the
+glory of her bridal attire. The wedding morning was one of the darkest
+and dreariest of London's winter days. A black pouring rain fell
+incessantly; the atmosphere was heavy, and loaded with exhalations;
+and the cholera terror was on every face. For at this time it was
+really "a destruction walking at noon-day" and leaving its ghastly sign
+of possession on many a house in the streets along which the bridal
+party passed.
+
+It came into the gloomy church like a splendid dream: officers in
+gay uniforms, ladies in beautiful gowns and nodding plumes, and at the
+altar,--shining like some celestial being,--the radiant bride in
+glistening white satin, and sparkling gems. And Cecil, in his new
+military uniform, tall, handsome, soldierly, happy, made her a fitting
+companion. The church was filled with a dismal vapour; the rain plashed
+on the flagged enclosure; the wind whistled round the ancient tower:
+there was only gloom, and misery, and sudden death outside; but over
+all these accidents of time and place, the joy of the bride and the
+bridegroom was triumphant. And later in the day, when the Duke and
+Piers went with them to the great three-decked Indiaman waiting for
+their embarkation, they were still wondrously exalted and blissful.
+Dressed in fine dark-blue broadcloth, and wrapped in costly furs,
+Annabel watched from the deck the departure of her friends, and then
+put her hand in Cecil's with a smile.
+
+"For weal or woe, Bella, my dear one," he said.
+
+"For weal or woe, for life or death, Cecil beloved," she answered,
+having no idea then of what that promise was to bring her in the future;
+though she kept it nobly when the time of its redemption came.
+
+Three days after this event, Mrs. Atheling received by special messenger
+from Lord Exham a letter, and with it the ring which had caused so
+much suspicion and sorrow. But though the letter was affectionate and
+confidential, and full of tender messages which he "trusted in her to
+deliver for him," nothing was said as to the manner of its recovery,
+or the personality of the one who had purloined it.
+
+"Your father has been right, no doubt, Kate," she said. "In some weak
+moment Annabel has got the ring from him, and on her marriage has given
+it back. That is clear to me."
+
+"Not to me, Mother. I am sure Piers did not give Annabel--did not give
+any one the ring. I will tell you what I think. Annabel got it while he
+was asleep, or he inadvertently dropped it, and she picked it up--and
+kept it, hoping to make mischief."
+
+"You may be wrong, Kitty."
+
+"I may--but I _know_ I am right."
+
+_No Diviner like Love!_
+
+On this same day, with the cholera raging all around, Parliament was
+re-opened; and Lord John Russell again brought in the Reform Bill. There
+was something pathetic in this persistence of a people, hungry and
+naked, and overshadowed by an unknown pestilence, swift and malignant
+as a Fate. It was evident, immediately, that the same course of
+"obstruction" which had proved fatal to the two previous Bills was to
+be pursued against the third attempt. Yet the temper of the House of
+Commons, sullenly, doggedly determined, might even thus early have
+warned its opposers. All the unfairness and pertinacity of Peel and his
+associates was of no avail against the inflexible steadiness of Lord
+Althorp and the cold impassibility of Lord John Russell.
+
+Week after week passed in debating, while the press and people waited
+in alternating fits of passionate threats and still more alarming
+silence,--a silence, Lord Grey declared to be, "Most ominous of trouble,
+and of the most vital importance to the obstructing force." The Squire
+was weary to death. He found it impossible to take a dutiful interest
+in the proceedings. The tactics of the fight did not appeal to his
+nature. He thought they were neither fair nor straightforward; and,
+unconsciously, his own opinions had been much leavened by his late
+familiar intercourse with Lord Ashley and his son.
+
+In these days his chief comfort came from the friendship of Piers Exham.
+The young man frequently sought his company; and it became almost a
+custom for them to dine together at the Tory Club. And at such times
+words were dropped that neither would have uttered, or even thought
+of, at the beginning of the contest. Thus one night Piers said, in his
+musing way, as he fingered his glass, rather than drank the wine in it,--
+
+"I have been wondering, Squire, whether the wish of a whole nation,
+gradually growing in intensity for sixty years, until it has become,
+to-day, a command and a threat, is not something more than a wish?"
+
+"I should say it was, Piers," answered the Squire. "Very likely the
+wish has grown to--a right."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+Then both men were silent; and the next topic discussed was the new
+sickness, and Piers anxiously asked if "it had reached Atheling."
+
+"No, it has not, thank the Almighty!" replied the Squire. "There has
+not been a case of it. My family are all well."
+
+Allusions to Kate were seldom more definite than this one; but Piers
+found inexpressible comfort in the few words. Such intercourse might not
+seem conducive to much kind feeling; but it really was. The frequent
+silences; the short, pertinent sentences; the familiar, kindly touch
+of the young man's hand, when it was time to return to the House; the
+little courteous attentions which it pleased Piers to render, rather
+than let the Squire be indebted to a servant for them,--these, and other
+things quite as trivial, made a bond between the two men that every day
+strengthened.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+It was nearly the end of March when the Bill once more got through
+the Commons; and hitherto the nation had waited as men wait the
+preliminaries of a battle. But they were like hounds held by a leash
+when the great question as to whether the Lords would now give way, or
+not, was to be determined. The Squire was an exceedingly sensitive man;
+for he was exceedingly affectionate, and he was troubled continually by
+the hungry, wretched, anxious crowds through which he often picked
+his way to Westminster, the more so, as his genial, bluff, thoroughly
+English appearance seemed to please and encourage these non-contents. At
+every step he was urged to vote on the right side. "God bless you,
+Squire!" was a common address. "Pity the poor! Vote for the right!
+Go for Reform, Squire! Before God, Squire, we must win this time, or
+die for it!" And the Squire, distressed, and half-convinced of the
+justice of their case, would lift his hat at such words, and pass a
+sovereign into the hand of some lean, white-faced man, and answer,
+"God defend the Right, friends!" He could not tell them, as he had
+done in his first session, to "go home and mind their business." He
+could not say, as he did then, a downright "No;" could not bid them,
+"Reform themselves, and let the Government alone," or ask, "If
+they were bereft of their senses?" If he answered at all now, it was in
+the motto so familiar to them, "God and my Right;" or, if much urged,
+"I give my word to do my best." Or he would bow courteously, and
+say, "God grant us all good days without end." Before the Bill
+passed the Commons, at the end of March, it had, at any rate, come to
+this,--he was not only averse to vote against the Bill, he was also
+averse to tell these waiting sufferers that he intended to vote
+against it.
+
+On the night of the thirteenth of April, when the Bill was before the
+Lords, the Squire was too excited to go to bed, though prevented from
+occupying his seat in the Commons by a smart attack of rheumatism. He sat
+in his club, waiting for intelligence, and watching the passing crowds
+to try and glean from their behaviour the progress of events. Piers had
+promised to bring him word as soon as the vote was taken. He did not
+arrive until eight o'clock the next morning. The Squire was drinking
+his coffee, and making up his mind to return to Atheling, "whatever
+happened," when Piers, white and exhausted, drew his chair to the table.
+
+"The Bill has passed this reading by nine votes," he said wearily;
+"and Parliament has adjourned for the Easter recess; that is, until
+the seventh of May. Three weeks of suspense! I do not know how it is
+to be endured."
+
+"I am going to Atheling. Edgar will very likely go to Ashley, and I
+think you had better go with us. Three weeks of Exham winds will make a
+new man of you."
+
+At this point Edgar joined them, and, greatly to his father's annoyance,
+declared both Atheling and Ashley out of the question. "This three
+weeks," he said, "will decide the fate of England. I have promised
+my leader to visit Warwick, Worcester, Stafford, and Birmingham. At
+the latter place there will be the greatest political meeting ever held
+in this world."
+
+"And what will Annie say?" asked the Squire.
+
+"Annie thinks I am doing right. Annie does not put me before the hundred
+of thousands to whom the success of Reform will bring happiness."
+
+"It beats all and everything," said the Squire. "I wouldn't like
+my wife to put me back of hundreds and thousands. Have you been up all
+night--you and Piers?"
+
+"All night," answered Edgar. "We were among the three hundred members
+from the Commons who filled the space around the throne, and stood in
+a row three deep below the bar. I was in the second row; but I heard
+all that passed very well. Earl Grey did not begin to speak until five
+o'clock this morning, and he spoke for an hour and a half. It was an
+astonishing argument."
+
+"It was a most interesting scene, altogether," said Piers. "I shall
+never forget it. The crowded house, its still and solemn demeanour, and
+the broad daylight coming in at the high windows while Grey was speaking.
+Its blue beams mixed with the red of the flaring candles, and the two
+lights made strange and startling effects on the crimson draperies and
+the dusky tapestries on the walls. I felt as if I was in a vision. I kept
+thinking of Cromwell and old forgotten things; and it was like waking out
+of a dream when the House began to dissolve. I was not quite myself until
+I had drunk a cup of coffee."
+
+"It was very exciting," said the more practical Edgar; "and the small
+majority is only to keep the people quiet. At the next reading the Bill
+will be so mutilated as to be practically rejected, unless we are ready
+to meet such an emergency."
+
+Piers rose at these words. He foresaw a discussion he had no mind
+for; and he said, with a touching pathos in his voice, as he laid his
+hand on the Squire's shoulder, "Give my remembrance to the ladies at
+Atheling,--my heart's love, if you will take it."
+
+"I will take all I may, Piers. Good-bye! You have been a great comfort
+to me. I am sure I don't know what I should have done without you; for
+Edgar, you see, is too busy for anything."
+
+"Never too busy to be with you, if you need me, Father. But you are such
+a host in yourself, and I never imagined you required help of any kind."
+
+"Only a bit of company now and then. You were about graver business.
+It suited Piers and me to sit idle and say a word or two about Atheling.
+Come down to Exham, Piers, _do_; it will be good for you."
+
+"No, I should be heart-sick for Atheling. I am better away."
+
+The Squire nodded gravely, and was silent; and Piers passed quietly out
+of the room. His listless serenity, and rather drawling speech, always
+irritated the alert Edgar; and he sighed with relief when he was rid of
+the restraining influence of a nature so opposite to his own.
+
+"So you are going to Atheling, Father?" he said. "How?"
+
+"As quick and quiet as I can. I shall take the mail-coach to York, or
+further; and then trot home on as good a nag as I can hire."
+
+In this way he reached Atheling the third day afterwards, but without any
+of the usual _eclat_ and bustle of his arrival. Kate had gone to bed;
+Mrs. Atheling was about to lock the big front door, when he opened it.
+She let the candlestick in her hand fall when she saw him enter, crying,--
+
+"John! Dear John! How you did frighten me! I _am_ glad to see you."
+
+"I'll believe it, Maude, without burning the house for an illumination.
+My word! I am tired. I have trotted a hack horse near forty miles
+to-day."
+
+Then she forgot everything but the Squire's refreshment and comfort;
+and the house was roused, and Kitty came downstairs again, and for an
+hour there was at least the semblance of rejoicing. But Mrs. Atheling
+was not deceived. She saw her lord was depressed and anxious; and she
+was sure the Reform Bill had finally passed; and after a little while
+she ventured to say so.
+
+"No, it has not passed," answered the Squire; "it has got to its worst
+bit, that's all. After Easter the Lords will muster in all their power,
+and either throw it out, or change and cripple it so much that it will be
+harmless."
+
+"Now, then, John, what do you think, _really_?"
+
+"I think, really, that we land-owners are all of us between the devil
+and the deep sea. If the Bill passes, away go the Corn Laws; and then how
+are we to make our money out of the land? If it does not pass, we are in
+for a civil war and a Commonwealth, and no Cromwell to lead and guide
+it. It is a bad look-out."
+
+"But it might be worse. We haven't had any cholera here. We must trust
+in God, John."
+
+"It is easy to trust in God when you don't see the doings of the devil.
+You wouldn't be so cheerful, Maude, if you had lived in the sight of his
+handiwork, as I have for months. I think surely God has given England
+into his power, as he did the good man of Uz."
+
+"Well, then, it was only for a season, and a seven-fold blessing after
+it. It is wonderful how well your men have behaved; they haven't taken
+a bit of advantage of your absence. That is another good thing."
+
+"I am glad to hear that. I will see them, man by man, before I go back
+to London."
+
+The villagers, however, sent a deputation as soon as they heard of
+the Squire's arrival, asking him to come down to Atheling Green, and
+tell them something about Reform. And he was pleased at the request,
+and went down, and found they had made a temporary platform out of two
+horse-blocks for him; and there he stood, his fine, imposing, sturdy
+figure thrown clearly into relief by the sunny spring atmosphere. And
+it was good to listen to his strong, sympathetic voice, for it had the
+ring of truth in all its inflections, as he said,--
+
+"Men! Englishmen! Citizens of no mean country! you have asked me to
+explain to you what this Reform business means. You know well I will tell
+you no lies. It will give lots of working-men votes that never hoped for
+a vote; and so it is like enough working-men will be able to send to
+Parliament members who will fight for their interests. Maybe that is
+in your favour. It will open all our ports to foreign wheat and corn.
+You will get American wheat, and Russian wheat, and French wheat--"
+
+"We won't eat French wheat," said Adam Sedbergh.
+
+"And then, wheat will be so cheap that it will not pay English
+land-owners to sow it. Will that help you any?"
+
+"We would rather grow our own wheat."
+
+"To be sure. Reform will, happen, give you shorter hours of work."
+
+"That would be good, Master," said the blacksmith.
+
+"It will depend on what you do with the extra hours of leisure."
+
+"We can play skittles, and cricket, and have a bit of wrestling."
+
+"Or sit in the public house, and drink more beer. I don't think
+your wives will like that. Besides, if you work less time won't you
+get less wage? Do you think I am going to pay for twelve hours' work
+and get ten? Would you? Will the mill-owners run factories for the fun
+of running them? Would you? And they say they hardly pay with twelve
+hours' work. Men, I tell you truly, I know no more than the babe
+unborn what Reform will bring us. It may be better times; it may be
+ruin. But I can say one thing, sure and certain, you will get more
+trouble than you bargain for if you take to rioting about it. Your
+grandfathers and your fathers fought this question; and they left it
+to you to quarrel over. Very well, as long as you keep your quarrel
+in the Parliament Houses, I want you to have fair play. But if ever
+you should forget that there is the great Common Law behind all of us,
+rich and poor, and think to right yourselves with fire and blood, then
+I--your true friend--would be the first to answer you with cannon,
+and turn my scythes and shares into swords against you. Wait patiently a
+bit longer. In a few more weeks I do verily believe you will have
+Reform, and then I hope, in my soul, you will be pleased with your
+bargain. I don't think, as far as I am concerned, Reform will change me
+or my ways one particle."
+
+"We don't want you changed, Squire; you are good enough as you are."
+
+"I'm glad you think so, very glad. Now here is Atheling and Belward
+meadows and corn-fields. We can raise our wheat and cattle and wool, and
+carry on our farms--you and I together, for I could not do without you;
+and if I do right by you is there any reason to want better than right?
+And if I do not do right, then shout 'Reform,' and come and tell me
+what you want, and we will pass our own Reform Bill. Will that suit you?"
+
+And they answered him with cheers, and he sent them into the Atheling
+Arms for a good dinner, and then rode slowly home. But a great sadness
+came over him, and he said to himself:
+
+"It is not capital; it is not labour; it is not land: it is a bit of
+human kindness and human relations that lie at the root of all Reform.
+Maude says true enough, that we don't know the people, and don't feel
+for them, and don't care for them. A word of reason, a word of truth
+and trust and of mutual good-will, and how pleased them poor fellows
+were! Reform has nothing on earth to do with Toryism or Whigism. God
+bless my soul! what kind of a head must the man have that could think
+so? _I begin to see_--_I begin to see!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEENTH
+
+LADY OF EXHAM HALL AT LAST
+
+
+The three weeks' recess was full of grave anxiety; and the Squire had
+many fears they were to be the last weeks of peace and home before civil
+war called him to fulfil the promise he had made to his working-men. The
+Birmingham Political Union declared that if there was any further
+delay after Easter, two hundred thousand men would go forth from their
+shops and forges, and encamp in the London squares, till they knew the
+reason why the Reform Bill was not passed. The Scots Greys, who were
+quartered at Birmingham, had been employed the previous Sabbath in
+grinding their swords; and it was asserted that the Duke of Wellington
+stood pledged to the Government to quiet the country in ten days. These
+facts sufficiently indicated to the Squire the temper of the people; and
+he set himself, as far as he could, to take all the sweetness out of his
+home life possible. The memory of it might have to comfort him for many
+days.
+
+With his daughter always by his side, he rode up and down the lands
+he loved; unconsciously giving directions that might be serviceable
+if he had to go to a stormier field than the House of Commons. To
+Mrs. Atheling he hardly suggested the possibility; for if he did,
+she always answered cheerfully, "Nonsense, John! The Bill _will_ pass;
+and if it does not pass, Englishmen have more sense than they had in
+the days of Cromwell. They aren't going to kill one another for an Act
+of Parliament."
+
+But to Kate, as they rode and walked, he could worry and grumble
+comfortably. She was always ready to sympathise with his fears, and to
+encourage and suggest any possible hope of peace and better days. To see
+her bright face answering his every thought filled the father's heart
+with a joy that was complete.
+
+"Bless thy dear soul!" he would frequently say to her. "God's best
+gift to a man is a daughter like thee. Sons are well enough to carry on
+the name and the land, and bring honour to the family; but the man God
+loves isn't left without a daughter to sweeten his days and keep his
+heart fresh and tender. Kitty! Kitty, how I do love thee!" And Kitty
+knew how to answer such true and noble affection; for,--
+
+    "Down the gulf of his condoled necessities,
+    She cast her best: she flung herself."
+
+Oh, sweet domestic love! Surely _it is_ the spiritual world, the abiding
+kingdom of heaven, not far from any one of us.
+
+With a heavy heart the Squire went back to London. Mrs. Atheling took
+his gloom for a good sign. "Your father is always what the Scotch call
+'fay' before trouble," she said to Kate. "The day your sister Edith
+died his ways made me angry. You would have thought some great joy had
+come to Atheling. He said he was sure Edith was going to live; and I
+knew she was going to die. I am glad he has gone to London sighing and
+shaking his head; it is a deal better sign than if he had gone laughing
+and shaking his bridle. He will meet Edgar in London, and Edgar won't
+let him look forward to trouble."
+
+But the Squire found Edgar was not in London when he arrived there; and
+Piers was as silent and as gloomy a companion as a worrying man could
+desire. He came to dine with his friend, and he listened to all his
+doleful prognostications; but his interest was forced and languid. For he
+also had lost the convictions that made the contest possible to him,
+and there was at the bottom of all his reasoning that little doubt as to
+the justice of his cause which likewise infected the Squire's more
+pronounced opinions.
+
+They were sitting one evening, after dinner, almost silent, the Squire
+smoking, Piers apparently reading the _Times_, when Edgar, with an almost
+boyish demonstrativeness, entered the room. He drew a chair between
+them, and sat down, saying, "I have just returned from the great Newhall
+Hill meeting. Father, think of two hundred thousand men gathered there
+for one united purpose."
+
+"I hope I have a few better thoughts to keep me busy, Edgar."
+
+Piers looked up with interest. "It must have been an exciting hour or
+two," he said.
+
+"I hardly knew whether I was in the body or out of the body," answered
+Edgar. "For a little while, at least, I was not conscious of the flesh.
+I had a taste of how the work of eternity may be done with the soul."
+
+"The _Times_ admits the two hundred thousand," said Piers, "and also
+that it was a remarkably orderly meeting. Who opened it? Was it Mr.
+O'Connell?"
+
+"The meeting was opened by the singing of a hymn. There were nine
+stanzas in it, and every one was sung with the most enthusiastic feeling.
+I remember only the opening lines:
+
+    "'Over mountain, over plain,
+        Echoing wide from sea to sea,
+    Peals--and shall not peal in vain--
+        The trumpet call of Liberty!'
+
+But can you imagine what a majestic volume of sonorous melody came from
+those two hundred thousand hearts? It was heard for miles. The majority
+of the singers believed, with all their souls, that it was heard in
+heaven."
+
+"Well, I never before heard of singing a hymn to open a political
+meeting," said the Squire. "It does not seem natural."
+
+"But, Father, you are used to political meetings opened by prayer, for
+the House has its chaplain. The Rev. Hugh Hutton prayed after the hymn."
+
+"I never heard of the Rev. Hugh Hutton."
+
+"I dare say not, Father. He is an Unitarian minister; for it is only
+the Unitarians that will pray with, or pray for, Radicals. I should
+not quite say that. There is a Roman Catholic priest who is a member
+of the Birmingham Union,--a splendid-looking man, a fine orator, and
+full of the noblest public spirit; but a Birmingham meeting would never
+think of asking him to pray. They would not believe a Catholic could
+get a blessing down from heaven if he tried."[3]
+
+------
+[Footnote 3: This intolerance, general and common in the England of that
+day, is now happily much mitigated.]
+
+"What of O'Connell?" said the Squire; "he interests me most."
+
+"O'Connell outdid himself. About four hundred women in one body had
+been allowed to stand near the platform, and the moment his eyes
+rested on them his quick instinct decided the opening sentence of his
+address. He bowed to them, and said, 'Surrounded as I am by the fair,
+the good, and the gentle.' They cheered at these words; and then the
+men behind them cheered, and the crowds behind cheered, because the
+crowds before cheered; and then he launched into such an arraignment
+of the English Government as human words never before compassed. And
+in it he was guilty of one delightful bull. It was in this way. Among
+other grave charges, he referred to the fact that births had decreased
+in Dublin five thousand every year for the last four years, and then
+passionately exclaimed, 'I charge the British Government with the
+murder of those twenty thousand infants!' and really, for a few
+moments, the audience did not see the delightful absurdity."
+
+"Twenty thousand infants who were never born," laughed the Squire.
+"That is worthy of O'Connell. It is worthy of Ireland."
+
+"And did he really manage that immense crowd?" asked Piers. "I see
+the _Times_ gives him this credit."
+
+"Sir Bulwer Lytton in a few lines has painted him for all generations at
+this meeting. Listen!" and Edgar took out of his pocket a slip of paper,
+and read them:--
+
+    "'Once to my sight the giant thus was given--
+    Walled by wide air, and roofed by boundless heaven;
+    Methought, no clarion could have sent its sound
+    Even to the centre of the hosts around.
+    And as I thought, rose the sonorous swell
+    As from some church tower swings the silver bell.
+    Aloft and clear, from airy tide to tide,
+    It glided easy as a bird may glide,
+    To the last verge of that vast audience.'"
+
+"After O'Connell, who would try to manage such a crowd?" asked Piers.
+
+"They behaved splendidly whoever spoke; and finally Mr. Salt stood
+forward, and, uncovering his head, bid them all uncover, and raise their
+right hands to heaven while they repeated, after him, the comprehensive
+obligation which had been given in printed form to all of them:
+
+    "'_With unbroken faith, through every peril, through every
+    privation, we here devote ourselves, and our children, to our
+    country's cause!_'
+
+And while those two hundred thousand men were taking that oath together,
+I find the House of Lords was going into Committee on the Reform Bill.
+This time it _must_ pass."
+
+"It will _not_ pass," said Piers, "without the most extreme measures
+are resorted to."
+
+"You mean that the King will be compelled to create as many new peers as
+will carry it through the House of Lords."
+
+"Yes; but can the King be 'compelled'?"
+
+"He will find that out."
+
+"Now, Edgar, that is as far as I am going to listen."
+
+Then Piers put down his paper, and said, "The House was in session, and
+would the Squire go down to it?" And the Squire said, "No. If there
+is to be any 'compelling' of His Majesty, I will keep out of it."
+
+The stress of this compulsion came the very next day. Lord Lyndhurst
+began the usual policy by proposing important clauses of the Bill
+should be postponed; and the Cabinet at once decided to ask the King
+to create more peers. Sydney Smith had written to Lady Grey that he
+was, "For forty, in order to make sure;" but the number was not
+stipulated. The King promptly refused. The Reform Ministry tendered
+their resignation, and it was accepted. For a whole week the nation
+was left to its fears, its anger, and its despair. It was, however,
+almost insanely active. In Manchester twenty-five thousand people, in
+the space of three hours, signed a petition to the King, telling him in
+it that "the whole North of England was in a state of indignation
+impossible to be described." Meanwhile, the Duke of Wellington had
+failed to form a Cabinet, and Peel had refused; and the King was
+compelled to recall Lord Grey to power, and to consent to any measures
+necessary to pass the Reform Bill. It was evident, even to royalty,
+that it had at length become--The Bill or The Crown. For His Majesty was
+now aware that he was denounced from one end of England to the other;
+and several painful experiences convinced him that his carriage could
+not appear in London without being surrounded by an indignant, hooting,
+shrieking crowd.
+
+Yet it was in a very wrathful mood he sent for Grey and Brougham, so
+wrathful that he kept them standing during the whole audience, although
+this attitude was contrary to usage. "My people are gone mad," he
+said, "and must be humoured like mad people. They will have Reform.
+Very well. I give you my royal assent to create a sufficient number of
+new peers to carry Reform through the House of Lords. It is an insult to
+my loyal and sensible peers; but they will excuse the circumstances
+that force me to such a measure." His manner was extremely sullen,
+and became indignantly so when Lord Brougham requested this permission
+to be given them in the King's handwriting. The request was, however,
+necessary, and was reluctantly granted.
+
+With the King's concession, the great struggle virtually ended. For
+the creation of new peers was not necessary. A private message from the
+King to the House of Lords effected what the long-continued protestations
+and entreaties of the whole nation had failed to effect. Led by the
+Duke of Wellington, those Lords who were determined _not_ to vote for
+Reform left the House until the Bill was passed; and thus a decided
+majority for its success was assured. They felt it to be better for
+their order to retire to their castles, than to suffer the "swamping
+of the House of Lords" by a force of new peers pledged to Reform,
+and sure to control all their future deliberations. Consequently, in
+about two weeks, the famous Bill was triumphantly carried by a majority
+of eighty-four; and three days afterwards it received the royal assent.
+
+The long struggle was over; and the tremendous strain on the feelings
+of the nation relieved itself by an universal and unbounded rejoicing.
+All night long, the church bells answered one another from city to city,
+and from hamlet to hamlet. It was said to be impossible to escape, from
+one end of the country to the other, the _tin_-_tan_-_tabula_ of their
+jubilation. Illuminations must have made the Island at night a blaze of
+light; the people went about singing and congratulating each other; and
+for a few hours the tie of humanity was a tie of brotherhood, even when
+men and women were perfect strangers.
+
+The Duke of Richmoor retired with the majority of his peers, and shut
+himself up in his Yorkshire Castle, a victim to the most absurd but
+yet the most sincere despondency. The Squire applied for the Chiltern
+Hundreds, and returned to Atheling as soon as possible. Edgar remained
+in the House until its dissolution in August. As for Piers, he had
+taken the turn of affairs with a composure that had produced decided
+differences between the Duke and himself; and he lingered in London
+until he heard of the Squire's departure for the North. Then he sought
+him with a definite purpose. "Squire," he said, "may I go back to
+Exham in your company?"
+
+"I'll be glad if you do, Piers," was the answer.
+
+The young man laid his hand on the Squire's hand, and looked at him
+steadily and entreatingly. "Squire, I am going away from England. Let me
+see Kate before I go."
+
+"You are asking me to break my word, Piers."
+
+"The law of kindness may sometimes be greater than the law of truth;
+the greatest of these is charity--is love. I love her so! I love her so
+that I am only half alive without her. I do entreat you to have pity on
+me--on us both! She loves me!" and Piers pleaded until the Squire's
+eyes were full of tears. He could not resist words so hot from a true
+and loving heart; and he finally said,--
+
+"It may be that my word, and my pride in my word, are of less
+consequence than the trouble of two suffering human hearts; Piers,
+right or wrong, you may see Kitty. I am not sure I am doing right, but
+I will risk the uncertainty--this time."
+
+However, if the Squire had any qualms of conscience on the subject,
+they were driven away by Kitty's gratitude and delight. He arrived at
+Atheling about the noon hour, and Kitty was the first to see and to
+welcome him. She had been gathering cherries, and was coming through the
+garden with her basket full of the crimson drupes, when he entered the
+gates. She set the fruit on the ground, and ran to meet him, and took
+him proudly in to her mother, and fussed over his many little comforts to
+his heart's content and delight.
+
+Nothing was said about Piers until after dinner, which was hurried
+forward at the Squire's request; but afterwards, when he sat at the open
+casement smoking, he called Kate to him. He took her on his knee and
+whispered, "Kate, there is somebody coming this afternoon."
+
+"Yes," she said, "we have sent word to Annie. She will be here."
+
+"I was not thinking of Annie. I was thinking of thee, my little maid.
+There is somebody coming to see _thee_."
+
+"You can't mean Piers? Oh, Father, do you mean Piers?"
+
+"I do."
+
+Then she laid her cheek against his cheek. She kissed him over and over,
+answering in low, soft speech, "Oh, my good Father! Oh, my dear Father!
+Oh, Father, how I love you!"
+
+"Well, Kitty," he answered, "thou dost not throw thy love away. I love
+thee, God knows it. Now run upstairs and don thy prettiest frock."
+
+"White or blue, Father?"
+
+"Well, Kitty," he answered, with a thoughtful smile, "I should
+say white, and a red rose or two to match thy cheeks, and a few
+forget-me-nots to match thy eyes. Bless my heart, Kitty! thou art lovely
+enough any way. Stay with me."
+
+"No, Father, I will go away and come again still lovelier;" and she
+sped like a bird upstairs. "It may be all wrong," muttered the Squire;
+"but if it is, then I must say, wrong can make itself very agreeable."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"_Piers is coming!_" That was the song in Kitty's heart, the refrain
+to which her hands and feet kept busy until she stood before her glass
+lovelier than words can paint, her exquisite form robed in white lawn,
+her cheeks as fresh and blooming as the roses at her girdle, her eyes
+as blue as the forget-me-nots in her hair, her whole heart in every
+movement, glance, and word, thrilling with the delight of expectation,
+and shining with the joy of loving.
+
+So Piers found her in the garden watching for his approach. And on
+this happy afternoon, Nature was in a charming mood; she had made the
+garden a Paradise for their meeting. The birds sang softly in the green
+trees above them; the flowers perfumed the warm air they breathed; and
+an atmosphere of inexpressible serenity encompassed them. After such
+long absence, oh, how heavenly was this interview without fear, or
+secrecy, or self-reproach, or suspicion of wrong-doing! How heavenly was
+the long, sweet afternoon, and the social pleasure of the tea hour,
+and the soft starlight night under the drooping gold of the laburnums
+and the fragrant clusters of the damask roses! Even parting under such
+circumstances was robbed of its sting; it was only "such sweet sorrow."
+It was glorified by its trust and hope, and was without the shadow of
+tears.
+
+Kitty came to her father when it was over; and her eyes were shining,
+and there was a little sob in her heart; but she said only happy words.
+With her arms around his neck she whispered, "Thank you, dear!" And
+he answered, "Thou art gladly welcome! Right or wrong, thou art welcome,
+Kitty. My dear little Kitty! He will come back; I know he will. A girl
+that puts honour and duty before love, crowns them with love in the
+end--always so, dear. That _is sure_. When will he be back?"
+
+"When the Duke and Duchess want him more than they want their own way.
+He says disputing will do harm, and not good; but that if a difference
+is left to the heart, the heart in the long run will get the best of
+the argument. I am sure he is right. Father, he is going to send you
+and mother long letters, and so I shall know where he is; and with the
+joy of this meeting to keep in my memory, I am not going to fret and be
+miserable."
+
+"That is right. That is the way to take a disappointment. Good things
+are worth waiting for, eh, Kitty?"
+
+"And we shall have so much to interest us, Father. There is Edgar's
+marriage coming; and it would not do to have two weddings in one year,
+would it? Father, you like Piers? I am sure you do."
+
+"I would not have let him put a foot in Atheling to-day if I had not
+liked him. He has been very good company for me in London, very good
+company indeed--thoughtful and respectful. Yes, I like Piers."
+
+"Because--now listen, Father--because, much as I love Piers, I would
+not be his wife for all England if you and mother did not like him."
+
+"Bless my heart, Kitty! Is not that saying a deal?"
+
+"No. It would be no more than justice. If you should force on me a
+husband whom I despised or disliked, would I not think it very wicked
+and cruel? Then would it not be just as wicked and cruel if I should
+force on you a son-in-law whom you despised and disliked? There is not
+one law of kindness for the parents, and another law, less kind, for
+the daughter, is there?"
+
+"Thou art quite right, Kitty. The laws of the Home and the Family are
+_equal_ laws. God bless thee for a good child."
+
+And, oh, how sweet were Kitty's slumbers that night! It is out of
+earth's delightful things we form our visions of the world to come; and
+Kate understood, because of her own pure, true, hopeful love, how "God
+is love," and how, therefore, He would deny her any good thing.
+
+So the summer went its way, peacefully and happily. In the last days of
+August, Edgar was married with great pomp and splendour; and afterwards
+the gates of Gisbourne stood wide-open, and there were many signs and
+promises of wonderful improvements and innovations. For the young
+man was a born leader and organiser. He loved to control, and soon
+devised means to secure what was so necessary to his happiness. The
+Curzons had made their money in manufactures; and Annie approved of
+such use of money. So very soon, at the upper end of Gisbourne, a great
+mill, and a fine new village of cottages for its hands, arose as if by
+magic,--a village that was to example and carry out all the ideas of
+Reform.
+
+"Edgar is making a lot of trouble ready for himself," said the Squire
+to his wife; "but Edgar can't live without a fight on hand. I'll
+warrant that he gets more fighting than he bargains for; a few hundreds
+of those Lancashire and Yorkshire operatives aren't as easy to manage
+as he seems to think. They have 'reformed' their lawgivers; and they
+are bound to 'reform' their masters next."
+
+The Squire had said little about this new influx into his peaceful
+neighbourhood, but it had grieved his very soul; and his wife wondered at
+his reticence, and one day she told him so.
+
+"Well, Maude," he answered, "when Edgar was one of my household, I had
+the right to say this and that about his words and ways; but Edgar is now
+Squire, and married man, and Member of Parliament. He is a Reformer too,
+and bound to carry out his ideas; and, I dare say, his wife keeps the
+bit in his mouth hard enough, without me pulling on it too. I have taken
+notice, Maude, that these sweet little women are often very masterful."
+
+"I am sure his grandfather Belward would never have suffered that mill
+chimney in his sight for any money."
+
+"Perhaps he could not have helped it."
+
+"Thou knowest different. My father always made everything go as he
+wanted it. The Belwards know no other road but their own way."
+
+"I should think thou needest not tell me that. I have been learning it
+for a quarter of a century."
+
+"Now, John! When I changed my name, I changed my way also. I have been
+Atheling, and gone Atheling, ever since I was thy wife."
+
+"Pretty nearly, Maude. But Edgar's little, innocent-faced, gentle wife
+will lead Edgar, Curzon way. She has done it already. Fancy an Atheling,
+land lords for a thousand years, turning into a loom lord. Maude, it
+hurts me; but then, it is a bit of Reform, I suppose."
+
+For all this interior dissatisfaction, the Squire and his son were good
+friends and neighbours; and, in a kind of a way, the father approved
+the changes made around him. They came gradually, and he did not have
+to swallow the whole dose at once. Besides he had his daughter. And
+Kitty never put him behind Gisbourne or any other cause. They were
+constant companions. They threw their lines in the trout streams together
+through the summer mornings; and in the winter, she was with him in
+every hunting field. About the house, he heard her light foot and her
+happy voice; and in the evenings, she read the papers to him, and helped
+forward his grumble at Peel, or his anger at Cobbett.
+
+At not very long intervals there came letters to the Squire, or to
+Mrs. Atheling, which made sunshine in the house for many days
+afterwards,--letters from Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington,
+New Orleans, and finally from an outlandish place called Texas. Here
+Piers seemed to have found the life he had been unconsciously
+longing for. "The people were fighting," he said, "for Liberty: a
+handful of Americans against the whole power of Mexico; fighting, not
+in words--he was weary to death of words--but with the clang of iron on
+iron, and the clash of steel against steel, as in the old world
+battles." And he filled pages with glowing encomiums of General
+Houston, and Colonels Bowie and Crockett, and their wonderful courage and
+deeds. "And, oh, what a Paradise the land was! What sunshine! What
+moonshine! What wealth of every good thing necessary for human
+existence!"
+
+When such letters as these arrived, it was holiday at Atheling; it
+was holiday in every heart there; and they were read, and re-read, and
+discussed, till their far-away, wild life became part and parcel of
+the calm, homely existence of this insular English manor. So the years
+went by; and Kate grew to a glorious womanhood. All the promise of her
+beauteous girlhood was amply redeemed. She was the pride of her county,
+and the joy of all the hearts that knew her. And if she had hours of
+restlessness and doubt, or any fears for Piers's safety, no one was
+made unhappy by them. She never spoke of Piers but with hope, and with
+the certainty of his return. She declared she was "glad that he should
+have the experience of such a glorious warfare, one in which he had
+made noble friends, and done valiant deeds. Her lover was growing in
+such a struggle to his full stature." And, undoubtedly, the habit of
+talking hopefully induces the habit of feeling hopefully; so there were
+no signs of the love-lorn maiden about Kate Atheling, nor any fears
+for her final happiness in Atheling Manor House.
+
+The fears and doubts and wretchedness were all in the gloomy castle of
+Richmoor, where the Duke and Duchess lived only to bewail the dangers
+of the country, and their deprivation of their son's society,--a
+calamity they attributed also to Reform. Else, why would Piers have
+gone straight to a wild land where outlawed men were also fighting
+against legitimate authority.
+
+One evening, nearly four years after Piers had left England, the Duke
+was crossing Belward Bents, and he met the Squire and his daughter,
+leisurely riding together in the summer gloaming. He touched his hat, and
+said, "Good-evening, Miss Atheling! Good-evening, Squire!" And the
+Squire responded cheerfully, and Kate gave him a ravishing smile,--for
+he was the father of Piers, accordingly she already loved him. There
+was nothing further said, but each was affected by the interview; the
+Duke especially so. When he reached his castle he found the Duchess
+walking softly up and down the dim drawing-room, and she was weeping. His
+heart ached for her. He said tenderly, as he took her hand,--
+
+"Is it Piers, Julia?"
+
+"I am dying to see him," she answered, "to hear him speak, to have
+him come in and out as he used to do. I want to feel the clasp of his
+hand, and the touch of his lips. Oh, Richard, Richard, bring back my boy!
+A word from you will do it."
+
+"My dear Julia, I have just met Squire Atheling and his daughter.
+The girl has grown to a wonder of beauty. She is marvellous; I simply
+never saw such a face. Last week I watched her in the hunting field
+at Ashley. She rode like an Amazon; she was peerless among all the
+beauties there. I begin to understand that Piers, having loved her, could
+love no other woman; and I think we might learn to love her for Piers's
+sake. What do you say, my dear? The house is terribly lonely. I miss
+my son in business matters continually; and if he does not marry, the
+children of my brother Henry come after him. He is in constant danger; he
+is in a land where he must go armed day and night. Think of our son
+living in a place like that! And his last letters have had such a tone
+of home-sickness in them. Shall I see Squire Atheling, and ask him for
+his daughter?"
+
+"Let him come and see you."
+
+"He will never do it."
+
+"Then see him, Richard. Anything, anything, that will give Piers back
+to me."
+
+The next day the Duke was at Atheling, and what took place at that
+interview, the Squire never quite divulged, even to his wife. "It was
+very humbling to him," he said, "and I am not the man to brag about
+it." To Kate nothing whatever was said. "Who knows just where Piers
+is? and who can tell what might happen before he learns of the change
+that has taken place?" asked the Squire. "Why should we toss Kitty's
+mind hither and thither till Piers is here to quiet it?"
+
+In fact the Squire's idea was far truer than he had any conception
+of. Piers was actually in London when the Duke's fatherly letter sent
+to recall his self-banished son left for Texas. Indeed he was on his way
+to Richmoor the very day that the letter was written. He came to it one
+afternoon just before dinner. The Duchess was dressed and waiting for
+the Duke and the daily ceremony of the hour. She stood at the window,
+looking into the dripping garden, but really seeing nothing, not even
+the plashed roses before her eyes. Her thoughts were in a country far
+off; and she was wondering how long it would take Piers to answer their
+loving letter. The door opened softly. She supposed it was the Duke, and
+said, fretfully, "This climate is detestable, Duke. It has rained for
+a week."
+
+"_Mother! Mother! Oh, my dear Mother!_"
+
+Then, with a cry of joy that rung through the lofty room, she turned,
+and was immediately folded in the arms she longed for. And before her
+rapture had time to express itself, the Duke came in and shared it.
+They were not an emotional family; and high culture had relegated any
+expression of feeling far below the tide of their daily life; but, for
+once, Nature had her way with the usually undemonstrative woman. She
+wept, and laughed, and talked, and exclaimed as no one had ever seen
+or heard her since the days of her early girlhood.
+
+In the happy privacy of the evening hours, Piers told them over again
+the wild, exciting story he had been living; and the Duke acknowledged
+that to have aided in any measure such an heroic struggle was an event to
+dignify life. "But now, Piers," he said, "now you will remain in your
+own home. If you still wish to marry Miss Atheling, your mother and I
+are pleased that you should do so. We will express this pleasure as
+soon as you desire us. I wrote you to this effect; but you cannot
+have received my letter, since it only left for Texas yesterday."
+
+"I am glad I have not received it," answered Piers. "I came home at
+the call of my mother. It is true. I was sitting one night thinking
+of many things. It was long past midnight, but the moonlight was so
+clear I had been reading by it, and the mocking birds were thrilling
+the air, far and wide, with melody. But far clearer, far sweeter, far
+more pervading, I heard my mother's voice calling me. And I immediately
+answered, 'I am coming, Mother!' Here I am. What must I do, now and
+forever, to please you?"
+
+And she said, "Stay near me. Marry Miss Atheling, if you wish. I will
+love her for your sake."
+
+And Piers kissed his answer on her lips, and then put his hand in his
+father's hand. It was but a simple act; but it promised all that
+fatherly affection could ask, and all that filial affection could give.
+
+Who that has seen in England a sunny morning after a long rain-storm
+can ever forget the ineffable sweetness and freshness of the woods and
+hills and fields? The world seemed as if it was just made over when Piers
+left Richmoor for Atheling. A thousand vagrant perfumes from the spruce
+and fir woods, from the moors and fields and gardens, wandered over the
+earth. A gentle west wind was blowing; the sense of rejoicing was in
+every living thing. The Squire and Kate had been early abroad. They
+had had a long gallop, and were coming slowly through Atheling lane,
+talking of Piers, though both of them believed Piers to be thousands of
+miles away. They were just at the spot where he had passed them that
+miserable night when his cry of "_Kate! Kate! Kate!_" had nearly
+broken the girl's heart for awhile. She never saw the place without
+remembering her lover, and sending her thoughts to find him out, wherever
+he might be. And thus, at this place, there was always a little silence;
+and the Squire comprehended, and respected the circumstance.
+
+This morning the silence, usually so perfect, was broken by the sound
+of an approaching horseman; but neither the Squire nor Kate turned. They
+simply withdrew to their side of the road, and went leisurely forward.
+
+"_Kate! Kate! Kate!_"
+
+The same words, but how different! They were full of impatient joy, of
+triumphant hope and love. Both father and daughter faced round in the
+moment, and then they saw Piers coming like the wind towards them. It was
+a miracle. It was such a moment as could not come twice in any life-time.
+It was such a meeting as defies the power of words; because our diviner
+part has emotions that we have not yet got the speech and language to
+declare.
+
+Imagine the joy in Atheling Manor House that night! The Squire had to
+go apart for a little while; and tears of delight were in the good
+mother's eyes as she took out her beautiful Derby china for the
+welcoming feast. As for Kate and Piers, they were at last in earth's
+Paradise. Their lives had suddenly come to flower; and there was no
+canker in any of the blossoms. They had waited their full hour. And if
+the angels in heaven rejoice over a sinner repenting, how much more
+must they rejoice in our happiness, and sympathise in our innocent love!
+Surely the guardian angels of Piers and Kate were satisfied. Their
+dear charges had shown a noble restraint, and were now reaping the
+joy of it. Do angels talk in heaven of what happens among the sons and
+daughters of men whom they are sent to minister unto, to guide, and to
+guard? If so, they must have talked of these lovers, so dutiful and
+so true, and rejoiced in the joy of their renewed espousals.
+
+Their marriage quickly followed. In a few weeks Piers had made Exham
+Hall a palace of splendour and beauty for his bride, and Kate's wedding
+garments were all ready. And far and wide there was a most unusual
+interest taken in these lovers, so that all the great county families
+desired and sought for invitations to the marriage ceremony, and the
+little church of Atheling could hardly contain the guests. Even to this
+day it is remembered that nearly one hundred gentlemen of the North
+Riding escorted the bride from Atheling to Exham.
+
+But at last every social duty had been fulfilled, and they sat alone in
+the gloaming, with their great love, and their great joy. And as they
+spoke of the days when this love first began, Kate reminded Piers of the
+swing in the laurel walk, and her girlish rhyming,--
+
+    "It may so happen, it may so fall,
+    That I shall be Lady of Exham Hall."
+
+And Piers drew her beautiful head closer to his own, and added,--
+
+    "Weary wishing, and waiting past,
+    _Lady of Exham Hall_ at last!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEENTH
+
+AFTER TWENTY GOLDEN YEARS
+
+
+After twenty years have passed away, it is safe to ask if events have
+been all that they promised to be; and one morning in August of 1857,
+it was twenty years since Kate Atheling became Lady Exham. She was
+sitting at a table writing letters to her two eldest sons, who were with
+their tutor in the then little known Hebrides. Lord Exham was busy
+with his mail. They were in a splendid room, opening upon a lawn, soft
+and green beyond description; and the August sunshine and the August
+lilies filled it with warmth and fragrance. Lady Exham was even more
+beautiful than on her wedding day. Time had matured without as yet
+touching her wonderful loveliness, and motherhood had crowned it with
+a tender and bewitching nobility. She had on a gown of lawn and lace,
+white as the flowers that hung in clusters from the Worcester vase at
+her side. Now and then Piers lifted his head and watched her for a
+moment; and then, with the faint, happy smile of a heart full and at
+ease, he opened another letter or paper. Suddenly he became a little
+excited. "Why, Kate," he said, "here is my speech on the blessings
+which Reform has brought to England. I did not expect such a thing."
+
+"Read it to me, Piers."
+
+"It is entirely too long; although I only reviewed some of the notable
+works that followed Reform."
+
+"Such as--"
+
+"Well, the abolition of both black and white slavery; the breaking
+up of the gigantic monopoly of the East India Company, and the throwing
+open of our ports to the merchants of the world; the inauguration of
+a system of national education; the reform of our cruel criminal code;
+the abolition of the press gang, and of chimney sweeping by little
+children, and such brutalities; the postal reform; and the spread of
+such good, cheap literature as the _Penny Magazine_ and _Chambers's
+Magazine_. My dear Kate, it would require a book to tell all that the
+Reform Bill has done for England. Think of the misery of that last two
+years' struggle, and look at our happy country to-day."
+
+"Prosperous, but not happy, Piers. How can we be happy when, all over
+the land, mothers are weeping because their children are not. If this
+awful Sepoy rebellion was only over; then!"
+
+"Yes," answered Piers; "if it was only over! Surely there never was
+a war so full of strange, unnatural cruelties. I wonder where Cecil and
+Annabel are."
+
+"Wherever they are, I am sure both of them will be in the way of honour
+and duty."
+
+There was a pause, and then Piers asked, "To whom are you writing, dear
+Kate?"
+
+"To Dick and John. They do not want to return to their studies this
+winter; they wish to travel in Italy."
+
+"Nonsense! They must go through college before they travel. Tell them
+so."
+
+The Duke had entered as Piers was speaking, and he listened to his
+remark. Then, even as he stooped to kiss Kate, he contradicted it. "I
+don't think so, Piers," he said decisively. "Let the boys go. Give
+them their own way a little. I do not like to see such spirited youths
+snubbed for a trifle."
+
+"But this is not a trifle, Father."
+
+"Yes, it is."
+
+"You insisted on my following the usual plan of college first, and
+travel afterwards."
+
+"That was before the days of Reform. The boys are my grandsons. I think
+I ought to decide on a question of this kind. What do you say, my dear?"
+and he turned his kindly face, with its crown of snowy hair, to Kate.
+
+"It is to be as you say, Father," she answered. "Is there any Indian
+news?"
+
+"Alas! Alas!" he answered, becoming suddenly very sorrowful, "there
+is calamitous news,--the fort in which Colonel North was shut up, has
+fallen; and Cecil and Annabel are dead."
+
+"Oh, not massacred! Do not tell us _that_!" cried Kate, covering her
+ears with her hands.
+
+"Not quite as bad. A Sepoy who was Cecil's orderly, and much attached
+to him, has been permitted to bring us the terrible news, with some
+valuable gems and papers which Annabel confided to him. He told me
+that Cecil held out wonderfully; but it was impossible to send him help.
+Their food and ammunition were gone; and the troops, who were mainly
+Sepoys, were ready to open the gates to the first band of rebels that
+approached. One morning, just at daybreak, Cecil knew the hour had
+come. Annabel was asleep; but he awakened her. She had been expecting the
+call for many days; and, when Cecil spoke, she knew it was death. But
+she rose smiling, and answered, 'I am ready, Love.' He held her close
+to his breast, and they comforted and strengthened one another until
+the tramp of the brutes entering the court was heard. Then Annabel
+closed her eyes, and Cecil sent a merciful bullet through the brave
+heart that had shared with him, for twenty-five years, every trial and
+danger. Her last words were, 'Come quickly, Cecil,' and he followed
+her in an instant. The man says he hid their bodies, and they were not
+mutilated. But the fort was blown up and burned; and, in this case, the
+fiery solution was the best."
+
+"And her children?" whispered Kate.
+
+"The boys are at Rugby. The little girl died some weeks ago."
+
+The Duke was much affected. He had loved Annabel truly, and her tragic
+death powerfully moved him. "The Duchess," he said, "had wept herself
+ill; and he had promised her to return quickly." But as he went away,
+he turned to charge Piers and Kate not to disappoint his grandsons.
+"They are such good boys," he added; "and it is not a great matter
+to let them go to Italy, if they want to--only send Stanhope with them."
+
+No further objection was then made. Kate had learned that it is folly
+to oppose things yet far away, and which are subject to a thousand
+unforeseen influences. When the time for decision came, Dick and John
+might have changed their wishes. So she only smiled a present assent,
+and then let her thoughts fly to the lonely fort where Cecil and Annabel
+had suffered and conquered the last great enemy. For a few minutes,
+Piers was occupied in the same manner; and when he spoke, it was in the
+soft, reminiscent voice which memory--especially sad memory--uses.
+
+"It is strange, Kate," he said, "but I remember Annabel predicting
+this end for herself. We were sitting in the white-and-gold parlour
+in the London House, where I had found her playing with the cat in a
+very merry mood. Suddenly she imagined the cat had scratched her, and
+she spread out her little brown hand, and looked for the wound. There
+was none visible; but she pointed to a certain spot at the base of her
+finger, and said, '>Look, Piers. There is the sign of my doom,--my
+death-token. I shall perish in fire and blood.' Then she laughed and
+quickly changed the subject, and I did not think it worth pursuing.
+Yet it was in her mind, for a few minutes afterwards, she opened her
+hand again, held it to the light, and added, 'An old Hindoo priest
+told me this. He said our death-warrant was written on our palms, and we
+brought it into life with us.'"
+
+"You should have contradicted that, Piers."
+
+"I did. I told her, our death-warrant was in the Hand of Him with whom
+alone are the issues of life and death."
+
+"She was haunted by the prophecy," said Kate. "She often spoke of it.
+Oh, Piers, how merciful is the veil that hides our days to come!"
+
+"I feel wretched. Let us go to Atheling; it will do us good."
+
+"It is very warm yet, Piers."
+
+"Never mind, I want to see the children. The house is too still. They
+have been at Atheling for three days."
+
+"We promised them a week. Harold will expect the week; and Edith and
+Maude will rebel at any shorter time."
+
+"At any rate let us go and see them."
+
+"Shall we ride there?"
+
+"Let us rather take a carriage. One of the three may possibly be willing
+to come back with us."
+
+Near the gates of Atheling they met the Squire and his grandson Harold.
+They had been fishing. "The dew was on the grass when we went away;
+and Harold has been into the water after the trout. We are both a bit
+wet," said the Squire; "but our baskets are full." And then Harold
+leaped into the carriage beside his father and mother, and proudly
+exhibited his speckled beauties.
+
+Mrs. Atheling had heard their approach, and she was at the open door
+to meet them. Very little change had taken place in her. Her face was
+a trifle older, but it was finer and tenderer; and her smile was as
+sweet and ready, and her manner as gracious--though perhaps a shade
+quieter than in the days when we first met her. Her granddaughter Edith,
+a girl of eight years, stood at her side; and Maude, a charming babe of
+four, clung to her black-silk apron, and half-hid her pretty face in its
+sombre folds. To her mother, Kate was still Kate; and to Kate, mother was
+still mother. They went into the house together, little Maude making
+a link between them, and Edith holding her mother's hand. But, in the
+slight confusion following their arrival, the children all disappeared.
+
+"They were helping Bradley to make tarts," said Mrs. Atheling, "when
+I called them, and they have gone back to their pastry and jam. Let them
+alone. Dear me! I remember how proud I was when I first cut pastry
+round the patty pans with my thumb," and Mrs. Atheling looked at Kate,
+who smiled and nodded at her own similar memory.
+
+They were soon seated in the large parlour, where all the windows were
+open, and a faint little breeze stirring the cherry leaves round them.
+Then the Squire began to talk of the Indian news; and Piers told, with
+a pitiful pathos, the last tragic act in Cecil's and Annabel's love
+and life. And when he had finished the narration, greatly to every
+one's amazement, the Squire rose to his feet, and, lifting his eyes
+heavenward, said solemnly,--
+
+"I give hearty thanks for their death, so noble and so worthy of their
+faith and their race. I give hearty thanks because God, knowing their
+hearts and their love, committed unto them the dismissing of their own
+souls from the wanton cruelty of incarnate devils. I give hearty thanks
+for Love triumphant over Death, and for that faith in our immortality
+which could command an immediate re-union, 'Come quickly, Cecil!'
+
+"There is nothing to cry about," he added, as he resumed his seat.
+"Death must come to all of us. It came mercifully to these two. It did
+not separate them; they went together. Somewhere in God's Universe they
+are now, without doubt, doing His Will together. Let us give thanks for
+them."
+
+After a little while, Kate and her mother went away. They had many things
+to talk over about which masculine opinions were not necessary, nor
+even desirable. And the Squire and Piers had, in a certain way, a similar
+confidence. Indeed the Squire told Piers many things he would not have
+told any one else,--little wrongs and worries not worth complaining
+about to his wife, and perhaps about which he was not very certain of
+her sympathy. But with Piers, these crept into his conversation, and were
+talked away, or at least considerably lessened, by his son-in-law's
+patient interest.
+
+This morning their conversation had an unconscious tone of gratified
+prophecy in it. "Edgar is in a lot of trouble," he said; "but then
+he seems to enjoy it. His hands gathered in the mill-yard yesterday
+and gave him what they call, 'a bit of their mind.' And their 'mind'
+isn't what you and I would call a civil one. Luke Staley, a big dyer
+from Oldham, got beyond bearing, and told Edgar, if he didn't do
+thus and so, he would be made to. And Edgar can be very provoking. He
+didn't tell me what he said; but I have no doubt it was a few of the
+strongest words he could pick out. And Luke Staley, not having quite such
+a big private stock as Edgar, doubled his fist, to make the shortage
+good, almost in Edgar's face; and there would have, maybe, been a few
+blows, if Edgar had not taken very strong measures at once,--that is,
+Piers, he knocked the fellow down as flat as a pancake. And then all
+was so still that, Edgar said, the very leaves rustling seemed noisy; and
+he told them in his masterful way, they could have five minutes to get
+back to their looms. And if they were not back in five minutes, he
+promised them he would dump the fires and lock the gates, and they
+could go about their business."
+
+"And they went to their looms, of course?"
+
+"To be sure they did. More than that, Luke Staley picked himself up,
+and went civilly to Edgar and said, 'That was a good knock-down. I'm
+beat this time, Master;' and he offered his hand, blue and black with
+dyes, and Edgar took it. My word! how his grandfather Belward would have
+enjoyed that scene. I am sorry he is not alive this day. He missed a
+deal by dying before Reform. Edgar and he together could keep a thousand
+men at their looms--and set the price, too."
+
+"What did the men want?"
+
+"A bit of Reform, of course,--more wage and less work. I am not much
+put out of the way now, Piers, with the mill. I get a lot of pleasure
+out of it, one road or another. Did I ever tell you about the Excursion
+Edgar gave them last week?"
+
+"I have not heard anything about it."
+
+"Well, you see, Edgar sent all his hands and their wives and sweethearts
+to the seaside, and gave them a good dinner; and they had a band of
+music to play for them, and a little steamer to give them a sail; and
+they came home at midnight, singing and in high good humour. Edgar
+thought he had pleased them. Not a bit of it! Two nights after they
+held a meeting in that Mechanics Hall Mrs. Atheling built for them. What
+for? To talk over the jaunt, and try and find out, '_What Master
+Atheling was up to_.' You see they were sure he had a selfish motive of
+some kind."
+
+"I don't believe he had a single selfish motive; he is not a selfish
+man," said Piers.
+
+"I wouldn't swear to his motives, Piers. Between you and me, he wants
+to go to Parliament again."
+
+"He ought to be there; it is his native heath, in a manner."
+
+"Well, as I said, one way or another, I get a lot of pleasure out of
+these men. There is a truce on now between them and Edgar; but, in the
+main, it is a lively truce."
+
+"Edgar seems to enjoy the conditions, also, Father."
+
+"Well, he ought to have a bit of something that pleases him. He has a
+deal of contrary things to fight. There is his eldest son."
+
+"Augustus?"
+
+"Yes, Augustus."
+
+"What has Augustus done?"
+
+"He will paint pictures and make little figures, and waste his time
+about such things as no Atheling in this world ever bothered his head
+about,--unless he wanted his likeness painted. The lad does wonders
+with his colours and brushes, and I'll allow that. He brought me a
+bit of canvas with that corner by the fir woods on it, and you would
+have thought you could pull the grass and drink the water. But I did not
+think it right to praise him much. I said, 'Very good, Augustus, but
+what will you make by this?'"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, Piers, the lad talked about his ideals, and said Art was its
+own reward, and a lot of rubbishy nonsense. But I never expected much
+from a boy called Augustus. That was his mother's whim; no Atheling
+was ever called such a name before. He wants to go to Italy, and his
+father wants him in the mill. Edgar is finding a few things out now he
+didn't believe in when he was twenty years old. The point of view is
+everything, Piers. Edgar looks at things as a father looks at them now;
+then, he had an idea that fathers knew next to nothing. Augustus is no
+worse than he was. Maybe, he will come to looms yet; he is just like
+the Curzons, and they were loom lovers. Now Cecil, his second boy, has
+far better notions. He likes a rod, and a horse, and a gun; and he
+thinks a gamekeeper has the best position in the world."
+
+"Mrs. Atheling sets us all an example. She is always doing something
+for the people."
+
+"They don't thank her for it. She brings lecturers, and expects them
+to go and hear them; and the men would rather be in the cricket field.
+She has classes of all kinds for the women and girls; and they don't
+want her interfering in their ways and their houses. I'll tell you
+what it is, Piers, you cannot write Reform upon flesh and blood as
+easy as you can write it upon paper. It will take a few generations
+to erase the old marks, and put the new marks on."
+
+"Still Reform has been a great blessing. You know that, Father."
+
+"Publicly, I know it, Piers. Privately, I keep my own ideas. But there
+is Kate calling us, and I see the carriage is waiting. Thank God, Reform
+has nothing to do with homes. Wives and children are always the same.
+We don't want them changed, even for the better."
+
+"You do not mean that?"
+
+"Yes, I do," said the Squire, positively. "My wife's faults are very
+dear to me. Do you think I would like to miss her bits of tempers, and
+her unreasonableness? Even when she tries to get the better of me, I like
+it. I wouldn't have her perfect, not if I could."
+
+Then Piers called for his son; but Harold could not be found. The Squire
+laughed. "He has run away," he said. "The boy wants a holiday. I'll
+take good care of him. He isn't doing nothing; he is learning to catch a
+trout. Many a very clever man can't catch a trout." Then Piers asked
+his little daughters to come home with him; and Edith hid herself behind
+the ample skirts of her grandfather's coat, and Maude lifted her arms
+to her grandmother, and snuggled herself into her bosom.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Come, Piers, we shall have to go home alone," Kate said.
+
+"You have Katherine at home," said the Squire.
+
+And then Kate laughed. "Why, Father," she said, "you speak as if
+Katherine was more than we ought to expect. Surely we may have one of
+our six children. The Duke thinks he has whole and sole right in Dick
+and John; and you have Harold and Edith and Maude."
+
+"And you have Katherine," reiterated the Squire.
+
+When they got back to Exham Hall, the little Lady Katherine was in
+the drawing-room to meet them. She was the eldest daughter of the
+house, a fair girl of fifteen with her father's refined face and rather
+melancholy manner. Piers delighted in her; and there was a sympathy
+between them that needed no words. She had a singular love for music,
+though from what ancestor it had come no one could tell; and it was
+her usual custom after dinner to open the door a little between the
+drawing-room and music-room, and play her various studies, while her
+father and mother mused, and talked, and listened.
+
+This evening Piers lit his cigar, and Kate and he walked in the garden.
+It was warm, and still, and full of moonshine; and the music rose and
+fell to their soft reminiscent talk of the many interests that had
+filled their lives for the past twenty golden years. And when they were
+wearied a little, they came back to the drawing-room and were quiet. For
+Katherine was striking the first notes of a little melody that always
+charmed them; and as they listened, her girlish voice lifted the song,
+and the tender words floated in to them, and sunk into their hearts, and
+became a prayer of thanksgiving.
+
+    "We have lived and loved together,
+      Through many changing years;
+    We have shared each other's gladness,
+      And wept each other's tears."
+
+And while Kate's face illuminated the words, Piers leaned forward, and
+took both her hands in his, and whispered with far tenderer, truer love
+than in the old days of his first wooing.
+
+And if any thought of The Other One entered his mind at this hour, it
+came with a thanksgiving for a life nobly redeemed by a pure, unselfish
+love, and a death which was at once sacrificial and sacramental.
+
+
+  Transcriber's Note:
+
+  Spelling and punctuation inaccuracies were silently corrected.
+  Archaic and variable spelling is preserved.
+  Author's punctuation style is preserved.
+  Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
+  The Table of Contents lists Chapter Sixteenth starting on Page 341.
+  The physical page is actually Page 340. It has been left as printed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of I, Thou, and the Other One, by
+Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
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